Trump Admin says vaccinations much higher than reported 2M . . . The Trump administration said Monday that far more have been vaccinated in the United States than estimates suggest, meaning that the rollout is faster than the numbers indicate.
“That 2 million number is probably an underestimate,” Adm. Brett Giroir, Health and Human Services assistant secretary, said. “We certainly expect that to be a multiple of 2 million.” Giroir added that the lag time between administering the shots and reporting the number of shots given each day is about three to seven days, meaning the actual number of vaccinations will balloon in the coming days as more data reaches the CDC. Washington Examiner

 

 

Fauci urges to take the new COVID strain very seriously . . . Dr. Fauci said people should take the more contagious strain of the coronavirus that has emerged in southeastern England “very seriously.” He had discouraged outright barring flights from the United Kingdom but agreed that U.S. officials were right to require proof of negative coronavirus tests for anyone entering the country from Britain. Fauci added that while their British counterparts have expressed confidence that existing vaccines will be equally effective against the new strain, “we’re going to be doing the studies ourselves.” The Hill

 

WHO chief scientist says it's unclear if vaccine will prevent COVID from spreading . . . The World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan expressed skepticism over what exactly the coronavirus vaccine actually does with regards to transmissibility. “At the moment I don’t believe we have the evidence on any of the vaccines to be confident that it’s going to prevent people from actually getting the infection and therefore being able to pass it on,” Swaminathan said. “I think until we know we know more, we need to assume that people who have been vaccinated need to take the same precautions until there’s a certain level of herd immunity that has been built in the population.” Daily Caller. 

 

Georgia military families who backed Biden could help determine Senate control . . . President -elect Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia was driven in part by shifts toward the Democratic ticket in a collection of nine counties with strong ties to the military. As a group, the military counties backed President Trump. However, his victory margin was 7.8 percentage points less than in 2016, a greater movement than the 5.3-point swing toward Mr. Biden statewide. And while voter turnout grew by less than 21% across Georgia, the number of votes cast in military counties rose by nearly 26%. Now, Mr. Trump’s veto of the annual defense policy bill is adding new complications to GOP voter turnout efforts ahead of Jan. 5 Georgia runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate. The Wall Street Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bitcoin Looks to Gain Traction in Payments . . . A luxury auto dealership in Las Vegas, has become a playground for wealthy bitcoin investors who want to cash in. The dealership recently sold two high-end sports cars to a customer who paid more than $6 million in bitcoin. Bitcoin prices have more than tripled in 2020 and are hovering around $26,600, making millionaires out of hoards of investors who piled in to ride the popular momentum trade. Professional investors began investing this year. Companies like Robinhood Markets and PayPal allowed their customers to buy and sell bitcoin. Despite those inroads, industry watchers say bitcoin must gain traction as a form of payment to become more ubiquitous. Spending it isn’t easy. Few merchants accept it. Its use is generally limited to high-end purchases. The Wall Street Journal

 

CDC reports record-low positive flu tests . . . As coronavirus cases surge nationwide, the flu has seen a remarkable dip. Reported cases of influenza reached record lows last week, with fewer than 40 diagnoses recorded during Dec. 13-19. The positivity rate has sharply declined this calendar year as only 0.10% of tests taken this year came back positive. The five-year average is 15.80% positive. The data comes in defiance of the "twindemic" concerns perpetuated by medical experts, or the idea that the raging coronavirus pandemic and the seasonal increase in reported flu cases would converge with catastrophic results. Washington Examiner

 

Couple steals $300 albino python from pet store . . .  Police in Peabody, Massachusetts, are looking for a couple who slithered away with a snake worth $300 from a city pet store. The couple entered the Petco store around 4:30 p.m. Monday. The man asked an employee if he could play with the albino cinnamon ball python. When the employee said that is against store policy, the man offered to buy it, Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto said. The employee put the snake in a box and brought it to the register area. When the employee put it on the counter, the man grabbed the box, and he and the woman ran from the store and sped away in a car. AP News

 

MAGA hat helps thwart conflict . . . The MAGA hat is this century's peace sign—a beautiful red signal to other normal-thinking Americans that logical discourse is an option. That lesson was heard loud and clear this year by Larry David, who despite being ideologically aligned (and actually related) to socialist Bernie Sanders, happened to have one of these magical MAGA hats in his car when he nearly ran a motorcycle off the road. For most liberals, cutting off a red-blooded American tough guy in your electric BMW i3 while he's hitting the open road on his hog could have some serious ramifications. In fact, the man's initial reaction was as follows: What the F are you doing?! What are you trying to do man?! But then Larry flipped on the magic MAGA hat, and POOF, conflict diffused. "Oh, just be more careful next time, okay?" the man told Larry with a gentle smile. And both of them went on their way. Washington Free Beacon