| 'The long knives are out': The Pentagon purge may be less about a Trump plan than end-of-presidency chaos and revenge Posted: 13 Nov 2020 12:33 PM PST  A series of personnel changes placing Trump loyalists in key Defense Department positions has sparked rumors of plans for dramatic action in the waning days of his presidency, but a number of former national security officials see it more as the chaotic final days of an outgoing administration.
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| Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, supporter of QAnon, denounces House mask requirement Posted: 13 Nov 2020 11:14 AM PST  Amid a raging coronavirus pandemic, the incoming Republican freshman said she "proudly told my freshman class that masks are oppressive."
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| Teen facing death penalty after being accused of murdering five relatives has shown ‘no remorse’ Posted: 13 Nov 2020 03:55 PM PST  'He has not shown any sign of remorse. While in detention, he has not talked about his family at all,' probation officer says
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| Project Veritas could face legal liability for postal worker's ballot fraud allegations, experts say Posted: 14 Nov 2020 03:00 AM PST  Project Veritas accused the Washington Post of witness intimidation after it ran an article debunking ballot claims
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| In California: Newsom bemoans attending dinner; travel discouraged Posted: 13 Nov 2020 05:58 PM PST  Plus: College football and COVID-19, Trump breaks a record, and has the pandemic made San Francisco more affordable?
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| 20 million Americans will get a COVID vaccine this year, administration says Posted: 13 Nov 2020 03:40 PM PST  The Trump administration promised that 20 million Americans would receive a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year.
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| Booming population helped Dems in Georgia. Mississippi's 'brain drain' is keeping it red. Posted: 14 Nov 2020 01:30 AM PST  Political experts say Mississippi won't see nail-biter elections, especially at the nation level, anytime soon — thanks in part to stalled population growth.
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| Philippines' Duterte absolves police chief over lockdown birthday party Posted: 14 Nov 2020 06:11 AM PST  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday cleared his newly appointed police chief of any violation of rules when he celebrated his birthday in May during one of the world's strictest coronavirus lockdowns. In a national address, Duterte defended police chief Debold Sinas, promoted on Monday Nov. 9 to national police commander from Manila police boss, and noted his appointee's achievements despite a social media stir over perceived special treatment. Sinas had led anti-drug operations in which thousands of people were killed.
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| US military flew terminally ill Bahrain premier to America Posted: 12 Nov 2020 09:18 PM PST  The U.S. military flew Bahrain's terminally ill prime minister to America for hospital care two months before his death, the State Department acknowledged Friday, underlining the importance of the island kingdom. The care offered to Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa came just after the U.S. military similarly flew Kuwait's late ruling emir to the same Mayo Clinic hospital in Minnesota. Both countries host major U.S. military bases in the region and are considered major non-NATO allies, granting them military and economic privileges with America.
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| Disgruntled Mississippi lawmaker wants his state to secede. Fine with me. Bye! | Opinion Posted: 13 Nov 2020 01:40 PM PST  Dear Price Wallace:
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| Kamala Harris, Joe Biden send out wishes for happy Diwali Posted: 14 Nov 2020 03:58 PM PST  Diwali, one of the most important holidays in India, symbolizes new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil, and light over darkness.
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| Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, Muslim media figure, says she was singled out after arrest at Newark Airport Posted: 14 Nov 2020 02:40 PM PST  Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, a New Brunswick native, was booted from an American Airlines plane at after a white male filed a complaint against her.
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| Coronavirus concerns may have kept Trump from meeting newly-elected GOP lawmakers in person at White House Posted: 14 Nov 2020 08:19 AM PST  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) set up a visit to the White House for newly-elected Republican lawmakers Friday evening, but they didn't get a chance to meet President Trump in person, Politico reports.The president did reportedly send his regards to the newcomers, but the fact that he stayed out of the spotlight raised some eyebrows.> Weird @playbookplus note: "LAST NIGHT, MCCARTHY took the newly elected Republicans to the White House...INTERESTING TO NOTE: President DONALD TRUMP did not come down to meet the group. He did send his well wishes."> > -- Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) November 14, 2020As it turns out, further reporting revealed Trump probably wasn't standing anyone up, but, in a bit of twist, likely stayed away because the group hadn't been tested for COVID-19 prior to their arrival. > UPDATE to Playbook: MCCARTHY himself didn't go to the W.H. w the new freshmen Republicans -- but his team organized, attended. POTUS didn't go down to say hi, and that could be because the group of newly elected GOP lawmakers was not tested for Covid @ WH, per several sources.> > -- Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 14, 2020More stories from theweek.com 7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's refusal to concede Trump is reportedly 'very aware' he lost the election but is putting up a fight as 'theater' Texas senator suggests it's too soon to declare Biden the winner because Puerto Rico is still counting votes
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| Trumpworld's faux-intellectual grifters are helping him debase democracy with bogus 'voter fraud' claims. And Republicans rake in the cash. Posted: 14 Nov 2020 05:28 AM PST  Internet "skeptics" are amplifying Trump's fake voter fraud claims. The GOP is using it to raise campaign funds.
