Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Republican civil war: what's the party’s future after the US Capitol attack?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/11/republican-party-future-trump-capitol-mob
With Trump now finally accepting he will leave office, the future leadership of his movement is increasingly up for grabs, with a ragtag band of senators, congressman, Trump family members – and Trump himself – already jostling for the position.
Whether anyone apart from the president is able to successfully ride the tiger of racism, nihilism and grievance politics that carried Trump to near-re-election after four years of American chaos and hundreds of thousands of preventable pandemic deaths is an open question.
U.S. Sanctions Giuliani's Sources of Biden Dirt, Labels Them Part of a Russia-Linked 'Influence Network'
The Trump Administration imposed sanctions on Monday against a group of Ukrainians who helped President Donald Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, collect and spread political dirt on President-elect Joe Biden.
The sanctions were announced by one of Trump’s most loyal cabinet secretaries, Steve Mnuchin of the Treasury Department, and repudiated conspiracy theories that Trump has used to attack his main rival. They also demonstrated Trump’s weakening grip on power in the wake of his incitement of the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Trump’s theories about the corruption of the Biden family in Ukraine have been painstakingly investigated and widely debunked, including by the President’s Republican allies in Congress. The allegations still became a centerpiece of Trump’s re-election campaign, culminating in his attempt to air these theories on live television during the first presidential debate in September.
This campaign of misinformation continued into Election Day, when Giuliani again went on television to air the theories he heard from his Ukrainian associates. By that point, most mainstream news networks in the U.S. had stopped allowing him to voice these accusations on the air. So the President’s lawyer appeared on RT, the Kremlin-owned propaganda outlet. Even there, the interviewer pushed back on the claims so firmly that Giuliani grew exasperated. “The problem is there’s never enough evidence,” he said.
Trump will visit his border wall on the heels of deadly Capitol Hill riot
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics/trump-border-wall-capitol-hill/index.html
President Donald Trump will bookend his administration's focus on immigration with a trip to his signature border wall on the US-Mexico border, a visit on the heels of a deadly riot on Capitol Hill incited by the President as House Democrats prepare a second impeachment vote.
Trump's disastrous end to his shocking presidency
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics/donald-trump-legacy-joe-biden/index.html
President Donald Trump is leaving America in a vortex of violence, sickness and death and more internally estranged than it has been for 150 years.
Brexit: UK driver has ham sandwiches confiscated at Dutch border
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55622331
A Dutch TV network has filmed border officials confiscating ham sandwiches and other foods from drivers arriving in the Netherlands from the UK, under post-Brexit rules.
The officials were shown explaining import regulations imposed since the UK formalised its separation from the EU.
Under EU rules, travellers from outside the bloc are banned from bringing in meat and dairy products.
The rules appeared to bemuse one driver.
"Since Brexit, you are no longer allowed to bring certain foods to Europe, like meat, fruit, vegetables, fish, that kind of stuff," a Dutch border official told the driver in footage broadcast by TV network NPO 1.
In one scene, a border official asked the driver whether several of his tin-foil wrapped sandwiches had meat in them.
Company tells radio hosts stop stolen election talk
The ownership group for several talk radio hosts across the country, including syndicated figures like Mark Levin and Dan Bongino, says its personalities need to tone things down or face firing.
Cumulus Media content chief Brian Philips sent an email to managers Wednesday, the day of the U.S. Capitol riot, saying the company had to help induce calm.
“There will be no dog whistles about ‘stolen elections,’ ‘civil wars’ or any other language that infers violent public disobedience is warranted, ever,” said the memo, first reported by Inside Music Media.
The memo said Cumulus would not tolerate any suggestion by its on-air personalities that the presidential election is not over.
Worse than impeachment - Bill Belichick declines Presidential Medal of Freedom offer from Trump
Several people close to Trump have noted that, as his time in office comes to an end, one of the things he'll likely miss the most is not the work of the presidency but the trappings that come with it: the motorcades, rides on Marine One, tours of the Lincoln Bedroom given to dinner guests, a constant press corps at his side -- but also Medal of Freedom ceremonies.
Monday, January 11, 2021
Coronavirus isolation: All your questions answered
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/coronavirus-isolation-all-your-questions-answered-655029
Despite the lockdown, coronavirus is rapidly spreading across Israel at an unprecedented rate. In recent days, between 6% and 7.5% of those screened for the virus have tested positive, sending tens of thousands of Israelis into isolation.
House Democrats introduce impeachment resolution, charging Trump with 'incitement of insurrection'
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/house-democrats-impeachment-plans/index.html
House Democrats formally introduced their resolution to impeach President Donald Trump on Monday, charging him with "incitement of insurrection" for his role in last week's riots at the US Capitol.
House article of impeachment against Donald Trump
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/11/politics/house-articles-of-impeachment/index.html
The US House of Representatives has released its resolution to impeach President Donald Trump, charging him with "incitement of insurrection," an article for which the House is expected to vote on this week.
A pardon for Lakewood's Eliyahu Weinstein? Alan Dershowitz is talking to Trump | Stile
Among the names jumping out of the speculation mill for a possible last-minute pardon from President Donald Trump is one of the most notorious Ponzi-scheme swindlers in New Jersey history.
The New York Times reported last month that Alan Dershowitz, the celebrity law professor and Trump ally, is exploring applying for a pardon on behalf of Eliyahu Weinstein, a Lakewood man who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2014 for running a real-estate scam that cost investors more than $200 million in losses.
Israel’s Covid-19 Vaccinations Hold Lessons for U.S.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/israels-covid-19-vaccinations-hold-lessons-for-u-s-11610307240
Israel has rolled out the fastest Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the world, inoculating 20% of its population in three weeks. The small country—with roughly nine million people, about the same as New York City—now aims to inoculate the majority of its population by March.
While Israel’s vaccination campaign is relatively simple compared with the mass mobilizations needed by countries such as the U.S. that have many more people spread over a greater sweep of geography, the effort offers some clear lessons.
Israel and the shameful, dangerous final days of Donald Trump
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-and-the-shameful-dangerous-final-days-of-donald-trump/
As of last Wednesday, when Trump inflamed the assault on the US Capitol, and continued to indulge it even as the deadly consequences became clear, that complex reality became immensely more problematic. Israel’s White House ally is a figure of shame, and all who have celebrated associating with him are at risk of being stained.
As of last Wednesday, when Trump inflamed the assault on the US Capitol, and continued to indulge it even as the deadly consequences became clear, that complex reality became immensely more problematic. Israel’s White House ally is a figure of shame, and all who have celebrated associating with him are at risk of being stained.