White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 25 2020

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NBC Nightly News Broadcast (Full) - December 24th, 2020 | NBC Nightly News
Dec 25, 2020

Donald Trump Is Planning A War With Iran To Prevent Joe Biden’s Presidency, Author Says

Dec. 24 - Author Trita Parsi, founder and former president of the National Iranian American Council, believes that President Donald Trump’s recent warnings to Iran are signs of a disturbing plan to thwart President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

“Make no mistake: Trump has already moved B52s, submarines, and other military assets to the Persian Gulf,” he tweeted.

“He is planning to start a war with Iran on bogus charges in order to prevent Biden from taking office. Iran is not the real target. American democracy is.”

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An Iranian flag is pictured near in a missile during a military drill, with the participation of Iran’s Air Defense units, Iran October 19, 2020.Iran Builds Up Air Defense Systems Near Nuclear Sites Over Possible US Strikes, Reports Claim

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iran is strengthening air defense systems located near its nuclear facilities as a precaution against possible US missile strikes, the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper reported on Thursday, citing informed sources from Iran.

Dec. 25 - The measure is taken amid growing tensions between Tehran and Washington ahead of US President Donald Trump's departure. Earlier in the day, Trump wrote on Twitter that the recent rocket attack on the US embassy in Iraq was carried out from the territory of Iran, and warned that Washington would hold Tehran responsible if any US nationals were killed in a new rocket attack. Tehran has denied the allegations.

According to the newspaper, Tehran has built up air defense systems and radar locators of the aerospace forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to protect the facilities vital for Iran's nuclear program from strikes aimed at disrupting the uranium enrichment process. In particular, the precaution is taken in Isfahan province, where the Natanz uranium enrichment plant is located.

Trump Threatens Iran, Tweets Rocket Photos Claiming to Prove Complicity in Baghdad Embassy AttackThe recent rocket attack took place on Sunday when defensive interceptors stationed at the US embassy shot down three rockets fired at the so-called Green Zone in the Iraqi capital, a heavily fortified enclave where many government offices and diplomatic missions are located.     continue to read

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PBS NewsHour full episode, Dec. 24, 2020
Dec 25, 2020
Thursday on the NewsHour, President Trump issues more controversial pardons while complicating congressional efforts to reach a new COVID relief bill, the United Kingdom and the European Union finalize a Brexit trade deal, what this crucial time for giving means for organizations serving those in need, and a look at how the U.S. is being transformed by the pandemic.

Paul Manafort, center, in court in New York last year. 
Donald Trump's latest wave of pardons includes Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner
President also gives clemency to Roger Stone in second round of pardons since Tuesday

Dec. 24 - Donald Trump has pardoned another 26 people in his second big wave of clemency actions since Tuesday, marking yet another audacious application of presidential power to reward loyalists.
The US president pardoned his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his longtime adviser Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

Stone, a longtime friend and associate, had his sentence for a series of charges related to the Russia investigation commuted by the president in July.      continue to read

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 24, 2020

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President-elect Joe Biden speaks at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020.
'Patently false': Pentagon fires back at Biden as fight over transition meetings turns ugly

Dec. 23 - The Pentagon fired back Wednesday at President-elect Joseph R. Biden, calling his claim that the Defense Department is refusing to brief the Biden transition team on key issues a “patently false” allegation.

In a blunt statement released shortly after midnight, senior Pentagon officials said they will resume formal meetings with the Biden transition team in early January, after a holiday break agreed to by both sides.

The statement came in response to claims by the Biden team that it never agreed to a holiday break.

Mr. Biden made headlines on Tuesday by saying “the Defense Department won’t even brief us” on key issues, including a massive hack of the federal government that most security and defense officials have attributed to Russia.

The president-elect said his team isn’t getting cooperation from the Defense Department and is in the dark on the extent of damage caused by the hack, largely because of President Trump’s downplaying of the incident.     continue to read

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DECEMBER 23, 2020P
resident-elect Biden Announces Education Secretary Nominee
President-elect Joe Biden announced Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s education commissioner, as his nominee for education secretary. The president-elect and vice president-elect praised Mr. Cardona for his career in education and work during the coronavirus pandemic. The nominee spoke about his personal and professional background, challenges facing American students and teachers during the pandemic, and inequalities in the education system. No questions were taken from reporters. 

Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for secretary of education, speaks after being introduced Wednesday.
Biden touts Miguel Cardona as education secretary ‘for this moment’

Dec. 24 - President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday introduced Miguel Cardona, his choice for education secretary, as an educator who has stood in the classroom and a state leader who helped to reopen pandemic-shuttered schools.

Cardona taught fourth grade before becoming, at age 28, the state’s youngest principal and then assistant superintendent in Meriden, Conn., his hometown. Last year, he was named schools commissioner for Connecticut.

During the pandemic, Biden said, Cardona helped secure laptops and Internet connections for students to engage in remote classes and then helped districts to reopen for in-person education this fall.

“When that pandemic struck, he was ready,” Biden said. “He is a secretary of education for this moment.”     continue to read

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PBS NewsHour full episode, Dec. 23, 2020
Dec 24, 2020
Wednesday on the NewsHour, President Trump threatens to reject COVID relief bill if his demands are not met, controversy swirls around the president's latest pardons including government-paid contractors convicted of killing civilians in Iraq, and a look at the benefits of remaining in the workforce far past retirement.

President Donald Trump arrives at a Eisenhower Executive Office Building event on April 17.

Merry Christmas: Trump Threatens to Veto Relief Bill, Plunge Millions Into Economic Devastation
Screwing over countless Americans would be a fitting way to cap off his presidency.

Dec. 24 - One of the problems with having Donald Trump as president—and, obviously, there are thousands of them—is that he doesn’t give a fuck about anyone but himself. Oh sure, he’s into Ivanka and sometimes even likes Jared, and he’s clearly got a soft spot for Rudy Giuliani—hence the hair-dye-melting train wreck’s continued employment—but when it comes down to it, he’d throw any one of them in front of a bus to save himself, and he certainly wouldn’t think twice or even once about doing the same to millions of Americans, including his supporters. That reality has been on display over the past six weeks as Trump has stopped even pretending to do anything about COVID-19, choosing to spend all of his time attempting to overturn the election instead, and it was in stark relief last night when he threatened to blow up the bipartisan, $900 billion stimulus bill passed by Congress with days to go until already-suffering people will be thrown into unimaginable economic devastation.

In a video posted Tuesday night that reportedly shocked White House aides, Trump called the bill “a disgrace,” raging against spending items he deemed “wasteful and unnecessary” because they included foreign aid, among other things. “It’s called the COVID relief bill, but it has almost nothing to do with COVID,” Trump said...     continue to read

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 23, 2020

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This combination made from file photo shows Blackwater guards, from left, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, President Donald Trump pardoned 15 people, including Heard, Liberty, Slatten and Slough, the four former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more a dozen Iraqi civilians dead and caused an international uproar over the use of private security guards in a war zone

Trump pardons 4 Blackwater contractors convicted of 2007 Iraq massacre
President issues a total of 15 pardons, including Republicans who were strong and early supporters and a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe

Dec. 23, WASHINGTON (AP) — US President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned four former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more than a dozen Iraqi civilians dead and caused an international uproar over the use of private security guards in a war zone.

Supporters of the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide had lobbied for the pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished in an investigation and prosecution they said was tainted by problems. All four were serving lengthy prison sentences.     continue to read

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DECEMBER 22, 2020
Vice President Pence at Turning Point USA Student Action Summit
Vice President Mike Pence delivered remarks at Turning Point USA in West Palm Beach, Florida. The vice president encouraged the audience to continue their support for President Trump and help elect Republicans in the Georgia Senate race. He also spoke about the president’s accomplishments and warned against the Democrats' policy agenda.

US Vice President Mike Pence speaks at Turning Point USA conferen
'Ultimate betrayal': US President Donald Trump fumes over VP Mike Pence's role in dying days of administration

Dec. 23 - US President Donald Trump is reportedly fuming in private over the role his Vice President, Mike Pence, will play in finalising his defeat to Joe Biden two weeks from now.

