| Trump, Biden locked in close race as vote-counting stalls Posted: 04 Nov 2020 12:12 AM PST  Despite many polls promising an easy win for former Vice President Joe Biden, he found himself in a tight race with President Trump early Wednesday morning.
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| Sarah McBride wins Delaware race, becoming nation's 1st openly transgender state senator Posted: 03 Nov 2020 07:31 PM PST  Delaware made history on Tuesday, electing the nation's first openly transgender state senator.
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| People want Amanda Knox to delete an 'insensitive' tweet saying that the next presidency can't be worse than her 4 years in Italy Posted: 04 Nov 2020 08:54 AM PST  "Whatever happens, the next four years can't be as bad as that four-year study abroad I did in Italy, right?" Knox tweeted.
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| The New York Times and Fox News election needles are completely at odds Posted: 03 Nov 2020 06:39 PM PST  Needle, needle, on the wall, who's the fairest candidate of all?Turns out, it totally depends on which needle you're asking. The New York Times rolled out its infamous election needle again on Tuesday night, with a competing needle available for election watchers on Fox News. But depending on which you were looking at, you'd have a very different impression of how the night is going for your preferred candidate:> Either NYT or Fox News is getting this very wrong right now pic.twitter.com/Rj6rSwZQf9> > — Will Oremus (@WillOremus) November 4, 2020Let's, uhh, take a closer look at that:> A tale of two needles in North Carolina.> > NYT's needle has Trump at 88% to win NC. > Fox's needle has Biden at 92% to win NC. pic.twitter.com/Hj7O9jWOvd> > — Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) November 4, 2020Nate Cohn, of The New York Times, offered some insight into why his publication's needles specifically might be skewing so much toward Trump. "[A]ll three states are in the same model," he explained, asking rhetorically if the results in Florida might "bias us a bit in [North Carolina and Georgia], especially in Latino areas? I think that's at least possible in [Georgia] burbs."Alexander Panetta of The Washington Post added his two cents, too: "Based on my comparison of counties [in North Carolina] in 2016 to counties in 2020 the Fox one makes more sense," he tweeted. "Except — it means SFA unless you know A) what the mail votes vs. in person are and B) how the votes by different methods break down."Maybe for 2024, we can get additional needles that project the odds of the needles being right?More stories from theweek.com COVID-19 keeps proving everyone wrong Is this the year the New South turns blue? Democrats' first priority
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| MSNBC’s Joy Reid Labels Justice Clarence Thomas ‘Uncle Clarence’ Posted: 04 Nov 2020 07:03 AM PST  MSNBC contributor Joy Reid referred to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as "Uncle Clarence," invoking a racial slur during an early-Wednesday panel on the election.The panel, led by anchor Rachel Maddow, was discussing the possibility that legal challenges to vote counts in crucial swing states would end up in the Supreme Court. Republican senators managed to confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Court last week, cementing a 6-3 majority of conservative justices.> MSNBC's Joy Reid refers to Justice Clarence Thomas as "Uncle Clarence" > pic.twitter.com/kIGtejgLz6> > -- Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 4, 2020If "somehow" vote counts are legally challenged and cases "end up in the Supreme Court, do any of you guys trust uncle Clarence and Amy Coney Barrett and those guys to actually follow the letter of the law? No!" Reid said, repurposing the "Uncle Tom" slur against Justice Thomas. "I mean, it is a completely politicized Supreme Court, [and] you can't just trust that they're going to do the right thing."Reid has a history of controversial remarks, including homophobic statements and supporting 9/11 conspiracy theories. In September, Reid also lashed out at Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron by saying he put his party before his identity as a black man."You have to always look at [political] party," Reid said. "Party is the religion now in America, especially for Republicans. Don't look at the fact that this guy is black. That does not mean anything. He is a Republican, through and through."
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| Massive turnout in Houston is making Texas a top state to watch tonight Posted: 03 Nov 2020 02:38 PM PST  More people have already voted in Harris County than the population of 11 states, and the numbers are getting Democrats hopeful about flipping Texas.
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| Brazil president's senator son charged with corruption Posted: 04 Nov 2020 09:07 AM PST  Brazilian prosecutors on Wednesday charged President Jair Bolsonaro's son Flavio with corruption, accusing him of skimming money off the top of his staffers' salaries when he was a Rio de Janeiro state lawmaker.
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| Mexico's conservative state of Puebla approves gay marriage Posted: 04 Nov 2020 10:04 AM PST  The legislature in the conservative central Mexico state of Puebla voted late Tuesday to allow marriages between same-sex couples, as well as common-law marriages for them. Same-sex couples would have all the legal marrriage rights as others, as would common-law marriages, which are legally recognized when couples live together for more than two years or have children. Puebla has long been known for religious conservativism, but current Gov. Miguel Barbosa is a member of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's progressive Morena party.
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| ‘Someone may have to pay a price’: Judge lashes Postal Service for defying ballot order Posted: 04 Nov 2020 09:53 AM PST  The Postal Service did not comply with a last-minute court order to deploy postal inspectors to sweep facilities for undelivered ballots.
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| Election 2020: Live coverage, updates and results Posted: 04 Nov 2020 03:37 PM PST  Yahoo News is providing complete coverage of the election, with instant updates and real-time analysis of key results.
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| The Electoral College can pick a president who got fewer votes. Here's why and how. Posted: 04 Nov 2020 11:09 AM PST  The 2020 presidential election again highlights one of the most confusing and controversial parts of the U.S. elections: The Electoral College.
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| A 20-year-old college student died while quarantining in her dorm room after developing symptoms of COVID-19 Posted: 04 Nov 2020 11:08 AM PST  Bethany Nesbitt, a 20-year-old psychology student at Grace College, suffered a pulmonary embolism, the result of blood clots caused by the virus.
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| Democrats raised more than $315 million to decisively lose 6 Senate races Posted: 04 Nov 2020 11:05 AM PST  Democrats raised an unprecedented amount of money to challenge Republicans' Senate majority. It didn't pay off.Democratic Senate candidates set fundraising record after fundraising record throughout 2020, bringing in a combined $315 million as they tried to flip races in Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, South Carolina, and Texas. But Democrats ended up losing all six of those races as of Wednesday, and in most cases, the results weren't even close.Democrat Jaime Harrison led the 2020 fundraising charge as he tried to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), bringing in a huge $107.5 million only to lose by about 14 points, early results indicate. Amy McGrath meanwhile brought in more than $88 million, but suffered an even bigger 20-point loss as she tried to oust Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Theresa Greenfield in Iowa, Sara Gideon in Maine, Steve Bullock in Montana, and M.J. Hegar in Texas are projected to lose by smaller margins, but still failed to fulfill polls that predicted potential flips.Two Senate races in Georgia and another in North Carolina are still up in the air, though early results indicate they're all headed in Republicans' favor. One of Georgia's races will head to a runoff, with Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) in close competition against Rev. Raphael Warnock (D). And even if Democrat Cal Cunningham wins in North Carolina and Democrat Jon Ossoff wins in Georgia's other race, it still won't be enough to turn the Senate blue.Only John Hickenlooper in Colorado and Mark Kelly in Arizona are projected to pick up wins for Democrats, but a projected loss for Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) will negate one of those gains, and a still-undecided tossup for Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) could solidify the Senate's status quo.More stories from theweek.com The left just got crushed A Biden presidency might essentially be over before it can begin Biden has now received more votes for president than any other candidate in U.S. history
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| NC man says he was told at polls to cast second ballot. ‘How was I able to vote twice?’ Posted: 04 Nov 2020 02:33 PM PST  "There's definitely a flaw in the system, for sure. That's concerning."
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| 'Together, we can move forward': Gap deletes tone-deaf election tweet after online backlash Posted: 04 Nov 2020 09:54 AM PST  The now-deleted tweet sparked backlash on social media, as critics slammed the brand for the tone-deaf post amid the polarizing election.
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| Huckabee: 'Would be a shame if Philadelphia became a place where liberty also died' Posted: 04 Nov 2020 06:28 AM PST  Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee blasts Philadelphia's election vote count delay.
