🎶 Burst Your Bublé

🇷🇺 Protests Across Russia

A little more than 3k people were arrested in widespread protests across Russia over the weekend, as tens of thousands of Russians braved temperatures as low as -58ºF to gather in cities across the country in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

• Widely regarded as President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent foe, Navalny was arrested earlier this month after returning to Moscow from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a severe nerve-agent poisoning he blamed on the Russian government (which they denied).

More: A team led by Navalny published a report last week detailing a ~$1.4B secret palace built for President Putin using illicit funds, with their 110-minute YouTube video amassing nearly 85M views thus far.

🏛️ Impeachment Updates

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced the House will send the article of impeachment against former President Donald Trump to the Senate later today.

• Once the article is transmitted, the impeachment process heads to the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to convict the former president.

The Senate trial is slated to begin on February 8th.

More: Although Trump is not currently in office – and therefore cannot be removed – the Senate has the power to disqualify impeached officials from holding public office in the future (but is not required to do so alongside a conviction).

Separately… Arizona Republicans voted Saturday to censure three prominent AZ GOP party members. Left-Center | Right-Center.

🍩 DONUT Holes:

🎙️ Legendary talk-show host Larry King, who CNN estimates conducted more than 30k interviews in his career (including every sitting president from Ford to Obama), died at 87.

⚾ MLB Hall-of-Famer Hank Aaron - who broke Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record in 1974 - passed away at 86.

🎟️ The winning ticket for the $1B Mega Millions jackpot was sold in Michigan over the weekend. The unknown winner will be awarded the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

🏈 NFL Playoff Update

The AFC and NFC Championship games took place yesterday afternoon (full recap):

• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers upset the Green Bay Packers 31-26 in the first game yesterday, sending QB Tom Brady to a record 10th career Super Bowl (6 wins).
• The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills 38-24 in yesterday’s nightcap. With the win, the reigning champs head to a second straight Super Bowl.

Tampa Bay will become the first team to ‘host’ the Super Bowl, which will be played in Tampa, FL, on February 7 in front of 22k fans.

🌃 Look to the Skies…

• Google’s parent company Alphabet is shutting down Loon, a project that used high-altitude balloons to provide internet access to infrequently traveled parts of the world, citing a long road to commercial viability.
• SpaceX set a world record yesterday for the largest number of spacecraft on a single launch (143). The launch is the first of its ‘SmallSat Rideshare’ program, which allows other companies to ‘book rides’ for smaller spacecraft on a larger SpaceX rocket. Dig deeper.

🍩 DONUT Holes:

🇨🇳 China surpassed the U.S. as the world’s leading destination for new foreign direct investment in 2020, according to UN figures published Sunday.

🗣️ Clubhouse, a popular live voice chat app, confirmed an undisclosed amount of new funding reportedly valuing the company at $1B.

🎮📈 Shares of GameStop rose more than 50% on Friday with the help of an enthusiastic group of Redditors, causing the SEC to halt trading multiple times due to high volatility.

🐶 No Pup Left Behind

Image via Instagram.

Sully, a 14-year-old golden retriever from Calgary, Canada, still loves to accompany his owner, Donny Marchuk, on their regular hiking and snowshoeing expeditions… but he is no longer physically able to keep up. The pup was recently diagnosed with laryngeal paralysis – a condition that makes it difficult to breathe.

• “When he was younger and we were hiking and trail running in Yoho and Kananaskis … any hike I go on, Sully was up for it, and he misses that,” Donny told CBC News.
• To help his faithful canine continue to participate in their outdoor excursions, Donny converted an old three-wheel stroller into “Sully’s adventure chariot,” a contraption with interchangeable wheels and skis.

Let the good times keep rolling…

• In November, geologists in Brazil discovered a lump of volcanic agate rock that, when cut open, looks exactly like Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.
• After being diagnosed with cancer in 2020, Lourdes Morales solemnly let her son shave off her remaining hair – and was then left speechless when her adult children subsequently shaved their own heads. (Video)