shareblue--2020-11-25--Supreme Court could wipe out rights for same-sex families

The Supreme Court could remove certain rights from same-sex couples if it hears a case involving lesbian married couples in Indiana , where one parent has not been allowed to appear on their child 's birth certificate .
As Mark Joseph Stern , Slate 's courts and law reporter , has explained , a case like this could provide the court `` a shot at eroding '' Obergefell v. Hodges , the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marry .
According to Stern 's analysis , there is good reason to believe the court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If the very conservative court decided to hear the case and ruled in favor of Indiana barring same-sex couples from being listed as parents on birth certificates , the decision could be devastating for LGBTQ equality .
On Monday , Curtis Hill , the Indiana attorney general , defended Indiana 's current criteria for listing parents on birth certificates , which does not allow the inclusion of two same-sex parents .
The couple named in Box v. Henderson , Ashlee and Ruby Henderson , were married in 2014 and had a child together @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to apply for a birth certificate for their son only had spaces for one mother and one father , so the couple amended the form to list another mother , according to the Lafayette Journal & Courier .
But their county health department issued the couple a birth certificate that only listed Ruby Henderson and said it was simply following state guidelines .
The couple 's attorneys said that `` bastardizing children born to women in same-sex marriages '' essentially `` publicly stigmatizes '' married same-sex couples and causes problems in obtaining health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and taking their child to the doctor .
The plaintiffs in Box are eight lesbian married couples who had children through a sperm donor .
A U.S. appeals court ruled in favor of the parents in January , and in June , Hill asked the Supreme Court to review it .
The court recently requested the facts and history of the case so it can consider taking it up , but there is still a chance it may decide not to do so .
Justice Amy Coney Barrett , who was confirmed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 presidential election , has defended Chief Justice John Roberts ' dissent in Obergefell , served as trustee on the board of a private Christian school that discriminates against LGBTQ people , and called sexual orientation `` sexual preference '' during one of her confirmation hearings .
Jim Obergefell and Richard Hodges , the plaintiff and defendant in the Obergefell case , joined forces to oppose Barrett 's nomination .
Obergefell said he was worried that the `` rights and responsibilities '' stemming from marriage would be harmed with Barrett on the court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the Supreme Court in Box , should it take up the case , could have consequences for other issues concerning the protection of the rights of LGBTQ Americans that it might also take up in the near future , including cases that could expand the meaning of religious liberty to weaken or remove protections against discrimination or decide issues of health care and justice that disproportionately affect the LGBTQ community .
The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Fulton v. Philadelphia , centering on equal access to social services , including foster @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banks .
The court has yet to rule in the case .
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation .

The Supreme Court could remove certain rights from same-sex couples if it hears a case involving lesbian married couples in Indiana, where one parent has not been allowed to appear on their child’s birth certificate.
As Mark Joseph Stern, Slate’s courts and law reporter, has explained, a case like this could provide the court “a shot at eroding” Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marry. According to Stern’s analysis, there is good reason to believe the court could take up the case soon.
If the very conservative court decided to hear the case and ruled in favor of Indiana barring same-sex couples from being listed as parents on birth certificates, the decision could be devastating for LGBTQ equality.
On Monday, Curtis Hill, the Indiana attorney general, defended Indiana’s current criteria for listing parents on birth certificates, which does not allow the inclusion of two same-sex parents.
The couple named in Box v. Henderson, Ashlee and Ruby Henderson, were married in 2014 and had a child together. The forms provided to the couple to apply for a birth certificate for their son only had spaces for one mother and one father, so the couple amended the form to list another mother, according to the Lafayette Journal & Courier. But their county health department issued the couple a birth certificate that only listed Ruby Henderson and said it was simply following state guidelines.
The couple’s attorneys said that “bastardizing children born to women in same-sex marriages” essentially “publicly stigmatizes” married same-sex couples and causes problems in obtaining health insurance coverage, enrolling in school, and taking their child to the doctor.
The plaintiffs in Box are eight lesbian married couples who had children through a sperm donor.
A U.S. appeals court ruled in favor of the parents in January, and in June, Hill asked the Supreme Court to review it. The court recently requested the facts and history of the case so it can consider taking it up, but there is still a chance it may decide not to do so.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed to the court only a week before the 2020 presidential election, has defended Chief Justice John Roberts’ dissent in Obergefell, served as trustee on the board of a private Christian school that discriminates against LGBTQ people, and called sexual orientation “sexual preference” during one of her confirmation hearings.
Jim Obergefell and Richard Hodges, the plaintiff and defendant in the Obergefell case, joined forces to oppose Barrett’s nomination. Obergefell said he was worried that the “rights and responsibilities” stemming from marriage would be harmed with Barrett on the court, USA Today reported.
A decision by the Supreme Court in Box, should it take up the case, could have consequences for other issues concerning the protection of the rights of LGBTQ Americans that it might also take up in the near future, including cases that could expand the meaning of religious liberty to weaken or remove protections against discrimination or decide issues of health care and justice that disproportionately affect the LGBTQ community.
The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Fulton v. Philadelphia, centering on equal access to social services, including foster care, homeless shelters, and food banks. The court has yet to rule in the case.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.


shareblue--2020-11-25--GOP congressman: How did Trump lose Georgia if other Republicans won?

Rep. Barry Loudermilk ( R-GA ) baselessly claimed this week that there must have been major fraud in the 2020 election , bizarrely citing as evidence the fact that President-elect Joe Biden won Georgia even though some Republicans also won in the state .
`` Yes , I believe there was fraud in this election .
People say , 'Give us the evidence . '
Well you have to investigate to get to the evidence , '' Loudermilk said in a Monday interview with the right-wing Newsmax TV .
`` There 's a lot of circumstantial evidence , '' he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Georgia , Republicans won up-and-down the ballot , except for the presidential and the Senate race .
Tell me how that has happened , when Republicans held the House and the Senate .
We made great gains in Georgia . ''
Biden defeated Donald Trump in the traditionally red state by more than 12,000 votes , according to results certified by Georgia 's Republican governor .
A pair of U.S. Senate races will go to January runoffs , as no candidate received an outright majority of votes .
While Loudermilk is correct that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Georgia Legislature , that would seem to indicate that the election was not rigged by Democrats , who had mounted an unsuccessful push to regain seats .
Biden outperformed other Democrats running statewide in Georgia , winning nearly 100,000 more votes than Senate nominee Jon Ossoff and the eight Democratic candidates running in the special election for the other Senate seat .
Bipartisan election officials found no evidence whatsoever of widespread fraud in the 2020 elections .
A similar pattern was visible many in other states , where Biden often got more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In Maine , Biden won with more than 430,000 votes , while Democratic Senate candidate Sara Gideon lost with fewer than 343,000 .
In Michigan , Biden got more than 2.8 million votes and won by about 2.8 points ; Democratic Sen. Gary Peters won reelection by just a 1.7 point margin with nearly 70,000 fewer votes than Biden .
In Texas , Biden lost but garnered 46.5 % and more than 5.2 million votes ; Democrat M.J. Hegar got just 43.9 % and fewer than 4.9 million votes in her unsuccessful Senate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , largely due to Trump 's unpopularity , a number of Republican-leaning voters split their tickets and voted for Biden .
`` We do generally side with Republicans on just about everything , '' Nebraska Republican Jay Jackson told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday .
`` At the same time , the thing that undergirds the freedom that we have to disagree with each other on policy decisions is having political leaders that are public servants and put the country first and subscribe to the rule of law and norms of ethical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Trump has done that , like at all . ''
Jackson said he and his wife voted for Biden for president , but backed Republicans for Senate and House .
Cook Political Report analyst David Wasserman told the Journal that ticket splitting like that gave many `` suburban moderates an opportunity to vent their anger at Trump directly at the top of the ticket but continue to vote for the down-ballot Republicans they liked.
” Last December , he claimed that Trump 's impeachment was worse than the Jesus Christ 's crucifixion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of treason , Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers .
During that sham trial , Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus , than Democrats have afforded this president in this process , '' he claimed at the time .
In May 2019 , he defended Georgia 's nearly total abortion ban as fair — based on a medically questionable fetal heartbeat standard — because dead people lack a pulse .
`` If you are in the hospital , if you ’ re having issues , they are checking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have a heartbeat ? '
That ’ s gon na tell the doctors whether you ’ re alive or not , '' he claimed .
According to medical experts , that reasoning is not based in science .
As Jennifer Kerns , ob-gyn at UC San Francisco , told Wired last year , `` At six weeks , the embryo is forming what will eventually develop into mature systems .
There 's an immature neurological system , and there ’ s a very immature cardiovascular system .
... [ It ] is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s what the heartbeat is at that stage of gestation … We are in no way talking about any kind of cardiovascular system . ''
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation .

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) baselessly claimed this week that there must have been major fraud in the 2020 election, bizarrely citing as evidence the fact that President-elect Joe Biden won Georgia even though some Republicans also won in the state.
“Yes, I believe there was fraud in this election. People say, ‘Give us the evidence.’ Well you have to investigate to get to the evidence,” Loudermilk said in a Monday interview with the right-wing Newsmax TV.
“There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence,” he continued. “If you look at Georgia, Republicans won up-and-down the ballot, except for the presidential and the Senate race. Tell me how that has happened, when Republicans held the House and the Senate. We made great gains in Georgia.”
Biden defeated Donald Trump in the traditionally red state by more than 12,000 votes, according to results certified by Georgia’s Republican governor. A pair of U.S. Senate races will go to January runoffs, as no candidate received an outright majority of votes.
While Loudermilk is correct that Republicans held onto their gerrymandered majorities in the Georgia Legislature, that would seem to indicate that the election was not rigged by Democrats, who had mounted an unsuccessful push to regain seats.
Biden outperformed other Democrats running statewide in Georgia, winning nearly 100,000 more votes than Senate nominee Jon Ossoff and the eight Democratic candidates running in the special election for the other Senate seat.
Bipartisan election officials found no evidence whatsoever of widespread fraud in the 2020 elections.
A similar pattern was visible many in other states, where Biden often got more votes than other statewide Democratic candidates.
In Maine, Biden won with more than 430,000 votes, while Democratic Senate candidate Sara Gideon lost with fewer than 343,000.
In Michigan, Biden got more than 2.8 million votes and won by about 2.8 points; Democratic Sen. Gary Peters won reelection by just a 1.7 point margin with nearly 70,000 fewer votes than Biden.
In Texas, Biden lost but garnered 46.5% and more than 5.2 million votes; Democrat M.J. Hegar got just 43.9% and fewer than 4.9 million votes in her unsuccessful Senate bid.
With the nation increasingly polarized, largely due to Trump’s unpopularity, a number of Republican-leaning voters split their tickets and voted for Biden.
“We do generally side with Republicans on just about everything,” Nebraska Republican Jay Jackson told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “At the same time, the thing that undergirds the freedom that we have to disagree with each other on policy decisions is having political leaders that are public servants and put the country first and subscribe to the rule of law and norms of ethical behavior. And I don’t think that Trump has done that, like at all.”
Jackson said he and his wife voted for Biden for president, but backed Republicans for Senate and House.
Cook Political Report analyst David Wasserman told the Journal that ticket splitting like that gave many “suburban moderates an opportunity to vent their anger at Trump directly at the top of the ticket but continue to vote for the down-ballot Republicans they liked.”
Loudermilk has history of questionable comments.
Last December, he claimed that Trump’s impeachment was worse than the Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. “When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus, than Democrats have afforded this president in this process,” he claimed at the time.
In May 2019, he defended Georgia’s nearly total abortion ban as fair — based on a medically questionable fetal heartbeat standard — because dead people lack a pulse.
“If you are in the hospital, if you’re having issues, they are checking for heartbeat, to see ‘Do you have a heartbeat?’ That’s gonna tell the doctors whether you’re alive or not,” he claimed.
According to medical experts, that reasoning is not based in science.
As Jennifer Kerns, ob-gyn at UC San Francisco, told Wired last year, “At six weeks, the embryo is forming what will eventually develop into mature systems. There’s an immature neurological system, and there’s a very immature cardiovascular system. … [It] is a group of cells with electrical activity. That’s what the heartbeat is at that stage of gestation … We are in no way talking about any kind of cardiovascular system.”
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.


shareblue--2020-11-25--Joni Ernst attacks Georgia Senate candidates for something they didn't say

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa stumped for the GOP 's Georgia Senate candidates at a Monday rally by repeating false claims about the Democratic candidates ' positions on police reform .
Incumbent Sens .
David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are running against Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev .
Raphael Warnock , respectively , in a crucial Jan. 5 runoff that will determine what political party controls the Senate .
At her appearance in Griffin , Georgia , Ernst said : `` How many of you here support the men and women in blue ?
God bless you for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the opponents of David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are busy trying to defund the police , David is defending the police . ''
Her comments are part of a hyperpartisan effort to misleadingly paint the Democratic candidates as extreme , radical `` socialists , '' attacks Perdue and Loeffler continually employ , and part of the GOP senators ' pattern of making up ugly smears against their opponents .
Neither Ossoff nor Warnock has said they want to `` defund the police , '' and both actually oppose such a policy .
Some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Loeffler spokesman told the Washington Examiner : `` Raphael Warnock has a history of attacking our police officers , calling them gangsters , thugs , bullies , and a threat to our children , so it 's disgusting — but not surprising — that he now wants to defund them and make every Georgia family , community , and neighborhood less safe . ''
Pushing back against the statements from Loeffler 's campaign , Warner 's campaign told the outlet , `` Rev .
Warnock does not support defunding the police , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` our men and women in uniform '' in the past .
Another Loeffler campaign ad attacked Warnock for being `` too extreme for Georgia '' and wanting `` to make your neighborhoods less safe . ''
As the Atlanta Journal-Consitution noted , Warnock instead called for `` responsibly fund ( ing ) law enforcement . ''
`` We need to reimagine policing and reimagine the relationships between law enforcement and communities , '' the reverend , who preaches at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta , where the Rev .
Martin Luther King @ @ @ @ @ @ @ summer .
Warnock , who grew up in Savannah , Georgia , continued , `` We certainly need to demilitarize the police so we can rebuild the trust between the police and the community . ''
Meanwhile , Perdue 's campaign ads are attempting to cast his opponent , Ossoff , as a radical , including one ad that says that the Democratic candidate will join forces with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to `` defund police . ''
But the Democratic candidate has said multiple times that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` defund the police '' policy .
`` No , the answer is not to defund police , '' Ossoff told WSB radio in June when speaking on the issue .
`` The answer is to reform police .
And the answer is to demilitarize police .
Far too many local police departments are heavily equipped with armored vehicles and military equipment , and when all you have is a hammer , everything looks like a nail . ''
Three months later on SiriusXM radio , the Democratic candidate reiterated his point : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think frankly , it 's a counterproductive and foolish way of characterizing what I think for some folks is a desire to reform police . ''
Perdue seized on a part of a quote from Ossoff in June to attack him .
In an interview on WAOK , Ossof said , `` You have to have national standards for the use of force , and yeah , you 've got to be able to hold individual officers and entire departments accountable , and there also has to be funding for those departments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's campaign , he used police `` funding must be on the line '' against Ossoff , with one tweet saying `` Jon @ Ossoff supports the dangerous defund the police movement . ''
But Ossoff 's campaign has clarified that he had been referring to `` supplemental police funding , '' Factcheck.org noted .
Right now , Republicans have 50 seats and Democrats have 48 seats in the U.S. Senate .
In order to take the chamber , Democrats would have to win both Senate races in Georgia .
If Democrats succeed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a 50-50 , with Democratic Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris serving as a Senate tie-breaker .
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation .

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa stumped for the GOP’s Georgia Senate candidates at a Monday rally by repeating false claims about the Democratic candidates’ positions on police reform.
Incumbent Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are running against Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, respectively, in a crucial Jan. 5 runoff that will determine what political party controls the Senate.
At her appearance in Griffin, Georgia, Ernst said: “How many of you here support the men and women in blue? God bless you for that. So while the left and the opponents of David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are busy trying to defund the police, David is defending the police.”
Her comments are part of a hyperpartisan effort to misleadingly paint the Democratic candidates as extreme, radical “socialists,” attacks Perdue and Loeffler continually employ, and part of the GOP senators’ pattern of making up ugly smears against their opponents.
Neither Ossoff nor Warnock has said they want to “defund the police,” and both actually oppose such a policy.
Some of those repeated false claims include what a Loeffler spokesman told the Washington Examiner: “Raphael Warnock has a history of attacking our police officers, calling them gangsters, thugs, bullies, and a threat to our children, so it’s disgusting — but not surprising — that he now wants to defund them and make every Georgia family, community, and neighborhood less safe.”
Pushing back against the statements from Loeffler’s campaign, Warner’s campaign told the outlet, “Rev. Warnock does not support defunding the police,” adding that the pastor has praised “our men and women in uniform” in the past.
Another Loeffler campaign ad attacked Warnock for being “too extreme for Georgia” and wanting “to make your neighborhoods less safe.”
As the Atlanta Journal-Consitution noted, Warnock instead called for “responsibly fund(ing) law enforcement.”
“We need to reimagine policing and reimagine the relationships between law enforcement and communities,” the reverend, who preaches at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once did, said during the summer.
Warnock, who grew up in Savannah, Georgia, continued, “We certainly need to demilitarize the police so we can rebuild the trust between the police and the community.”
Meanwhile, Perdue’s campaign ads are attempting to cast his opponent, Ossoff, as a radical, including one ad that says that the Democratic candidate will join forces with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to “defund police.”
But the Democratic candidate has said multiple times that he is not on board with a “defund the police” policy.
“No, the answer is not to defund police,” Ossoff told WSB radio in June when speaking on the issue. “The answer is to reform police. And the answer is to demilitarize police. Far too many local police departments are heavily equipped with armored vehicles and military equipment, and when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Three months later on SiriusXM radio, the Democratic candidate reiterated his point: “I oppose defunding the police and I think frankly, it’s a counterproductive and foolish way of characterizing what I think for some folks is a desire to reform police.”
Perdue seized on a part of a quote from Ossoff in June to attack him.
In an interview on WAOK, Ossof said, “You have to have national standards for the use of force, and yeah, you’ve got to be able to hold individual officers and entire departments accountable, and there also has to be funding for those departments on the line.”
Throughout Perdue’s campaign, he used police “funding must be on the line” against Ossoff, with one tweet saying “Jon @Ossoff supports the dangerous defund the police movement.”
But Ossoff’s campaign has clarified that he had been referring to “supplemental police funding,” Factcheck.org noted.
Right now, Republicans have 50 seats and Democrats have 48 seats in the U.S. Senate. In order to take the chamber, Democrats would have to win both Senate races in Georgia. If Democrats succeed, the two parties would be at a 50-50, with Democratic Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris serving as a Senate tie-breaker.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.


