Episode 32: White Christmas
Merry Christmas! I am writing this week’s newsletter from my mom’s house in Knoxville, TN. We are blessed with a White Christmas in East Tennessee, the first since 2010 and only the fifth in the last 121 years. The odds of a White Christmas in this neck-of-the-woods is a mere 3%, but anything is possible in 2020.
I waffled back and forth on whether I should write a newsletter this week. After all, it is Christmas! I’ve written the newsletter through my battle with COVID, work deadlines, and travel, so I figured why let a holiday stop me.
This morning in downtown Nashville there was a car-bomb that detonated at 6:30 am CT. The vehicle that exploded was an RV that arrived at its destination at 1:22 am CT. The RV played a recorded audio message warning “anyone who can hear this message should evacuate” before exploding. The blast injured three people and created extensive damage to the block. People as far away as nine blocks felt the explosion. The FBI, ATF, and Homeland Security are all on the scene and asking for anyone with tips about the mysterious RV to call the anonymous hotline.
Coronavirus has officially reached every continent on the planet. Thirty-six people stationed at the General Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme Antarctic base tested positive for the virus. The permanent research station is located south of Chile on the tip of the continent. The UK is dealing with the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus. According to experts, this mutation spreads up to 70% faster than other variants of the virus, but it isn’t deadlier. The UK recorded a record 39,237 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, along with 744 deaths, the most since April. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered a stark lockdown message to citizens, effectively canceling Christmas celebrations. Most of the country is on a “tier-4” lockdown with only essential services open and strict limitations on one-on-one gatherings outside of households. The reaction from neighboring nations was swift and harsh. More than 40 countries issued travel bans for UK residents. The embargo created a standstill of commercial trucks at the UK border, threatening its food supply. The CEO of BioNTech (who partnered with Pfizer to develop a vaccine) said it’s “highly likely” their COVID-19 shot is still effective against the new variant.
As of yesterday, more than 1 million people in the US have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Hospital staff and nursing home workers—unquestionably “essential” in the fight against the virus—have received the initial doses. But deciding which workers should receive the vaccines after healthcare staff is a lot more complicated. The CDC published priority guidelines but leaving it to each state to determine who gets the vaccine:
Phase 1A: front line health workers
Phase 1B: people over 75; police/fire workers; teachers; grocery workers; postal workers
Phase 1C: high-risk people 16-64; essential workers in food service construction and public safety
Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed to supply 100 million additional doses of their COVID-19 vaccine to the US federal government. The deal means that the US has now secured enough doses “to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021,” according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Bloomberg has a great graphic to track vaccination by state.
This year is the deadliest on record for our nation, with the US on track to record more than 3.2 million deaths this year, 400,000 more than in 2019. COVID has killed more than 318,000 Americans and counting. This uptick contrasts with recent improvements in this statistic. The nation’s mortality rate fell a bit in 2019 due to reductions in heart disease and cancer deaths.
Unfortunately, COVID isn’t the only killer in the US. Before the coronavirus even arrived, the US was in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic. Data for all of 2020 is not yet available. But last week, the CDC reported more than 81,000 drug overdose deaths in the 12 months ending in May, making it the highest number ever recorded in one year. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 760,000 Americans have died from a drug overdose since 1999, and two-thirds of those deaths were opioid-related. The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Walmart on Tuesday, alleging that the retail giant exacerbated a national opioid crisis by pressuring pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly and ignore potential warning signs.The suit suggests that a policy change could have allowed pharmacists to “reject invalid prescriptions” and avoid further fueling the rapid increase in US opioid-related deaths over the last decade. Walmart knew this was coming and filed its lawsuit against the DOJ and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in October, blaming the government’s regulations for the opioid crisis.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell signaled weeks ago that Congress would pair the next coronavirus aid package with a plan to fund the entire federal government through September 2021. White House aides signaled President Trump supported the approach and details of the program. The 5,593-page bill was drafted and delivered to Congress, with $900 billion allocated for coronavirus aid and $1.4 trillion for the broader federal government, making it the second most expensive measure of all time. Both chambers of Congress passed the bill: House 359 yea / 53 nay; Senate 92 yea / 6 nay. However, the bill does not become law until the President signs it. President Trump shocked both parties when he criticized the bill for insufficient aid to individuals, among other concerns, and called for $2,000 direct stimulus checks vs. the bill’s $600. He also requested removing the fluffier parts that didn’t directly address the pandemic crisis and threatened to veto. The bill does include some head-scratchers:
Large sums of aid to obscure foreign nations, including Egypt, Sudan, Burma, Nepal, and Cambodia.
