Today’s edition of quick hits:
* They’re right: “President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team on Friday decried Republicans’ efforts to shackle the Federal Reserve as Biden enters office.”
* Vaccines: “The legislative branch of government is rapidly moving to receive the coronavirus vaccine, with both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell getting the shot on Friday and the top Capitol doctor urging all members of Congress to join them.”
* The latest DOD mess: “Biden transition officials on Friday afternoon said they had not agreed with Pentagon officials to take a holiday break from transition-related meetings, pushing back against acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller’s claim that a Pentagon-wide halt to cooperation with the transition was because of a ‘mutually-agreed upon holiday pause.’”
* It was a predictable 6-3 vote: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a challenge to President Donald Trump’s plan to leave undocumented immigrants out of the final census count, giving the president a partial victory, though possibly a temporary one.”
* I feel like this can serve as some kind of metaphor: “Officials have taken the extraordinary step of closing the Washington Monument starting Friday as a precaution after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt — who gave a private, nighttime tour to other Trump appointees this week — tested positive for the coronavirus.”
* At the border: “Work crews ignite dynamite blasts in the remote and rugged southeast corner of Arizona, forever reshaping the landscape as they pulverize mountaintops in a rush to build more of President Donald Trump’s border wall before his term ends next month.”
* I occasionally pause to marvel at the fact that this guy is an influential figure in the White House for reasons that defy sensible explanation: “The President’s top trade adviser circulated a report Thursday detailing all the ways that, in fact, the 2020 election was stolen on Joe Biden’s behalf. Peter Navarro, who infamously invented and quoted the fake expert ‘Ron Vara’ in several of his books, provided a similarly colorful analysis of the supposed ‘irregularities’ he said plagued the 2020 race.”
* On a related note, Navarro’s report has been described as possibly “the most embarrassing document created by a White House staffer.” * I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this one: “Former Secretary of State James Baker blasted the Trump administration for recognizing Western Sahara as Moroccan territory, writing in a Thursday op-ed the move ‘was an astounding retreat from the principles of international law and diplomacy.’” * He can still be talked out of things? “White House aides intervened Thursday to prevent President Trump from issuing a statement calling for substantially larger stimulus payments for millions of Americans, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of the private exchange.” * On the Hill: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced appointments to several powerful committees on Thursday, most notably the selection of Rep. Kathleen Rice over fellow New Yorker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.” Have a safe weekend.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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