shareblue--2020-11-25--El Paso officials say Trump still owes them over $500,000 for a 2019 rally

The city of El Paso , Texas , announced on Tuesday that it had hired a law firm to collect on $ 569,204 it is still owed by Donald Trump 's presidential campaign for costs associated with a February 2019 rally .
`` A lot of us have been concerned about this outstanding invoice , about the amount of money that is owed to us by the Trump campaign , '' said local Rep. Peter Svarzbein said during a city council meeting .
`` We all are seeing firsthand the struggles that everyday El Paso families have in addition to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ budget , '' he added .
The council said it has not yet decided to sue the campaign , but city attorney Karla Nieman said they would be `` using various methods to attempt to collect the debt owed to the City of El Paso . ''
The city has been facing a budget shortfall due to the pandemic .
Restrictions on travel have led to severe cuts in sales tax revenue the city previously brought in from shoppers from Mexico .
Mayor Dee Margo told the Texas Tribune that since the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have closed and the city has lost over 15,000 jobs .
Svarzbein noted on Tuesday that `` th [ e ] amount of money '' outstanding from the rally expenses is therefore `` not inconsequential . ''
The action to collect on the debt is part of a message being sent that `` nobody is above the law , '' he said .
Trump held the rally to promote his southern border wall and cited false crime statistics to back the project .
The campaign initially incurred a fee of $ 470,417.05 to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ connected to the event .
The city later added a 21 % late fee after Trump failed to pay .
Beto O'Rourke , who was a Democratic presidential candidate and held a rally in El Paso on the same day , paid the city for the services it had provided to his campaign .
The nonpayment is part of a pattern of behavior from Trump and his failed campaign .
Even as cities and municipalities continue to struggle with the fallout from the virus , along with traditional government expenses , Trump has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 1.8 million to multiple communities .
Over the course of the 2020 campaign cycle , the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee disclosed that they had raised $ 1.57 billion , but spent much of the money on ads in states Trump was unlikely to win .
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation .

The city of El Paso, Texas, announced on Tuesday that it had hired a law firm to collect on $569,204 it is still owed by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for costs associated with a February 2019 rally.
“A lot of us have been concerned about this outstanding invoice, about the amount of money that is owed to us by the Trump campaign,” said local Rep. Peter Svarzbein said during a city council meeting.
“We all are seeing firsthand the struggles that everyday El Paso families have in addition to the challenges we have in our own budget,” he added.
The council said it has not yet decided to sue the campaign, but city attorney Karla Nieman said they would be “using various methods to attempt to collect the debt owed to the City of El Paso.”
The city has been facing a budget shortfall due to the pandemic. Restrictions on travel have led to severe cuts in sales tax revenue the city previously brought in from shoppers from Mexico. Mayor Dee Margo told the Texas Tribune that since the pandemic began, 26% of small businesses have closed and the city has lost over 15,000 jobs.
Svarzbein noted on Tuesday that “th[e] amount of money” outstanding from the rally expenses is therefore “not inconsequential.”
The action to collect on the debt is part of a message being sent that “nobody is above the law,” he said.
Trump held the rally to promote his southern border wall and cited false crime statistics to back the project.
The campaign initially incurred a fee of $470,417.05 to pay for police and public safety services connected to the event. The city later added a 21% late fee after Trump failed to pay.
Beto O’Rourke, who was a Democratic presidential candidate and held a rally in El Paso on the same day, paid the city for the services it had provided to his campaign.
The nonpayment is part of a pattern of behavior from Trump and his failed campaign.
Even as cities and municipalities continue to struggle with the fallout from the virus, along with traditional government expenses, Trump has thus far failed to pay more than $1.8 million to multiple communities.
Over the course of the 2020 campaign cycle, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee disclosed that they had raised $1.57 billion, but spent much of the money on ads in states Trump was unlikely to win.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.


shareblue--2020-11-25--Incoming GOP congresswoman says virus safety efforts are somehow 'starving' people

Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene ( R-GA ) slammed Democratic New Mexico Gov .
Michelle Lujan Grisham for closing several grocery stores in the state that were experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks among staff .
`` Democrat @ GovMLG starving the women and children of New Mexico , '' Greene tweeted about Grisham Tuesday night .
`` A very Stalinist approach ... '' Greene , a frequent coronavirus conspiracy theorist , has previously complained about Washington , D.C. , businesses being shuttered for precautionary reasons , as well as characterized the wearing of face masks as `` oppressive . ''
She 's also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ baseless conspiracy theory that maintains that a secret cabal of child-abusing Democrats run America , and has a long history of racist and antisemitic views .
Arizona Republican state Sen.-elect Wendy Rogers also blasted the New Mexico governor on Twitter Wednesday for the order .
`` Patriots , we may need to be ready to provide food for New Mexico because their governor is a tyrant , '' Rogers tweeted .
`` Liberals always make things worse !
Horrible ! ''
Grisham 's decision to close about a dozen New Mexico grocery stores @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outlets like The Washington Examiner and Breitbart this week .
But GOP lawmakers like Greene and Rogers are playing fast and loose with the facts and distorting the scope of the order , as well as Grisham 's motivations .
Grisham did indeed issue a public order closing about two dozen essential businesses statewide for a two-week period .
But these businesses were those at the center of COVID-19 outbreaks — stores that had more than four employees testing positive in a two-week period .
About half of these businesses appear to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Walmart , Target , and Sam 's Club .
The grocery stores are reportedly located in only seven or eight New Mexico cities , and in only one of those cities ( Santa Fe ) does the governor 's order appear to affect more than two grocery stores .
Moreover , Grisham 's decision to close these stores was neither capricious nor `` Stalinist . ''
New Mexico 's coronavirus cases are soaring , according to a Tuesday release from the governor 's office .
As of Tuesday , the state had seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of cases up to more than 86,000 statewide .
And , with 28 additional COVID deaths , the death toll in New Mexico has reached 1,428 total — with a record-breaking 871 current hospitalizations .
`` You ca n't have a grocery store or another big box store that sells groceries if all of the employees or the vast majority of them have COVID .
You can ’ t open up , '' Grisham explained .
`` And that 's the issue .
… There 's so much of this infection that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people need to access . ''
A spokesperson for Grisham told a local news outlet that false claims about the store closures were simply `` politically motivated , '' describing them as `` Republican talking point ( s ) . ''
When asked by the outlet if the governor would potentially reverse course on the matter , the spokesperson responded , `` The state is not forcing anyone to stand in a crowded line , as you suggest . ''
Attacks on Grisham by right-wing outlets and Republican lawmakers coincide with media reports @ @ @ @ @ @ @ top contender for President-elect Joe Biden 's health secretary .
According to Politico , Grisham , who is co-chair of Biden 's transition , is favored by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to helm the Department of Health and Human Services .
`` When we think about someone who 's a manager and a leader who knows these issues , Michelle is top of the list , '' said Rep. Pete Aguilar ( D-CA ) .
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation .

Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) slammed Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for closing several grocery stores in the state that were experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks among staff.
“Democrat @GovMLG starving the women and children of New Mexico,” Greene tweeted about Grisham Tuesday night. “A very Stalinist approach …”
Greene, a frequent coronavirus conspiracy theorist, has previously complained about Washington, D.C., businesses being shuttered for precautionary reasons, as well as characterized the wearing of face masks as “oppressive.”
She’s also an infamous supporter of QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that maintains that a secret cabal of child-abusing Democrats run America, and has a long history of racist and antisemitic views.
Arizona Republican state Sen.-elect Wendy Rogers also blasted the New Mexico governor on Twitter Wednesday for the order.
“Patriots, we may need to be ready to provide food for New Mexico because their governor is a tyrant,” Rogers tweeted. “Liberals always make things worse! Horrible!”
Grisham’s decision to close about a dozen New Mexico grocery stores has come under fire from far-right news outlets like The Washington Examiner and Breitbart this week. But GOP lawmakers like Greene and Rogers are playing fast and loose with the facts and distorting the scope of the order, as well as Grisham’s motivations.
Grisham did indeed issue a public order closing about two dozen essential businesses statewide for a two-week period. But these businesses were those at the center of COVID-19 outbreaks — stores that had more than four employees testing positive in a two-week period.
About half of these businesses appear to be grocery stores, mainly big-box stores like Walmart, Target, and Sam’s Club. The grocery stores are reportedly located in only seven or eight New Mexico cities, and in only one of those cities (Santa Fe) does the governor’s order appear to affect more than two grocery stores.
Moreover, Grisham’s decision to close these stores was neither capricious nor “Stalinist.”
New Mexico’s coronavirus cases are soaring, according to a Tuesday release from the governor’s office.
As of Tuesday, the state had seen 2,107 new cases, bringing the total number of cases up to more than 86,000 statewide. And, with 28 additional COVID deaths, the death toll in New Mexico has reached 1,428 total — with a record-breaking 871 current hospitalizations.
“You can’t have a grocery store or another big box store that sells groceries if all of the employees or the vast majority of them have COVID. You can’t open up,” Grisham explained. “And that’s the issue. … There’s so much of this infection that it’s inside the very places people need to access.”
A spokesperson for Grisham told a local news outlet that false claims about the store closures were simply “politically motivated,” describing them as “Republican talking point(s).”
When asked by the outlet if the governor would potentially reverse course on the matter, the spokesperson responded, “The state is not forcing anyone to stand in a crowded line, as you suggest.”
Attacks on Grisham by right-wing outlets and Republican lawmakers coincide with media reports that the New Mexico governor is a top contender for President-elect Joe Biden’s health secretary.
According to Politico, Grisham, who is co-chair of Biden’s transition, is favored by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to helm the Department of Health and Human Services.
“When we think about someone who’s a manager and a leader who knows these issues, Michelle is top of the list,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA).
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.


shareblue--2020-11-25--Human rights group honors President Obama with 'Voice of Influence' award

Former President Barack Obama , already a million-selling author , is also a prize-winning author .
PEN America announced Wednesday that Obama will receive its second annual Voice of Influence Award in recognition of how his writings `` have traversed political , social , and ideological bounds and framed a self-reflective humanism that has marked his influence on public life . ''
Obama , whose memoir `` A Promised Land '' came out last week , will be honored Dec. 8 at the literary and human rights organization 's annual gala , to be held virtually because of the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historian Ron Chernow , a former PEN board president , will discuss freedom of expression and the importance of truth in a world of misinformation .
Obama 's previous books include `` Dreams from My Father '' and `` The Audacity of Hope . ''
`` As an organization of writers , we have always seen President Obama not just as a leader , but as one of us : an author .
His probing and evocative narratives helped introduce the world to his unique background , and the power of his life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pluralistic and encompassing society , '' PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement .
PEN presented its first Voice of Influence Award in 2019 to filmmaker Ava DuVernay .

Former President Barack Obama, already a million-selling author, is also a prize-winning author.
PEN America announced Wednesday that Obama will receive its second annual Voice of Influence Award in recognition of how his writings “have traversed political, social, and ideological bounds and framed a self-reflective humanism that has marked his influence on public life.”
Obama, whose memoir “A Promised Land” came out last week, will be honored Dec. 8 at the literary and human rights organization’s annual gala, to be held virtually because of the coronavirus.
During the ceremony, Obama and historian Ron Chernow, a former PEN board president, will discuss freedom of expression and the importance of truth in a world of misinformation.
Obama’s previous books include “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.”
“As an organization of writers, we have always seen President Obama not just as a leader, but as one of us: an author. His probing and evocative narratives helped introduce the world to his unique background, and the power of his life experience as a prompt toward a more pluralistic and encompassing society,” PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement.
PEN presented its first Voice of Influence Award in 2019 to filmmaker Ava DuVernay.


shareblue--2020-11-25--Trump's decision to pardon Michael Flynn would force him to admit Flynn's guilty

Donald Trump 's reported plan to pardon his former national security adviser Michael Flynn could cause more problems than his innocent pardoning of this year 's Thanksgiving turkey .
Axios reported Tuesday that Trump had told his aides he was planning to pardon Flynn , who previously pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017 , before leaving office in January .
Doing so , however , would contradict both men 's repeated claims since then that Flynn was innocent and supposedly framed by prosecutors .
According to a 1915 Supreme Court case , accepting a pardon is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Supreme Court held in Burdick v. United States that a pardon `` carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it . ''
In other words , if Flynn did nothing illegal , there would be nothing to pardon .
Flynn , a retired general , was a top Trump adviser and surrogate during the 2016 campaign .
He frequently questioned Hillary Clinton 's ethics , leading chants of `` Lock her up ! ''
during the Republican National Convention .
Trump eventually appointed Flynn to serve as his first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fired in February 2017 after lying to Mike Pence and federal investigators about his contacts with Russia during the transition period .
In December that year , Flynn formally pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI .
`` I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong , and , through my faith in God , I am working to set things right , '' he admitted at the time .
`` My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel 's Office reflect a decision I made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and of our country .
I accept full responsibility for my actions . ''
Despite firing and publicly shaming Flynn over the matter — at one point , Trump tweeted that he had fired Flynn `` because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI '' — Trump later changed his mind and decided that his former aide was innocent .
`` What happened to General Michael Flynn , a war hero , should never be allowed to happen to a citizen of the United States again ! ''
Trump tweeted in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and accused them of framing and entrapping an innocent man .
Flynn too changed his mind , asking the court in January this year to let him withdraw his guilty plea .
When the judge refused to let him do so , Trump 's Justice Department overruled its own career prosecutors and attempted to drop the prosecution entirely .
Judge Emmett Sullivan refused to dismiss the case .
Trump attacked Sullivan as a result , retweeting a supporter 's message in September which read , `` Good morning to everyone except Judge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tried to prosecute General Flynn under fraudulent and manufactured pretenses . ''
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story .
This would not be the first time Trump used his pardon and commutation powers to let his cronies off the hook for crimes .
In 2017 , he pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio , a prominent supporter who was convicted of contempt of court after refusing to stop racially profiling people .
In 2018 , he pardoned conservative activist Dinesh D'Souza , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violations .
And just this year , Trump pardoned his lawyer Rudy Giuliani 's close friend and former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik , who pleaded guilty to tax fraud in 2010 ; granted clemency to former `` Celebrity Apprentice '' contestant and disgraced ex-Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich , who was found guilty in 2011 on 17 counts , including for wire fraud , soliciting bribes , and attempted extortion ; and commuted the sentence of his former lobbyist and campaign adviser Roger Stone , who was convicted of witness tampering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than three years in prison back in February .
House Intelligence chair Adam Schiff said Wednesday that if reports about Trump 's intentions were true , a Flynn pardon would reflect `` ill on our democracy , on the United States . ''
`` Imagine what people around the world think when we have a president that ’ s acting like an organized crime figure , '' Schiff ( D-CA ) told CNN .
`` But this is who Donald Trump is .
It 's who he was on the way into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who he is on his last days of the presidency . ''
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation .

Donald Trump’s reported plan to pardon his former national security adviser Michael Flynn could cause more problems than his innocent pardoning of this year’s Thanksgiving turkey.
Axios reported Tuesday that Trump had told his aides he was planning to pardon Flynn, who previously pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017, before leaving office in January. Doing so, however, would contradict both men’s repeated claims since then that Flynn was innocent and supposedly framed by prosecutors.
According to a 1915 Supreme Court case, accepting a pardon is a tacit admission of guilt. The Supreme Court held in Burdick v. United States that a pardon “carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it.”
In other words, if Flynn did nothing illegal, there would be nothing to pardon.
Flynn, a retired general, was a top Trump adviser and surrogate during the 2016 campaign. He frequently questioned Hillary Clinton’s ethics, leading chants of “Lock her up!” during the Republican National Convention.
Trump eventually appointed Flynn to serve as his first national security adviser, though he was fired in February 2017 after lying to Mike Pence and federal investigators about his contacts with Russia during the transition period.
In December that year, Flynn formally pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. “I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right,” he admitted at the time. “My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
Despite firing and publicly shaming Flynn over the matter — at one point, Trump tweeted that he had fired Flynn “because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI” — Trump later changed his mind and decided that his former aide was innocent.
“What happened to General Michael Flynn, a war hero, should never be allowed to happen to a citizen of the United States again!” Trump tweeted in April 2020. He repeatedly attacked prosecutors, and accused them of framing and entrapping an innocent man.
Flynn too changed his mind, asking the court in January this year to let him withdraw his guilty plea. When the judge refused to let him do so, Trump’s Justice Department overruled its own career prosecutors and attempted to drop the prosecution entirely.
Judge Emmett Sullivan refused to dismiss the case. Trump attacked Sullivan as a result, retweeting a supporter’s message in September which read, “Good morning to everyone except Judge Sullivan and the corrupt FBI agents that tried to prosecute General Flynn under fraudulent and manufactured pretenses.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
This would not be the first time Trump used his pardon and commutation powers to let his cronies off the hook for crimes.
In 2017, he pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a prominent supporter who was convicted of contempt of court after refusing to stop racially profiling people.
In 2018, he pardoned conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza, who had admitted previously to felony campaign finance violations.
And just this year, Trump pardoned his lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s close friend and former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud in 2010; granted clemency to former “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant and disgraced ex-Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was found guilty in 2011 on 17 counts, including for wire fraud, soliciting bribes, and attempted extortion; and commuted the sentence of his former lobbyist and campaign adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted of witness tampering and obstruction of justice and sentenced to more than three years in prison back in February.
House Intelligence chair Adam Schiff said Wednesday that if reports about Trump’s intentions were true, a Flynn pardon would reflect “ill on our democracy, on the United States.”
“Imagine what people around the world think when we have a president that’s acting like an organized crime figure,” Schiff (D-CA) told CNN. “But this is who Donald Trump is. It’s who he was on the way into the presidency. It will be exactly who he is on his last days of the presidency.”
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.


