PoliticsThe WeekBiden's White House: 'Sipping unflavored almond milk' after guzzling vats of Tabasco for 4 years
Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, Alejandro Mayorkas as Homeland Security secretary, Avril Haines as director of national intelligence, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as U.N. ambassador, and Ron Klein as White House chief of staff — are career professionals little known outside Washington policy and politics circles, but well regarded within them. "By design, they seem meant to project a dutiful competence," The Washington Post reports. Biden has also chosen some boldface names: John Kerry as international climate envoy and former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen as treasury secretary.
PoliticsThe Independent‘People are going hungry as you tweet from vacay’: AOC doubles down attacks on senate for failure to pass Covid relief bill
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has doubled down on her attacks on the senate for going on vacation rather than pass a new Covid relief bill. The New York congresswoman became embroiled in a Twitter spat with Ted Cruz and blasted the senate for taking a Thanksgiving break with no deal in place. You know in the House, when we don't have the votes to pass something, we work on the bill until we pick up the votes to pass it.
PoliticsNational ReviewPennsylvania Republicans File Emergency Lawsuit to Block Certification of Election Results
A group of Pennsylvania Republicans filed a lawsuit over the weekend to block certification of the state's election results in an eleventh-hour attempt to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the key battleground state. The emergency petition, filed in state court, takes issue with a voting reform bill that passed Pennsylvania's Republican-held legislature in October last year. The lawsuit claims that the law's allowance of no excuse mail-in voting is “unconstitutional” and seeks to block Pennsylvania counties from certifying their vote results ahead of the deadline on Monday to do so and invalidate millions of mail-in ballots cast in the 2020 election.
U.S.The TelegraphMetal monolith discovered deep in Utah desert leaves officials baffled
A metal monolith has been found in the heart of Utah's red rock country by a state employee who was carrying out a count of bighorn sheep. The shiny structure was spotted by a biologist while conducting an aerial survey of southern Utah as part of a programme to double the number of sheep in the area. Bret Hutchings, the helicopter pilot, was dumbfounded.
U.S.USA TODAYComputer repairman who claimed he gave Hunter Biden data to Giuliani closes shop as laptop saga gets stranger
Weeks before the Nov. 3 presidential election, the world's political intrigue turned to a Wilmington computer repair shop after the New York Post revealed that its owner gave a copy of a laptop hard drive he believed belonged to Hunter Biden to a lawyer representing Rudy Giuliani. A slew of new information has surfaced in the weeks since, including details about the laptop's journey from the repair shop to Giuliani's office. The story claimed that President-elect Joe Biden, while vice president in 2015, held a meeting with an executive from Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that employed his son, Hunter Biden.
PoliticsThe WeekTrump unexpectedly held a 63-second press conference
President Trump on Tuesday surprised the White House press corps by announcing he would be making remarks in the briefing room in just a few minutes. As it turned out, he just wanted to highlight that the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 30,000 for the first time ever earlier in the day. The stock market Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 30,000 which is the highest in history.
U.S.The IndependentScott Peterson among death row prisoners who got Covid unemployment benefit from California
Scott Peterson received Covid-19 unemployment benefits from the state of California despite being on death row for the murder of his wife and unborn son, according to a report. Peterson was approved for the benefits along with convicted serial killer Cary Stayner and murderer Isuaro Aguirre, according to the Los Angeles Times. Now nine district attorneys and a federal prosecutor in the state have urged governor Gavin Newsom to help block unemployment fraud in California prisons.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderCharles Koch doubles down on saying he 'screwed up' with partisanship, but he's still supporting a Republican in the Georgia runoffs
The billionaire and GOP mega-donor Charles Koch has expressed regret for fueling partisanship for the second time in weeks. In a new interview with Axios, Koch said he "screwed up," doubling down on his admission from his book that he helped partisanship go too far. Koch told Axios that he was "horrified" by some of what he was hearing from politicians he had helped and funded.
