PoliticsThe IndependentKayleigh McEnany leaves White House after final two-minute press briefing following deadly Capitol riot
Donald Trump's press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has packed up her office at the White House, days before president-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office, though she is expected to remain in the role until the president's term ends on 20 January. The press secretary took no questions from the reporters in the room. Following a career in right-wing cable news commentary, Ms McEnany was named the Republican National Committee's national spokesperson in August 2017 before joining the Trump campaign as its national press secretary in 2019.
BusinessReutersGitHub apologizes for firing Jewish employee who warned of Nazis in U.S. Capitol: TechCrunch
Technology company GitHub has apologized for firing a Jewish employee who cautioned his colleagues about the presence of Nazis in Washington on the day of the assault of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, TechCrunch reported. After a probe found "significant errors of judgment and procedure" in the termination of the employee, GitHub's head of human resources resigned, GitHub Chief Operating Officer Erica Brescia said on Sunday. "In light of these findings, we immediately reversed the decision to separate with the employee and are in communication with his representative," Brescia said in a blog https://bit.ly/2KnkVhI, adding that the company apologized to that employee.
ScienceThe TelegraphColombia's rapidly breeding 'cocaine hippos' must be stopped, scientists say
Scientists forecast that the number of hippos will swell to almost 1,500 by 2040. They conclude, that at that point, environmental impacts will be irreversible and numbers impossible to control. Nobody likes the idea of shooting a hippo, but we have to accept that no other strategy is going to work,” ecologist Nataly Castelblanco-Martínez told The Telegraph.
HealthThe WeekIsrael may be starting to show 'herd effects' of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, expert suggests
Israel has vaccinated at least 25 percent of its population against the coronavirus so far, which leads the world and makes it "the country to country watch for herd effects from" the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, says infectious disease expert David Fishman. Recently, the case rate in Israel appears to have declined sharply, and while there could be a few reasons for that, it's possible the vaccination effort is beginning to play a role. One study from Clalit that was published last week reports that 14 days after receiving the first Pfizer-BioNTech shot, infection rates among 200,000 Israelis older than 60 fell 33 percent among those vaccinated compared to 200,000 from the same demogra...
CelebrityTheGrioMAGA protester punched by Black woman security guard fired by UMass Hospital
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. After Duke made a failed attempt to grab Smith's phone out of her hand, the woman proceeded to punch Duke in the face once, to dissuade her. Following the incident, her very liberal 18-year-old daughter Helena Duke exposed her on social media. Hi mom remember the time you told me I shouldn't go to BLM protests bc they could get violent…this you?
PoliticsNational ReviewRand 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. 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.
U.S.Miami HeraldSuspect seen crushing police officer during Capitol riot is wanted by the FBI
Authorities have released photos of a suspect who they say crushed a police officer in a doorway as rioters tried to enter the U.S. Capitol last week. A video shows officer Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan Police Department screaming in agony and bleeding as police and rioters squared off on Jan. 6. Police say the suspect “assaulted and used a clear police shield to pin” Hodges in a door jamb.
HealthThe TelegraphAlmost a third of recovered Covid patients return to hospital in five months and one in eight die
Almost a third of recovered Covid patients will end up back in hospital within five months and one in eight will die, alarming new figures have shown. Research by Leicester University and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found there is a devastating long-term toll on survivors of severe coronavirus, with many people developing heart problems, diabetes and chronic liver and kidney conditions. Out of 47,780 people who were discharged from hospital in the first wave, 29.4 per cent were readmitted to hospital within 140 days, and 12.3 per cent of the total died.
HealthThe IndependentFauci: Two more Covid vaccines just ‘weeks’ away from US distribution
Two more Covid vaccine candidates are likely just around the corner, a development that would provide a much-needed boost to the US programme to vaccinate millions of its citizens, Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, has said. A pair of vaccines from the drugmakers AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have wrapped up their clinical trials and could be cleared for use in the US within “a few weeks” pending the government review process, Dr Fauci said in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. The drug companies' own safety monitoring boards will first need to ensure the data from their clinical trials is sound and proves they have a safe, effective vaccine.
