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Rallying behind Trump, most House Republicans joined failed lawsuit

Rallying behind Trump, most House Republicans joined failed lawsuit

The New York Times reports: In the hours before the Supreme Court rejected it, another 20 House Republicans — including their top leader — joined a legal brief on Friday supporting an extraordinary lawsuit seeking to overturn President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, underscoring the increasingly extreme lengths to which many in the party are willing to go to invalidate the election results. The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the suit brought by Texas to throw out the results in…

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Manhattan district attorney intensifies investigation of Trump

Manhattan district attorney intensifies investigation of Trump

The New York Times reports: State prosecutors in Manhattan have interviewed several employees of President Trump’s bank and insurance broker in recent weeks, according to people with knowledge of the matter, significantly escalating an investigation into the president that he is powerless to stop. The interviews with people who work for the lender, Deutsche Bank, and the insurance brokerage, Aon, are the latest indication that once Mr. Trump leaves office, he still faces the potential threat of criminal charges that…

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White House orders FDA chief to authorize Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Friday or submit his resignation

White House orders FDA chief to authorize Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Friday or submit his resignation

The Washington Post reports: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Friday told Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to submit his resignation if the agency does not clear the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine by day’s end, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss what happened. The threat came on the same day that President Trump tweeted that the FDA is…

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After the U.S. election, key people are leaving Facebook and torching the company in departure notes

After the U.S. election, key people are leaving Facebook and torching the company in departure notes

BuzzFeed reports: On Wednesday, a Facebook data scientist departed the social networking company after a two-year stint, leaving a farewell note for their colleagues to ponder. As part of a team focused on “Violence and Incitement,” they had dealt with some of the worst content on Facebook, and they were proud of their work at the company. Despite this, they said Facebook was simply not doing enough. “With so many internal forces propping up the production of hateful and violent…

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How the first life on Earth survived its biggest threat — water

How the first life on Earth survived its biggest threat — water

Michael Marshall writes: On 18 February next year, a NASA spacecraft will plummet through the Martian atmosphere, fire its retro-rockets to break its fall and then lower a six-wheeled rover named Perseverance to the surface. If all goes according to plan, the mission will land in Jezero Crater, a 45-kilometre-wide gash near the planet’s equator that might once have held a lake of liquid water. Among the throngs of earthlings cheering on Perseverance, John Sutherland will be paying particularly close…

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The Republican Party’s widening assault on American democracy

The Republican Party’s widening assault on American democracy

Ronald Brownstein writes: Republicans’ tolerance, if not active support, for President Donald Trump’s ongoing bid to overturn the 2020 election has crystallized a stark question: Does the GOP still qualify as a small-d democratic party—or is it morphing into something very different? Even with the Supreme Court still deciding whether to consider a last-ditch legal effort to invalidate the results from the key swing states, there appears little chance that Trump will succeed in subverting Joe Biden’s victory. But Trump’s…

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‘Seditious abuse of the judicial process’: States reject Texas effort to overturn Biden’s election

‘Seditious abuse of the judicial process’: States reject Texas effort to overturn Biden’s election

Politico reports: Officials from four presidential swing states forcefully criticized an effort by Texas and President Donald Trump to enlist the Supreme Court to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, with Pennsylvania calling the last-ditch legal effort “seditious” and built on an “absurd” foundation. “The Court should not abide this seditious abuse of the judicial process, and should send a clear and unmistakable signal that such abuse must never be replicated,” Pennsylvania said in a 43-page brief signed…

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What really saved the republic from Trump?

What really saved the republic from Trump?

Tim Wu writes: Americans are taught that the main function of the U.S. Constitution is the control of executive power: curtailing presidents who might seek to become tyrants. Other republics have lapsed into dictatorships (the Roman Republic, the Weimar Republic, the Republic of China and so on), but our elaborate constitutional system of checks and balances, engineered largely by James Madison, protects us from despotism. Or so we think. The presidency of Donald Trump, aggressive in its autocratic impulses but…

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Trump and his cronies got coronavirus care many others couldn’t

Trump and his cronies got coronavirus care many others couldn’t

The New York Times reports: Ben Carson, Chris Christie and Donald J. Trump are not the sturdiest candidates to conquer the coronavirus: older, in some cases overweight, male and not particularly fit. Yet all seem to have gotten through Covid-19, and all have gotten an antibody treatment in such short supply that some hospitals and states are doling it out by lottery. Now Rudolph W. Giuliani, the latest member of President Trump’s inner circle to contract Covid-19, has acknowledged that…

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Raphael Warnock is the man to bring the gospel back into public life

Raphael Warnock is the man to bring the gospel back into public life

Rev. Otis Moss III writes: On a Sunday morning in 1989, during my freshman year at Morehouse College in Atlanta, I listened to a sophomore chapel assistant named Raphael Warnock. Extraordinarily composed, Warnock delivered from the pulpit a thoughtful, powerful sermon — one that challenged us, as people of faith, to “sound the trumpet” on behalf of children forgotten at the doorstep of America’s promise. When he finished, we all rose to our feet in applause. Warnock once again stands…

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Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic

Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic

The Washington Post reports: Early in the pandemic, Joo Park noticed a worrisome shift at the market he manages near downtown Washington: At least once a day, he’d spot someone slipping a package of meat, a bag of rice or other food into a shirt or under a jacket. Diapers, shampoo and laundry detergent began disappearing in bigger numbers, too. Since then, he said, thefts have more than doubled at Capitol Supermarket — even though he now stations more employees…

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In 2020, normal became exceptional

In 2020, normal became exceptional

BuzzFeed reports: Helped by geographic isolation or governmental response or both, infections are low to nonexistent in several countries, particularly in the Asia Pacific, where life looks practically normal. Some people even occasionally forget there’s a pandemic going on. “I feel like there were days I forgot there was a pandemic, especially on days I wasn’t going out so much, just staying in my area,” said Jade Dhangwattanotai, a 25-year-old software developer in Bangkok. “In my day-to-day life, yes, I…

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Identifying and naming the enemies of democracy

Identifying and naming the enemies of democracy

Christian Vanderbrouk writes: Three days before Christmas in 2001, Richard Reid took off from Paris on a flight to Miami. He did not intend on arriving. Instead, he attempted to ignite explosives packed into one of his shoes to destroy the plane, killing everyone aboard for the cause of violent jihad. He did not succeed. Other passengers noticed his odd behavior—most notably lighting numerous matches while wires were dangling from his pant leg. He was subdued; the flight landed safely….

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A political obituary for Donald Trump

A political obituary for Donald Trump

George Packer writes: To assess the legacy of Donald Trump’s presidency, start by quantifying it. Since last February, more than a quarter of a million Americans have died from COVID-19—a fifth of the world’s deaths from the disease, the highest number of any country. In the three years before the pandemic, 2.3 million Americans lost their health insurance, accounting for up to 10,000 “excess deaths”; millions more lost coverage during the pandemic. The United States’ score on the human-rights organization…

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