COVID Deaths In California Continue To Rise As ICU Numbers Drop

California health authorities reported Saturday another record one-day total of 695 coronavirus deaths as many hospitals strain under unprecedented caseloads.

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  • Guatemala tries blocking caravan of 9,000 Honduran migrants

    Guatemalan soldiers blocked part of a caravan of as many as 9,000 Honduran migrants Saturday at a point not far from where they entered the country seeking to reach the U.S. border. The soldiers, many wearing helmets and wielding shields and sticks, formed ranks across a highway in Chiquimula, near the Honduras border, to block the procession of migrants. Guatemala’s immigration agency distributed a video showing a couple of hundred men scuffling with soldiers, pushing and running through their lines, even as troops held hundreds more back.

  • Kayleigh McEnany leaves White House after final two-minute press briefing following deadly Capitol riot

    Trump’s press secretary refused to take questions following the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol earlier this month

  • Swiss set to approve AstraZeneca COVID vaccine this month: NZZ

    AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine could win Swiss regulatory approval as early as this month, the NZZ newspaper reported on Saturday, citing two unnamed sources. It said watchdog Swissmedic plans a meeting at the end of the month to sign off on the jab. "If everything proceeds in an exemplary manner and we get the necessary data soon, the next approval decision can come very quickly," the paper cited a Swissmedic spokesman as saying without giving a date.

  • MAGA protester punched by Black woman security guard fired by UMass Hospital

    The white woman caught on tape getting into a physical altercation with a Black female security guard the evening before the Capitol riots lost her job at UMass Hospital. The termination occurred after her daughter went viral for exposing her identity on social media. On January 5th, Therese Duke and a group of pro-Trump protesters that included other family members were filmed harassing Ashanti Smith, a security guard working at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C.

  • Vice President-elect Harris to resign her Senate seat Monday

    Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will resign her Senate seat on Monday, two days before she and President-elect Joe Biden are inaugurated. Aides to the California Democrat confirmed the timing and said Gov. Gavin Newsom was aware of her decision, clearing the way for him to appoint fellow Democrat Alex Padilla, now California's secretary of state, to serve the final two years of Harris' term. Padilla will be the first Latino senator from California, where about 40% of residents are Hispanic.

  • Rand Paul Warns One-Third of Republicans Will Leave Party if GOP Senators Back Impeachment

    Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) warned Friday that one-third of Republican voters could leave the party if GOP senators vote in impeachment proceedings to convict President Trump. Paul made the comments in an interview on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle. The senator’s remarks come amid an increasing divide between congressional Republicans who oppose impeaching the president and a smaller number who support the measure following the riots at the Capitol on January 6. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) is reportedly hopeful that Republicans can use impeachment to purge Trump from the GOP, although he would need the support of at least 16 additional Republican senators to vote to convict. “Look, I didn’t agree with the [Capitol] fight that happened last week, and I voted against overturning the election, but at the same time, the impeachment is a wrongheaded, partisan notion, [and] if Republicans go along with it, it’ll destroy the party,” Paul said during the interview. “A third of the Republicans will leave the party,” Paul continued. “This isn’t about, anymore, the Electoral College, this is about the future of the party, and whether you’re going to ostracize and excommunicate President Trump from the party. Well, guess what? Millions of his fans will leave as well.” While a majority of Americans believe Trump should be removed from office immediately, just 17 percent of Republicans support expelling Trump from the presidency, according to an Axios–Ipsos poll released on Thursday. Support for Trump among Republicans has fallen since the Capitol riots; however, 60 percent believe the party should continue to follow Trump once he leaves office, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found.

  • It's Playtime: 8 Beautiful Games for Grown-Ups

    You'll love the twist these designers have put on old-school entertainmentOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • Thousands of Covid-19 vaccines landing in the garbage

    It's unclear how many doses have wound up in the trash because many hospitals aren't reporting these numbers for fear of retribution, a leading public health doctor said.

  • No charges in Pennsylvania discarded-ballots case

    No criminal charges will be filed against a former temporary elections worker authorities have said mistakenly discarded nine military ballots ahead of the November presidential election, a federal prosecutor announced Friday. Officials have previously blamed the decision to toss out the ballots on an unidentified and improperly trained contract worker who had been handling mail-in ballots for the county for two days. The ballots were later retrieved from the trash and were counted with other mailed ballots after the Nov. 3 election.

  • Palestinians announce first elections in 15 years, on eve of Biden era

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced parliamentary and presidential elections on Friday, the first in 15 years, in an effort to heal long-standing internal divisions. The move is widely seen as a response to criticism of the democratic legitimacy of Palestinian political institutions, including Abbas's presidency. It also comes days before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, with whom the Palestinians want to reset relations after they reached a low under President Donald Trump.

  • ‘You are violating my rights!’ Florida woman jailed — again — for refusing to wear a mask

    Cindy Falco Dicorrado may have wanted a bagel at an Einstein Bros. Bagels near Boca Raton but she may have had to settle for eating one in a Palm Beach County jail the next morning.

