Monday, November 30, 2020

Opening the Senate after Thanksgiving recess, McConnell bashes Pelosi over stalled covid relief and says House Democrats have “lost leverage” after losing seats in the House. Pelosi has argued her leverage has increased with Biden’s win, even with a smaller majority.

 

Sen. Chuck Grassley returns to his Senate office after testing positive for Covid-19 and completing quarantine, calls on Congress to pass additional coronavirus relief legislation

 

"She hates doing it. We’ve never been huge fans of it, either. And yet, Melania Trump, an icon in the War Against Christmas, has done it again: decorated the White House," writes

 

A federal judge has partially advanced a lawsuit accusing Russian mafia-tied businessman Felix Sater of laundering millions stolen from Kazakhstan's BTA Bank through Trump Organization properties

 

Backlogs in large numbers of jobless claims led to overestimates of unemployment insurance claims each week, watchdog agency says

 

Several of President-elect Joe Biden's nominees would make history if confirmed by the US Senate to serve in top roles in his incoming administration

 

How fitting the urns of covid Christmas

 

South Carolina prison officials say they have to delay an execution scheduled for Friday because they don't have the necessary lethal injection drugs. State officials say they haven't had the drugs in stock since 2013, according to a letter obtained by AP.

 

Jon Ossoff on CNN: "I think that a sitting U.S. senator exploiting his office, exploiting his access to privileged information, exploiting his power to enrich himself while his own constituents are suffering and dying absolutely makes Senator Perdue a crook

 

Rhode Island Sends Emergency Alert As Hospitals Reach COVID-19 Capacity

 

The day after their client called for Dr. Fauci's head, Steve Bannon's lawyers moved to withdraw. Objecting this morning, prosecutors say not so fast. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

 

‘Be water’ licence plate banned by Hong Kong Transport Dep’t as it ‘may cause danger’ to road users

 

Monday marks 100 days since the #HongKong 12 were detained by Chinese authorities for allegedly crossing illegally into Chinese waters while trying to flee to Taiwan on a speedboat. Rights group Amnesty International has called on authorities to respect the 12's human rights.

 

Jared Kushner headed to Saudi Arabia after Middle East peace plan flops

 

Same. | Retired Admiral Says He's 'Very Concerned' About Trump Loyalists at Pentagon During Biden Transition

 

We Won’t Forget and We Won’t Forgive What Trumpists Did To America

 

BREAKING: @JoeBiden has hairline fractures- will “likely require a walking boot for several weeks”. Biden slipped while playing with his dog Major Saturday, and twisted his ankle

 

Paper ballots were CISA’s number one priority for the 2020 election: “Paper ballots give you the ability to…go back… and make sure that you got the count right,” says Chris Krebs. “95% of the ballots cast in the 2020 election had a paper record.”

 

The coronavirus pandemic is set to widen the gulf between the richest and poorest parts of Russia

 

Interviews by The Associated Press with nearly a dozen people pull back the curtain on the yearslong legal and diplomatic tussle that led to an indictment against two Islamic State militants in the torture and deaths of American hostages in Syria.

 

“when Trumpism turned this month from an electoral strategy into a hallucinatory attempt to overturn the election Mr. Ruddy saw opportunity: Newsmax, available on cable in most American households and streaming online, became the home of alternate reality”

 

The Georgia Senate races that will define Joe Biden’s presidency

 

"Some people believe we should enter a new era of comity and goodwill... We should offer a soft landing and a gentle exit from the Trump cult, right? To this, I must issue a hearty 'fuck no.'" -

 

COVID BECOMING A CHRONIC DISEASE: ~10-35% suffer persistent symptoms, mostly neurological: autonomic nervous system dysfunction, sleep, pain, dizziness, cognitive difficulties. A study even 1/3 after hospitalization had memory problems.

 

BREAKING: Trump team allocates initial vaccines to states based on population. This hurts states with higher needs— eg, more at risk medical, older & BIPOC populations. CDC to recommend allocation approaches but states will decide how to allocate.

