thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Right-Wing Media’s 'War On Christmas' Claims May Have A Death Toll This Year

It ’ s happening again this year , but the debate has taken on a new meaning amidst the coronavirus pandemic — and the stakes are actually incredibly high .
Fox News hosts and right-wing media influencers are aggressively claiming that the secular warriors are fighting Christmas with social distancing measures and government restrictions .
Convincing people that these basic public health efforts are illegitimate and offensive is incredibly dangerous as COVID-19 cases surge around the country and the United States surpasses its record for the number of deaths from the virus in a single day .
Health officials have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effort to stem the pandemic , which conservative media outlets have used as proof of everything from an attack on Christian values to a nefarious plot to consolidate power .
In doing so , they are once again promoting dangerous misinformation that has led to harmful misconceptions about coronavirus and likely helped its spread .
And in the weeks ahead of Christmas , right-wing media figures have been warning that attempts to control the spread of the virus are evidence of leftist efforts to cancel the holiday .
“ They ’ ve figured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are , and therefore , it ’ s a threat to them .
Better cancel it ― and , in fact , they ’ re trying hard , ” Carlson said .
He also told viewers that “ death is inevitable ” and that “ maybe we should pause before we destroy the living in the name of trying to eliminate it.
” In a tweet featuring a video of Dr. Anthony Fauci talking with Jake Tapper about social distancing measures , One America News correspondent and neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec wrote that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to tell me whether or not my family celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
” Breitbart ran a column asking if readers would allow “ fascist governors ” to “ cancel your Christmas.
” Right-wing radio host Mark Levin tweeted that “ the government doesn ’ t have the power to cancel Thanksgiving or Christmas !
” An `` All American Christmas at Fox Square '' sign near Christmas decorations in front of the News Corporation building in New York City .
Fox News hosts are arguing this year that measures to curb @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the left 's so-called `` war on Christmas . ''
The baseless narrative that Christmas is somehow being outlawed or erased from public celebration is one of the most enduring talking points for conservative culture warriors , first gaining traction in the mid-2000s through former Fox News hosts such as Bill O ’ Reilly .
During the pandemic , right-wing pundits have infused their message with the panic of “ cancel culture ” and included Thanksgiving in their fearmongering .
COVID-19 cases increased across Canada following the country ’ s Thanksgiving holiday in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restrictions on social gatherings .
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told citizens that “ a normal Christmas is quite frankly out of the question , ” and the premier of Manitoba , Brian Pallister , gave an emotional plea for people to take the virus seriously .
Many health experts worry that travel and gatherings over Christmas will exacerbate the latest spike in cases even more than Thanksgiving , as COVID-19 cases are already on the rise .
States such as California are dealing with the possibility of running out of intensive care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stay home .
Vaccines are slowly becoming available to the public , but it could be months before they are widely accessible .
Until then , social distancing remains one of the few things that can mitigate the pandemic .
But in right-wing media , these harsh realities are nonexistent .
As they have for much of the pandemic , Fox News hosts and pro-Trump media activists are peddling falsehoods about social distancing and the administration ’ s handling of the pandemic .
To them , the threat does not come from coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @

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Each year, right-wing media ritually attempts to stir up a moral panic over a “war on Christmas.” Conservative pundits claim Democrats’ fixation on saying “happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” is an affront to American values.
It’s happening again this year, but the debate has taken on a new meaning amidst the coronavirus pandemic — and the stakes are actually incredibly high. Fox News hosts and right-wing media influencers are aggressively claiming that the secular warriors are fighting Christmas with social distancing measures and government restrictions. Convincing people that these basic public health efforts are illegitimate and offensive is incredibly dangerous as COVID-19 cases surge around the country and the United States surpasses its record for the number of deaths from the virus in a single day.
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Health officials have advised Americans to limit gatherings in an effort to stem the pandemic, which conservative media outlets have used as proof of everything from an attack on Christian values to a nefarious plot to consolidate power. In doing so, they are once again promoting dangerous misinformation that has led to harmful misconceptions about coronavirus and likely helped its spread.
And in the weeks ahead of Christmas, right-wing media figures have been warning that attempts to control the spread of the virus are evidence of leftist efforts to cancel the holiday.
Tucker Carlson, a top-rated Fox News host and informal adviser to President Donald Trump, recently gave a nonsensical monologue about “power-hungry leaders trying to cancel Christmas.” He claimed politicians were attempting to ruin Christmas because they viewed the holiday as diminishing their authority.
“They’ve figured out that Christmas is bigger than they are, and therefore, it’s a threat to them. Better cancel it ― and, in fact, they’re trying hard,” Carlson said. He also told viewers that “death is inevitable” and that “maybe we should pause before we destroy the living in the name of trying to eliminate it.”
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In a tweet featuring a video of Dr. Anthony Fauci talking with Jake Tapper about social distancing measures, One America News correspondent and neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec wrote that the CNN host “does not get to tell me whether or not my family celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.” Breitbart ran a column asking if readers would allow “fascist governors” to “cancel your Christmas.” Right-wing radio host Mark Levin tweeted that “the government doesn’t have the power to cancel Thanksgiving or Christmas!”
An "All American Christmas at Fox Square" sign near Christmas decorations in front of the News Corporation building in New York City. Fox News hosts are arguing this year that measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 are part of the left's so-called "war on Christmas." Alexi Rosenfeld via Getty Images
Republican lawmakers have also tried to equate guidelines meant to limit gatherings during the holiday season with a leftist attempt to undermine American traditions, while ignoring skyrocketing coronavirus cases and public health advice.
“They tried to cancel Thanksgiving. Didn’t work! They’re coming for Christmas next,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tweeted.
The baseless narrative that Christmas is somehow being outlawed or erased from public celebration is one of the most enduring talking points for conservative culture warriors, first gaining traction in the mid-2000s through former Fox News hosts such as Bill O’Reilly. During the pandemic, right-wing pundits have infused their message with the panic of “cancel culture” and included Thanksgiving in their fearmongering.
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“The left has always hated Thanksgiving ... now they’re using the virus as an excuse for you not to be thankful,” right-wing activist Charlie Kirk claimed last month.
Health officials have seen a surge in coronavirus cases following Thanksgiving, and the situation is only expected to worsen in the coming weeks.
COVID-19 cases increased across Canada following the country’s Thanksgiving holiday in October, resulting in numerous provinces implementing restrictions on social gatherings. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told citizens that “a normal Christmas is quite frankly out of the question,” and the premier of Manitoba, Brian Pallister, gave an emotional plea for people to take the virus seriously.
“If you don’t think that COVID’s real right now, you’re an idiot,” Pallister said.
Many health experts worry that travel and gatherings over Christmas will exacerbate the latest spike in cases even more than Thanksgiving, as COVID-19 cases are already on the rise. States such as California are dealing with the possibility of running out of intensive care unit beds and are urging residents to stay home. Vaccines are slowly becoming available to the public, but it could be months before they are widely accessible. Until then, social distancing remains one of the few things that can mitigate the pandemic.
But in right-wing media, these harsh realities are nonexistent. As they have for much of the pandemic, Fox News hosts and pro-Trump media activists are peddling falsehoods about social distancing and the administration’s handling of the pandemic. To them, the threat does not come from coronavirus; it comes from the left.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Stanford Hospital Apologizes After Frontline Doctors Protest Botched Vaccine Rollout

Officials at the Stanford University Medical Center apologized Friday after residents and other health care staff staged a walkout after frontline workers were bumped to the back of the line for the COVID-19 vaccine .
The plan for the first wave of 5,000 vaccinations at the hospital was to leave out all but seven of the Palo Alto hospital ’ s residents and fellows , many of whom regularly treat COVID-19 patients .
They accused the hospital of prioritizing vaccines for senior staff and faculty physicians working from home or in specialties far less likely to interact with patients suffering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hospital officials , residents complained : “ Many of us know senior faculty who have worked from home since the pandemic began in March 2020 , with no in-person patient responsibilities , who were selected for vaccination .
In the meantime , we residents and fellows strap on N95 masks for the tenth month of this pandemic without a transparent and clear plan for our protection in place.
” “ We came out here after we learned that only seven out of 1,349 residents were selected for the first wave of vaccinations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protesting third-year resident , told NBC News .
“ I ’ m here because we were promised , multiple times , that we would be vaccinated in the first wave , ” emergency room resident Dr. Daniel Hernandez told the San Francisco Chronicle .
President and CEO of Stanford Health David Entwhistle appeared on the scene to say , “ We got it wrong .
Let ’ s get you vaccinated .
We ’ ll correct it.
” The hospital earlier this week had promised to first vaccinate health care workers who “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ and ] are at the highest risk of being exposed to COVID-19 and those who have an elevated risk of complications from the disease.
” But ProPublica reported that the hospital instead used an algorithm to choose the first 5,000 workers to be vaccinated .
The formula failed to include residents not assigned to specific locations in the hospital , which cut out those who rank lower in the hierarchy , but who usually have the closest contact with patients .
“ We take complete responsibility and profusely apologize to all of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staff from hospital officials .
“ We fully recognize we should have acted more swiftly to address the errors that resulted in an outcome we did not anticipate .
We are truly sorry.
” There is an enormous demonstration going on at @ Stanford Hospital right now carried out by staff , who are protesting the decision by higher ups to give vaccines to some administrators and physicians who are at home and not in contact with patients INSTEAD of frontline workers .
pic.twitter.com/WXVkPR46eU — rat king ( @ MikeIsaac ) December 18 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first of more confrontations to come at hospitals and elsewhere as certain people are prioritized for vaccination .

