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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The Georgia Runoff elections for Senate are today, giving the Democrats a big chance to tie up the Senate at 50-50 with VP Kamala Harris as the deciding vote. Here’s where things stand as polls open.

Meanwhile, the UK re-enters widespread lockdown as a more contagious version of the virus spreads -- and New York City detects its first case of the same strain.

And lastly, the Proud Boys are introduced to the consequences of their actions, as the historic black church they vandalized in DC files a lawsuit and their founder is arrested on the same night.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Today is the day: Democrats Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will face incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the Georgia runoff elections. This is basically winner-take-all for both parties, although all the Republicans have to do to preserve their majority in the Senate is win one seat.

Still! There is hope. Going into election day, both Warnock and Ossoff have a slight lead over their respective opponents, according to the latest polls on 538. So for whatever that’s worth, we’re looking pretty good!

Keep in mind, of course, that neither candidate is expected to be a progressive trailblazer. But if the Biden administration wants to be able to accomplish basically anything in the next four years the Democrats are going to need the Senate to swing their way.

The other good news is that the GOP is in absolute disarray after Trump’s idiotic, chaotic call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Half of the party, including Georgia’s own Qanon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, is doubling down on Trump’s wildly dumb conspiracy theories about the election, while the marginally smarter half is frantically trying to move on and face the reality of the runoff election.

Trump flew down to Georgia on Monday night for one of his typical rallies to try to juice up his crowd. But early voting numbers are promising for Democrats too -- turnout in the solid-blue Atlanta area has been particularly high, which is an encouraging sign for both candidates trying to flip the seats.

We’ll be tracking this one all day, to be sure -- Sam and the gang will have more updates for you in the full show later.

UK Goes Back to Lockdown

Meanwhile, as the U.S. botches its vaccine rollout, a more infectious strain of the coronavirus is spreading in the United Kingdom.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has put both England and Scotland on similar national lockdowns in the past few days as cases continue to spike, closing schools and instructing residents to stay home for all but essential trips and errands.

Remember: this is the same strain we discussed before the holidays, which has a higher transmission rate but fortunately isn’t resistant to the vaccine.

Britain is essentially in a race right now to get their population vaccinated and break the spread of this new strain before their healthcare systems get too overloaded.

The bad news is the U.S. may be in for a similar situation. Our health networks are already stretched thin, and on Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed that his state had detected its first case of the more infections strain. Other cases have already cropped up in California and Florida, whose hospital systems are under particular stress.

The CDC guidelines for this strain are the same as the normal coronavirus, of course: keep wearing your masks and washing your hands.

Proud Boys Reap What They Sowed

The racist, fascist militia called the Proud Boys may finally be facing some real consequences for its actions.

Back in December, the Proud Boys gathered in DC for a rally in support of Donald Trump’s ludicrous election conspiracies. During the inevitable chaos that followed, members of the group tore down and burned a Black Lives Matter banner hanging on a historically black church in the area. The Church, Metropolitan AME, is now suing the organization.

To top things off, the Proud Boys current leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested on criminal charges on Monday evening, largely because he was dumb enough to claim responsibility for burning the banner on a podcast days after the event. He said on the podcast quote:

“In the burning of the BLM sign, I was the one that lit it on fire. I was the person that went ahead and put the lighter to it and engulfed it in flames, and I am damn proud that I did.”

Endquote.

Tarrio can now be damn proud about his actions from inside a jail cell, as the Washington Post reported that he was arrested and charged by DC police on Monday night for destruction of property as well as two felony firearms charges for high capacity gun magazines the cops found in his car when they pulled him over.

Tarrio lives in Florida, but was in DC for a similar rally in support of the President. Looks like he might not make this one! What a drag.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

A British judge rejected the United States’ request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on espionage charges, openly citing the fact that harsh prison conditions in the U.S. could cause Assange to commit suicide. The judge did not, however, agree with Assange’s defense that he was being politically persecuted by the U.S. government, meaning the ruling is a bit of a mixed bag for Assange’s supporters.

Haven, the dystopian venture started by Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway in order to disrupt the healthcare industry, announced that it would be shutting down after just three years of doing.. Well... not a whole lot. It’s almost as if putting billionaires in charge of the nation’s healthcare isn’t the best system!

In incredibly stupid incoming Congressperson news, DC police are in contact with newly minted GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, who has vowed to carry her Glock handgun in DC and into Congress. In fact, bringing a gun to Capitol Hill was one of her core campaign promises.

And finally, Arizona teachers are resigning at an alarming rate. One thousand and seventy two have quit their jobs since the beginning of this school year, which is a sharp spike from the 758 that had resigned by this point in the 2019-2020 school year.

That’s it for the majority report’s Am Quickie today! Stay tuned for the full show with Sam this afternoon.

JAN 5, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn