The end of the pandemic is in sight  Pfizer is seeking emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S., AP News’ Lauran Neergaard reported. The news service said that the company is starting the clock on a process that could bring limited first shots as early as next month (December 2020) and eventually an end to the pandemic — but not until after a long, hard winter.
In the Wall Street Journal, Jared S. Hopkins also wrote that Pfizer will Seek Authorization of its Covid-19 Vaccine Friday. “Pfizer says it will ask the FDA on Friday to clear the company’s Covid-19 vaccine, a rapid milepost in the vaccine’s development expected to pave the way for distribution in December,” Bojan Pancevski tweeted. Over in England, The Mirror UK had the exclusive on the country’s NHS planning to start Covid vaccination of people under 50 by the end of January, according to Jasmine Rapson. Alastair McLellan added that the vaccine would be opened “to EVERYONE by April,” depending on the arrival of supplies. Covid around the world  For a harrowing, real-time look at the pandemic, we turn once more to The Atlantic’s Ed Yong. This time, he revealed that America's Best-Prepared Hospital Is Nearly Overwhelmed. ”I wrote about UNMC--the hospital that, perhaps more than any other in the US, had prepared for a pandemic. It has amazing facilities. Its staff anticipated, planned, drilled. And now? ‘I don’t see how we avoid becoming overwhelmed,’ one doc said. Hospital staff are *exhausted*. A nurse who normally works in oncology told me she can barely comprehend the amount of death she has seen in recent weeks. Work ‘follows me everywhere I go. It’s all I see when I come home, when I look at my kids.’ This is NOT because the virus is unstoppable. It’s because Trump, Nebraska's governor, and many of its people are not doing the simple things that could stop it. Not even the best-prepared hospital can compensate for an unchecked pandemic,” Yong tweeted.
Across the pond, things are much better with The Guardian’s Pete Pattisson, Ifang Bremer, and Annie Kelly reporting that the UK sourced PPE from factories secretly using North Korean slave labour. “Jesus, I thought this was the week that the government turned a corner,” Matthew Kefford admitted. Callum Burroughs agreed: “😬😳 This has got to be in the top 10 worst days for this government.” Angus MacKinnon said, “Just when I was thinking it was only an utter shambles stained by cronyism and abuse of public funds: UK sourced PPE from factories secretly using North Korean slave labour.” And Ben Woods concluded, “Of course we are. Of course.” Then in the New York Times, read about How Steve Bannon and a Chinese Billionaire Created a Right-Wing Coronavirus Media Sensation via Amy Qin, Vivian Wang, Danny Hakim, and late January. “The making of a misinformation campaign - how Steve Bannon & Guo Wengui transformed an HK researcher into a right-wing virus media sensation. Our look at the growing convergence between the far-right and parts of the Chinese diaspora,” Qin explained. Kara Swisher said of the piece: “This whole story is insane and scary — read to the end.” Trump's actions stay unprecedented  The Washington Post explained that Trump is using the power of the presidency to try to overturn the election and stay in office, Philip Rucker, Amy Gardner, and Josh Dawsey reported.