U.S.TheGrioMichigan girl, 14, who was detained by police dies of coronavirus
Honestie Hodges was hospitalized on her birthday, the same day she got tested positive. A Michigan girl who made national headlines after being handcuffed at gunpoint by police at the age of 11 has died from complications of COVID-19. Honestie Hodges, 14, was admitted to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids on Nov. 9, the same day she tested positive for the virus.
PoliticsThe WeekStephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon get why Trump's legal team couldn't steal Biden's presidency
"The president's slow-moving coup is not going that well," Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. "This afternoon, the Michigan election board certified Joe Biden's win in that state, then tonight we just learned moments ago that the General Services Administration informed President-elect Joe Biden the administration is ready to begin the formal transition process." That makes it official, he said.
PoliticsThe IndependentMelania welcomes White House tree after being caught on tape saying ‘who gives a f***’ about Christmas
Melania Trump was all smiles as she welcomed her family's final Christmas tree to the White House. The maskless first lady appeared in the festive spirit despite being caught on tape earlier this year complaining “who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff. Decorating the historic mansion will be her final major job as first lady before Dr Jill Biden takes over the role in January.
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Fauci says it’s ‘unrealistic’ to think we’ll be able to celebrate normally with families during spring holiday season
In an interview with Yahoo News National Correspondent Alexander Nazaryan, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that even with a vaccine rollout beginning later this year, he hopes Americans can gather safely for the spring holidays, but it's “unrealistic” to think Easter and Passover celebrations will be completely back to normal.
WorldThe Daily BeastMexican Cop Turned Cartel Boss Nabbed in Mormon Mommy Massacre
An ex-police officer alleged to be the leader of the violent La Linea drug cartel in Chihuahua, Mexico, is in custody for the murder of three American mothers and six children including 8-month-old twins, who were killed in a fiery attack on their convoy of SUVs last November. Roberto Gonzalez Montes—known in crime circles as Mudo or El 32—was taken into custody late Monday in a top-secret joint-forces operation carried out by the attorney general's office without state help out of fear Montes would be tipped off by corrupt officials. Last November, attackers fired on a convoy of SUVs carrying 17 mothers and children—all dual Mexican American citizens—as they drove from their compound in Sonora to a wedding in Chihuahua.
EntertainmentArchitectural DigestClever’s 2020 Gift Guide Is Here and It Just Wants You to Have a Nice Time
We rounded up a mix of gifts that help others, keep folks healthy, and add a little something-something to the home Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsBusiness Insider75% of every donation to Trump's 'election defense fund' could be spent by the president himself on things like paying family members or financing a 2024 bid
Despite losing the general election, President Donald Trump's campaign is seeking donations from voters. The Make America Great Again Committee donation page says that 75% of every contribution is routed to Trump's newly established leadership PAC, Save America. President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election but continues to bombard voters with repeated texts and emails seeking donations for his efforts to overturn the results.
CelebrityThe TelegraphJ Paul Getty's grandson found dead in Texas hotel room
John Gilbert Getty, a grandson of billionaire oil tycoon J Paul Getty, has been found dead in a hotel room in San Antonio, Texas. The death of the 52-year-old composer, who was the heir to a $5 billion fortune, is the latest tragedy to be suffered by the Getty family whose history has been marked by drug addiction, tabloid scandals, legal disputes, an abduction and several premature deaths. It is unclear how Mr Getty died, although foul play is not suspected.
LifestyleINSIDERA woman who lives in an RV with her family full-time says being Black in the tiny home community can be isolating
Harrigan told Insider that her family rarely runs into other Black people or people of color in their travels, and she often feels uncomfortable on campgrounds as a result. "We exercise caution at all times, especially when we're traveling down South," Harrigan told Insider. The new crop of RV owners is different than the traditional mobile-home dwellers, as travel is often the primary motivating factor for purchasing a tiny home, rather than financial necessity.
