"[Democrats] want to make rich people poorer, and poor people more comfortable." — Vice President Mike Pence
Deaths
US: 330,824 (+4052)
World: 1,723,832 (+14,908)
Cases
US: 18,684,628 (+210,912)
World: 78,361,956 (+645,710)
Countdown 1: 14 days.
Countdown 2: 29 days.
We saw the future in 2020 and the future sucks. But remote life is only the half of it. 2020 might be our future in even more sinister ways...And here's a low-key sucky part of that work revolution. If we can live more cheaply, away from business centers, companies may attempt to pay employees less. It's already happening...When work-from-home shape-shifts from a perk to a cost-cutting measure, you better believe its the workers who are going to suffer...The simple truth is: The new-age services we're using to help survive the 2020 pandemic are exploitative and unsustainable. But can you imagine going back to how things used to be? Would Americans be willing?...Of the $4 trillion bailout, $2.3 trillion went to businesses that weren't obliged to prove how COVID impacted them or commit to no layoffs. Just $884 billion went to workers and families, and only 16 percent of the money went fighting COVID itself. As the Washington Post put it, the bill "bestowed billions in benefits on companies and wealthy individuals largely unscathed by the pandemic." It all shouts dysfunction. We could have paid people to stay home and saved countless lives. We chose not to. Of course, people were struggling before COVID. The pandemic made clear how little help is available for those who need it. If a deadly pandemic can't change that — where helping people isolate safely with money would clearly help us all immediately — then how could we expect things to change moving forward? It's a society and, frankly, a government unwilling or unable to care for its citizens that are dying, or sick, or jobless, or overworked, or broke, or some combination of the above. The pandemic widened cracks that were already visible in our foundation. American billionaires got $931 billion richer during the pandemic while 26 million Americans went hungry. And yet we're somehow surprised holiday shopping figures are down? Consumerism can only patch over so much...So that's our future? Distant, overworked, impersonal, underpaid, divided, misinformed?...Sure, the future could still be bright. This could be a bad pandemic year followed by decades of improvement. But one last thing...In the future pandemics might not be so rare. They might even be worse.
Cases of new Covid variant are 'all around the UK', say scientists. Thousands of cases of the more infectious variant of coronavirus have been detected across the UK, according to scientists, who said it had clearly spread beyond areas under the most severe tier 4 restrictions.
Over 150 California children have been diagnosed with coronavirus-related syndrome.
Roughly 35,000 students came back to Penn State this fall for classes during the coronavirus pandemic. One out of every seven of those students contracted COVID-19 during the semester.
Trump turns on everyone. President Trump, in his final days, is turning bitterly on virtually every person around him, griping about anyone who refuses to indulge conspiracy theories or hopeless bids to overturn the election. Targets of his outrage include Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Secretary of State Pompeo and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump thinks everyone around him is weak, stupid or disloyal — and increasingly seeks comfort only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results. We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the conversations unfolding inside the White House.
“Trump has assembled a ragtag crew of conspiracy-minded allies in his flailing bid to reverse his devastating election loss, including a pardoned felon, adherents of the QAnon conspiracy, a White House trade adviser and a Russian agent's former lover.” — Kyle Griffin
Trump meets with GOP allies with eye on challenging count of electoral votes. But January 6, when Congress convenes to count those votes, will mark the final long-shot attempt for the president and his backers to challenge the outcome of the election. During the joint session, which is required by law to ratify the results, members can object to the returns from any individual state as they are announced, which opens the door for Mr. Trump's GOP allies to contest a state's results. Objections must be made in writing by at least one member each of the House and Senate, after which the joint session will recess and the two chambers separate and debate the objection in their respective chambers for no more than two hours, according to the Congressional Research Service. The House and Senate then vote separately on whether to either accept or reject the objection. If the two chambers agree to accept the objection, the contested state's electoral votes are tossed out.
