U.S.The WeekFlorida attorney reportedly under investigation after telling Republicans to change 'your address for the next 2 months' for Georgia runoffs
A Florida attorney is reportedly under investigation after trying to register to vote in Georgia ahead of the January runoff election and encouraging other Republicans to change "your address for the next two months" so they can vote in the state as well, WSB-TV reports. Attorney Bill Price in a Facebook video that has since been deleted was reportedly seen speaking to members of the Bay County GOP in Florida last month, saying "we have to do whatever it takes" to "hold the Senate" and that he's "moving to Georgia" for the January runoff. "And if that means changing your address for the next two months, so be it," Price says.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastProject Veritas’ New CNN Bombshell: Jeff Zucker Thinks Rudy Giuliani Is ‘Crazy’
Earlier this week, Project Veritas released the first of what it promised would be many shocking revelations from CNN's internal editorial meetings, which founder James O'Keefe appears to have infiltrated and recorded over the course of several weeks. First, the right-wing group tried to make hay out of the fact that one high-level CNN staffer considered Fox News host Tucker Carlson to be racist—while simultaneously misidentifying the staffer in question. CNN President Jeff Zucker thinks Rudy Giuliani is “crazy.”
PoliticsThe TelegraphFormer Bill Clinton associate claims ex-president did visit Jeffrey Epstein’s private island
Former US president Bill Clinton did visit Jeffrey Epstein's infamous private island despite his claims to the contrary, his former associate has claimed. Doug Band, who worked for Mr Clinton for around two decades, claimed the former president flew on Epstein's jet dozens of times and visited the convicted sex offender's private Carribean island in January 2003. Although ignorant of Epstein's crimes at the time, Mr Band claimed in an interview with Vanity Fair that he attempted to keep his boss away from the financier after a 2002 trip to Africa.
LifestyleArchitectural Digest10 Remote Airbnbs As Stunning As They Are Secluded
From a private island to a tiny Vermont tree house Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.NBC NewsSouthern California wildfire burning out of control — and will for days to come
Flames spread from a house to nearby vegetation, touching off a massive, wind-whipped wildfire that burned out of control Thursday in Southern California, authorities said. The Bond Fire started shortly after 10 p.m. on Wednesday in Silverado Canyon in eastern Orange County, about 50 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, officials said. Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Paul Holaday said this blaze, with plenty of tinder-dry brush in front of it and high winds in the forecast to fuel it, will surely burn through the weekend.
PoliticsThe WeekWisconsin Supreme Court declines to hear Trump's election challenge
The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear a case from President Trump's legal team that seeks to challenge the state's presidential election results, The Washington Post reports. On Thursday, the court ruled that Trump's team should have taken up the matter with a lower court. The ruling is yet another blow to Trump's longshot effort to overturn his election loss in several states; he has claimed voter fraud led to President-elect Joe Biden's victory, but there is no evidence of widespread fraud.
PoliticsUSA TODAYJoe Biden asks Anthony Fauci, the federal coronavirus expert, to become his chief medical adviser
President-elect Joe Biden told CNN on Thursday that he asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the expert on the coronavirus pandemic, to become his chief medical adviser and part of his Covid-19 response team. "I asked him to stay on the exact same role he's had for the past several presidents, and I asked him to be a chief medical adviser for me as well, and be part of the Covid team," Biden said. Fauci had told CBS News that he would meet Thursday Biden's transition team to discuss the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
WorldINSIDERMan, 41, had no teeth and could barely speak after his mother locked him in their suburban apartment for 28 years, say reports
A mother, aged 70, has been arrested on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty and grievous bodily harm. A relative discovered the man in a Stockholm flat covered in "urine, dirt, and dust," according to the Swedish newspaper Expressen. According to prosecutors, the 70-year-old was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty and grievous bodily harm.
PoliticsThe IndependentMelania Trump under fire for decorations of JFK after ‘mutilating’ Jackie’s Rose Garden
When first lady Melania Trump revealed the Christmas decorations for her last holiday season in the White House, one aspect that stood out was a room dedicated to the Kennedys. The Vermeil Room on the ground floor of the executive mansion features a collection of 1,600 display pieces of silver-gilt tableware, and this year holiday decorations were themed on president John F Kennedy and first lady Jackie. Ms Kennedy's portrait hangs in the room along with those of other first ladies.