PoliticsThe WeekMarco Rubio blasts Biden White House picks for Ivy League degrees — despite Trump administration's similar credentials
Marco Rubio (R-Fla. on Tuesday predicted President-elect Joe Biden's new hires for his incoming administration would be "polite and orderly caretakers of America's decline," facetiously citing how many members of the group have Ivy League degrees. It's true that many of Biden's picks so far went to Ivy League schools, but Rubio's remark makes less sense when considering that the current White House is a similarly Ivy-infused crowd.
WorldThe Independent‘Cartel boss’ arrested over 2019 killing of Mormon family in Mexico
A suspected drug cartel boss has been arrested in connection with the killing of a Mormon family in Mexico last year. Roberto González Montes, the alleged leader of La Línea cartel, was arrested as part of a multi-agency investigation into murders in Mexico in November 2019, sources familiar with the matter told El Diario on Monday. He was arrested alongside other suspected cartel figures Eulalio Domínguez Alanís and Santiago Casavantes Radovich, the sources told El Diario.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastRush Limbaugh Does Full 180, Blasts Sidney Powell After Team Trump Disavowed Her
Rush Limbaugh fully reversed course on Monday, trashing the Trump legal team's unhinged press conference detailing baseless election-fraud conspiracies just days after praising attorney Sidney Powell—whom the Trump team has since disavowed—for dropping “bombs all over the place.” Over the weekend, after Powell claimed millions of votes were stolen from President Donald Trump by corrupted software, Powell gave an off-the-rails interview to Newsmax TV in which she expanded her bonkers conspiracy to include Georgia's Republican governor and secretary of state being bribed.
PoliticsLA TimesTrump bows to reality as Biden shapes historically diverse Cabinet
The Trump administration yielded to the reality Monday that the presidential election will not be overturned, finally authorizing the start of formal transition proceedings as President-elect Joe Biden moved to make good his vow to appoint a historically diverse Cabinet. Soon after Michigan certified its vote for Biden, a major blow to Trump's efforts to contest the vote, the General Services Administration official who has blocked the start of the formal transition for three weeks effectively recognized Biden as winner of the election and agreed to provide office space, access to government officials and other logistical resources to assist his team.
HealthNBC NewsCDC to shorten quarantine for those exposed to Covid-19
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is finalizing plans to shorten the recommended length of quarantine for those exposed to Covid-19. The CDC currently recommends that individuals quarantine for 14 days after being exposed to people with the coronavirus. "CDC is always reviewing its guidance and recommendations in the light of new understandings of the virus that causes Covid-19, and will announce such changes when appropriate," a spokesperson for the agency told NBC News on Tuesday.
LifestyleINSIDERAsos is facing backlash from yoga teachers who say its models are performing poses incorrectly and dangerously in product images
Yoga teachers are calling out Asos for the images used to advertise its yoga collection. Emily Harding and Kallie Schut told Insider that various poses seen in the online images promote poor form that could be dangerous. Harding and Schut also say the images contribute to the cultural appropriation of yoga, capitalizing on its popularity for financial gain.
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'They're defenseless': Rescue workers save animals after hurricane
As residents in Colombia's San Andres and Providencia islands clean up after the Category 5 Hurricane Iota -- the strongest storm of the season -- devastated the area, one Colombian rescue organization is making sure that the islands' animals are not forgotten. "Imagine the terror that these animals feel right now, for example during the hurricane. It's terrible."
PoliticsThe WeekNYT reporter Maggie Haberman thinks Trump's tweet is 'the closest to a concession' he'll give
President Trump has yet to concede the election, and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman thinks his Monday evening tweet about what is in "the best interest of our country" is "the closest to a concession Trump is going to get." Trump wrote that he spoke to Emily Murphy, the head of the General Services Administration, and recommended that she "do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols," adding that he has "told my team to do the same." Haberman tweeted that she's been told some of Trump's advisers "had been urging him" to let the transition begin before Thanksgiving, "even if he never said the word 'concede.'" Between the Trump campaign and other Republicans, more than 30 lawsuits have been filed in six swing states, in an attempt to contest the election results, NBC News reports. Despite Trump and members of his legal team claiming there has been widespread voter fraud, no court has found a single piece of evidence.
“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.”