"In 2020, Trump lost the election, but Trumpism is here to stay until we dismantle the systems that allow it to flourish. Hitler regrouped after his trial and 10 years later was in power. Where will the Trump family be?" -- Andrea Chalupa
“If this is a plot by Democrats to steal an election, why does Donald Trump need to keep firing so many Republicans who’ve been saying the election was honest?: -- Ken Olin
Deaths
US: 256,254 (+1999)
World: 1,354,616 (+11,463)
Cases
US: 11,873,727 (+178,016)
World: 56,558,222 (+618,092)
Countdown: 63 days.
Trump's effort to overturn the election results may be inept. But it's still a scandal. Bottom line: Trump’s efforts to overturn the election have stumbled and gained no significant traction yet. But it’s still disturbing to watch, especially with so many elected Republicans staying silent. And it provides a road map for someone else to do it better next time.
About half of all Republicans believe President Donald Trump “rightfully won” the U.S. election but that it was stolen from him by widespread voter fraud that favored Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. — This is why Trump was beating the drums of a “rigged election” for months prior to the election. He wanted to sow discourse in case he lost.
'It's a terrible situation': Inside a government bureaucrat's pressure-filled decision to delay the transition. As the only obstacle between President-elect Joe Biden and the formal start of the presidential transition, General Services Administrator Emily Murphy is struggling with the weight of the presidential election being dropped on her shoulders, feeling like she's been put in a no-win situation...Democrats are furious with Murphy for playing into Trump's false fantasies that the election was stolen from him. At the same time, Republicans are pressuring her to stand firm and not sign the ascertainment. Previous colleagues of Murphy told CNN that despite being a political appointee, she was not an avid Trump supporter or loyalist.
Trump pursues recount of 2 liberal Wisconsin counties. President Donald Trump filed Wednesday for a recount of Wisconsin’s two largest Democratic counties, paying the required $3 million cost and alleging that they were the sites of the “worst irregularities” although no evidence of illegal activity has been presented.
The United States logged 1,707 coronavirus deaths Tuesday — the equivalent of at least one American dying per minute. This is the highest recorded in the U.S. for the past six months, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center.
250,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19. That's more than twice the number of U.S. service members killed in World War I.
In less than 10 months, Covid-19 has killed more people than strokes, suicides and car crashes typically do in a full year -- combined.
‘Tired to the bone’: Hospitals overwhelmed with virus cases. Overwhelmed hospitals are converting chapels, cafeterias, waiting rooms, hallways, even a parking garage into patient treatment areas. Staff members are desperately calling around to other medical centers in search of open beds. Fatigue and frustration are setting in among front-line workers. Conditions inside the nation’s hospitals are deteriorating by the day as the coronavirus rages across the U.S. at an unrelenting pace and the death toll closes in on a quarter-million.
Pfizer ends COVID-19 trial with 95% efficacy. Pfizer Inc said on Wednesday that final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 95% effective, adding it had the required two-months of safety data and would apply for emergency U.S. authorization within days...”These percentages are very high and extremely promising. Remember for caution that this effectiveness refers to only one month after the first vaccination. We still do not know how long the protection will last, but other new data on ‘immunological memory’, which vaccines could improve, bodes well.”
New York City to close public schools as coronavirus cases rise.
A wrongful death lawsuit tied to COVID-19 infections in a Waterloo pork processing plant alleges that during the initial stages of the pandemic, Tyson Foods ordered employees to report for work while supervisors privately wagered money on the number of workers who would be sickened by the deadly virus.
Biden talks with health care workers about COVID-19 crisis.
Trump team looks to box in Biden on foreign policy by lighting too many fires to put out. It's a strategy that radically breaks with past practice, could raise national security risks and will surely compound challenges for the Biden team -- but it could also backfire. Analysts and people close to the Biden transition argue the Trump team may act so aggressively that reversing some of its steps will earn Biden easy goodwill points and negotiating power with adversaries. -- Seems what Trump is doing is treason.
In case you missed it: Trump fired a well-respected election security official for disagreeing with him.
FBI is investigating Texas attorney general. Federal agents are looking into claims by former members of Paxton’s staff that the high-profile Republican committed bribery, abuse of office and other crimes to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, the people told The Associated Press.
The United Kingdom will ban the sale of new cars that run only on fossil fuels in 2030.
The Last Children of Down Syndrome. Prenatal testing is changing who gets born and who doesn’t. This is just the beginning. These parents come to Fält-Hansen because they are faced with a choice—one made possible by technology that peers at the DNA of unborn children. Down syndrome is frequently called the “canary in the coal mine” for selective reproduction. It was one of the first genetic conditions to be routinely screened for in utero, and it remains the most morally troubling because it is among the least severe. It is very much compatible with life—even a long, happy life. The forces of scientific progress are now marching toward ever more testing to detect ever more genetic conditions. Recent advances in genetics provoke anxieties about a future where parents choose what kind of child to have, or not have. But that hypothetical future is already here. It’s been here for an entire generation...But she went on. “If our world didn’t have people with special needs and these vulnerabilities,” she asked, “would we be missing a part of our humanity?”...To have a child is to begin a relationship that you cannot sever. It is supposed to be unconditional, which is perhaps what most troubles us about selective abortion—it’s an admission that the relationship can in fact be conditional...If only the wealthy can afford to routinely screen out certain genetic conditions, then those conditions can become proxies of class. They can become, in other words, other people’s problems. Hercher worries about an empathy gap in a world where the well-off feel insulated from sickness and disability.
Rape, abuses on palm oil fields linked to top beauty brands. These are the invisible women of the palm oil industry, among the millions of daughters, mothers and grandmothers who toil on vast plantations across Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia, which together produce 85 percent of the world’s most versatile vegetable oil. The Associated Press conducted the first comprehensive investigation focusing on the brutal treatment of women in the production of palm oil, including the hidden scourge of sexual abuse, ranging from verbal harassment and threats to rape. It’s part of a larger in-depth look at the industry that exposed widespread abuses in the two countries, including human trafficking, child labor and outright slavery.
More than four billion people could be overweight by 2050, with 1.5 billion of them obese, if the current global dietary trend towards processed foods continues, a first-of-its-kind study predicted Wednesday.
Patients pay thousands for back pain treatment — with little scientific evidence that it works. Claims of success for spinal decompression devices stretch the truth, an investigation found. The treatment hasn't been proven in rigorous studies.
An NFL game will feature an all-Black officiating crew for the first time in the league's history.
Apple said it will slash the fees it charges app developers from 30% to 15% if the developer made less than $1 million in the prior year.
Wonder Woman 1984 will be released on HBO Max the same day it’s in theaters for no extra cost. The move comes as uncertainty grows over whether theaters will remain open as cases surge across the United States. Even if they do remain open, however, it’s uncertain whether people will actually attend screenings. -- It’s being released on December 25th.
This US county has correctly picked every presidential winner since 1980. Clallam County is about as far from Washington, D.C., as you can get, but for the last 40 years, the county has picked every presidential winner. As of 2016, at least 19 of the country's more than 3,000 counties had chosen every winner since 1980, but 18 of them went for President Donald Trump this year. Clallam County, where President-elect Joe Biden was chosen as the winner, is now the lone survivor. Also impressive is the fact that the secluded northwest corner of Washington state has only voted for the losing candidate twice in the last century: in 1968 and 1976.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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