HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Profs argue Georgia runoffs are racist.

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IF IT ISN’T SUBJECT TO SCRUTINY, IT ISN’T SCIENCE: New Transparency Rule Ends EPA Reliance on ‘Secret Science.’

BLUE STATE UPDATE: Inevitable: NY Governor And Mayor Now Infighting Over Vaccination Incompetence.

SO STILL WAITING ON GEORGIA. Notable that Fox isn’t rushing to call it this time. Still possible for GOP to pull one out, but every time I see a photo of Fulton County ballot counting I get a bad feeling.

For the people in the comments complaining about lack of coverage, well, I could do clickbait posts every time some county reports, but I don’t see the value. It will be what it will be, and breathlessly reporting each little snippet doesn’t change that.

UPDATE: Live Updates: Senate control down to close Perdue-Ossoff race after Democrat Warnock wins.

SHOCKER: Peru Has The Toughest Lockdown in the World, Still Ended Up with the Worst Fatality Rate.

LOCKDOWN NATION: These three states have the worst Covid infection rates of anywhere in the world. “Arizona currently has the highest per-capita rate of new Covid-19 infections, with 785 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, followed closely by California and Rhode Island.”

California is under some of the strictest controls in the nation, Arizona has a statewide curfew among other restrictions, and Rhode Island has extended its lockdown orders until January 28.

PAUL BEDARD: Jan. 6 protest plan: Challenge ballot fraud, voting law mischief, reelect Trump.

YOU DON’T SAY: Trans Women Still Have Athletic Advantage Over Women After Year Of Hormone Therapy.

THAT’S BECAUSE THEY HAVE A LOT TO HIDE: China blocks entry to WHO team studying Covid’s origins.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: 84 Lawmakers Stand Up for Allowing Their Own Guns at Capitol.

JIM TREACHER: Mr. Bean Must Be Stopped Before He Defends Free Speech Again.

As with John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson is discovering that the revolution eventually devours its own.

THE GREAT DIAMOND HOAX OF 1872: If you’ve ever been to NW Colorado, you may have seen Diamond Peak. If you’ve wondered if there are diamonds there, the answer, sadly, is no. But there is a story—one the San Francisco Chronicle called “the most gigantic and barefaced swindle of the age.”

It concerns two prospectors (or, more accurately, two grifters)—the flamboyant Philip Arnold, a Kentuckian born in the same county as Honest Abe Lincoln, and his taciturn cousin John Slack. Arnold had worked for a short while at the Diamond Drill Co. During that period, he had “acquired” a number of uncut industrial-grade diamonds. The diamonds were not especially valuable, but they looked impressive—enough so to thrill several San Francisco investors.

The cousins had a knack for causing such thrills. They told investors that they had found a huge diamond deposit. They appeared concerned—almost overly concerned—about keeping the location of their find secret. This only intrigued investors.

There’s a reason they called this the “Great” Diamond Hoax. Arnold and Slack could have taken the initial relatively modest amounts they were given as investments and run. But instead they traveled to London under assumed names, purchased more uncut diamonds and returned to San Francisco with more “proof” of their find. The list of willing investors grew and grew. It included Charles Tiffany, General George B. McClellan, and General (and Congressman) Benjamin Butler, among many other prominent citizens of the day.

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CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Ohio Governor Signs Gun Bill Eliminating Duty to Retreat.

FIRST, THEY REQUIRE GASOLINE ENGINES SO COMPLEX YOU CAN BARELY WORK ON THEM, THEN… Massachusetts to Ban Sale of New Gas-Powered Vehicles by 2035.

‘CARE NOW HAS TO BE RATIONED:’ Los Angeles COVID-19 spike is crushing hospitals.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: The Real 2020 Plague Is This Election That Never Ends. “For just a little while last night I was hoping that I would have something definitive to share with you about the Georgia runoff elections by the time I put this Briefing to bed for publication. A pipe dream, I know, but if I ever stop being a dreamer it will be a quick trip to standing in line at the grocery store buying nothing but discount vodka and cat food.”

Related: Results still coming in.

NEWSWEEK: Communist China Is Preparing To Eat Joe Biden’s Lunch.

IN PRAISE OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TRANSACTIONAL DIPLOMACY:

Until the Trump administration began its experiment in 21st-century American transactional diplomacy, “intractable international problems” dismayed, vexed and bamboozled establishment diplomats, whether they hailed from Washington’s Beltway morass, U.N. agencies or cachet townhouses in European capitals.

Wait…trying to recall the Glenn and Ed phrase…ah…yes..read the whole thing.

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LIVE GEORGIA ELECTION RUNOFF RESULTS: Senate Majority Hangs in the Balance.

(Bumped.)

FLASHBACK: The New Conservatives are Taking to the Streets.