| | | | | | | Presented By Facebook | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen ·Dec 25, 2020 | | 🦌 Ho, ho, ho! As a buddy texted me this morning: May we find safer harbor in '21. - Thank you for the extreme privilege of these breakfast-table conversations as we live history together. Our kids' kids' kids will tell tales of 2020.
- And thank you to my 200+ clever and hardworking Axios colleagues, whose journalism, business sense and incredible range of gifts make AM possible.
This morning's Smart Brevity™ count: 1,152 words ... 4½ minutes. | | | | | | 1 big thing: The neediest holiday |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | People who once volunteered at food banks are turning to them to feed their families. And millions of others could face homelessness when the CDC's moratorium on evictions expires on Dec. 31, Oriana Gonzalez writes. - Why it matters: If you can help, there are easy ways.
People across the country started setting up GoFundMe accounts for specific needs, like families of infected firefighters in Arlington, Va., and living supplies in San Diego. (Check out GoFundMe to search for others.) - Staten Island residents are buying holiday dinners for needy families through Staten Island 4 Staten Island.
- Restaurants in Lincoln City, Ore., are offering Merry Meals to donate toys and food to their community.
- Mackenzie Scott, formerly married to Jeff Bezos, announced Dec. 15 that she had donated $4 billion over the past four months to 384 nonprofit organizations focused on basic needs.
What you can do: Scott's list of the 384 charities is a great place to start. Thank you for sharing your holiday joy. |     | | | | | | 2. Downtown Nashville bombing "intentional" | | Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP "Nashville authorities believe an explosion that occurred in downtown Nashville early Christmas morning was an 'intentional act'" sparked by a vehicle, The Tennessean reports. - "Police responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle parked outside the AT&T building just before 6 a.m.," near Second Avenue and Commerce Street.
The bomb squad was en route when the vehicle exploded. - Three people were hospitalized. None were in critical condition.
- The damage to downtown buildings was extensive.
Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director, said on CNN: "An explosive device of this size is going to be treated presumptively as an act of terrorism." Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP 🎸 Nashville Mayor John Cooper, live on Fox News: "The tornado, the derecho — the virus, of course. So adding 'explosion' to the list, I guess, somehow seems so 2020." - Cooper then said he was going to deliver biscuits.
| | | | | | | | 3. I've been at this a long time. I've never read a story like this | | President Trump's motorcade arrives yesterday at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP "The Washington Post has been inundated with messages and phone calls from people on the verge of losing their homes and cars and going hungry this holiday who are stunned that President Trump and Congress cannot agree on another emergency aid package," Heather Long and Rachel Siegel report. - "Several broke down crying in phone interviews."
- "[M]ost told The Post they are 'not political people' and are struggling to understand why Congress and the president would be able to celebrate Christmas when 14 million Americans are slated to lose unemployment aid on Saturday, the government is set to shut down on Tuesday, and an eviction moratorium that has prevented millions from losing their homes during a pandemic ends on New Year's Eve."
What I'm hearing: Top Republicans tell me they believe Trump will sign the bill in the nick of time. - But as one wise man with a strong track record told me: "Not clear the conventional wisdom, which has missed everything about Trump since the famous escalator ride, is correct."
