Texas' plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccine

Once the coronavirus vaccine is ready, how will it be distributed in Texas? These are some of the factors in play.

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  • Immigration advocates celebrate Alejandro Mayorkas as Biden's pick to run Homeland Security

    If confirmed, Mayorkas would become the first immigrant and first Hispanic American to lead the sprawling department, which, among its various responsibilities, oversees the U.S. immigration system and border security.

  • Rapid testing could 'drive the epidemic toward extinction'

    Cheap coronavirus tests that ordinary Americans can administer at home could significantly drive down infection rates, researchers say. Their statistical models indicate that potential inaccuracies become effectively inconsequential if enough rapid tests are done with sufficient frequency.

  • Intelligence employees vent frustrations over being forced to return to the office

    Employees at one of the most secretive parts of government have been forced to return to the office, leading to widespread concerns about their exposure to COVID-19.

  • ‘People are going hungry as you tweet from vacay’: AOC doubles down attacks on senate for failure to pass Covid relief bill

    Congresswoman’s criticism comes as virus spikes across US

  • China criticizes pope over comment on Uighur Muslim minority

    China criticized Pope Francis on Tuesday over a passage in his new book in which he mentions suffering by China’s Uighur Muslim minority group. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Francis’ remarks had “no factual basis at all.” “People of all ethnic groups enjoy the full rights of survival, development, and freedom of religious belief," Zhao said at a daily briefing.

  • Pyongyang cheers returning typhoon workers

    Footage filmed by North Korea's state media KCNA, which could not be verified by Reuters, showed the residents waving and cheering as trains carrying party members arriving Pyongyang railway station and buses drove past the streets. The footage also showed a large number of members attending a welcome ceremony in front of Kumsusan Palace of the Sun where the embalmed bodies of former North Korean leaders lie. In September, leader Kim Jong Un sent an open letter to party members in the capital noting that this year has witnessed "uncommon difficulties due to the protracted worldwide public health crisis" and natural disasters. It added that the Party Central Committee decided to dispatch 12,000 party members from Pyongyang to the typhoon-hit areas to help communities recover. KCNA has reported that more than 1,000 houses were destroyed in coastal areas of South and North Hamgyong provinces and reported that farmland and some public buildings had been inundated.

  • Should Joe Biden cancel billions in student loan debt?

    Democrats from across the party’s ideological spectrum are calling on President-elect Joe Biden to make forgiving student loan debt one of his first priorities in office.

  • A Few of Our Favorite Small Businesses Running Early Black Friday Sales

    You don't have to wait until #smallbusinesssaturday to shop smallOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • Trump campaign sued for attempting to disenfranchise Black voters

    President Trump's campaign now finds itself on the other side of a legal case in a newly filed federal lawsuit alleging that it violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 when it sought to “disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters,” particularly African Americans in metropolitan areas of Michigan.

  • Russia chases off U.S. warship in row over waters in Sea of Japan

    Russia said on Tuesday one of its warships caught and chased off a U.S. destroyer operating illegally in its territorial waters in the Sea of Japan, but the U.S. Navy denied wrongdoing by its vessel and accused Moscow of making excessive maritime claims. The Admiral Vinogradov, a Russian destroyer, verbally warned USS John S. McCain, a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer, and threatened to ram it in order to force it to leave the area, prompting it to return to neutral waters, Moscow said.

  • Coronavirus: Millions travel for Thanksgiving despite warnings

    Americans appear to disregard health officials' warnings as airports are their busiest since March.

  • Iran says British-Australian academic freed for 3 Iranians

    Iran on Wednesday freed a British-Australian academic who had been detained in the country for over two years, in exchange for three Iranians held abroad, state TV announced. The television report was scant on detail, saying only that the three Iranians freed in the swap had been imprisoned for trying to bypass sanctions on Iran. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, 33, was a Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies when she was picked up at the Tehran airport while trying to leave the country after attending an academic conference in 2018.

