Harris is being an ‘understudy’ for Biden, stepping away from spotlight: Deroy Murdock

Fox News contributor Deroy Murdock provides insight into why Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has been ‘silent’ during the coronavirus relief talks.

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  • Government report warns of potential violence and foreign interference during Georgia Senate runoffs

    With the Georgia Senate runoff races just two weeks away, the Department of Homeland Security is warning of the possibility of “ideologically motivated violence” and even a foreign influence campaign as voters prepare to go to the polls, according to a new internal report obtained by Yahoo News.

  • South Dakota’s controversial governor wields flamethrower in Instagram post

    'Is it too late to add something to my Christmas list,’ she wrote.

  • House GOP leader McCarthy reportedly nixes Pelosi’s attempt to pass $2,000 payments by unanimous consent

    In a private call with his fellow Republican lawmakers, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Wednesday that he won't sign off on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) attempt to pass larger COVID-19 pandemic stimulus payments by unanimous consent, an anonymous source who participated in the call told Bloomberg. Politico confirmed the news, as well.> in other words, Republicans will not allow this https://t.co/8NVQH6jYzI> > — Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 23, 2020President Trump said Tuesday that he wans individuals to receive $2,000 direct payments rather than the $600 allocated in Congress' recently-passed $900 billion coronavirus relief bill or else he may veto the package when it gets to his desk later in the week.In response, Pelosi suggested House and Senate Democrats were ready to pass the increase quickly, but it appears the GOP isn't on board. Read more at Bloomberg.More stories from theweek.com What would actually happen if Trump tried the 'martial law' idea? 7 cartoons about America's COVID Christmas Our pandemic half-lives

