PoliticsThe IndependentBidens will be greeted to White House by former Trump hotel worker in historic snub by president
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania are eschewing the tradition of meeting the incoming first family – instead leaving Joe and Jill Biden to be greeted by White House chief usher Timothy Harleth. Traditionally, the outgoing president and first lady invite their successors into the White House for coffee ahead of the inauguration and travel to the ceremony together. Indeed, Mr and Mrs Trump were hosted by former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama following a bitterly fought election campaign that saw Mr Trump lambast the Obama administration.
U.S.NextSharkBoy Killed By Father After Vaccination Dispute in Heartbreaking Murder-Suicide in SF
A boy who was killed in an alleged murder-suicide by his father has been identified as 9-year-old Pierce O'Loughlin. Family tragedy: The boy and his father, Stephen O'Loughlin, 49, were both found dead at their home on Scott Street, Marina District in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon, SF Chronicle reports. The boy's mother, Lesley Hu, asked authorities to check on her son after learning that he did not show up for school that day.
WorldAssociated PressTens of thousands evacuated amid Indonesia floods
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and more than a dozen have been killed in recent days in flooding on Indonesia's Borneo island, officials said Sunday. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Raditya Jati said floods brought by intense rains caused floodwaters as high as 3 meters (10 feet). As of Sunday, 39,549 people had been evacuated and at least 15 had been killed due to floods that affected 10 districts and cities in South Kalimantan province on Borneo island.
PoliticsTheGrioRep. Cohen admits he saw Boebert giving tour before Capitol riot
During an interview, he recalls his colleague 'taking a group of people for a tour sometime after the 3rd and before the 6th.' Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) revealed he witnessed Congresswoman Lauren Boebert leading a group through the Capitol building in the days before the riot. “We saw Congressman Boebert taking a group of people for a tour sometime after the 3rd and before the 6th,” Cohen remarked on CNN.
U.S.NextSharkMartin Luther King III Endorses Andrew Yang for NYC Mayor
Martin Luther King III said in an endorsement video shared to YouTube on Monday that Yang's initiative to give out $1 billion to low-income residents was an idea that his father would have supported. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote about the idea for universal basic income in 1967 as a way to tackle systemic poverty, according to Gothamist. "One of my main policy goals, and one of his dreams, was to establish a basic income for all Americans," King III added.
PoliticsThe IndependentBill Barr told Trump that ‘clownish’ legal team was lying to him about ‘bull***’ voter fraud claims, reports say
President Trump's former Attorney General Bill Barr called Mr Trump's legal team "clownish" and the president's claims that the election had been stolen from him "bull****," according to reporting by Axios. This was during a December meeting in the White House that Mr Trump had asked Mr Barr to attend after seeing a story by the Associated Press that quoted Mr Barr as saying "we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election". Mr Barr had been one of the most loyal members of Mr Trump's administration, supporting his executive power at every turn and spinning the release of the Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 election in the best way possible for the president.
U.S.Associated PressCoronavirus deaths rising in 30 US states amid winter surge
Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold. As Americans observed a national holiday Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded with federal authorities to curtail travel from countries where new variants are spreading. The U.S. government has already curbed travel from some of the places where the new variants are spreading — such as Britain and Brazil — and recently it announced that it would require proof of a negative COVID-19 test for anyone flying into the country.
WorldAxiosThe WHO warns of "catastrophic moral failure" over coronavirus vaccine access
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Monday the world is "on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure" because of unequal COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Why it matters: Tedros noted during an executive session that 39 million vaccine doses had been administered in 49 higher-income countries, while one lowest-income nation had "just 25 doses." Of note: The WHO itself faced criticism in an interim report on Monday for being slow to respond to the outbreak after it was first detected in late 2019 in China, which was also singled out for failings early on.