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| Federal judge says he'll force USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to show up in court and explain what happened to mail-in voting Posted: 04 Nov 2020 02:18 PM PST  Judge Emmet Sullivan accused the Postal Service of slow-walking his orders and threatened to depose the postmaster general.
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| Letters to the Editor: Voter suppression backfired. That doesn't mean the GOP didn't try hard Posted: 04 Nov 2020 03:00 AM PST  Republican lawmakers put obstacles in the way of voters, who reacted defiantly. This doesn't let the GOP off the hook.
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| Trump: Presidency has been ‘mean’ and filled with ‘horrible people’ Posted: 03 Nov 2020 06:31 AM PST  He also said he found the U.S. to be the "most difficult country to deal with" in the world.
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| Hickenlooper wins Democrats seat for Senate Posted: 03 Nov 2020 09:48 PM PST 
For a while former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper was running for President. When he dropped out of that race, he stepped in to the race for the Senate. Tonight, the Democrat won his U-S Senate bid. During both his presidential and senate runs, climate and environment were big issues with Hickenlooper. He calls climate change a threat to the future. During his campaign, his webpage had the slogan "Change is on Tap". It's a nod to the fact that early in his career Hickenlooper was laid off as a geologist and ended up opening Colorado's first, and successful brew pub.
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| With key states still undecided, Biden says 'we believe we're on track to win this election' Posted: 03 Nov 2020 09:56 PM PST  In the early morning hours of Wednesday, Democrat Joe Biden announced that "we believe we're on track to win this election," stressing to his supporters that "it ain't over till every vote is counted, every ballot is counted. But we're feeling good about where we are."In his brief speech, Biden specifically cited having confidence in the yet-to-be-called but likely decisive states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and alluded to Fox News' controversial early call of Arizona in the Democrat's favor as well. "We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even longer," Biden said.The Electoral College map remains up for grabs as of 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday morning, with the key states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina still undecided by The New York Times' count.> "We knew this was going to go long, but who knew we were going to go into maybe tomorrow morning, maybe even longer"> > Joe Biden tells supporters in Delaware "we believe we're on track to win this election"Election2020 https://t.co/fVQ13KG8wT pic.twitter.com/JTcXKnkOE0> > — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 4, 2020"Keep the faith, guys," Biden concluded. "We're going to win this."More stories from theweek.com Biden is now projected to receive more votes for president than any other candidate in U.S. history Trump blames nonexistent 'surprise ballot dumps' for growing Biden margins Polling was terrible again. It isn't going anywhere.
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| Man arrested after allegedly pushing a 73-year-old grandmother onto Brooklyn subway tracks Posted: 03 Nov 2020 03:24 PM PST  Luis Hernandez, 38, also allegedly assaulted the woman's grandson and his 82-year-old grandfather, New York City police say.
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| Key West voters put limits on cruise ships but a legal battle looms Posted: 03 Nov 2020 06:02 PM PST  By wide margins, Key West voters Tuesday approved three referendums to limit cruise ship traffic on the island by cutting the number of passengers that can hit the streets and banning larger ships from unloading at all.
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| Thousands of National Guard troops in states across the US are bracing for election unrest Posted: 03 Nov 2020 09:17 AM PST  National Guard troops are also supporting cybersecurity missions and working at polling stations this election.