 

I'm not a self-funding millionaire. I don't have dark money donors waiting in the wings. This campaign is fueled by grassroots donors chipping in whatever they can because they believe a brighter future is possible

 

Trump lost the election nearly 4 weeks ago, yet he refuses to admit it. Judging by his tweets and comments, he's spiraling even deeper into denial. At this point perhaps the biggest story is about the people enabling him...

 

A proposed wildlife center got a $12 million federal grant after promising to bring millions of dollars and thousands of tourists to eastern Kentucky. Four years later, residents are still waiting for the jobs they were promised

 

“What I saw was an apparent attempt to undermine confidence in the election, to confuse people, to scare people,” says the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency about Rudy Giuliani’s unsubstantiated election claims.

 

“We can go on and on with all the farcical claims alleging interference in the 2020 election, but the proof is in the ballots. The recounts are consistent with the initial count,” says Krebs. “The American people should have 100% confidence in their vote.”

 

Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, who was fired by President Trump, responds directly to President Trump’s claims that the election wasn’t secure

 

"Ryan Whitaker’s family deserves justice. Sadly, their situation is the norm where it takes public pressure for the authorities to take action against the police," writes @DeanObeidallah. "There has to be a better way."

 

“We’re all destined to become climate reporters,” said the newly appointed CNN chief climate correspondent—and it's high time the media started covering the crisis more rigorously

 

No more “scientifically illiterate” than Citizens United was ‘politically illiterate’ and Shelby County ‘socially illiterate’; but it gets them where they want to go.

 

Sunday, November 29, 2020

"It appears that Lindsey Graham may have crossed the line into illegality as part of an effort to rip away Joe Biden's victory in Georgia," Rep. Jeffries says, discussing Sen. Graham's alleged ballot tossing comments

 

8/ “Ellis startled aides by entering the campaign’s Arlington headquarters and instructing staffers that they must now listen to her and Giuliani. “They came in one day and were like, ‘We have the president’s direct order. Don’t take an order if it doesn’t come from us’”

 

“There’s nothing I can do about,” Dr. Anthony Fauci tells @MarthaRaddatz when asked about legal challenges to COVID-19 restrictions, but adds that “no matter what the circumstance is,” all “congregate settings,” especially without masks, pose a “risk.”

 

BREAKING: “There almost certainly is going to be an uptick because of what’s happened with the travel,” Dr. Anthony Fauci tells @MarthaRaddatz, advising the millions of Americans who travelled for the holidays despite a surge in cases to get tested.

 

A court that insists on preferential treatment of churches while subordinating public health, bodily integrity & privacy is starting to resemble the highest judicial authority of the theocratic and misogynist country in Atwood’s dystopian "Handmaid’s Tale”

 

Trump tells fans to watch "anything else" but Fox News ahead of his own Fox News interview

 

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam says that she has “piles of cash” at home because she is denied basic banking services due to U.S. sanctions

 

Edward Norton breaks down Trump's moves in poker terms - Los Angeles Times

 

Nobody likes someone who's worth half a BILLION dollars who is much more interested in increasing her wealth by fraudulent insider trading than serving the people of Georgia. Georgia deserves @ReverendWarnock, an honest candidate who will put their interests first. — Mark Hamill

 

Pope Francis, joined by the church’s newest cardinals, warned against mediocrity as well as seeking out “godfathers” to promote one's own career.

 

20 years of Fox News pretending there's a War on Christmas: Nothing 4 years of Trump: Christmas literally cancelled

 

China halted imports from a Chilean seafood producer as a precautionary measure after detecting the Covid-19 virus on the supplier’s packaging

 

Belarusians are gathering today for the Rally of Neighbors. They are marching around their homes, using the new format of decentralized peaceful protests in #Belarus. This makes more difficult for Lukashenka's thugs to suppress the protests.

 

Hong Kong medics disheartened by political pressure in hospitals are planning to leave the city

 

Hong Kong protesters seek new a life in Canada

 

Tensions run high in Iran after murder of nuclear mastermind

 

How do people catch Covid-19? Here’s what the experts say

 

THREAD: I just spent 3 days with frontline workers at hospitals in a part of Appalachia where hospitalizations have more than doubled in the last month. But hospital staff say many in their hard-hit communities still don’t believe COVID is real. Misinformation is rampant.

