Another business bites the dust. The Mann Theatre near where I live has closed for good. It was a six-screen “cheap movie theater” that had $3 showings of second-run films. A great place to see flicks that had had their initial release a few months ago. As with most of the country, movie theaters here shut down during the first wave of the coronapocalypse. Some later re-opened but almost no customers showed up. Though there was then no government-mandated closure, people just didn’t walk through the doors.

A new order from Minnesota’s Governor went into effect yesterday, restricting or outright closing bars, restaurants, and fitness centers, nominally for a month. I don’t know if theaters were included, but it’s probably a moot point, most (all?) were already closed. I drove past a multiplex a few evenings ago that had an empty parking lot.

I can’t imagine but that the new year will bring a wave of bankruptcies. The commercial real estate sector will be brutal.

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Internal government maps show the dramatic acceleration of a COVID 'red wave'

How Steve Bannon and a Chinese Billionaire Created a Right-Wing Coronavirus Media Sensation: Increasingly allied, the American far right and members of the Chinese diaspora tapped into social media to give a Hong Kong researcher a vast audience for peddling unsubstantiated pandemic claims.

Dozens of Texas counties at COVID-19 ‘tipping point’ ahead of Thanksgiving

Managers at Tyson meat plant had betting pool on how many workers would get Covid, lawsuit alleges

Manitoba further restricts social visits and store openings during pandemic

12 Wyoming Counties Now Have Mask Mandates

The Quarantine Things We Don’t Have to Do This Time Around: As we all go back into our homes, it feels like March all over again. But we know a lot more this time.

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

Bitcoin shortage is real, and PayPal is the cause, Pantera Capital claims

Mnuchin's Fed move is like stripping Titanic of its lifeboats, economist says

The global economic bailout is running at $19.5 trillion. It will go higher

Here's what happens to your credit card debt when you die

Politics:

Theoretically, What Kind of Hair Dye Would Melt Down Your Face When You’re Sweating?

When even National Review turns on you, you’re done: Trump’s Disgraceful Gambit

If Giuliani’s charge of a “national conspiracy” to produce fraudulent votes in Democratic cities around the country wasn’t far-fetched enough, attorney Sidney Powell ratcheted it up with the allegation that Communist-designed election machinery was used to change the vote from a Trump landslide to a narrow Biden victory. An obvious question is why, if you can manipulate the vote count via machine, you’d need to bother with old-fashioned fraudulent ballots.

Trump Campaign Is 1-29 in Post-Election Lawsuits After Latest Defeat

Do Trump’s Lawyers Know What They’re Doing?

It is hard to understand what motive lawyers like Sidney Powell and Lin Wood might have to make explosive claims that they cannot prove, which would be career-destroying.
…the affidavit, which addresses “anomalies and red flags” in Michigan, is based largely, and mistakenly, on data from Minnesota.
This is a catastrophic error, the kind of thing that causes a legal position to crash and burn. Trump’s lawyers are fighting an uphill battle, to put it mildly, and confusing Michigan with Minnesota will at best make the hill steeper. Credibility once lost is hard to regain.

Trump Is Still Raging Against Democracy. But It’s Time To Applaud The Tenacity Of Voters, Poll And USPS Workers