The election result has been beyond doubt for some time. The President's legal challenges have gone nowhere and the electoral college officially cast its votes for Biden a week ago. Trump's refusal to concede will not prevent the transfer of power.

However, there are still a couple of steps left in the process. First, on January 6, Congress will hold a joint session to count the electoral votes. Then, on January 20, Biden will be sworn in at his inauguration.     continue to read

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'Ultimate betrayal': US President Donald Trump fumes over VP Mike Pence's role in dying days of administration

Dec. 23 - One of the familiar genres of White House reporting during the Trump era has been the theme that President Trump is degenerating into madness, or at least some deeper state of madness. I have treated these reports with persistent skepticism. By all outward signs, Trump’s grip on reality has waxed and waned in regular intervals, and the man who publicly insisted in 2011 that Barack Obama had faked his birth certificate did not seem substantially more hinged than the one who claimed Joe Biden had fired a Ukrainian prosecutor to protect his son’s business. The people around Trump who believed he was growing more deranged were perhaps mistaking their own diminishing ability to cope with his delirium with a change in the patient’s underlying condition.

And yet here, in the true final stages of the Trump presidency, we at last have evidence of genuine change. Trump’s mental decline may not be actually accelerating, but he is turning against his supporters in a sharp and distinctive fashion.     continue to read

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TUESDAY

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 22, 2020

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Gordon Chang: How Seriously Has the CCP Infiltrated American "Elite" Circles? | Focus Talk
Dec 19, 2020

A Gwinnett county worker raises a piece of paper saying that they have a question as they begin their recount of the ballots in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Nov. 13, 2020.

Beijing ‘Substantially Involved’ in US 2020 Election, China Analyst Says

Dec. 21 - Beijing was “substantially involved” in the U.S. 2020 elections on multiple levels, according to China analyst Gordon Chang, who has described the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) infiltration of American “elite” circles as an “espionage emergency.”

“I China clearly interfered,” Chang, the author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” told NTD’s Focus News.

Chang, who has spent decades studying China and writing about the threat of the CCP, explained how leading up to the Nov. 3 presidential election, the trend of Chinese propaganda was that former Vice President Joe Biden should receive the Democratic Party nomination over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). State propaganda later favored Biden over President Donald Trump, Chang said.

“We also know that China tried to cause chaos. Large Chinese networks like ‘Spamouflage Dragon’ relentlessly attacked the president on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter,” Chang said, referring to a pro-Beijing spam network that targeted Trump in the run-up to the election.

“We know that the social media platforms have taken down a massive number of fake Chinese accounts,” Chang said. “Twitter in June alone took down 174,000 fake accounts, so we know that they were actively involved, and we have a number of indications that it was not to help the president.”     continue to read

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United States Trade Report Implications of the 2020 Election for US Trade Policy: An Early Look at the Biden Administration’s Approach

Dec. 21 - The election of Joseph R. Biden as the 46th President of the United States will have important implications for US trade policy and the World Trade Organization. In the four years since his departure as Vice President, US trade policy and the multilateral trading system have undergone dramatic shifts, driven largely by the Trump administration’s efforts to re-shore manufacturing, reduce trade deficits, and bolster trade enforcement, as well as its skepticism of the longstanding bipartisan consensus in favor of trade liberalization and multilateral institutions. Aspects of this approach have proven controversial, but the fundamental shift towards a more "economic nationalist" trade policy has enjoyed bipartisan support, and this trend has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and growing geopolitical tensions with China. As a result, objectives such as repatriating supply chains, reducing dependence on imports, and protecting national security now figure prominently on the trade agendas of both parties, arguably in tension with the longstanding goals of economic efficiency, strengthening international alliances, and developing new export markets for US firms.

Against this backdrop, a return to the status quo ante under the Biden administration appears unlikely...     continue to read

DECEMBER 21, 2020
Surgeon General Jerome Adams Comments to Reporters on New Coronavirus Strain
Surgeon General Jerome Adams speak about a new strain of the coronavirus that has been discovered in the U.K. He also talks about new testing regimens and distribution of more vaccine doses in the coming weeks.