WorldNBC NewsChina has done human testing to create biologically enhanced super soldiers, says top U.S. official
U.S. intelligence shows that China has conducted "human testing" on members of the People's Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with "biologically enhanced capabilities," the top U.S. intelligence official said Friday. John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, included the explosive claim in a long Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he made the case that China poses the pre-eminent national security threat to the U.S. "There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing's pursuit of power," wrote Ratcliffe, a Republican former member of Congress from Texas.
- PoliticsReuters Videos
'If you can loot... you can also go to a Christmas party'- McEnany
"You can celebrate the holiday of Christmas and you can do it responsibly, which is why the East Wing has noted that they'll have a smaller guest list," McEnany said during a press briefing at the White House, adding that masks, hand-sanitizer and social distancing would be encouraged. At a White House holiday reception on Tuesday night, Trump hinted at planning another run for the U.S. presidency in 2024 and acknowledged that his long-shot legal challenges to the outcome of the Nov. 3 election might fail. "We are trying to do another four years," he told the assembled group, according to a Republican source who was at the event.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRepublican congressman tells Trump to 'delete your account' after he tweeted a 45-minute speech repeating baseless voter-fraud claims
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Wednesday told President Donald Trump to delete his Twitter account. The lawmaker quote-tweeted the president's link to a video statement with more unfounded claims about the November 3 election. A Republican congressman told President Donald Trump to "delete your account" on Wednesday night after the president tweeted a link to a 45-minute speech in which he repeated baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in the election.
U.S.Associated PressSan Francisco bans smoking inside apartments; pot smoking OK
City officials in San Francisco have banned all tobacco smoking inside apartments, citing concerns about secondhand smoke. The Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 Tuesday to approve the ordinance making San Francisco the largest city in the country to ban tobacco smoking inside apartments, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
PoliticsThe WeekTrump's 'eyes and ears' at the Justice Department reportedly banned from the building
A White House liaison has reportedly gotten herself banned from the Justice Department building. Heidi Stirrup, President Trump's "eyes and ears" at the Justice Department, was "banned from the building" after top DOJ officials found out she was allegedly attempting to "pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters" that she could then provide to the White House, The Associated Press reported on Thursday. Officials discovered that Stirrup was trying to get insider information on cases, approaching staffers and "demanding" they provide it, and she was told to leave the building within the last two weeks, according to the report.
CelebrityINSIDERA Houston Instagram influencer was found dead and naked on the side of the road. Her mother believes she was murdered.
Alexis Robinault, an influencer in Houston also known as Alexis Sharkey, was found dead over the weekend. "I believe solely that she was murdered, because of the manner in which her body was left," her mother, Stacey Robinault, told Insider in an interview. A 26-year-old Instagram influencer from Houston, Texas, was found dead on the side of the road on Saturday.
U.S.USA TODAYWisconsin court binds Kyle Rittenhouse over for trial on six counts in Kenosha shootings
A lawyer for Kyle Rittenhouse used Thursday's preliminary hearing to offer a preview of the self-defense arguments he will raise at a trial over shootings that killed two people and wounded a third during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August. Rittenhouse, 17, who was freed on $2 million bail on Nov. 20, appeared at the hearing via Zoom with his attorney, Mark Richards, from Richards' office in Racine, Wisconsin.
U.S.Business InsiderMore than half of the money from the Paycheck Protection Program went to just 5% of recipients
Over half the funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) went to just 5% of total recipients. In the past, Republicans have said the program has been working as intended, but banks have reported record business-loan fraud suspicion in the months of June and July. Over half the funds from the US' Paycheck Protection Program went to just 5% of recipients, according to new data released by the Treasury Department on Tuesday.
PoliticsThe IndependentIvanka Trump calls AG probe example of ‘vindictiveness’ and a ‘waste of taxpayer dollars’
Ivanka Trump called the corruption investigation into her father's inauguration a 'politically motivated' 'waste of taxpayer dollars' after she was herself deposed. Ms Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser, was deposed on Tuesday as part of Washington DC attorney general Karl A. Racine's investigation which accuses the president's 2017 inauguration committee of vastly overpaying for space at a Trump hotel in DC She tweeted her frustrations on Thursday, as well as a screen shot of a 2016 email she says she sent to a senior employee at the hotel asking he charge the committee a “fair market rate.
