Dems sweep. Georgia runoff victories for Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock give the Democrats total control of Congress.
■ Warnock—a public housing kid who became his family’s first college graduate—becomes the state’s first-ever Black senator.
■ The AP explains how Democrats did it.
■ The Senate’s Democratic turn brings new pressure for a Supreme Court justice to retire.
And now the spotlight pivots from Georgia back to D.C. Updating coverage: What normally would be routine—confirmation of Joe Biden’s Electoral College presidential victory—goes to Congress.
■ PolitiFact explains in detail what’s supposed to happen: “There is basically zero chance the objections will change the outcome” …
■ … which hasn’t stopped President Trump from pressing Vice President Pence to try.
■ Chants of “Traitor!” followed Utah Sen.—and ex-Republican candidate for president—Mitt Romney yesterday on his flight to Washington, where he said he’d vote to certify Joe Biden’s win.
■ Amid speculation Trump plans to flee to Scotland before Biden’s inauguration, Scotland’s leader says uh-uh: “We are not allowing people to come in … without an essential purpose … and that would apply to him.”
■ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg draws a line from the Confederacy to Trump: “They lost in 1865, lost in 2020. Evil always loses, eventually.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
■ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign political science professor Nicholas Grossman is less nuanced: “F*** You, Ted Cruz, you un-American, anti-democracy, lying sack of sh*t.”
‘This will be historic.’ Politico Illinois says Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s quest for reelection likely won’t make the 60-vote threshold in private—in which case the process will happen in public.
■ The number of women considering challenging Madigan is growing.
‘There must be an exponential increase.’ Mayor Lightfoot says Chicago’s not getting enough COVID-19 vaccination doses fast enough.
■ The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci: Now that “the glitches have been worked out,” a million shots a day is on the horizon.
■ The Tribune: Early doses of the vaccine meant for front-line health care workers have been going to Chicago researchers working at home.
■ Phil Kadner in the Sun-Times: “No one seems to know how this is going to work.”
■ The Smithsonian Institution wants to preserve your account of how your life changed in 2020.‘Oh, s—. F—.’ Long-withheld video shows a Chicago police officer’s reaction after his SUV hit and severely hurt a 32-year-old woman in November 2019.
■ Mayor Lightfoot says she wishes she’d done things differently when she learned of a botched police raid in which an innocent woman was handcuffed naked in her home.
■ The Chicago City Council is considering a plan to cut hundreds of millions from the police department’s budget.
■ Kenosha, Wisconsin, didn’t erupt last night after a prosecutor declined to charge a white cop who in August shot and paralyzed Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back—paralyzing him from the waist down.
■ The ACLU of Wisconsin reacts: “This officer will continue with his career with the mistaken belief that he has done no wrong. … Today, justice was not served.”
Pfleger accused. Facing a complaint he sexually abused a minor, rabble-rousing Father Michael Pfleger is at least temporarily out of his leadership role at Chicago’s St. Sabina Church.
■ Pfleger on Facebook: “I am devastated, hurt and yes angry.”
Dead again. TV and movie star Tanya Roberts’ death has been confirmed, this time apparently accurately.
■ Music impresario Dr. Dre says he’s “doing great” in the hospital after reportedly suffering a brain aneurysm.
Macy’s retreat. Ending a 45-year run, the company’s shuttering its Water Tower store …
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