Ben Domenech on challenges to Electoral College, media coverage of presidential election

At least 13 GOP senators to contest Biden’s Electoral College victory; The Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech reacts on ‘Fox & Friends.’

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  • Meet the 1st Black woman to lead a White House press briefing

    The first time a Black woman served as the main voice of the presidency came in 1991, when Judy Smith stepped behind the podium as a deputy press secretary for President George H.W. Bush.

  • Trump’s phone call with Georgia elections chief is impeachable by Democrats’ standards

    Analysis: Outgoing president’s phone call shows he did not learn single lesson from impeachment, writes US political correspondent Griffin Connolly

  • South Korean-flagged tanker seized by Iran

    A South Korean-flagged tanker has been seized by Iran, Iranian media said on Monday. Iranian media said the vessel had been seized by the country's elite Revolutionary Guards navy "for polluting the Gulf with chemicals". The crew of the South Korean-flagged vessel has been detained in the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, the semi-official news agency Tasnim, also reported on Monday. The crew members are from South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar, Tasnim said, without specifying the number of detained crew members or where they were being held. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) naval authority earlier said on its website that an "interaction" between Iranian authorities and a merchant vessel in the Strait of Hormuz led the ship to alter its course and proceed into Iranian waters.

  • Indigenous Venezuelan man accused of raiding military post dies in jail -rights group

    Salvador Franco died just weeks after family members and activists reported he was suffering from health problems. A court in November had ordered his transfer to a medical facility, but authorities did not comply, according to Penal Forum attorney Olnar Ortiz. Critics of President Nicolas Maduro's government call him a dictator who has systematically jailed opponents and denied them rights to due process.

  • Fire strikes fuel warehouse on Syria-Lebanon border, 7 hurt

    A massive fire broke out Sunday in a warehouse where fuel and gas canisters were stored along the border between Lebanon and Syria, injuring seven people and causing loud explosions, the Lebanese Red Cross and army said. The Lebanese army said the explosions occurred away from one of its checkpoints and that none of its members were injured. Smuggling of fuel and diesel is rampant between Lebanon and Syria — many suspect the warehouse was used to store contraband, and Lebanon's LBC TV said the warehouse was used by smugglers.

  • Trump's official schedule says he will 'make many calls and have many meetings' Monday

    With just over two weeks left in President Trump's presidency, the White House is still putting out his daily schedule, but the schedules keep "sounding weirder and weirder," CNN's Kevin Liptak observed Sunday night. He was specifically pointing to the guidance for how Trump will spend Monday, before he heads to Georgia to campaign for the Republican incumbents in twin Senate special elections on Tuesday. "President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening," the White House said late Sunday. "He will make many calls and have many meetings."> This is a new addition to the President's daily schedule> > "President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings. " pic.twitter.com/mv2XihwKIN> > -- Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 4, 2021There's a clear didn't-read-the-book-report vibe to Trump's official schedule, but we also know, thanks to Georgia's secretary of state and Trump's Twitter feed, that what Trump is working on and calling people about these days is his doomed effort to overturn his loss in the Nov. 3 election. The man who defeated him, President-elect Joe Biden, is also traveling to Georgia to campaign, his office said Sunday. Biden may have meetings and phone calls planned for Monday as well, but that didn't make his schedule. > Here's Biden's schedule guidance for tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/ldJ7SJznyP> > -- Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 4, 2021More stories from theweek.com Hawley and Cruz: How to lie without quite lying Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park Trump's loaded request that Georgia 'find' him enough votes to win could have legal repercussions

  • Pittsburgh police investigate 2 explosions less than 2 hours apart

    No injuries were reported, but a parked vehicle was damaged, Pittsburgh police said.

  • Germany poised to extend coronavirus lockdown

    Germany is likely to extend a national lockdown beyond Jan. 10 to curb coronavirus infection rates that are still running high and putting huge strains on hospitals and health workers, politicians said at the weekend. Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders are expected to agree to extend the restrictions when they convene on Tuesday. "The numbers are still too high, so we will have to prolong the restrictions," Health Minister Jens Spahn told RTL television in an interview on Saturday evening.

