world news: 2020-11-08

Saturday 14 November 2020

Fed officials differ over economy's risks as coronavirus surges

For St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, the current surge in U.S. coronavirus cases can be controlled and the economy recover if households are just nudged in the right direction, exhorted in a 'this-time-we-mean-it' push to wear masks and take other steps that health officials have urged since March. New York Fed President John Williams says a full recovery will have to wait for a vaccine, with the health crisis putting a "question mark" on the economy until then. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Friday re-upped his support for a temporary lockdown to try to slow the spread and reduce deaths in an overwhelmed healthcare system, predicted a muted recovery if the virus remains uncontrolled.

Sudan to host Russian military base

The naval logistics center in Sudan will be Russia’s first military base in Africa since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Secret intelligence exists that ‘would cast Trump in very negative light’, warns ex-FBI chief

‘It’s almost incomprehensible to me that he would want that information out,’ says Andrew McCabe

11-year-old boy killed in Atlanta drive-by shooting

What started as a day of celebration ended with an unimaginable tragedy that took the life of an 11-year-old boy. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Connie Sims took his son, Tyrell Sims, to the mall on the afternoon of Nov. 6 to celebrate him passing an exam. Later that evening, Tyrell went to play in the front yard with his friend after helping his friend’s grandmother decorate for Christmas, according to his father.

Minneapolis business owner on city’s crime spike: We don’t have help like before

The Minneapolis city council members and police chief clash over funding; Salon owner Flora Westbrooks shares with ‘Fox & Friends’ how her business was impacted during the riots.

Dustin Johnson Widens Masters Lead, Eyes Scoring Record

By BY BILL PENNINGTON from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3nrsNwE

Largely Out of Sight in Washington, Kamala Harris Preps for White House

By BY MICHAEL CROWLEY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/32L5nKI

SpaceX's next astronaut mission for NASA has been delayed until Sunday due to wind and issues with the rocket-booster recovery

This is the fourth time NASA has delayed the launch of its Crew-1 mission with SpaceX, but the first time due to weather.

Trump Election Challenges Hamstrung by Hapless Witnesses

Donald Trump’s last-ditch campaign legal efforts have centered on witnesses who allege that they witnessed voter fraud and other suspicious activity in battleground states across the country. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has brandished stacks of papers detailing what she said were hundreds of affidavits from allegedly aggrieved voters or poll-watchers in TV appearances, and the MAGA faithful have seized on the allegations as proof that Trump secretly won the election.But when those claims actually reach a judge, the allegations collapse in often spectacular fashion—putting one more roadblock in Trump’s attempts to wrestle the election away from President-elect Joe Biden.The latest bruising response to Trump’s voter witnesses came Friday in a state court order from Michigan. The Trump campaign had asked Chief Judge Timothy M. Kenny to block the certification of Michigan’s votes, citing a number of witnesses who alleged seeing suspicious things happening with the ballot count, mostly at Detroit’s TCF Center.But when Kenny actually saw the witness claims, he wasn’t impressed. In his Friday opinion, Kenny rejected the Trump campaign’s request, describing one witness affidavit as “rife with speculation and guess-work about sinister motives.”Instead of alleging voter fraud, Kenny said, many of the accusations made by witnesses in fact described routine vote-counting procedures. Had the Republican challengers only attended an optional walk-through training of the site, according to Kenny, they would not have been so alarmed.“There is no evidentiary basis to attribute any evil activity by virtue of the city using a rental truck with out-of-state license plates,” Kenny wrote in response to one complaint.Kenny also rejected claims of voting irregularities made by Melissa Carone, an IT contractor for Dominion Voting Systems, whose voting machines have figured into vote-theft conspiracy theories about the election that have been boosted by Trump. Carone has made appearances across right-wing media as a sort of star witness for the Trump campaign propping up the “rigged” election narrative, but Kenny decided that her allegations didn’t match any other witness statements.Experts: Trump’s New Michigan Lawsuit Is Recycled Junk“The allegations simply are not credible,” Kenny wrote.Carone has run into similar problems on her tour of pro-Trump media. In a Thursday appearance on Fox Business host Lou Dobbs’s show, Carone told an odd story about pollworkers not receiving enough meals that left even Dobbs baffled.The Trump campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.Trump campaign witnesses have also run into trouble in Arizona. On Thursday, the campaign took bogus allegations about Sharpie pens being used to invalidate votes to court in Maricopa County. Once again, their alleged voter fraud witnesses failed to make the campaign’s case.The Sharpie conspiracy theory—dubbed “Sharpiegate” by Trump allies—centers on the idea that poll workers deliberately gave Republican voters Sharpies to render their ballots uncountable. But Sharpie use wouldn’t invalidate ballots, according to election officials across the state.Instead, many of the witnesses cited by Trump lawyers in Maricopa County were only alleging after the fact that they may have seen something suspicious—even if they couldn’t exactly say what that thing was. Some, for example, complained about poll workers who pressed various buttons, but they were unable to prove that there was anything nefarious in the button-pressing.The Maricopa Superior Court judge also removed various Trump campaign accusations, gathered via internet forum, from the record, questioning whether soliciting “evidence” on the internet could reliably bring in credible claims. Making matters worse, a Trump campaign lawyer eventually conceded that the campaign was not alleging fraud, instead pointing out “good faith errors.”On Friday, the judge dismissed the Arizona case, since Biden had built up such a lead that the ruling wouldn’t affect whether Biden or Trump won the state.Even outside of courtrooms, Trump’s supposed voter fraud witnesses have failed to back up their claims. U.S. Postal Service mail carrier Richard Hopkins briefly became a star on the right in the aftermath of the election, after he alleged that postal workers in Pennsylvania were backdating ballots to meet the Nov. 3 deadline. Hopkins’ claims were championed by conservative operative James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas group, and Hopkins raised more than $100,000 on GoFundMe.In an interview with postal investigators, though, Hopkins recanted his claims. While he later claimed in an interview with O’Keefe that he felt misled by the investigators, audio released of the interview released by Project Veritas confirmed that Hopkins had recanted at least some of his voter fraud allegations.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Austrian colonel 'spied on Nato for Russia'

A retired Austrian colonel has been unmasked as one of Russia's key informants about Nato, whose intelligence was likely to have been used to plan the Salisbury poisonings. Martin Möller, 72 – identified by a pan-European operation involving MI6 – is believed to have dealt directly with the notorious Russian Unit 29155, which worked to destabilise Europe and carried out foreign assassinations, a Telegraph investigation has found. On Friday night, Mr Möller admitted he had shared some information in exchange for money, but claimed it only related to Austria and said it was "absolute fiction" that it could have caused any damage or led to the loss of lives. Earlier this year, he was convicted by a Salzburg court of betraying state secrets, of helping a foreign intelligence organisation to Austria's detriment and of divulging military secrets. The judge sentenced him to just three years and allowed him to go free immediately, prompting speculation that he was only a small-time spy. However, The Telegraph can disclose that Mr Möller had access to Nato's inner workings and that it is the "working assumption" of European security sources that he shared everything with the Russians from 2008 onwards. Mr Möller is thought to have handed over information about which poisons Nato forces were aware of and could detect easily – intelligence security sources believe was likely to have been used by Russia to select the Novichok nerve agent used in the attack on Sergei Skripal, a former officer in Russia's GRU spy agency, and his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury in 2018. The attack is believed to have been the work of Unit 29155. Möller's lawyer said the former colonel regarded the allegations as "absolute fantasy", did not know about Unit 29155 and that the information he passed on "had no practical value and only had to do with the situation in Austria".

Trump trade adviser says White House is 'moving forward under the assumption there will be a 2nd Trump term'

White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro sees no reality in the very real election of President-elect Joe Biden.In a Friday interview with Fox Business, Navarro once again relayed President Trump and his supporters' refusal to accept the results of last week's election. "We're moving forward here at the White House under the assumption that there will be a second Trump term," Navarro said. He then outlined how the Trump campaign and the White House "seek verifiable ballots" and "an investigation into what are growing numbers of allegations of fraud" in the election, and declared anyone who believes Biden won to be operating under "an immaculate deception."> White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro: “We’re moving forward here at the White House under the assumption that there will be a second Trump term ... We have, what appears in some sense to be, an immaculate deception." > > (FWIW, there will not be a second Trump term.) pic.twitter.com/qiVfAyZ5G9> > — The Recount (@therecount) November 13, 2020Biden has secured the electoral votes — and then some — he needed to win the 2020 election. His win margin in critical swing states Trump hopes to overturn is far wider than recounts have overturned in the past, and not a single election official across the U.S. found evidence of widespread voter fraud the Trump campaign is alleging.More stories from theweek.com 7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's refusal to concede Trump is reportedly 'very aware' he lost the election but is putting up a fight as 'theater' Texas senator suggests it's too soon to declare Biden the winner because Puerto Rico is still counting votes

Fauci said the US has 'no appetite' for lockdowns but mask wearing and distancing could be enough, the day after a Biden advisor called for a weeks-long lockdown

Dr. Anthony Fauci told "Good Morning America" that taking steps like mask wearing and social distancing means that a lockdown might not be needed.