 

The Hong Kong government is discussing suspending face-to-face classes at primary and secondary schools, according to media report

 

Powerful speech by MEP @ViolavonCramon in the European Parliament about the state terror in #Belarus and the murder of Raman Bandarenka. Thank you for standing up against the regime with the Belarusian people.

 

NEW: A review of SEC filings shows that Kelly Loeffler and her husband, chair of the New York Stock Exchange, sold $58 million of their own stock this year in irregular trades that resemble no other year.

 

David Perdue traded hundreds of thousands of dollars in bank stock while passing pro-bank legislation on the Senate Banking Committee, financial disclosures show

 

“If all the executions scheduled since July are completed, the Trump administration will have put the most federal inmates to death during a presidential transition since 1884.” This dude is sick, I cannot wait until he’s gone

 

Breaking: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has dismissed the lawsuit from Rep. Mike Kelly and candidate Sean Parnell to declare universal mail-in voting unconstitutional in the state and deny the votes of the majority of Pennsylvanians who voted by mail.

 

POWERFUL: πŸ“ŒEach marble = 1 death. πŸ“ŒEach second of the video = 6 days. Let this video sink in. #COVID19 is real. And it’s about to get even worse in December. An even bigger mortality tsunami is coming.

 

“... the United States does not need Russian cooperation. Too often, American and European leaders ignore Putin’s hostile behavior and exaggerate the importance of “better relations” for achieving security and economic goals.

 

Have to admit, I didn’t anticipate the “Frankenstein’s monster kills Frankenstein” twist, although in retrospect I guess it was pretty predictable.

 

Trump set on veto of defense bill over renaming bases honoring Confederates

 

MUST READ ARTICLE by @AshaRangappa_ & @jenmercieca : "Propaganda and disinformation neither offer a skilled argument, nor do they invite rigorous testing. Propaganda and disinformation are persuasion without consent..."

 

This is shocking. She must be defeated by @ReverendWarnock for Senate in Georgia. And Perdue must be defeated by @ossoff for Senate in Georgia. Help us send @ReverendWarnock and @ossoff to Washington! We need your help:

 

When the Senate goes on vacation, evictions don’t go on vacation. Furloughs don’t go on vacation. The virus doesn’t go on vacation. Hunger and distress are very much at work, so the Senate needs to get to work & get people the care they need.

 

Hey Senator, help me out. Which of us voted to cripple Social Security and give Wall Street a $2 trillion tax cut?

 

This story...hoo boy

 

Lazy ignorant cowards use physical violence instead of a brain - following their fake model while looking at his fake hair, fake spray tan and fake corset. He’s being closely watched, no worries.

 

It’s really something to listen to Trump supporters explain to @jordanklepper why Trump didn’t really lose the election.

 

INTERESTING FACT: @tedcruz's wife is a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs.

 

For the most part, Colbert decided to leave the man who is still the current president aside, explaining that he’s talked enough about him over these past 4 years

 

President Trump is aware his fight to overturn the election is winding down, according to people familiar with the matter, but he isn’t ready to end the effort as he fundraises off the furor

 

The Pa. high court's chief Justice Thomas Saylor, a Republican, separately slammed the "extreme and untenable remedies" sought by the lawsuit — i.e., blocking certification of an already-certified vote.

 

I cry for El Paso—Inmates move hundreds of bodies into mobile morgues; National Guard now does grim task; Funeral homes turn storage closets to freezers; crematorium broke from overuse; convention center now a field hospital; lacking gravesites

 

Overstock founder Patrick Byrne claims he's funding an army of hackers who can save the election for Trump

 

The Perdue Special now comes with a complimentary insider trading gravy train

 

"a government paralyzed by the president’s fragile emotional state; advisers nourishing his fables..."

