Watters on media coverage of Hunter Biden and Chinese business dealings

Jesse Watters weighs in on whether a lack of media coverage of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings contributed to Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

Latest Stories

  • Alan Dershowitz says Texas lawsuit tossed by Supreme Court should tell Trump's allies that they 'can't count on the judiciary' to invalidate election results

    The attorney and Trump ally said the president needed a "perfect storm" of courts, governors, and state election officials to aid his cause.

  • Israel announces full diplomatic relations with Bhutan

    Israel announced on Saturday that it is establishing full diplomatic relations with the relatively isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the latest in a string of international deals designed to show Israel’s growing acceptance abroad. “The circle of recognition of Israel is widening,” said Israeli foreign minister, Gabi Ashkenazi. “The establishment of relations with the Kingdom of Bhutan will constitute a new stage in the deepening of Israel’s relations in Asia.” The agreement follows several years of secret contact between the two countries with the aim of establishing relations, according to a statement from Israel’s foreign ministry. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the deal, tweeting that it is an “additional fruit of the peace agreements”. The accord between the two countries does not appear to be linked to the US-backed Abraham accords, in which four Arab countries have agreed to normalise relations with the Jewish state since August. Mr Netanyahu added that Israel was in contact with more countries to normalise relations. Bhutan is a relatively isolated country and only maintains diplomatic relations with around 53 countries, which does not include the US, UK or France, who only maintain informal contact via India. With a population of around 800,000 people, the Kingdom of Bhutan is wedged between neighbouring giants, China and India. They have long relied on the latter for guidance on foreign and defence policy. Ron Malka, the Israeli ambassador to India said he signed the agreement with his Bhutanese counterpart, Maj Gen Vestop Namgyel, on Saturday night, calling the agreement a “historic day”. The joint statement on the deal said the key areas of cooperation would include economic, technological and agricultural development. “The ties between the peoples through cultural exchanges and tourism would also be further enhanced,” the statement added. Bhutan was closed off to tourists until 1970 and still strictly limits entry to the country with a $250 daily fee per visitor in high season

  • 'External source' causes oil tanker blast off Saudi Arabia

    An oil tanker off Saudi Arabia's port city of Jiddah suffered an explosion early Monday after being hit by “an external source,” a shipping company said, suggesting another vessel has come under attack off the kingdom amid its yearslong war in Yemen. The apparent attack on the Singapore-flagged BW Rhine, which had been contracted by the trading arm of the kingdom's massive Saudi Arabian Oil Co., marks the fourth assault targeting Saudi energy infrastructure in a month. It also apparently shut down Jiddah port, the most-important shipping point for the kingdom.

  • U.S. expects to have immunized 100 million against COVID-19 by end of March -Slaoui

    The United States expects to have immunized 100 million people with the coronavirus vaccine by the end of March, the chief adviser for the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine program said on Sunday. The first vaccine was authorized for emergency use by U.S. regulators on Friday night and began shipping on Sunday. "We would have immunized 100 million people by the first quarter of 2021," U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

  • China warns of interference over Bloomberg journalist arrest

    International pressure is mounting after a Chinese Bloomberg journalist was detained by Beijing.

  • Judge appointed by Trump heard his case to overturn Biden's win, wholly rejected it on the merits

