G’morning from the Capitol, where we’re about to have a pro forma session in both chambers during which nothing will get done. This begins at 9

In the meantime, here’s what we said in Playbook this morning.

Headline: "Cyclone of uncertainty and chaos"

WITH 27 DAYS LEFT IN HIS PRESIDENCY, and the nation on the doorstep of Christmas, DONALD JOHN TRUMP has sucked Americans into a violent cyclone of uncertainty and chaos.

HE IS PARDONING CRIMINALS at a breakneck clip. Last night it was MANAFORT, who was in prison on tax charges, R STONE and CHARLES KUSHNER, IVANKA's father in law. Earlier this week crooked politicians and other unseemly actors. @BenSasse called the pardons “rotten to the core.”

>@maggieNYT and @nytmike put it this way: TRUMP “is at perhaps his most unleashed.”

@maggieNYT @nytmike TRUMP -- as he has so many times before -- has thrown the government he is supposed to be leading into an intractable crisis.

1⃣
The $600 Trojan Horse
1. $300,000,000 for Migrant and Refugee Assistance
2 $10,000 per person for student loan bailout
3. $100,000,000 to NASA, because, who knows why
4. $20,000,000,000 to the USPS, because why not
5. $300,000,000 to the Endowment for the Arts why stop here

Here it is, my UK journalism lowlights of the year:

1. Laura Kuennsberg jumping into Pippa Crears' mentions to defend Dominic Cummings after getting a text from.... Dominic Cummings

2. The BBC portraying Rishi Sunak as Superman

3. This piece of Boris Johnson on holiday in The Sun

4. Chris Mason going "OOOF!" to a response to an ice cream company

5. The Twentyman saga

Where are we at as of 1450 CET?

Talks continuing, could go on for a while longer. One informed source is suggesting that because the fish deal was agreed at the high political level (btn @vonderleyen and @BorisJohnson) it was left to officials to translate it into real numbers

2/ Some reflections from an EU diplomat briefed on the rest of the deal, which appears to be in place:

3/ "There is nothing particularly surprising. It is consistent with what we've been hearing all along. The UK red lines are respected. Our concerns are also respected. Of course we have to see the fine print, but in general there is a robust level playing field."

4/ The LPF mechanism is said to be a "complicated structure" which works both ways.

5/ "It doesn't mean that because you have these structures you necessarily have to use them. The mood at the moment is, do you want to diverge [from EU standards] for the sake of diverging? In reality, most likely, pragmatism will prevail."

Here’s a fundamental Brexit truth I don’t think we’ve discussed enough: the reason why Brexit has been on the front pages for so much of the past few years doesn’t actually have that much to do with Brexit. Let me explain:

Of course the UK’s relationship with the EU is of enormous economic, social & legal importance, past, present and future. Of course the trade deal matters, as will immigration rules and all the rest. But the real, real reason Brexit has been such a big deal is something else:

Brexit is first and foremost a story about the Tory party, which happens to be the party of government. Brexit mattered these past four and a half years because it deposed two prime ministers. It decided elections. It was an issue of immense political significance.

Yes, clearly underlying this there was economics and chewy discussion about N Ireland and the UK’s place in the world. But much as I’d like (as an economics/policy geek) to pretend THAT was why it dominated the news agenda, in reality it was big news because it could fell PMs

That political soap opera has so dominated the front pages that the (to me at least) much more interesting story about Brexit itself has been rather drowned out. What is that story? That the UK is heading towards what, a few years ago, everyone would have called a “hard Brexit”

How To Become The Person You've Always Wanted To Be While Gaining EVERYTHING You've Ever Wanted To Gain...

THREAD

Kanye has MAGNETIC charisma

People are DRAWN to him

He says, does, and acts, however, he wants.

Everyone WISHES they could act like Kanye, but few can.

In this thread, I'll break down his ULTIMATE persuasion secret, and share with you how to use it in your own life to win

Most people have two selves: I once heard it being called the shell identity.

("I'm Bob the banker".)

This is what everyone knows you as.

A simple shell to mask your SECOND identity...

Your second identity is the person you’ve ALWAYS wanted to be…

When Bob is doing banking stuff he's daydreaming about living on a beach, working online, and banging big booty hoes.

I believe that's who he really is, his true identity.

So I'd call this his TRUE identity.

We all have pictures in our head, movies we run through of who we'd like to be, what we'd like to do and this is who we REALLY are.

Things like social conditioning often imprisoning one's TRUE identity.

Result?

Few ever pull the damn trigger and make it a reality.

A Christmas Eve Confession & Absolution

Holy God, as Christmas Eve dawns
we find little joy in our hearts.
We have lost so many things
and given up so much
in trying to protect the world around us
and the loved ones we hold so dear
but cannot hold.

None of us are at our best.
We are frustrated with ourselves,
with our family, with all our fellow children of God.
Our spirits are faint and fraying.
Yet still, you are on your way.
Just as you came at Christmas,
you will now not leave us
without mercy and comfort.

We cry out:
Come, O come, Immanuel!

Holy God,
Our holiday meals are made with tears
and our gifts wrapped with tired hands.
We are struggling to stay connected
in this time when the safety of all
requires distance from each other.
All around your beloved world, too many tables
will have empty seats at Christmas.

