Out d’Coup | Record COVID Deaths; Pfizer Vaccine; No COVID Relief; Biden and NAACP; Newsmax Beats Fox; Texas Sues Democracy; Wolf Has COVID; Fetterman Tweets; Artemis News; Starship Boom; Free Will

It’s official. More people died from COVID-19 yesterday than died in the 9/11 attacks. 3,067 died yesterday. Daily deaths are now higher than any time during the pandemic. 

The FDA is set to approve the Pfizer vaccine today after an independent panel gave it the thumbs up yesterday. 

Turns out the Trump administration under ordered the Pfizer vaccine. 

A relief package is nowhere to be found as Mitch McConnell demands that corporations be freed from all liability for putting employees and consumers at risk during the pandemic. The AP reports that “an emerging $900 billion COVID-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers all but collapsed Thursday after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republican senators won’t support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal.” Apparently, McConnell plans to hold Americans hostage until gets his top priority corporate liability shield. 

Ryan Grim of The Intercept published audio of a contentious and at times cringe-worthy meeting between Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Civil Rights leaders from the NAACP. Biden recycled unsubstantiated claims that “defund the police” caused Democrats to lose House seats, scolded attendees for suggesting he take bold administrative action, and shouted that he was the only one who ran on healing the soul of America. 

In our continued decent into the the world of Mad Max, water futures will soon be traded on Wall Street for the first time just like oil and gold. The marketization of water scarcity is made possible by the 2-year-old Nasdaq Veles California Water Index. What could go wrong? 

Denmark announces an end to oil exploration as it turns away from fossil fuels. 

The Texas attorney general and 18 other attorneys general are appealing the the Supreme Court to throw out the votes from the swing states that voted for Biden. A brief filed by Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro called the lawsuit a “seditious abuse of the judicial process” and urged the justices to “send a clear and unmistakable signal that such abuse must never be replicated.” Trump wants Ted Cruz to argue the case. 

And for the first time, Newsmax got higher ratings than Fox News. And it is reported that Newsmax is trying to poach Fox news employees with higher salaries and benefits.

Governor Wolf announces new COVID restrictions one day after he announced that he tested positive for the virus. 

The National Guard is called it to assist in Mount Saint Macrina Manor nursing home in Uniontown, PA nursing home as cases spike. 

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is feeling bad for the simps. 

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward told the New York Times that “her house would be bombed” if she didn’t put her name on that letter asking Congress to overturn the Pennsylvania election.

Who are you going to call when stealing an election?  GHOSTBUSTERS!  That’s right.  It turns out one of Rudy Giuliani’s star witnesses happened to be a ghost hunter and it gets worse from there. Jesse Richard Morgan was the self proclaimed ghost hunter Rudy named in his lawsuit and it turns out that Morgan has a long criminal record that includes trying to poison his girlfriend while she was eating pizza.  Gotta exercise those demons somehow. 

Bethlehem brewery owner says he’ll stay open in the face of new COVID restrictions. Seven Siren’s Brewing Company co-owner Joshua Drivers told LehighValleyLive “We’re just not shutting our doors.” Having just opened in 2020 - just 28 days before the pandemic hit, the brewery did not qualify for any local, state, or federal aid. “Put it this way,” Drivers said, “if we close down for three weeks, we lose everything. We don’t close down for three weeks, we can lose everything.” These are the kind of choices small businesses across the country are being forced to make in the face of an incompetent federal gov’t response to the pandemic. 

Former owner of the Central Penn Business Journal - Dave Schankweiler - is gearing up to run for mayor of Harrisburg.  The out-of-town Republican turned Democrat hired a conservaitve firm to handle messaging and media & the design of his logo, which strikingly resembles the pornhub logo. 

NASA announces the 18 astronauts tapped for the Artemis mission to the moon. The team of nine men and nine women is also one of the most diverse groups of astronauts ever assembled. 

SpaceX’s Starship SN8 test was explosive. Literally. 

Do alien’s exist?  Former director of the Isreali space program thinks so!

Free Will has got some awesome stuff available for the holidays. I just picked up four packs of their Black Current Chocolate Mash, Pumpkin Pie Mash, Special Cookie, and Under Dawn’s Red Sun. I’ll tell you all about them in today’s Last Call.