  • Tibetans in exile vote in India for their political leader

    Hundreds of Tibetans in exile braved the rain and cold Sunday in India’s northern city of Dharmsala, where the exiled government is based, and voted for their new political leader as the current officeholder’s five-year term nears its end. Many young Tibetans are contesting the parliamentary election this year.

  • Paul Ryan, Dick Cheney, 9 ex-defense secretaries slam 'anti-conservative' GOP effort to overturn Biden's win

    "As the new Congress was sworn in Sunday, the Republican Party splintered badly as at least 12 senators planned to join about 140 House members to contest Joe Biden's election win," Politico reports. "The tensions are so high that individual GOP senators are now directly battling" in "open warfare against each other." While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is asking his caucus to accept President Trump's loss, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is reportedly giving his GOP colleagues the green light to object to the Electoral College results on Wednesday.McCarthy's predecessor, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), urged Republicans to knock it off in a rare public statement Sunday. "Efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden's victory strike at the foundation of our republic," Ryan said. "It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act," and "the fact that this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy." Trump has "had ample opportunity to challenge election results, and those efforts failed from lack of evidence," he added. "Joe Biden's victory is entirely legitimate."Also on Sunday evening, all 10 living former defense secretaries signed an op-ed in The Washington Post affirming Biden's victory and warning that the military should not be dragged into Trump's effort to contest his loss. The signatories include James Mattis and Mark Esper, who served under Trump, as well as conservative stalwarts like Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Cheney, who was also vice president for eight years, came up with the idea for the joint statement, said William Perry, former President Bill Clinton's defense secretary."American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy," the defense secretaries said. "Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the Electoral College votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived."Chuck Hagel, a Republican who served as defense secretary under President Barack Obama, told the Post he considered whether warning about military intervention was an overreaction, but decided it was better to nip the idea, raised by some close Trump allies, in the bud.More stories from theweek.com Trump's official schedule says he will 'make many calls and have many meetings' Monday Hawley and Cruz: How to lie without quite lying Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park

  • Texas pastor killed, others injured in church shooting; suspect arrested

    The 62-year-old pastor reportedly confronted Mytrez Deunte Woolen with a gun, but he was overpowered. A pastor was killed and two parishioners were injured in a church shooting in East Texas on Sunday. Authorities had been searching for 21-year-old Mytrez Deunte Woolen on Saturday, using dogs and drones, when the pastor of Starrville Methodist Church in Winona reportedly discovered him hiding in a church bathroom Sunday.

  • Yemeni boy, ravaged by hunger, weighs 7 kg

    SANAA (Reuters) -Paralysed and severely malnourished, seven-year-old Faid Samim lies curled up on a hospital bed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, having barely survived the journey there. Famine has never been officially declared in Yemen, where a six-year war has left 80% of the population reliant on aid in what the U.N. says is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

  • South African Covid variant could be resistant to vaccine, expert warns

    The coronavirus variant circulating in South Africa could be resistant to the vaccine, a leading expert has suggested but stressed that it could take just six weeks to develop a new jab if one was needed. Sir John Bell, regius professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, said his "gut feeling" was that the vaccines already on stream would be effective against the new UK strain, which was first identified in Kent. But he added: "I don't know about the South African strain – I think that's a big question mark." South Africa was put into lockdown last week after President Cyril Ramaphosa said the new variant, 501.V2, appeared to be "more contagious" than the virus that circulated in the first wave. Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said on December 23 that two cases of the South African strain had been identified in the UK. The cases and their contacts were quarantined, and the Government placed strict restrictions on travel from South Africa. Speaking on Jan 4, he said he was "incredibly worried" about the South African variant of coronavirus. "This is a very, very significant problem," he said.