Officials at the Stanford University Medical Center apologized Friday after residents and other health care staff staged a walkout after frontline workers were bumped to the back of the line for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The plan for the first wave of 5,000 vaccinations at the hospital was to leave out all but seven of the Palo Alto hospital’s residents and fellows, many of whom regularly treat COVID-19 patients.
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“First in the room! Back of the line!” protesters shouted on Friday.
“Health-care hero, support is zero,” read a sign.
They accused the hospital of prioritizing vaccines for senior staff and faculty physicians working from home or in specialties far less likely to interact with patients suffering from COVID-19.
In a Thursday letter to hospital officials, residents complained: “Many of us know senior faculty who have worked from home since the pandemic began in March 2020, with no in-person patient responsibilities, who were selected for vaccination. In the meantime, we residents and fellows strap on N95 masks for the tenth month of this pandemic without a transparent and clear plan for our protection in place.”
#Breaking: “First in the room, back of the line.”
Stanford medical residents and nurses protest what they call unfair distribution of #COVID19 vaccines. pic.twitter.com/boDGbKTiBc — scott budman (@scottbudman) December 18, 2020
“We came out here after we learned that only seven out of 1,349 residents were selected for the first wave of vaccinations,” Dr. Charles Marcus, a protesting third-year resident, told NBC News.
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“I’m here because we were promised, multiple times, that we would be vaccinated in the first wave,” emergency room resident Dr. Daniel Hernandez told the San Francisco Chronicle.
President and CEO of Stanford Health David Entwhistle appeared on the scene to say, “We got it wrong. Let’s get you vaccinated. We’ll correct it.”
The hospital earlier this week had promised to first vaccinate health care workers who “provide direct care and service to patients [and] are at the highest risk of being exposed to COVID-19 and those who have an elevated risk of complications from the disease.”
But ProPublica reported that the hospital instead used an algorithm to choose the first 5,000 workers to be vaccinated. The formula failed to include residents not assigned to specific locations in the hospital, which cut out those who rank lower in the hierarchy, but who usually have the closest contact with patients.
“We take complete responsibility and profusely apologize to all of you,” said an email to staff from hospital officials. “We fully recognize we should have acted more swiftly to address the errors that resulted in an outcome we did not anticipate. We are truly sorry.”
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There is an enormous demonstration going on at @Stanford Hospital right now carried out by staff, who are protesting the decision by higher ups to give vaccines to some administrators and physicians who are at home and not in contact with patients INSTEAD of frontline workers. pic.twitter.com/WXVkPR46eU — rat king (@MikeIsaac) December 18, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Fox News' 'Utterly Insane' Lies About COVID-19 Slammed In Searing Supercut

A new online attack ad slams Fox News personalities and guests for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus .
Veteran radio host Chip Franklin warns in the three-minute spot for Really American , an anti-Trump PAC , that the conservative network will end up getting people killed with its falsehoods .
“ That ’ s what a superspreader event looks like .
You know it as Fox News and its viewers can ’ t get enough and some even watch it from their hospital beds as they die from COVID , ” Franklin says in the clip , which includes footage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson , downplaying the threat of COVID-19 and railing against lockdowns and mask mandates aimed at combatting its spread .
“ Look , 40 million people watch these shows and only these shows and follow their edicts about no masks , no distancing , hydroxychloroquine and other utterly insane shit , ” Franklin adds .
“ Then Trump repeats Fox and Fox repeats Trump.
” It ’ s unclear if the ad , which circulated on social media as Fox ’ s Tucker Carlson faced fierce backlash for sowing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on television .
After running multiple spots against President Donald Trump before the election , Really American has since turned to stumping for Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Georgia Senate runoff elections , creating ads criticizing Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler .

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A new online attack ad slams Fox News personalities and guests for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.
Veteran radio host Chip Franklin warns in the three-minute spot for Really American, an anti-Trump PAC, that the conservative network will end up getting people killed with its falsehoods.
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“That’s what a superspreader event looks like. You know it as Fox News and its viewers can’t get enough and some even watch it from their hospital beds as they die from COVID,” Franklin says in the clip, which includes footage of its hosts, including prime-time stars Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, downplaying the threat of COVID-19 and railing against lockdowns and mask mandates aimed at combatting its spread.
“Look, 40 million people watch these shows and only these shows and follow their edicts about no masks, no distancing, hydroxychloroquine and other utterly insane shit,” Franklin adds. “Then Trump repeats Fox and Fox repeats Trump.”
Check out the video here:
It’s unclear if the ad, which circulated on social media as Fox’s Tucker Carlson faced fierce backlash for sowing doubt about COVID-19 vaccines, will air on television.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Brianna Keilar Hits Pearl-Clutching Republicans With A Very Long List Of Trump's Insults

Brianna Keilar on Friday nailed the hypocrisy of Republicans who clutched pearls when a Biden official used an expletive to describe them but staunchly defend President Donald Trump and his egregious behavior .
The host of CNN ’ s “ Newsroom ” recalled how incoming White House deputy chief of staff , Jen O ’ Malley Dillon , in an interview with Glamour magazine this week said people mocked President-elect Joe Biden in the primaries for thinking he could work with Republicans , despite divisions in the country .
“ I ’ m not saying they ’ re not a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Leader ] Mitch McConnell is terrible .
But this sense that you couldn ’ t wish for that , you couldn ’ t wish for this bipartisan ideal ?
He rejected that , ” O ’ Malley Dillon continued .
She later admitted to using “ some words that I probably could have chosen better.
” Keilar called out two Republicans in particular for expressing “ faux outrage ” over O ’ Malley Dillon ’ s comments , Sen. Marco Rubio ( R-Fla. ) and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president .
“ Yes , these folks are outraged that an aide of Joe Biden swore and called Republicans a PG-13 name , which is an odd stance when you consider the language and behavior that they have excused or ignored from President Trump for years , ” said Keilar , who later aired a very long list of derogatory terms used by Trump .

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The incoming White House deputy chief of staff, Jen O’Malley Dillon, recalled in a Dec. 15 interview with Glamour magazine how some people questioned Biden during the Democratic primary for thinking he could work with Republicans, despite the divisions in the country.
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“I’m not saying they’re not a bunch of fuckers. [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldn’t wish for that, you couldn’t wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that,” O’Malley Dillon said. She later admitted to using “some words that I probably could have chosen better.”
On her show, Keilar called out two Republicans in particular for expressing “faux outrage” over O’Malley Dillon’s comments, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
“Yes, these folks are outraged that an aide of Joe Biden swore and called Republicans a PG-13 name, which is an odd stance when you consider the language and behavior that they have excused or ignored from President Trump for years,” said Keilar, before airing a very long list of derogatory terms Trump has used in recent years.
Check out the segment here:


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-18--Kushner Helped Launch Shell Company That Paid Campaign Funds To Trump Family: Report

A campaign shell company created in part by Jared Kushner spent half of President Donald Trump ’ s massive war chest and secretly paid Trump family members and associates , according to a bombshell report in Business Insider Friday .
Lara Trump , the wife of the president ’ s middle son , Eric Trump , was head of the company , and a nephew of Vice President Mike Pence served as its vice president of the company , Business Insider reported .
Kushner , the president ’ s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser , reportedly helped launch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was incorporated in Delaware as American Made Media Consultants Corporation ( AMMC ) and American Made Media Consultants LLC .
Finance records reveal that the president ’ s campaign and its affiliated Trump Make America Great Again Committee with the Republican National Committee spent more than $ 617 million through the company , which purchased ads but also funded the more amorphous tasks of “ digital consulting ” and “ research consulting.
” AMMC has functioned as a “ clearinghouse ” to illegally “ launder ” campaign funds and shield the identities of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center argued in a complaint filed in June with the Federal Election Commission .
The complaint claimed that the Trump campaign “ laundered ” $ 170 million largely through American Made Media — as well as firms owned by Brad Parscale , manager of the president ’ s reelection bid until he was replaced in July — to mask payments to Trump family members , senior Trump campaign staff and advertising vendors .
It referred to significant payments to Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle , the girlfriend of the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jr. HuffPost reported earlier this year that Lara Trump and Guilfoyle were each secretly being paid $ 15,000 a month — $ 180,000 annually — by Parscale through his firms .
But millions of campaign funds that had been cycled through Parscale Strategy were redirected to American Made Media , The New York Times reported .
Campaign staffers were kept in the dark about how funds funneled to AMMC were being spent , sources told the online publication .
Questions emerged late in this year ’ s presidential campaign when ad spots for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in part to a mysterious shortage of funds despite having earlier amassing an enormous war chest .
Bloomberg News reported that the Trump campaign “ burned through half its cash ” in September .
The president ’ s campaign launched an internal audit of spending by the shell company , but the results of the audit were never released , Business Insider reported .
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told Business Insider that Lara Trump and Mike Pence ’ s nephew , John Pence , were not compensated for their work on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last year to “ focus on campaign activities , ” said Murtaugh .
“ There was never any ethical or legal reason why they could not serve on the board in the first place , ” he added .
As for spending , Murtaugh said the campaign “ reports all payments to AMMC as required by the FEC .
The campaign complies with all campaign finance laws and FEC regulations.
” He did not detail how AMMC money was spent .
Trump submitted federal paperwork to run for reelection when he was inaugurated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his campaign began immediately collecting funds .
No other sitting president has begun seeking another term so early in his administration , Business Insider noted .

