China’s economy grew more than expected last year, even as the rest of the world was upended by the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: China GDP: Economy grows 2.3% in 2020 as recovery quickens – CNN
Capitol rioter accused of stealing Nancy Pelosi’s laptop with plans to sell it to Russian intelligence: Feds | Fox News
Authorities are seeking to arrest a Pennsylvania woman accused of taking a laptop from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol siege with the alleged intention of selling the device to Russian intelligence forces, officials announced in recent court papers.
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Acting secretary of defense says no intel of insider threat to inauguration | Fox News
Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said in a statement on Monday that the Department of Defense has not received any intelligence indicating a potential insider threat to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20.
However, Miller added that the department is “leaving no stone unturned in securing the capital,” noting that all National Guardsmen deployed to Washington, D.C. will be vetted.
“This type of vetting often takes place by law enforcement for significant security events. However, in this case the scope of military participation is unique,” Miller said. “The D.C. National Guard is also providing additional training to service members as they arrive in D.C. that if they see or hear something that is not appropriate, they should report it to their chain of command. We appreciate the support of the FBI in assisting with this task and for each of the more than 25,000 Guardsmen who answered their Nation’s call and rapidly deployed to the [North Capital Region].”
The announcement comes after defense officials expressed concerns over the potential for an insider attack, following a riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 by pro-Trump protesters that left five dead and resulted in dozens of arrests.
The FBI warned in a memo earlier this month of potential plans for protests staged in all 50 state capitals which could occur before, on and after Inauguration Day.
INSIDER ATTACK FEARED DAYS BEFORE BIDEN’S INAUGURATION, SERVICE MEMBERS IN DC VETTED BY FBI
Source: Acting secretary of defense says no intel of insider threat to inauguration | Fox News
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Flames Engulf Fayette Co. Home, Considered A Total Loss – CBS Pittsburgh
Flames ripped through a home in Fayette County on Sunday night.
Source: Flames Engulf Fayette Co. Home, Considered A Total Loss – CBS Pittsburgh
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Trump’s Census Director Retires Before Term At Bureau Ends : NPR
The Trump-appointed director of the U.S. Census Bureau is stepping down close to a week after whistleblower complaints about his role in attempting to rush out an incomplete data report about noncitizens became public.
In an internal email announcement on Monday, Steven Dillingham said he is retiring from the bureau on Wednesday, more than 11 months before his term expires at the end of this year, according to a Census Bureau employee who spoke to NPR and asked not to be named for fear of retaliation at work.
Dillingham later confirmed his plans, which were first reported by Talking Points Memo, in a blog post on the bureau’s website.
The bureau’s current deputy director and chief operating officer — Ron Jarmin, a career civil servant who served as acting director before Dillingham was appointed — is set to temporarily fill the top post again after Dillingham is out at noon ET on Wednesday, the bureau’s chief spokesperson Michael Cook tells NPR.
Dillingham’s departure clears the entire slate of Trump appointees at the federal government’s largest statistical agency as its civil servants continue to toil over 2020 census records and prepare for the release of the first results from last year’s national head count, which has been delayed until March 6 at the earliest.
Source: Trump’s Census Director Retires Before Term At Bureau Ends : NPR
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UFO documents released by CIA are ‘real-life X-Files,’ expert says | Fox News
The CIA’s decision to declassify more than three decades worth of UFO documents is a “real-life X-Files,” according to one expert.
Nick Pope, a former employee and UFO investigator for Britain’s Ministry of Defense, said there are some “fascinating” documents in the files, which are more than 2,700 pages. However, the odd manner in which they were released and difficulties searching them will “fuel conspiracy theories.”