 

“Send [former acting DNI] Ric Grenell out West. Send [American Conservative Union Chairman] Matt Schlapp somewhere. Just roll everybody up who is willing to do it into a clown car, and when it’s time for a press conference, roll them out.”

 

Nearly a year into the global coronavirus pandemic, scientists, doctors and patients are beginning to unlock a puzzling phenomenon.

 

“Not Wanted: Ivanka Trump” signs are up in New York

 

It looks like President Trump's company paid him for work he did *while he was president*

 

“They say it’s 175 beds available. That’s not what we’re hearing. We’re hearing there are NO beds available.”

 

Trump may be unable to believe he lost because, in fact, he rigged the election. But maybe he miscalculated with only 10 million extra votes. So he now thinks he was out-cheated. In fact, Dems outvoted him and he wasn’t ready for it. Rudy is fool, period!

 

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has tested positive for the coronavirus. The governor says he and his partner, Marlon Reis, both have COVID-19 and are asymptomatic.

 

Tour de force from @PhilipRucker @AshleyRParker and colleagues: "With his denial of the outcome, Trump endangered America’s democracy, threatened to undermine national security and public health, and duped millions of his supporters."

 

More from @PhilipRucker @AshleyRParker et al.:The quest "exemplified some of the hallmarks of life in Trump’s WH: a govt paralyzed by the president’s fragile emotional state; advisers nourishing his fables; and a pernicious blurring of truth and fantasy."

 

Pompeo trolls critics in long goodbye as he looks to his future

 

Here's a recent photo of stock trader and part-time Senator David Perdue with his wife at a Georgia diner.

 

The U.S. Embassy in Eritrea says six explosions were heard Saturday night in the capital, Asmara. It follows an embassy report of another “loud noise, possibly an explosion” in the city on Friday

 

It’s really something to listen to Trump supporters explain to @jordanklepper why Trump didn’t really lose the election.

 

Coronavirus long haulers tell us their symptoms and how the disease has devastated their lives

 

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Kentucky posted a record number of COVID-19 cases and the second highest number of deaths on Thanksgiving, Gov. @AndyBeshearKY announced-3,870 positive COVID-19 cases Thursday w/32 confirmed deaths and Friday added another 1,747 cases and 4 deaths.

 

Loeffler should be charged with insider trading.

 

My piece in the Washington Post today about how Trump and Barr got outplayed by a smart federal judge in the Flynn case.

 

“... Biden, a state-college graduate who was once the poorest man in the U.S. Senate, is facing accusations of elitism from Republicans after defeating a billionaire incumbent with an Ivy League degree...”

 

In Arkansas, where landlords can file criminal charges against tenants behind on their rent, a deputy prosecutor told @propublica: "I hate that law. It's unconstitutional." Now, for saying that, he's been fired

 

Retweet to join us in celebrating our Ally πŸ‡¦πŸ‡± #Albania today!

 

Iran’s president blames Israel for killing nuclear scientist and vows to respond at the ‘right time’

 

HuffPo: Venture capitalist Fred Eshelman demanded his money back after he said he was fed “vague responses, platitudes and empty promises" about what was pitched as a strong case of election fraud.

 

I guess Clapton won’t mind if Trump and mob uses his cocaine song for his super spreaders

 

.@Pontifex: "To come out of this crisis better, we have to recover the knowledge that as a people we have a shared destination. The pandemic has reminded us that no one is saved alone."

 

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told @Acosta on @CNNSitRoom that there is no question Governor Ron DeSantis is pursuing the discredited & dangerous "herd immunity" strategy in Florida. This is so tragic given we can achieve herd immunity through vaccination WITHOUT so many deaths

 

Former Apprentice Staffer Claims Trump Soiled Himself On Set, Required Diapers

 

Whoever this Bozo is, we should all remember his name so his legacy is one of shame.

 

The Kremlin says Vladimir Putin has not taken the nation's flagship Covid-19 vaccine

 

Jon Ossoff: "Perdue's misconduct is repeated and flagrant. He is using his office to enrich himself, and he's refusing to debate me because he knows he can't defend the indefensible."