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A campaign shell company created in part by Jared Kushner spent half of President Donald Trump’s massive war chest and secretly paid Trump family members and associates, according to a bombshell report in Business Insider Friday.
Lara Trump, the wife of the president’s middle son, Eric Trump, was head of the company, and a nephew of Vice President Mike Pence served as its vice president of the company, Business Insider reported.
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Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, reportedly helped launch the company in early 2018. It was incorporated in Delaware as American Made Media Consultants Corporation (AMMC) and American Made Media Consultants LLC.
Finance records reveal that the president’s campaign and its affiliated Trump Make America Great Again Committee with the Republican National Committee spent more than $617 million through the company, which purchased ads but also funded the more amorphous tasks of “digital consulting” and “research consulting.”
AMMC has functioned as a “clearinghouse” to illegally “launder” campaign funds and shield the identities of the ultimate recipients of payments, the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center argued in a complaint filed in June with the Federal Election Commission.
The complaint claimed that the Trump campaign “laundered” $170 million largely through American Made Media — as well as firms owned by Brad Parscale, manager of the president’s reelection bid until he was replaced in July — to mask payments to Trump family members, senior Trump campaign staff and advertising vendors. It referred to significant payments to Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
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HuffPost reported earlier this year that Lara Trump and Guilfoyle were each secretly being paid $15,000 a month — $180,000 annually — by Parscale through his firms. But millions of campaign funds that had been cycled through Parscale Strategy were redirected to American Made Media, The New York Times reported.
Business Insider didn’t specify other family members who may have been paid through AMMC.
Campaign staffers were kept in the dark about how funds funneled to AMMC were being spent, sources told the online publication.
Questions emerged late in this year’s presidential campaign when ad spots for Trump were suddenly canceled, apparently due in part to a mysterious shortage of funds despite having earlier amassing an enormous war chest. Bloomberg News reported that the Trump campaign “burned through half its cash” in September.
The president’s campaign launched an internal audit of spending by the shell company, but the results of the audit were never released, Business Insider reported.
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told Business Insider that Lara Trump and Mike Pence’s nephew, John Pence, were not compensated for their work on the company board. And they left last year to “focus on campaign activities,” said Murtaugh.
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“There was never any ethical or legal reason why they could not serve on the board in the first place,” he added.
He said in a tweet that “no Trump family members were paid by AMMC.”
As for spending, Murtaugh said the campaign “reports all payments to AMMC as required by the FEC. The campaign complies with all campaign finance laws and FEC regulations.” He did not detail how AMMC money was spent.
Kushner could not immediately be reached for comment.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Gretchen Whitmer Rips Trump Administration For 'Slow Walking' Vaccines As People Die

Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer ( D ) slammed the Trump administration on Friday for “ slow walking ” COVID-19 vaccine shipments as the daily death figures from the disease continue to set new marks in the U.S. “ I still can not get a straight answer out of the Trump administration about why Michigan — like many other states — is receiving a fraction of the vaccines that we were slated to receive , ” an emotional Whitmer said at a news conference following the COVID-19 death of Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon .
The county includes Detroit .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ... waiting to be shipped , ” she said .
“ But the feds are slow-walking the process of getting the addresses to Pfizer for some reason I can not get an answer to.
” “ Here ’ s what I would ask if I could get ( HHS officials ) on the phone : Where are our doses ?
What is holding them up ?
When can we expect them ?
” she said .
“ I ’ m angry because this virus is raging on in this country .
And there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keeping us from saving lives and protecting people.
” For Whitmer , who in the pandemic ’ s early stages became a favorite target of President Donald Trump as she ― like many governors ― imposed strict restrictions of business , educational and social activities — it ’ s deja vu all over again .
She battled in vain with the Trump administration to obtain critically needed ventilators and protective gear for health-care workers .
When she finally took it upon herself to go after supplies , she was told by medical vendors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration officials — to not deal with her .
Vaccine manufacturer Pfizer issued a statement Thursday that the company has “ millions ” of vaccine doses simply sitting in warehouses awaiting shipment orders from the federal government .
Company officials were reportedly “ baffled ” nothing was being done to move the vaccines out the door as quickly as possible .
The company has already shipped out 2.9 million doses and is fully prepared to ship out millions more .
Yet states clamoring for the vaccine were suddenly informed by federal authorities earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cut roughly in half for some mysterious reason .
An HHS spokesperson told The Detroit Free Press in an email Friday that “ there was some confusion ” about the number of doses that would actually be shipped to states .
“ We are working on clearing up any misunderstanding with the governors and jurisdictions , ” the spokesperson said .
Millions of extra vaccine doses should be ready to ship soon since the Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted an emergency use authorization for a second vaccine — by Moderna .

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) slammed the Trump administration on Friday for “slow walking” COVID-19 vaccine shipments as the daily death figures from the disease continue to set new marks in the U.S.
“I still cannot get a straight answer out of the Trump administration about why Michigan — like many other states — is receiving a fraction of the vaccines that we were slated to receive,” an emotional Whitmer said at a news conference following the COVID-19 death of Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon. The county includes Detroit.
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“There are millions of Pfizer vaccines ... waiting to be shipped,” she said. “But the feds are slow-walking the process of getting the addresses to Pfizer for some reason I cannot get an answer to.”
The “bottleneck appears to be the White House,” Whitmer added.
Michigan health authorities were informed by federal authorities that their promised allotment of 84,000 vaccine doses next week are being cut to 60,000, a 29% reduction.
Whitmer said she had a call into Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar (whose wife, he revealed this week, has COVID-19).
“Here’s what I would ask if I could get (HHS officials) on the phone: Where are our doses? What is holding them up? When can we expect them?” she said. “I’m angry because this virus is raging on in this country. And there is either corruption or ineptitude that is keeping us from saving lives and protecting people.”
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For Whitmer, who in the pandemic’s early stages became a favorite target of President Donald Trump as she ― like many governors ― imposed strict restrictions of business, educational and social activities — it’s deja vu all over again. She battled in vain with the Trump administration to obtain critically needed ventilators and protective gear for health-care workers. When she finally took it upon herself to go after supplies, she was told by medical vendors that they were instructed — apparently by administration officials — to not deal with her.
Vaccine manufacturer Pfizer issued a statement Thursday that the company has “millions” of vaccine doses simply sitting in warehouses awaiting shipment orders from the federal government. Company officials were reportedly “baffled” nothing was being done to move the vaccines out the door as quickly as possible. The company has already shipped out 2.9 million doses and is fully prepared to ship out millions more.
Yet states clamoring for the vaccine were suddenly informed by federal authorities earlier this week that expected shipments would be cut roughly in half for some mysterious reason.
Administration officials have given different reasons for the cutback, including blaming the states for demanding “expedited” delivery.
An HHS spokesperson told The Detroit Free Press in an email Friday that “there was some confusion” about the number of doses that would actually be shipped to states. “We are working on clearing up any misunderstanding with the governors and jurisdictions,” the spokesperson said.
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Millions of extra vaccine doses should be ready to ship soon since the Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted an emergency use authorization for a second vaccine — by Moderna.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Spain's Parliament Votes To Legalize Euthanasia

MADRID ( AP ) — Spain ’ s parliament voted Thursday to approve a bill that will allow physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia for long-suffering patients of incurable diseases or unbearable permanent conditions .
The bill , which was backed by Spain ’ s left-wing coalition government and several other parties , passed in a 198-138 vote .
The conservative Popular Party and the far-right Vox party voted “ No.
” The bill will now continue its legislative journey , facing a vote in the Senate where it is also expected to pass .
According to the draft of the law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won ’ t go into effect until three months after being published in the government gazette .
Spain is following the footsteps of Iberian Peninsula neighbor Portugal , whose parliament approved similar bills to legalize physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in February .
Those bills have yet to become law and could yet face resistance from Portugal ’ s president .
In some U.S. states , medically-assisted suicide — where patients administer the lethal drug themselves , under medical supervision — is permitted .
A small group of people gathered outside Madrid ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with skulls and crossbones to protest the bill .
Groups that support legislation to legalize medically assisted suicide planned rallies in cities across the country to celebrate the passing of the bill .
The law will allow health professionals , both public and private , to assist patients who express their wish to die rather than continue suffering “ a serious and incurable disease ” or from a “ debilitating and chronic condition ” the person considers “ unbearable.
” Patients must ask to die on four different occasions during the process , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The first two requests must be in writing and submitted over two weeks apart .
The patient must reaffirm that request a third time after consulting with a doctor and a fourth time just before undergoing the procedure to end his or her life .
The process must be overseen by a medical team led by a physician and another doctor who acts as an external supervisor .
An oversight board in each region must approve requests .
The person asking to exercise his or her right to die must be a Spanish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and able to make rational decisions .
The law will also allow any medical worker to refuse to participate on grounds of belief .

