One of President-elect Joe Biden’s first acts after being sworn in on Jan. 20 will be to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, a non-binding pact signed by nearly 200 nations which, at President Trump’s direction, the U.S. exited on Nov. 4.
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One of President-elect Joe Biden’s first acts after being sworn in on Jan. 20 will be to rejoin the Paris climate agreement.
A man is facing charges including murder and attempted murder, after Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives say he broke into a home on Thanksgiving Day, choked and battered one victim and killed another.
Seattles is preparing to slash the city's police budget just as homicides in the city climb to their highest level in more than a decade.Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is set to sign a city budget that includes an 18 percent cut to the Seattle Police Department, a move that comes after police reform activists demanded the police budget be reduced by half. Calls for police reform have abounded in cities across the country since May, when George Floyd died at the hands of police in Minneapolis.The city council voted last week to slash about $69 million in funding for officer training, salaries and overtime, and get rid of vacant positions in the police department as well as transfer parking officers, mental health workers, and 911 dispatchers out of the department. The goal is to ultimately reinvest in alternatives to police in situations such as mental health crises.Meanwhile, Seattle had seen 55 murders this year as of Monday, the highest level since at least 2008, the last year of data available. The troubled city is also suffering a spike in violent crime, with 8,418 burglary incidents, up from to 7,634 last year, according to police.The mayor, a Democrat, said last week that she believes the city is "laying the groundwork to make systemic and lasting changes to policing.""We have rightly put forward a plan that seeks to ensure SPD has enough officers to meet 911 response and investigative needs throughout the city, while acknowledging and addressing the disproportionate impacts policing has had on communities of color, particularly Black communities," Durkan said in a statement.Police Chief Carmen Best resigned over the summer amid disagreements with the city council over the cuts to the police budget.In June, rioters claimed and barricaded off several blocks in the city’s downtown Capitol Hill neighborhood, calling it the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone, or CHOP, after police abandoned their East Precinct to vandals and arsonists. Police agreed not to respond to calls from within the “autonomous zone” unless they were life-threatening.Later that month, however, Durkan, who previously predicted the autonomous zone would usher in a “summer of love” and said her decision to withdraw police from the area reflected her “trust” in protesters, announced the city would begin dismantling the zone, citing incidents of violence. A shooting inside the zone left a 19-year-old dead and another critically injured. Police said they were met by a violent crowd that blocked their access to the victims.
Retired Gen. Michael Flynn is fresh off a presidential pardon and ready to get back into some trouble.President Trump pardoned his short-lived national security adviser last week, after Flynn had previously pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian ambassador. Flynn has since been sharing dubious allegations of voter fraud, and on Wednesday, boosted a message telling Trump to take some radical actions to stop it.In a full-page Washington Times ad from something called the We the People Convention, Ohio Tea Party leader Tom Zawistowski tries to draw a comparison between Lincoln trying to save the union in 1863 and Trump trying to claw back the 2020 election, using some disputed facts along the way. Zawistowski alleges a lot of similarities between the two times, from "Democrat/Socialist federal officials plotting to finish gutting the U.S. Constitution" to big tech "actively censoring free speech and promoting leftist propaganda." So to counter that, the We the People Convention suggests Trump "declare limited Martial Law to temporarily suspend the Constitution" in order to hold a presidential election re-vote overseen by the military.> Big pro-authoritarian energy in Trumpland today:> > The president's (recently pardoned) former national security adviser, Mike Flynn, shared a message encouraging President Trump to "temporarily suspend the Constitution," impose martial law and "silence the destructive media." pic.twitter.com/cQh0wl7oWw> > — Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 2, 2020Flynn shared the ad on Twitter on Wednesday, seemingly trying to encourage a bunch of Fox News hosts and QAnon supporters to share it. It's just one of many disputed facts and allegations about the election that are apparently flowing through the mind of the man who used to oversee America's national security.More stories from theweek.com Our parents warned us the internet would break our brains. It broke theirs instead. The naked corruption of Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue Trump gives 45-minute speech about voter fraud — which 1 analyst says he'd be making in court if it had any merit
An Alabama soldier was charged with reckless murder after allegedly forcing his girlfriend's unruly 5-year-old son to get out of a car at night along a road where the boy was hit and killed by another vehicle, authorities said.
Arizona Democrat and former astronaut Mark Kelly was sworn into the Senate on Wednesday, narrowing Republican control of the chamber and underscoring his state's shift from red to blue. Kelly, 56, defeated GOP Sen. Martha McSally in last month's election, making her one of only three incumbents to lose. If Democrats win both, they will command the 50-50 chamber for the new Congress that begins in early January because Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast tie-breaking votes.