    President Trump told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade on Saturday, in a clip broadcast Sunday, that no judges have had "the courage" to allow his lawyers and allies to argue his baseless claims that the election was "stolen," specifically criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court for declining to "go into the evidence" on his cases because of "little technicalities, like a thing called standing."> "They're winning these things on little technicalities, like a thing called standing." pic.twitter.com/fPdLMHX3bg> > — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 13, 2020In fact, several courts have offered to hear pro-Trump lawyers argue their case, and U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig in Wisconsin shot down the latest of those cases on Saturday. "A sitting president who did not prevail in his bid for reelection has asked for federal court help in setting aside the popular vote based on disputed issues of election administration, issues he plainly could have raised before the vote occurred," wrote Ludwig, a Trump appointee. "This court allowed the plaintiff the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits. In his reply brief, plaintiff 'asks that the Rule of Law be followed.' It has been."The "most telling aspect" of Ludwig's ruling isn't that "the rejecting was done by a Trump-appointed judge" or "that it was done on the merits," Andrew McCarthy argues at National Review. It's when Ludwig notes that "on the morning of the hearing, the parties reached agreement on a stipulated set of facts," meaning "there was no actual disagreement between the Trump team and Wisconsin officials about the pertinent facts of the case."In other words, "there was no there there," McCarthy writes. "Despite telling the country for weeks that this was the most rigged election in history, the campaign didn't think it was worth calling a single witness. Despite having the opportunity of a hearing before a Trump appointee who was willing to give the campaign ample opportunity to prove its case, the campaign said, 'Never mind.'" And "this is not the first time the campaign ducked an opportunity to prove its claims of a stolen election in court," he adds. In Wisconsin, as in Pennsylvania and Michigan, "every time a court offers him an opportunity to establish by proof what he is promoting by Twitter, Team Trump folds." Read more about Ludwig's ruling at National Review.More stories from theweek.com The Constitution has an answer for seditious members of Congress Trump says he made an 'adjustment' to plan for early coronavirus vaccines at White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, wife are reportedly making Europe event a holiday vacation

  • Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler posed for a photo with a former KKK chief - but says she didn't know who he was

    Chester Doles was jailed in 1993 for viciously beating a Black man. On Friday, he posted a selfie with Loeffler to Russian social media site VK.

  • Father who 'begged' GP for an MRI scan dies from cancer after Covid backlog

    A father-of-two who had to "beg" to get an MRI scan because of the coronavirus crisis has died of cancer, his family have revealed. Sherwin Hall, 27, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, went to hospital on March 23 suffering from leg pain but despite repeated visits he was only given a course of antibiotics for a misdiagnosis of prostatitis. After "begging for a scan" and 13 hospital visits in four weeks, Mr Hall was finally given an MRI on May 26 which revealed a 14cm malignant tumour in his pelvis and 30 small tumours on his lungs. Before his death, Mr Hall said: "I kept begging them in April and May to give me an MRI scan, but no-one would listen. "Both my GP and my consultant told me that I couldn't get one because scanning services were slowed down because of the coronavirus." His widow, LaTroya Hall, who is being supported by the Catch Up With Cancer Campaign, said: "I am devastated. I have lost the love of my life. "If Sherwin's cancer had been found earlier it is likely he would still be here today. He would want me to do everything I can to prevent other families suffering as we have. "It worries me that the Government and NHS leaders continue to say cancer services are back to normal; our family's experience has been that, even now, this is simply not the case.” Mr Hall's death comes as cancer patients, celebrities and NHS staff have launched a Christmas video as part of a campaign calling on the Government to boost cancer services "devastated" by the Covid-19 crisis. The Catch Up With Cancer campaign was launched by the parents of Macclesfield beautician Kelly Smith who died after her treatment for bowel cancer was stopped because of the pandemic. TV presenter Victoria Derbyshire said in the film: "I'm Victoria Derbyshire and all I want for Christmas is for people who've noticed changes in their body or noticed unexplained symptoms to go to the doctor's please." Cancer charity MacMillan says the backlog of cancer patients from the first lockdown is 50,000 while there might be double the number of patients from the second lockdown. An international study has suggested that for every four-week delay in treatment there is a 6 per cent to 13 per cent reduction in survival which could lead to the death of tens of thousands of cancer patients who could have survived under normal circumstances. A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: "Cancer diagnosis and treatment has remained a priority throughout the pandemic and we urge people to come forward if they have symptoms. "The NHS is working hard so as many people as possible get the help they need and more than 870,000 people were referred for cancer checks between March and August. "We've given £3 billion to support the NHS in tackling the impact of Covid, including £1 billion to provide extra checks, scans and operations."

  • Rudy Giuliani on Trump election fight: We have ‘1,000 affidavits from witnesses in 6 different states’

    President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani provides insight into the strongest piece of evidence he will present for legal challenge.