A provision making illegal streaming a felony
A tax break for racehorse owners
A declaration that China must not interfere with the selection of the next Dalai Lama
Congressional leaders from both parties are frustrated with the situation as the President was absent from the aid negotiations since June, sending Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and his envoy to negotiate a deal. The President only parachuted into the talks via Twitter. And when President Trump did materialize, it was to undercut Mnuchin on multiple occasions, claiming his goal was to spend more than Pelosi.
The consequence of these events is the House will need to approve another emergency measure on Monday to keep the federal government operating. Since the end of the government’s fiscal year in September, Congress has approved four temporary spending bills to prevent a shutdown. The most recent stopgap measure was a seven-day plan this week. A government shutdown is always dangerous, but it could be more perilous during a pandemic. And it’s unclear if a shutdown could have devastating impacts on distributing the coronavirus vaccine.
Let’s assume President Trump vetoes the Covid relief/Omnibus bill, as promised. It takes a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate to override a presidential veto. With 359 House yeas and 92 Senate yeas, both bodies have a supermajority to override a presidential veto. However, this is where things get interesting. Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution says the President has ten days (Sundays excluded) to either sign or veto a bill. Otherwise, the bill magically becomes law, sans signature. The COVID/omnibus bill is still not at the White House. Since the latest the 116th Congressional session can end is 11:59:59 am on January 3, a President can “veto” a bill by doing nothing and not signing it. In other words, Congress needed to get the President the bill by December 23 to avoid a pocket veto. That’s the “ten-day/Sundays excluded” window. That would force the President to either sign or veto the bill. And, if he vetoed it, Congress could override. As it stands now, President Trump can run out the clock on the 116th Congressional session, blocking any potential override attempt. The bill goes poof and does not carry over into the 117th Congress. Meanwhile, several aid programs impacting 12 million people expire tomorrow.
The US suffered a massive cyber attack. Agencies impacted include the Treasury, Homeland Security, Department of Energy, State Department, Commerce Department, the NIH, and many Fortune 500 companies. In total, hackers infiltrated more than 200 organizations by exploiting a backdoor in SolarWinds Orion software. Experts suggest it will take weeks to assess the damage and months or even years to remediate. Secretary of State Pompeii stated it was the markings of a Russian attack, but President Trump suggested China.
It’s pardon season. President Trump on Tuesday granted 15 pardons and five commutations to individuals. According to a tabulation by a Harvard Law professor, of the 65 pardons and commutations that Mr. Trump had granted before Wednesday, 60 have gone to petitioners who had a personal tie to Mr. Trump or who helped his political aims. More pardons will follow in Trump’s final weeks in office. The President has discussed with advisers the prospect of pardoning several individuals involved in the Russia investigation and his family members.
If you already have an iMac, iPhone, and iPods, why not make your next Apple purchase the iCar. Numerous reports surfaced that Apple plans to debut a self-driving car by 2024. Tesla stock dropped almost 7% on the news.
I. Below are the articles I found interesting the past week:
How big oil misled the public into believing plastic would be recycled
Can an unloved child learn to love?
7 Viktor Frankl quotes to motivate you to find your purpose
Curiosity is the secret to a happy life
Thousands of small businesses can get cash grants with the next coronavirus relief bill
What will happen with Queen Elizabeth II dies?
II. Stats that made me go WOW!
- Illegal streaming of music, TV shows, or films now carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison – although only pirate streaming services are likely to face such stiff penalties.
- Tesla stock is up 700% this year.
- The US military academy accused 73 cadets of cheating on a math test. The exam was administered remotely because of the pandemic. The misconduct is considered one of the worst academic scandals at the academy in recent years.
III. Name that Tune!
As I write this email, I am listening to White Christmas by Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra.
Irving Berlin wrote the song White Christmas in 1942 for the musical film “Holiday Inn.” The composition won the Academy Award for the Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards. Multiple artists have covered the song White Christmas but the version sung by Bing Crosby became the world’s best selling single with sales exceeding 50 million copies worldwide. In total, adding all versions of the song, total sales exceed 100 million copies.
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