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| Man 'forced' to inform on fellow Uighurs for China is shot in Turkey Posted: 03 Nov 2020 06:06 PM PST  An Uighur man who claimed to have been forced to inform on fellow Uighurs to Chinese authorities has been hospitalised in a serious condition after being shot in Istanbul, Turkish media reported on Tuesday. Yusufujrang Aimaitijiang had gone outside to get cigarettes when he was shot twice on Monday evening, the private news agency DHA reported. Mr Aimaitijiang suffered injuries to his shoulder and arm while the gunman escaped, the DHA report said. Members of Turkey's Uighur community said Mr Aimaitijiang was also known as Yusupjan Emet and Yusuf Amat. Using the name Amat, he told Al Jazeera in February 2019 that he was forced to inform on fellow Uighurs by China. "My role was to feed information to officials. I reported on everything people did - what they ate, drank, what they did in private in their homes, whether it was friends or relatives, I shared it all," Amat said. He said he started spying in 2012 because his mother was taken hostage, and officials tortured her and threatened to keep her unless he agreed to cooperate. He claimed he had been sent to spy abroad between 2012 and 2018 in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey, Al Jazeera reported. He added that Beijing has "countless" such informants across the world, some of whom also abduct Uighurs and bring them back to China. There are around 50,000 Uighur refugees in Turkey, which has linguistic and cultural connections with the Uighurs. Many have fled a crackdown on Uighur Muslims in northwest China, where camps and prisons have been used against them in the Xinjiang region. Beijing says they are vocational centres aimed at combating extremism. READ MORE: How Turkey is sending Muslim Uighurs back to China without breaking its promise Uighurs tell Australian inquiry of 'harassment' from China
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| Trump signs executive order for ‘1776 Commission’ in response to ‘1619 Project’ Posted: 03 Nov 2020 10:15 AM PST  President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a 1776 Commission on the eve of the election that will create a curriculum that teaches "patriotic education" in schools. Trump has been vocal about his objection to the 1619 Project which detailed the history of the nation's first African slaves brought to Virginia and the legacy of slavery. Nikole Hannah-Jones launched the project and won a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for her work.
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| Wary Armenians and Azerbaijanis watch war from Moscow Posted: 03 Nov 2020 05:35 PM PST  At a bustling produce market in southwest Moscow, Azerbaijani salesman Avas' fruit and vegetables kiosk is a few steps away from Armine's where she sells cheese from Armenia.
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| Michigan's election has more than 77,000 spoiled ballots. Here's what that means. Posted: 03 Nov 2020 04:01 PM PST  An official said 77,000 ballots were spoiled in Michigan as of Tuesday morning, but that number requires some context.
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| Oregon becomes 1st state to decriminalize drug possession as New Jersey, Arizona legalize marijuana Posted: 03 Nov 2020 09:40 PM PST  States across the U.S. are poised to take big steps toward legalizing and decriminalizing marijuana and other drugs.Both New Jersey and Arizona are projected to approve ballot measures legalizing recreational marijuana, The New York Times and The Associated Press project. Meanwhile Oregon is expected to take a completely unprecedented step, decriminalizing the possession of some illegal drugs and establishing treatment to help people with drug addictions.Several drug-related measures were on ballots across the country, and all those that would loosen drug restrictions seem to be winning as election night wears on. Arizona is projected to approve the legalization of recreational marijuana for people over 21, and to expunge marijuana offenses. New Jersey is projected to legalize the use and possession of recreational marijuana by those 21 and up. Meanwhile South Dakota is projected to overwhelmingly approve a measure to let people with "debilitating medical conditions" to posses 3 oz. of marijuana, per the Times.In Oregon, voters have opted to decriminalize the possession of illegal drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, Oxycodone and methamphetamine, per Oregon Public Broadcasting. Possessing a small amount of those drugs would be redefined as a civil offense similar to a traffic violation. The measure would also fund treatment and harm-reduction efforts for those with drug addictions, paid for by a tax on marijuana.Mississippi's proposal to legalize medical marijuana, Montana's measure to legalize recreational marijuana and set its legal age at 21, and South Dakota's proposal to legalize recreational marijuana are still uncertain, but early results point in their favor.More stories from theweek.com Biden is now projected to receive more votes for president than any other candidate in U.S. history Trump blames nonexistent 'surprise ballot dumps' for growing Biden margins Polling was terrible again. It isn't going anywhere.
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| Another Fort Hood Soldier Has Been Arrested for Murder: Authorities Posted: 04 Nov 2020 09:54 AM PST  A Fort Hood soldier has been arrested for the murder of a 32-year-old woman found dead inside a Days Inn motel room last July, authorities said.Cory Gafton, 20, was arrested and charged Tuesday afternoon with the July 2019 murder of Chelsea Cheatham, ending an exhaustive year-long investigation. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, one of Gafton's co-workers told authorities the 20-year-old soldier confessed to killing Cheatham. Grafton is currently being held in Killeen City Jail.Dead Suspect in Disappearance of Fort Hood Soldier Sexually Harassed Her: Lawyer"Through the investigation, Detectives with the Homicide Unit received information from a witness that 20-year-old Cory Grafton was at the scene at the time Chelsea Cheatham was murdered," Killeen Police Department said in a Wednesday statement.A spokesperson for Fort Hood confirmed to The Daily Beast that Grafton is "an active duty Soldier assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division" at the Army post. "The unit continues to cooperate with the Killeen Police Department and the Texas Rangers," the spokesperson added.Killeen Police said on June 3, 2019, Cheatham was found around 10:40 p.m. unconscious and not breathing inside a Days Inn in Killeen, about six minutes away from Fort Hood. The 32-year-old was pronounced dead about an hour later and an autopsy from the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas later ruled her death a homicide.Authorities refused to identify Cheatham's cause of death.Despite the suspicious circumstances, the case quickly went cold, prompting authorities in June to appeal to the public for leads and offer a $1,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.On Sept. 2, Texas Rangers informed the Killeen Police Department about the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Program, which uses advanced DNA testing to help solve cases. Authorities said through the program, investigators were about to identify Grafton as a possible suspect.> BREAKING \- We are getting our first look at the Fort Hood soldier charged in the 2019 murder of Chelsea Cheatham in Killeen. Cory Grafton, a 20-year-old soldier from Fort Hood, is charged with murder. pic.twitter.com/dHiWIWIEtF> > — KWTX News 10 (@kwtx) November 4, 2020After interviewing Grafton about the 32-year-old's death and collecting a sample of his DNA, the Texas Department of Public Safety said one of the 20-year-old's co-workers revealed that he had confessed to killing Cheatham. On Tuesday, the test results allegedly confirmed that Grafton's DNA matched the DNA found at the crime scene, and he was subsequently arrested."With the assistance from the Texas Rangers, DNA from the scene was submitted and the results confirmed that Gafton matched the DNA located on Cheatham. On November 3, 2020, detectives with the Homicide Unit obtained a warrant and shortly after 4:00 p.m., the warrant was executed," the Killeen Police Department said.Gafton's arrest marks yet another Fort Hood soldier who has been accused of being involved in a grisly murder.In July, the remains of Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old Private First Class stationed in Fort Hood, were discovered in a shallow grave near Leon River.A day after her body was discovered, a military officer, Aaron Robinson, died by suicide after being confronted about his involvement in Guillen's disappearance. Before Guillen went missing, she allegedly told family members, friends, and colleagues that she had been sexually harassed by her superiors on two separate occasions. The family previously said Guillen's sexual harassment allegations led the military base to "cover-up" her initial disappearance.Officials named the suspect as Robinson, a fellow soldier. The Bell County Sheriff's Office identified the second suspect as Cecily Aguilar, who was charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence two days after her boyfriend, Robinson, died by suicide.According to Natalie Khawam, the family's attorney, Robinson savagely attacked Guillen at the armory after she remarked on his relationship with the estranged wife of a former Fort Hood soldier. When Guillen reminded him that the relationship was in violation of military rules, he allegedly picked up a hammer and began "bludgeoning her head over and over." Robinson then allegedly took Guillen's body to a river and enlisted the help of his girlfriend to dispose of the remains.Last month, Fort Hood officials determined Gullien's death occurred in the line of duty, paving the way for her family to be entitled to certain Army benefits. "Typically, these benefits include compensation to immediately help the family with expenses, funeral with full military honors, the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance, and final pay and allowances,'' officials said in a statement.If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Judge orders Election Day sweep for missing mail ballots, including in South Florida Posted: 03 Nov 2020 11:32 AM PST  A federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to sweep mail facilities for undelivered ballots on Election Day in areas nationwide, including South Florida.