 

"He has refused to negotiate with anybody," Sen. Murphy says about Sen. McConnell's inaction on Covid-19 relief talks. "Mitch McConnell is sort of putting the unity of his caucus ahead of the survival of the nation."

 

Those three “activist” judges were nominated by Republicans, including the opinion’s author, who was nominated by @realDonaldTrump and confirmed by the @GOP-controlled Senate under @senatemajldr McConnell.

 

Iran’s president has vowed to exact revenge over the killing of a scientist linked to Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear program as he joined other officials in blaming Israel for the slaying.

 

This case may show that the only fraud in this election was by Republican groups conning their donors with false election fraud claims. Sweet

 

ICYMI: We know you’re finding it difficult to accept the election result so we projected it onto your golf course with some familiar music

 

Trump's inner circle is telling him that Giuliani and the rest of his legal team are making him look like an idiot, report says

 

NYT: As the Trump administration tries to complete its regulatory rollbacks, EPA staff, emboldened by the Biden victory, have moved to stand in the way.

 

A new study ties 6% to 8% of U.S. Covid-19 cases through late July to outbreaks at meatpacking plants and subsequent spread in surrounding communities

 

MTZ (Minsk Tractors Works) workers protested today in solidarity with arrested doctors and journalists. We see unprecedented solidarity across all groups of Belarus society.

 

Belarus dictator says he will step down, according to state media. He stole this summer's election, continuing his oppressive rule of 26 years. There will be euphoria in Minsk and across the country.

 

All 3 Judges appointed by Republican Presidents. Today, I'm thankful for the Rule of Law. This is what it is all about.

 

“Your past does not define you,” Grace said in her first public event. The Michigan teen’s case sparked national outrage and the #FreeGrace campaign after she was sent to juvenile detention for not completing online schoolwork.

 

[Recap] ‘I have piles of cash at home… I don’t have a bank account,’ says Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam after US sanctions

 

No stone left unturned: The Basic Law Hongkongers thought they knew is being demolished

 

A Hong Kong campus rocked by protest becomes a "prison" a year later

 

Government prepares to give three million Hong Kong citizens sanctuary in the UK

 

US lawmakers move to end anonymous shell companies in national defense spending bill

 

It's incredible that they are still going

 

Leave a chair empty at the family Christmas dinner or face the possibility of having that chair empty forever. That's the stark dilemma Belgium's prime minister has set as Europe struggles to reconcile cold medical advice with festive traditions

 

Los Angeles issues stay-home order as coronavirus surges

 

Guitar player Eric Clapton has joined Van Morrison in his crusade against lockdown measures meant to protect the public against COVID-19.

 

Nurses, doctors use social media to plead for public to take COVID-19 seriously as cases surge.

 

Turkey is seeking to mend relations with traditional western allies and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia as Biden era starts

 

Reupping. The determination that essential (besides healthcare) workers should get vaccinated before elderly is absolutely correct and will be made this week. It is obvious. Elderly can isolate. Essential workers, disproportionately underserved populations, make this country run

 

On my last ER shift, there were NO accepting hospitals for my ICU patients. Across Arizona, HCW illness, nursing ratios & PPE. We need HELP!! This is not "living with the virus" it's dying from the virus. We need a shutdown

 

Friday, November 27, 2020

NEW: Some former intel officials think Trump shouldn't get access to any national secrets when he leaves office, @KenDilanianNBC reports.

 

Hey Donnie, was I not supposed to talk about the Depends? My bad. @realDonaldTrump

 

U.S. president elect Biden had invited Belarus president elect Tsikhanouskaya for a meeting, the latter said in her interview to Belsat TV

 

Loeffler and Perdue are just as dangerous and corrupt as Trump! Vote out these chaos agents, Georgia! Elect Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock!

 

Biden’s relentless task has been to convince us that we are better. Remind us that we do best when we embrace the fullest definition of our values, rather than the narrowest possibility of them.

