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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The Supreme Court unceremoniously shot down an attempt by Trump’s lackeys to overturn Pennsylvania’s election results, denying their requested injunction with no noted dissent, not even from Trump’s handpicked justices. Better luck next time!

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin claims he’s presented Nancy Pelosi with a stimulus bill, and we have a few details as to what might be in it. Long story short? It’s something, but not nearly enough.

And lastly, Mega-soulless consulting firm McKinsey issues a rare apology for its role in perpetuating the opioid epidemic when it helped Purdue Pharma push OxyContin sales across the country, promising

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Despite the fact that Donald Trump got to pick three of its members, the Supreme Court does not seem inclined to do him any favors in stealing the 2020 election.

On Tuesday, the court abruptly denied a petition filed by the President’s allies to request an injunction and potentially overturn Joe Biden’s win in Pennsylvania, one of many such bogus legal challenges. And when we say abruptly, we mean abruptly. Here is the entire text of the court’s response. Quote:

“The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied.” endquote.

There’s no reason given and not even a whimper of dissent from Trump’s supposed ringers on the court. To give him credit though, he certainly tried, saying on Tuesday afternoon quote:

“Now, let’s see whether or not somebody has the courage, whether it’s a legislator or legislatures, or whether it’s a justice of the Supreme Court, or a number of justices of the Supreme Court — let’s see if they have the courage to do what everybody in this country knows is right.” Endquote.

While this probably isn’t the final say on the Trump camp’s raft of legal sewage, it does indicate that the Supreme Court can see which way the wind is blowing and isn’t willing to get its hands dirty on Trump’s account. That’s a welcome relief for everyone hoping for an actual transfer of

power in January, but it bears mentioning that Kavanaugh, Coney Barrett and the like are probably just doing this to save their own careers, not out of any sense of duty to the Republic. Still, we’ll take the wins we can get.

Mnuchin Offers Crumbs of a Bailout

Trump’s Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin has approached Nancy Pelosi with his proposal for a $916 billion relief plan. Bloomberg reports that the plan is essentially a joint proposal from the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, which puts the ball once again in the Speaker of the House’s court.

What Mnuchin’s offering, of course, is the crumbs. But here’s what’s on the table all the same.

The proposed bill does include another round of direct payments, but this time only $600 for every American. And it also eliminates the $300 a week expanded unemployment benefits, with some exceptions. It’s got $160 billion for state aid and $100 billion for educational aid, but what it also has is the corporate liability protections the GOP has been pushing in ever single relief bill thus far.

To make matters worse, Mnuchin’s bill links the liability protections to the state and local aid money that Democrats desperately want, giving them a Sophie’s choice of either taking both the corporate gift and the local aid or throwing them both out.

In other words, not exactly helpful.

Democrats don’t seem enthused by the plan so far, with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer saying that removing unemployment benefits doesn’t really make sense right now. This plan broke late on Tuesday night, so we’ll see what Pelosi has to say today.

McKinsey Apologizes for Doing Evil Thing

And finally, another update in the years-long effort to hold companies accountable for the opioid epidemic. In a statement on Tuesday, soulless consulting giant and former Pete Buttigieg employer McKinsey Consulting admitted that its work with Purdue pharmaceuticals fell short of its own standards. That’s a pretty low bar, considering the company’s history helping to do everything from fix bread prices to overthrow governments.

The apology comes as court proceedings continue to mount over Purdue’s bankruptcy claim. The New York Times reported last month that McKinsey, while consulting for Purdue, brainstormed ways for the company to “turbocharge” OxyContin sales, proposing that it pay distributors rebates for overdoses linked to the pills they sold.

Court documents also revealed two McKinsey goons discussing whether or not to purge records relating to Purdue, which is probably the impetus that led the company to try to apologize things

away. As yet, McKinsey hasn’t been sued, but if there’s any justice in the world, they’ll catch one soon. It’s now promising a quote “full review of the work in question” endquote, and says that it will work with authorities. It’s about as clear of a “sorry, you got us, please let us go with a warning” as you’ll see in the corporate world.

The depressing part is often, that kind of cop-out works. We’ll see if McKinsey wriggles free on this one soon.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

Joe Biden’s Administration announced on Tuesday that it would create a position for an official whose job is specifically to reach Conservatives. The only question is, how will we be able to tell the difference between them and any other Biden appointee?

The first people in the UK received coronavirus vaccines today, all high risk individuals like the elderly and healthcare workers. One of the first recipients was, implausibly, an 81 year old man named William Shakespeare.

But meanwhile, the pandemic continues to rage in the U.S. California in particular is in dire straits, with an average of 21,000 new cases every day. Joe Biden announced he would get 100 million vaccines in the arms of Americans in his first 100 days in office, but that will be much to late for thousands suffering in the mean time.

And finally, during a press conference on Monday, one of Rep. Louie Gohmert’s teeth appeared to fall out of his mouth, or at least out of the part of his mouth where teeth should be. There is video online -- look it up at your own risk.

DEC 9, 2020 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn