The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series chronicling the eschaton and the collapse of the Republic.
251,704 PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM CORONAVIRUS IN THE U.S.
The Washington Post
Trump uses power of presidency to try to overturn the election and stay in office
Trump is using the power of his office to try to reverse the results of the election, orchestrating a far-reaching pressure campaign to persuade Republican officials in Michigan, Georgia and elsewhere to overturn the will of voters in what critics decried Thursday as an unprecedented subversion of democracy.
After courts rejected the Trump campaign’s baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud, the president is now trying to remain in power with a wholesale assault on the integrity of the vote by spreading misinformation and trying to persuade loyal Republicans to manipulate the electoral system on his behalf.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said he would not extend most of the emergency lending programs run in tandem with the Federal Reserve, a move the central bank immediately criticized, citing the fragile recovery.
The Fed’s exceedingly rare public response reflected a government divided on how to act as the pandemic surges across the nation, threatening a new wave of shutdowns and marking an inflection point of the economic recovery. […]
Democrats swiftly criticized Mnuchin’s decision as a politically motivated attempt to hurt the economy Biden is set to inherit. They expressed concern that Senate Republicans could push for the funding to be repurposed in the next stimulus package, decreasing the overall amount Congress approves in economic relief.
“Secretary Mnuchin is removing critical support from a weak economy against the Federal Reserve’s wishes. This is economic sabotage,” Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement. “Secretary Mnuchin is salting the earth in an attempt to inflict political pain on President-elect Biden.”
The Detroit News
Trump supporters push to overturn Michigan's election
The top Republicans in Michigan's [Republican]-controlled Legislature are expected to visit the White House on Friday as supporters of President Donald Trump take new steps to undermine Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the state. […]
Trump is bringing the two legislative leaders to Washington to pressure them to appoint pro-Trump electors in a bid to circumvent the state's popular vote in which Biden won 51-48% or by 154,000 votes, said U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell, R-Dryden.
"For them to do anything other than to respect the popular vote is a violation of their oath of office," Mitchell said. "They took an oath like I took an oath to the Constitution, but in their case to the state Constitution, and the laws of the state don’t say you get to appoint anyone you want."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia manual recount confirms Biden victory
A manual recount of 5 million ballots cast in Georgia showed Thursday that Joe Biden won the presidential election, validating initial results.
The recount found that Biden received 12,284 more votes than … Donald Trump. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger plans to certify the election by Friday, a deadline set by state law to finalize results.
The hand recount, which also functioned as an audit of the election, mostly aligned with initial machine counts. It also uncovered almost 6,000 ballots in four counties that had been overlooked in the initial tally, resulting in Trump closing his deficit to Biden by 1,400 votes.
Senate runoffs in Georgia are proving ground for possible 2024 contenders
With the U.S. Senate on the line, Georgia’s double-header runoffs are fast becoming a proving ground for Republicans seen as potential 2024 presidential candidates.
Even as votes are still being counted in Georgia, U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida both stumped at “Save Our Majority” rallies in metro Atlanta. And Thursday, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas hosted a rally for incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in middle Georgia.
“We all wish these elections had been won on Nov. 3, but sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways,” Cotton told a crowd of more than 100 Republicans at the Georgia National Fairgrounds.
Slate
Lindsey Graham’s Alleged Attempt to Toss Georgia Ballots Is Felony Election Fraud
Since narrowly losing Georgia to Joe Biden, … Donald Trump has promoted baseless claims of voter fraud in a desperate effort to overturn the results of the election. So far, however, the only individual credibly accused of a fraudulent effort to steal the election is South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. On Monday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger—who, like Graham, is a Republican—told the Washington Post that Graham asked him if he could throw out all mail ballots from counties with a high rate of signature mismatch. Raffensperger later clarified that he believed Graham wanted his office to throw out valid, legally cast ballots. The senator has contested this account.
Graham’s alleged request is unseemly and corrupt. But is it criminal? In short, yes, according to multiple Georgia election law experts. If Raffensperger’s account is true, there is virtually no doubt that Graham committed a crime under Georgia law. The more difficult question is whether Graham will suffer any consequences for his alleged offense. Because he is a Republican and a sitting U.S. senator, Graham likely won’t face an investigation, let alone prosecution, for conduct that would get almost anyone else arrested. It might be tempting to dismiss Graham’s alleged interference as unscrupulous strategizing blown out of proportion. But Georgia has a sordid history of prosecuting putative voter fraud involving far more innocent conduct. Graham does not deserve a pass simply because he is a wealthy white senator.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Seeking to revise the case they laid out in court just a day earlier, … Donald Trump’s campaign lawyers asked a federal judge in a new filing Wednesday to consider a drastic new solution in their challenge to Pennsylvania’s election results: Declare the statewide vote “defective” and empower the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to appoint the state’s delegates to the Electoral College.
That remedy — laid out in a revised complaint submitted by Trump’s legal team — has only limited basis in the law and would effectively disregard the votes cast by 6.8 million Pennsylvanians.
It also seemed to run contrary to inclinations expressed by U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann during the Tuesday court hearing. Faced, then, with a Trump request to temporarily block the state from certifying its results, Brann balked.
“You’re asking this court to invalidate … votes, thereby disenfranchising every single voter in the commonwealth,” he said. “Can you tell me how this result could possibly be justified?”
Pennsylvanians were deeply divided this election. And it wasn’t just whom they voted for — it was in how they cast their votes.
Most votes for president-elect Joe Biden were cast by mail in Pennsylvania.
Most votes for … Donald Trump were cast in person on Election Day.
It’s a sharp partisan divide that first emerged in the primary and was laterfueled by months of false claims and predictionsof fraud from President Donald Trump. And while Trump’s tenure and the pandemic seem likely to end within months, the divide over mail ballotsis likely to persist and affect campaigning for years to come.
BuzzFeed News
Arizona's Top Election Official Said She's Getting Violent Threats Due To Trump's Lies
A top election official in Arizona said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's continued efforts to undermine the election through baseless lies and conspiracies have contributed to "ongoing and escalating" threats of violence directed against herself, her family, and her staff.
"There are those, including the president, members of Congress and other elected officials, who are perpetuating misinformation and are encouraging others to distrust the election results in a manner that violates the oath of office they took," Katie Hobbs, Arizona's secretary of state, said in a statement. "It is well past time that they stop. Their words and actions have consequences." […]
But as the president continues spreading lies about the results in an attempt to undermine and delay Biden's win, Hobbs, a Democrat, said she and her staffers have continued to receive threats of violence.
"These actions are utterly abhorrent, especially when directed at my family and my staff," she said. "They are a symptom of a deeper problem in our state and country — the consistent and systematic undermining of trust in each other and our democratic process."
Arizona Republic
Ducey says he 'will accept the results' in presidential race — but only when lawsuits are over
Gov. Doug Ducey will accept the outcome of the presidential race only after all related lawsuits are resolved, he said during his first post-election appearance Wednesday.
"There are legal claims that are being challenged in court, and everybody on the ballot has certain access, rights and remedies," he said. "Once those are adjudicated and the process plays out, I will accept the results."
Ducey would not comment on the merits of the two legal challenges still pending in Arizona — one involving Maricopa County's audit process and another involving the Election Day experiences of just two voters — despite their unlikeliness to affect election results. A judge already dismissed another suit brought by the president's team last week because it would have no effect on the outcome.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Thursday dismissed an Arizona Republican Party lawsuit seeking a new audit of Maricopa County ballots and denied the [Republican Party’s] request to delay certification of election results.
The decision appears to leave just one election-related challenge — which will not affect the results of any races — pending in Arizona.
The Arizona Republican Party had filed its suit last week, alleging Maricopa County officials violated state law when they conducted a hand-count audit based on vote centers, open to any voter in the county, instead of assigned precincts.
Monmouth University
Public split on whether Trump has protected or undermined US Constitution
[…] “We agree on the problem – the country is deeply divided at its core. However, we don’t quite agree whether compromise or principle will get us out of this political quagmire,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. […]
Just under half (45%) of the American public believes Trump has done more to undermine the U.S. Constitution compared to past presidents. However, a very sizable 37% actually believes Trump has done more than his predecessors to protect the Constitution and another 15% believe he has been no different than other presidents when it comes to upholding the Constitution.
“This may be the most alarming finding in the poll. No one who truly appreciates our country’s founding document can see the last four years as a high-water mark for upholding Constitutional norms. This speaks to the success of Trump and his allies in completely reframing the terms of political engagement, a development that started long before the current administration,” said Murray.
CNN
New York authorities investigating millions in tax write-offs from the Trump Organization
New York authorities investigating the Trump Organization have expanded their inquiries to include tax write-offs involving millions of dollars in consulting fees, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Investigators with the Manhattan district attorney's office, which is conducting a broad criminal investigation, and the New York attorney general's office, which has a civil inquiry under way, have subpoenaed the Trump Organization seeking records relating to the consulting fees.
The subpoenas were in response to a New York Times investigation into President Donald Trump's tax returns that first disclosed that he took $26 million in write-offs that came from fees he paid to consultants, including an apparent $747,000 fee that the Times said matched a payment disclosed by Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump. […]
Ivanka Trump reacted to the Times' story Thursday evening, tweeting, "This is harassment pure and simple. This 'inquiry' by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there's nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless."
Trump team looks to box in Biden on foreign policy by lighting too many fires to put out
Donald Trump's order of a further withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq is the latest foreign policy move on a growing list in his final weeks in office that are meant to limit President-elect Joe Biden's options before he takes office in January.
The White House has directed newly installed acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller to focus his attention in the remaining weeks on cyber and irregular warfare, with a focus on China in particular, an administration official tells CNN. It is contemplating new terrorist designations in Yemen that could complicate efforts to broker peace. And it has rushed through authorization of a massive arms sale that could alter the balance of power in the Middle East.
The Trump team has prepared legally required transition memos describing policy challenges, but there are no discussions about actions they could take or pause. Instead, the White House is barreling ahead. A second official tells CNN their goal is to set so many fires that it will be hard for the Biden administration to put them all out.
Los Angeles Times
Trump is escalating his slapdash yet persistent attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory, pushing for judges and for Republican state lawmakers and local officials in several battleground states to ignore voters’ verdicts there and award him the electoral votes he needs for a second term.
He is all but certain to fail, experts and even some Republican officials say. States are in the process of certifying the results while Trump’s legal team so far has failed to advance his baseless case in state and federal courts. The clumsy effort nonetheless represents an extraordinary assault on American democracy, spearheaded by the president himself and with at least the tacit approval of his party.
A few Republicans in Congress have acknowledged that Biden won, and five Republican governors met with the president-elect Thursday. But party leaders — including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) — have not spoken out against Trump’s refusal to concede or, at a minimum, urged him to allow Biden to receive national security briefings and federal resources typically provided to allow a smooth transition — this one amid a deadly pandemic and economic crisis.
Five days after … Trump took office, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, assistant secretary of State for African affairs, was summarily fired — the start of what was to become a purge of senior State Department officials and career professionals over nearly four years.
Now Thomas-Greenfield is back, leading President-elect Joe Biden’s State Department transition team to restore the department’s devastated morale.
That is expected to include an ambitious campaign to rebuild the department’s ranks by recalling veteran officials like herself who were driven away and refilling many of the approximately 1,500 foreign service and civil servant jobs lost under Trump, as well as vacant ambassadorial positions.
Biden’s ability to fulfill his promise to restore “normalcy” in the U.S. government will rely heavily on whether he can revitalize key agencies, starting with State and including the Environment Protection Agency, Education Department and Labor Department.
Vox
10 enormously consequential things Biden can do without the Senate
President-elect Joe Biden looks like he will have to find a way to govern without a Democratic Senate to support him. […]
This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but the ideas below on 10 issue areas should give a taste of some of the options at his disposal and underscore an important point: that a Biden presidency without a Democratic Senate can still act aggressively to achieve his campaign promises.
Fight climate change
Forgive student debt
Expand immigration
Ease the ban on marijuana
Reverse Trump’s rollback of air pollution and lead pollution rules
Cut back on factory farming
Create a postal banking system
Crack down on Wall Street
Crack down on monopolies
Expand access to health care
Why Republican women candidates had such a strong year
A record-breaking number of women have — once again — been elected to Congress thanks, in part, to a new source: Republican women. […]
Republican wins this year stood out, especially after the number of GOP women in the House dipped dramatically in 2018. That year, the ranks of Republican women in the lower chamber went from 23 to 13, while Democrats’ grew from 64 to 89. (Republicans will have at least 27 in the new term.)
At the time, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said that Republicans had reached a “crisis level” of women in the House.
That “crisis” has since spurred more GOP groups — including Stefanik’s Elevate PAC — to boost women candidates, particularly at the primary level where there hasn’t historically been as much support. On the Democratic side, Emily’s List has been integral to backing candidates at the primary stage of the race, and Republican organizations are increasingly working to replicate that model.
NBC News
McConnell warns Republican senators to stay healthy or risk their lame-duck agenda
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent senators home Wednesday for Thanksgiving break one day early, in part because of the continued unchecked spread of Covid-19 among his members.
The decision came after Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, 87, tested positive Tuesday. His absence, along with Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s quarantine due to Covid-19 exposure, scuttled a vote on Judy Shelton’s controversial nomination to sit on the Federal Reserve Board.
The Republican Senate leader told members in a closed-door lunch Tuesday to “be careful” and make sure they take the necessary precautions against catching the virus, Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., said.
The Guardian
Biden condemns Trump as one of the 'most irresponsible presidents in American history'
President-elect Joe Biden has denounced Donald Trump as one of the “most irresponsible presidents in American history,” calling the incumbent president’s challenges against the results of the November election “incredibly damaging”.
Speaking after a call with state governors on Thursday, Biden said he was not concerned that Trump’s refusal to concede the election would prevent a transfer of power, but said it “sends a horrible message about who we are as a country.”
“What the president’s doing now … it’s going to be another incident where he will go down in history as being one of the most irresponsible presidents in American history,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington. “It’s just not within the norm at all, and there’s a question as to whether it’s even legal.”
Americans are “witnessing incredible irresponsibility, incredibly damaging messages being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions,” Biden said. “I don’t know his motive, but I just think it’s totally irresponsible.”
Putin warns Armenia backing out of Nagorno-Karabakh deal would be 'suicidal'
Vladimir Putin has said it would be “suicidal” for the Armenian government to back out of a Russian-brokered ceasefire in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, as opposition forces in Yerevan protest against the week-old truce and call for the resignation of the prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan.
In a Russian state television interview about the deal aired on Tuesday evening, Putin was asked about a new government potentially coming to power reneging on the deal. “That would be a huge mistake,” he said.
The deal, which gave Azerbaijan significant territorial concessions after launching a bloody six-week war, was seen as a capitulation in Armenia and sparked protests against Pashinyan’s government. The country’s president has demanded snap elections and his foreign minister resigned this week in a high-level departure tied to the controversial deal.
Reuters
Perdue traded in Navy contractor stock as he took over Senate armed services panel: filings
Republican Senator David Perdue, who is seeking reelection in one of two U.S. Senate races in Georgia, bought shares in a Navy contractor just before becoming chairman of a Senate armed services panel in 2019 and then sold the stock at a profit, Senate records show.
A wealthy businessman, Perdue instructed his financial advisers to stop trading individual stocks in May after questions were raised in media reports about whether he used information learned in a closed-door Senate coronavirus briefing to benefit his investment portfolio. […]
Perdue became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower in mid-January 2019, which plays a key role in determining spending on the Navy.
On brink of collapse, famed Puerto Rico space telescope to close down
The U.S. National Science Foundation on Thursday announced it will close down the massive space telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, ending 57 years of astronomical discoveries after suffering two destructive mishaps in recent months. […]
“NSF has concluded that this recent damage to the 305-meter telescope cannot be addressed without risking the lives and safety of work crews and staff,” Sean Jones, assistant director of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate at NSF, said on Thursday.
“NSF has decided to begin the process of planning for a controlled decommissioning of the 305-meter telescope,” Jones said.
NPR
Scientists Discover Outer Space Isn't Pitch-Black After All
Look up at the night sky and, if you're away from city lights, you'll see stars. The space between those bright points of light is, of course, filled with inky blackness. Some astronomers have wondered about that all that dark space — about how dark it really is.
"Is space truly black?" says Tod Lauer, an astronomer with the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Arizona. He says if you could look at the night sky without stars, galaxies and everything else known to give off visible light, "does the universe itself put out a glow?"
It's a tough question that astronomers have tried to answer for decades. Now, Lauer and other researchers with NASA's New Horizons space mission say they've finally been able to do it, using a spacecraft that's traveling far beyond the dwarf planet Pluto. The group has posted its work online, and it will soon appear in The Astrophysical Journal.
Climate Activists Want Biden To Bar Appointees With Fossil Fuel Ties
Climate activists have set a high bar for President-elect Joe Biden's staff picks, asking that he exclude anyone with ties to fossil fuel industries. They've already been disappointed.
Biden faced backlash this week after naming Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond to lead the Office of Public Engagement.
Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, said it "feels like a betrayal" because Richmond "has taken more donations from the fossil fuel industry during his Congressional career than nearly any other Democrat."
The oil and gas industry has been among Richmond's top campaign contributors over his career in Congress, according to Center for Responsive Politics.
Deutsche Welle
EU leaders clash over Hungary and Poland budget veto
European Union leaders argued at a summit Thursday over Poland and Hungary's attempts to block the passage of the EU budget and coronavirus rescue package.
The two holdouts reaffirmed their position at the video conference. Leaders agreed to park the dispute and hand it over to experts to find a way forward.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said the block means "we have to continue talking with Hungary and Poland."
"There is consensus on the EU budget, but not on the rule of law mechanism," she told journalists. The chancellor also said that she did not want to speculate as to how the issue with Budapest and Warsaw would be resolved.
FIFA plans maternity leave for women soccer players
Football's world governing body FIFA announced new rules on Thursday that will allow women coaches and players to seek maternity leave of at least 14 weeks.
"We want to see more women play football but in the same time have a family," said Sarai Bareman, FIFA's chief women's soccer officer.
Under the proposals, clubs cannot lay off a player after they become pregnant. If they do, the club could face financial as well as "sporting" punishments.
"The idea is to protect female players before, during and after child birth," said Emilio Garcia, FIFA's chief legal and compliance officer.
SpyTalk
FBI Fears Wray’s Replacement May be Border Patrol Boss
A former supervisory FBI agent says the bureau’s senior leaders are “beyond fearful” at the possibility that President Trump will replace Director Christopher Wray with Customs and Border Patrol boss Mark A. Morgan, who came under intense criticism last July when he deployed camouflaged agents in combat gear to quell protests in Portland, Oregon.
Trump has been itching to replace Wray for an accumulation of perceived sins over the past four years, from his testimony that Russia played a covert role in the 2016 elections to, most recently, the FBI’s refusal to launch a formal investigation into shaky claims by his Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani that President-elect Joseph Biden’s son Hunter was involved in criminal business. The FBI is now investigating whether the purported Hunter Biden emails Giuliani obtained were part of a Russian covert influence operation, NBC News reported last weekend.
The Oregonian
20 die in record one-day coronavirus death toll for Oregon; new cases come in at highest ever: 1,225
In a two-week span that has left numerous coronavirus records shattered, several more fell Thursday as the Oregon Health Authority reported its highest daily case count, its largest number of reported deaths and the average number of daily cases neared 1,000 for the first time since the pandemic began.
The agency announced 1,225 new suspected or confirmed cases of the disease and 20 new deaths. The death toll in the state passed 800 with Thursday’s news, less than three weeks after eclipsing the 700 mark.