  • Biden's White House: 'Sipping unflavored almond milk' after guzzling vats of Tabasco for 4 years

    President-elect Joe Biden will start introducing his Cabinet picks Tuesday, and the consensus in Washington was perhaps best described by Brendan Buck, a former top aide to Republican House Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner:> These Biden nominations and appointments are so delightfully boring> > — Brendan Buck (@BrendanBuck) November 23, 2020Most of the names Biden announced Monday — Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security adviser, Alejandro Mayorkas as Homeland Security secretary, Avril Haines as director of national intelligence, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as U.N. ambassador, and Ron Klein as White House chief of staff — are career professionals little known outside Washington policy and politics circles, but well regarded within them. "By design, they seem meant to project a dutiful competence," The Washington Post reports.Biden has also chosen some boldface names: John Kerry as international climate envoy and former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen as treasury secretary. What ties them all together is the prospect of a Biden administration "filled with people who have deep experience in government and in the agencies they will be running," Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer write at Politico.You can expect fewer impulsive tweets and more of "a linear, plodding, purposeful, and standard policy process" run "by political professionals who aren't likely to try to burn down the White House over petty disagreements and jockeying to get in the good graces of the president," Sherman and Palmer add. "In other words, if the Trump White House was like downing a vat of Tabasco sauce over the past four years, the Biden White House will be like sipping unflavored almond milk."The selection process hasn't been entirely without drama, but "the relatively uncontroversial nature of these picks has been by design," Politico's Ryan Lizza reports. "Internally, Biden officials have been instructed to emphasize to reporters how normal the picks are, how 'these are tested leaders.' It's seen as a success if the Biden staff and Cabinet announcements don't make much news."More stories from theweek.com Trump's staffers are reportedly now avoiding him to stay out of legal jeopardy Our parents warned us the internet would break our brains. It broke theirs instead. Penguin Random House to buy Simon & Schuster in deal that 'would create a publishing behemoth'

  • Turkish court adds new Saudi defendants in Khashoggi trial

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A Turkish court on Tuesday added new defendants to the case against Saudi officials charged over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, state media reported, in a trial that Ankara says is needed to reveal the full truth behind the killing. Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018. In September a Saudi court jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years over the killing, in a trial that critics said lacked transparency.

  • Why Bhutan's Sakteng wildlife sanctuary is disputed by China

    Tiny Bhutan is feeling the squeeze as its giant neighbours China and India vie for territory.

  • Israeli leader tells convicted spy: 'We're waiting for you'

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday phoned Jonathan Pollard, the former U.S. Navy analyst convicted of spying for Israel in the 1980s, telling him: “We’re waiting for you.” The U.S. Justice Department announced last Friday that Pollard had completed his parole, clearing the way for him to move to Israel 35 years after he was arrested. “You should have now a comfortable life where you can pursue, both of you can pursue your interests,” Netanyahu said in a conversation with Pollard and his wife Esther.

  • Obama Claims Evangelical Latinos Disregarded Trump’s Racism Because of Views on ‘Abortion,’ ‘Gay Marriage’