PoliticsThe GuardianTrump administration to deport man to Haiti who has never been there
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) is to carry out a final deportation flight of the Trump era on Tuesday, with a plane bound for Haiti whose passengers include a man who is not a Haitian citizen, and who has never been there. Paul Pierrilus, a 40-year-old financial consultant from Rockland County, New York, was born in the French Caribbean territory of Saint Martin, according to a birth certificate supplied by his family, who said he came to the US with his parents when he was five. According to his sister, Neomie, he was seized when he went to an immigration office on Federal Plaza in Manhattan on 11 January, for what he thought would be a routine visit.
PoliticsThe IndependentBlack Lives Matter protesters near White House have one final message for Trump – you should be arrested
Karen did not have to think too long about the message she wanted to send to Donald Trump. Yes, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were set to take over, and perhaps correct course. Karen, who asked to be identified by just her first name and who said she was part of a group called “The Resistance”, was among a handful of protesters at Black Lives Matter plaza, a city street close to the White House that was established and named last year amid demonstrations for racial justice that swept the country.
U.S.Business InsiderThe man accused of breaking the window Ashli Babbitt tried to climb through when she was shot during the Capitol insurrection has been arrested
Chad Barrett Jones, 42, of Coxs Creek, Kentucky, was arrested in Louisville on Saturday, the FBI said in a news release. Jones is accused of breaking a window of the Capitol building moments before Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot during the insurrection earlier this month. He's facing multiple charges, including assault on a federal officer, destruction of government property, obstruction of justice, unlawful entry on restricted building or grounds, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
HealthINSIDERA plastic surgeon died from COVID-19 after giving lip filler to a patient who later tested positive for the virus
Well-known Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Payman Simoni died on Friday from a brain hemorrhage potentially related to COVID-19. Simoni, who appeared on the television show "The Doctors," may have contracted the virus from a patient while giving her lip injections. Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Payman Simoni died from a brain hemorrhage on Friday after testing positive for coronavirus, his longtime friend Katy Amiri-Younesi told CBS News.
WorldThe IndependentFlight passenger who assisted dying man with Covid-19 says he was given $200 credit for ‘inconvenience’
An emergency medical technician who administered CPR on a fellow passenger on a United Airlines flight said that the $200 voucher and phone call he received from the airline for the "inconvenience" felt like a "slap in the face". The passenger later died of Covid-19, causing Tony Aldapa to fear that he had contracted the virus after experiencing symptoms, Fox News reported. Mr Aldapa was one of three passengers who helped a man experiencing a medical emergency on the Orlando to Los Angeles flight on 14 December.
WorldThe IndependentFears of ‘inside attack’ at Biden’s inauguration, defence officials warn
US defence officials on Sunday warned of a looming threat to security allegedly from the people tasked with securing president-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony on 20 January, and said they are in the process of vetting the troops deployed for the event. FBI is bracing for multiple armed protests in Washington DC, amid continuing calls of voters' fraud in the 2020 elections by Donald Trump supporters. Security concerns have gripped law enforcement agencies in the wake of the violent 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters, and fears of an “inside attack” has prompted them to deploy 25,000 troops in the city.
U.S.TheGrioWhat happens when white Americans have no moral arc to bend?
On May 10, 1967, while facing growing white backlash for demanding an end to the Vietnam War, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to America's greatest shame and Black Americans' most significant burden — racial injustice. Read More: 7 inconvenient truths white people must understand about Martin Luther King Jr. Today, as many are celebrating the life and legacy of King on what would have been his 92nd birthday, many are also still incensed at the white insurrectionist attacks at the Capitol that occurred just two weeks ago.