shareblue--2020-11-25--'America is back': Biden pushes past Trump era with nominees

Declaring `` America is back , '' President-elect Joe Biden introduced his national security team , his first substantive offering of how he 'll shift from Trump-era `` America First '' policies by relying on experts from the Democratic establishment to be some of his most important advisers .
`` Together , these public servants will restore America globally , its global leadership and its moral leadership , '' Biden said Tuesday from a theater in his longtime home of Wilmington , Delaware .
`` It 's a team that reflects the fact that America is back , ready to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it . ''
The nominees are all Washington veterans with ties to the Obama administration , a sign of Biden 's effort to resume some form of normalcy after the tumult of Donald Trump 's four years in office .
Another sign that Biden will soon be in charge : He scheduled a Thanksgiving address to the nation for Wednesday afternoon , planning to focus his remarks on shared sacrifices during the holiday season and expressing confidence that Americans will get through the coronavirus pandemic together .
There are risks to choosing experienced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Besides Republican attacks , progressives fret that Biden is tapping some officials who were too cautious and incremental the last time they held power .
Still , Biden 's nominees were a clear departure from Trump , whose Cabinet has largely consisted of men , almost all of them white .
Biden 's picks included several women and people of color , some of whom would break barriers if confirmed to their new positions .
On Tuesday they stood behind Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spaced apart and wearing masks to prevent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contrast with Trump and many of his top aides who have largely eschewed facial coverings .
The president-elect 's team includes Antony Blinken , a veteran foreign policy hand well-regarded on Capitol Hill whose ties to Biden go back some 20 years , for secretary of state ; lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas to be homeland security secretary ; veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations ; and Obama White House alumnus Jake Sullivan as national security adviser .
Avril Haines , a former deputy director of the CIA , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ national intelligence , the first woman to hold that post , and former Secretary of State John Kerry will make a curtain call as a special envoy on climate change .
Kerry and Sullivan 's position will not require Senate confirmation .
With the Senate 's balance of power hinging on two runoff races in Georgia that will be decided in January , some Senate Republicans have already expressed antipathy to Biden 's picks as little more than Obama world retreads .
Sen. Tom Cotton , an Arkansas Republican and potential 2024 presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself with people who will go soft on China .
Sen. Marco Rubio , another potential White House hopeful , who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that will consider Blinken 's nomination , broadly wrote off the early selections .
`` Biden 's cabinet picks went to Ivy League schools , have strong resumes , attend all the right conferences & will be polite & orderly caretakers of America 's decline , '' Rubio tweeted .
Biden said his choices `` reflect the idea that we can not meet these challenges @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' He said he tasked them with reasserting global and moral leadership , a clear swipe at Trump , who has resisted many traditional foreign alliances .
The president-elect said he was `` struck '' by how world leaders have repeatedly told him during congratulatory calls that they look forward to the U.S. `` reasserting its historic role as a global leader '' under his administration .
Trump , who has debated recently whether to mount another presidential campaign in 2024 , appeared to defend his worldview on Tuesday .
`` We should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ First , '' he said at the annual turkey pardon , a lighthearted pre-Thanksgiving White House tradition .
While Trump expected total loyalty from his Cabinet and chafed at pushback from advisers , Biden said he expected advisers to tell me `` what I need to know , not what I want to know . ''
Further drawing a contrast with Trump , Haines said she accepted Biden 's nomination knowing that `` you value the perspective of the intelligence community , and that you will do so even when what I have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
Haines said she has `` never shied away from speaking truth to power '' and added `` that will be my charge as director of national intelligence . ''
Biden celebrated the diversity of his picks , offering a particularly poignant tribute to Thomas-Greenfield .
The eldest of eight children who grew up in segregated Louisiana , she was the first to graduate from high school and college in her family .
The diplomat , in turn , said that with his selections , Biden is achieving much more than a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fellow career diplomats and public servants around the world , I want to say to you , 'America is back , multilateralism is back , diplomacy is back , ' '' Thomas-Greenfield said .
Mayorkas , who is Cuban American , also offered a nod to his immigrant upbringing .
`` My father and mother brought me to this country to escape communism , '' he said .
`` They cherished our democracy , and were intensely proud to become United States citizens , as was I . ''
But Mayorkas might pose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's early round of nominees .
The Senate previously confirmed him in December 2013 by a party-line vote to be the deputy secretary of Homeland Security .
The Senate was controlled by Democrats then , and all of the chamber 's Republicans voted against his confirmation mainly because he was then under investigation by the inspector general in that department , who had been appointed by President Barack Obama .
At the time , the Senate historian 's office said it was unprecedented for the Senate to vote on a nominee who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John Roth , found in March 2015 that Mayorkas , as director of the U.S .
Citizenship and Immigration Services , appeared to give special treatment to certain people as part of the visa program that gives residency preference to immigrants who agree to invest in the U.S. economy .
Meanwhile , there were signs on Tuesday that the stalled formal transition of power is now underway .
Biden 's team now is in contact with all federal agencies , according to a transition official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At the Pentagon , Kash Patel , chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense , is heading the department 's transition work .
A transition task force has been assembled , led by Tom Muir , head of the Pentagon office that provides administrative and management services to all Defense Department facilities in the Washington area .
Muir said the first meeting with Biden 's team was held virtually on Tuesday morning and that he expected daily meetings to come — some virtually and some in person .
He said normal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made , including provision of briefing materials , video-teleconferencing capabilities , and office space inside the Pentagon .
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also said his agency is working to get briefing materials to Biden 's aides immediately and pledged a `` professional , cooperative and collaborative '' transition .
The moves came a day after the head of the General Services Administration wrote the necessary letter of `` ascertainment '' acknowledging Biden as the apparent winner of the election , triggering the transition process .
Trump , who continues to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election results , again on Tuesday refused to concede his election loss .
Trump tweeted that `` the GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be . ''