Houston Chronicle
Gov. Abbott pledges no more lockdowns, touts new COVID treatment in Lubbock
Gov. Greg Abbott traveled to Lubbock on Thursday to tout a newly approved coronavirus treatment, without saying how many doses are available or announcing any new restrictions to slow the virus’ spread as infections continue to surge. […]
The governor insisted that the state will not be locking down again, a measure used this spring to slow the initial wave of infections, and claimed that local officials have all the tools they need to slow local outbreaks, including a mask mandate and mandatory occupancy reductions for regions where the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients exceeds 15 percent of capacity for seven straight days. […]
On Tuesday, a group of nurses, doctors and other medical professionals in Lubbock drafted a petition to Abbott pleading for stricter health requirements, including temporarily prohibiting after-school activities for children and limiting group sizes at restaurants and bars.
Iowa Capital Dispatch
Tyson managers bet money on how many workers would contract COVID-19
A wrongful death lawsuit tied to COVID-19 infections in a Waterloo pork processing plant alleges that during the initial stages of the pandemic, Tyson Foods ordered employees to report for work while supervisors privately wagered money on the number of workers who would be sickened by the deadly virus.
Earlier this year, the family of the late Isidro Fernandez sued the meatpacking company, alleging Fernandez was exposed to the coronavirus at the Waterloo plant where he worked. The lawsuit alleges Tyson Foods is guilty of a “willful and wanton disregard for workplace safety.”
The Kansas City Star
Gov. Parson reiterates opposition to statewide mask mandate in Missouri as cases soar
A letter from the Missouri Hospital Association pleading for a state mask mandate was “not surprising,” Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday, as he repeated his opposition to statewide orders to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“If you look at it from a medical perspective, they have a different view than what I do as governor of the state of Missouri,” Parson said during his weekly briefing on COVID-19 issues.
Parson said new guidance would be issued later in the day to support local decisions to limit activity or require face coverings. But he emphasized that people must accept and adhere to recommended steps or the coronavirus will continue to spread.
The Denver Post
Mesa County runs out of ICU beds as COVID-19 hospitalizations surge in Colorado
Mesa County has no beds available in hospital intensive-care units because medical facilities in the region are filling with patients amid surging coronavirus hospitalizations across Colorado, local public health officials announced Thursday.
Officials with Mesa County Public Health said local hospitals also are approaching capacity in terms of both overall beds and staffing, because of widespread community transmission of COVID-19. The county’s hospitals ran out of ICU beds on Wednesday, according to a news release.
“We have hospital beds available, and we have surge plans in place that will allow us to grow capacity and ensure safe, quality care to as many patients as need us,” said Bryan Johnson, president of St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction, in a statement.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin reports 83 deaths from coronavirus Thursday as death toll hurtles toward 3,000
Wisconsin reported 83 deaths from the coronavirus Thursday in yet another poor day of numbers for the state with one of the worst outbreaks in the country.
The state Department of Health Services on Thursday reported 6,635 new cases and a record-high seven-day average of 6,563.
The death toll rose to 2,876, quickly closing in on the grim marker of 3,000 deaths. Just a week ago, the death toll crossed 2,500.
Thursday's toll is just under the all-time high of 92 deaths reported Tuesday.
In suspicions raised about validity of Milwaukee's vote, leaders see harmful racial undertones
City leaders slammed the decision by … Donald Trump to seek a recount focused heavily on Milwaukee County, accusing Trump of racism and trying to disenfranchise voters here — especially Black voters.
Rather than seeking a recount of the entire state in his longshot bid to reverse the Nov. 3 election results, Trump's campaign said it would focus only on Dane and Milwaukee counties. The two counties — the state's largest — are Democratic strongholds, with Milwaukee home to the state's largest percentage of Black and Latino voters.
"No surprise, Donald Trump has been consistent. He'll go after communities of color, and he'll go after communities where there are lots of Democrats," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said in a Wednesday interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "And he doesn't care.
C|NET
Facebook antitrust probes will target acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram, report says
A group of state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, is on track to file antitrust charges against Facebook in early December, according to a report Thursday from the Washington Post. The move comes as the US Federal Trade Commission is also reportedly finalizing its antitrust probe into the social media giant.