 

BREAKING: Iranian media reporting that high level nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has been assassinated. Widely referred to as Iran’s Robert Oppenheimer. He is by far the most important Iranian nuclear scientist to be assassinated to date. Netanyahu had mentioned him by name

 

BREAKING- McConnell is negotiating on behalf of Donald Trump’s wishes to have POTUS46’s WH not pursue criminal charges against him when he leaves office in return for a unified/peaceful transition

 

BREAKING: Mohsen Fahrizade the architect of Iran's military nuclear program was assassinated in Tehran, Iranian media reports

 

New: Arkansas prosecutor Josh Drake called the state’s criminal eviction statute “cruel” and “unconstitutional.” Criminal charges against tenants falling behind on rent have continued, even as the pandemic has worsened.

 

In 2017 Nikolai Dobronravin flew to the Central African Republic. M-Invest - a #Prigozhin company later sanctioned by the US - paid for his trip. Eight months later the UN appointed Dobronravin, a St Petersburg professor and African specialist, to its #Sudan expert panel

 

Wow. A Thanksgiving day op-ed from Pope Francis. "It is all too easy for some to take an idea — in this case, for example, personal freedom — and turn it into an ideology, creating a prism through which they judge everything."

 

What timing...His Holiness Pope Francis has an op-ed in the New York Times today.

 

Six US oil executives who traveled to Venezuela in 2017 and were arrested on corruption charges have been found guilty, according to a person familiar with the case

 

Police in Shenzhen say they have completed their investigation into the 12 young #HongKong people accused of entering mainland waters illegally and the group have now been "handed over" to prosecutors.

 

A 31-year-old man has been jailed for 21 months for throwing eggs at a police station, the latest tough sentence handed down by a Hong Kong court as the authorities move to clamp down on political dissent in the Chinese territory

 

#save12#save12youths#save12hkyouths@save12hkyouths — Joshua Wong

 

Nothing says thanksgiving like the president undermining democracy

 

Wyoming's governor has resisted calls for a mask mandate. Now he has the coronavirus.

 

Hong Kong liberal studies to be renamed and reformed – more China content, less focus on current affairs

 

All gov’t workers to pledge loyalty to Hong Kong in one go

 

Facing a 3-year jail sentence, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong is being held in solitary confinement. He is not allowed to leave his solitary cell or meet other prisoners. He is forbidden to do sport. China joins the U.N. Human Rights Council on January 1st.

 

“We went for top of the line, Tim,” Trump tells a Coast Guard official stationed in Bahrain, during Thanksgiving conference call where the president repeatedly told troops how much better their equipment has gotten in last couple years.

 

Justice Sotomayor Rips Majority of SCOTUS For 'Playing a Deadly Game' with COVID-19

 

Thank you, Mr Levits! The Belarusian people highly appreciate your solidarity and support.

 

Yevgeny Prigozhin is accused of running a mercenary army that provides intelligence and paramilitary fighters for Putin

 

A consultant who worked for Yevgeny Prigozhin - the oligarch behind #Russia's notorious troll factory and the Wagner mercenary group - is serving on a key #UN panel on #Sudan. Prigozhin is behind Putin's recent push into Africa

 

Awful decision. Every sane religious denomination that values human life knows to stay home in a pandemic. Spreading a deadly virus is not a religion.

 

Millions of Americans are experiencing food insecurity this holiday season. Today, I was proud to help distribute Thanksgiving meals and boxed food to Orange County families in need, and I’ll keep fighting in Congress to get direct help to families during this crisis.

 

The question that caused Trump to blow a gasket and start yelling at a reporter was will he concede if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden.

 

.@VWGroup is operating in Xinjang and asociated with subcontractors directly or indirectly tied to slave concentration camps. Germany with its history should stop this practice of defacto supporting Chinese governmental policy of genocide of Uyghurs

 

Trump’s administration has one last blockbuster showdown at the Supreme Court over his divisive immigration policies, and this one goes to the heart of how U.S. political power is allocated

 

Bullshit! It is only the GOP stopping it.

 

President Donald Trump said for the first time Thursday he will leave office if the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden but made clear he's not prepared to concede.

 

Y’all... this man literally shit his pants and said it was a matter of national security