Sick Transition on Inglorious Monday: President-elect Joe Biden said yesterday that “more people may die” of the coronavirus if President Trump refuses to cooperate with the transition of power and planning for distribution of the new vaccine.

  “If we have to wait until Jan. 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind,” Biden said. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate.”

  Biden’s remarks came as Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien basically admitted his boss lost the election. 

  The President-elect said, “The vaccine is important. But it’s of no use until you’re vaccinated.”

  Getting a little tougher with his rhetoric, Biden said, “We are going into a very dark winter. Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier. And that requires sparing no effort to fight Covid.”

Viral News: State and local governments are digging deeper trenches as the coronavirus renews its attack on the country.

  Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, who previously dismissed precautions, ordered that residents be required to wear masks while indoors and unable to practice social distancing. He also ordered restaurants and bars to close at 10 pm, and that indoor gatherings, including weddings and funerals, be limited to 15 people. 

  Philadelphia has imposed a ban on indoor gatherings, dining, and youth sports. High schools and colleges will have to return to remote learning until the end of the year. Chicago issued a stay-at-home advisory. In the Southwest, the Navajo Nation issued a three-week stay-at-home order.

  And the NCAA will confine its basketball tournament to one city at the end of the season.

  Another 1,005 deaths were reported in the US yesterday. As President Trump said, we’re rounding the corner on the virus, rounding the corner on 250,000 deaths. 

The Long Count: Election officials in Georgia discovered 2,600 previously uncounted ballots, not enough to change the outcome of the vote in favor of Joe Biden, but more than enough to feed President Trump’s claim of conspiracy. 

  Trump tweeted yesterday, “I won the Election!” and “The Fake recount going on in Georgia means nothing because they are not allowing signatures to be looked at and verified.”

  Georgia is performing a hand recount of 5 million votes cast on November 3^rd.  Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told The Washington Post that he and his wife have come under death threats. He said one text message read, “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.”

   Some counties have already reported that their hand recounts exactly match the machine numbers previously reported. The newly-discovered 2,600 votes were on a memory stick that had not been uploaded to the system and so far the new count has shaved less than 800 votes off Biden’s lead  of 14,000.

  Florida Sen. Marco Rubio last night became only the fifth Republican senator referring to Joe Biden as president-elect.

  NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd compares Trump to the faded delusional movie star Norma Desmond in the classic, “Sunset Boulevard,” lured down the staircase for her final closeup. “Mr. DeMille just called, Mr. President,” Dowd writes. “He says he’s ready for your close-up. Keep your pancake makeup on and step on out of the house now. The cameras will be waiting.”

Last Moves: While denying he lost, Donald Trump is making what appear to be his last moves as President, opening federal land to oil drilling and drawing down troops in conflict zones. 

 Military commanders are preparing to get the order as soon as this week to begin further withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq before Trump leaves office on January 20th. The Pentagon has issued a notice to commanders known as a “warning order” to begin planning to drawdown the number of soldiers in Afghanistan to 2,500 and 2,500 in Iraq by Jan 15th. 

  The administration is also moving quickly to sell leases for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. That’s always been a goal of Trump’s oil and coal energy policy.

The Bulletin Board: The SpaceX capsule has safely docked with the International Space Station, delivering four astronauts for a six month stay. — Stocks hit a new high on news of coronavirus vaccines with the Dow Jones nearly reaching  a record 30,000.   

Sleepless in the White House: New scientific research indicates a link between the development of Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia, and lack of deep sleep. President Trump sleeps four hours a night.

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