It's Thursday, December 16th. I'm Gideon Resnick.

And I'm Treville Anderson and this is what a day where we will make no attempt to hide

our emotions if we're upset during White Elephant.

Yes, if we have a good gift and you steal it, we pledge to make a huge scene, even if

you're just playing the game by the rules.

Listen, I'm committed to being my absolute worst self during White Elephant this year,

so watch out.

And I'm committed to backing Treville up because if the gift is good, you can't steal it.

On today's show, monthly child tax credits will expire unless Congress acts soon.

Plus, there must be an invisibility cloak around JK Rowling's name because it barely appears

in the new trailer for Fantastic Beasts.

But first, we're going to begin with the pandemic. I know, I know you're tired of it, but listen.

All right, there's been a lot going on as we jump headfirst into the holiday season.

The last 24 hours of news in particular have felt a little bit chaotic.

There's Britain, which logged its highest number of daily COVID cases ever, attributed to

a steep rise in confirmed Omicron cases, schools like New York University and Princeton canceled

some in-person gatherings and will hold finals remotely.

The NBA might change its COVID protocols after a recent outbreak among players, coaches

and staff and New York's met operable mandate boosters for employees and audiences.

There's so much and there's so much more that we didn't even list there.

Yes, it certainly feels like something is starting to happen.

That's not good.

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