  • Philippines targets deal for 25 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

    The Philippines aims to finalise negotiations with Sinovac Biotech this week to acquire 25 million doses of the Chinese company's COVID-19 vaccine for delivery by March, a coronavirus taskforce official said on Monday. President Rodrigo Duterte, who has pursued warmer ties with Beijing, wants to inoculate all his country's 108 million people, preferably buying vaccines from Russia or China. Philippine officials had met with Sinovac representatives on Friday and there would be another meeting this week to finalise a deal, Carlito Galvez, the country's vaccine chief, said.

  • National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, wife are reportedly making Europe event a holiday vacation

    National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien is heading to Paris on Monday as head of a U.S. delegation to the 60th anniversary of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Convention, the White House announced Sunday. His wife, Lo-Mari, is accompanying him on the lame-duck trip, which will double as "a holiday tour of the romantic Mediterranean and European capitals, including seeking a private tour of the Louvre despite it being closed because of coronavirus restrictions," Axios reports.Most Americans are barred from traveling to France or other European countries, and U.S. citizens already in Paris are supposed to leave their homes only for grocery shopping or work. O'Brien and his wife will also visit Tel Aviv, Rome, and London, Axios reports, and their holiday tour "is causing consternation among O'Brien's hosts and questions about the need for his wife to tag along." Most of the participants in the Paris event, including many heads of state representing their countries, will attend virtually due to COVID-19 concerns.National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot told Axios that "while we don't comment on spousal travel on specific trips, anytime Ambassador O'Brien has his wife on official trips, any associated costs for her travel are paid for by Ambassador O'Brien and there is no additional cost to taxpayers." U.S. government employees abroad will have to shepherd the couple on their foreign travels, though, one overseas diplomat tells Axios.The inspector general for the State Department reported last week that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had failed to receive written approval for six of the eight trips his wife, Susan, accompanied him on, at taxpayer expense, from April 2018 to April 2020, breaching internal rules for official travel of family members. Pompeo criticized the report, and acting Inspector General Matthew Kilmow told colleagues on Thursday he's stepping down earlier than expected, CNN reports.Kilmow is the department's third inspector general this year; President Trump fired the Senate-confirmed one, Steve Linick, at Pompeo's urging in May, when Linkick was investigating Pompeo's potential misuse of government resources and several other instance of potential wrongdoing involving the Pompeos.More stories from theweek.com Judge appointed by Trump heard his case to overturn Biden's win, wholly rejected it on the merits The Constitution has an answer for seditious members of Congress Trump says he made an 'adjustment' to plan for early coronavirus vaccines at White House

  • First woman detained under India's controversial Love Jihad laws 'forced into miscarriage'

    The first woman detained under India's controversial new 'Love Jihad' laws has miscarried in custody, her family have told The Sunday Telegraph. Yesterday a distraught Muskan Jahan, 22, called her mother-in-law, from a government shelter where she is being held in the city of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, saying she had bled profusely and then lost her baby. Mrs Jahan believes her three-month-pregnant daughter-in-law was given an injection to abort the baby by staff because she converted from Hinduism to Islam and married a Muslim man. “The tyrannical world has said goodbye to this child before he was able to see the world,” said Mrs Jahan. Muskan's husband Rashid, 27, is being held in an unknown prison in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly coercing Muskan into converting from Hinduism to Islam by marrying her. Uttar Pradesh passed legislation last month designed to prevent marriages arranged to convert Hindu women into Muslims, a practice known as 'Love Jihad'. But critics say the law is a poorly disguised attempt by the Hindu nationalist ruling party of prime minister Narendra Modi to break up interfaith unions.

  • A man was physically assaulted while supporting Democratic candidates at rally in Georgia, police say

    The attacker punched the rally-goer before ripping up his campaign sign for Georgia Democratic Senate candidates, local news reported.

  • Eswatini's prime minister, who tested positive for COVID-19, dies

    Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who tested positive for COVID-19 four weeks ago, has died at age 52 after being hospitalised in neighbouring South Africa, the tiny absolute monarchy's government said late on Sunday. Dlamini was moved to South Africa on Dec.1, to "guide and fast track his recovery," from COVID-19.

