PoliticsThe IndependentDemocrats take the lead in Georgia senate races as Michelle Obama joins campaign
Democratic candidates are maintaining their lead in Georgia's crucial Senate run-off races, with a new poll showing Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff leading Republican incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue ahead of the 5 January polls. The poll, conducted by SurveyUSA, showed Mr Warnock ahead of GOP Senator Loeffler by seven percentage points, while Mr Ossoff took a lead of five percentage points over his Republican opponent. Mr Ossoff widened his lead by two points when compared with the same poll taken three weeks earlier, while Mr Warnock maintained his lead.
PoliticsThe WeekWhite House staffers were given departure instructions. Then they were told to disregard them.
White House staffers received an email Tuesday night with instructions for vacating the building, several outlets, including CBS News and Politico, report. The memo said employees "will start departing" the week of Jan. 4, and it outlined information on everything their final paychecks to cleaning out refrigerators and microwaves. But then on Wednesday morning, the staffers received another email telling them to disregard the previous message.
PoliticsAssociated PressTrump vetoes defense bill, setting up possible override vote
President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency. The bill affirms 3% pay raises for U.S. troops and authorizes more than $740 billion in military programs and construction. The action came while Trump was holed up at the White House, stewing about his election loss and escalating his standoff with Republicans as he pushed fraudulent conspiracy theories and tried to pressure them to back his efforts to overturn the results.
HealthReutersMillions of U.S. vaccine doses sit on ice, putting 2020 goal in doubt
While hospitals have started giving out Moderna's vaccine, the CDC has not yet reported that data and there may be a lag in reporting shots given of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The slow pace has barely picked up from the first week when 614,000 shots were given although nearly 2.9 million were shipped. Hospitals said the first COVID-19 vaccinations started slowly last Monday as they navigated preparing the previously frozen shots for use, finding employees to run the vaccination clinics, and ensuring proper social distancing both before and after vaccination.
U.S.The IndependentCalifornia Covid patient beats roommate to death with oxygen tank
A Covid-19 patient in California allegedly beat his elderly roommate to death with an oxygen tank, amid a rise of hospitalisations in the state. The incident took place at the Antelope Valley Hospital in Los Angeles, California, on the morning of 17 December, according to KABC. Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department told the station that a man hospitalised for Covid-19 brutally assaulted his 82-year-old roommate using an oxygen tank.
U.S.NBC NewsU.S. teen who broke Covid protocols in Cayman Islands gets reduced sentence
An American college student who broke the mandatory 14-day quarantine protocol for visitors in the Cayman Islands received a reduced jail sentence after her lawyer filed an appeal arguing that the punishment was “particularly harsh.” A spokesperson for the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal told NBC News in an email that the jail time for Skylar Mack, 18, and her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, was cut from four to two months on Tuesday. “They both expressed genuine remorse, a genuine appreciation for the seriousness of what had taken place, a genuine appeal for some form of forgiveness,” Jonathan Hughes said.
PoliticsThe WeekThe Blackwater guards Trump pardoned were jailed for a massacre of civilians, including 2 kids
The 15 people President Trump pardoned Tuesday evening include the first two congressmen who endorsed him for president — former Reps. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), both convicted of financial crimes — two people jailed in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, and four private guards working for Blackwater who were serving long sentences for an unprovoked and unnecessary 2007 massacre of civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square that left 17 Iraqis dead, including two boys, ages 8 and 11. Blackwater, since sold and renamed Academi, is a private military contractor outfit headed at the time by Erik Prince, brother to Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestShould You Be Living in a Hotel?
7 extended-stay accommodations that transform work-from-home into work-from-anywhere Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.Associated PressUPS driver dies after assault; co-worker taken into custody
A UPS employee sought in a deadly assault on a co-worker was taken into custody Wednesday, Connecticut state police said. The suspect, Elijah David Bertrand, 19, had been the target of search since Tuesday night when a fellow UPS worker, Nathan Burk, was found suffering from injuries. The two men apparently were riding in the same vehicle before the assault, Connecticut State Police Trooper Joseu Dorelus said at a news conference.