“There’s an irony in the UFO community expecting to find a smoking gun in material released by an organization they believe is part of a cover-up, and recent revelations about the Pentagon’s AATIP program and the [Unidentified Aerial Phenomena] Task Force suggest anyone looking in CIA files for the answer to the UFO mystery is looking at the wrong agency,” Pope said in an email to Fox News. “Perhaps these are the documents the government wants people to see, a bit like a magician who does something flamboyant with one hand, to draw people’s attention, while the important thing is going on in his other hand, behind his back.”
CIA RELEASES UFO ‘BLACK VAULT’ DOCUMENTS EARLY HOW TO SEE THEM ONLINE
The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was formed in 2007 at the behest of former Sen. Harry Reid, Fox News previously reported. It reportedly ceased operations in 2012, but in 2017 The New York Times reported the Department of Defense was still investigating potential episodes of unidentified flying objects.
Source: UFO documents released by CIA are ‘real-life X-Files,’ expert says | Fox News
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Family Of Missing, Vulnerable Man William Casale Conduct Search For His Whereabouts – CBS Pittsburgh
SOUTH SIDE (KDKA) — The Giant Eagle on the South Side was a meeting spot for family members of William Casale, 62. Casale’s cousin Kathleen Beltz said they will do whatever they can to find him. KDKA spoke to her right before the search got underway.
“Some of us are going to stay there, some of us are going into the Strip District and we’re also going to try and check the warming and homeless shelters,” said Beltz.
Beltz believes her cousin was last spotted at Mercy Behavioral Health on the South Side on January 3. She said something happened while he was there and he took off.
Source: Family Of Missing, Vulnerable Man William Casale Conduct Search For His Whereabouts – CBS Pittsburgh
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Egypt unveils 3000-year old coffins
Officials are keen to show off newly discovered artifacts as they try to revive visitor numbers after the tourism industry received a painful blow during the coronavirus pandemic.
The funerary temple of Queen Neit was also discovered near the pyramid of her husband, King Teti of Egypt’s 6th dynasty which dates back 4200 years, said famed archaeologist Zahi Hawass, who headed the archaeological mission.
The coffins include the first dating back to the New Kingdom to be found at Saqqara, a UNESCO world heritage site that is home to the Step Pyramid, the tourism and antiquities ministry said in a statement. Carved in human form and painted in bright colors, many of them are still intact.
Ancient games, statues, and masks were also found.
“All these discoveries will rewrite the history of Saqqara and the New Kingdom,” said Hawass.
Source: Egypt unveils 3000-year old coffins
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CNN Pushes to Close Down Newsmax TV | Newsmax.com
CNN “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter (Dennis Van Tine/AP)CNN is making no mistake about it: It wants to censor and close Newsmax from broadcasting as a cable news channel.
Apparently jolted by the fact Newsmax has skyrocketed to become the 4th highest-rated cable news channel in the country, the liberal CNN is decrying what it calls Newsmax’s “election denialism” and is seeking to have it “deplatformed” from cable and satellite systems across the nation.
Oliver Darcy, CNN’s leftwing media critic, has been demanding cable operators drop Newsmax, which is currently carried by every major system in the nation. Newsmax is also streamed free by most OTT platforms and devices.
In a CNN column in early January, Darcy falsely claimed conservative media caused the protests at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“After all, it was the very lies that Fox, Newsmax, and OAN spread that helped prime President Trump’s supporters into not believing the truth: That he lost an honest and fair election,” Darcy wrote.
Darcy’s demands have been echoed on CNN’s shows, including their Sunday media show “Reliable Sources” hosted by liberal media analyst Brian Stelter.
On this week’s Sunday show, Stelter’s guests focused on deplatforming Newsmax.
Source: CNN Pushes to Close Down Newsmax TV | Newsmax.com
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Parler’s website shows signs of life with a brief message to ‘lovers and haters’ – CNN
Parler’s website suddenly reappeared online Sunday afternoon with a message from its CEO, John Matze: “Hello world, is this thing on?”