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s parliament voted Thursday to approve a bill that will allow physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia for long-suffering patients of incurable diseases or unbearable permanent conditions.
The bill, which was backed by Spain’s left-wing coalition government and several other parties, passed in a 198-138 vote. The conservative Popular Party and the far-right Vox party voted “No.”
The bill will now continue its legislative journey, facing a vote in the Senate where it is also expected to pass. According to the draft of the law approved by the lower house, it won’t go into effect until three months after being published in the government gazette.
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“As a society, we cannot remain impassive when faced with the intolerable pain that many people suffer,” Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa told lawmakers.
Spain is following the footsteps of Iberian Peninsula neighbor Portugal, whose parliament approved similar bills to legalize physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in February. Those bills have yet to become law and could yet face resistance from Portugal’s president.
Euthanasia — when a doctor directly administers fatal drugs to a patient — is legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
In some U.S. states, medically-assisted suicide — where patients administer the lethal drug themselves, under medical supervision — is permitted.
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A small group of people gathered outside Madrid’s lower house of parliament waving black flags with skulls and crossbones to protest the bill. Groups that support legislation to legalize medically assisted suicide planned rallies in cities across the country to celebrate the passing of the bill.
The law will allow health professionals, both public and private, to assist patients who express their wish to die rather than continue suffering “a serious and incurable disease” or from a “debilitating and chronic condition” the person considers “unbearable.”
Patients must ask to die on four different occasions during the process, which can last over a month. The first two requests must be in writing and submitted over two weeks apart. The patient must reaffirm that request a third time after consulting with a doctor and a fourth time just before undergoing the procedure to end his or her life.
The process must be overseen by a medical team led by a physician and another doctor who acts as an external supervisor. An oversight board in each region must approve requests. The person asking to exercise his or her right to die must be a Spanish citizen or resident, of adult age, and able to make rational decisions.
The law will also allow any medical worker to refuse to participate on grounds of belief.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Ohio Quietly Passes A Bill That Could Bankrupt Churches Linked To Fossil Fuel Protests

JIM WATSON via Getty Images A scene from protests in 2016 at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation against the Dakota Access Pipeline .
Those demonstrations sparked a series of anti-protest bills .
By then , the state Senate had already passed the proposal , known as SB-33 .
At House hearings that lasted until early 2020 , however , some 171 opponents testified against the effort they said risked chilling free speech and preventing the faithful from exercising their spiritual duties at a moment when scientists credibly argue that new fossil fuel projects doom humanity to hellish global warming .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ bill .
The proposal is part of a wave of anti-protest bills that began surfacing in state legislatures in 2017 but picked up steam as the COVID-19 pandemic reached its initial peak .
The bills follow a model .
They designate virtually any oil , gas , coal or plastics facilities as “ critical infrastructure , ” a status normally afforded to dams and nuclear reactors .
Then they ramp up criminal penalties for commonplace protest tactics , such as blocking a roadway , tethering oneself to equipment , or even just holding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ property .
Under Ohio ’ s legislation , anyone convicted of stepping foot on critical infrastructure property and “ causing another person to believe that the offender will cause physical harm ” would be guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor , a class of crime that includes domestic violence and drunk driving and is punishable with up to six months in jail and $ 1,000 in fines .
Those who trespass “ with purpose to destroy or tamper with the facility ” face third-degree felony charges , which in Ohio can result in up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10,000 in fines .
( The bill itself does not set minimum penalties . )
Any organizations that “ knowingly direct , authorize , facilitate , or encourage a person to commit any of the following offenses or provide compensation to a person for committing any of the following offenses ” can be “ punished with a fine that is ten times the maximum fine that can be imposed on an individual.
” Companies that operate critical infrastructure could then sue those same organizations in civil court , too .
“ The fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some tiny little church in the middle of Appalachia that ’ s trying to protect its people from pollution really pisses me off , which I realize is not very theological language , ” said Rev .
Joan VanBecelaere , the network ’ s executive director .
“ But this is not just protest , it ’ s a public witness of who we are as faithful people.
” Some 40 states have introduced parallel legislation over the past four years .
If DeWine signs the bill , Ohio would be the 14th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Roughly half a dozen have been enacted since March in states that include Mississippi , South Dakota and West Virginia .
Militarized police and private security forces brutalized environmentalists and Indigenous activists who camped out at the site of the proposed oil pipeline , injuring at least 300 unarmed protesters in one day , including one woman who nearly lost her arm .
The heavily armed security forces reported no such injuries .
Only one example actually involved environmentalists .
During the Dakota Access fight , activists clipped the locks on fenced-in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Midwest and turned the valves closed , briefly stopping the flow of oil to refineries .
The demonstrators were arrested and charged under existing laws .
The other five examples had nothing to do with environmental concerns , and were instead loosely bound by mental illness or workplace grievance .
Hoagland himself appears to have a stake in the bill .
He owns two consultancies ― 360 Safe Solutions and Special Tactics And Rescue Training ― that provide private security services to fossil fuel companies and advertise a “ particular expertise in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” The potential benefit prompted calls for Hoagland to take “ a basic , conflict-of-interest-avoidance pledge ” to “ never accept contracts to work a security detail at protests involving ‘ critical infrastructure.
’ ” “ We didn ’ t even have 12 hours notice that they were going to vote on this bill , ” she said .
“ And we can ’ t go to the statehouse because those jerks don ’ t wear masks .
They ’ ve got two reps in the hospital now with the virus , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can ’ t have our voices heard at the statehouse .
”

A scene from protests in 2016 at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Those demonstrations sparked a series of anti-protest bills. JIM WATSON via Getty Images
Ohio lawmakers faced fierce blowback last winter over a bill that would escalate criminal charges on fossil fuel protesters and threaten religious organizations or nonprofits that support such demonstrations with crushing fines.
By then, the state Senate had already passed the proposal, known as SB-33. At House hearings that lasted until early 2020, however, some 171 opponents testified against the effort they said risked chilling free speech and preventing the faithful from exercising their spiritual duties at a moment when scientists credibly argue that new fossil fuel projects doom humanity to hellish global warming. Just nine spoke in favor of the bill.
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For nearly a year, the bill sat dormant. But this week, on the state Legislature’s final day, House lawmakers quietly passed it. The measure is expected to reach Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk on Monday.
“They’re just cowards, plain and simple cowards,” Teresa Mills, executive director of the nonprofit Buckeye Environmental Network, said by phone Friday night. “Shame on them.”
State Sen. Frank Hoagland, the Republican who sponsored the bill, did not return a call or email requesting comment on Friday.
The proposal is part of a wave of anti-protest bills that began surfacing in state legislatures in 2017 but picked up steam as the COVID-19 pandemic reached its initial peak. The bills follow a model. They designate virtually any oil, gas, coal or plastics facilities as “critical infrastructure,” a status normally afforded to dams and nuclear reactors. Then they ramp up criminal penalties for commonplace protest tactics, such as blocking a roadway, tethering oneself to equipment, or even just holding a demonstration near a company’s property.
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Offenses that were once minor misdemeanors are reclassified as more severe crimes, in some cases felonies. Fines for the offenses can soar into the tens of thousands of dollars and convictions can sometimes carry jail sentences.
Ohio state Sen. Frank Hoagland, the Republican who authored legislation that aims to crack down on fossil fuel-related protests, owns two consultancies that provide private security services to oil and gas companies. Sen. Frank Hoagland
Under Ohio’s legislation, anyone convicted of stepping foot on critical infrastructure property and “causing another person to believe that the offender will cause physical harm” would be guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor, a class of crime that includes domestic violence and drunk driving and is punishable with up to six months in jail and $1,000 in fines. Those who trespass “with purpose to destroy or tamper with the facility” face third-degree felony charges, which in Ohio can result in up to five years in jail and $10,000 in fines. (The bill itself does not set minimum penalties.)
Any organizations that “knowingly direct, authorize, facilitate, or encourage a person to commit any of the following offenses or provide compensation to a person for committing any of the following offenses” can be “punished with a fine that is ten times the maximum fine that can be imposed on an individual.” Companies that operate critical infrastructure could then sue those same organizations in civil court, too.
Such penalties could bankrupt congregations like those in the Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio, a network of churches that opposed the bill.
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“The fact that this could have an impact on some tiny little church in the middle of Appalachia that’s trying to protect its people from pollution really pisses me off, which I realize is not very theological language,” said Rev. Joan VanBecelaere, the church network’s executive director. “But this is not just protest, it’s a public witness of who we are as faithful people.”
Some 40 states have introduced parallel legislation over the past four years. If DeWine signs the bill, Ohio would be the 14th state to pass the measures into law. Roughly half a dozen have been enacted since March in states that include Mississippi, South Dakota and West Virginia.
The bills’ similarities are no coincidence. In 2017, the American Legislative Exchange Council — the right-wing policy shop funded by big business and billionaires — began promoting a generic version of the bill in response to the protests to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline under a water source Native Americans held sacred.
Militarized police and private security forces brutalized environmentalists and Indigenous activists who camped out at the site of the proposed oil pipeline, injuring at least 300 unarmed protesters in one day, including one woman who nearly lost her arm. The heavily armed security forces reported no such injuries.
The bill’s proponents, though, cited the risk of violence by protesters as a need for the legislation. In a December 2017 letter urging state legislators to champion the proposal, five energy trade groups and a big oil company listed six examples of threats environmentalists posed to so-called critical infrastructure.
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Only one example actually involved environmentalists. During the Dakota Access fight, activists clipped the locks on fenced-in portions of a connected oil pipeline in the Midwest and turned the valves closed, briefly stopping the flow of oil to refineries. The demonstrators were arrested and charged under existing laws. The other five examples had nothing to do with environmental concerns, and were instead loosely bound by mental illness or workplace grievance.
“It’s pretty cynical for these dirty-energy companies to let the bill idle for almost a year before handing out felonies for Christmas.” - Connor Gibson, a researcher who tracks critical infrastructure legislation
Many of the same corporate actors that pressed for similar bills in other states lobbied on SB-33, disclosures show, though the records do not indicate the position companies and trade groups took.
Between January 2019 and August 2020, companies including Duke Energy, Marathon Petroleum, Exxon Mobil Corp. and TransCanada, as well as trade groups including the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and American Chemistry Council registered to lobby on SB-33, according to disclosures analyzed by Connor Gibson, a freelance researcher who tracks critical infrastructure legislation.
Between 2018 and 2019, lobbyists whose clients included fossil fuel giant Koch Industries and Americans for Prosperity, the political group funded and controlled by Koch executives, met with Hoagland, according to emails the watchdog group Documented obtained via Ohio public records requests.
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Hoagland himself appears to have a stake in the bill. He owns two consultancies ― 360 Safe Solutions and Special Tactics And Rescue Training ― that provide private security services to fossil fuel companies and advertise a “particular expertise in threats to the oil and gas industry.” The potential benefit prompted calls for Hoagland to take “a basic, conflict-of-interest-avoidance pledge” to “never accept contracts to work a security detail at protests involving ‘critical infrastructure.’”
It’s unclear whether Hoagland even considered such a pledge, particularly in the 11 months that passed without any movement on the bill.
“It’s pretty cynical for these dirty-energy companies to let the bill idle for almost a year before handing out felonies for Christmas,” Gibson said.
Mills said she and others opposing the bill only learned that legislators had taken it up again because a lawmaker who opposed the legislation called her hours before.
“We didn’t even have 12 hours notice that they were going to vote on this bill,” she said. “And we can’t go to the statehouse because those jerks don’t wear masks. They’ve got two reps in the hospital now with the virus, so we can’t go and we can’t have our voices heard at the statehouse.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Mike Pompeo: ‘Pretty Clearly’ Russians Behind Mass Government Cyberattack