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| Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, and more fast-food giants are giving away free food on Election Day Posted: 03 Nov 2020 06:17 AM PST  Krispy Kreme is giving away doughnuts, while McDonald's has a free "post-Halloween" pastry deal starting on Tuesday.
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| Republicans on track to dash Democratic hopes of U.S. Senate majority Posted: 04 Nov 2020 01:55 PM PST  Republicans appeared poised to retain control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, after Senator Susan Collins defied political odds to win re-election in Maine and other Republican incumbents led Democrats in a handful of undecided races. Democrats, who had been favored to win the Senate majority heading into Tuesday's election, had a net gain of only one seat to show by Wednesday afternoon as their options for further increases dwindled, despite a huge Democratic money advantage going into the final weeks of the campaign. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 seat Senate majority.
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| 'Our land has been captured': Villagers attest to Chinese annexation of Nepalese territory Posted: 03 Nov 2020 09:43 AM PST  China's annexation of 150 hectares of Nepal - dismissed by the Foreign Ministry in Beijing as "rumours" - has been corroborated by fresh testimony from Nepalese villagers. On Monday, The Daily Telegraph revealed that members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) had seized land in five districts of the tiny Himalayan country by sending troops across the undefended border. The soldiers then moved stone pillars which had previously demarcated the boundary further into Nepalese territory, before constructing buildings which included military bases, according to Nepalese politicians. Beijing employed similar tactics when it annexed at least 60 square kilometres of Indian territory in Ladakh in June, where clashes saw 20 Indian troops die of reported clubbing and rock-throwing. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that allegations of the PLA annexing Nepalese territory were a "completely unfounded rumour." A spokesperson told The Telegraph: "[I have] an accurate and clear answer for you… that report is not based on facts, that is based on pure rumour." But on Tuesday, villagers from the Humla district in the north-west of Nepal were steadfast in claiming Chinese troops had seized Nepalese land. Paljor Lama, 46, from the Limi Valley, said since the time of his grandparents several stone boundary pillars separated Nepal from China in an area of lowland called Yaktuk Dosha. Overnight in June, Chinese troops moved these pillars inland and annexed around 30 hectares of Nepalese territory. "The land which has been used by local people for a long time is now under the control of China. It is clear that our land has been captured," said Mr Lama.
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| A man with an allergy to cold air almost died after stepping out of a hot shower Posted: 04 Nov 2020 08:47 AM PST  A Colorado man went into anaphylactic shock after stepping out of a hot shower. Cold urticaria can also be triggered by cold water or drinks.
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| Trump Campaign Declares Victory in Pennsylvania Despite Ballots Still Being Counted Posted: 04 Nov 2020 01:06 PM PST  President Donald Trump's campaign on Wednesday declared victory in Pennsylvania, though hundreds of thousands of votes are still to be counted.Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien told reporters the campaign is "declaring a victory in Pennsylvania," saying they had won the battleground state "based on math" though the Associated Press and other outlets have said the race is too close to call.> Bill Stepien on press call: "We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania. This is not based on gut or feel. This is based on math."> > -- Tessa Berenson (@tcberenson) November 4, 2020The campaign also revealed it had filed lawsuits Wednesday in Pennsylvania and Michigan to temporarily halt counting of ballots. In Michigan, the campaign contended it wasn't given "meaningful access" to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process.The announcement comes shortly after the AP projected Democrat Joe Biden had won in another battleground state, Wisconsin, giving Biden 248 electoral votes to Trumps' 214, with 76 yet to be called, per the AP. To claim victory, a candidate will need to reach 270 electoral votes.Trump's campaign said earlier Wednesday it would demand a recount in Wisconsin citing "reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results.""The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so," Stepien said.Twenty electoral votes are up for grabs in Pennsylvania, which the president won four years ago by 44,292 votes, or less than 1 percentage point. His 2016 victory made him the first Republican to win Pennsylvania since 1988.The last Democrat to lose Pennsylvania but win the White House was Harry Truman in 1948.
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| Australia calls for clarity from China over embargo reports Posted: 04 Nov 2020 01:55 AM PST  Australia's trade minister on Wednesday called for "greater clarity" from China over reports an embargo could hit a slew of industries by the end of the week and further escalate tensions.