By the end of February, 100 million Americans could be vaccinated, Operation Warp Speed's Moncef Slaoui predicted.
For more than a year, an 80-year-old Hialeah woman refused to tell her daughter that she was being forcibly raped by her daughter’s ex-husband, according to police.
Senator Ron Johnson pushed back Wednesday against allegations that he has admitted privately that Joe Biden won the presidential election but refuses to do so publicly due to political concerns, saying his statements have always been consistent.Mark Becker, former chairman for the Brown County Republican Party, wrote an op-ed published Wednesday in the The Bulwark claiming that Johnson admitted that Biden won during a private phone call last month, but said he would not say as much publicly because it would be "political suicide.""Senator Johnson knows that Joe Biden won a free and fair election," Becker wrote. "He is refusing to admit it publicly and stoking conspiracies that undermine our democracy solely because it would be 'political suicide' to oppose Trump. I find this unconscionable."Becker said the "war that leaders of the GOP such as Senator Johnson are waging on the very foundations of our democracy" spurred his decision to publish details about his November 14 phone call with the Wisconsin Republican senator.Johnson dismissed the op-ed's accusations against him on Wednesday, saying the article "should be viewed as the political hit piece it is, and simply ignored.”“I have been very consistent in both public and private statements that I believe there are way too many irregularities and suspect issues that need to be fully investigated and publicly vetted before a final result is determined and a peaceful transition of power takes place," Johnson said in a statement emailed to National Review.On Tuesday, shortly after Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department has not found evidence of voter fraud widespread enough to change the outcome of this year’s presidential election, Johnson called on Barr to “show everybody” his evidence that no mass voter fraud occurred, saying there are “enough suspicions” and “irregularities" to warrant questions about the process.Meanwhile, a growing group of GOP senators is calling on President Trump to concede the election as his legal team fails to produce evidence of widespread fraud and runs out of legal avenues to challenge the vote tallies.Becker, who has been vocal in his opposition to Trump over the past four years, says he endorsed and campaigned for Johnson's unsuccessful opponent, Democrat Russ Feingold, during their 2016 Senate race in Wisconsin.
As Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) bid farewell to his colleagues on the Senate floor Wednesday, the retiring lawmaker received a standing ovation from the rest of the upper chamber.In an emotional speech, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Alexander is "leaving this body and those of us in it, and the nation it exists to serve, stronger and better because you were here."> WATCH: Sen. Mitch McConnell gets emotional while speaking on Sen. Lamar Alexander: "You're leaving this body and those of us in it and the nation it exists to serve stronger and better because you were here." pic.twitter.com/JKqBpefAM5> > -- The Hill (@thehill) December 2, 2020Veteran Democratic senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), also heaped praise on Alexander. Schumer, referring to Alexander as his friend, said he "will leave this chamber with a legacy that every senator should be proud of," emphasizing instances in which he's reached across the aisle despite potential personal political cost.Feinstein, meanwhile, said "I truly have come to appreciate Sen. Alexander's fairness, interest in solving problems, and his bipartisanship. Most of all, I so appreciate your friendship."In his final address, Alexander said the Senate needs "a change of behavior" resulting in lawmakers ceasing to block each other's amendments. > Not something you see often -- bipartisan standing ovation on Senate floor for retiring GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander after he wraps up farewell address, which featured a heavy emphasis on his cross-aisle relationships and bipartisan accomplishments, especially on education issues> > -- Deirdre Walsh (@deirdrekwalsh) December 2, 2020More stories from theweek.com Our parents warned us the internet would break our brains. It broke theirs instead. The naked corruption of Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue Trump gives 45-minute speech about voter fraud — which 1 analyst says he'd be making in court if it had any merit
He made 2,596 trades over his first term, according to the New York Times. He faces a runoff election for his seat on Jan. 5.
Police in Stockholm are investigating a woman in her 70s suspected of having kept her son locked up — reportedly for 28 years — in an apartment south of the Swedish capital, investigators said Tuesday. Prosecutor Emma Olsson, who heads the preliminary investigation, said the woman who was held on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty and grievous bodily harm. Olsson said the 41-year-old son was found by a relative who then alerted authorities.