  • Zimbabwe returns to restrictions amid rise in virus cases

    In response to rising COVID-19 numbers, Zimbabwe has reintroduced a night curfew, banned public gatherings, and indefinitely suspended the opening of schools. “We are being overwhelmed and overrun,” Information Minister Nick Mangwana warned, saying the country's hospitals are rapidly reaching capacity with COVID-19 patients. Zimbabwe recorded 1,342 cases and 29 deaths in the past week, “the highest number recorded so far,” Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said, announcing the strict measures.

  • Why Trump may have Lindsey Graham to blame for Raffensperger call recording

    Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his advisers were prepared for President Trump to press him on overturning the state's presidential election results during a Saturday phone call, so they decided to record the conversation, which they eventually leaked after Trump mischaracterized the exchange. But the decision was also inspired by a previous phone call Raffensperger had with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in November, Politico reports.Raffensperger accused Graham of asking him whether he had the power to toss out all mail ballots in Georgia counties found to have higher rates of non-matching signatures, a claim the senator denied. Either way, the call apparently prompted Raffensperger to remain on high alert if he found himself in similar situations. "Lindsey Graham asked us to throw out legally cast ballots," one of Raffensperger's advisers told Politico. "So yeah, after that call, we decided maybe we should do this."As it turns out, Graham's attempt to help Trump win the election wound up backfiring on the president down the line. Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com Trump's official schedule says he will 'make many calls and have many meetings' Monday Hawley and Cruz: How to lie without quite lying Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park

  • Coronavirus: India approves vaccines from Bharat Biotech and Oxford/AstraZeneca

    It aims to inoculate some 300m people this year in one of the world's largest vaccination campaigns.

  • Scotland to enter another effective national lockdown - The Times

    Scottish government leader Nicola Sturgeon said earlier her cabinet would meet on Monday to discuss possible further steps to limit the spread of the virus, and ordered Scotland's parliament to be recalled. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday tougher lockdown restrictions were probably on the way as COVID-19 cases keep rising. Johnson sets policy for England, with rules in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales set by their devolved authorities.

  • Plane hits Michigan house, businessman and family die

    A small plane flying from Georgia crashed into a house in southeastern Michigan, killing the pilot and two family members.

  • Kentucky officers in Breonna Taylor face termination hearing

    A Kentucky police officer who shot Breonna Taylor and the detective who sought the warrant on Monday were scheduled to face a termination hearing after being notified that they would be fired. Joshua Jaynes received notice last week from Louisville Police interim Chief Yvette Gentry that she intends to dismiss them from the department. Taylor, a Black woman, was killed March 13 by police executing a narcotics search warrant.

  • Georgia run-offs: Democratic odd couple carry Joe Biden's hopes of Senate control on their shoulders

    The sky was pure blue and the trees heavy with Spanish moss on Sunday lunchtime when Jon Ossoff took the microphone in a park on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia. “Y’all, Tuesday is it,” said the 33-year-old Democratic candidate for the US Senate, tie-less in a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up. “Tuesday is everything.” Around 200 supporters had turned out, above expectations. Some muttered “yes sir” and “preach it” as Mr Ossoff’s stump speech outlined what was on the line. “The whole country is watching us right now,” he said. “The whole country is watching Georgia to see what kind of a statement we’re going to make about the values that we stand for, about what's in our hearts as a state and as a people.” He was not wrong. Across the rest of America, the US election - which happened two months ago - is already fading into the past along with the rest of 2020. But not in Georgia. Thanks to the quirks of the state’s electoral system, the occupants of its two US Senate seats will be decided on Tuesday after ‘run-offs’ were ordered when no candidate got more than 50 per cent of the vote in November. Hanging in the balance is not just state power, however, but control of the Senate. Currently the Republicans hold 50 seats and the Democrats 48 with these two races outstanding. Win both and the Democrats pull equal, with Kamala Harris, the incoming US vice president, casting the deciding vote - allowing them to control proceedings. Lose just one and the Republicans keep their majority and ability to veto measures. US president-elect Joe Biden’s legislative agenda is on the line.