Egypt finds treasure trove of over 100 sarcophagi

Egypt announced Saturday the discovery of an ancient treasure trove of more than a 100 intact sarcophagi, dating back more than 2,500 years ago, the largest such find this year.

‘Purely outlandish stuff’: Trump’s legal machine grinds to a halt

So many lawsuits have been filed in so many state and federal courts that no one has an exact number. The campaign has lost nearly all of the cases that have been decided so far.

New Alabama senator struggles with basic WWII history and says US fought ‘socialism and communism’

It’s not his only recent gaffe about history

Masters Mentorship Puts Tournament Rookies on Top

By BY ALAN BLINDER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3kwICAm

Obama says Republicans 'clearly know better,' but are 'humoring' Trump about voter fraud

Former President Barack Obama took aim at Republicans who have been “humoring” President Trump’s bogus claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Egypt discovers ancient trove of intact sarcophagi near Cairo

Egypt announced on Saturday the discovery of an ancient treasure trove of more than a 100 intact sarcophagi, the largest such find this year. The sealed wooden coffins, unveiled on site amid fanfare, belonged to top officials of the Late Period and the Ptolemaic period of ancient Egypt. They were found in three burial shafts at depths of 12 metres (40 feet) in the sweeping Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo. Archaeologists opened one coffin to reveal a mummy wrapped in a burial shroud adorned with brightly coloured hieroglyphic pictorials.

Pro-Trump senator says Covid survivors should throw away their masks and ‘celebrate’ as he falsely claims they are immune

US has recorded more than 100,000 Covid-19 cases every day for the last week

'The long knives are out': The Pentagon purge may be less about a Trump plan than end-of-presidency chaos and revenge

A series of personnel changes placing Trump loyalists in key Defense Department positions has sparked rumors of plans for dramatic action in the waning days of his presidency, but a number of former national security officials see it more as the chaotic final days of an outgoing administration.

70% of Asian Americans support affirmative action. Here's why misconceptions persist.

With the Harvard affirmative action case a step closer to the Supreme Court, Asian American activists say much of their work involves dispelling myths about affirmative action's impacts.

Trumpworld's faux-intellectual grifters are helping him debase democracy with bogus 'voter fraud' claims. And Republicans rake in the cash.

Internet "skeptics" are amplifying Trump's fake voter fraud claims. The GOP is using it to raise campaign funds.

Chris Wallace: Republican-controlled Senate would give Biden excuse to pushback on progressives

‘Fox News Sunday’ anchor Chris Wallace lays out the stakes of the upcoming Senate runoffs in Georgia.

Friday 13 November 2020

Charles Koch says he regrets fueling partisanship: 'Boy, did we screw up!'

The billionaire, who has funneled millions into the tea party and the conservative movement, expresses regret in a new book. "What a mess!" he said.

Gordon Ramsay roasted a TikTok chef who stuffed Flamin' Hot Cheetos into her burger

The TikTok chef told Insider that it was an honor to be roasted by Gordon Ramsay, who said during the video: "If that's a burger, I'm turning vegan!"

Typhoon causes major flooding in Philippine capital

The third typhoon to hit the storm-battered Philippines in as many weeks caused major flooding in Manila on Thursday, trapping some people on rooftops and claiming at least one life in another part of the country.

Rep. Denver Riggleman: ‘I haven’t made a whole lot of friends in the QAnon community’

Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va., joins Yahoo News Senior Political Correspondent Jon Ward to discuss President-elect Joe Biden, QAnon and why some of his fellow Republicans are afraid to publicly denounce baseless conspiracy theories. Riggleman, a former Air Force officer and NSA contractor, tells Yahoo News that there is “no way” he’ll stay in the Republican Party if elected officials continue to turn a blind eye to theories he says are based on “anti-Semitic tropes” to appease their base.

Ahmaud Arbery's accused killers were denied bond after prosecutors brought evidence of racist social media posts and text messages

Travis and Gregory McMichael appeared in court Thursday for a bond hearing following charges for Ahmaud Arbery's death.