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| The Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse could be released from custody on $2 million bail Posted: 03 Nov 2020 08:52 AM PST  Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been hailed as a hero to some conservatives, is accused of killing two men at a Wisconsin protest opposing police brutality.
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| Polls show Trump gaining ground in Arizona after falling behind Posted: 02 Nov 2020 08:06 PM PST  Alicia Acuna gives an update on the race in the Grand Canyon State on 'Special Report.'
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| California just passed a major privacy law that will make it harder for Facebook and Google to track people and gather data Posted: 04 Nov 2020 10:34 AM PST  While Prop 24 will be active only in California, it will effectively apply to all of the US because of the state's huge influence on the tech industry.
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| Fort Lauderdale attorney suspended after posing online as opposing attorney’s client Posted: 03 Nov 2020 11:49 AM PST  Much of the six-month suspension Fort Lauderdale attorney Tracy Newmark began serving Sunday comes down to lying, according to the referee's reports of Newmark's Florida Bar discipline cases. Lying about:
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| The left just got crushed Posted: 04 Nov 2020 11:53 AM PST  When every legally cast vote has been counted, Joe Biden will probably have prevailed in enough states to claim victory in the presidential race, perhaps even ending up with a few more Electoral Votes than Donald Trump managed to earn four years ago. That means Trump will probably be out, defeated in his bid for re-election.But this is not a moment for Democrats to celebrate.In the expectations game, the Democratic Party whiffed and whiffed badly. The Biden campaign and its allies managed to drive up turnout — but so did Trump. Republicans put up a hell of a fight, and not just, or even mainly, in the battle for the White House. Democrats have almost certainly failed to win a Senate majority, and so far they have lost some ground in the House as well (while still on track to maintain control of the lower chamber of Congress).That means that Biden is on track to be a weak, ineffectual president governing at the mercy of Mitch McConnell's Machiavellian machinations.So much for the Democratic fantasy — the one that seemingly never dies — of unobstructed rule. Democrats didn't just want to win and govern in the name of a deeply divided nation's fractured sense of the common good. No, they wanted to lead a moral revolution, to transform the country — not only enacting a long list of new policies, but making a series of institutional changes that would entrench their power far into the future. Pack the Supreme Court. Add left-leaning states. Break up others to give the left huge margins in the Senate. Get rid of the Electoral College. Abolish the police. Rewrite the nation's history, with white supremacy and racism placed "at the very center." Ensure "equity" not just in opportunity but in outcomes. Hell, maybe they'd even establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to teach everyone who voted for or supported the 45th president just how evil they really are.No wonder so many Republicans turned out to vote. Democrats proved to be the most effective GOTV operation for the GOP imaginable.Yes, Trump and the Republican cheerleading section online and on cable news and talk radio harped on every extreme proposal. But this wasn't just a function of the fallacy of composition, where one loony activist says something off the wall and the GOP amplifies it far beyond reason in order to tar the opposition unfairly. These were prominent Democrats — progressive politicians, activists, and scholars and prize-winning journalists at leading cultural institutions — talking this way. Joe Biden himself usually did the smart thing and tried to distance himself from the most radical proposals. But in the end it wasn't enough to mollify fears of an ascendant left hell bent on entrenching itself in power and enacting institutional reforms that would enable it to lead a moral, political, and cultural revolution.And therein lies a paradox that should be obvious but apparently isn't: Democrats live in a country with a large, passionate opposition. Arrogant talk of demographic inevitabilities and transformative changes to lock Republicans out of power in the name of "democracy" has the effect of inspiring that opposition to unite against them, rendering political success less assured and more tenuous.There will be no court packing. No added states. Nothing from the toxic progressive-fantasy wishlist will come anywhere close to passing. Instead, we will have grinding, obstructive gridlock. Some will demand that Biden push through progressive priorities by executive order. But every time he does — like every incident of urban rioting and looting, every effort to placate the left-wing "Squad" in the House, every micro-targeted identity-politics box-checking display of intersectional moral preening and finger-wagging — the country