| | | | | | | | A message from Facebook | | It's time to update internet regulations | | |  | | | | The internet has changed a lot in 25 years. But the last time comprehensive internet regulations were passed was in 1996. We want updated internet regulations to set clear guidelines for addressing today's toughest challenges. Learn More | | | | | | 4. Pic du jour | | Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images Juliet Babayan (right) waves goodbye to her sister, Violet Bonyad, and caregivers on Christmas Eve after dropping off a present for Violet at the Ararat Nursing Facility in Mission Hills, Calif. | | | | | | | | 5. Christmas at the border |  | | | Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP | | | | Above: A boy, part of several asylum-seeking families at a Las Posadas holiday celebration at the border wall, peers into the U.S. from Agua Prieta, Mexico, as seen from Douglas, Ariz. Nine months after borders closed to nonessential travel, it's Christmas. Families across the world are disconnected, including those trapped on opposite sides of an international border. Some legally can't cross, and others can't afford to endure quarantines if they do. Yet, the holiday spirit persists. Along America's borders with Canada and Mexico, AP photographers found families connecting in smaller, more intimate ways, overcoming unusual obstacles for shared celebrations. Below: A young girl on the Mexico side pushes her doll through the border fence into Arizona. Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP See more photos. | | | | | | | | 6. Fauci's confession: "I can nudge this up a bit" | | President Trump passes Dr. Anthony Fauci after a coronavirus task force briefing on March 26. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Dr. Anthony Fauci has long cited 60% to 70% as the level of COVID infection/vaccination the country would need to achieve herd immunity — for the disease to fade and life to return to normal, writes Donald G. McNeil Jr., the N.Y. Times star reporter "specializing in plagues and pestilences." - "About a month ago, he began saying '70, 75 percent' in television interviews. And last week, in an interview with CNBC News, he said '75, 80, 85 percent' and '75 to 80-plus percent.'"
Why it matters: "In a telephone interview," McNeil continues, "Fauci acknowledged that he had slowly but deliberately been moving the goal posts." - "He is doing so, he said, partly based on new science, and partly on his gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks."
Fauci's confession: When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent ... Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, "I can nudge this up a bit," so I went to 80, 85. We need to have some humility here .... We really don't know what the real number is. I think the real range is somewhere between 70 to 90 percent. But, I'm not going to say 90 percent. Go deeper: Keep reading McNeil's "How Much Herd Immunity Is Enough?" (subscription.) | | | | | | | | 7. Take a sec to call someone who's alone ... | | Photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP ... like Francisca Cano Vila, 80, who was watching TV while eating a cup of yogurt for Christmas Eve dinner at her home in Barcelona, Spain. | | | | | | | | 8. 😎 Take me away: Worthy (free) travel reading |  | | | The Oregon Coast: Tierra del Mar. Photo: Andrew Selsky/AP | | | | There's a new Frommer's travel guide with a COVID twist: It's food for thought, rather than an invitation to hit the road. - Essays from 16 notable writers capture places that helped shape and define America, from coastal Oregon and Solvang, Calif., to Ellis Island and New Hampshire's Black Heritage Trail, AP's Beth Harpaz reports.
Happy armchair galavanting! - Gloria Steinem: Serpent Mound Historical Site, Ohio
- Daniel Okrent: Ellis Island, New York
- David Sedaris: Little America Hotel, Salt Lake City
- Jodi Picoult: Black Heritage Trail, Portsmouth, N.H.
- Lydia Millet: Avra Valley, Ariz.
- Sahar Mustafah: Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, Mich.
- Cheryl Strayed: Oregon Coast
- Susan Choi: Manzanar National Historic Site, Calif.
- Timothy Egan: Acoma Sky City, N.M.
- Arthur and Pauline Frommer: Independence Hall, Philadelphia
- Kim Johnson: National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Ala.
- Rick Atkinson: Washington, D.C.
- Margaret Verble: Fort Gibson, Okla.
- Fannie Flagg: Solvang, Calif.
- Dar Williams: Detroit
- 'TaraShea Nesbit: Hanford Reach National Monument, Washington State
- Cathleen Schine: Kinney-Tabor House, Venice, Calif.
Go deeper ... "Best Places 2021: Great Authors on Our America." This March 23, 1942, photo shows the first arrivals at the Japanese internment camp at Manzanar, Calif., in Owens Valley. Photo: AP | | | | | | | | A message from Facebook | | Internet regulations need an update | | |  | | | | It's been 25 years since lawmakers passed comprehensive internet regulations. But a lot has changed since 1996. We want updated regulations to set clear guidelines for protecting people's privacy, enabling safe and easy data portability between platforms and more. Learn More | | | | 📬 Thanks for sharing Christmas with us. Please invite your friends to sign up for Axios AM/PM. | |
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