Trump to Pelosi: Kiss your plane goodbye
Trump gets petty with Pelosi, Prince Philip is OK (phew) and the nation gets icy. Let's dive into today's headlines.
But first, staying at a hotel weekend? A little secret: The trick to getting a room upgrade is straight up asking for it.
Trump fires back at Pelosi
President Donald Trump threw the latest punch in his battle with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, canceling her military plane for an overseas trip just one day after she suggested postponing his State of the Union address. “Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed,” Trump wrote in a letter to the California Democrat. He called the trip “a public relations event” and said that it would be better “if you were in Washington negotiating with me" to end a partial government shutdown now nearing its fifth week. Trump didn't address Pelosi's request that he delay the State of the Union.
Prince Philip cheats death
Queen Elizabeth's 97-year-old husband, Prince Philip, was in a car accident with another vehicle near the royal Sandringham estate Thursday, Buckingham Palace said, but thankfully he emerged unharmed. Philip, who was driving, has been spotted behind the wheel of cars periodically, usually while driving on one of the royal estates, since retiring from public life in August 2017.
Michael Cohen paid for tweets calling him 'sexy.' It gets worse.
Remember Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's one-time fixer, lawyer and all-around right-hand man? The one heading to prison for three years and testifying next month? Welp, The Wall Street Journal dropped a doozy, reporting Cohen paid a tech expert to rig online polls in Trump's favor and to set up a Twitter account calling him "sexy." The account, @WomenForCohen, posted 789 times throughout 2016, praising Cohen as "sexy," "snazzy," "handsome" and "a stud." As for the polls, Cohen reportedly offered Liberty University tech chief John Gauger $50,000 to manipulate two polls in 2015, actions Cohen acknowledged on Twitter.
Real quick
Ford confirmed plans for a fully electric F-Series pickup.
The *checks notes* "super blood wolf moon eclipse" is coming Sunday.
The old VA secretary had an employee drive his wife around. Yeah, that's a violation of ethics rules.
Your New Year's resolutions might fail today. Here's how to avoid it.
A journalist who helped expose FIFA corruption was shot dead in Ghana.
A 'blockbuster' storm heads east
California got hammered by heavy rainfall, mountain snow and flooding on Thursday that threatened to trigger mudslides in areas previously scarred by devastating wildfires. “This is a life-threatening situation,” the weather service said of the winter storm's rampage. The 'blockbuster' storm is now taking aim on the East, where as much as 40 inches of snow could fall over the weekend and road travel may become "impossible" due to heavy snow. The cold isn’t giving in soon, either. In fact, forecasters say the brutal stretch of cold should last deep into February.
When ambulances turn patients away
As thousands of ambulances zig-zag through streets and rural roads across the nation, it’s easy to imagine they’re headed to the nearest hospital or to the emergency room best suited to care for the sick person on board. Turns out, that’s not always so. Emergency rooms have been quietly deploying a controversial tactic: turning patients away. It’s called ambulance diversion, and when Tiffany Tate had a stroke next to one of Wisconsin's best hospitals, her ambulance was turned away. She died.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump to Pelosi: Kiss your plane goodbye