Experts say there simply are not enough skilled threat-hunting teams to duly identify all the government and private-sector systems that may have been hacked .
FireEye , the cybersecurity company that discovered the intrusion into U.S. agencies and was among the victims , has already tallied dozens of casualties .
It ’ s racing to identify more .
Imagine a computer network as a mansion you inhabit , and you are certain a serial killer has been there .
“ You don ’ t know if he ’ s gone .
How do you get work done ?
You kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he said .
Morgenstern said earlier that disclosing such details only helps U.S. adversaries .
President Donald Trump has not commented publicly on the matter , but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on a conservative talk show Friday , “ I think it ’ s the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity.
” Only a sliver of those infections were activated to allow hackers inside .
FireEye says it has identified dozens of examples , all “ high-value targets.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , says it has identified more than 40 government agencies , think tanks , government contractors , non-governmental organizations and technology companies infiltrated by the hackers , 75 % in the United States .
Security teams then have to assume that the patient is still sick with undetected so-called “ secondary infections ” and set up the cyber equivalent of closed-circuit monitoring to make sure the intruders are not still around , sneaking out internal emails and other sensitive data .
If the hackers are indeed from Russia ’ s SVR foreign intelligence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resistance may be tenacious .
When they hacked the White House , the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department in 2014 and 2015 “ it was a nightmare to get them out , ” Alperovitch said .
Rob Knake , the White House cybersecurity director from 2011 to 2015 , said the harm to the most critical agencies in the U.S. government — defense and intelligence , chiefly — from the SolarWinds hacking campaign is going to be limited “ as long as there is no evidence that the Russians breached @ @ @ @

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Russia was “pretty clearly” behind the grave cyberattack against the United States, the first administration official to publicly tie the Kremlin to the widespread intrusion at a time when President Donald Trump has kept silent on the failure to protect government and private-sector computer networks.
It’s not clear exactly what the hackers were seeking, but experts say it could include nuclear secrets, blueprints for advanced weaponry, COVID-19 vaccine-related research, and information for dossiers on key government and industry leaders.
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“We’re still unpacking precisely what it is, and I’m sure some of it will remain classified,” Pompeo said in an interview late Friday with radio talk show host Mark Levin. “But suffice it to say there was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside of U.S. government systems and it now appears systems of private companies and companies and governments across the world as well. This was a very significant effort, and I think it’s the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity.”
Russia has said it had “nothing to do” with the hacking.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on a conservative talk show Friday, “I think it’s the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity." ASSOCIATED PRESS
Deputy White House press secretary Brian Morgenstern told reporters Friday that national security adviser Robert O’Brien has sometimes been leading multiple daily meetings with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence agencies, looking for ways to mitigate the hack.
He would not provide details, “but rest assured we have the best and brightest working hard on it each and every single day.”
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The Democratic leaders of four House committees given classified briefings by the administration on the hack issued a statement complaining that they “were left with more questions than answers.”
“Administration officials were unwilling to share the full scope of the breach and identities of the victims,” they said.
President Donald Trump has not commented publicly on the matter. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pompeo, in the interview with Levin, said Russia was on the list of “folks that want to undermine our way of life, our republic, our basic democratic principles. ... You see the news of the day with respect to their efforts in the cyberspace. We’ve seen this for an awfully long time, using asymmetric capabilities to try and put themselves in a place where they can impose costs on the United States.”
What makes this hacking campaign so extraordinary is its scale: 18,000 organizations were infected from March to June by malicious code that piggybacked on popular network-management software from an Austin, Texas, company called SolarWinds.
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It’s going to take months to kick elite hackers out of the U.S. government networks they have been quietly rifling through since as far back as March.
Experts say there simply are not enough skilled threat-hunting teams to duly identify all the government and private-sector systems that may have been hacked. FireEye, the cybersecurity company that discovered the intrusion into U.S. agencies and was among the victims, has already tallied dozens of casualties. It’s racing to identify more.
Florida became the first state to acknowledge falling victim to a SolarWinds hack. towfiqu ahamed via Getty Images
Many federal workers — and others in the private sector — must presume that unclassified networks are teeming with spies. Agencies will be more inclined to conduct sensitive government business on Signal, WhatsApp and other encrypted smartphone apps.
“We should buckle up. This will be a long ride,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and former chief technical officer of the leading cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. “Cleanup is just phase one.”
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The only way to be sure a network is clean is “to burn it down to the ground and rebuild it,” Schneier said.
Florida became the first state to acknowledge falling victim to a SolarWinds hack. Officials told The Associated Press that hackers apparently infiltrated the state’s health care administration agency and others.
SolarWinds’ customers include most Fortune 500 companies, and it’s U.S. government clients are rich with generals and spymasters.
If the hackers are indeed from Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency, as experts believe, their resistance may be tenacious. When they hacked the White House, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the State Department in 2014 and 2015 “it was a nightmare to get them out,” Alperovitch said.
The Pentagon has said it has so far not detected any intrusions from the SolarWinds campaign in any of its networks — classified or unclassified.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Desi Lydic Video Calls Her Fox News 'Family' For Christmas And It Does Not Go Well

Desi Lydic gave her “ family ” members at Fox News another shot at behaving themselves on a spoof video @ @ @ @ @ just as when “ The Daily Show ” correspondent “ called ” them in a @ @ @ @ @ that aired last month , their latest conversation soon turned to conspiracy theories and the @ @ @ @ @ further awry when Fox personality Jeanine Pirro joined the call .
Lydic had no option @ @ @ @ @ all .
Check out the video here : Important conversations are happening now .
Add @ @ @ @ @ Today !

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thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--‘Daily Show’ Yule Log Is One Long Fiery Troll Of Donald Trump

President Donald Trump ’ s election loss is replayed over and over again in this parody online Yule Log released @ @ @ @ @ with Trevor Noah ” on Friday : “ Full Frontal with Samantha Bee , ” @ @ @ @ @ Log with the whole room on fire “ that really summarizes all of our feelings @ @ @ @ @ its description on YouTube .
And “ Jimmy Kimmel Live !
” remembered pre-coronavirus pandemic @ @ @ @ @ log of people not having to social distance : Important conversations are happening now .
@ @ @ @ @ HuffPost Today !


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Biden Defeats Trump Once Again In Colbert’s ’Twas The Coup Before Christmas’

President-elect Joe Biden teams up with Santa Claus to save Christmas from President Donald Trump in a new animated short @ @ @ @ @ s broadcast of “ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
” In the 7-minute film @ @ @ @ @ Before Christmas , ” Biden visits Santa and asks him to grant him his wish @ @ @ @ @ the divisive presidency of his predecessor .
But Trump , his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani @ @ @ @ @ McConnell ( R-Ky. ) are hellbent on proving the election was stolen from Trump ― @ @ @ @ @ in real life .
Trump and his backers in the video allege that trillions of @ @ @ @ @ hidden inside Santa ’ s sack .
But Trump ’ snarcissism ultimately leads to his @ @ @ @ @ the sack for his own gain .
Check out the full video here : Important @ @ @ @ @ Add your voice !
Join HuffPost Today !

