IN TRANSITION: Vice President Kamala Harris gracefully did yesterday what Donald Trump tried to prevent four years ago, presiding over certification of the presidential vote and paving the way for Trump to return to the White House.

  Walking through the Capitol rotunda, Harris said to reporters, “Democracy must be upheld by the people.”

  The Capitol was on lockdown for the proceeding with stepped up security. Republicans cheered with the announcement of every state that went for Trump and Democrats for every state that went for Harris. 

  Trump cheered for himself on his Truth Social website saying, “CONGRESS CERTIFIES OUR GREAT ELECTION VICTORY TODAY — A BIG MOMENT IN HISTORY. MAGA!”

  The President-to-be also whined that “Biden is doing everything possible to make the TRANSITION as difficult as as (sic) possible, from Lawfare such as has never been seen before, to costly and ridiculous Executive Orders on the Green New Scam and other money wasting Hoaxes. Fear not, these “Orders” will all be terminated shortly, and we will become a Nation of Common Sense and Strength. MAGA!!!”

IN DENIAL: The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s New York criminal fraud conviction yesterday turned down the President-elect’s appeal to once again delay the sentencing that’s now scheduled for Friday.

  Trump is likely to appeal to the next level because he does not want to be inaugurated as the first felon to occupy the oval office. Although Judge Juan Merchan has signaled that he will place no penalty on Trump, sentencing is what certifies the conviction and makes Trump officially a felon.

OH CANADA !!: With dwindling support after nine years in office, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he will step down from his office and leadership of the Liberal Party as soon as replacements are elected.

  Trudeau said in his announcement in the capital Ottawa that “Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians.”  He shut down Parliament until March 24th to allow his party to pick a new leader.

  Trudeau rose to power on promises to fight climate change and aid Canada’s indigenous population, among other causes, but he fell like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the high cost of living.

  Whoever follows will have to deal with Donald Trump’s threat to place crippling tariffs on imports from Canada as well as his belittling insult that Canada should become the 51^st state. 

  Trump posted yesterday on his Truth Social website that, “If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!”

RUDY AWAKENING: Former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was held in contempt yesterday by a New York judge for failing to turn over financial information to two George election workers he falsely accused of vote-switching following the 2020 election. The two women, a mother and daughter, are trying to collect on a $150 million defamation judgement.

  The contempt finding comes less than two weeks before a trial in which Giuliani will argue to keep a $3.5 million Palm Beach condo which he says is now his home. Giuliani claimed he withheld information because he suspected that the plaintiff lawyers were going to misuse the discovery process to their advantage. 

  Judge Lewis Liman said if Giuliani had suspicions he needed to take that to the court but, “It was not an excuse to take the law into his own hands.” 

BIG CHILL: A winter storm dumped up to seven inches of snow on Washington, DC, a city with a shortage of snowplows that thinks it’s part of the South. Schools were closed and Ronald Reagan airport was closed for hours last night to allow runway clearance.

  The giant Pandas at the National Zoo became television stars as they rolled and played in the snow.

  The storm is expected to be followed by a deep chill in the central and eastern US for the remainder of the week. 

IN REPOSE: The body of former President Jimmy Carter travels to the Capitol today to lie in repose in advance of a state funeral on Thursday.

THE OBIT PAGE: James Lee Williams, a drag queen known by the stage name The Vivienne who won the inaugural season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK,” died this past weekend at age 32. No cause was given.

  Williams, who used gender neutral pronouns, took the stage name because they loved dressing in Vivienne Westwood clothes.  They were known to have done a great impersonation of Donald Trump.

THE SPIN RACK: President and Mrs. Biden were in New Orleans yesterday to meet with families of the people killed in the New Year’s Day truck attack. News broke yesterday that the city knew since 2019 that the protective bollards for Bourbon Street were inadequate and now the barriers are under emergency reconstruction in advance of the Super Bowl. — Pope Francis named Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, bishop of San Diego and an advocate for migrants, to be the next archbishop of Washington, right in Donald Trump’s face. — A patient over age 65 in Louisiana has become the first human known to have died of bird flu in the US. Virus samples taken from the patient, who was not identified by sex, had mutations that might help it more easily infect humans. Authorities say there’s still no evidence of human to human transmition. — At least 95 people are reported to have died in a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Tibet. The numbers of dead in these events usually grow in the following days. — Two bodies were found yesterday inside the landing gear well of a JetBlue plane that flew from New York City to Florida.

BELOW THE FOLD: The McDonald’s chain announced  new “McValue” cheaper menu items that are still McBad for you.

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