As Trump meets with QAnon influencers, the conspiracy theory's adherents beg for dictatorship. With Trump's days in office dwindling, QAnon influencers have become increasingly restless and militant, urging the president to “#crosstherubicon.” -- The hashtag is a reference to Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon river after the Roman Senate explicitly told him not to, effectively kick-starting the Roman civil war and Caesar’s dictatorship.
Trump has issued a flurry of pardons and commutations to a slew of controversial figures with ties to his administration, in a move that further cements his legacy of exercising his sweeping powers to benefit his political allies.
President Trump has announced a wave of lame duck pardons, including two for men who pleaded guilty in Mueller's probe, as well as ones for GOP allies who once served in Congress and military contractors involved in a deadly shooting of Iraqi civilians.
Trump pardons 15, including Republican allies.
“Among those Trump pardoned was a Blackwater contractor sentenced to life in prison for his role in killing 17 Iraqi civilians, including two women and two boys ages 8 and 11.” — Peter Baker
The shockingly long list of corrupt officials and political allies pardoned by Trump. More often, Trump has used his pardon powers to reward political allies like Hunter and Collins, who were the first two Republican members of Congress to endorse him in the 2016 primaries. Here’s a list of right-wing icons, corrupt public officials, accused war criminals, and other controversial figures who have received clemency from Trump.
Putin Grants Lifetime Immunity to Ex-Presidents and Their Families. The law comes amid swirling questions over Putin’s future after his current term limit expires in 2024 and is part of sweeping constitutional reforms allowing Putin to ignore current limits and run for two more six-year presidential terms.
President Trump tells lawmakers to amend COVID-19 relief bill to increase $600 stimulus payments and suggests he may not sign $900 billion legislation. The bill provides for a $600 payment to most Americans, but Trump said he is asking Congress to amend the bill and “increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple. I am also asking Congress to get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill.”
Dozens of US organizations also used software targeted by Russian hackers.
Why the Russian hack is so significant, and why it's close to a worst-case scenario.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday announced draft legislation to place the Austin Police Department under state control, several months after the city government reduced the department's funding.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in May urged the Trump administration to rescind millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds that Harris County planned to use for mail-in ballots, as Republican state leaders and Democratic local officials were sparring over whether and how to expand voting options during the pandemic.
US deaths in 2020 top 3 million, by far most ever counted. Preliminary data suggest that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, or at least 400,000 more than in 2019. — Hmmm. I wonder why such a big increase from last year.
Warren and other senators seek investigation into Trump administration resuming federal executions.
No student loan relief in $900 billion stimulus bill. But the relief package doesn't address a financial crisis that's been building since long before the onset of the pandemic: student loan debt.
Trump's private bankers resign from Deutsche Bank. The private bankers responsible for lending to President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner have resigned from Deutsche Bank, the bank said.
Alex Padilla to replace Kamala Harris, becoming California's first Latino senator.
Israel's government collapses, not with a bang but a whimper, triggering fourth election in 2 years.
Report: Last month was Earth’s warmest November on record. “These records are consistent with the long-term warming trend of the global climate. All policy-makers who prioritise mitigating climate risks, should see these records as alarm bells and consider more seriously than ever how to best comply with the international commitments set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.”
Microplastics revealed in the placentas of unborn babies. A dozen plastic particles were found. Only about 4% of each placenta was analysed, however, suggesting the total number of microplastics was much higher. All the particles analysed were plastics that had been dyed blue, red, orange or pink and may have originally come from packaging, paints or cosmetics and personal care products... “Due to the crucial role of placenta in supporting the foetus’s development and in acting as an interface with the external environment, the presence of potentially harmful plastic particles is a matter of great concern. Further studies need to be performed to assess if the presence of microplastics may trigger immune responses or may lead to the release of toxic contaminants, resulting in harm.”
Walmart contributed to the prescription opioid crisis for years, breaking the law, the Justice Department alleges. The Department of Justice is alleging that Walmart broke the law and contributed to the prescription opioid crisis by filling thousands of invalid prescriptions and failing to report suspicious orders of opioids, according to the department's statement.
Hollywood giant MGM puts itself up for sale at $5bn.
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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