  • Trump says he made an 'adjustment' to plan for early coronavirus vaccines at White House

    President Trump said Sunday night he has asked that an "adjustment be made" to the White House's plan to give staffers early access to the coronavirus vaccine.National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot confirmed Sunday afternoon that "senior officials across all three branches of government will receive vaccinations pursuant to continuity of government protocols established in executive policy." Trump later tweeted that "people working in the White House should receive the vaccine somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary. I have asked that this adjustment be made."Trump, who was hospitalized with the coronavirus in October, also said he is "not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time."A member of President-elect Joe Biden's transition team told Bloomberg News on Sunday night that Biden will follow the guidance of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, regarding when he should receive the vaccine and whether it should be administered in public. Biden, who asked Fauci to serve as his chief medical adviser in addition to staying on as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said earlier this month he would be "happy" to take the vaccine in public to assure Americans that it is safe.More stories from theweek.com Judge appointed by Trump heard his case to overturn Biden's win, wholly rejected it on the merits The Constitution has an answer for seditious members of Congress National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, wife are reportedly making Europe event a holiday vacation

  • More Inside AD100 Designer Pierre Yovanovitch’s History-Rich Parisian Apartment

    In the hands of Pierre Yovanovitch, the Paris apartment that iconic designer Jean-Michel Frank once called home gets a spectacular new lease on lifeOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • Man climbs on wing of Alaska Airlines plane departing Las Vegas airport, takes off shoes and socks

    Passengers were shocked to see a man climb aboard the wing of a departing Alaska Airlines flight and taking off his shoes. He was arrested.

