PoliticsYahoo NewsJournalist who criticized FBI for handling of Russia probe says Trump's refusal to concede is 'dangerous BS'
A common defense of President Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election is that he's simply taking revenge on his liberal opponents, in particular those who doubted the legitimacy of the 2016 election because of Russian interference. The media gave Russia Collusion 3.5 years. We can give Team Trump three and a half weeks,” tweeted Jenna Ellis, a member of the Trump campaign's legal team that has failed to provide any evidence in court of cheating in the 2020 election.
WorldReutersFrance, EU lawmakers push for sanctions on Turkey next month
The European Parliament urged the EU on Thursday to impose sanctions on Turkey after President Tayyip Erdogan this month paid a visit to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of Cyprus. With 631 votes in favour, three against and 59 abstentions, the parliament agreed a non-binding resolution in support of EU member Cyprus urging EU leaders to "take action and impose tough sanctions in response to Turkey's illegal actions". The resolution is likely to bolster support for France's push for EU sanctions on Turkey next month, following through on a threat made by the bloc in October over a dispute between Ankara and EU members Greece and Cyprus over natural gas rights.
PoliticsYahoo NewsTrump loyalist pushed out of White House now leading a shake-up at the Pentagon
A retired Special Forces colonel, Miller had worked to revamp civilian oversight over special operations forces in a previous Pentagon job. A driving force behind the current initiative is Ezra Cohen, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer who has held several national security positions during the Trump administration and is now the acting assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, or SO/LIC. The appointment of Cohen as the acting assistant secretary was a major factor behind the decision to implement the congressional legislation.
WorldAssociated PressIndian state outlaws religious conversion by marriage
India's ruling Hindu nationalist party has approved legislation in the country's most populous state that lays out a prison term of up to 10 years for anyone found guilty of using marriage to force someone to change religion. The decree for the state of Uttar Pradesh was passed Tuesday and follows a campaign by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party against interfaith marriages. The party describes such marriages as “love jihad,” an unproven conspiracy theory used by its leaders and Hindu hard-line groups to accuse Muslim men of converting Hindu women by marriage.
U.S.Business InsiderSupreme Court blocks some COVID-19 restrictions at religious services in New York, marking a shift from decisions made before Amy Coney Barrett joined the bench
The Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked certain COVID-19 restrictions imposed on churches and other religious services in New York. In a 5-4 vote, the court ruled in favor of the Catholic Diocese and Orthodox Jewish synagogues, blocking some of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's capacity restrictions. In a ruling against the state's restrictions, the court's majority said the restrictions "cannot be viewed as neutral because they single out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment."
WorldReutersChina wields patriotic education to tame Hong Kong's rebellious youth
Targeting the city's teachers has become part of a broader plan by China's leaders to reform the city's rebellious youth after last year's sometimes-violent pro-democracy demonstrations. Some 40% of the 9,200 protesters arrested in the period between June last year and this year were students, according to figures provided to Reuters by the police. Of these, 1,635 were under the age of 18.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastIn Thanksgiving Message, Trump Says ‘We’re Like a Third-World Country’ Because He Lost Election
In a surprise news conference on Thanksgiving Day, President Trump took questions from the press for the first time since losing re-election—but he doubled down on his “rigged” election claims and appeared to deny the reality that his presidency is ending, saying it will be “very hard” for him to concede to Joe Biden. “I think it's not right he's trying to pick a Cabinet,” Trump complained after railing against the supposed “massive fraud” that he claims gave Biden victory. Reiterating his claims of voter fraud in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia despite the fact that state authorities have already certified the election results in those states, Trump appeared to become combative when asked if he would concede if the Electoral College votes for Biden on Dec. 14.
TechnologyArchitectural DigestThe Top 6 Black Friday Deals for Vacuums
We have you covered with all the best vacuum deals that you need to know about Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldBBCMexico ambush: Arrest over Mormon massacre
Authorities in Mexico have arrested a key suspect in the killing of nine members of a Mormon community. Three women and six children, all dual US-Mexican citizens, were driving through the Sonoran desert when they were killed in an ambush last year. Roberto N is believed to have been the "intellectual architect" of the attack, Mexico's federal attorney-general's office said on Wednesday.