The Wolverine Watchmen plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer also included a plan to burn down the state Capitol building, officials say

According to the Michigan Attorney General's Office, the group had also considered storming the Capitol to "take hostages" and "execute tyrants."

GOP State Legislative Leaders Rule Out Appointing Pro-Trump Electors in Defiance of Vote

Republican state legislative leaders in several swing states are ruling out a long-shot strategy to reelect President Trump that would involve the GOP-led state legislatures in swing states overruling the popular vote and choosing electors that would vote for Trump over President-elect Joe Biden.However, the Republican majority leaders of the state legislatures in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina indicated to the New York Times this week that they do not see such a scenario occurring.The Electoral Count Act stipulates that in the event of “failed elections,” state legislatures may step in and appoint electors.Republican governor Ron DeSantis of Florida last week urged voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania to call their state lawmakers, saying the Republican-led legislatures in those states could "provide remedies" if the states are “ignoring law.”A spokeswoman for Michigan senate majority leader Mike Shirkey told the Times that the Michigan legislature under state law may not award electors to anyone other than the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote and may not directly select electors.Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, Republican leaders of both chambers of the state government said last month before the election that the legislature “does not have and will not have a hand in choosing the state’s presidential electors or in deciding the outcome of the presidential election.”However, Pennsylvania senate majority leader Jake Corman appeared to soften that stance slightly last week when he said that the legislature would have no role in choosing electors “under normal circumstances,” but he noted that the Democratic governor appoints electors.The Republican state house and senate leaders in North Carolina also stated that the legislature would have no role in choosing electors, and a spokesman for Arizona's senate Republican leadership indicated to the Times that the legislature cannot change the election results by altering the elector-selection process.Finally, in Georgia, which Biden flipped to blue this year, Republican leaders indicated the electoral process would likely proceed normally, shutting down calls for a special legislative session to take up election issues.Biden leads and is the projected winner of several battleground states where Trump has launched several legal challenges of the election results. Trump has so far refused to concede the race and has insisted that widespread voter fraud disrupted the election in Biden's favor.

A growing chorus of GOP senators wants Trump to allow the Biden transition to start

Only a handful of Senate Republicans have publicly congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his victory, but a larger group is starting to get uncomfortable with the Trump administration's refusal to start the legal transition process, including giving Biden access to government officials and documents and allowing him to receive the classified President's Daily Brief intelligence report. "If that's not occurring by Friday, I will step in," Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) told KRMG radio in Tulsa on Wednesday.Lankford said he has "already started engaging in this area" and predicted General Services Administration head Emily Murphy will soon sign off on the transition process. If not, he added, he will "push them and say, 'This needs to occur,' so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task."Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told Pittsburgh's Action News 4 on Monday that "we're on a path it looks likely Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States," adding that "it's not 100% certain but it is quite likely" and "so I think a transition process ought to begin." Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that Trump can continue his legal challenge but we "need to have that contingency in place," and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said the transition process should "move forward." Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has congratulated Biden on his win, told NBC News "it's very much in our national interest, in our foreign policy interest, national security interest," to have a smooth transition transfer of power.While Trump "ponders his options," The Associated Press reports, "his involvement in the day-to-day governing of the nation has nearly stopped: According to his schedule, he has not attended an intelligence briefing in weeks, and the White House has done little of late to manage the pandemic that has surged to record highs in many states."More stories from theweek.com 7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's refusal to concede Trump is reportedly 'very aware' he lost the election but is putting up a fight as 'theater' Texas senator suggests it's too soon to declare Biden the winner because Puerto Rico is still counting votes

Partial Owners of Washington’s N.F.L. Team Seek Path in Court to Sell Their Stake

By BY KEN BELSON AND KATHERINE ROSMAN from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2K7eJdj

Biden Implores Trump to Confront a Surging Pandemic

By BY MICHAEL D. SHEAR from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/36yaIWN

Federal Prosecutors Push Back on Barr Memo on Voter Fraud Claims

By BY KATIE BENNER AND ADAM GOLDMAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/38In2Xc

Al Qaeda’s No. 2, Accused in U.S. Embassy Attacks, Is Secretly Killed in Iran

By BY ADAM GOLDMAN, ERIC SCHMITT, FARNAZ FASSIHI AND RONEN BERGMAN from NYT World https://ift.tt/36B1068