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Biden says Trump needs to publicly name who is responsible for the Solar Winds cyberattack
In remarks delivered on Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. President-elect Joe Biden said President Trump needs to publicly name who is responsible for the Solar Winds cyberattack. Biden said it happened on “Trump's watch when he wasn't watching.
PoliticsThe IndependentSouth Dakota’s controversial governor wields flamethrower in Instagram post
South Dakota's often controversial governor Kristi Noem has once again drawn attention on social media after posting a photo of herself on Instagram wielding a flamethrower. The governor, who has often drawn criticism for her relaxed attitude towards the coronavirus pandemic, on Tuesday posted a photograph of herself holding the device while it was alight. Is it too late to add something to my Christmas list,” she wrote.
PoliticsBBCDr Deborah Birx: White House virus expert quits over holiday travel
But it emerged on Sunday she had travelled from Washington to one of her other properties, on Fenwick Island in Delaware, where she was joined by three generations of her family from two households. While in Delaware, she did an interview with CBS in which she noted that some Americans had "made mistakes" over Thanksgiving by travelling and they "should assume they were infected". The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose director has often joined Dr Birx on the podium during briefings, has warned Americans not to travel over the holidays.
PoliticsTheGrioHere’s who doesn’t qualify for upcoming COVID-19 stimulus check
There are a few changes to qualifications for the second round of stimulus checks due to reach the American people in coming weeks. The package bill for the $600-per-person payments has passed Congress, although there is a push from the White House and others to change its contents and increase the payments to $2,000. Many students will not qualify for the next round of payments, nor will immigrants who don't have a social security number.
PoliticsThe WeekGiuliani told to prepare for 'imminent' legal action from Dominion Voting Systems
Attorneys Tom Clare and Megan Meier from Clare Lock LLP, a law firm that specializes in defamation cases, sent letters on Wednesday to President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and White House counsel Pat Cipollone warning them of "imminent" legal action on behalf of Dominion Voting Systems, CNN reports. Giuliani and Cipollone were also reportedly told to preserve all documents related to Dominion, which has been at the heart of presidential election vote rigging conspiracy theories. The request was vast and reportedly includes records of communications between Trump and any White House employee with Rudy Giuliani, or attorneys Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and Lin Wood.
PoliticsThe IndependentUS companies no longer have to pay sick leave to people with Covid after Mitch McConnell reportedly blocks extension
US businesses will no longer have to provide sick leave to employees who contract coronavirus, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly blocked an extension of the policy. At the start of the pandemic in the US in March, Congress passed legislation that allowed employees to claim two weeks of paid sick leave if they contracted Covid-19. The legislation also mandated two weeks of paid leave to care for a relative who was quarantining after contracting Covid-19, and 10 weeks of paid family leave to look after a child whose school or daycare was closed because of the pandemic.
CelebrityTheGrioKeyontae Johnson diagnosed with myocarditis that has been linked to COVID-19
Florida's Keyontae Johnson was just released from the hospital following his collapse on the court, but his health issues may linger as he's been diagnosed with a heart condition. A source close to Johnson told USA Today on Wednesday that the SEC preseason player of the year was diagnosed with acute myocarditis. It is a heart inflammation that is associated with viral infections and linked to COVID-19.
PoliticsThe WeekPelosi responds to Trump's request for $2,000 stimulus checks: 'Let's do it!'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif. quickly let President Trump know that if he really wants a coronavirus relief bill that includes $2,000 direct payments to Americans, she's ready to help make it happen. On Tuesday evening, Trump blasted the $900 billion economic relief package passed by Congress on Monday night, calling the measure a "disgrace."
PoliticsThe IndependentMike Pence mocked for saying liberals want to make ‘poor people more comfortable’
Vice president Mike Pence told a large, often maskless, crowd at a Florida rally on Tuesday that Democrats want to make “poor people more comfortable”, which liberal online commenters seized on as an accidental endorsement of their vision. “When we cut taxes, roll back regulations, and advance freedom, their agenda is higher taxes, open borders, soicalised medicine, a Green New Deal, and abortion on demand,” Mr Pence told a crowd of activists from Turning Point USA, a conservative youth group. Vice President Mike Pence: "[Democrats] want to make rich people poorer, and poor people more comfortable."