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Biden, in message ahead of Thanksgiving, says ‘We’ll get our lives back’ after the COVID-19 pandemic
Delivering remarks before the Thanksgiving holiday, President-elect Joe Biden said that while it has been a difficult year because of COVID-19, vaccines could soon be available to the public. I know we can, and we will beat this virus,” he said.
WorldAssociated PressEthiopian PM says troops ordered to move on Tigray capital
Ethiopia's prime minister said Thursday the army has been ordered to move on the embattled Tigray regional capital after his 72-hour ultimatum ended for Tigray leaders to surrender, and he warned the city's half-million residents to stay indoors and disarm. Instead, “an increasing number of people continues to leave Mekele” even after the deadline expired, U.N. humanitarian spokesman Saviano Abreu said. They join tens of thousands of newly displaced people throughout the region that remains almost completely sealed off from the world, beyond the reach of desperately needed food and other aid.
- WorldReuters
Nearly 100 whales die after mass stranding in New Zealand
About 100 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins have died in a mass stranding on the remote Chatham Islands, about 800 km (497 miles) off New Zealand's east coast, officials said on Wednesday. Most of them were stranded during the weekend but rescue efforts have been hampered by the remote location of the island. New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) said in total 97 pilot whales and three dolphins died in the stranding, adding that they were notified of the incident on Sunday.
PoliticsReutersTrump says he will leave the White House if Electoral College votes for Biden
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. In the nearest he has come to a concession, Republican Trump said if Biden is certified the election winner by the Electoral College he will depart the White House. Biden is due to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
PoliticsAssociated PressStephen Bannon switching lawyers in border wall fund case
A prominent Washington lawyer defending President Donald Trump's former chief strategist against charges that he cheated donors to a southern border wall notified a judge Wednesday that he's no longer the right lawyer for the job. Attorney William A. Burck sent a letter to the trial judge in Manhattan federal court to say that Burck and Stephen Bannon had amicably agreed that new lawyers would be better suited to Bannon's defense strategy. Bannon faces a May 24 trial on criminal charges alleging that Bannon and at least three others unlawfully raised over $25 million for the “We Build The Wall” campaign.
HealthThe Daily Beast‘Not All Pastors Do That’: How Rev. Raphael Warnock Used His Pulpit to Fight AIDS
“We don't like to talk about these things in church,” the Rev. Raphael Warnock cautioned the congregation at Atlanta's storied Ebenezer Baptist Church in March 2010, but “I'm very convinced that if Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be focused on the issue of HIV/AIDS.” As Warnock campaigns in a historic U.S. Senate runoff amid the dark winter of the coronavirus pandemic, he has made addressing the virus—and its disproportionate effect on Georgia's Black communities—a centerpiece of his run. “Not all pastors do that,” said James Curran, a professor of epidemiology and an HIV/AIDS expert at Emory University in Atlanta.
U.S.Associated PressBlack Lives Matter flag becomes issue in Florida community
But when Mickle decided to hang a flag of his own last month — proclaiming that “Black Lives Matter" — his neighborhood association immediately asked him to take it down, calling the flag ”noxious or offensive" under its rules. If his neighbors could express their support for police, he said, he should be allowed to make a statement of his own. My life means something.
WorldReutersEuropean Parliament says Polish government influenced abortion ruling
The European Parliament accused Poland's nationalist government on Thursday of improperly influencing a court that imposed a near-total ban on abortion, and said that showed that the rule of law had collapsed in Poland. The head of the court hit back, accusing the European Parliament of "unprecedented" interference in Polish affairs - the latest in a series of clashes between institutions in Warsaw and Brussels. Hundreds of thousands of Poles have taken to the streets since an Oct. 22 Constitutional Tribunal ruling that sharply limited Poland's already restrictive abortion laws.
