Gavel to Adjournment: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she’s sending the article of impeachment against Donald Trump over to the Senate Monday, and Senate leaders agreed to delay opening the trial of the former President until the week of February 8^th.

  The impeachment is a single accusation that Trump incited the January 6th 

Capitol insurrection. 

  Opening the trial next week would have killed time President Biden needs to establish his legislative agenda and win the confirmation of his cabinet appointments. Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he wanted the postponement to give Trump time to establish a defense. There are probably several other motives, but we’ll find out as proceedings unfold.

The Georgia Plot: The NY Times this morning reports a frightening plot hatched by then President Trump in his final days to fire the acting attorney general and install a friendly replacement who would overturn the results of the election in Georgia.

  Trump wanted to oust Jeffrey Rosen and replace him with Jeffrey Clark, who had been devising ways to support Trump’s claims of election fraud. The intent was to have Clark put legal pressure on Georgia officials in a way that Rosen had refused to do.

  The Times says Trump made Rosen and Clark present their cases to him in competition as if it was an episode of “The Apprentice.”

  The Justice Department’s senior officials unanimously agreed that if Trump Replaced Rosen with Clark they would all resign, and that was the end of it.  

Crisis Mode: Declaring that “The crisis is only deepening,” President Biden yesterday signed executive orders to expand food aid for the needy and set the federal minimum wage at $15 an hour. White House officials say there’s a growing hunger crisis for nearly 30 million adults and  12 million children causing long lines at food banks. 

  Another 900,000 people filed for unemployment insurance last week as the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic deepens.

  Biden is calling on Congress to act on a $1.9 trillion stimulus and bailout bill only a month after Congress approved $900 billion. 

  He said, “There is a growing economic consensus that we must act decisively and boldly.” Biden went on, “This cannot be what we are as a country. We cannot, will not let people go hungry. We cannot watch people lose their jobs, and we have to act.”

Viral News: British Prime Minster Boris Johnson warned that the variant of the coronavirus found in his country and now spreading around the world may be more deadly than the original.

  Here in the US, new cases are tapering down, but deaths are running at about 4,000 a day. This morning 414,117 Americans are dead and by tomorrow the US will hit 25 million cases since the pandemic began.

  And while deaths are spiking, distribution centers all over the country are beginning to run out of vaccines. Some are cancelling appointments. 

The Bulletin Board: Retired four-star Army general Lloyd Austin yesterday became the first black Secretary of Defense after being confirmed 93-2 in the Senate. Austin retired in 2016 and needed a waiver of the seven-year rule to return as the civilian defense chief. — Although millions of people were put out of work last year, existing home sales in 2020 rose to their highest level in 14 years and a median price of $296,500, an all-time high, according the National Association of Realtors. That is the highest price on record. — The latest and 25^th in the James Bond movie series, “No Time to Die,” has been belayed a second time. It’s set to open October 10^th, if people can actually go to the theaters. — Former “Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw is formally retiring from NBC New at age 80. Honestly, we didn’t know he was still working.

The Obit Page: Radio and television interviewer Larry King, considered a “legend” of American broadcasting, succumbed to the coronavirus at age 87. He had been in Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles for weeks.

  King had been on the radio for years, but he became a household figure with his long-running show “Larry King Live” on CNN.

  He interviewed movie stars, political leaders, and people of the moment in the news. He became a major figure during the murder trial of former football star OJ Simpson. 

  He believed in short, direct questions that went right to the point. In his gravelly voice, King had a friendly non-confrontative style that lured guests into revealing themselves in ways they might not have with a more belligerent questioner.

>Henry Aaron, the hall of Fame baseball slugger known as “Hammerin’ Hank” who hit 755 home runs in his career, has died at age 86. Aaron played for 23 seasons, 21 of them with the Braves in Milwaukee and Atlanta.

  Aaron was the object of love and hate, beloved for his game and longevity, and hated by racist baseball fans who couldn’t stand to see a black man break the home run record set by Babe Ruth. Despite receiving hate mail and death threats, Aaron hit number 715 the evening of April 8, 1974 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at home.

  Aaron didn’t have the flash or celebrity of players like Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays. He was a workman of baseball who just kept hitting it year after year after year.

Merry Christmas, Second Notice: Its nearly February and the US Postal Service is still delivering Christmas cards dropped in the mailbox in mid-December. 

  Amidst the crush of online shopping and cost-cutting under the pandemic and Trump administration, the Postal Service ended up with warehouses full of packages, letters, and bills they’re still delivering. Add to that, as many as 14,500 postal employees are under quarantine.

  The service has an answer to all this, a notice on the top of your tracking slip blaming ” unprecedented volume increases and limited employee availability due to the impacts of COVID-19.”

  It will still be Christmas for weeks to come.

-30-