Chinese authorities sentence citizen journalist; Trump signs COVID relief; and more . . .

- December 28, 2020

BY JACK CROWE

December 28, 2020

Good morning and welcome to the News Editor's Roundup, a weekly newsletter that will ensure you're up to date on the developments in politics, business, and culture that will shape the week's news cycle — as well as those that might escape mainstream attention.

Chinese authorities sentenced a citizen journalist to four years in prison on Monday for the crime of having documented and disseminated evidence of the CCP's failure to effectively respond to the threat of COVID-19 in March.

Zhang Zhan, 37, was found guilty of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" for documenting crowded conditions in hospitals in the viral epicenter of Wuhan. In addition to exposing the CCP's lack of preparedness, Zhan, an attorney by trade, directly criticized the government on social media for silencing whistleblowers and imposing draconian population control measures to slow the spread.

Zhan's arrest and imprisonment represents the blunt end of the CCP's playbook for suppressing information about the virus's origins and its response to the outbreak. In the coming years, the arrest of outspoken critics like Zhan will be combined with more subtle propaganda efforts aimed at shifting blame for the outbreak onto western countries.

President Trump signed the COVID relief and government funding bill after a long and fruitless delay, releasing $900 billion in COVID aid that he held up after Senate Republicans refused to increase the size of direct checks to Americans from $600 to $2,000.

Trump characteristically claimed victory on Sunday night after announcing that he would sign the bill, saying that he had extracted a commitment from congressional leaders to vote Monday on a bill that would increase the checks to $2,000. The House will vote to increase the size of the checks on Monday, but the bill is unlikely to pass a Republican-controlled Senate full of born again deficit hawks.

Trump also said that the House will vote on a recision bill Monday that would cut the amount of foreign aid included in the $1.4 trillion government funding bill — aid that he called for in his own White House budget — though that legislation is also likely going nowhere. And Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which Trump says will now be reviewed by Congress thanks to his holdout, has already been the subject of countless congressional hearings.

The Nashville RV bomber has been identified as Anthony Warner, a 63-year-old IT worker and notorious loner who died in the blast. Doug Korneski, the FBI special agent who heads the Memphis field office, said that his team had not yet identified a motive for the attack.

The RV's proximity to AT&T headquarters in downtown Nashville has given rise to speculation that Warner subscribed to conspiracy theories about the malign influence of 5G, though Korneski said he was "not in a position to speculate" about the theory.

The House will vote Monday to override President Trump's veto of the annual defense spending bill. Trump blocked the bill last week after lawmakers refused to include a provision curtailing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields digital publishers from liability for content posted by third-parties.

The bill, some version of which has passed annually for more than five decades, passed both houses of Congress last week with veto-proof majorities. Some Republicans have said they will sustain Trump's veto despite initially backing the bill. Democrats are expected to vote unanimously to override the veto.

Illegal Immigrants will be able to legally drive in Virginia beginning January 1. Virginia's majority Democrat General Assembly passed legislation in March making illegal immigrants eligible for so-called "driver privilege cards."

In order to be eligible for the cards, the individuals must be residents of Virginia and cannot have had their license suspended in another state. They must also show proof of their social security number or a tax identification pin. The credential is valid for two years and cannot be used to board flights or enter federal buildings.