PoliticsNational ReviewLindsey Graham Warns That Pardoning Capitol Rioters Would ‘Destroy’ Trump
Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Sunday advised the president not to grant presidential pardons to the rioters who stormed the Capitol this month, warning that doing so would “destroy” Trump. “There are a lot of people urging the president to pardon folks who participated in defiling the Capitol, the rioters,” Graham continued. On Wednesday, a large group of Trump supporters overpowered Capitol Police and forced their way into the halls of Congress.
U.S.NBC NewsOff the grid, heavily armed and radicalized: He's a law enforcement nightmare
These are the people who keep law enforcement up at night,” said Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI criminal profiler and an NBC News analyst. I used to go to bed thinking, 'Did I do everything I could? Have I looked for this?
U.S.The Guardian'I had no qualms': The people turning in loved ones for the Capitol attack
When Alison Lopez discovered her uncle's sister had been part of the mob that breached the Capitol doors on 6 January, she immediately reported her to the FBI. Lopez found out about her in-law's participation when the woman in question called her aunt from inside the Capitol to brag about “taking back the election”. In the week after the attacks on the Capitol, there has been a concerted effort to “unmask” rioters online, with self-styled detectives investigating who's who in videos and photos posted from the attack.
U.S.The WeekNew Yorker reporter's footage provides 'clearest view yet' of Capitol rioters inside Senate chamber
Luke Mogelson, a veteran war correspondent and contributing writer for The New Yorker, captured what appears to be the "clearest" footage yet of the deadly riot at the United States Capitol earlier this month. Mogelson attended (in a journalistic capacity) President Trump's rally on Jan. 6, which preceded the pro-Trump mob's march to and breach of the capitol. He followed the rioters into the building and filmed a group that entered the empty Senate chamber.
WorldBusiness InsiderEvery single passenger on board 2 international flights to Canada informed that they were potentially exposed to COVID-19
All passengers on board two Air Transat flights from Haiti to Montreal have potentially been exposed to COVID-19, the Toronto Sun reported. Passengers seated in "all rows" have been notified by the Canadian government's exposure tracking system that they need to monitor their symptoms. The Canadian government announced on January 7 that a negative coronavirus test is required to fly.
HealthNBC NewsFauci: Weeks, not months before new vaccines are submitted for approval
Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation's foremost public health experts, said Sunday that the U.S. is “weeks away, not months away” from considering the approval of new coronavirus vaccines. In an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who will be staying on as President-elect Joe Biden's chief science adviser, said he was optimistic that the vaccine candidates being made by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca can be fully evaluated soon. "I would imagine within a period of a week or so, or at the most, a couple of weeks, they're going to be getting their data together and showing it to the FDA,” Fauci said of the two pharmaceutical companies.
U.S.INSIDERPolice say Oregon man who stole a car with a child in the backseat came back and 'lectured' the mom about parenting
A carjacker in Beaverton, Oregon returned a child to their mother after realizing they were in the backseat of the car he was stealing. "He actually lectured the mother for leaving the child in the car and threatened to call the police on her," Beaverton police spokesman Officer Matt Henderson told the Oregonian. The carjacking took place outside of a grocery store in Beaverton, Oregon on Saturday when the mom left the car running with the child in the backseat, local authorities said.
PoliticsThe IndependentTrump news – live: Armed groups dwarfed by security at state capitals as president’s approval at new low
President Donald Trump's approval rating has plummeted to an all-time low as the US leader prepares to exit the White House. In the wake of the deadly Capitol riots on 6 January, the president has seen his approval rating dive, with the change in perception being largely among Republicans. The worst polling came from Pew Research Center, which found Mr Trump's disapproval rating to be at 68 per cent, with his approval rating falling to 29 per cent, the lowest yet, in a poll of 5,360 adults conducted between 8-12 January.
