company develops and manufactures the Soyuz rockets that have carried Russian and US astronauts to the International Space Station for the last decade after the US space shuttle retired.

The inclusion of the Soyuz manufacturer drew a swift rebuke from Dmitry Rogozin, the leader of Russia’s space corporation, Roscosmos, on Tuesday. In his heated statement, Rogozin said the restrictions were “illegal,” and he characterized them as “stupid.”

“This Samara enterprise manufactures the legendary Soyuz-2 launch vehicles, with the help of which the Soyuz MS spacecraft has been taking American astronauts to the ISS for 10 years already,” he said. “Now, it turns out that our American colleagues have their ‘trampoline working’ again, and the first thing they did is spit into the Samara well. Isn’t it too early, colleagues, in case your ‘trampoline’ breaks again suddenly and you will have to satisfy your passion for space from our well again?”

Source: Russia’s space chief is hopping mad over most recent US restrictions | Ars Technica

Four former Blackwater USA guards who were convicted in the killings of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007 also were pardoned by Trump. Source: Trump pardons 15, including people convicted in Mueller probe

Source: Israel calls fourth election in two years after parliament dissolves | News | DW | 22.12.2020

Ten years on, I am neither naive nor nostalgic. What I do know is that democracy is still worth singing for, loudly. And that although the fight may seem vain at times, ultimately there is only one path that leads to freedom: people’s voices and their power to break the chains of servitude. Source: Opinion | Emel Mathlouthi: 10 years after the Tunisian Revolution and Arab Spring, we’re still fighting – The Washington Post

Assemblymember Latrice Walker said AVR put the state on the right side of history, “by acknowledging years of voter suppression.”

Source: NY’s Automatic Voter Registration Law Hailed As “Profound Reform” To Elections – Gothamist

Pfizer first started asking for the government’s help in obtaining supplies as early as September and has been unhappy about the lack of response, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

Source: California shatters daily COVID-19 record with more than 62,000 new cases as hospital conditions worsen – Los Angeles Times

In October, fewer than 150 patients infected with the coronavirus were being admitted daily into hospitals. By late November, that number had doubled to about 300 patients a day — as high as it’s ever been in the entire pandemic. And now it has more than doubled yet again, to roughly 700 new hospital patients daily, just a few days before Christmas. That rate is bringing crisis to L.A. County.

Source: L.A. COVID-19 hospitalizations spike, bring grim projections – Los Angeles Times

Source: Coronavirus: 546 hospitalizations, 7,679 daily cases reported in Ohio

All 36 patients have been evacuated to the city of Punta Arenas in Southern Chile.

Source: Coronavirus reaches all 7 continents as 36 cases reported in Antarctica – The Jerusalem Post