The Daily Valet. - 1/12/21, Tuesday

✔️ This Is Going to Be Wild

Tuesday, January 12th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Is it bad to return something in hopes you get to keep it?

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s Big Story

Threats of More Violence

But Washington will be more fortified and ready to respond this time

President Donald Trump, who has not held a press briefing or issued any further statements about the violence at the Capitol, issued an emergency declaration Monday evening to support the security of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.

The declaration gives Washington, D.C., supplemental federal law enforcement assistance from the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. The Secret Service also vowed robust security last week after the Capitol was so disastrously unprepared for the mob that attacked.

According to Fox News, the FBI is warning of plans for armed protests in all 50 state capital cities ahead of next week’s presidential inauguration. An internal bureau memo suggests that the protests could be staged before, on, and after Inauguration Day.

Defense Department officials had carved out a narrow role ahead of last week’s pro-Trump rally—seeking to avoid any appearance that the military was involved in determining the election, reports the Washington Post. But that all changed after the bloodshed. Now, up to 15,000 National Guard members could be deployed in Washington during Biden's swearing-in.

President-elect Joe Biden said Monday (while receiving his second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine) that he was “not afraid” to take the oath of office outside at his upcoming inauguration ceremony, despite the threats of more violence in the days to come. Interestingly, the inauguration’s theme is “America United.”

Frankly, there may not be as many violent protestors and rioters this time, because it’s harder for them to travel. Airbnb is canceling reservations by users who were discovered to be connected to domestic terrorists and hate groups. And the FAA issued a warning Monday to travelers: Causing a safety risk could mean a jail term or a $35,000 fine. This came after a major flight attendants union said every airline flying out of the Washington region had experienced incidents with unruly pro-Trump passengers in recent days.

↦ FYI: Twitter has suspended more than 70,000 accounts since the riot for sharing harmful conspiracy theories and QAnon-associated content at scale.

House Sets Up Impeachment Vote

Lawmakers will vote tonight to encourage removal and Wednesday morning on impeachment

Moving with exceptional speed, top House leaders summoned lawmakers back to Washington Monday for a high-stakes 24-hour standoff between two branches of government.

Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump for his role in inflaming a mob that attacked the Capitol, scheduling a Wednesday vote to charge the president with “inciting violence against the United States” if Vice President Mike Pence refused to strip him of power first.

The House is slated to begin debate on the impeachment resolution on Wednesday morning, marching toward a vote late in the day unless Mr. Pence intervenes beforehand. But sources tell NBC News that Pence is unlikely to sign onto any push to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Of course, some lawmakers worry that forcing a Senate trial just as Joe Biden is taking office could hinder the president-elect's administration. One way around it? Delay. The current third-ranking House Democrat, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, floated an idea—telling CNN that the House could impeach Trump and wait 100 days to transmit the articles to the Senate to give Biden the time to "get his agenda off and running."

↦ Meanwhile: Trump is scheduled to leave the White House today and travel to Alamo, Texas to visit the border wall.

Retailers are Skipping the Returns

Amazon, Walmart, and Target are taking a new approach to returns

We should've seen this coming. Well, perhaps the experts did. But the huge surge in online holiday gift buying has resulted in a record number of e-commerce returns. Navrar, the customer exrpiece platform, said that returns increased by 70% over last year.

Last week, UPS alone carried out more than 9 million returns, a 23% year-over-year increase, setting a new weekly return record. To put that in perspective, in 2012, the number of returns was around 520,000.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in some cases, it’s actually cheaper for the retailers to refund the purchase price and let customers keep or donate the products than actually ship and process a return.

The relatively new approach, popularized by Amazon and a few other chains like Target and Wal-Mart, is being adopted more broadly during the pandemic. I wonder if this will change how we shop online, one way or another?

↦ FYI: The price to a company to process online returns is around $10 to $20, excluding freight costs.

Good News for the Environment

50 countries promise to protect 30% of the planet

At least 50 countries have committed to protecting 30% of the planet, including land and sea, over the next decade to halt species extinction and address climate change issues, reports Afar. They announced the move during a global summit Monday aimed at protecting the world’s biodiversity.

Over two dozen leaders, government officials, and heads of international organizations participated in the One Planet Summit, which was being held by videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic. Top U.S. officials were notably absent, as were the leaders of Russia, India, and Brazil.

The one-day summit focused on four major topics: protecting terrestrial and marine ecosystems; promoting agroecology, a more sustainable way to grow food; increasing funding to protect biodiversity; and identifying links between deforestation and the health of humans and animals.

The event, organized by France, the United Nations, and the World Bank, took place without American officials. But during Biden's campaign, he pledged to better protect biodiversity by preserving nearly a third of American lands and waters by 2030.

↦ Meanwhile: Major oil companies passed on a controversial sale to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In Other News

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Carmaker logos

Virgil Abloh’s new Nike book

The Nespresso of ice cream

Forgive Yourself

We don't do it as nearly as often as we should

Making peace and moving forward is never easy. Nor is accepting the fact that we messed up.

Being overly critical of ourselves for our bad behavior or mistakes is known as a “negativity bias” and it's something psychologists at the University of Chicago studied extensively. They found that we're more likely to focus on our own failures and shortcomings rather than our successes and virtues. No real surprise there, right?

Of course, it's important to learn from our mistakes, in hopes that we don't repeat them, but this hardwired tendency to dwell on our screw-ups isn't doing us any favors.

For today's lesson, we consulted a few experts (including a a relationship and trauma therapist) for their tips on how to forgive yourself in order to move onward and upward.

↦ Read: Why you need to free yourself from psychological debts.

Sales We’re Eyeing

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