Who else here is out standing in their field? 😆

Coronavirus: Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf says coronavirus approach 'has failed'

Sweden was the American rightwing gold standard.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55347021

Sweden's king has said his country "failed" to save lives with its relatively relaxed approach to the coronavirus pandemic, describing 2020 as "a terrible year".

King Carl XVI Gustaf made the remarks as part of an annual TV review of the year with the royal family.

Instead of relying on legal sanctions, Sweden appeals to citizens' sense of responsibility and civic duty, and issues only recommendations. There are no sanctions if they are ignored.

Sweden is also said to have one of the highest per capita Covid-19 death rates in the world, and has had more deaths than the rest of the Nordic countries combined. This has led to criticism from the country's neighbours, Norway, Denmark and Finland, that its less strict approach is putting their own measures at risk.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven also said he felt many experts had underestimated the second wave.

*damning inside account* Trump Appointees Detail the Crushing of the CDC

Having trouble with my phone. Very worth the read.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/us/politics/cdc-trump.html

Kyle McGowan, a former chief of staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his deputy, Amanda Campbell, go public on the Trump administration’s manipulation of the agency.


Everyone wants to describe the day that the light switch flipped and the C.D.C. was sidelined. It didn’t happen that way,” Mr. McGowan said. “It was more of like a hand grasping something, and it slowly closes, closes, closes, closes until you realize that, middle of the summer, it has a complete grasp on everything at the C.D.C.”


Mr. McGowan recalled a White House fixated on the economic implications of public health. He and Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the C.D.C. director, negotiated with Russell T. Vought, the White House budget director, over social distancing guidelines for restaurants, as Mr. Vought argued that specific spacing recommendations would be too onerous for businesses to enforce.

“It is not the C.D.C.’s role to determine the economic viability of a guidance document,” Mr. McGowan said.


“Every time that the science clashed with the messaging, messaging won,” Mr. McGowan said

No Rose Bowl this year? CFB considering moving semifinals to Dallas

CFP may relocate from Rose Bowl due to California restrictions: Sources

https://theathletic.com/news/college-football-playoff-rose-bowl-relocate-rose-bowl/la1eiXkGOt8F

Several members of the Management Committee that runs the College Football Playoff are making a case to relocate from the Rose Bowl due primarily to California's restrictions that would prevent players’ family members from attending, sources tell The Athletic's Stewart Mandel.

A decision is expected by Thursday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, and may come as soon as Tuesday. The most likely alternative would be AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The Rose Bowl Game brand is co-owned by the city of Pasadena, so if the College Football Semifinal is played elsewhere, it will not be allowed to use the Rose Bowl name. And the Tournament of Roses would not likely host a different game. “There would not be a Rose Bowl (in 2021),” an industry source with direct knowledge of the situation told Mandel. A Rose Bowl game has been played every year since 1916.

Santa's here!

Mitch totally worked Trump over.

Not to give him a lot of credit, Trump gets played all the time. Unlike this election he usually can just claim victory until everyone moves on to his next screw up.

We’ll see if Mitch really is going full “scorched earth” and not passing any sort of stimulus package BUT a big payoff right before the election might have helped Trump a lot. For some reason (by all accounts) Trump listened to Mitch about holding off until after the election. Who the hell doesn’t literally throw money - not their own money either - at voters right before an election?!????

I believe Mitch’s selling point was about “conservative ideals” and how it could hurt in some Senate races. Like even Trumps base gives a rip about economic philosophy as opposed to CA-CHING!!!
Watching it reminded me of Speaker Pelosi allowing Trump to think they had some sort of deal worked out if he released the sort of transcript on the Ukraine phone call.
Talk about

Considered front runner to be Trump's AG for 5 weeks

Who actually made it the whole 4 years with Trump?

Stephen Miller
Betsy DeVos
Ben Carson
Wilbur Ross

Who have I missed?

"Walker, Texas Ranger" REBOOT! Starring.....

Jared Padalecki makes his debut in new 'Walker, Texas Ranger' reboot

First made famous by Chuck Norris, Padalecki is playing Cordell Walker in the rebooted "Walker, Texas Ranger" series titled "Walker" on The CW.

The network dropped the first-look trailer on Monday featuring the "Supernatural" veteran in the infamous cowboy hat and Ranger badge.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/jared-padalecki-walker-texas-ranger-reboot

IKEA has Christmas trees now!