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.