Parler’s website looks like it’s under construction:
“Now seems like the right time to remind you all — both lovers and haters — why we started this platform. We believe privacy is paramount and free speech essential, especially on social media. Our aim has always been to provide a nonpartisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both.
We will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon. We will not let civil discourse perish!”
This message is posted on the main screen of Parler.
Source: Parler’s website shows signs of life with a brief message to ‘lovers and haters’ – CNN
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Donald Trump’s 11th-hour pardons keep with tradition, even if those pardoned do not – CNNPolitics
(CNN)President Donald Trump’s expected batch of 100 pardons and commutations on the penultimate day of his presidency won’t be the highest of his recent predecessors. But his record of clemency could very well be the most controversial.
Unlike past presidents, Trump has shown little interest in using the Justice Department’s Pardon Attorney system for assessing requests for executive clemency. Instead, petitioners are approaching the White House directly, calling or emailing senior adviser Jared Kushner, chief of staff Mark Meadows or White House counsel Pat Cipollone — when they can’t get a hold of Trump himself.Many of the people Trump has chosen to pardon so far fall along predictable lines: associates such as Roger Stone and Michael Flynn who remained loyal to him through their legal troubles; criminals with friendly or familial ties to the administration, such as Jared Kushner’s father Charles; celebrities or people connected to celebrities, such as Rod Blagojevich; and those whose cause was taken up by conservative media, such as Blackwater security guards who massacred Iraqi civilians.He has pardoned or commuted the sentences of some people serving lengthy prison terms for low-level offenses, such as Alice Johnson, who spoke at the Republican National Convention.But by and large, Trump’s pardon record has broken with historical norms. Many of the high-profile criminals he has pardoned have shown little contrition or remorse for their crimes and few have argued they were wrongfully convicted.He is expected to adhere to that record on Tuesday when he issues around 100 pardons or commutations. The final batch of clemency actions is expected to include a mix of criminal justice reform-minded pardons and more controversial ones secured or doled out to political allies. White collar criminals, high-profile rappers and a prominent eye doctor from Palm Beach, Florida, who is in prison after being convicted on dozens of counts of health care fraud, are expected to be on the list.
Source: Donald Trump’s 11th-hour pardons keep with tradition, even if those pardoned do not – CNNPolitics
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Allegheny Co. Police Investigating Fatal Shooting In Penn Hills
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PENN HILLS (KDKA) — Allegheny County Police are investigating a deadly shooting that took place in Penn Hills.
Police say 32-year-old Jamal Pamplin was shot several times just before midnight on Saturday night along Frankstown Road.
Pamplin was taken to an area hospital where he later died.
Allegheny County Police say that their initial investigations shows that Pamplin was shot while in the Monroe Muffler parking lot across from the Numbers Lounge, and that several vehicles were in the Monroe Muffler parking lot at the time.
Police are asking anyone who was in the area of Monroe Muffler or Numbers Lounge around midnight on Saturday night to contact the Allegheny County Police’s Homicide Unit.
Source: Allegheny Co. Police Investigating Fatal Shooting In Penn Hills
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Mike Huckabee Floats Idea of Impeaching Kamala Harris for Bailing Out BLM Rioters
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee pointed out one thing about Kamala Harris that liberals don’t want Americans asking about.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says that if all politicians who are ever linked to rioting are to be removed from office, it might be time to start with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
In a Saturday interview with the Fox Business Network, Huckabee said that President Donald Trump’s comments on Jan. 6 prior to the Capitol incursion might not have been well-chosen, but he said Trump is not alone.
Source: Mike Huckabee Floats Idea of Impeaching Kamala Harris for Bailing Out BLM Rioters
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In His Inaugural Address, Biden Seeks To Move Past ‘American Carnage’
With the country reeling from the pandemic, racial injustice, and the Capitol riot, President-elect Joe Biden must transcend the “typical gauzy appeals to national unity” of past inaugural addresses.