As part of their Presidential Transition Live Updates, the New York Times published that Tensions Rise as Trump and Allies Attack the Election Process. Nick Corasaniti, Jim Rutenberg, Kathleen Gray, and Maggie Haberman worked together on that update. “For the attention on Wayne County, this fact remains, per the secretary of state: ‘There is no legal mechanism for them to rescind their vote. Their job is done and the next step in the process is for the Board of State Canvassers to meet and certify,’” Nick Corasaniti tweeted. At the AP, Zeke Miller and Christina A. Cassidy wrote Trump targets vote certification in a late bid to block Biden. Michael Tackett tweeted this bit from their story: "Getting nowhere in the courts, President Donald Trump’s scattershot effort to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory is shifting toward obscure election boards that certify the vote." And Jonathan Lemire said, “There is no precedent for the Trump team’s widespread effort to delay or undermine certification. ‘It would be the end of democracy as we know it.’ ‘This is just not a thing that can happen.’” Revealing Trump's election power play, Michael Martina, Karen Freifeld, and Jarrett Renshaw at Reuters wrote that he's trying to Persuade Republican legislators to do what U.S. voters did not. “Multiple Trump campaign officials tell Reuters the president's strategy for staying in power despite losing the election is to persuade state legislatures to do what their voters did not and simply declare him the winner,” Brad Heath tweeted. Apparently, Trump called at least one Michigan election official who's now trying to take back her decision to certify votes in the state's largest county, she said. And he has summoned the leaders of the state legislature to the White House tomorrow. All eyes on Michigan  So yeah, Trump is Targeting Michigan in His Ploy to Subvert the Election, the New York Times made clear with reporting by Maggie Haberman, Jim Rutenberg, Nick Corasaniti, and Reid Epstein. "The few people who have tried to intervene and tell him that it is time to let Mr. Biden begin a transition have been shut down by Mr. Trump," Haberman tweeted from the article. Peter Suderman shared another key quote: "The Republican effort to undo the popular vote is all but certain to fail, as even many Trump allies concede, and it has already suffered near-total defeats in courts in multiple states..."
At Politico, Richard Primus laid out Why Michigan’s Top Legislators Should Cancel that Meeting with Trump. “A meeting with Trump at the White House can have only one purpose. It's a sin to try to steal an election -- and Michigan lawmakers Shirkey and Chatfield should avoid what some theologians call a near occasion of sin,” Walter Olson surmised. Kim Masters just called the entire debacle “incredible.” Corroborating the Reuters report, Washington Post’s Tom Hamburger, Kayla Ruble, and Tim Elfrink explained how Wayne County, Michigan, GOP members of canvassing board have asked to “rescind” their votes certifying the election. Ruble pointed out that the officials did this “...despite the fact that they were legally required to certify Tuesday, formally voted to certify, stamp signed the docs, & sent the records to the state.” Here’s a bit of the article for context: “‘Do they understand how they are making us look as a body?’ Kinloch said of his Republican colleagues’ attempts to back out. ‘We have such an amazing and important role in the democratic process, and they’re turning it on its head.’” Re: the recount in Georgia  Perhaps Trump is focusing so intently on Michigan because Georgia's Historic First Statewide Audit Of Paper Ballots Upholds the Result Of the Presidential Race. That news comes directly from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office, whose audit confirmed that the original machine count accurately portrayed the winner of the election. “Georgia presidential election audit is COMPLETE and the result is confirmed: Joe Biden will be certified Friday by the Georgia Secretary of State as the winner of Georgia's 16 electoral votes.”
Sharing CNN’s Georgia recount: State nearing completion of statewide ballot audit, official says — written by Jason Morris and Maeve Reston — Ethan Harp did point out that “Biden beat Trump by 12,284 votes, according to the final results from the audit. This is a slight drop for Biden compared to the pre-audit results.” Trump's motives stay self-serving Here’s some insight about the stalling of the transition process and Trump’s insistence on continuing to question the results of the election that he lost, via New York Times’ Danny Hakim, Mike McIntire, William K. Rashbaum, and Ben Protess: Trump Tax Write-Offs Are Ensnared in 2 New York Fraud Investigations. Hakim added on Twitter, “Investigations by the New York State AG & the Manhattan DA expand to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees, some of which appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump.” Scott Stedman put it simply: “Trump under criminal tax fraud investigation in New York State involving Ivanka.”  The actor Edward Norton said as much too in this Twitter thread that’s going viral today. “The core of it is that he knows he’s in deep, multi-dimensional legal jeopardy & this defines his every action. We’re seeing 1) a tactical delay of the transition to buy time for coverup & evidence suppression 2) above all, a desperate endgame which is to create enough chaos & anxiety about peaceful transfer of power, & fear of irreparable damage to the system, that he can cut a Nixon-style deal in exchange for finally conceding,” Norton wrote.
