THE WHITE HOUSE
Biden will address the historical significance of this day, January 6, imploring the country not to accept political violence at any cost.
DIGITAL ASSETS
Cryptocurrencies experience a deterioration in value overnight. However, NFTs continue to proliferate throughout popular culture, and Congress still plans to hold discussions on the impact of mining crypto.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The US remains steadfast in its promise to respond to any Russian threat swiftly. Meanwhile, Russia sends some of its own troops to defend Kazakhstan against “terrorist” threats. In the UK, travel for fully-vaccinated individuals just got a lot simpler.
*All this and more ahead!
Good Morning DC! Today, all over the world, Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas Eve. As the world is waking up this Thursday morning, January 6, 2022, Novak Djokovic, Serbian world tennis champion is fighting deportation from Australia. He is awaiting Judge Anthony Kelly’s ruling over his denial of the Australian visa over a medical exemption from the COVID vaccine.
Djokovic was kept over five hours yesterday in a room guarded by the two policemen, and no one was able to come in and see him, according to his father. The agony ended with the Australian government making a decision to deport him and effectively prohibit him from competing in the Australian Open tournament. Novak’s lawyers had a ten hour window to make an appeal and were given until 6pm local time to exchange files. While it was initially believed that the ruling would be made today, Novak and the rest of the world will need to wait until Monday to find out if the best tennis player in the world will be able to play at the Australian Open.
In the meantime, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, spoke on the phone with the World No.1 and called the treatment of Novak Djokovic by the Australian government a “harassment.” Vucic said that “In line with all norms of international law, Serbia will fight for Novak, truth and justice. Novak is strong as we all know.”
EXCLUSIVE: The Man in the High Castle’s Jason O’Mara sat down with The Pavlovic Today’s Ksenija Pavlovic McAteer in London to discuss his growing body of work and what fans can expect from him in the future.
Along the way, we touched on traditions of his family life and Irish roots, how the pandemic affected him, and why using his voice to encourage an active democratic society is important to him.
Click below to read the full interview!
Homecoming With Jason O’Mara
On a misty, rainy day in London, with the crackle of a mild winter in the air, Jason O’Mara was having breakfast at the Palm Court at The Langham, […]
TODAY AT THE WHITE HOUSE
For the United States, January 6, 2022, brings with it a reminder of one of the most shocking and horrific days of the last year. Today at 9 AM ET, President Biden will deliver remarks on the one-year anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol, and Good Morning DC has the speech excerpts.
Biden is expected to say at the opening of his speech that, one day, “We must decide what kind of nation we are going to be.” He will ask the nation, “Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?”
Biden will say that “We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation,” and will ask Americans “to recognize the truth and to live by it,” as the “way forward.”
On Friday, January 7, Biden will travel with the First Lady to Boulder, Colorado, to survey wildfire damage. He will then go to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the memorial service for Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid.
In coronavirus news, the CDC has approved the Pfizer COVID-19 booster dose for kids, eligible now for 12- to 15-year-olds.
DIGITAL ASSETS
Cryptocurrencies are seeing losses in the past 24 hours. Bitcon dropped to $42,911.61. SOL fell to $148.05
TODAY’S CRYPTO PRICES
Bitcoin (BTC):$42,911,61
Ether (ETH):$3,353.95
SOL:$148.05
LUNA: $75.87
U.S. Congress is set to hold a hearing on the impact of crypto mining on the environment. The Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has yet to decide on a list of witnesses.
Despite Miramax’s lawsuit over intellectual property rights, movie director Quentin Tarantino will proceed with an auction for Pulp Fiction NFTs, featuring a scene from his original, handwritten screenplay and personalized audio commentary by Tarantino himself. The auction is set to take place between January 17 and 31.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
After his meeting with the Foreign Minister of Germany that took place yesterday at the State Department, Blinken said that “both Germany and the United States see Russia’s actions towards Ukraine as an immediate and urgent challenge to peace and stability in Europe.” Blinken emphasized his “desire and preference to pursue diplomacy and de-escalation,” as a solution to the situation. “If Russia nonetheless chooses to escalate, we will respond swiftly,” said Blinken.
Recently, there has also been a discussion between Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair. They talked about the “risks of further Russian aggression against Ukraine, as well as the challenges posed by Iran.”
On December 18th, the Senate reached an agreement that, no later than January 14th, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of S.3436, alternatively titled “Sanctions/Nord Stream 2,” introduced by Senator Cruz. There will be two hours of debate, equally divided between the two leaders of the Senate or their designees on the bill. Upon the use or yielding back of the aforementioned time, a third read-through of the bill will be considered, and the Senate will vote on the passage of the Cruz bill. 60 affirmative votes are required for passage, with no amendments in order and without intervening action of debate. While this should occur before the end of next week, as agreed to in the Senate, it is not yet known when the consideration will take place. The Majority Leader must determine a time following consultation with the Republican leader, as described by the agreement.
Russia is deploying airborne troops to Kazakhstan on request of its president Tokayev to help dispel demonstrations in Almaty. Tokayev made an appeal to CSTO, a security alliance composed of the ex-Soviet republics for assistance. He said that the actors challenging the state of Kazkhstan are “terrorists” who had “undergone serious training abroad, and their attack on Kazkhstan could and should be seen as an act of aggression.”
Across the pond in the UK, the head of MI6, Richard Moore, made a rare public statement by thanking China’s state news agency for “free publicity” in response to China mocking the CIA and MI6 focus on threats posed by Beijing.
“Thank you for your interest (and the unexpected free publicity!),” Moore said on twitter, attaching his recent speech on human intelligence in the digital world.
Some good news for travelers to the UK. Testing and border measures are changing for fully-eligible, fully-vaccinated travelers arriving in England.
From Friday, January 7 at 4 am, fully-vaccinated passengers and those under 18 will no longer need to take a pre-departure test or self-isolate on arrival in England but must continue to take their post-arrival tests.
Fully-vaccinated travelers and those over 5 years old arriving in the UK will also be allowed to use before, or on day 2, a rapid antigen test (a lateral flow test) instead of PCR.
And that’s a wrap for this Thursday morning January 6, 2022. Good Morning DC will be here tomorrow to give you the latest first.
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INTERVIEW
Homecoming With Jason O’Mara
On a misty, rainy day in London, with the crackle of a mild winter in […]