BEN SASSE. GOP Senator calls out Trump’s pardons as “rotten to the core.”
STELLA TENNANT. Supermodel dead at 50. “According to police, there were no suspicious circumstances around her death. Her family said in a statement: ‘It is with great sadness we announce the sudden death of Stella Tennant on 22 December 2020. Stella was a wonderful woman and an inspiration to us all. She will be greatly missed.'”
NYC. Andrew Yang files paperwork to run for mayor.
GAUTAM RAGHAVAN. Gay Indian-American appointed Biden’s Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel: “Prior to joining the transition, Raghavan served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Previously, Raghavan served as an Advisor to the Biden Foundation, and as Vice President of Policy for the Gill Foundation, one of the oldest and largest private foundations dedicated to the cause of LGBTQ equality. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Raghavan served in the White House as the liaison to the LGBTQ community as well as the Asian American & Pacific Islander community, and in the White House Liaison Office for the U.S. Department of Defense and as Outreach Lead for the Pentagon’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Working Group. A first-generation immigrant, Gautam was born in India, raised in Seattle, and graduated from Stanford University. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his husband and their daughter.”
DIDN’T TAKE LONG. Hours after Attorney General Bill Barr (who opposed a special counsel to look into election results) leaves his post, Trump calls for one publicly.
SECRET SERVICE. They have no plan if Trump refuses to leave the White House.
JANUARY 20. Twitter will reset the White House and POTUS accounts to 0 followers despite the fact that Trump absorbed all of Obama’s followers when he took office.
MORON ALERT. Actor Kirk Cameron held a second super spreader caroling event in Thousand Oaks, California.
CALIFORNIA. COVID patient kills fellow patient with oxygen tank: “Jesse Martinez, 37, was arrested and charged with murder, a hate crime enhancement and elder abuse after he allegedly struck his 82-year-old hospital roommate with an oxygen tank on Dec. 17.”
THE CROWN. Emma Corrin, who plays Diana, actually read for a different role first.
LONDON. Cops fine men cruising for sex on Hampstead Heath amid pandemic. “The officers issued fines for breaching COVID-19 lockdown rules.”
SECTION 230. Lindsey Graham says he won’t vote to override Trump’s veto of NDAA: “Previously, lawmakers had been broadly skeptical of efforts to pass 230 reform as part of the defense bill — but some Senate Republicans now say they will not vote to override Trump’s veto. ‘I will not vote to override presidential veto unless effort is made to wind down Section 230,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in a statement Wednesday. In a counterpoint to Graham, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said he supports changing Section 230 as policy, but will vote in opposition to the president once the motion is brought to the floor.”
CONNECTICUT. UPS driver murdered by helper on the job. “Nathan Burk, 28, died at a hospital after he was seriously assaulted on the job, according to state police. Burk’s co-worker, 19-year-old Elijah Bertrand, is facing a murder charge after police searched for him for hours.”
LOS ANGELES. Cop caught having sex on Universal Studios lot over open radio.
THIRSTY THURSDAY. Lex Lederman.
