12/24/2020

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

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



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

12/23/2020

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

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

12/22/2020

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

 White House News in Chinese - About (weebly.com)

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

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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

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

12/21/2020

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

 White House News in Chinese - About (weebly.com)

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

12/19/2020

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

 White House News in Chinese - About (weebly.com)

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



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


continue to read


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.


12/18/2020

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 18, 2020

 1 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Hackers breached computers at the US Treasury Department and possibly other federal agencies.
US cybersecurity agency warns of 'grave threat' after 'critical infrastructure' hacked

Dec. 18 - US authorities have expressed increased alarm about a long-undetected intrusion into computer systems around the world that officials suspect was carried out by Russian hackers.

The nation's cybersecurity agency has warned of a "grave" risk to government and private networks, after federal agencies and "critical infrastructure" were hacked in a sophisticated attack.


It was hard to detect and will be difficult to undo, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in an unusual warning message.

The Department of Energy acknowledged it was among those hacked.
Microsoft also confirmed it had found evidence of intrusion in its internal systems, but there was nothing to suggest customer data had been accessed.

If authorities prove the attack was carried out by Russia, as experts believe, it would create a fresh foreign policy problem for US President Donald Trump in his final days in office.

Mr Trump, whose administration has been criticised for eliminating a White House cybersecurity adviser and downplaying Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, has made no public statements about the breach.     continue to read

Key points:
  • The Department of Energy and the Treasury Department were among the agencies infiltrated
  • Cybersecurity officials are yet to clarify how significant the attacks were, and what infrastructure was successfully targeted
  • The UK has also issued a warning for those using the software thought to have been exploited by the hackers

DECEMBER 17, 2020
Russian President Putin Holds Year-End News Conference
Russian President Vladimir Putin 
held his annual year-end news conference in Moscow. For more than four hours, he answered a wide range of questions on the economy, foreign interference, relations with the U.S. and Europe, and whether he would run again in 2024. This 90-minute portion from the news conference began with a question on how his government is handling the coronavirus pandemic and the distribution of vaccines. President Putin said he had not yet taken the vaccine, but reassured the public it was safe and reliable. Following the event, he stopped to talk to a small group of reporters as he was headed out of the building, answering more questions on working with the incoming Biden administration and loosening restrictions during the pandemic. 

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In this Monday, July 27, 2020 file photo, a nurse prepares a shot as a study of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., gets underway in Binghamton, N.Y.
U.S. FDA advisory panel sets stage for Moderna vaccine authorization


Dec. 18 - A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday overwhelmingly endorsed emergency use of Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccine, virtually assuring a second option for protecting against COVID-19 for a pandemic ravaged nation.

The committee voted 20-0 with one abstention that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks in people aged 18 and older, one week after the same panel backed a similar vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE, leading to an FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) a day later.

The FDA is expected to grant the EUA as early as late Thursday or Friday, providing another ray of hope to a nation that has lost more than 300,000 lives to COVID-19 – including a one-day high of 3,580 deaths on Wednesday – while record numbers of patients threaten to overwhelm U.S. hospitals and health care workers.     continue to read

Trump Says He Has ‘Nothing To Do With Potential Prosecution Of Hunter Biden’

Dec. 17 - President Donald Trump clarified Thursday morning that he is not involved in the Justice Department investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

“I have NOTHING to do with the potential prosecution of Hunter Biden, or the Biden family,” Trump tweeted. “It is just more Fake News. Actually, I find it very sad to watch!”


I have NOTHING to do with the potential prosecution of Hunter Biden, or the Biden family. It is just more Fake News. Actually, I find it very sad to watch!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2020


The Associated Press claimed Wednesday that Trump wants a special counsel to be named in the Hunter Biden investigation, effectively ensuring that President-elect Biden cannot dismiss it after being sworn in Jan. 20. Some White House aides reportedly warned the president that his public comments on the investigation could politicize the legitimate probe into Biden’s tax affairs and potentially cause problems for the president once he leaves office. (RELATED: President Trump Reportedly Seeking Special Prosecutor To Investigate Hunter Biden)

source
PBS NewsHour full episode, Dec. 17, 2020
Dec 18, 2020
Thursday on the NewsHour, Thursday on the NewsHour, new details on a dangerous cyber attack in the U.S., President-elect Biden names key climate officials for his administration, examining the many historical reasons for reluctance surrounding immunizations in communities of color, and a look at solutions for treating and preventing childhood trauma.