  • China reports ice cream contaminated with coronavirus

    The coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of cartons from the same batch, according to the government. The Daqiaodao Food Co., Ltd. in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, a city government statement said. There was no indication anyone had contracted the virus from the ice cream. Most of the 29,000 cartons in the batch had yet to be sold, the government said. It said 390 sold in Tianjin were being tracked down and authorities elsewhere were notified of sales to their areas. The ingredients included New Zealand milk powder and whey powder from Ukraine, the government said. The Chinese government has suggested the disease, first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, came from abroad and has highlighted what it says are discoveries of the coronavirus on imported fish and other food, though foreign scientists are skeptical. Chinese officials have blamed cluster outbreaks on frozen food products imported from countries including the US, EU, New Zealand, Canada, India, Germany and Ecuador. And recently, China blamed an infection in a current cluster outbreak on an imported virus strain that had supposedly contaminated a package of steamed buns. The World Health Organisation has said that cases of live viruses being found on packaging appeared to be “rare and isolated". Other health experts have cautioned against drawing causal links between food packaging and outbreaks – finding traces of virus indicates it is present on a surface, but does not mean it can cause infections. The report came as China confirmed 109 new Covid-19 cases, two-thirds of them in a northern province that abuts Beijing, and no deaths. There were 72 new cases in Hebei province, where the government is building isolation hospitals with a total of 9,500 rooms to combat an upsurge in infections, according to the National Health Commission. The Health Commission on Saturday blamed the new infections on travellers and imported goods it said brought the virus from abroad. China's death toll stands at 4,653 out of 88,227 total cases.

  • Trump supporter sued after refusing to pay $100 bet over election results

    A friendly $100 wager over the 2020 presidential election has landed in a Florida small claims court.

  • Trump reportedly began 'choreographing' premature victory speech weeks before election

    President Trump is known for going off script, but his premature presidential election victory declaration in the early hours of the morning on Nov. 4 wasn't a completely spur-of-the-moment decision, Axios' Jonathan Swan reports.In the first installment of a reported series on Trump's final two months in office, Swan writes that Trump began "choreographing election night in earnest" during the second week of October following a "toxic" debate with President-elect Joe Biden on Sept. 29 and a bout with COVID-19 that led to his hospitalization. At that point, Trump's internal poll numbers had reportedly taken a tumble, Swan notes.With that in mind, he reportedly called his first White House chief of staff, a stunned Reince Priebus, and "acted out his script, including walking up to a podium and prematurely declaring victory on election night if it looked like he was ahead." Indeed, in the lead up to Election Day, Trump reportedly kept his focus on the so-called "red mirage," the early vote counts that would show many swing states leaning red because mail-in ballots had yet to be counted. Trump, Swan reports, intended to "weaponize it for his vast base of followers," who would go to bed thinking he had secured a second-term, likely planting the seeds of a stolen election. Read more at Axios. > As I've been writing, the plan was to steal the election all along. Fantastic reporting here. https://t.co/k8C73o8vH7> > -- Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) January 16, 2021More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathing cartoons about Trump's 2nd impeachment Trump's vaccine delay is getting suspicious Here's what Biden reportedly plans to do his 1st day in office

  • AP EXCLUSIVE: Maduro ally presses for dialogue with Biden

    A close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Friday he’s hopeful the Biden administration will roll back a “cruel” sanctions policy and instead give room for diplomacy that could lead to the reopening of the U.S. Embassy and the release of several jailed American citizens. Jorge Rodríguez’s comments came in his first interview since taking the helm of Venezuela’s National Assembly over strong protests from the U.S., European Union and domestic opponents. Rodriguez, extending an olive branch to the incoming U.S. president, said the ruling socialist party is eager for a new start after four years of endless attacks by the Trump administration that he believes not only exacerbated suffering among Venezuelans and failed to unseat Maduro but also punished U.S. investors who historically have been important in the OPEC nation.

  • A Virginia man arrested at a DC checkpoint with guns and ammo says he was just lost and made an 'honest mistake'

    "The suspect was found be in possession of an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition," a DC police incident report stated.

  • Trump's White House packs up as one of the least civil presidential handovers in history begins

    When George H. Bush handed over to his Democratic successor, Bill Clinton, he wrote a heartfelt letter wishing President 42 luck and “great happiness”. George W. Bush offered Barack Obama friendly advice as he was leaving office to “ignore the critics” and that he was "pulling" for him. Since George Washington gave the keys to the White House over to John Adams in 1797, the transfer of power between presidents has largely been peaceful, if on occasion spiteful. This year all norms, however, have been broken. For starters, Donald Trump only conceded last week - at the urging of White House lawyers - after his supporters stormed the US Capitol. The formal process finally began this week, with White House staff pictured removing its current occupants’ belongings - everything from paintings to a taxidermy pheasant.

  • Statehouses, US capital brace for potentially violent week

    The threat of extremist groups descending on state capitals in a series of demonstrations Sunday prompted governors to roll out a massive show of force and implement tight security measures at statehouses across the country. Fencing, boarded-up windows and lines of police and National Guard troops have transformed statehouse grounds ahead of expected demonstrations leading up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday. The stepped-up security measures were intended to safeguard seats of government from the type of violence that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when a mob supporting President Donald Trump overran the building while Congress was certifying the Electoral College vote.