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| ‘It cost him his life.’ Suspect drowns trying to flee Doral police Posted: 13 Nov 2020 10:15 AM PST  A man died early Friday morning after running from police and jumping into a canal in Doral.
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| Fauci said the US has 'no appetite' for lockdowns but mask wearing and distancing could be enough, the day after a Biden advisor called for a weeks-long lockdown Posted: 13 Nov 2020 04:37 AM PST  Dr. Anthony Fauci told "Good Morning America" that taking steps like mask wearing and social distancing means that a lockdown might not be needed.
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| Murder and mayhem: How South African farming became a 'full-scale war' Posted: 14 Nov 2020 04:56 AM PST  When armed men broke into their farm in Free State province on Wednesday night, Mark Regal and his wife were already on high alert. Just the day before, their neighbour and fellow farmer Eddie Hills had died in hospital, a week after being stabbed in a robbery in which his father was tied up and shot. Aware that they too could lose more than just their property, Mrs Regal returned fire and killed one of the intruders, police said. But Mr Regal, 50, was overpowered and killed, the seventh farmer to be murdered in the province in six weeks. The spate of killings has inflamed racial tensions in South Africa, with the Free State's white farming community accusing the ANC-ruled government of doing little to help. Trouble first flared with last month's grisly murder of farm mechanic, Brendin Horner, 21, whose body was found tied by a noose to a fence near his cottage. When two suspects appeared in court a week later in the tiny town of Senekal, a white mob stormed the building, attempting to avenge Mr Horner's death on the spot.
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| Fed officials differ over economy's risks as coronavirus surges Posted: 13 Nov 2020 05:49 AM PST  For St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, the current surge in U.S. coronavirus cases can be controlled and the economy recover if households are just nudged in the right direction, exhorted in a 'this-time-we-mean-it' push to wear masks and take other steps that health officials have urged since March. New York Fed President John Williams says a full recovery will have to wait for a vaccine, with the health crisis putting a "question mark" on the economy until then. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Friday re-upped his support for a temporary lockdown to try to slow the spread and reduce deaths in an overwhelmed healthcare system, predicted a muted recovery if the virus remains uncontrolled.
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| Sudan to host Russian military base Posted: 13 Nov 2020 01:12 PM PST  The naval logistics center in Sudan will be Russia's first military base in Africa since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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| Secret intelligence exists that ‘would cast Trump in very negative light’, warns ex-FBI chief Posted: 14 Nov 2020 06:54 AM PST  'It's almost incomprehensible to me that he would want that information out,' says Andrew McCabe
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| 11-year-old boy killed in Atlanta drive-by shooting Posted: 14 Nov 2020 10:10 AM PST  What started as a day of celebration ended with an unimaginable tragedy that took the life of an 11-year-old boy. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Connie Sims took his son, Tyrell Sims, to the mall on the afternoon of Nov. 6 to celebrate him passing an exam. Later that evening, Tyrell went to play in the front yard with his friend after helping his friend's grandmother decorate for Christmas, according to his father.
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| Minneapolis business owner on city’s crime spike: We don’t have help like before Posted: 13 Nov 2020 04:59 AM PST  The Minneapolis city council members and police chief clash over funding; Salon owner Flora Westbrooks shares with 'Fox & Friends' how her business was impacted during the riots.
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| Lawyers for 1st woman to face federal execution in decades have Covid, seek delay Posted: 14 Nov 2020 09:52 AM PST  Her lawyers say in a lawsuit that they are ill because Attorney General Bill Barr "recklessly scheduled Mrs. Montgomery's execution in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic."
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| An adults-only luxury resort in the Maldives is offering guests to book a year's worth of unlimited stays in 2021 for $30,000 Posted: 14 Nov 2020 01:16 PM PST  The Anantara Veli resort in the Maldives deal allows 2 guests to book unlimited stays at an overwater bungalow in 2021 for $30,0000.
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| Appeals court rules against El Paso's shutdown order amid Covid surge Posted: 13 Nov 2020 08:07 PM PST  There can only be "one captain of the ship," judge says in ruling in favor of the state.
