I get email from the New York Times. Here is some of it.

January 19, 2021

Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

By Remy Tumin and Jeremiah M. Bogert, Jr.

Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Today was the last full day of the Trump presidency. President Trump will leave office tomorrow with the possibility of an impeachment conviction by the Senate looming. Senator Mitch McConnell said publicly for the first time that the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were “provoked by the president.” “The mob was fed lies,” Mr. McConnell said, referring to attempts by Mr. Trump to overturn the election based on bogus claims of voter fraud. Mr. McConnell, who has privately said that he believed Mr. Trump committed impeachable offenses, has yet to decide how to vote on charges that he incited an insurrection. In a taped farewell speech, Mr. Trump vowed that his movement “is only just the beginning.” Since 2015, our reporter has kept track of every single insult that Donald J. Trump posted on Twitter. Read them all in alphabetical or chronological order. Our video team also revisited memorable moments from the past four years. President-elect Joe Biden is in Washington, where he will be sworn in tomorrow; Kamala Harris will become the first woman sworn in as vice president. More than 25,000 National Guard troops are being deployed to assist in protecting the Capitol and areas in central Washington for potential security concerns. But at least 12 National Guard troops have been removed from duties related to the event, including two who had possible links to right-wing extremist movements. 2. Inaugural events kicked off on a somber note. Speaking from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Mr. Biden remembered the 400,000 people who have died during the coronavirus pandemic, less than a year after the country’s first known virus deaths. “To heal we must remember,” he said. The president-elect has pledged an aggressive national strategy to beat the virus. He will also propose far-reaching legislation tomorrow to give millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. a pathway to citizenship in as little as eight years. The Senate worked through a marathon day of confirmation hearings for Mr. Biden’s cabinet. The process has been badly delayed, most likely making Mr. Biden the first president in decades to take office without his national security team in place. 3. Tightened health and security measures will mean less pomp and circumstance, but traditions remain. Above, the inauguration stage. Inaugural events will begin around 10 a.m. Eastern. Ms. Harris will first be sworn in as vice president; then, at about 12 p.m. Eastern, Mr. Biden will be sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts. Lady Gaga will perform the national anthem; Amanda Gorman, at 22 the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, will read a work she finished after the Capitol Hill riot. Here’s how to watch. Afterward, Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris will walk to the White House, escorted by drum lines from the University of Delaware and Howard University, their alma maters. Women across the country are pledging to wear pearls on Inauguration Day, a homage to Ms. Harris’s style. Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, plan to leave the White House in the morning and will not be in attendance. He won’t be the first president to snub his successor’s inauguration — but he will be the first in more than 150 years. Within five hours of the changeover (and a deep clean), the 90-person White House residence staff will have the Bidens fully moved in and unpacked. Whether Mr. Biden can bring his Peloton bike with him is still up in the air — and a question of national security. 4. There was a flurry of last-minute activity at the White House. The U.S. declared that China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its wide-scale repression of Uighurs, including in its use of internment camps, above, and forced sterilization. The move could lead the U.S. to impose more sanctions against China under the Biden administration. Yesterday, the White House released the report of the presidential 1776 Commission, a sweeping attack on liberal thought and activism that suggests Americans are being indoctrinated with a false narrative of the nation’s founding, including the role of slavery. Historians derided the report. Mr. Trump is also considering a list of least 60 pardons or commutations — and perhaps more than 100 — in the final hours of his presidency. The long list of names includes many people who have been serving life sentences for drug or fraud convictions. 5. The pandemic has escalated a longstanding teacher shortage to crisis levels, prompting many schools to shut down in-person instruction for weeks or months on end. One pre-pandemic study reported that schools nationwide needed more than 100,000 additional full-time licensed teachers. The coronavirus has vastly exacerbating that shortfall, experts say, by prompting many teachers to leave the profession or take early retirement. Separately, the College Board will drop the SAT’s optional essay section and end subject tests as part of a streamlining process accelerated by the pandemic.