will move closer to witnessing a conservative backlash that results in Republicans taking control of the House and increasing their margin in the Senate in November 2022, rendering the Biden administration even more fully dead in the water.That's the playbook. We saw it in 1994, when Republicans leveraged opposition to Bill Clinton's effort to pass health-care reform into a successful effort to take control of the House for the first time in 40 years. We saw it again in 2010, when Republicans leveraged opposition to Barack Obama's successful push to pass the Affordable Care Act into the largest shift of seats in the House in 62 years (and far bigger than the one Democrats managed two years into the Trump administration in 2018). This time the leverage is likely to come from culture-war conflict, but the Republican strategy will be the same.And that's probably the best-case scenario. It will be far worse if Trump somehow finds enough votes (or sympathetic judges) to enable him to hold onto power by the narrowest of margins, or if he encourages acts of militia-fueled violence in the wake of him failing to find those votes.Those scenarios wouldn't have been possible if the race hadn't ended up as close as it did.But it did. And that should give Democrats serious pause. For four years Donald Trump has proven himself a corrupt, mendacious ignoramus utterly unfit for the position he holds. He's led the nation through a pandemic that has left nearly a quarter million dead, is currently surging unchecked across the country, and has devastated the economy. And yet, the current tally shows him beating his showing from 2016 by 3.7 million votes. Trump may well come up short where it counts, but he still gained ground with the electorate relative to four years ago.So please, Democrats, look in the mirror and show a little humility. You're not nearly as self-evidently wonderful or widely loved as you'd like to believe. You are not destined to prevail anywhere. You share a country with a large group of people who hate your guts, and who aren't going to submit to your rule or go along with your giddy plans to remake the nation in your image. It's time to start acting like you understand this implacable fact and all it implies about the limits of your power and the parameters of the possible.American politics is a war of attrition right now. The sooner Democrats learn to live with that fact, the better.More stories from theweek.com A Biden presidency might essentially be over before it can begin Biden has now received more votes for president than any other candidate in U.S. history Ohio's Republican governor: 'Every vote has to be counted'
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| South Korean military captures North Korean crossing border Posted: 03 Nov 2020 06:42 PM PST  A North Korean man was captured by South Korea's military on Wednesday after crossing the inter-Korean border, Seoul said. The man was identified by Seoul only as a North Korean male, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Investigations will be conducted "in cooperation with related agencies for details", it added, including whether the man sought to defect to the South. No unusual activity of the North's military has been detected, it said. Last year, a North Korean soldier made a river crossing of the Demilitarised Zone that divides the peninsula. More than 30,000 North Koreans have escaped to the South since the two were separated by war more than 65 years ago, according to Seoul government data, many of them driven by prolonged economic hardship. But the vast majority have gone first to the North's neighbour and ally China before making their way to the South, usually via a third country. Only a few have dared to cross the DMZ, which is riddled with landmines and has a heavy military presence on both sides. In November 2017, a North Korean soldier dashed through the border village of Panmunjom in a hail of gunfire from his own side. The trooper, then 24, was hit several times but survived. The latest crossing comes days after the North placed the blame for its killing of a South Korean fisheries official last month on Seoul's "improper control of the citizen", and inter-Korean relations remain in a state of deep freeze.
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| Sri Lankan navy, villagers rescue more than 100 stranded whales Posted: 02 Nov 2020 06:35 PM PST  Sri Lanka's navy said on Tuesday more than 100 whales had been rescued after becoming stranded on a beach on the island's southwest coast. Villagers defied a novel coronavirus curfew to help rescue the small whales on Monday, wading into the breaking surf to push them back into the sea at Panadura, south of the capital, Colombo. "We pushed back all of them last night, about 100 to 120 whales," navy spokesman Captain Indika de Silva told Reuters.
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| Fact check: Poll watcher turned away at Philadelphia polling station in misunderstanding Posted: 03 Nov 2020 02:57 PM PST  A viral video shows a man refused entry to a Philadelphia polling station. Upon realization of the mistake, he was permitted inside.
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