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President-elect Joe Biden teams up with Santa Claus to save Christmas from President Donald Trump in a new animated short that aired on Friday’s broadcast of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
In the seven-minute skit called “Twas The Coup Before Christmas,” Biden visits Santa and asks him to grant his wish of unifying the country following the divisive presidency of his predecessor.
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But Trump, his attorney Rudy Giuliani and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are hellbent on proving the election was stolen from Trump ― which, in real life, is a claim Trump continues to make.
Trump and his backers in the video allege that trillions of ballots for him are actually hidden inside Santa’s sack. But Trump’s narcissism ultimately leads to his own downfall when he opens the sack for his own gain.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--California Hospitals Struggling As Coronavirus Cases Explode

As of Friday , nearly 17,000 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections — more than double the previous peak reached in July — and a state model that uses current data to forecast future trends shows the number could reach an unfathomable 75,000 by mid-January .
Corona Regional Medical Center southeast of Los Angeles has converted an old emergency room to help handle nearly double the usual number of ICU patients .
It ’ s using space in two disaster tents to triage ER patients because the emergency room is filled with patients who need to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medical evaluation next to medical tents set at the CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles Friday , Dec. 18 , 2020 .
Increasingly desperate California hospitals are being `` crushed '' by soaring coronavirus infections , with one Los Angeles emergency doctor predicting that rationing of care is imminent .
The most populous state recorded more than 41,000 new confirmed cases and 300 deaths , both among the highest single-day totals during the pandemic .
In the last week , California has reported more than a quarter-million cases and 1,500 deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hard-hit Fresno County in Central California , a new 50-bed alternate care site opened Friday near the community Regional Medical Center .
The beds for COVID-19-negative patients will free up space in area hospitals , where just 13 of some 150 ICU beds were available Friday , said Dan Lynch , the county ’ s emergency medical services director .
Fresno and three neighboring counties also have taken the unprecedented step of sending paramedics on emergency calls to evaluate people .
They won ’ t be taken to the emergency room if they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or wait a few days to talk to their doctors , Lynch said .
“ I ’ m not going to sugarcoat this .
We are getting crushed , ” said Dr. Brad Spellberg , chief medical officer at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center , which has more than 600 beds and is one of the largest hospitals in the county .
“ We do still have physical beds available , but we need staff to take care of patients .
It doesn ’ t do a whole lot of good to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care of you , ” Dr. Amy Herold , chief medical officer for Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa , told the San Francisco Chronicle .
“ People are working overtime over and over again and they are exhausted and it is just getting worse.
” John Chapman , president and chief executive at San Antonio Regional Hospital in Upland , said telemetry nurses who monitor vital signs of patients should be overseeing no more than four people , but they could wind up taking on five or six because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rooms already have been using outdoor tents to make more space , said Dr. Marc Futernick , an emergency room physician in Los Angeles who is on the board of the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians .
One hospital that has maxed out its outdoor overflow tent is expanding into a nearby gym , he said .
As of Friday , the nation ’ s most populous state recorded more than 41,000 new confirmed cases and 300 deaths , both among the highest single-day totals during the pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported more than a quarter-million cases and 1,500 deaths .

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — California hospitals are battling to find beds to house patients amid fears that the exploding coronavirus infection rate will exhaust resources and health care workers.
As of Friday, nearly 17,000 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections — more than double the previous peak reached in July — and a state model that uses current data to forecast future trends shows the number could reach an unfathomable 75,000 by mid-January.
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More than 3,500 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units.
Some areas of California are “just right at that cusp of getting overrun,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious-disease expert, said during an event organized by the California State University system.
Corona Regional Medical Center southeast of Los Angeles has converted an old emergency room to help handle nearly double the usual number of ICU patients. It’s using space in two disaster tents to triage ER patients because the emergency room is filled with patients who need to be hospitalized.
Ambulances can sit for two hours unless they are bringing in patients with critical, life-or-death emergencies.
“There’s no room at the inn, so to speak,” hospital chief executive Mark Uffer said. “Literally every nook and cranny of the hospital is being used.”
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It’s a scene playing out across California. According to state data Friday, all of Southern California and the 12-county San Joaquin Valley to the north had exhausted their regular intensive care unit capacity and some hospitals have begun using “surge” space.
Patients wait in line for medical evaluation next to medical tents set at the CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. Increasingly desperate California hospitals are being "crushed" by soaring coronavirus infections, with one Los Angeles emergency doctor predicting that rationing of care is imminent. The most populous state recorded more than 41,000 new confirmed cases and 300 deaths, both among the highest single-day totals during the pandemic. In the last week, California has reported more than a quarter-million cases and 1,500 deaths. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) ASSOCIATED PRESS
In hard-hit Fresno County in Central California, a new 50-bed alternate care site opened Friday near the community Regional Medical Center. The beds for COVID-19-negative patients will free up space in area hospitals, where just 13 of some 150 ICU beds were available Friday, said Dan Lynch, the county’s emergency medical services director.
Lynch said he expects they will have to use the Fresno Convention Center, which can accommodate up to 250 patients, given current demand.
Fresno and three neighboring counties also have taken the unprecedented step of sending paramedics on emergency calls to evaluate people. They won’t be taken to the emergency room if they could go to an urgent care facility or wait a few days to talk to their doctors, Lynch said.
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Some hospitals have canceled non-essential elective surgeries, such as hip replacements, that might require beds that may soon be needed for COVID-19 patients. Others are increasing staff hours or moving patients to free up space.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat this. We are getting crushed,” said Dr. Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, which has more than 600 beds and is one of the largest hospitals in the county.
Spellberg said every day at his hospital for the last week has begun with no available intensive care beds and a scramble to find room in spaces that don’t usually handle critical patients, like post-surgery recovery areas.
“And it isn’t just COVID patients,” he said. “It’s car accidents and heart attacks and victims of violence. They need a place to go to receive critical care.”
The ever-increasing demand may be straining human resources as well.
“We do still have physical beds available, but we need staff to take care of patients. It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to be sitting in a bed with nobody taking care of you,” Dr. Amy Herold, chief medical officer for Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “People are working overtime over and over again and they are exhausted and it is just getting worse.”
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John Chapman, president and chief executive at San Antonio Regional Hospital in Upland, said telemetry nurses who monitor vital signs of patients should be overseeing no more than four people, but they could wind up taking on five or six because of the crush of cases.
“It definitely increases the risk of something going wrong,” he said.
Many emergency rooms already have been using outdoor tents to make more space, said Dr. Marc Futernick, an emergency room physician in Los Angeles who is on the board of the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. One hospital that has maxed out its outdoor overflow tent is expanding into a nearby gym, he said.
Yet coronavirus cases have not reached their peak in this third and most devastating wave, and that means more drastic measures are on the horizon.
Rationing of care “is right around the corner,” Futernick said. “There’s no feasible way for this to be avoided. The numbers are too big.”
As of Friday, the nation’s most populous state recorded more than 41,000 new confirmed cases and 300 deaths, both among the highest single-day totals during the pandemic. In the last week, California has reported more than a quarter-million cases and 1,500 deaths.
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California has begun receiving new COVID-19 vaccines. But the available doses are too scanty and too late to have any immediate impact on the soaring infection rate.
The latest explosion of cases has been tied to people ignoring social-distancing rules during the Thanksgiving holiday. Health care officials and workers expressed frustration that many people aren’t following state-mandated safety rules designed to slow that rate.
“Whatever’s coming, I don’t think any of us are going to be able to manage it,” Uffer said. “You have a dam that’s about to break, and you’ve got to stop putting water into the dam.”
If people don’t curtail upcoming holiday travels and get-togethers, the state could see a “surge upon a surge,” Fauci said.
“I am fearful it will be worse than what we saw in New York,” Futernick said. “When New York’s hospitals became overwhelmed, health care providers poured in from around the country.”
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“None of that is happening right now, and there’s no way for it to happen because every place is busy,” Futernick said. “There’s no cavalry coming.”
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--United Airlines Passenger With Possible COVID-19 Symptoms Dies After Inflight Emergency

United Airlines , together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , are attempting to contact passengers of a recent Orlando-to-Los Angeles flight to warn them of potential exposure to the coronavirus following the death of a man who ’ d been on board .
The man may have been experiencing coronavirus symptoms before his passing , the airline said .
The man , who has not been publicly identified , suffered a “ medical emergency ” on the Monday flight , United Airlines said in a statement .
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed on the man as the plane @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported , citing eyewitness accounts .
Once there , the sick passenger was rushed to the hospital , where he was pronounced dead .
Passenger Shay Allen told NBC Los Angeles that she saw the man board the plane with his “ head down ” and “ breathing really heavy.
” Allen told the station that she later overheard the man ’ s wife admit that he ’ d been experiencing COVID-19 symptoms prior to the flight .
Other passengers reported hearing the same thing .
United said in a statement that at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ believed the man had suffered a cardiac arrest and the airline was not aware of his alleged COVID-19 symptoms .
Passengers were therefore “ given the option to take a later flight or continue on with their travel plans ” on the same flight , the airline said .
All passengers chose to remain on the jet , CNN reported .
A United spokeswoman said the man had declared in a pre-flight checklist that he ’ d not been diagnosed with COVID-19 and did not have any virus symptoms .
But , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apparent he wrongly acknowledged this requirement.
” She stressed that medical professionals did not diagnose the man with COVID-19 at the time of the medical emergency .
It remains unclear whether the man tested positive for the virus .
Nonetheless , United and the CDC said they ’ re working to reach out to passengers who may have been exposed to COVID-19 .
The CDC said in a statement that they are in the “ process of collecting information and proceeding according to our standard operating procedures to determine if further public health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to avoid travel “ if they have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have COVID-related symptoms.
” “ If in doubt , the best option is to get tested , ” the airline said .