  • Biden's plan to wear Ralph Lauren fits inauguration's sober, unshowy tone

    Fashion brand reported to be dressing the president-elect, a move that would subtly signal a distancing from the Trump era Joe Biden is sworn in as his wife Jill watches during the inauguration ceremony for President Barack Obama on 20 January 2009. Photograph: Jim Bourg/Reuters Joe Biden is being dressed by the fashion brand Ralph Lauren for his presidential inauguration on 20 January, according to Women’s Wear Daily, in a move that has prompted a round of speculation about his meaning and motives at a time of crisis in the US. On the surface, Biden’s choice of Ralph Lauren is no great shakes: here is a fashion brand with a classic, mass All American image. From the Oscars to the mall it is both luxurious and high-end, mid-range and accessible. Biden’s suit is expected to be single-breasted and two-buttoned, in a dark shade of blue worn with a crisp white or baby blue shirt. “Ralph Lauren is a brand that has become synonymous with America on the global stage,” said Emma McClendon, who curated Power Mode: The Force of Fashion at the Museum of FIT in New York. “From the company’s preppy advertising campaigns, to the red, white and blue uniforms [Lauren] has designed for the US Olympic team”. But – like much else in American public life – Biden’s sartorial choices are not divorced from their political context. Lauren fits the sober, unshowy mood the Washington inauguration will take place in, as Donald Trump’s four years of turmoil come to an end in the wake of an attack on the Capitol by a rightwing mob. The choice could also be read as a subtle rejoinder to the preceding pumped-up Trump era.“Isn’t a Ralph Lauren suit supposed to be an expression of understatement, of sober reliability and even predictability?” said Michael Zakim, author of A History of Men’s Dress in the American Republic. With three years between them, Biden and Lauren are both members of the so-called “silent generation”. “[It’s] a manly form of unostentatious modesty that no one’s actually supposed to be noticed – striking a pointed contrast to Trump’s clinical impulsiveness and need for attention,” Zakim said. Ralph Lauren. Photograph: Jason DeCrow/AP Ralph Lauren has dressed Democratic and Republican heads of state, including Melania Trump, who wore a pale blue dress for Trump’s inauguration. Being one of the few designers who dressed the outgoing first lady led the hashtag #boycottralphlauren to trend on Twitter. “Lauren’s designs have been more often associated with the women of the West Wing than the men,” said McClendon. As well as Melania, McClendon name-checks Hillary Clinton wearing a white Ralph Lauren suit to accept her presidential nomination at the 2016 Democratic national convention. “In this way, Biden’s choice of Lauren could be seen as unifying – selecting an American brand that has been supported by both sides of the aisle,” she said, which also certainly fits with the inauguration’s theme of “America United”. Lauren’s steady-hand trademark might be over-egged to some, but there’s a happy parallel with Biden, whose own preppy style has not changed much since the 1970s. Still, the choice of inauguration designer subtly diverges from the expected choice of Brooks Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy last year. Forty-one of the past 45 presidents wore the brand, including Barack Obama and Trump. “[Biden] obviously feels comfortable in his clothes and projects the image that is, at the same time, youthful and mature,” said Djurdja Bartlett, who edited the book Fashion and Politics. Domestically produced, Ralph Lauren reaffirms a message of American exceptionalism. “Ideologically, Biden’s style is a visual testament to Americana in its most idealised version. His are effortless clothes that remind Americans and the world of the times when America was effortlessly great,” Bartlett said. When contacted by the Guardian, a Ralph Lauren spokesperson replied: “Unfortunately, we can’t comment.”

  • GOP officials are reportedly worried controversial pro-Trump House members could run for Senate, governor

    Georgia and Arizona were two of the most crucial states in this election cycle, and it looks like they'll remain at the forefront of the coming battle within the Republican Party, The New York Times reports.Things have grown tense in the Sun Belt states, where mainstream Republicans are hoping to fend off President Trump's allies. In Arizona, for instance, the state GOP is trying to censure Republican Gov. Doug Ducey — as well as former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Cindy McCain — in part because he has been "deemed insufficiently beholden to Trump," Politico reports. In Georgia, there's a faction on the right that wants to defeat Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who has faced Trump's wrath for not supporting his election conspiracy theories, in a gubernatorial primary in 2022.Both situations reportedly have the more traditional half of the Republican Party concerned — privately, the Times reports, GOP officials are concerned some high-profile members of the House that are considered staunch Trump loyalists who have "propagated fringe conspiracy theories," like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), as well as Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), could launch campaigns for Senate seats and governorships in their states in 2022. So, even as, per USA Today, Republican senators ponder whether to vote to convict President Trump in his upcoming impeachment trial, and then potentially vote to bar him from future public office, their fight against him is seemingly far from over. Read more at The New York Times, Politico, and USA Today.More stories from theweek.com 5 more scathing cartoons about Trump's 2nd impeachment Trump's vaccine delay is getting suspicious Here's what Biden reportedly plans to do his 1st day in office