Declaring “America is back,” President-elect Joe Biden introduced his national security team, his first substantive offering of how he’ll shift from Trump-era “America First” policies by relying on experts from the Democratic establishment to be some of his most important advisers.
“Together, these public servants will restore America globally, its global leadership and its moral leadership,” Biden said Tuesday from a theater in his longtime home of Wilmington, Delaware. “It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it.”
The nominees are all Washington veterans with ties to the Obama administration, a sign of Biden’s effort to resume some form of normalcy after the tumult of Donald Trump’s four years in office. Another sign that Biden will soon be in charge: He scheduled a Thanksgiving address to the nation for Wednesday afternoon, planning to focus his remarks on shared sacrifices during the holiday season and expressing confidence that Americans will get through the coronavirus pandemic together.
There are risks to choosing experienced hands from the previous Democratic administration. Besides Republican attacks, progressives fret that Biden is tapping some officials who were too cautious and incremental the last time they held power.
Still, Biden’s nominees were a clear departure from Trump, whose Cabinet has largely consisted of men, almost all of them white. Biden’s picks included several women and people of color, some of whom would break barriers if confirmed to their new positions.
On Tuesday they stood behind Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spaced apart and wearing masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a contrast with Trump and many of his top aides who have largely eschewed facial coverings.
The president-elect’s team includes Antony Blinken, a veteran foreign policy hand well-regarded on Capitol Hill whose ties to Biden go back some 20 years, for secretary of state; lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas to be homeland security secretary; veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; and Obama White House alumnus Jake Sullivan as national security adviser.
Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, was picked to serve as director of national intelligence, the first woman to hold that post, and former Secretary of State John Kerry will make a curtain call as a special envoy on climate change. Kerry and Sullivan’s position will not require Senate confirmation.
With the Senate’s balance of power hinging on two runoff races in Georgia that will be decided in January, some Senate Republicans have already expressed antipathy to Biden’s picks as little more than Obama world retreads.
Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and potential 2024 presidential candidate, argued that Biden is surrounding himself with people who will go soft on China.
Sen. Marco Rubio, another potential White House hopeful, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that will consider Blinken’s nomination, broadly wrote off the early selections.
“Biden’s cabinet picks went to Ivy League schools, have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences & will be polite & orderly caretakers of America’s decline,” Rubio tweeted.
Biden said his choices “reflect the idea that we cannot meet these challenges with old thinking and unchanged habits.” He said he tasked them with reasserting global and moral leadership, a clear swipe at Trump, who has resisted many traditional foreign alliances.
The president-elect said he was “struck” by how world leaders have repeatedly told him during congratulatory calls that they look forward to the U.S. “reasserting its historic role as a global leader” under his administration.
Trump, who has debated recently whether to mount another presidential campaign in 2024, appeared to defend his worldview on Tuesday.
“We shouldn’t go away from that — America First,” he said at the annual turkey pardon, a lighthearted pre-Thanksgiving White House tradition.
While Trump expected total loyalty from his Cabinet and chafed at pushback from advisers, Biden said he expected advisers to tell me “what I need to know, not what I want to know.”
Further drawing a contrast with Trump, Haines said she accepted Biden’s nomination knowing that “you value the perspective of the intelligence community, and that you will do so even when what I have to say may be inconvenient or difficult.”
Haines said she has “never shied away from speaking truth to power” and added “that will be my charge as director of national intelligence.”
Biden celebrated the diversity of his picks, offering a particularly poignant tribute to Thomas-Greenfield. The eldest of eight children who grew up in segregated Louisiana, she was the first to graduate from high school and college in her family. The diplomat, in turn, said that with his selections, Biden is achieving much more than a changing of the guard.
“My fellow career diplomats and public servants around the world, I want to say to you, ‘America is back, multilateralism is back, diplomacy is back,'” Thomas-Greenfield said.
Mayorkas, who is Cuban American, also offered a nod to his immigrant upbringing.
“My father and mother brought me to this country to escape communism,” he said. “They cherished our democracy, and were intensely proud to become United States citizens, as was I.”
But Mayorkas might pose the most difficult confirmation challenge from Biden’s early round of nominees.
The Senate previously confirmed him in December 2013 by a party-line vote to be the deputy secretary of Homeland Security. The Senate was controlled by Democrats then, and all of the chamber’s Republicans voted against his confirmation mainly because he was then under investigation by the inspector general in that department, who had been appointed by President Barack Obama. At the time, the Senate historian’s office said it was unprecedented for the Senate to vote on a nominee who was under investigation.
The inspector general, John Roth, found in March 2015 that Mayorkas, as director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, appeared to give special treatment to certain people as part of the visa program that gives residency preference to immigrants who agree to invest in the U.S. economy.
Meanwhile, there were signs on Tuesday that the stalled formal transition of power is now underway. Biden’s team now is in contact with all federal agencies, according to a transition official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe developments that have not been announced.
At the Pentagon, Kash Patel, chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense, is heading the department’s transition work. A transition task force has been assembled, led by Tom Muir, head of the Pentagon office that provides administrative and management services to all Defense Department facilities in the Washington area.
Muir said the first meeting with Biden’s team was held virtually on Tuesday morning and that he expected daily meetings to come — some virtually and some in person. He said normal accommodations for the Biden team have been made, including provision of briefing materials, video-teleconferencing capabilities, and office space inside the Pentagon.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also said his agency is working to get briefing materials to Biden’s aides immediately and pledged a “professional, cooperative and collaborative” transition.
The moves came a day after the head of the General Services Administration wrote the necessary letter of “ascertainment” acknowledging Biden as the apparent winner of the election, triggering the transition process.
Trump, who continues to press a legal challenge to overturn the election results, again on Tuesday refused to concede his election loss.
Trump tweeted that “the GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be.”


shareblue--2020-11-25--Georgia Sen. David Perdue saw pandemic as an opportunity to make money

As the ravages of the novel coronavirus forced millions of people out of work , shuttered businesses and shrank the value of retirement accounts , the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to a three-year low .
But for Sen. David Perdue , a Georgia Republican , the crisis last March signaled something else : a stock-buying opportunity .
And for the second time in less than two months , Perdue 's timing was impeccable .
He avoided a sharp loss and reaped a stunning gain by selling and then buying the same stock : Cardlytics , an Atlanta-based financial technology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once served .
On Jan. 23 , as word spread through Congress that the coronavirus posed a major economic and public health threat , Perdue sold off $ 1 million to $ 5 million in Cardlytics stock at $ 86 a share before it plunged , according to congressional disclosures .
Weeks later , in March , after the company 's stock plunged further following an unexpected leadership shakeup and lower-than-forecast earnings , Perdue bought the stock back for $ 30 a share , investing between $ 200,000 and $ 500,000 .
Those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closing at $ 121 a share on Tuesday .
The Cardlytics transactions were just a slice of a large number of investment decisions made in the early days of the pandemic by Perdue and other senators .
They stirred public outrage after it became clear that some members of Congress had been briefed on the economic and health threat the virus posed .
The transactions were mentioned briefly in a story published by the Intercept in May .
Now that Perdue is locked in a pitched battle for reelection in a Jan. 5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health and economic crisis have become an issue in what already has become a negative , expensive campaign that will determine which party controls the Senate .
There is no evidence that Perdue , who is among the wealthier members of the Senate , acted on information gained as a member of Congress or through his long-standing relationship with company officials .
It 's illegal to use nonpublic information gained as a company insider or member of Congress to make investment decisions .
But legal experts say the timing of his sale , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stock back when it had lost two-thirds of its market value and his close ties to company officials all warrant scrutiny .
`` This does seem suspicious , '' said John C. Coffee Jr. , a Columbia University law school professor who specializes in corporate and securities issues .
But he added , `` You need more than suspicions to convict . ''
The Perdue campaign declined a request for an interview with the senator .
In a statement , Perdue spokesperson John Burke said the senator had been cleared of wrongdoing but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bi-partisan Senate Ethics Committee , DOJ and SEC all independently and swiftly cleared Senator Perdue months ago , which was reported on , '' Burke said .
Perdue 's opponent , Democrat Jon Ossoff , has seized on his stock trading while trying to brand him as a `` crook . ''
Perdue is not the only senator on the ballot in Georgia .
Sen. Kelly Loeffler , also a Republican , is running against Democrat Raphael Warnock in a bid to complete the remainder of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson 's term .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ broader pattern of stock moves he made when the coronavirus first struck the U.S. At the time , Perdue publicly maintained that the economy was strong and praised Donald Trump during a Feb. 24 interview on Fox News Channel for `` executing the greatest economic turnaround in U.S .
history . ''
A series of swift transactions in his portfolio told a different story , however , showing the senator dumped some company stocks , while investing in others — like protective equipment maker DuPont and pharmaceutical company Pfizer — that were poised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Perdue has previously said that outside financial advisers make most of his trades .
But Donna Nagy , an Indiana University law professor , said that type of arrangement does n't preclude Perdue from directing an adviser to make specific transactions .
She said one way for members of Congress to avoid questions about their financial holdings is to put them in a blind trust , which Perdue has not done .
`` All of these questions about the motivations behind our members of Congress and their personal securities trading could be alleviated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investments , '' said Nagy , who specializes in securities law .
`` Ordinary citizens should not have to question members of Congress about their investments . ''
The issue was enough of a liability that Perdue abruptly sold off between $ 3.2 million and $ 9.4 million of his stock portfolio over a four-day period in mid-April , according to an Associated Press review of mandatory financial disclosures he has submitted to the Senate .
He did not sell his stock in Cardlytics .
Still , Perdue has largely avoided the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his colleagues .
Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina drew the most attention and stepped down as Senate Intelligence Committee chair amid a probe of his sale of upward of $ 1.7 million in stock , which came when he was privately warning some well-heeled constituents about the virus while publicly downplaying the threat .
Cardlytics works at the intersection of banking and online marketing .
It helps run rewards programs for financial institutions , including Wells Fargo , using data the banks have gathered on their customers to market to them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ targeted ads .
The company did not respond to a request for comment .
After the March turmoil , its share price dramatically rebounded .
Lynne Laube , Cardlytics ' current CEO , said the pandemic had a lot to do with it , driving consumer interest in savings programs .
`` I hate to say this pandemic is playing in our favor , but it 's playing in our favor , '' she said during an earnings call in May .
Perdue acquired 75,000 shares in Cardlytics through stock options offered for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from 2010 to 2014 , when he stepped down after winning his Senate seat , Securities and Exchange Commission filings show .
The company , which at the time had not yet gone public , also offered him options that would become available in October 2020 and January 2022 .
Perdue 's latest financial disclosures do not indicate whether he has exercised the options that became available in October .
But according to Coffee , the Columbia University law professor , it 's an unusual move by the company .
`` I 've @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2022 , '' he said .
`` That 's a very long extension . ''
While Perdue left the company 's board , he has maintained ties to some of its executives , who have donated more than $ 30,000 to his political committees .
Donations made to Perdue account for nearly 80 % of all giving to federal candidates by Cardlytics employees over the past decade , records show .
Perdue , meanwhile , has used social media to publicize the company .
In August 2016 , he took a tour of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Laube and then-CEO Scott Grimes , which he posted to Facebook .
In fall 2019 , he introduced Laube and Grimes at a gala in Atlanta , where they received a business achievement award .
Isakson , who served with Perdue , took steps to avoid the type of scrutiny Perdue is now facing .
Isakson , a Republican , put most of his own holdings in a blind trust after some of his assets drew unwanted attention in 2012 .
`` I said I need to be as patently pure and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ best way to do that is a blind trust , '' Isakson , who served on the Senate 's finance and ethics committees , told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 2017 .
`` I do n't know what I own . ''