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United Airlines, together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are attempting to contact passengers of a recent Orlando-to-Los Angeles flight to warn them of potential exposure to the coronavirus following the death of a man who’d been on board. The man may have been experiencing coronavirus symptoms before his passing, the airline said.
The man, who has not been publicly identified, suffered a “medical emergency” on the Monday flight, United Airlines said in a statement.
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Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed on the man as the plane was diverted to New Orleans, TMZ reported, citing eyewitness accounts. Once there, the sick passenger was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Passenger Shay Allen told NBC Los Angeles that she saw the man board the plane with his “head down” and “breathing really heavy.”
Allen told the station that she later overheard the man’s wife admit that he’d been experiencing COVID-19 symptoms prior to the flight. Other passengers reported hearing the same thing.
“Everything felt so intense and not real,” Allen said of the experience.
United said in a statement that at the time of the diversion, it believed the man had suffered a cardiac arrest and the airline was not aware of his alleged COVID-19 symptoms. Passengers were therefore “given the option to take a later flight or continue on with their travel plans” on the same flight, the airline said. All passengers chose to remain on the jet, CNN reported.
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A United spokeswoman said the man had declared in a pre-flight checklist that he’d not been diagnosed with COVID-19 and did not have any virus symptoms. But, the spokeswoman told CNN, “it is apparent he wrongly acknowledged this requirement.”
She stressed that medical professionals did not diagnose the man with COVID-19 at the time of the medical emergency. It remains unclear whether the man tested positive for the virus.
Nonetheless, United and the CDC said they’re working to reach out to passengers who may have been exposed to COVID-19.
The CDC said in a statement that it is in the “process of collecting information and proceeding according to our standard operating procedures to determine if further public health action is appropriate.”
United urged passengers to avoid travel “if they have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have COVID-related symptoms.”
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Tight Supplies For Coronavirus Protective Gear Cost States Billions

The data , obtained through open-records requests , is the most comprehensive accounting to date of how much states were buying , what they were spending and whom they were paying during a chaotic spring when inadequate national stockpiles left state governments scrambling for hard-to-get supplies .
Much of the buying happened outside normal competitive bidding procedures , and in many states a lack of transparency from governors ’ administrations made it difficult for the public — and even lawmakers — to see how taxpayer money was being spent .
The spending data covers the period from the emergence of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the start of summer .
Some governors described the early personal protective equipment marketplace as the Wild West , where supplies often went to the highest bidder , even if they had already been promised to someone else .
States set up their own fraud tests , rejecting masks that failed to meet safety specifications or lacked medical labeling .
In some states , normal recordkeeping went by the wayside .
Idaho didn ’ t initially itemize how much it paid for each mask and glove ordered from each supplier .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buyers were preoccupied with trying to buy large quantities as quickly as possible against hundreds of competitors — all while working from home because of the pandemic , said J.P. Brady , senior buyer for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare .
During the first quarter of 2020 , when China was in lockdown , BYD reported a 35 % decline in operating income .
That ’ s when company Chairman Wang Chuanfu decided to begin making masks and sanitizer .
BYD ’ s income rebounded to post a 12 % gain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Its stock price surged from $ 5 a share in January to more than $ 20 this fall , although it ’ s unclear how much of that is attributable to new protective equipment production versus its sales of electric vehicles and other products .
Many of the companies in the AP ’ s data set are not publicly traded and thus can keep their financial figures private .
For example , one of the largest deals is California ’ s $ 179 million order of 20 million gowns from BuKo LLC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bare-bones website that describes it as “ a brand and product development think tank.
” Few other details are available about the company .

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Ray Bellia had a good business before the coronavirus pandemic. He topped $4 million in annual sales from his New Hampshire store that specialized in protective gear for police.
Then he got a call from a buyer with the state of Massachusetts asking if he had anything that could protect people from COVID-19. As it happened, he did. He went on to sell the state 300,000 disposable masks for 97 cents each.
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“From that point on, it’s been just insanity,” Bellia said.
Masks. Gowns. Gloves. Goggles. Sanitizer. Coveralls. Thermometers. Bellia has sold it all, and not just to Massachusetts. From Maine to Hawaii, numerous other states, counties, cities, colleges and schools have lined up to buy from him.
While countless other businesses tanked amid coronavirus shutdowns, Bellia’s store — Body Armor Outlet — rapidly evolved into one of the nation’s 20 largest suppliers of personal protective equipment to states this past spring, according to a nationwide analysis of state purchasing data by The Associated Press.
The AP tallied more than $7 billion in purchases by states this spring for personal protective equipment, or PPE, and high-demand medical devices such as ventilators and infrared thermometers.
The data, obtained through open-records requests, is the most comprehensive accounting to date of how much states were buying, what they were spending and whom they were paying during a chaotic spring when inadequate national stockpiles left state governments scrambling for hard-to-get supplies. Much of the buying happened outside normal competitive bidding procedures, and in many states a lack of transparency from governors’ administrations made it difficult for the public — and even lawmakers — to see how taxpayer money was being spent.
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The spending data covers the period from the emergence of COVID-19 in the U.S. in early 2020 to the start of summer. Some governors described the early personal protective equipment marketplace as the Wild West, where supplies often went to the highest bidder, even if they had already been promised to someone else. States set up their own fraud tests, rejecting masks that failed to meet safety specifications or lacked medical labeling.
In some states, normal recordkeeping went by the wayside. Idaho didn’t initially itemize how much it paid for each mask and glove ordered from each supplier. That’s because the state’s buyers were preoccupied with trying to buy large quantities as quickly as possible against hundreds of competitors — all while working from home because of the pandemic, said J.P. Brady, senior buyer for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
“It was chaos, pandemonium,” Brady said. “None of us knew what we were doing.”
Though states have spent millions more this fall as COVID-19 cases surged again, the initial protective equipment spending panic has subsided as production increased and supply chains improved.
California spent the most during the pandemic’s initial months — at least $1.5 billion in the AP’s data — followed by Texas, Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington. New York also spent several hundred million dollars on protective equipment and ventilators through November, though it’s unclear how much of that occurred in the spring.
New Jersey and New York provided total figures but not specific details about their purchases. New Jersey’s health department said it would be too “disruptive” to agency operations to do so, and New York repeatedly postponed a response.
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The AP’s data shows that millions of dollars flowed from states to businesses that had never before sold personal protective equipment, including a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, an American tribal organization and consultants with international connections. Idaho officials bought 50,000 N95 masks from a women’s clothing store in Los Angeles, and Ohio purchased 3 million gowns from an in-state marketing and printing company. In both cases, the businesses used their connections with Chinese manufacturers.
Traditional safety equipment suppliers also saw a surge in PPE sales, offsetting their losses from other products amid the sudden recession.
But the states’ burst of spending wasn’t a boon for everyone. Some businesses that tried to supply protective equipment lost millions of dollars when states canceled orders that failed to meet aggressive delivery deadlines or strict product specifications. Businesses selling PPE faced a treacherous market, with backlogs at foreign manufacturers, shipping delays and multiple intermediaries.
All of that led to a spike in prices paid by the states, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
States paid an average cost during the spring of about 14 cents per glove, a fourfold increase over pre-pandemic prices. But the AP’s analysis found that more than half the states at times paid much more than that to certain vendors: up to 50 cents per glove.
Before the pandemic, an N95 mask that filters out tiny particles might have cost about 50 cents. This spring, states paid an average of $3 each, according to the AP’s analysis. Some states paid more than $10 a mask to get them quickly.
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In mid-March, Louisiana paid $57,450 for 5,000 N95 masks — at $11.49 each — from Grey Wolf Safety Group in Broussard. Grey Wolf owner Sean McClellan said that to fulfill the state’s order, he had to buy out whatever his competitors had in stock. Some masks he got were designed for painting, others for welding. Some came with special breathing valves, while others did not.
“All the cheap masks that were N95, those were already gone,” McClellan said. “So I basically bought up the expensive ones that were left.”
Then he marked up the price a bit more and resold them to the state, making a couple of dollars per mask.
“I’m not price-gouging,” McClellan said. “I have to make something, and I then have to pay my salesperson something.”
Other businesses that charged high prices to states offered similar explanations. Go Green Solutions Inc. in South Grafton, Massachusetts, sold its home state several thousand N95 masks in early April for $11.25 to $11.50 each. The price was a product of limited supply and high demand, resulting in only modest profit margins, manager Jim Fisher said.
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“Usually, if you found inventory with some of your suppliers, you had to make a purchase right then and there. You couldn’t wait,” he said, “because within an hour, it would be gone.”
States competed with each other, hospital systems, the federal government and even other countries to find and buy medical gear as the virus began spreading.
The pressure to obtain protective supplies led some states to unusual sources. Minnesota bought 2,300 waterproof gowns intended for milking cows from Udder Tech Inc. The special gowns cost about $46 each when freight was included — about seven times the average price that states were paying for medical gowns this spring. Before the pandemic, some health care systems could buy disposable gowns for about 40 cents each.
“They were looking to acquire anything they could at that point to help protect the health care workers,” said Dana Casto, business manager at the Rosemount, Minnesota-based dairy supply company.
While some states paid a premium for small orders from local suppliers, their purchasing agents also scrambled to secure large quantities of protective equipment, much of it manufactured in Asia. That created an opportunity for companies to enter the protective equipment field.
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The largest supplier of personal protective equipment to states this spring had never sold a single mask before the pandemic. But from mid-March to early June, Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD sold $930 million worth of masks and sanitizer to states. Two-thirds of that went to California, where Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom drew criticism for initially keeping secret the details of his “bold and big” deal that paid BYD $3.30 for each N95.
Like the leaders of some other states, Newsom sidestepped the traditional purchasing process of publicly soliciting competitive bids from vendors, which can take weeks or even months. Some state lawmakers responsible for budgeting complained that Newsom left them out of the loop.
Washington, which was among the first states to record coronavirus cases, bought tens of millions of N95 masks and similar KN95 masks from BYD this spring at prices ranging from $2.58 to $4.02 each. That helped rank Washington among the top states in mask purchasing rates per COVID-19 cases among its residents, according to the AP’s analysis.
BYD also sold to Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Texas this spring and signed an additional $316 million deal with California in July, after the period covered by the AP’s data. By then, the price the company charged to California had fallen to $2.13 per N95 mask and 20 cents per surgical mask, barely a third of the spring rate.
During the first quarter of 2020, when China was in lockdown, BYD reported a 35% decline in operating income. That’s when company Chairman Wang Chuanfu decided to begin making masks and sanitizer. BYD’s income rebounded to post a 12% gain through the first three-quarters of the year. Its stock price surged from $5 a share in January to more than $20 this fall, although it’s unclear how much of that is attributable to new protective equipment production versus its sales of electric vehicles and other products.
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Frank Girardot, senior communications director for BYD North America, compared Chuanfu to an inventor “along the lines of Thomas Edison” who got into the personal protective equipment business for altruistic reasons.
“He, in January, decided that this was something that the company had to do in service to the world,” Girardot said.
BYD’s largest U.S. investor is Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffett.
Fastenal Co. and W.W. Grainger, two industrial suppliers, also saw surges in PPE sales. The AP’s data includes $99 million in personal protective equipment sales to 32 states by Fastenal, and $50 million in protective equipment sales to 40 states by Grainger, which said its profits on those sales were squeezed by increased freight costs and previous contracts with reduced prices.
Many of the companies in the AP’s data set are not publicly traded and thus can keep their financial figures private. For example, one of the largest deals is California’s $179 million order of 20 million gowns from BuKo LLC. The New York-based company has a bare-bones website that describes it as “a brand and product development think tank.” Few other details are available about the company.
BuKo owner Rashmi Budhram declined to comment when reached by telephone.
Others, however, were more than willing to describe how personal protective equipment sales provided a lifeline at the onset of the pandemic.
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The leaders at Grand Traverse Economic Development, a commercial investment entity for the Ottawa and Chippewa Native American tribes in Michigan, decided to get into the protective gear business when a shutdown affected the tribe’s other business ventures. The organization quickly became New Hampshire’s top PPE supplier, selling the state nearly $28 million worth of masks, gowns, coveralls, face shields and sanitizing wipes this spring. It made a profit of around 10% to 15%, business development director Lauren Tucker said.
“This helped us keep our doors open, keep our staff fully employed and engaged, and we grew during the pandemic,” she said.
Bellia, president of Body Armor Outlet, also expanded. The AP’s data for the spring includes just over $50 million in personal protective equipment sales to states by the Salem, New Hampshire, company. But Bellia said his total PPE sales this year are around $120 million — a roughly thirtyfold increase over his company’s total sales for 2019.
Because of the success, Bellia increased his payroll from eight to 12 employees. And while he continues to sell body armor, he cleared almost all of it out of his warehouse to make room for coronavirus protective equipment.
“While in a heartbeat I would trade this to go back to the way it was, I think unequivocally it’s been a great thing for us,” he said.
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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri, and Fassett from Santa Cruz, California. Associated Press data editor Meghan Hoyer contributed to this report.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Bernie Sanders: Trump's An 'Authoritarian,' But Also 'A Reflection Of The Democratic Party'

Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) ripped into President Donald Trump and the Democratic Party in an interview with radio host Dean Obeidallah on Friday , arguing that both were at fault for the current division in the United States .
“ It is not overblown to say that Donald Trump is an authoritarian who does not believe in democracy , ” Sanders said in response to Obeidallah ’ s question whether it was an exaggeration to call Trump a fascist .
But politicians who opposed Trump need to ask why the president nevertheless got more than 73 million votes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added .
( President-elect Joe Biden won the election with a little more than 80 million votes . )
“ I ’ m sure a lot of my Democratic colleagues do not agree with me , but this is a reflection of the Democratic Party , because I think if you talk to many of those ... working class people who voted for Trump , they ’ ll say , ‘ Look , of course we know he ’ s a liar .
We know he ’ s full of shit .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does that.
’ Something the Democrats don ’ t do , ” Sanders said .
The senator said that Democrats need to bring diverse Americans together and persuade them to support a government “ that represents our interests , not one that divides us up by the color of our skin or where we were born or our sexual orientation or whatever.
” He added : “ The Democratic Party is going to have to do an enormous amount of work , really transform itself , and talk about ways to bring working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that means is you ’ ve got to represent honestly their interests.
” It is far from the first time that Sanders has expressed such views .
A noted progressive who has often taken aim at the limitations of the Democratic Party , Sanders in 1985 called the party “ intellectually bankrupt ” and incapable of kickstarting real change in America .
In 2011 , Sanders argued that Democrats might as well swap the name of their party to “ Republican-lite ” and use the slogan , “ Yeah , we ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as bad as these guys .
”

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ripped into President Donald Trump and the Democratic Party in an interview with radio host Dean Obeidallah on Friday, arguing that both were at fault for the current division in the United States.
“It is not overblown to say that Donald Trump is an authoritarian who does not believe in democracy,” Sanders said in response to Obeidallah’s question whether it was an exaggeration to call Trump a fascist.
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But politicians who opposed Trump need to ask why the president nevertheless got more than 73 million votes in the Nov. 3 election, Sanders added. (President-elect Joe Biden won the election with a little more than 80 million votes.)
“I’m sure a lot of my Democratic colleagues do not agree with me, but this is a reflection of the Democratic Party, because I think if you talk to many of those ... working class people who voted for Trump, they’ll say, ‘Look, of course we know he’s a liar. We know he’s full of shit. But at least he does this; he does that.’ Something the Democrats don’t do,” Sanders said.
The senator said that Democrats need to bring diverse Americans together and persuade them to support a government “that represents our interests, not one that divides us up by the color of our skin or where we were born or our sexual orientation or whatever.”
He added: “The Democratic Party is going to have to do an enormous amount of work, really transform itself, and talk about ways to bring working class people on board, and what that means is you’ve got to represent honestly their interests.”
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It is far from the first time that Sanders has expressed such views. A noted progressive who has often taken aim at the limitations of the Democratic Party, Sanders in 1985 called the party “intellectually bankrupt” and incapable of kickstarting real change in America.
In 2011, Sanders argued that Democrats might as well swap the name of their party to “Republican-lite” and use the slogan, “Yeah, we’re bad, but we’re not as bad as these guys.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-12-19--Warp Speed General Sorry For 'Miscommunication' Over Vaccine Shipments

The Army general in charge of getting COVID-19 vaccines across the United States apologized on Saturday for “ miscommunication ” with states over the number of doses to be delivered in the early stages of distribution .
“ I failed .
I ’ m adjusting .
I am fixing and we will move forward from there , ” Gen. Gustave Perna told reporters in a telephone briefing .
Perna ’ s remarks came a day after a second vaccine was added in the fight against COVID-19 , which has killed more than 312,000 people in the U.S. Governors in more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal government has told them that next week ’ s shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be less than originally projected .
“ I want to take personal responsibility for the miscommunication , ” he said .
“ I know that ’ s not done much these days .
But I am responsible .
...
This is a Herculean effort and we are not perfect.
” The general said he made mistakes by citing numbers of doses that he believed would be ready .
“ I am the one who approved forecast sheets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approved allocations , ” Perna said .
“ There is no problem with the process .
There is no problem with the Pfizer vaccine .
There is no problem with the Moderna vaccine.
” Perna said the government now is on track to get approximately 20 million doses to states by the first week of January , a combination of the newly approved Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine .
Perna said 2.9 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses have been delivered to states so far .
In Michigan , where the Pfizer vaccine is produced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Friday accused the White House of “ slow-walking the process.
” “ We have Michigan hospitals and nursing homes ready to administer this vaccine , ” she said .

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The Army general in charge of getting COVID-19 vaccines across the United States apologized on Saturday for “miscommunication” with states over the number of doses to be delivered in the early stages of distribution.
“I failed. I’m adjusting. I am fixing and we will move forward from there,” Gen. Gustave Perna told reporters in a telephone briefing.
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Perna’s remarks came a day after a second vaccine was added in the fight against COVID-19, which has killed more than 312,000 people in the U.S. Governors in more than a dozen states have said the federal government has told them that next week’s shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be less than originally projected.
Perna acknowledged the criticism and accepted blame.
“I want to take personal responsibility for the miscommunication,” he said. “I know that’s not done much these days. But I am responsible. ... This is a Herculean effort and we are not perfect.”
The general said he made mistakes by citing numbers of doses that he believed would be ready.
“I am the one who approved forecast sheets. I’m the one who approved allocations,” Perna said. “There is no problem with the process. There is no problem with the Pfizer vaccine. There is no problem with the Moderna vaccine.”
Perna said the government now is on track to get approximately 20 million doses to states by the first week of January, a combination of the newly approved Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
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Perna said 2.9 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses have been delivered to states so far.
In Michigan, where the Pfizer vaccine is produced, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday accused the White House of “slow-walking the process.”