State and federal investigators plan to bring antitrust charges against Facebook over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging that the deals "helped create an anti-competitive social networking juggernaut," according to the Post. Investigators may also reportedly argue that Facebook weaponized its vast trove of user data to help quash rivals.
More than 40 attorneys general have joined the probe into Facebook. The investigation, which was announced in September, focuses on Facebook's dominance and potential anticompetitive conduct stemming from that position.
AP News
Germany marks 75th anniversary of landmark Nuremberg trials
Seventy-five years ago, the dock of Courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice was packed with some of the most nefarious figures of the 20th Century: Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop and 18 other high-ranking Nazis.
They weren’t yet known as war criminals — it was a charge that didn’t exist until the Nuremberg trials began on Nov. 20, 1945, in what is now seen as the birthplace of a new era of international law.
The proceedings broke new ground in holding government leaders individually responsible for their aggression and slaughter of millions of innocents. In addition to establishing the offense of war crimes, it also produced the charges of crimes against peace, waging a war of aggression, and crimes against humanity, whose legacies live on in the International Criminal Court of today.
South Korea leaders urges public to stay at home
South Korea’s prime minister has urged the public to avoid social gatherings and stay at home as much as possible as the country’s coronavirus tally hovered above 300 for a third consecutive day.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Friday the 363 cases additionally reported in the past 24 hours took the country’s total to 30,017 with 501 deaths. […]
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Friday the ongoing outbreak is serious because of cluster infections linked to social gatherings, swimming pools, public saunas, schools and offices.
BBC News
Hong Kong: 'Eyes will be plucked out,' China warns West
China has strongly rebuked the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada after being accused of a concerted effort to silence critics in Hong Kong.
The countries, which form the Five Eyes alliance, criticised China's imposition of new rules to disqualify elected legislators in Hong Kong. They urged Beijing to reverse course.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned countries to stay out of China's affairs saying: "They should be careful or their eyes will be plucked out."
"The Chinese never make trouble and are never afraid of anything," Zhao Lijian told journalists in Beijing on Thursday, saying it did not "matter if they had five or 10 eyes".
Coronavirus: Europe faces 'six tough months' of pandemic, WHO says
A "tough" six months lies ahead for Europe, which is again the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Hans Kluge, WHO Europe director, said the continent had recorded more than 29,000 new Covid-19 deaths last week. However, he said new cases were declining as lockdowns curb infections.
And at a virtual summit on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc could approve two vaccines by year's end. Most European countries reintroduced tight restrictions to stem the spread of the disease as a second wave of the pandemic gathered pace in October.
The Atlantic
The Final Pandemic Surge Is Crashing Over America
Understanding the pandemic this week requires grasping two thoughts at once. First, the United States has never been closer to defeating the pandemic. Second, some of the country’s most agonizing days still lie ahead.
Long term, the view has never looked brighter. This week, confirmation came that scientists have developed two vaccines against the coronavirus, each at least 90 percent effective, and more shots are likely on the way. Some health-care workers could be vaccinated by New Year’s. Most Americans can expect to receive a shot in the spring, according to Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious-disease expert.
Yet in the short term, the outlook is unavoidable: The country faces several weeks of mass suffering and death. Almost every major metric of the pandemic stands at or near record levels, according to data collected by the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic.
Ars Technica
CDC Thanksgiving guidance: No traveling, no outside-household members
In a rare press briefing Thursday, experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly urged Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving or gather with people outside of their “households”—defined as only the people actively living together in the 14 days prior to a gathering.
The stark message from the premier public health agency may not seem surprising given the dire state of the country. Spread of the pandemic coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is out of control and at record levels. The United States reported more than 1 million new cases of COVID-19 in the last seven days alone. Hospitalizations are rising sharply, and health care facilities in several states are already overwhelmed. Deaths are also spiking. And there’s no end in sight. The situation is likely to only get worse as winter weather and holidays drive people indoors and together.
Still, the CDC’s press briefing drew awe from journalists, who have watched such briefings dwindle as the pandemic advanced. Numerous investigative reports have detailed how the Trump administration has sidelined, censored, and muted CDC scientists and officials during the global crisis.