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| Chicago boy, 12, shot while picking up school supplies with father Posted: 13 Nov 2020 06:49 PM PST  A 12-year-old boy is lucky to be alive after he was shot multiple times in Chicago while shopping for school supplies with his father. Lamar Davis was sitting in a parked car in the city's Lawndale area on Wednesday, when a maroon SUV pulled up, rolled down a rear window and someone opened fire with a .45-caliber handgun, per the Chicago Tribune. "He was just sitting there in the car and someone shot him," Lamar's mother, Melissa Robinson, told the Chicago Tribune.
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| Acting DHS chief Chad Wolf is reportedly planning a 'boondoggle' December tour of Latin America, a coronavirus hotspot, for no apparent reason Posted: 13 Nov 2020 02:47 AM PST  Latin America is currently home to one in three global coronavirus deaths. The Washington Post first reported on the intended trip.
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| Joe Biden administration: president-elect assembles a diverse cabinet Posted: 14 Nov 2020 01:50 PM PST  Susan Rice is being considered for secretary of state and Michele Flournoy is reportedly top choice for defence secretaryJoe Biden is piecing together what he has promised to be a diverse cabinet, with Michele Flournoy reportedly top choice for US defence secretary and Susan Rice considered a frontrunner for secretary of state.Flournoy was previously a senior defense adviser in Bill Clinton and Barack Obama's administrations and is considered a political moderate. Since leaving government she has been involved in various consultancy roles around military contracts.The appointment, if confirmed by the US Senate, would end a tumultuous period under Donald Trump, who has had five male defense secretaries during his presidency. The latest, Mark Esper, was unceremoniously fired on Monday for, among other issues, disagreeing with the president over the use of force against civilian protesters.If she did become America's first female defense secretary, Flournoy would potentially be faced with the task of deploying the military to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine. It's likely she would seek to rebuild the US' international reputation, telling a conference in March that "it's going to take a lot of work over a number of years to recover that trust and that standing".Biden, who has vowed "to be a president for all Americans", will face a challenge getting his cabinet picks past a Republican-held Senate if, as expected, the party retains control of the chamber following two special elections in Georgia in January. If he does offer up political moderates and even Republicans for roles, he risks stirring anger among the progressive Democratic wing.Rice, who served as national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations in the Obama administration, is seen as a safe pick for the state department, although some Republicans may object to her over what they consider misleading statements over the 2012 attack on a US consulate in Libya which killed four Americans.Questioned while on a bicycle ride on Saturday, Biden confirmed that he was getting closer to picking a cabinet that will face steep challenges once the president-elect enters the White House on 20 January.A largely uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 is tearing across the country, with a record number of daily cases recorded on Friday. A Biden administration will have to somehow tame the pandemic while crafting a response to the economic fallout that has cost millions of jobs, likely in the face of Republican opposition in the senate.Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana who became an effective campaigner for Biden after he dropped his own presidential ambitions, could be in line for a job, perhaps as ambassador to the United Nations.Lael Brainard, a governor at the Federal Reserve and another political moderate, is favorite to be named as treasury secretary, while Doug Jones, recently defeated as Senator from Alabama, or Sally Yates, acting attorney general under Trump before being fired, could be put forward as attorney general.
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| Haiti is running low on fuel again as sweet deal with fuel supplier turns sour Posted: 13 Nov 2020 04:27 PM PST  Another sweet deal has gone sour in Haiti.
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| Report: Trump asked about plan to subvert Electoral College Posted: 13 Nov 2020 07:09 AM PST  President Trump asked his aides about a plan to subvert the Electoral College, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
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| Prosecutors ask Barr to rescind memo on U.S. vote counting irregularities - Washington Post Posted: 13 Nov 2020 06:08 PM PST  U.S. prosecutors are asking Attorney General William Barr to rescind a memo issued earlier this week that instructed them to publicly investigate "substantial" allegations of vote counting irregularities, saying they have not seen the unusual activity, the Washington Post reported on Friday. The 16 assistant U.S. attorneys specially assigned to monitor the presidential election this month also said Barr's Monday memorandum had thrust prosecutors into partisan politics and that the policy change was not based in fact, according to the Post, which saw a copy of the letter. Barr sent his memo after days of attacks on the integrity of the election by President Donald Trump and Republican allies, who have alleged without evidence that there was widespread voter fraud.
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| 4-year-old boy in Texas loses mom and dad to Covid Posted: 14 Nov 2020 02:57 PM PST  "Just this morning he told me that he wishes he had his mom back and he just wanted her back," Raiden Gonzalez's grandmother said. "I just told him that they're now angels watching over us."
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| Huge Asian trade pact to be signed in coup for China Posted: 14 Nov 2020 04:25 PM PST  Fifteen countries will on Sunday sign a sprawling Asian trade deal they hope will help them bounce back from the pandemic and which is seen as a huge coup for China in extending its influence.
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