And another day of grim milestones, text messages, closer to a successful coup than most Americans realize, using migrants as weapons, no heat or water, rainbow cleats, and charging stations comes to a close:
“The ‘plan’ was for the National Guard to be enlisted in helping to obstruct Congress, delay the electoral vote count, and prevent the peaceful transition of power. 🎶 this is called a coup 🎶” — Asha Rangappa
“One of the greatest ironies of today is the ‘’United’ in ‘United States’.” — hookah kid
Deaths
US: 819,315 (+1359)
World: 5,328,259 (+6373)
Cases
US: 51,018,282 (+216,827)
World: 271,096,888 (+669,684)
The United States passed another grim Covid-19 milestone Monday, as more than 800,000 Americans have now died from the virus that's plagued the country for nearly two years…That's more than in any other nation, and more than the population of Boston, Washington, D.C., or Seattle.
Supreme Court declines to block New York vaccine mandate. The Supreme Court turned away two emergency requests Monday from health care workers, doctors and nurses in New York to block the state's vaccine mandate. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented.
Several major hospitals around the state are at or near 120% occupancy levels, but it's not because of COVID-19 patients. They’re blaming the fact that they can’t discharge many patients who shouldn’t even be in the hospital.
January 6 panel unveils text messages to Meadows from Don Jr. and Fox hosts as contempt charge advances. Donald Trump's son, Fox news personalities and lawmakers texted Mark Meadows on January 6, imploring the then-White House chief of staff to get the then-President to stop the riot at the Capitol -- just one of the explosive new details from the House select committee investigating the attack as it met on Monday to advance referring Meadows to the Justice Department on a criminal contempt of Congress charge..."These text messages leave no doubt. The White House knew exactly what was happening here at the Capitol," Cheney said. "One text Mr. Meadows received said quote 'We are under siege here at the Capitol.'" "In a third, 'Mark, protesters are literally storming the Capitol, breaking windows on doors, rushing in. Is Trump going to say something?' A fourth, 'There's an armed standoff at the House chamber door.' And another from someone inside the Capitol: 'We are all helpless.'"
America witnessed a coup attempt. Now it’s sleep-walking into another disaster. The crisis isn’t just that we had a coup attempt almost a year ago, but that the Republican party has itself become so venal, so corrupt, so ruthless in its quest for power, that it seems assured that we will see further attempts to overrule any election outcomes they don’t like….The Republicans made a devil’s bargain decades ago, when they decided that they would not change course to win the votes of an increasingly nonwhite, increasingly progressive people, but would try to suppress those who would vote against them. That is, they pitted themselves against democracy as participatory government and free and fair elections. The rhetoric of the far right makes it clear they are fearful and know their power will ebb if they cannot command and subvert the laws and elections of this nation, and they are aiming at some form of minority rule…The crisis isn’t just that we had a coup attempt and have a political party that has gone rogue, but that much of the rest of the nation seems to be normalizing or forgetting or sleepwalking through the crisis. The warnings are getting more urgent. “They’ve decided to burn it all down with us inside,” said NBC anchor Brian Williams on Thursday, in his parting words as an NBC anchor. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii stated Sunday: “The road to autocracy is paved with overly chill responses from people who would see this all with great clarity if only it were happening in a faraway place.” Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy declared, “This is nation-ending stuff we’re dealing with here and folks better wake up soon. I’ll do my part. Think about what yours is.”
Jan. 6 committee recommends Mark Meadows face contempt charge. The House is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday on whether to ask the Justice Department to prosecute Meadows, who served as a House lawmaker before joining the Trump administration.
Authoritarians are using migrants as weapons. The White House frets it's on the rise. "People are being used as pawns in a terrible, terrible game," said Ivo Daalder, who served as the U.S. ambassador to NATO in the Obama administration. "It takes a particularly evil mind. It takes a particularly evil mindset to see that people and their vulnerability and humanity can actually be used as a means to achieve political ends." It's the kind of geopolitical tool that the White House is concerned could be used even more as increased instability and climate change drive more people from their homes.
Factory workers threatened with firing if they left before tornado, employees say. As a catastrophic tornado approached this city Friday, employees of a candle factory — which would later be destroyed — heard the warning sirens and wanted to leave the building. But at least five workers said supervisors warned employees that they would be fired if they left their shifts early.
Thousands without heat, water after tornadoes kill dozens. Residents of Kentucky counties where tornadoes killed dozens of people could be without heat, water or electricity in frigid temperatures for weeks or longer, state officials warned Monday, as the toll of damage and deaths came into clearer focus in five states slammed by the swarm of twisters.
Carl Nassib designed rainbow cleats to support the LGBTQ community. Nassib, who became the first openly gay active NFL player in June, created the cleats to support the LGBTQ youth suicide prevention group the Trevor Project.
The Biden administration has unveiled a plan to build 500,000 charging stations for electric vehicles across the U.S. The aim is to bring down the cost of electric cars - and ultimately transform the auto industry.
Amazon to launch an Instacart-like service in the US next year, report says.
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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