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Gov. Hutchinson: Trump misled followers into believing election was rigged, resulted in attack on Capitol
Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark. joins Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.
U.S.Business InsiderThe Florida data scientist who claims she was fired by the health department for refusing to alter COVID-19 data said she'll turn herself into police after a warrant was issued for her arrest
Rebekah Jones, the Florida data scientist, last year fired by the Department of Health, said Saturday she would turn herself in to authorities Sunday after they last week issued a warrant for her arrest. Jones, who worked on the state's COVID-19 dashboard, was fired in May after she said she refused to alter data related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the state. Florida authorities in December executed a warrant on her property, seizing computers, phones, and external storage drives after she continued to publish Florida's COVID-19 data through her own dashboard.
U.S.INSIDERA couple of Capitol rioters told the FBI an officer shook their hands and said 'it's your house now' as insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol
Two Capitol rioters claim an officer told them "It's your house now" as hundreds stormed the Capitol on January 6. Bobby Bauer and a relative were identified as among those who breached the US Capitol after an unknown caller tipped the FBI's National Threat Operations Center. Bauer told authorities an officer "grabbed his hand, shook it, and said, 'It's your house now."
PoliticsThe WeekTrump 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.
PoliticsBusiness Insider'What the hell's the matter with them?': Biden scorches GOP lawmakers who didn't wear masks in secure areas during Capitol riots, saying they need 'to grow up'
President-elect Joe Biden on Friday excoriated Republicans who refused to wear masks while huddled with other lawmakers during the Capitol riots, saying they needed "to grow up." "Quite frankly, it was shocking to see members of the Congress while the Capitol was under siege by a deadly mob of thugs refuse to wear masks while they were in secure locations," he said. At least three Democratic House members who were in locations with a select number of maskless Republicans have now tested positive for COVID-19, including Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Brad Schneider of Illinois.
PoliticsNBC NewsPoll: Trump approval remains stable, Republicans unmoved after Capitol violence
Donald Trump is the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice — this time for his role in inciting a deadly assault on the Capitol by his supporters — but he is still poised to leave office with a job approval rating that is fairly typical of his entire time in office. A new NBC News poll found that 43 percent of voters nationwide gave Trump a positive job approval rating, just barely down from 45 percent who said the same before the November election and the 44 percent who approved of his performance shortly after he took office in 2017. The same poll found that 35 percent of voters — including 74 percent of Republicans but just 30 percent of independents and 3 percent of Democrats — believe that President-elect Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election legitimately.
U.S.INSIDERIllinois mayor who attended Trump's DC rally apologizes after claiming the media lied about Capitol riot
Thomasboro, Illinois Mayor Tyler Evans Issued a statement Thursday apologizing for his comments accusing the media of lying about the violence that took place at the Capitol on January 6. In a now-deleted video, Evans described being at the Capitol building as "the most exhilarating thing." As of Jan 15, the FBI has identified more than 270 suspects involved in criminal activity related to the Capitol riot and taken more than 100 individuals into custody.
U.S.INSIDERA Virginia man arrested at a DC checkpoint with guns and ammo says he was just lost and made an 'honest mistake'
A Virginia man arrested at a DC checkpoint and accused of having guns and a cache of ammunition says it was an "honest mistake," and he was simply a private security guard who got lost. Wesley Allen Beeler, 31, was released by a judge on Saturday and told The Washington Post he was licensed to carry the gun, and had an inauguration badge as he'd been working security gigs all week. Washington, DC, has dramatically ramped up security measures ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, just two weeks after Trump supporters violently stormed the US Capitol.
“If you’re looking to win elections, it is probably best not to urge your supporters not to vote.”
“Warnock’s portrayal of himself as a dog lover, a means of overcoming white suspicions of Black men, smacked of pure genius.”
“Trump has done damage to the Republican brand among suburban voters that goes well beyond just races where he is on the ballot.”
“Once more, Democrats must profusely thank activist Stacey Abrams.”
“Overall, demographic trends show that the state’s electorate is becoming younger and more diverse each year.”