PoliticsThe IndependentAOC and Ilhan Omar sign petition calling on Biden not to give Bruce Reed administration role
Progressive lawmakers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar have signed a petition calling on president-elect Joe Biden not to appoint Bruce Reed to his administration. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Rep. Omar, of Minnesota, are supporting efforts to have Mr Reed, Mr Biden's former chief of staff, frozen out of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Reports emerged earlier this week suggesting that Mr Reed, who also served in the Obama administration, was top of the president-elect's list to head up the OMB.
WorldAssociated PressAngry farmers in India clash with police to protest new laws
Thousands of Indian farmers clashed with police in northern Haryana state on Thursday during a protest demanding that the government abolish new farming laws that they fear will reduce their earnings and give more power to corporations. The farmers, who were traveling toward the capital, New Delhi, on tractors and motorbikes, flung police barricades into a river and threw bricks and stones at the officers near Ambala district. Hundreds of police were also deployed at the border between New Delhi and Haryana to block the protesters.
WorldReutersAfrican envoys head for Ethiopia as ultimatum expires for assault
African envoys went to Ethiopia to plead for peace on Wednesday, hours before an ultimatum was to expire for Tigrayan forces to surrender or face an assault on the northern region's capital that rights groups fear could bring huge civilian casualties. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government set a 72-hour ultimatum on Sunday for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to lay down its arms or face an assault on Mekelle, the highland regional capital city of 500,000 people. Human Rights Watch said both sides must avoid putting civilians in danger.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderIlhan Omar underperformed Biden by more than perhaps any House Democrat thanks to a 3rd party candidate and well-funded GOP rival
Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, handily won a second term this month, but underperformed President-elect Joe Biden by more than perhaps any other Democratic candidate in the country. There are a slew of factors that likely impacted Omar's race, including a third party on the ticket, a supremely well-funded Republican opponent, and the fact that she was virtually guaranteed to win reelection.
BusinessThe IndependentDavid Perdue: Republican Senator faces scrutiny over stock trades made as Covid spread in US
Senator David Perdue, a Republican from Georgia, is facing scrutiny over a few very well times stock sales and purchases around the time the coronavirus first began to spread in the US. The Associated Press reported that on 23 January, around the time Congress was being briefed on the potential impact the coronavirus posed to the US, Mr Perdue sold off between $1m and $5m worth of shares in Cardlytics stock. Mr Perdue used to sit on the company's board of directors.
WorldAssociated PressChina's top diplomat touts S. Korea ties amid row with US
China's top diplomat on Thursday stressed the importance of bilateral relations while meeting senior officials in South Korea, where there's growing concern the country is becoming squeezed between its biggest trading partner and military ally the United States. After meeting South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters that his visit amid a spreading coronavirus pandemic shows how much Beijing values its relations with Seoul. When asked whether Beijing was pressing Seoul to choose a side amid rising U.S.-China tensions over trade, security and other issues, Wang said “America is not the only nation in the world.”
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Pennsylvania judge halts election certification amid mail-in vote fight
Trump campaign recount team member Chris Prudhome provides insight.
WorldTimeAll Seems Lost for Hong Kong's Democracy Movement as Joshua Wong Faces Jail. But There Are Still Reasons for Hope.
Or for pro-democracy protests, such as the massive marches of 2003 that convinced local authorities to withdraw a proposed anti-sedition law, and the protests of last year that began with a fight against a different disliked bill? There is nothing new about asking these kinds of whither-democracy questions about Hong Kong, but they are being asked with urgency now due to a cascading series of developments. In June, after years of granting organizers permission to hold vigils to honor the victims of the 1989 massacre in Beijing, local authorities insisted it would be illegal to gather on June 4 this year to commemorate Tiananmen.
“Donald Trump defeated Donald Trump.”
“The victory was a vindication of a style of American politics that many feared was gone forever.”
“Mr. Biden’s victory — and Mr. Trump’s defeat — is a testament to the resilience of American democracy.”
“Trump’s 2020 reelection bid was doomed by his boorish behavior. Time and again, he refused to act like a president.”
“Biden took the opportunity to unite the Democratic Party.”