As the ravages of the novel coronavirus forced millions of people out of work, shuttered businesses and shrank the value of retirement accounts, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to a three-year low.
But for Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican, the crisis last March signaled something else: a stock-buying opportunity.
And for the second time in less than two months, Perdue’s timing was impeccable. He avoided a sharp loss and reaped a stunning gain by selling and then buying the same stock: Cardlytics, an Atlanta-based financial technology company on whose board of directors he once served.
On Jan. 23, as word spread through Congress that the coronavirus posed a major economic and public health threat, Perdue sold off $1 million to $5 million in Cardlytics stock at $86 a share before it plunged, according to congressional disclosures.
Weeks later, in March, after the company’s stock plunged further following an unexpected leadership shakeup and lower-than-forecast earnings, Perdue bought the stock back for $30 a share, investing between $200,000 and $500,000.
Those shares have now quadrupled in value, closing at $121 a share on Tuesday.
The Cardlytics transactions were just a slice of a large number of investment decisions made in the early days of the pandemic by Perdue and other senators. They stirred public outrage after it became clear that some members of Congress had been briefed on the economic and health threat the virus posed. The transactions were mentioned briefly in a story published by the Intercept in May.
Now that Perdue is locked in a pitched battle for reelection in a Jan. 5 runoff, his trades during a public health and economic crisis have become an issue in what already has become a negative, expensive campaign that will determine which party controls the Senate.
There is no evidence that Perdue, who is among the wealthier members of the Senate, acted on information gained as a member of Congress or through his long-standing relationship with company officials. It’s illegal to use nonpublic information gained as a company insider or member of Congress to make investment decisions.
But legal experts say the timing of his sale, the fact that he quickly bought Cardlytics stock back when it had lost two-thirds of its market value and his close ties to company officials all warrant scrutiny.
“This does seem suspicious,” said John C. Coffee Jr., a Columbia University law school professor who specializes in corporate and securities issues. But he added, “You need more than suspicions to convict.”
The Perdue campaign declined a request for an interview with the senator. In a statement, Perdue spokesperson John Burke said the senator had been cleared of wrongdoing but did not provide details.
“The bi-partisan Senate Ethics Committee, DOJ and SEC all independently and swiftly cleared Senator Perdue months ago, which was reported on,” Burke said.
Perdue’s opponent, Democrat Jon Ossoff, has seized on his stock trading while trying to brand him as a “crook.”
Perdue is not the only senator on the ballot in Georgia. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, also a Republican, is running against Democrat Raphael Warnock in a bid to complete the remainder of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term.
Perdue’s Cardlytics transactions fit into a broader pattern of stock moves he made when the coronavirus first struck the U.S.
At the time, Perdue publicly maintained that the economy was strong and praised Donald Trump during a Feb. 24 interview on Fox News Channel for “executing the greatest economic turnaround in U.S. history.”
A series of swift transactions in his portfolio told a different story, however, showing the senator dumped some company stocks, while investing in others — like protective equipment maker DuPont and pharmaceutical company Pfizer — that were poised to do well during the pandemic.
Perdue has previously said that outside financial advisers make most of his trades.
But Donna Nagy, an Indiana University law professor, said that type of arrangement doesn’t preclude Perdue from directing an adviser to make specific transactions. She said one way for members of Congress to avoid questions about their financial holdings is to put them in a blind trust, which Perdue has not done.
“All of these questions about the motivations behind our members of Congress and their personal securities trading could be alleviated if Congress passed a law that limited investments,” said Nagy, who specializes in securities law. “Ordinary citizens should not have to question members of Congress about their investments.”
The issue was enough of a liability that Perdue abruptly sold off between $3.2 million and $9.4 million of his stock portfolio over a four-day period in mid-April, according to an Associated Press review of mandatory financial disclosures he has submitted to the Senate. He did not sell his stock in Cardlytics.
Still, Perdue has largely avoided the same degree of scrutiny faced by some of his colleagues.
Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina drew the most attention and stepped down as Senate Intelligence Committee chair amid a probe of his sale of upward of $1.7 million in stock, which came when he was privately warning some well-heeled constituents about the virus while publicly downplaying the threat.
Cardlytics works at the intersection of banking and online marketing. It helps run rewards programs for financial institutions, including Wells Fargo, using data the banks have gathered on their customers to market to them — similar to what Facebook does with targeted ads.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
After the March turmoil, its share price dramatically rebounded. Lynne Laube, Cardlytics’ current CEO, said the pandemic had a lot to do with it, driving consumer interest in savings programs.
“I hate to say this pandemic is playing in our favor, but it’s playing in our favor,” she said during an earnings call in May.
Perdue acquired 75,000 shares in Cardlytics through stock options offered for his service on the company’s board from 2010 to 2014, when he stepped down after winning his Senate seat, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show. The company, which at the time had not yet gone public, also offered him options that would become available in October 2020 and January 2022.
Perdue’s latest financial disclosures do not indicate whether he has exercised the options that became available in October.
But according to Coffee, the Columbia University law professor, it’s an unusual move by the company.
“I’ve never seen options extended from 2014 to 2022,” he said. “That’s a very long extension.”
While Perdue left the company’s board, he has maintained ties to some of its executives, who have donated more than $30,000 to his political committees. Donations made to Perdue account for nearly 80% of all giving to federal candidates by Cardlytics employees over the past decade, records show.
Perdue, meanwhile, has used social media to publicize the company. In August 2016, he took a tour of its office and posed for a photo with Laube and then-CEO Scott Grimes, which he posted to Facebook. In fall 2019, he introduced Laube and Grimes at a gala in Atlanta, where they received a business achievement award.
Isakson, who served with Perdue, took steps to avoid the type of scrutiny Perdue is now facing. Isakson, a Republican, put most of his own holdings in a blind trust after some of his assets drew unwanted attention in 2012.
“I said I need to be as patently pure and patently clean as anybody, and the best way to do that is a blind trust,” Isakson, who served on the Senate’s finance and ethics committees, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 2017. “I don’t know what I own.”


shareblue--2020-11-26--Barack Obama breaks record with massive sales of his new book

Former President Barack Obama 's `` A Promised Land '' sold more than 1.7 million copies in North America in its first week , roughly equal to the combined first-week sales of memoirs by his two immediate predecessors and among the highest ever for a nonfiction book .
Crown announced Tuesday that it had increased its initial print run from 3.4 million copies to 4.3 million .
Sales also include audio and digital books .
`` A Promised Land , '' the first of two planned volumes , was published Nov. 17 and sold nearly 890,000 copies just in its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ residents , only Obama 's wife , Michelle , approaches his popularity as a writer .
Her `` Becoming , '' published in 2018 , has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and is currently in the top 20 on Amazon.com .
George W. Bush 's `` Decision Points '' sold 775,000 copies its first week and Bill Clinton 's `` My Life '' topped 1 million in eight days .
The two presidential memoirs have now each sold between 3.5 and 4 million copies , totals that Obama 's book should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the pace set by `` Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , '' which in 2007 sold more than 8 million copies in its first 24 hours .

Former President Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land” sold more than 1.7 million copies in North America in its first week, roughly equal to the combined first-week sales of memoirs by his two immediate predecessors and among the highest ever for a nonfiction book.
Crown announced Tuesday that it had increased its initial print run from 3.4 million copies to 4.3 million. Sales also include audio and digital books.
“A Promised Land,” the first of two planned volumes, was published Nov. 17 and sold nearly 890,000 copies just in its first day. Among former White House residents, only Obama’s wife, Michelle, approaches his popularity as a writer. Her “Becoming,” published in 2018, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and is currently in the top 20 on Amazon.com.
George W. Bush’s “Decision Points” sold 775,000 copies its first week and Bill Clinton’s “My Life” topped 1 million in eight days. The two presidential memoirs have now each sold between 3.5 and 4 million copies, totals that Obama’s book should easily surpass.
No nonfiction comes close to the pace set by “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which in 2007 sold more than 8 million copies in its first 24 hours.


shareblue--2020-11-26--Millions are defying CDC warnings to travel for Thanksgiving