  • Yes, there is a war between science and religion

    As the West becomes more and more secular, and the discoveries of evolutionary biology and cosmology shrink the boundaries of faith, the claims that science and religion are compatible grow louder. If you’re a believer who doesn’t want to seem anti-science, what can you do? You must argue that your faith – or any faith – is perfectly compatible with science.And so one sees claim after claim from believers, religious scientists, prestigious science organizations and even atheists asserting not only that science and religion are compatible, but also that they can actually help each other. This claim is called “accommodationism.”But I argue that this is misguided: that science and religion are not only in conflict – even at “war” – but also represent incompatible ways of viewing the world. Opposing methods for discerning truthMy argument runs like this. I’ll construe “science” as the set of tools we use to find truth about the universe, with the understanding that these truths are provisional rather than absolute. These tools include observing nature, framing and testing hypotheses, trying your hardest to prove that your hypothesis is wrong to test your confidence that it’s right, doing experiments and above all replicating your and others’ results to increase confidence in your inference.And I’ll define religion as does philosopher Daniel Dennett: “Social systems whose participants avow belief in a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought.” Of course many religions don’t fit that definition, but the ones whose compatibility with science is touted most often – the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam – fill the bill.Next, realize that both religion and science rest on “truth statements” about the universe – claims about reality. The edifice of religion differs from science by additionally dealing with morality, purpose and meaning, but even those areas rest on a foundation of empirical claims. You can hardly call yourself a Christian if you don’t believe in the Resurrection of Christ, a Muslim if you don’t believe the angel Gabriel dictated the Qur’an to Muhammad, or a Mormon if you don’t believe that the angel Moroni showed Joseph Smith the golden plates that became the Book of Mormon. After all, why accept a faith’s authoritative teachings if you reject its truth claims?Indeed, even the Bible notes this: “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.”Many theologians emphasize religion’s empirical foundations, agreeing with the physicist and Anglican priest John Polkinghorne:> “The question of truth is as central to [religion’s] concern as it is in science. Religious belief can guide one in life or strengthen one at the approach of death, but unless it is actually true it can do neither of these things and so would amount to no more than an illusory exercise in comforting fantasy.”The conflict between science and faith, then, rests on the methods they use to decide what is true, and what truths result: These are conflicts of both methodology and outcome.In contrast to the methods of science, religion adjudicates truth not empirically, but via dogma, scripture and authority – in other words, through faith, defined in Hebrews 11 as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In science, faith without evidence is a vice, while in religion it’s a virtue. Recall what Jesus said to “doubting Thomas,” who insisted in poking his fingers into the resurrected Savior’s wounds: “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”And yet, without supporting evidence, Americans believe a number of religious claims: 74 percent of us believe in God, 68 percent in the divinity of Jesus, 68 percent in Heaven, 57 percent in the virgin birth, and 58 percent in the Devil and Hell. Why do they think these are true? Faith.But different religions make different – and often conflicting – claims, and there’s no way to judge which claims are right. There are over 4,000 religions on this planet, and their “truths” are quite different. (Muslims and Jews, for instance, absolutely reject the Christian belief that Jesus was the son of God.) Indeed, new sects often arise when some believers reject what others see as true. Lutherans split over the truth of evolution, while Unitarians rejected other Protestants’ belief that Jesus was part of God.And while science has had success after success in understanding the universe, the “method” of using faith has led to no proof of the divine. How many gods are there? What are their natures and moral creeds? Is there an afterlife? Why is there moral and physical evil? There is no one answer to any of these questions. All is mystery, for all rests on faith.The “war” between science and religion, then, is a conflict about whether you have good reasons for believing what you do: whether you see faith as a vice or a virtue. Compartmentalizing realms is irrationalSo how do the faithful reconcile science and religion? Often they point to the existence of religious scientists, like NIH Director Francis Collins, or to the many religious people who accept science. But I’d argue that this is compartmentalization, not compatibility, for how can you reject the divine in your laboratory but accept that the wine you sip on Sunday is the blood of Jesus?Others argue that in the past religion promoted science and inspired questions about the universe. But in the past every Westerner was religious, and it’s debatable whether, in the long run, the progress of science has been promoted by religion. Certainly evolutionary biology, my own field, has been held back strongly by creationism, which arises solely from religion.What is not disputable is that today science is practiced as an atheistic discipline – and largely by atheists. There’s a huge disparity in religiosity between American scientists and Americans as a whole: 64 percent of our elite scientists are atheists or agnostics, compared to only 6 percent of the general population – more than a tenfold difference. Whether this reflects differential attraction of nonbelievers to science or science eroding belief – I suspect both factors operate – the figures are prima facie evidence for a science-religion conflict.The most common accommodationist argument is Stephen Jay Gould’s thesis of “non-overlapping magisteria.” Religion and science, he argued, don’t conflict because: “Science tries to document the factual character of the natural world, and to develop theories that coordinate and explain these facts. Religion, on the other hand, operates in the equally important, but utterly different, realm of human purposes, meanings and values – subjects that the factual domain of science might illuminate, but can never resolve.”This fails on both ends. First, religion certainly makes claims about “the factual character of the universe.” In fact, the biggest opponents of non-overlapping magisteria are believers and theologians, many of whom reject the idea that Abrahamic religions are “empty of any claims to historical or scientific facts.”Nor is religion the sole bailiwick of “purposes, meanings and values,” which of course differ among faiths. There’s a long and distinguished history of philosophy and ethics – extending from Plato, Hume and Kant up to Peter Singer, Derek Parfit and John Rawls in our day – that relies on reason rather than faith as a fount of morality. All serious ethical philosophy is secular ethical philosophy.In the end, it’s irrational to decide what’s true in your daily life using empirical evidence, but then rely on wishful-thinking and ancient superstitions to judge the “truths” undergirding your faith. This leads to a mind (no matter how scientifically renowned) at war with itself, producing the cognitive dissonance that prompts accommodationism. If you decide to have good reasons for holding any beliefs, then you must choose between faith and reason. And as facts become increasingly important for the welfare of our species and our planet, people should see faith for what it is: not a virtue but a defect.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. Read more: * Jesuits as science missionaries for the Catholic Church * Why do science issues seem to divide us along party lines? * War between science and religion is far from inevitableJerry Coyne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

  • Two Ohio girls who ran away from home together were located states apart - but only one of them was found safe and alive

    The two 15-year-olds were found separately in California and Nevada after they ran away with a 19-year-old boy and were reported missing since Thanksgiving.

  • Navy ends search for sailor who fell overboard from ship

    The U.S. Navy announced Saturday that it has called off search and rescue efforts for a 20-year-old sailor who reportedly fell overboard earlier this week from the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The family has identified the missing sailor as Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Apprentice Ethan Goolsby of San Antonio, Texas, Scripps affiliate KSAT reported. “The loss of our Sailor is felt deeply by all on board,” said Capt. Eric Anduze, commanding officer of Theodore Roosevelt.