| | | | Greetings from Atlanta's 5th District, which, if the President-elect is to be believed, is "in horrible shape and falling apart." ( It's not.) Doug's out sick today, so we'll do our best to get you Up to Speed and Out the Door. | | We've been off for the long weekend, so let's do a lightning round to get you caught up: - Donald Trump now says he wants "insurance for everybody" when Obamacare is replaced, which caused nearly every pundit scrambling to figure out what he means exactly. Will everyone get health care? Or will everyone get access to health care? Trump didn't reveal details, saying he's going to wait for his health secretary nominee, Tom Price, to be confirmed. About that ...
- Georgia Rep. Tom Price is the President-elect's nominee for HHS - and he's smack dab in the middle of an ethics controversy. CNN reported yesterday that he bought shares in a company that makes medical devices and then introduced legislation that would have directly benefited said company. And this isn't the first time Price has done this.
- Monica Crowley was Donald Trump's pick for a high-profile post in his National Security Council. But then CNN uncovered multiple instances of plagiarism - in her book, in her newspaper columns, and in her Ph.D. dissertation. So now she's taking a pass on the job.
- Some in the alt-right are starting to wonder if Trump is really their guy. They've become increasingly critical of his Cabinet picks. "I am getting worried ... that he'll get caught on little things like making fun of people on Twitter," says one.
- There's a new CNN/ORC poll out at 6 a.m. and Trump won't be happy with it. A majority of Americans say his statements and actions since Election Day have left them less confident in his ability to handle the presidency (53%), and they're split evenly on whether he'll be a good president (48% on each side). We sense a tweet storm!
| | 2. Turkey night club attack | | | Turkish officials say a man from Uzbekistan has confessed to carrying out the deadly New Year's attack at the Reina nightclub. They say Abdulgadir Masharipov was educated in Afghanistan and was influenced by ISIS. The nightclub attack killed 39 people and injured dozens more. The manhunt for the attacker had been priority no. 1 for Turkey. | | | They've searched for nearly three years -- using cutting edge technology, scouring tens of thousands of square miles and spending millions. And yet, Malaysia Air Flight 370, which vanished over the Indian Ocean with 239 people on board, remains missing. So, China, Australia and Malaysia say they're suspending the search - a decision that's gut-punched victims' families. "Commercial planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without a trace," the families said in a statement. | | | Northern Ireland's had a power-sharing agreement. It was fragile but it ensured peace for nearly 20 years. Well, that's broken down now. Trouble had been brewing for a while but it came to a head last week when nationalist Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness resigned. He says he can't work with the unionists. His party, Sinn Fein, refused to nominate a replacement and under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, there can't be a power-sharing government unless both sides are represented. | | | In today's Oh Great, Here's Something Else to Worry About news, there's a family of superbugs that's not just resistant to antibiotics but they may be spreading person-to-person without symptoms. They're known as CRE. They tend to spread in hospitals and long-term care facilities and they cause more than 9,000 infections and 600 deaths each year. And they are on the rise. | | | People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. | | Giant steps are what you take
Eugene A. Cernan, the last astronaut to leave his footprints on the surface of the moon, has died at age 82. | | In sickness and in health
You gave your wife china for your 20th anniversary. How nice! This guy's giving the missus his kidney. | | That's BILLION with a B
Eight men now control as much wealth as the world's poorest 3.6 billion people. You can probably guess who they are. | | | He has risen A 600-year-old Buddha statue has been discovered in a reservoir in east China. The head emerged when water level fell during renovation work.
 | | Far from the madding crowd
If you find yourself in DC this inauguration/protest weekend, here are ways you can beat the crowd and still have a good time. You're welcome! | | | Here's what's coming up later | | In today's confirmation fun and games
It's Ryan Zinke for interior secretary. And Dems are actually hoping he's confirmed. They have their own selfish reasons.
Going it alone
Britain's PM Theresa May publicly outlines exactly how her nation will leave the EU. She says it'll be a clean break - no one-foot-in/one-foot-out approach. So, yeah, this is happening. | | 20 million
The number of Donald Trump's Twitter followers -- putting him right ahead of Indian actor Aamir Khan but still behind ... Avril Lavigne ??!! | | | | | | | |
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