  • Russia’s New Territory

    In November, Russia gained a slice of somebody else’s country. It did this not through unidentified troops moving across a border, nor through hybrid warfare. Instead, it negotiated its capture in full view of, and without a single question asked by, the United States or the rest of the world.Fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh preceded the annexation. The mountainous region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but since a 1994 ceasefire between the two nations has been controlled by ethnic Armenians. The conflict flared up again in September. Two months later came a peace deal, with Russia the winner: It mediated a ceasefire that placed the Kremlin’s ostensibly peacekeeping boots on the ground. America watched idly as this happened.As Armenia’s traditional protector, Russia held the only leverage to convince Armenia to sign this ceasefire. By signing, Yerevan gave up claims to the territories it had occupied within Azerbaijan since 1994 and gained nothing — bar a ceasefire rather than a forced surrender. In return for securing for its ally a marginally smaller humiliation, Moscow gained a present and a presence.In reality — unless America is prepared to engage fully in the peace process — Nagorno-Karabakh is now Russia’s indefinitely. The Kremlin ostensibly controls the territory for five years, with an automatic rollover for an additional five should none of the three parties to the ceasefire object six months before the end of the mandate.Russia certainly won’t. It is now gatekeeper to a region central to Europe’s energy diversification (reducing the role of Russian imports). If the region is strategically important to NATO, that makes it strategically important to the Kremlin.Armenia, for mistrust of Azerbaijan, will want the peacekeepers to stay. The short but brutal conflict has proven conclusively that Armenia cannot win militarily, and that therefore ethnic Armenians must accept either governance by Azerbaijan or the protectorate of Russia. Weak and broken, Yerevan finds it less of a humiliation to accept Russian tutelage in Nagorno-Karabakh, if only to deny an archenemy a complete victory. But this is a longer-term disaster for the Armenians. It means they are effectively trapped in a Russian embrace. They cannot turn west and cannot turn east — either diplomatically or for investment — because the Russians are now in charge.Though traditionally thought of by Moscow as “on the other side,” Azerbaijan — owing to lukewarm support from the United States and EU in recent years — has been steadily deepening diplomatic and economic relations with Russia, in part from necessity and a lack of serious alternatives. Yet now, with Russian military boots on Azerbaijani territory for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union, Moscow’s leverage has also become economic leverage: By militarily guaranteeing a transport corridor across Armenia — closed before the ceasefire — to Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhichevan, Russia now controls Azerbaijan’s long-sought-after, direct land route from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean and Europe.The West certainly could have seen this coming. This is how it always begins: A toehold soon morphs into a footprint. Crimea, Eastern Ukraine, South Ossetia, Abkhazia — the list of examples goes on. Russian presence becomes Russian control: the only logic of Putin’s neo-czarist ambitions.Indeed, now, only a matter of weeks after troop deployment, the Kremlin is maneuvering: Lines on maps have started to bend and flex. On the Russian Ministry of Defense website, a page shows a map outlining the area where Russian peacekeepers, by the terms of the agreement, are to be stationed and will have jurisdiction within which to operate. On December 13, miraculously, the land they control had expanded. This was changed back to the original on the next day, after Azerbaijani diplomatic pressure. But this activity demonstrates that Kremlin cartographers are getting creative — and very early in this intervention.Rumors now swell of Russian “passportization” in Nagorno-Karabakh. Manufacturing new demographic realities on the ground by granting citizenship has been used to maintain influence in the internal affairs in other post-Soviet nations. Once Russians occupy the area, the Russian state is obliged to step in.It is a classic of the Kremlin repertoire. It preceded the invasion of Crimea. It happened in two regions in Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, again before wars broke out, with Russia coming out as the chief beneficiary. Most recently, passportization has been aggressively deployed in eastern Ukraine, through a helpfully streamlined process. The Kremlin forecasts that there will be over one million Russian citizens bearing newly minted documents by the end of the year. In all of these situations, Russia’s grip is secure.Passportization would mean that a negotiated settlement on the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh — what was supposed to be some form of autonomy within Azerbaijan, as in Soviet days — will never materialize. It will instead turn into a Russian-passport protectorate, giving Russia the pretext — or in Moscow’s lexicon, the legal right — to jump into the region were any imagined threat to its “citizens” to emerge.Considering the U.S.-led assistance now poured into Ukraine in the wake of Russian destabilization, it is surprising that more precautionary measures are not being taken in the South Caucasus.Yet time remains for America to step in: The ceasefire shall give way to negotiations for a final peace deal, with much left to decide. The U.S. must fully and comprehensively oppose passportization. American companies should invest in infrastructure and energy projects in the region so as to limit Russia’s room for maneuver. And U.S.-led joint investment initiatives between Armenia and Azerbaijan would help to cut the dependence of both on Russia.It’s time for America to step up diplomatic and economic efforts and reinsert itself in this process. Otherwise, Russia’s empire will continue to expand unchecked.

  • Iran acts to buy, test vaccines as virus deaths dip to 3-month low

    Iran has reached an initial agreement to buy coronavirus vaccines from overseas and plans to test a domestically produced shot soon, state media reported on Thursday, as the daily number of deaths fell to a three-month low. Central Bank chief Abdolnaser Hemmati said Iran had reached a preliminary deal to transfer money for vaccines and would pay around $244 million for initial imports of vaccines. Hemmati gave no more details.

  • Kushner pardon revives 'loathsome' tale of tax evasion, sex

    Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called it “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he ever prosecuted as U.S. attorney. After Charles Kushner discovered his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities, the wealthy real estate executive and father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared, hatched a scheme for revenge and intimidation. Kushner hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law, then arranged to have the encounter in a New Jersey motel room recorded with a hidden camera and the recording sent to his own sister, the man’s wife.

  • US companies no longer have to pay sick leave to people with Covid after Mitch McConnell reportedly blocks extension

    ‘This crisis has made it clearer than ever why paid leave for every worker is so important to families,’ says senator Patty Murray

  • No, China Did Not 'Expel' a US Warship from its Territory, Navy Says

    China called the McCain's movements "a serious violation" of its sovereignty and security.

