UGH: Man arrested after supporting local business during Toronto lockdown has reportedly taken his own life.

CHANGE: Black Georgia Democrat State Rep. Vernon Jones Switches Parties.

CURVE, BENT: With no lockdown or mask mandate, Florida has roughly same hospitalization level as 2018 flu season.

HARSH BUT FAIR: Charter Schools Work. No Wonder Democrats Want To Kill Them.

GIDEON RACHMAN: Europe has handed China a strategic victory.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, says she wants to lead a “geopolitical commission”. But Ms Von der Leyen concluded 2020 by sending a truly awful geopolitical message — as her commission signed off on an investment treaty between the EU and China.

Over the past year, China has crushed the freedom of Hong Kong, intensified oppression in Xinjiang, killed Indian troops, threatened Taiwan and sanctioned Australia. By signing a deal with China nonetheless, the EU has signalled that it doesn’t care about all that. As Janka Oertel, director of the Asia programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank, puts it: “This is a massive diplomatic win for China.”

It is also a considerable kick in the teeth for Joe Biden. The US president-elect has stressed that, after Donald Trump, he wants to make a fresh start with Europe. In particular, the Biden administration wants to work on China issues together with fellow democracies. Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser, issued a last-minute plea for the Europeans to hold off on signing the deal — at least until they had a chance to discuss it with the new administration. He was ignored.

Why would Europe listen to the protestations of someone who is just as eager to make deals with Beijing as they were?

THAT NEWSPEAK DICTIONARY ISN’T GOING TO SHRINK ITSELF, YOU KNOW: House Democrats ‘Cancel’ Themselves With Gender-Neutral Rules Excluding ‘Mother,’ ‘Father.’

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR DAILY INSANITY WRAP: Democrats Go Full Radical Nutjob, Win Anyway.

Insanity Wrap needs to know: What did we do to deserve this?

Answer: We don’t have an answer. We just need an existential-level question to ponder to justify our post-election day-drinking.

Before we get to the sordid details, a quick preview of today’s Wrap.

• Karen goes Crazy Train over unmasked coffee drinker
• Portland businesses pay the price for Portland government fecklessness
• Bill Nye isn’t the only “scientish” in town

Bonus Sanity: Antifa “reporter” actually held accountable for lawbreaking.

And so much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

IF YOU HAVE THE MEANS… Forget the Concorde – This Hypersonic spaceplane powered by the revolutionary SABRE engine will take you from London to New York in just 60 minutes.

DON’T BE EVIL: Google Hasn’t Updated Its iOS Apps Since the Day Before Apple’s New Privacy Labels Requirement. “Google has yet to comment on the report, so the reason for the lack of recent iOS app updates is unconfirmed, but Fast Company makes the reasonable assumption that Google might be trying to delay revealing its privacy label information, especially after the negative attention that Facebook received over its very lengthy privacy label.”

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

PRIDE IN CHEATING: Stacey Abrams Brags About Lack of Signature Verification in Georgia.

REPORT: U.S. Funded Specific Research at Wuhan Lab that Led to Coronavirus.

SHUT UP, SHE EXPLAINED:

MINNESOTA NICE: Radical Democrats Are Turning Minneapolis Into A Violent Wasteland.

Downtown’s ghost-town feel is taking a dystopian turn as empty streets are being taken over by a resurging homeless population openly using drugs and increasingly aggressive. The mentally ill are left to similar fates, often found huddled in bus shelters.

A decline in police and mental health resources compounds the impending disaster as winter deepens and shelters fill. This is a city in which some of the most recognizable companies make their national and regional headquarters: Target, General Mills, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, and Xcel Energy. They have the resources to ride out the lockdowns, but the corner hot-dog stand, skyway mini-mart, and corner bar likely don’t.

The disease plaguing the streets of Minneapolis’ north side and the areas around Chicago Avenue and Lake Street is less about COVID and more about the consequences of what Fyodor Dostoyevsky asks of man in “Notes from the Underground,” “But why has he such a passionate love for destruction and chaos?” For a far-left Minneapolis City Council at war with its police force and local citizens yet maintaining control due to leftist activism and special interests, the answer may be in the blind devotion to the radical belief of constantly burning and building into the unattainable utopia they so hubristically believe they can create.

Broken eggs are everywhere, but never a single omelet.

HAIL, BRITANNIA: British Carrier Strike Group declared operational. “This is a hugely significant milestone for HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy and the whole country. This achievement is a testament to the determination of our service personnel and industry workforce who have delivered this first-rate military capability, a capability held by only a handful of nations. I wish the entire Carrier Strike Group well ahead of their first operational deployment this year.”

It’s good to see Britain serious about seapower once more.

HEINLEIN’S CRAZY YEARS (CONT’D): Calif. Requires Insurers to Pay for Breast Mutilation for Gender-Confused Teens.

HIDDEN COSTS: 900,000 excess deaths expected over next 15 years from pandemic rise in unemployment.

ON THE WHOLE, I’D RATHER NOT BE IN PHILADELPHIA: How Bad Is Philly? Worse Than Chicago.

ANTIANTIFA: Florida Sheriff Warns BLM, ‘I Will Deputize Gun Owners If You Think You Can Bring Your Lawlessness Here.’

MATT MARGOLIS: Pence Promises ‘We Will Have Our Day in Congress’ With Election Challenges.