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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* That this happened on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack seems oddly appropriate: “A federal judge has found Rudy Giuliani in contempt of court after he repeatedly disregarded orders to turn over assets to two former Georgia election workers who won a defamation lawsuit against him in 2022. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman also agreed to impose sanctions, which he said he will decide on later.”
* Offshore drilling: “The White House announced Monday that President Joe Biden would ban new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the U.S. coastline. The order will protect some 625 million acres of ocean along America’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Bering Sea from ‘environmental and economic risks and harms,’ the White House said in a statement announcing the move.”
* The process on Capitol Hill couldn’t have been more straightforward, in great contrast to the last time: “Congress on Monday formally certified President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 victory, exactly four years after he stirred up a mob that attacked the Capitol in a failed attempt to disrupt the certification of his 2020 election loss and keep him in power. Vice President Kamala Harris oversaw the certification of her defeat, which went smoothly and without drama amid a citywide snow emergency declaration.”
* Biden won’t be in office much longer, but he’s still signing good bills into law: “President Joe Biden on Sunday signed the Social Security Fairness Act into law, clearing the way for nearly 3 million public workers including teachers, firefighters and police to see an increase to their Social Security benefits.”
* Another provocative missile test: “North Korea carried out its first missile test since Donald Trump’s election victory, a sign that Pyongyang appears to be in no rush to curtail its illicit activities and pivot back to diplomacy despite a turnover in U.S. administration.”
* Two weeks away: “Multiple people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have sought permission to travel to Washington to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration — and their requests have yielded mixed results.”
* The Washington Post really didn’t need another round of drama, but it appears to have found some anyway: “A Washington Post cartoonist has quit her role at the paper, saying that her bosses blocked publication of a satirical cartoon that depicted billionaires, including one resembling Post owner Jeff Bezos, kneeling before President-elect Donald Trump.”
See you tomorrow.