PoliticsReutersBiden pick for COVID-19 'czar' faces daunting task of pandemic response
When technical problems marred the ballyhooed launch of the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama turned to Jeff Zients, an economic adviser touted for his managerial skills and former healthcare consultant, to repair Obama's signature policy rollout. Seven years later, Obama's vice president, President-elect Joe Biden, is poised to pick Zients to tackle a far more daunting problem as the incoming administration's coronavirus "czar," according to a Biden ally familiar with internal discussions. The prominent position is similar to the role Ron Klain, Biden's soon-to-be chief of staff, played for the Obama administration during the Ebola crisis in 2014.
BusinessBusiness InsiderI just flew on the first Boeing 737 Max passenger flight since the plane was grounded. The flaws that killed 346 people were the least of my concerns.
American Airlines operated the demonstration flight a few weeks before it is planning to reintroduce the Max to regular customer service. In March 2019, the Boeing 737 Max was grounded worldwide after the second of two fatal crashes caused by a flaw in the airplane. Today, I climbed aboard the plane for its first passenger flight of 2020, which the Federal Aviation Administration allowed after 20 months of inspections, deliberations, hearings, redesigns, lawsuits, and debates.
WorldThe IndependentFauci apologises for ‘misunderstanding’ after suggesting UK rushed Covid vaccine approval
Dr Anthony Fauci said he has “great faith" in the UK's scientists and regulators, as he “set the record straight” on comments which seemed to suggest the UK had rushed through its approval of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine. America's top infectious diseases expert said on Wednesday evening he did “not mean to imply any sloppiness, even though it came out that way”. Dr Fauci had said UK health authorities did not scrutinise vaccine trial data as “carefully” as US officials have been doing, after the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) approved Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine on Tuesday, making Britain the first western country to green light the injection.
- HealthKTRK – Houston
Man arrested for alleged human trafficking in Ft. Bend Co.
For a year, deputies have been investigating a home in Cinco Ranch where they say a prostitution ring was operating.
PoliticsAssociated PressKlain brings decades of DC experience to Biden White House
Ron Klain has checked all the boxes of a classic Washington striver: Georgetown, Harvard Law, Supreme Court clerk and Capitol Hill staffer, White House adviser and, along the way, of course, lobbyist and lawyer. Now Klain is preparing to serve as President-elect Joe Biden's chief of staff, a job often referred to as the nation's chief operating officer. The 59-year-old father of three has a reputation among Democrats and, strikingly, even some Republicans for competence — a notable attribute after an administration that rewarded and dismissed people based on their loyalty to President Donald Trump.
TechnologyBBC'Ditch high definition and new tech to fight climate change'
Streaming a television show in standard definition can shave a little off your carbon emissions, a report from scientists at the UK's Royal Society says. HD video streaming on a phone generates about eight times more in emissions than standard definition (SD), it says. The report says digital technology's estimated contribution to global emissions ranges from 1.4% to 5.9% of the global total.
WorldThe New York TimesHe Escaped Death as a Kamikaze Pilot. 70 Years Later, He Told His Story.
For more than six decades, Kazuo Odachi had a secret: At the age of 17, he became a kamikaze pilot, one of thousands of young Japanese men tasked to give their lives in last-ditch suicide missions near the end of World War II. As he built a family and a career as a Tokyo police officer, he kept his secret from virtually everyone, even his wife, who knew only that he had served as a Japanese Navy pilot. The experience, he felt, would be too hard to explain to a society that mostly viewed the kamikaze as maniacal zealots who volunteered for an unthinkable sacrifice.
“This metastasizing debt crisis has had tremendous social costs. An entire generation has been set back.”
“It is not the government’s job to step in and rescue those who took on more debt than their future incomes would support.”
“Many student-borrowers need relief, but well-off borrowers who are thriving — thanks to their college degrees — do not.”
“It will stimulate the lagging economy. And though not everyone will directly benefit, the country as a whole will improve.”
“Canceling student debt would cost billions of dollars each year and would exacerbate, not lessen, economic inequalities.”