  • Iowa care home accused of performing 'bizarre and dangerous experiments' on disabled residents

    A care home in Iowa for people with intellectual disabilities subjected residents to "bizarre experiments" and used them as "human guinea pigs," according to a US justice department investigation. The inquiry into the Glenwood Resource Center began last year following reports of an increased number of deaths. Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband said: "Individuals with disabilities are not human guinea pigs, and like all persons, they should never be subject to bizarre and deviant pseudo-medical 'experiments' that injure them. "Human experimentation is the hallmark of sick totalitarian states and has no place in the United States of America.” The justice department concluded that experiments were conducted on residents without their consent. One experiment involved reportedly overhydrating residents and caused physical harm. It said others involved psychological research on impulsivity. Investigators found there had also been apparent plans by the former superintendent of the facility to conduct sexual arousal experiments using a computer containing images of nude and clothed children. The justice department said it did not find evidence the images were ever shown to residents. The former superintendent was fired last year about a month after the investigation began. Investigators also concluded that Glenwood's alleged use of restraints violated residents' rights. The justice department report identified broad failings, including by the Iowa department of human services. It said: "Iowa has been deliberately indifferent to those breakdowns and the risks they pose. "Glenwood frequently leaves residents at serious risk of harm or death by ignoring changes in condition outright, or by adopting a clinically unjustified 'wait and see' approach.” The investigation concluded there was reasonable cause to believe the conditions at Glenwood violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution. It said that a teenage resident had been restrained 293 times over the course of less than two years. Kim Reynolds, the Iowa governor, said: "What happened at the Glenwood Resource Center was unconscionable and unacceptable."

  • Ireland breathes sigh of relief as 'least bad' Brexit deal clinched

    Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin expressed relief on Thursday after neighbouring Britain agreed a last-minute trade deal with the European Union which he said was the "least bad version of Brexit possible". Ireland, the EU member state most exposed to the fall-out from Britain's departure, was an important player during four rocky years of exit negotiations in which it sought to shelter its highly exposed agricultural sector and avoid a hard border infrastructure with the British region of Northern Ireland.

  • Biden suggests GOP senators speaking out against alleged Russian hack is a sign of bipartisan future

    President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday had some harsh words for President Trump's response to the alleged Russian cyberattack on U.S. federal agencies and companies. He accused the Trump administration of failing to prioritize cybersecurity and letting their guard down in the first place, but also expressed frustration with Trump for downplaying the seriousness of the hack and failing to officially identify a perpetrator, whom the intelligence community widely suspects is the Kremlin. Biden's ire toward the White House did not extend to the Capitol, however.Biden said he was pleased to see lawmakers from both parties speak out "loudly and clearly" against the security breach. "I want to thank prominent Republicans in the Senate particularly for speaking out," he said. "It's a sign. A sign that with a new administration we can confront these threats on a bipartisan basis with a united front here at home. That should be encouraging to the American people and a warning to our adversaries."> Biden on massive hack of US government computer systems: "The truth is this: The Trump administration failed to prioritize cybersecurity ... This assault happened on Donald Trump's watch, when he wasn't watching." pic.twitter.com/lSD6XgpWfR> > — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 22, 2020As Biden showed throughout his presidential campaign, his desire to reach across the aisle and work with Republicans on key issues is a priority, so it's no surprise to hear him single out GOP senators in this instance.More stories from theweek.com What would actually happen if Trump tried the 'martial law' idea? 7 cartoons about America's COVID Christmas Our pandemic half-lives

  • Court orders release of man charged in Daniel Pearl killing

    A provincial court in Pakistan on Thursday ordered the release of a British-born Pakistani man charged in the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl. The Sindh High Court’s release order overturns government detention orders that Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the key suspect in Pearl’s slaying, should remain in custody. Sheikh was acquitted earlier this year of murdering Pearl, but has been held while Pearl's family appeals the acquittal.

  • Should You Be Living in a Hotel?

    7 extended-stay accommodations that transform work-from-home into work-from-anywhereOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • Saddam's deadly legacy: 40 years after war with Iran, border area is still littered with landmines