BusinessThe WeekAnimal activist poses as Smithfield foods CEO on Fox Business, trashes company to oblivious Maria Bartiromo
Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo likely thought she got an unusually transparent guest in Smithfield Foods' new CEO Dennis Organ on Wednesday morning. But what neither she nor anyone at Fox Business seemed to know was that Organ was actually animal activist Matt Johnson, disguising criticism of Smithfield under a layer of self-described "transparency" and a relentlessly positive tone that's the hallmark of C-suiters everywhere. Johnson started out the interview with pretty convincing impersonation of a big-name CEO, thanking the U.S. government for prioritizing food workers for COVID-19 vaccinations.
PoliticsCBS NewsDemocrats will try to approve $2000 direct checks Thursday
House Democrats will bring forward a bill to provide direct checks of $2,000 to individuals on Thursday, after President Trump called on Congress to amend a newly passed coronavirus relief bill to increase direct payments to $2,000, with $4,000 for a couple. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will try to pass the bill by unanimous consent — meaning that only one Republican member opposing the proposal needs to be present in order to block the bill. Mr. Trump indicated in a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday that he would not sign the $900 billion relief package passed by both houses of Congress on Monday.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderBiden promises 3rd round of stimulus checks, but says the specific amount would be 'a negotiating issue'
President-elect Joe Biden promised a third round of stimulus checks on Tuesday. Americans urgently need financial relief as the pandemic continues to hamper the economy, but the actual dollar amount of the next direct payment remains "a negotiating issue," he said. Biden added that Americans "owe Bernie Sanders and his Republican colleagues thanks" for pushing for direct payments in the most recent package.
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S. Korea scrambles jets after Chinese and Russian intrusion into air defense zone
South Korea said on Tuesday it had scrambled fighter jets in response to an intrusion into South Korea's air defense identification zone by 19 Russian and Chinese military aircraft.
PoliticsThe WeekTrump's longtime Deutsche Bank private banker and her close colleague abruptly resign
Rosemary Vrablic, a managing director and senior banker in Deutsche Bank's wealth management division, has resigned, effective Dec. 31, Vrablic and Deutsche Bank said Tuesday. Vrablic became President Trump's private banker at the German lender in 2011, at a time when Trump was having difficulties borrowing money due to his history of defaulting on loans. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, already a client of Vrablic's, introduced her to Trump.
LifestyleMiami HeraldA Whole Foods problem is ‘a pattern,’ the FDA says in an unprecedented warning letter
The FDA posted a warning letter Tuesday sent to Whole Foods “for a pattern of receiving and offering for sale misbranded food products necessitating a series of food recalls for allergens.” Just to make sure nobody thought this was a typical warning letter, the FDA stated: “This is the first time the FDA has warned a retailer for engaging in a pattern of receiving and offering for sale misbranded food products containing undeclared allergens.”
PoliticsBusiness InsiderInsider Poll: A $600 COVID-19 stimulus check is way too small, and most Americans think it should be over $1,500
Republicans and Democrats in Congress agreed upon a new $900 billion coronavirus relief bill on Sunday which includes sending out the second round of stimulus checks for adults, just half the amount of the first round of stimulus checks in April. According to Insider polling, 62% of respondents believe that the $600 checks are too little. Additionally, 76% of respondents said the payments should be greater than $1,000 and 43% said the checks should be $2,000 or more.
"When people's votes are treated as unequal, it's a short jump to treating people as unequal."
“The Electoral College was created to give people in diverse states influence in selecting a national leader.”
“The electoral college exacerbates racial privilege by allowing predominantly White states an outsized say over the future.”
“If the answer is ‘majority rules,’ why stop with the White House? Why not put the Bill of Rights up for popular vote?”
“We can keep the Electoral College — but only if the U.S. gets rid of political parties. We can’t have both.”