Trump Loses String of Election Lawsuits, Leaving Few Vehicles to Fight His Defeat

By BY ALAN FEUER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2GZfF26

Mr. President, Pack Your Bags and Be Gone

By BY ROGER COHEN from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/35yW0Qh

Watching CNN While Irish

By BY SÉAMAS O’REILLY from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/35s3bcE

35 Years After MOVE Bombing That Killed 11, Philadelphia Apologizes

By BY JOHN ISMAY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/35uLERq

The Sounds of a Divided America

By BY LAUREN JACKSON from NYT Podcasts https://ift.tt/2IDML81

How Do Canadians Remember World War II 75 Years Afterward?

By BY IAN AUSTEN from NYT World https://ift.tt/32Et1II

'CDC is putting American lives at risk': Members of Congress call for CDC to reinstate cruise 'no-sail' order

Two members of Congress are calling for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reinstate its cruise "no-sail" order.

First openly gay Afro-Latino U.S. congressman: 'Never in my wildest dreams'

Louisiana doctor accused of attacking college student and calling her the n-word

Doctor was released on $10,000 bond

Fox News Parts Ways With John Solomon, Architect of Trump’s Ukraine Conspiracies

After a tumultuous year at Fox News that included the network’s own “Brain Room” warning hosts and anchors not to trust his “disinformation,” pro-Trump columnist John Solomon is no longer a paid contributor with the network.A Fox News spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast that Solomon is no longer affiliated with the conservative cable outlet. Solomon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.While Solomon’s hits on Fox News have dried up in recent months—he has not appeared since July—he has remained a regular presence on the Fox Business Network’s stridently pro-Trump shows hosted by Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo. In his recent appearances, he has been identified solely as the editor-in-chief of his right-wing digital outlet Just The News, or as the author of Fallout, his latest book, which was heartily endorsed by President Donald Trump.The last time he was identified as a Fox contributor on its airwaves was during an Oct. 14 appearance on Bartiromo’s morning FBN show. Solomon’s Twitter account does not list Fox News in his bio.Fox News Internal Document Bashes Pro-Trump Fox Regulars for Spreading ‘Disinformation’After a long journalistic career that included stints at The Washington Times, The Washington Post, and The Daily Beast, Solomon came to prominence in the right-wing media ecosystem following Trump’s election.As the chief creative officer for Circa News, he teamed up with current Fox News contributor Sara Carter on a number of articles that set the table for Trumpworld’s “Spygate” narrative, resulting in his becoming a fixture on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program.After joining The Hill as executive vice president of digital video in 2017, Solomon’s questionable reporting—which repeatedly pushed narratives that Trump was the victim of a liberal “deep state” plot—caused tension in the newsroom, prompting The Hill to move him to the opinion side in 2018. Despite Solomon’s own employer labeling his work as strictly “opinion,” Hannity would continue to call Solomon an “investigative reporter” during his guest appearances, despite Fox management reportedly telling him to stop.At the height of the impeachment drama over Trump attempting to coerce Ukraine to investigate his own political opponent, Joe Biden, Fox News officially hired Solomon as an on-air contributor in Oct. 2019. The network’s timing on his hire was especially eyebrow-raising as the journalist had just been repeatedly named in the impeachment whistleblower’s complaint, prompting Solomon’s colleagues to unload on him.Solomon’s opinion pieces at The Hill, meanwhile, helped fuel Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to dig up dirt on now-President-elect Joe Biden, something that was laid out in full during the impeachment hearings. After it was revealed that Solomon had been in frequent contact with Giuliani and his Ukrainian associates, The Hill’s editor-in-chief Bob Cusack announced that the newspaper was “conducting a meticulous review” of Solomon’s columns on Ukraine.Solomon would leave The Hill at the end of 2019 in order to start his own conservative media venture, Just The News. In Feb. 2020, The Hill’s internal investigation found that Solomon published misleading columns and the paper shouldn’t have presented them as news articles. It also criticized Fox News for identifying Solomon as an “investigative journalist” at the time.At the same time, Fox News’ research team compiled a briefing book on Ukraine and impeachment for news broadcasts that warned colleagues that Solomon lacked credibility as he played an “indispensable role” in a Ukrainian “disinformation campaign.”Leaked Memo: Colleagues Unload on John Solomon, the Journo Who Kicked Off Trump’s Ukraine ConspiracyRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.