The Trump presidency ended in the parking lot of a landscaping company next to an adult bookstore. Richard Hall was there
Adam Laxalt, the co-chair of the Trump campaign in Nevada, is fighting ferociously against his state’s decision to reward its six electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden, alleging widespread voter fraud and hyping litigation to overturn Biden’s victory.But a nonprofit ethics and transparency group affiliated with Laxalt, Nevada’s former attorney general, has already conceded Biden’s victory and is looking ahead to the new administration.“It’s become clear that we’re going to be having a Biden team and a Biden administration in 2021,” said Caitlin Sutherland, the executive director of Americans for Public Trust, in an interview on Tuesday. The new administration is “what we will remain focused on going into next year.”Sutherland stressed that Laxalt’s work with the Trump re-election campaign, and his efforts to invalidate Biden’s win in Nevada, were entirely separate from his work with APT, a tax-exempt nonprofit that’s barred by law from engaging in political or partisan activity. “That is something he does in a personal capacity outside his role in APT,” Sutherland said. “As a 501c3, we, and Adam when he works with us, do not engage in anything with a partisan or political bent.”Nevada Gov. Calls Trump’s Conspiracy Theory Retweet ‘Unconscionable’ But Laxalt maintains his position as APT’s outside counsel and frequent spokesman even as he works with the Trump team in a personal capacity. And the fact that the group he works with is planning for a reality he refuses to concede underscores just how great a divergence has developed within the broader conservative movement. One faction appears unable to acknowledge the reality of Joe Biden’s win—perhaps for fear of offending Trump. Another doesn’t want to get caught flat-footed for when that reality comes about.Illustrating the political complications that these two pulls can create for the president’s political allies, Sutherland followed up on her initial interview with The Daily Beast to clarify her statement—and hedge her view on the outcome of the election. “As Biden is working to build out his team, APT will provide transparency and scrutiny, even as litigation on the election results are ongoing,” she wrote.As a leading Trump campaign official in Nevada, Laxalt has been a face of the campaign’s efforts to overturn the state’s presidential contest. Last month, he appeared at a news conference in North Las Vegas—alongside former Trump intelligence chief Ric Grenell and GOP lobbyist Matt Schlapp—to level allegations of widespread voter fraud and preview a lawsuit demanding that a state court declare Trump the winner, despite trailing by more than 33,000 votes.The Shady Ex-Cop Behind Trump’s Nevada Voter-Fraud FarceAs part of that lawsuit, the campaign submitted a list of thousands of voters who it said had cast ballots in Nevada despite living out of state. Many of those voters turned out to be military servicemen and their families stationed outside of Nevada, but who are permitted by law to cast ballots in the state.Like nearly all of the Trump campaign’s election-related lawsuits over the past month, the Nevada effort has so far fallen short. Last week, Nevada’s Supreme Court certified Biden’s win in the state. The campaign’s efforts persist nonetheless, and the president and his attorneys continue to gripe about a nonexistent conspiracy against him perpetrated by high-level government officials—including Republicans—and voting machine companies with nebulous ties to foreign dictators.Those voting machine conspiracy theories, which largely focus on the company Dominion Voting Systems, have not extended to Nevada, or Laxalt's efforts there. But on Tuesday, the president hailed a Nevada court ruling allowing both presidential campaigns to inspect voting machines used in the state’s largest county. In a tweet on the ruling, Trump tagged Grennell, Schlapp, and Laxalt.Founded this year, APT uses open records requests and other transparency tools to root out apparent conflicts of interest and ethical breaches among government officials and interest groups. APT is a conservative-leaning group, though Sutherland, a former research director at the National Republican Congressional Committee, said it has and will continue to investigate Republicans and Democrats alike.“We have demanded accountability and transparency from a variety of groups and politicians from both sides of the aisle. That momentum will not change as we head into a Biden administration,” she said.APT has already begun to file open records requests for documents related to incoming Biden administration officials, Sutherland said. “We are taking a look at each individual that will be nominated to the cabinet, and who President-elect Biden is surrounding himself with, what that network has done in the past, and what they would mean in a Biden administration.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
He is the first to be arrested under a controversial anti-conversion law passed last month.
Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley, speaking during a Brookings Institution event Wednesday, said that, after nearly 20 years in Afghanistan the U.S. has "achieved a modicum of success" with its military operations in the country. That's true, he argued, despite a current "state of strategic stalemate" and the inability to defeat the Taliban militarily.The comments, which come as the military looks to execute President Trump's partial troop withdrawal order, sparked a backlash, with critics suggesting -- some more explicitly -- that a "modicum" is a fairly paltry amount of success to earn for such a high cost> CJCS Gen. Milley, asked about Afghanistan withdrawal, says 20 years of constant U.S. effort has produced a "modicum" of success. > > Quite the optimist.> > -- Brian Everstine (@beverstine) December 2, 2020> Milley, on the state of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan: > > "We believe now that after 20 years, two decades of consistent effort, that we he have achieved a modicum of success."> > More than 775,000 service members have deployed to Afghanistan. Nearly 2,400 dead, and 20K wounded.> > -- Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) December 2, 2020Others added that Milley's analysis of the situation, even if it's interpreted as defeatist, still downplays the reality on the ground over the last two decades. > Some people will give Milley some credit here. Oh he's telling the truth. No. It's been an abject failure. By every metric. Especially when most of the metrics are currently classified. They don't usually do that when they are successful.> > -- Paul Szoldra (@PaulSzoldra) December 2, 2020More stories from theweek.com Our parents warned us the internet would break our brains. It broke theirs instead. The naked corruption of Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue Trump gives 45-minute speech about voter fraud — which 1 analyst says he'd be making in court if it had any merit
A murderer jailed for life, two would-be killers, and multiple rapists were among 23 “dangerous” criminals who escaped deportation to Jamaica after legal challenges that it breached their human rights. Lawyers for the 23, including killer Michael White, mounted last-minute appeals against their inclusion on the deportation flight early on Wednesday which could see them freed onto UK streets within days. The Home Office managed to remove 13 foreign criminals on the flight including two murderers who shot a man dead at point blank range, a man who stabbed the partner of his ex-girlfriend’s friend to death, a paedophile convicted of grooming a child, and three class A drug dealers. However, immigration minister Chris Philp said he was disappointed by the last minute tactics of lawyers that blocked the deportation of the 23, whose sentences totalled 156 years plus one life term. “These individuals had every opportunity to raise the claims in the days and weeks leading up to the flight, however a significant number of claims were not submitted until hours before the flight was due to leave – meaning murderers and rapists have been able to stay in the UK,” said Mr Philp. The 23 who escaped immediate deportation included White, a murderer who served a life sentence, two people convicted of attempted murder, rapists, Class A drug dealers, and criminals jailed for possessing guns and aggravated vehicle taking. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, cited the case of one of the rapists in a letter to Labour MPs warning them that their call to halt the flight would lead to victims being “re-traumatised.” “He was convicted of rape, served his time prison and put on the sex offenders register. During his trial, his victim issued a heart-breaking statement to the court where she talked of the pain and suffering this caused her,” said Ms Patel. “There can be no doubt that the idea of these deportations being halted at the last minute only serves to re-traumatise [the victims].” The 13 deported included knifeman Fitzroy Daley (below) who stabbed his ex-girlfriend’s 50-year-old friend to death with a six-inch blade after a minor scuffle outside a pub at Christmas 2012. He was jailed for ten years in 2013 for manslaughter.
From a private island to a tiny Vermont tree houseOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Juan Williams, normally a mild mannered liberal co-host on 'The Five,' finally had enough on Wednesday's show.
Reverend Raphael Warnock, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Georgia, criticized the state’s gun laws in a newly unearthed 2014 sermon.“I had to go to the Capitol yesterday because they decided what we really need is more guns and more access to guns by more people in more places,” said Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. “So, somebody decided that they had the bright idea to pass a piece of legislation that would allow guns and concealed weapons to be carried in churches.”“Have you ever been to a church meeting? That’s the last place—” he said, before being interrupted by laughter from the audience.He added, “Whoever thought of that had never been to a church meeting.”> BOMBSHELL: Newly found video shows Georgia Senate candidate @ReverendWarnock LAUGHING at church-goers who defend themselves with guns. > > First Warnock goes after our veterans, now our Second Amendment.> > Georgians have a clear choice Jan. 5! gapol gasen pic.twitter.com/YFtGdiqkOi> > -- NRA (@NRA) November 30, 2020Warnock was apparently referencing what critics dubbed the "guns everywhere" bill, which was approved by the Republican-controlled Georgia Central Assembly and later signed into law by then-Governor Nathan Deal in April 2014.The measure allows Georgia residents to carry guns into bars without restriction and in some school classrooms and government buildings under certain circumstances. It also gives religious leaders the ability to "opt in" to allow guns on their worship premises.The National Rifle Association shared the clip on Twitter on Monday, saying, “Newly found video shows Georgia Senate candidate @ReverendWarnock LAUGHING at church-goers who defend themselves with guns.”The NRA's video includes footage from a 2017 church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Tx. in which a gunman killed 26 people before being stopped by an armed parishioner. The parishioner shot the gunman, who fled.“Rev. Warnock, Law-abiding Americans defending themselves is no laughing matter,” the video said.“First Warnock goes after our veterans, now our Second Amendment,” the tweet adds. “Georgians have a clear choice Jan. 5!”Warnock is running against Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler. The January 5 runoff election is one of two Georgia races that will determine party control of the U.S. Senate.
