Another action-packed year has come and gone for this here website thingy, which in a few months will mark its 17th anniversary. I want to sincerely thank all of you, longtime JMG flying monkeys and newbies alike, for being here during what for many of us will be the most memorable year of our lives, if not also the worst. …

What to watch while housebound on New Year’s Eve: 8 PM & 9:30 PM Eastern United in Song: Celebrating the Resilience of America: Tony winners Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell, Tony nominees Renée Fleming, Anna Deavere Smith, and Josh Groban, and many more artists join the American Pops Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra in the 90-minute concert broadcast …

CNN reports: Two Republican members of the House of Representatives tell CNN that they expect at least 140 of their GOP colleagues in the House to vote against counting the electoral votes on January 6 when Congress is expected to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Among the more than one dozen Republican House members who have already publicly said they’ll …

The Washington Post reports: Vice President Pence late Thursday asked for a lawsuit that aimed to expand his power to use a congressional ceremony to overturn the presidential election be dismissed, arguing that he was not the right person to sue over the issue. The filing will come as a disappointment to supporters of President Trump, who hoped that Pence …

Axios reports: In an extraordinary conference call this morning with fellow Senate Republicans, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said his Jan. 6 vote certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election will be “the most consequential I have ever cast,” according to a source on a call and two other sources briefed on the private remarks. His remarks to his conference …

Politico reports: New York City will launch a campaign to vaccinate a million residents for the coronavirus in January, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. “This city can do it,” the mayor said. “The amazing health care professionals of this city are ready. We’re going to set up new sites all over the city, on top of the many, many …

Milwaukee’s NBC News affiliate reports: Grafton Police have arrested the Aurora Health Care pharmacist who intentionally spoiled more than 500 doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, officials said. He has been arrested on charges of first degree recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug, and criminal damage to property. He is currently held at the Ozaukee County jail. …

Cleveland’s ABC News affiliate reports: With a swift signature, Gov. Mike DeWine made Senate Bill 27 into law Wednesday. It’s a law that requires any aborted fetal tissue to be buried or cremated. Any woman who is getting an abortion can choose what she wants to do with the remains, and if she doesn’t want to choose, then the clinic …

Fox News reports: Republicans in Georgia say they’ve recruited more than 8,000 volunteers in the state to serve as poll watchers for next week’s twin Senate runoff elections, where the GOP majority in the Senate is at stake. The combined effort by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is the re-election arm of the Senate GOP; the Republican National Committee; …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: LGBTQ people in North Carolina can no longer be prevented from getting domestic violence protective orders, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. North Carolina had been the only state in the country to withhold emergency protections from people seeking protection from abuse by a same-sex partner. That kind of protection is offered to …

CNBC reports: Sen. David Perdue of Georgia is quarantining after contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, his campaign said Thursday, less than a week before the Republican’s runoff election against Jon Ossoff. His runoff against Ossoff is one of two runoffs in Georgia that will determine whether Republicans or Democrats have majority control over the U.S. Senate in …

Bloomberg News reports: U.S. President Donald Trump’s golf business in northeast Scotland extended losses and warned about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and Britain’s departure from the European Union. Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd., which operates a course in Aberdeenshire, reported a net loss of 1.1 million pounds ($1.5 million) for 2019 after losing 1.07 million pounds the …

The Washington Post reports: Protests planned in support of President Trump on Jan. 6 are multiplying by the week. Formal rallies are planned most of the day and will draw pro-Trump demonstrators to the Washington Monument, Freedom Plaza and the Capitol. But online forums and encrypted chat messages among far-right groups indicate a number of demonstrators might be planning more …

Mediaite reports: Less than three weeks before his departure from the White House, President Donald Trump is taking one more victory lap for what he views as his accomplishments during 2020. “Over and over again, we were told it would be impossible to deliver a vaccine by the end of the year,” Trump said. “All of the experts said, ‘Absolutely …

ABC News reports: A family is outraged over a video of a Niles pastor seemingly blaming their family member’s – and one of his parishioners – COVID-19 death on a lack of faith. Michiana Christian Embassy previously held a funeral service for Les Tom, but now, Lead Pastor Rev. Jeffrey Whittaker’s Dec. 13 sermon is adding to the family’s heartache. …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: Fred Piccolo, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ communications director, has resigned from the governor’s office, a move he said was planned before he deleted his Twitter account shortly after his controversial Christmas Eve tweet about COVID-19 victims. Piccolo, who was named DeSantis’s chief spokesman in July, said he will move over to the state Department of Education …

From the right wing Washington Examiner: President Trump promised in the 2016 campaign to eliminate the federal debt over a two-term presidency. That pledge won’t come to fruition, and, in fact, he will leave office having added massively to the debt. “His tenure has been marked by a total disregard for any concern about mounting debt,” said Jim Capretta, a …

Law & Crime reports: Attorney L. Lin Wood may believe himself to be a vessel of the second coming, and he’s not referring to another Donald Trump presidential term. That’s what Wood’s former law partners wrote in a legal brief quoting what they describe as recorded conversations proving that the lawyer gunning to overturn the 2020 election has a habit …

NPR reports: Michael Pack’s stormy tenure over the federal agency that oversees government-funded broadcasters abroad — including Voice of America — appears to be coming to a close. Yet President Trump’s appointee has sparked an internal outcry by taking bold steps to try to cement his control over at least two of the networks and shape the course of their …

Politico reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a stand-alone vote on $2,000 stimulus checks after the new Congress is sworn in next week. The remarks from the South Carolina Republican break with the public posture of his party’s top Washington lawmaker and come just a day after McConnell rejected the proposed payment …