    At first glance, the Mawat district of north-east Iraq is a rustic idyll, a belt of rolling hills lined with olive and fruit groves. But on closer inspection - as many visitors have learned the hard way - it is full of hidden dangers. What looks like a Middle Eastern Tuscany was once on the frontline of Iraq's eight-year war with Iran, where Saddam Hussein's army planted vast quantities of land mines. Lurking in its gulleys and orchards are countless Russian and Italian anti-personnel devices - all still lethal. Today, despite nearly 30 years of mine clearance work, more than half remain - a glaring reminder of the scale of the so-called "legacy mine" threat in former warzones. "We get a lot of requests from mayors and villagers around here to clear the area," says Jabar Fatih Mahmoud, 49, an Iraqi employee of the Mines Advisory Group, the British charity, as he showed The Telegraph around a minefield listed on his clearance map as 'Kalka Shenka 2C'. "But this region is also popular with picnickers, and not everyone knows the mines are here." The minefields in Mawat and the surrounding governorate of Sulaymaniyah are a grim example of how such weapons are used not just for military purposes, but to actively punish civilian populations.

  • Saumitra Khan: India MP threatens to divorce wife who switched party

    Indian MP Saumitra Khan sent a divorce notice to wife Sujata Mondal Khan after she joined a rival party.

  • Biden says Trump needs to publicly name who is responsible for the Solar Winds cyberattack

    In remarks delivered on Tuesday in Wilmington, Del., President-elect Joe Biden said President Trump needs to publicly name who is responsible for the Solar Winds cyberattack. Biden said it happened on “Trump’s watch when he wasn’t watching.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General William Barr have stated publicly that Russia appears to have been behind the attack.

  • Senators prepare to override Trump's potential stimulus veto as Democrats push additional payments

    The Senate is getting ready to override President Trump's vetoes two times as he's on his way out the door.After Congress passed a massive government spending package that included a range of COVID-19 relief proposals, Trump declared his opposition to the stimulus, threatening to veto it if it's not amended to include $2,000 checks. But because that and another bill he's looking to veto have overwhelming support, Trump is setting himself up for double failure before he leaves the White House.Trump aired his grievances with the stimulus package in a video posted on Twitter Tuesday night, calling the bill a "disgrace" and its $600 stimulus checks "ridiculously low." Trump didn't acknowledge that the $600 check proposal came from his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) quickly agreed that Congress should distribute bigger checks, and other Democrats echoed her view. Still, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Trump should sign the government funding bill first.Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) mentioned Wednesday that senators have already been told they may have to return to session to override Trump's veto. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wasn't a fan of the spending package, possibly complicating a unanimous override vote.Also likely to get overridden is Trump's potential veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which allocates $741 billion to the Pentagon. Trump pledged to oppose the bill because it mandates renaming military bases named for Confederate leaders. Again, both the Senate and House passed the bill with more than two-thirds support, nullifying Trump's potential veto; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has already set up the process for overriding it.More stories from theweek.com What would actually happen if Trump tried the 'martial law' idea? 7 cartoons about America's COVID Christmas Our pandemic half-lives

  • China to suspend UK flights indefinitely -foreign ministry

    BEIJING (Reuters) -China will suspend direct flights to and from Britain indefinitely over fears of a new strain of the coronavirus, Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday. "After much consideration, China has decided to take reference from other countries and suspend flights to and from UK," Wang told reporters at a daily briefing. "China will closely monitor relevant developments and dynamically adjust control measures depending on the situation," Wang said.

  • Christmas in Florida: Chilly forecast, falling iguanas

    With unexpectedly cold weather in the forecast and pandemic-related curfews in some places, Florida is about to have a Christmas unlike any other in recent memory, and it may involve falling iguanas. The National Weather Service earlier this week warned that South Florida could experience the coldest Christmas Day in 21 years. Morning lows on Saturday could drop into the low 30s and 40s degrees Fahrenheit, the weather service said.

  • Dog crushed to death by owner during confrontation with mugger

    A dog was crushed to death by its owner after she was knocked over during a confrontation with a mugger in an “unprovoked and unacceptable” attack. Norfolk Terrier, Rufus was crushed while the woman tried to pull the thief off her husband. The man, 56 and his 36 year old wife were walking their two dogs in Westminster, central London, when they were approached by a man pushing a bike along the footpath. The man, who wore a face covering and gloves, stopped the pair before pulling the watch off the man's arm, causing scratches to his forearm. The pair began to struggle and it was at this point that the wife tried to pull the mugger away during the attack at 4.15pm in Spanish Place on August 4.