    Former President Obama claimed on Wednesday that evangelical Latino voters chose President Trump over Joe Biden because Trump backs their views on abortion and gay marriage.While Trump lost the 2020 election, he gained support among Latino voters according to exit polls and voting data in counties with large Hispanic populations. For example, in 93-percent Hispanic Zapata County in Texas, Trump won by six percentage points while Hillary Clinton carried the county in 2016 by 33 percentage points."People were surprised about a lot of Hispanic folks who voted for Trump," Obama commented on the podcast The Breakfast Club. "But there are a lot of evangelical Hispanics."Obama continued, "The fact that Trump says racist things about Mexicans or…puts undocumented workers in cages—they think that's less important than [that] he supports their views on gay marriage or abortion." (The "cages" Obama refers to were in fact built during his administration, as chain-link enclosures meant to temporarily house illegal immigrants at border facilities.)Giancarlo Sopo, the Trump campaign's director of rapid response for Spanish media, disputed Obama's claim."Our Hispanic advertising and communications largely focused on economic issues, public safety, Latin America, and socialism," Sopo wrote in an email to National Review. "We never ran a single ad that even mentioned gay marriage, and while our surrogates did address abortion in media appearances, our only advertising on the topic was limited to a modest radio buy in New Mexico. "According to Sopo, who was involved in the production of Spanish-language campaign advertisements, the campaign emphasized different topics for outreach to various Latino groups."In states like Texas and Arizona, where Latinos are predominantly Mexican-American, the President's strong border policies and measures to combat poverty were very popular," Sopo said. "Meanwhile, law and order was a top priority for voters in areas with large Puerto Rican communities, such as Orlando and Philadelphia."Meanwhile, Cuban and Venezuelan Americans have widely cited the "socialist" leanings of some progressive Democrats to explain their support for Trump.Trump supported abortion rights before the 2016 campaign, but pivoted towards the pro-life movement and has courted the backing of pro-life organizations. The Trump campaign did not speak about marriage rights at all during the election.Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), criticized Obama's comments as "condescending."> Ah yes, those Hispanic evangelicals. So backwards. Clinging to their guns and religion, you might say. Barack Obama still the most condescending corporate liberal in America https://t.co/IqUdbx5FB7> > -- Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 25, 2020"Ah yes, those Hispanic evangelicals. So backwards. Clinging to their guns and religion, you might say," Hawley wrote on Twitter. "Barack Obama still the most condescending corporate liberal in America."

  • Biden's team has made contact with Dr. Fauci, and the president-elect said he has been 'very, very helpful' in briefings with staff

    The contact between Fauci and Biden's team comes as the US may be entering the darkest stage yet of the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Georgia Senate candidate Raphael Warnock — and his dog — respond to smear ads

    In a clever new ad, Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock found a new way to drop the mic.Warnock is running against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in the Jan. 5 runoff election. In a new ad he tweeted out Tuesday, Warnock is shown taking his dog on a walk. In an earlier campaign ad, Warnock predicted there would be lots of false claims leveled against him, and "that's exactly what happened," he said. "You would think that Kelly Loeffler might have something good to say about herself, if she really wants to represent Georgia."Instead, Warnock continued, "she's trying to scare people by taking things I've said out of context from over 25 years of being a pastor." By this point, Warnock and his pup were at the end of their walk, and he was holding a bag of dog feces. As he dropped the bag in a trash can, Warnock said, "I think Georgians will see her ads for what they are -- don't you?" His dog barked in agreement -- and then approved the message. Watch the ad below. > I told you the smear ads were coming, but Georgians will see Sen. @Kloeffler's ads for what they are. pic.twitter.com/0sgU8ndC63> > -- Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) November 24, 2020More stories from theweek.com Trump's staffers are reportedly now avoiding him to stay out of legal jeopardy Our parents warned us the internet would break our brains. It broke theirs instead. Penguin Random House to buy Simon & Schuster in deal that 'would create a publishing behemoth'

  • 'They're defenseless': Rescue workers save animals after hurricane

    As residents in Colombia’s San Andres and Providencia islands clean up after the Category 5 Hurricane Iota -- the strongest storm of the season -- devastated the area, one Colombian rescue organization is making sure that the islands’ animals are not forgotten. "Imagine the terror that these animals feel right now, for example during the hurricane. It's terrible." That’s Juliana del Castillo, the director of Fundacion Animal Heart Islands. "We can't sleep thinking about how the little animals are suffering all the bad weather of the hurricane without being able to protect themselves." Last Friday she accompanied police on San Andres as they captured a dog in poor physical condition. "What happens is the animals are stuck outside, they're defenseless, so we've always wanted to help animals and we do it with all our hearts, we do it simply as a vocation, as something that we like to do." Hurricane Iota last week hit San Andres and Providencia. The storm killed an estimated 40 people across Central America and Colombia, including at least two in Providencia.