Adams: Black mistrust of vaccine comes from historical place
US Surgeon General Jerome Adams says a 1932 government study helps explain why so many people in the African American community may have Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy.
Source: CNN

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 21, 2020

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DECEMBER 20, 2020 | PART OF U.S. SENATE
U.S. SenateSenate Session
The Senate convened for its third Sunday session of 2020. As members waited for a House vote on legislation to fund the government beyond the midnight deadline and a second round of coronavirus pandemic economic relief, they resumed consideration of Brian Noland’s nomination to be a member of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board of Directors for a term expiring May 18, 2024.

Hunger for Democracy | Inside America with Ghida Fakhry
Dec 9, 2020
Congress is moving closer to an agreement on a $908 billion #stimulus plan, as the coronavirus #pandemic shows no sign of slowing down and health experts warn of a long winter ahead. 12 million people could lose their unemployment benefits on December 26th if Congress doesn't act. And as many as 40 million Americans could lose their homes after December 31st, when a federal ban on evictions ends. As hungry, jobless Americans look to the federal government for urgent relief, will lawmakers reach a deal? Meanwhile, the nation’s highest court is considering whether the Trump administration’s efforts to exclude America’s 11 million #undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census count is legal. How could the decision impact congressional representation and federal funding for states?

President-elect Joe Biden is to receive a Covid vaccination today.

Joe Biden to receive Covid vaccine today as Donald Trump still to be vaccinated

Dec. 21 - US president-elect Joe Biden will receive his Covid-19 vaccination today.
US Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell were vaccinated on Friday.

All have chosen to publicise their injections as part of a campaign to convince a sceptical public that the vaccines are safe and effective.     continue to read

A man looks at signs of a closed store due to Covid-19 in Niles, Ill, US, on May 21, 2020.

US Congress reaches deal on $900B Covid relief bill
US lawmakers reached a deal for a nearly $900 billion Covid-19 relief package for millions of Americans as the nation struggles against the world's largest outbreak of the virus.

Dec. 21 - Top Capitol Hill negotiators have sealed a deal on an almost $1 trillion Covid-19 economic relief package, finally delivering long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and providing money to deliver vaccines to a nation eager for them.

The agreement, announced by congressional leaders, would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.

It came after months of battling and posturing, but the negotiating dynamic changed in Republicans' favor after the election and as the end of the congressional session neared. President-elect Joe Biden was eager for a deal to deliver long-awaited help to suffering people and a boost to the economy, even though it was less than half the size that Democrats wanted this fall.
Congress was working under a deadline of midnight Sunday, needing to reach consensus both on assistance to hard-pressed American households and companies and on the 2021 federal budget in order to avoid a government shutdown.     continue to read

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 20, 2020

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Biden Transition, Top Pentagon Officials at Odds over Canceled Briefings

Dec. 19, TEHRAN (FNA)- Tensions between President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team and political appointees at the Pentagon erupted on Friday over acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller’s abrupt decision Thursday to cancel transition team meetings with Pentagon officials for the rest of the year...

..."The Biden team said they hoped the Defense Department would reverse its decision.

“In terms of when meetings will resume, meetings and requests for information, which are substantively interchangeable, it’s our hope and expectation that that will happen immediately,” said Abraham.

Miller was scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon, the only publicly announced event on Trump’s schedule for the day.

Miller was named acting secretary of Defense on November 9, after Trump abruptly fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper. "    source

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President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2019 Teen Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA
Four chilling signs Trump’s attempted coup is escalating

Dec. 18 - President Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede that he lost the 2020 election to President-elect Joe Biden.
There were four major signs on Thursday evening that the Republican effort to overthrow the election is escalating.

The first sign was when former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn suggested on NewsMax Trump could use “military capabilities” to overturn the election in swing states hold do-over elections.

Here’s Michael Flynn on Newsmax saying that Trump could order “military capabilities” to swing states and “rerun an election in each of those states.”

“People out there talk about martial law like it’s something that we’ve never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times.” pic.twitter.com/KNmiAGGiPF

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 18, 2020

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DECEMBER 18, 2020 | PART OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. House of Representatives
House Session, Part 2
Debate and votes are possible later in the day on a long-term spending package to fund the government through next year and coronavirus relief legislation if an agreement is reached. Current government funding expires tonight at midnight.