About 1 million Americans a day packed airports and planes over the weekend even as coronavirus deaths surged across the U.S. and public health experts begged people to stay home and avoid big Thanksgiving gatherings .
And the crowds are only expected to grow .
Next Sunday is likely to be the busiest day of the holiday period .
To be sure , the number of people flying for Thanksgiving is down by more than half from last year because of the rapidly worsening outbreak .
However , the 3 million who went through U.S. airport checkpoints from Friday through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when the COVID-19 crisis took hold in the United States .
Many travelers are unwilling to miss out on seeing family and are convinced they can do it safely .
Also , many colleges have ended their in-person classes , propelling students to return home .
Laurie Pearcy , director of administration for a Minneapolis law firm , is flying to New Orleans to attend her daughter 's bridal shower and have a small Thanksgiving dinner with her son .
`` I do n't want to unknowingly make anyone sick .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this special event for my only daughter , '' she said .
Stephen Browning , a retired executive from Tucson , Arizona , will be flying to Seattle for Thanksgiving with his sister .
The celebration usually has up to 30 people ; this year only 10 are coming , and everyone was asked to get a coronavirus test .
He does n't plan on removing his mask to eat or drink on the flight .
`` This is my first flight since December 2019 , so yes , I have concerns , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think most airlines are acting responsibly now and enforcing masks on all flights . ''
Last week , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans not to travel or spend the holiday with people outside their household .
New cases of the virus in the United States have rocketed to all-time highs , averaging more than 170,000 per day , and deaths have soared to over 1,500 a day , the highest level since the spring .
The virus is blamed for more than a quarter-million deaths in the U.S. and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There is so much community transmission all over the United States that the chances of you encountering somebody that has COVID-19 is actually very , very high , whether it 's on an airplane , at the airport or at a rest area , '' said Dr. Syra Madad , an infectious-disease epidemiologist for New York City hospitals .
The nation 's top infectious-diseases expert , Dr. Anthony Fauci , told CBS ' `` Face the Nation '' that people at airports `` are going to get us into even more trouble than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The message may be sinking in for some .
Bookings in 2020 are down about 60 % from where they were this time last year .
Thanksgiving reservations were ticking upward in early October but fell back again as case numbers surged .
Since airlines have made it easier to cancel tickets , there could be a rash of cancellations closer to the holiday , said John Elder , an adviser to airlines from Boston Consulting Group .
In 2019 , a record 26 million passengers and crew passed through U.S. airport screening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This year , the industry trade group Airlines for America is n't even providing a forecast because things are so uncertain .
Because of tighter restrictions by many governments , air travel in other parts of the world has , in contrast , come to a near standstill .
In Europe , traffic between countries was down by 83 % in September from a year earlier , and that has only worsened since then because many countries imposed new limits .
Alejandro Zuniga and his fiancee , Megan Muhs , who live in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving to see Muhs ' family but decided against it .
They also nixed a trip to the U.S. in December .
`` No part of a major international trip seems safe at this point , '' Zuniga said .
The pair plans to make video calls to family and stream the Detroit Lions football game on Thanksgiving Day .
Josh Holman and his family were planning to fly to Lake Tahoe and spend Thanksgiving with his brother , who lives in San Francisco , and his parents , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scrapped those plans .
`` I see it as my civic duty not to spread this virus further , '' said Holman , an assistant county prosecutor who lives outside Detroit .
More people tend to drive than fly over Thanksgiving , but even car travel is expected to see a drop-off , according to AAA .
Based on surveys in mid-October , the association was expecting 47.8 million people to drive to Thanksgiving gatherings , down 4 % from last year .
But AAA said the drop could prove to be even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brad Carr and his wife , retirees who live in Griffin , Georgia , debated whether to drive 35 miles north to his son 's house for Thanksgiving and eat at a separate table on the porch .
But after the CDC 's announcement , they decided to stay home .
Carr 's son will deliver their meal `` a la Uber Eats , '' Carr said .
Those who do gather should eat outdoors , wear masks , stay 6 feet apart and have one person serve the food , the CDC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Juliana Walter 's family .
Walter , a student at the University of Tampa , plans to get a coronavirus test and then drive home to Maryland .
Her parents have rented tents and outdoor heaters and will host up to 30 masked family members for Thanksgiving dinner .
The holidays close out a bleak year for U.S. travel .
Travel spending is expected to drop 45 % from 2019 levels , to $ 617 billion , according to the U.S. Travel Association , a trade group .
Canceling Thanksgiving trips is painful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flies from Seattle to her hometown of Tucson , Arizona , to spend the holiday with her parents .
They have a picnic to celebrate the life of her sister , who died on Thanksgiving in 2015 .
This year , Kleber is sending her parents a portrait of her sister and plans a video call on Thanksgiving .
It 's going to be hard being away from family this year , '' she said .

About 1 million Americans a day packed airports and planes over the weekend even as coronavirus deaths surged across the U.S. and public health experts begged people to stay home and avoid big Thanksgiving gatherings.
And the crowds are only expected to grow. Next Sunday is likely to be the busiest day of the holiday period.
To be sure, the number of people flying for Thanksgiving is down by more than half from last year because of the rapidly worsening outbreak. However, the 3 million who went through U.S. airport checkpoints from Friday through Sunday marked the biggest crowds since mid-March, when the COVID-19 crisis took hold in the United States.
Many travelers are unwilling to miss out on seeing family and are convinced they can do it safely. Also, many colleges have ended their in-person classes, propelling students to return home.
Laurie Pearcy, director of administration for a Minneapolis law firm, is flying to New Orleans to attend her daughter’s bridal shower and have a small Thanksgiving dinner with her son.
“I don’t want to unknowingly make anyone sick. But I also don’t want to miss this special event for my only daughter,” she said.
Stephen Browning, a retired executive from Tucson, Arizona, will be flying to Seattle for Thanksgiving with his sister. The celebration usually has up to 30 people; this year only 10 are coming, and everyone was asked to get a coronavirus test. He doesn’t plan on removing his mask to eat or drink on the flight.
“This is my first flight since December 2019, so yes, I have concerns,” he said. “But I think most airlines are acting responsibly now and enforcing masks on all flights.”
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans not to travel or spend the holiday with people outside their household.
New cases of the virus in the United States have rocketed to all-time highs, averaging more than 170,000 per day, and deaths have soared to over 1,500 a day, the highest level since the spring. The virus is blamed for more than a quarter-million deaths in the U.S. and over 12 million confirmed infections.
“There is so much community transmission all over the United States that the chances of you encountering somebody that has COVID-19 is actually very, very high, whether it’s on an airplane, at the airport or at a rest area,” said Dr. Syra Madad, an infectious-disease epidemiologist for New York City hospitals.
The nation’s top infectious-diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that people at airports “are going to get us into even more trouble than we’re in right now.”
The message may be sinking in for some.
Bookings in 2020 are down about 60% from where they were this time last year. Thanksgiving reservations were ticking upward in early October but fell back again as case numbers surged. Since airlines have made it easier to cancel tickets, there could be a rash of cancellations closer to the holiday, said John Elder, an adviser to airlines from Boston Consulting Group.
In 2019, a record 26 million passengers and crew passed through U.S. airport screening in the 11-day period around Thanksgiving. This year, the industry trade group Airlines for America isn’t even providing a forecast because things are so uncertain.
Because of tighter restrictions by many governments, air travel in other parts of the world has, in contrast, come to a near standstill. In Europe, traffic between countries was down by 83% in September from a year earlier, and that has only worsened since then because many countries imposed new limits.
Alejandro Zuniga and his fiancee, Megan Muhs, who live in Costa Rica, thought briefly about flying to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving to see Muhs’ family but decided against it. They also nixed a trip to the U.S. in December.
“No part of a major international trip seems safe at this point,” Zuniga said. The pair plans to make video calls to family and stream the Detroit Lions football game on Thanksgiving Day.
Josh Holman and his family were planning to fly to Lake Tahoe and spend Thanksgiving with his brother, who lives in San Francisco, and his parents, who live in North Dakota. But they scrapped those plans.
“I see it as my civic duty not to spread this virus further,” said Holman, an assistant county prosecutor who lives outside Detroit.
More people tend to drive than fly over Thanksgiving, but even car travel is expected to see a drop-off, according to AAA. Based on surveys in mid-October, the association was expecting 47.8 million people to drive to Thanksgiving gatherings, down 4% from last year. But AAA said the drop could prove to be even bigger, given the worsening crisis.
Brad Carr and his wife, retirees who live in Griffin, Georgia, debated whether to drive 35 miles north to his son’s house for Thanksgiving and eat at a separate table on the porch. But after the CDC’s announcement, they decided to stay home. Carr’s son will deliver their meal “a la Uber Eats,” Carr said.
Those who do gather should eat outdoors, wear masks, stay 6 feet apart and have one person serve the food, the CDC said.
That’s the plan for Juliana Walter’s family. Walter, a student at the University of Tampa, plans to get a coronavirus test and then drive home to Maryland. Her parents have rented tents and outdoor heaters and will host up to 30 masked family members for Thanksgiving dinner.
The holidays close out a bleak year for U.S. travel. Travel spending is expected to drop 45% from 2019 levels, to $617 billion, according to the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group.
Canceling Thanksgiving trips is painful for many families.
Kelly Kleber usually flies from Seattle to her hometown of Tucson, Arizona, to spend the holiday with her parents. They have a picnic to celebrate the life of her sister, who died on Thanksgiving in 2015. This year, Kleber is sending her parents a portrait of her sister and plans a video call on Thanksgiving.
It’s going to be hard being away from family this year,” she said.