What should be a time of celebration
only feels like mourning.
Yet still, you are on your way.
Just as you were born and laid in a manger,
you will find us not where we think we should be
but right where we are.

The Lingaraja temple, the largest temple in Bhubaneswar. It is regarded as one of the best archaeological monument of the east reflecting Kalinga type of architect. The temple was built by the kings of Somavamsi Dynasty in the 11th century.

The central deity of the temple, Lingaraja, is worshipped both as Shiva and Vishnu (hari hara). Lingaraja, means the king of Lingam, the iconic form of Shiva. Shiva is commonly referred to as Tribhuvaneshwara the master of three worlds:- heaven, earth, and hell.

The temple has been described as “One of the finest examples of purely Hindu Temple in India” by noted critic and historian James Fergusson.

According to tradition, Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati after their marriage came to Varanasi. But with the passage of time, Varanasi became over populated. So Lord Shiva chose this location in Ekamrakshetra(Bhubaneswar) for meditation in disguise.

Maa Parvati came to know about this place from Brahma and came to Ekamra-Kshetra to search for Lord Shiva. There she noticed cows going under a huge mango tree and automatically milking a place. She understood that Lord Shiva is there.

@realmajordan @gheliason @RichHiggins_DC @tobeycakes @1GigiSims1 Wanna bet the UK govt wants to use the "Base" to smear the Pro Brexit populists in their country? Let's see if they use them as an excuse to persecute them once Boris thorough destroys their economy.

I had a few Christmas stories that I thought of telling.
I thought of the one about Rocky de Blood with a Teardrop, a homeless lady that my husband picked up on the on-ramp.

Or the story about the Miracle Christmas.

But I think instead I will talk about my Quantum Christmas 🎄

Mohammad Ali Jinnah was born on December 25, 1876 in Karachi.
#HBDFoundingFatherOfPak

A lawyer and politician by profession he served as the leader of All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan’s independence on August 14, 1947.
#HBDFoundingFatherOfPak

Following Pakistan’s independence Jinnah held the position of the nation’s first governor general until his death on September 11, 1948.
#HBDFoundingFatherOfPak

The day will dawn with special prayers in the mosques for the peace, progress and prosperity of the country.
#HBDFoundingFatherOfPak

A change of guards’ ceremony will also be held at the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam in Karachi.
#HBDFoundingFatherOfPak

1. Some initial thoughts on the U.K.-EU trade deal, in advance of seeing the text, which is reported to be 2,000 pages plus...A THREAD (1/10)

2. As has been said repeatedly, this is what was described at the start of the process as a hard Brexit: the U.K. will be outside the Single Market and the Customs Union. There will be no tariffs or quotas but customs checks etc will erect substantial trade barriers in EU trade

3.There will be nothing for services except in areas where the EU will unilaterally grant equivalence. The EU will play hardball on this eg at end Nov EU made it clear that European derivatives trading will be limited to platforms inside the EU or third countries with equivalence

4. There will be areas where some products will be excluded from the trade deal. Seed potatoes has been mentioned - there may be other surprises yet.

5. Who moved? It seems as if the U.K. moved substantially on fish and the EU moved on its initial position on the LPF and the arbitration mechanism: it wanted something which involved automatic ratcheting - it feels more like a standard FTA between EU and non-European countries.

1. THE PLAN

We see countries like China & New Zealand succeed by implementing border controls and wonder why our government didn’t do the same. Unfortunately, it’s been following the 2011 influenza pandemic plan, which says...

2. China & New Zealand have international travel (limited in the case of New Zealand) and freight, and rather than delay their peaks, their border controls have helped keep cases to a minimum. Border controls might not work in a flu pandemic, but they worked for #COVID19.

3. Countries that have done well against #COVID19 have high adherence to mask wearing. The pandemic plan tells us the British people won’t bother wearing masks over time so let’s no bother asking them to, eh.

4. Mass super spreading events have been shown to play a significant role in the transmission of #COVID19.

But the pandemic plan tells us they don’t play a role (perhaps the source of Jenny Harries’ comments about Cheltenham?) and therefore the government will not restrict them

5. I call this the white flag clause. Surrender was built into the assumptions behind our pandemic response. The success of other countries has proved this clause completely wrong.

#Fractals #Mandelbrot. Powerful insights. Using some of the concepts of that framework. The Micro and the Macro (aggregation of Micros); imagine if you will, we as a Species wanted to populate other planets. How would we do it? What structure, design makes most sense?

We might want incorporate our Creation in a manner similar to how we arrived at said new planet. Largest cell in humans is Female Egg. Smallest cell is male sperm. The big bang in "Creation of life" is a fusion of those two. Imagine an asteroid that carried our #DNA (it is sperm)

And hit the proverbial Egg (another planet) to seed life. Our bodies rebuild every part of themselves every 7 years. All of it, no single cell is supposedly left from previous build. Imagine if you will the 3 billion plus lines of code in every one of our living cells containing

Not only all the knowledge of our species but the assembly blocks to create an organic organism that had a brain to interpret the very material in our DNA? Furthermore, imagine if we had embedded antennas to share knowledge across time and space (ants and bees come to mind).

As we go through life we encode, capture these experiences and pass them, as they move from short term memory to long term memory via the rebuilding process of every cell in our body overtime. For years, people have talked about us evolving from animals, what if every plant and