PoliticsBusiness InsiderTrump is reportedly considering preemptively pardoning as many as 20 associates before leaving office
President Donald Trump is considering preemptively pardoning as many as 20 close associates before he leaves office in January, Politico reported on Thursday. Trump and his allies will face a slew of civil and criminal investigations on a federal and state level once he leaves office in January, and the pardon power does not apply to state offenses. President Donald Trump is weighing issuing preemptive pardons to as many as 20 close associates, Politico reported on Thursday.
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.
PoliticsThe 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.
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 NewsKyle Rittenhouse, teen charged with killings at Jacob Blake protest, ordered to stand trial
Kyle Rittenhouse — the 17-year-old charged with killing two people during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after the shooting of Jacob Blake — will stand trial on charges of felony homicide and other crimes, a court commissioner ruled Thursday. During a preliminary hearing at Kenosha County Circuit Court, which was held via video link, commissioner Loren Keating ruled that there was enough evidence to send Rittenhouse to trial over the Aug. 25 killings of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26. Rittenhouse also faces charges of possession of a dangerous weapon while under the age of 18 and felony attempted homicide for injuring a third man, Gaige Grosskreutz.
PoliticsAssociated PressWisconsin governor calls Trump lawsuit an 'assault'
President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn Wisconsin's election results by tossing ballots only from the state's two most heavily Democratic counties is an “assault on democracy,” attorneys for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said in filings with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The filings, made late Tuesday, come as the state's highest court is weighing Trump's request to disqualify more than 221,000 ballots in Milwaukee and Dane counties. Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump by a 2-to-1 margin in those counties on his way to a 20,682-vote win statewide.
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.
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.”
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 WeekTrump reportedly derailed a GOP meeting about the Georgia Senate runoffs by praising QAnon
President Trump reportedly needs no encouragement to start praising the dangerous, baseless QAnon conspiracy theory. The most pressing matter for federal Republicans right now is the upcoming Senate runoffs in Georgia, which will determine control of the body. Trump is reportedly not thrilled with Georgia and that fact that it flipped for President-elect Joe Biden, and is publicly upset with Republican leaders in the state who haven't somehow overturned the election for him.
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.
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.
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.
PoliticsThe WeekTrump gives 45-minute speech about voter fraud — which 1 analyst says he'd be making in court if it had any merit
President Trump has combined dozens of his favorite conspiracy theories about the 2020 election into one incredibly debunked Facebook video. In a 45-minute video posted Wednesday, Trump repeated debunked lie after lie about the 2020 election, including claims that Dominion voting machines were rigged; Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security had looked into claims about the machines changing ballots and found no evidence. Trump also falsely suggested mail-in ballots were somehow rigged against him, despite it being known before the election that mail-in ballots would tend to go for President-elect Joe Biden, and that there have been no instances of widespread fraud found since.
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 IndependentNancy Pelosi says there will be a stimulus agreement by next week
Nancy Pelosi says that Congress “will have an agreement” on a new pandemic stimulus deal before it takes its Christmas break next week. The House Speaker spoke to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell for the first time since the election on Thursday. The congressional leaders spoke on the phone “about their shared commitment to completing an omnibus [spending bill] and Covid relief as soon as possible,” said Ms Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill on Twitter.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
China lashes out after report of U.S. visa restrictions
China on Thursday accused critics in the U.S. government of “an escalation of political suppression” against Beijing following a report of new visa restrictions on members of China's ruling Communist Party and their immediate family members.
PoliticsThe WeekBiden says he's concerned about reports Trump is considering preemptive pardons
President-elect Joe Biden said when it comes to the Department of Justice, he is "not going to be telling them what they have to do and don't have to do." Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday, and the discussion turned to reports that President Trump is contemplating preemptively pardoning his adult children, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Biden said this "concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks [at] us as a nation of laws and justice."
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.
PoliticsINSIDERJake Paul's company took a PPP bailout loan for over $30,000 before the YouTuber's summer pandemic partying
New data released by the Small Business Administration shows controversial YouTuber Jake Paul received a PPP bailout loan of $34,800 in April 2020. The loan was accepted by Team 10, Inc., the content company Paul operates out of his $7 million mansion where he threw large parties in the weeks after receiving federal money. Paul told Insider he wasn't going to "sit around and not live [his] life" when asked about his large gatherings that violated local coronavirus guidelines.
PoliticsAssociated PressGeorgia GOP seeks mail-in ballot changes after Biden's win
After weathering criticism for certifying President Donald Trump's narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, Republican officials in Georgia are proposing additional requirements for the state's vote-by-mail process, despite no evidence of systemic fraud or irregularities. Republicans are zeroing in on a plan to require a photo ID for ballots cast by mail. Biden beat Trump by just over 12,500 votes in Georgia, with Biden receiving nearly twice as many of the record number of absentee ballots as the Republican president, according to the secretary of state's office.
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.
U.S.LA TimesCalifornia's stay-at-home order allows essential travel only. What does that mean?
Stop traveling, the governor says. With the "regional stay-at-home" order issued Thursday and likely to be triggered in coming days, Gov. Gavin Newsom is imploring Californians to stay home for at least the next three weeks and cinching already tight restrictions in areas where the COVID-19 pandemic has hospitals under the heaviest pressure. Outlining the new restrictions, which include new capacity limits for retailers and other changes, state officials said hotels and other lodgings will be allowed "to open for critical infrastructure support only."
BusinessBusiness InsiderUPS tells drivers to stop picking up packages from some major retailers, including Nike, Gap, and Macy's
As a temporary measure, UPS has told drivers to stop picking up packages from some large retailers during the holiday season. The retailers include Gap, L.L. Bean, Hot Topic, Nike, Macy's and electronics company Newegg. This year is expected to be busier than usual for carries, as more retailers are relying on online orders for holiday shopping.
LifestyleINSIDERI visited Las Vegas during the pandemic and was shocked how much it still felt like the Sin City I remember
The city had plenty of signs reminding visitors to keep their distance from one another and wear masks. Pool parties and massive concerts weren't happening, but many Vegas shows and mainstays were still open. Most of the people I saw were wearing masks and I also noticed staff members frequently cleaning chips and slot machines.
“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.”