U.S.INSIDERA man who lived at a Chicago airport for 3 months before being discovered said he was too scared to fly because of COVID-19, prosecutors say
A 36-year-old California man lived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for three months before being discovered, according to multiple reports. Prosecutors said the man arrived at O'Hare from Los Angeles in October, but told police he was too scared to fly because of COVID-19. He was discovered Saturday when two United Airlines employees asked him for identification and he displayed a badge that had been reported missing in October.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
Congresswoman's spokesman quits less than 2 weeks into term
The spokesman for Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert has quit less than two weeks after she was sworn into office, saying he felt like he need to due to the insurrection at the nation's Capitol.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderCuomo asked Pfizer to sell its COVID-19 vaccine directly to New York, as the head of the WHO warns of mounting inequities in vaccine distribution
On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on pharmaceutical company Pfizer to sell doses of its coronavirus vaccine directly to New York state. The proposal to work directly with New York's state government would require Pfizer to bypass the federal government's Operation Warp Speed campaign to vaccinate hundreds of millions of Americans. "The distribution of any doses obtained directly from Pfizer will follow the rigorous guidance the State has established, while enabling us to fill the dosage gap created this week by the outgoing federal administration," Cuomo wrote in a letter to Pfizer.
U.S.INSIDERA National Guard member in DC for the inauguration is pulling double duty as a band elementary school teacher in between guard shifts
A National Guard member, who is currently in Washington DC as security for Inauguration Day, has managed to do double duty as a teacher during breaks in service, the Washington Post reported. Sgt. Jacob Kohut is a band teacher who teaches elementary and middle schoolers from a Humvee on Zoom, according to WTOP News. "The last thing these students need is a disruption in their teaching," Kohut told the Washington Post.
HealthBusiness InsiderAll 4 nurses in a Kansas county's health department refused to give out COVID-19 vaccines
All four nurses in one Kansas county's health department refused to give patients COVID-19 vaccines. The health department administrator shared debunked vaccine misinformation as part of their reasoning. The county will contract with other nurses to distribute the vaccine.
PoliticsINSIDERDonald Trump Jr. reportedly told associates he doesn't believe he'll need a presidential pardon from his father
Donald Trump Jr. has reportedly told associates that he isn't expecting a pardon from his father and doesn't think he needs one. President Donald Trump is expected to hand out at least a hundred pardons before the end of his term at noon on Wednesday, and for the past several months, pundits have questioned whether he'll put himself and family members on the list. Trump Jr. hasn't been charged with any crimes, but was under intense scrutiny during the Mueller investigation into his family's ties with Russia.
ScienceUSA TODAYNASA test fires engines on moon rocket but shuts it down early
Corrections/clarifications: This story originally misreported which company acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne. NASA's rocket charged with taking the agency back to the moon fired its four main engines Saturday afternoon, but the test in Mississippi was cut short after a malfunction caused an automatic abort. The 212-foot Space Launch System core stage fired its four RS-25 main engines at Stennis Space Center just before 5:30 p.m. EST, sending a plume of exhaust towering above the test stand.
HealthBusiness InsiderThe Trump administration gave more than $850,000 in PPP loans to prominent anti-vaccine groups
Top anti-vaccine advocacy groups received PPP funding from the Trump administration, The Washington Post reported. American distrust in the safety of COVID-19 vaccinations continues to pose a threat to public health. K. "Vish" Viswanath, a professor of health communication at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Insider that anti-vaccine groups are "likely to perpetuate the adverse impacts of the pandemic."
LifestyleINSIDERA Chinese restaurant has gone viral for its searingly honest dish descriptions: 'This one is not that good'
A Chinese restaurant in Montreal has gone viral for its descriptions of dishes on its menu. Feigang Fei's comments on Aunt Dai restaurant's menu are searingly honest — and very amusing. "Comparing to our General Tao Chicken, this one is not THAT good," Fei wrote of the orange chicken.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderAn associate of Rudy Giuliani told a former CIA officer that a Trump pardon would 'cost $2 million': report
An associate of Rudy Giuliani told a former CIA operative seeking a presidential pardon that Giuliani could help arrange one for $2 million, The New York Times reported. The Times reported that several people with connections to President Donald Trump had accepted large sums of money from people seeking pardons. An associate of Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, told a former CIA officer seeking a presidential pardon that Giuliani could help arrange one for $2 million, The New York Times reported Sunday.
“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.”