 There might be another reason Trump is refusing to concede the election to Joe Biden. As Dana Bash and Gloria Borger reported at CNN, Trump told an ally he's trying to get back at Democrats for questioning the legitimacy of his own election. “Trump told an ally that he knows he lost but is delaying the transition and is trying to sow doubt about election results to get back at Dems for questioning the legitimacy of his own election. What a story,” Katelyn Polantz said.
The bottom line is that whatever his reasons, Trump’s Attempts to Overturn the Election Are Unparalleled in U.S. History, David Sanger summarized in the New York Times. So far, it doesn’t seem to be working because Trump's advisers are distancing themselves from his election legal challenges, Axios’ Jonathan Swan found out. “Most of President Trump's closest advisers have completely distanced themselves from his legal effort and are avoiding his lawyers to avoid being swept into their courtroom dramas,” Swift said on Twitter, adding, “The campaign still has a daily conference call with communications director Tim Murtaugh, battleground director Nick Trainer and lawyers Matt Morgan, Justin Clark and Ellis. Kushner joins occasionally. Giuliani and Powell aren't invited.” Like the beginning of a dark children's parable  Speaking of Giuliani... President Trump’s lawyer pushed conspiracy claims at a press conference, is the headline of Dan Zak and Josh Dawsey’s latest story in the Washington Post. (But, honestly, it could just as easily have been from any other point within the last four years.) This is the press conference where Giuliani had an odd brown substance dripping down the side of his face, seemingly from his hair. “Rudy Giuliani's post-election meltdown starts to become literal. Inside a bizarre day with Trump's lawyers at the RNC that left even some of the president's staunchest allies scratching their heads,” Herman Wong wrote. “Come for ‘My Cousin Vinny,’ stay for the Bernie Kerik cameo. Total Landscaping Redux: 2 Fast 2 Spurious,” Dan Zak tweeted.
Following the very bizarre Giuliani conference, the New York Times was *On It* putting Jonah Bromwich on the story immediately. His reporting revealed that Whatever It Is, It’s Probably Not Hair Dye. “My editors asked me to check whether it was in fact hair dye,” Bromwich admitted. One of the editors, Choire Sicha, shared this line from the piece: "The dark rivulets of liquid streaking down his face had become impossible to ignore, even as he pleaded with those present not to make light of his claims, for which he has yet to present evidence." Clifford Levy tweeted the article with, “About Giuliani’s dripping problem: here’s what hairdressers say.” And Sarah Holder thinks this read “like the beginning of a dark children's parable.” Friday headlines  Politico’s Robert Faturechi and Justin Elliott unveiled that Georgia Senator David Perdue Privately Pushed for a Tax Break for Rich Sports Teamowners. The news organization tweeted that “It’s unclear why Senator Perdue was interested in tax regulation that would impact only a tiny set of the richest Americans.”
Yesterday afternoon, news broke that BuzzFeed would Acquire HuffPost in Stock Deal With Verizon Media via a Wall Street Journal exclusive by Ben Mullin and Keach Hagey. Adriana Lacy called it, “Big news: BuzzFeed is acquiring Verizon Media’s HuffPo, the companies said, uniting two large digital media players in a sector looking to jumpstart growth.” Jeremy Berke reacted with “Wow.” And Ernie Smith wasted no time coming up with “HuffFeed.” “It’s here!” Anna Dubenko said of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2020. The list is the work of Riku Onda, Michele Harper, Sahar Mustafah, and Carl Safina. Motoko Rich announced with “For your reading pleasure.” William J. Broad tweeted, “At last: The wonders of the NYT 100.” | 
Yesterday, we asked: After David Byrne’s American Utopia, Spike Lee is tackling the traditional movie musical genre with his next project, which will be a musical about the origin story of what?
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