Source: In His Inaugural Address, Biden Seeks To Move Past ‘American Carnage’
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Consequences of second impeachment on President Trump’s political future, presidential benefits – ABC
Because this is a situation we’ve never seen before, many people, understandably, have questions about what it all means for President Trump’s political future. We took those questions to our ABC Action News Political Analyst, Dr. Susan MacManus, to help clear some things up:
An impeachment alone does not prevent President Trump from running for public office again. The Senate would have to conduct an impeachment trial and first convict the president on an article of impeachment.
“Then another vote would have to be taken which would only require a simple majority to, in language that says, they can no longer run for office, but even that’s being debated at the moment,” said Dr. MacManus.
Another question being raised is if the Senate moves to try and convict the president, what happens to his benefits?
“His pension stays intact unless he is actually convicted and removed from office,” said Dr MacManus.
And his future lifetime secret service protection is another topic up for debate.
Constitutional lawyers are trying to define exactly who counts as a “former president.”The Former Presidents Act makes it clear that the term “former president” means a person who served as President of the United States of America “whose service in such office shall have terminated other than by removal pursuant to section four of article II of the Constitution of the United States of America.”
But another law, the Former Presidents Protection Act, authorizes lifetime secret service protection for former presidents, but the act does not define exactly who falls under “former president.”
The unfortunate conclusion, according to Dr. MacManus, “Clear as mud, and it’s very frustrating to people who just want to know what’s going to happen next.”
All decisions Congress, or potentially the Supreme Court, may have to make.
Source: Consequences of second impeachment on President Trump’s political future, presidential benefits
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Opinion | 71 Million People Voted for Trump. They’re Not Going Anywhere. – The New York Times
By Margaret Renkl
contributing opinion writer
NASHVILLE — For at least a week before Election Day, I was too anxious to focus. Donald Trump was running a re-election campaign founded in lies, and I had no faith that my fellow Americans would throw him out. The polls were reassuring, but I wasn’t reassured. Polls were reassuring in 2016, too, and this country still ended up in an abusive relationship with the most corrupt and dangerous president of my lifetime.
I had no faith, but I held out hope. The ubiquity of the anti-Trump ads created by The Lincoln Project, a group of Republican operatives endorsing Joe Biden, gave me hope. A change of heart in so many of my conservative friends — disgusted by Mr. Trump’s greed and deception and boorish behavior, disgusted by his inexplicable subservience to foreign despots, his encouragement of outrageous conspiracy theories, his loyalty to his own interests and no one else’s — gave me hope. Above all, the massive registration and get-out-the-vote effort in Black communities across the country gave me hope. Change was in the air — I could feel it. An uprising was upon us. A great repudiation was at hand.
A plan for containing the pandemic was finally coming. A serious reckoning with climate change, a fair approach to immigration, criminal justice reform, a strong health care safety net, a renewed emphasis on voting rights — all suddenly possible.
On election night I was quadruple-screening the coverage — The Times on my laptop, PBS on our television, Twitter on my iPad, half a dozen text threads going with friends on my phone — and the news kept getting grimmer and grimmer. “This is exactly the way I felt four years ago,” my brother texted as early results came in.
But it wasn’t the way I felt four years ago. This time I felt far, far worse.
People have had four years now to find out just how truly terrible Mr. Trump is. How indifferent he is to the norms of civil discourse and to the responsibilities of democracy itself. How transparently racist he is, how divisive, how selfish. We know he’s a chronic liar who, when caught out, simply doubles down on the lie. We know that he is using the levers of government to enrich himself. We know he delights in and urges on the most violent impulses of his most dangerous followers. We know he has let 237,000 Americans die on his watch and still has no plan for saving the rest of us.
Yes, there’s immense relief in knowing that Mr. Biden has won the presidency and that reclaiming the Senate is still possible. And, yes, there are hopeful signs of change, even here in the American South. In Georgia the count continues, but voters there appear to have flipped their red state to blue. And last week, Alabama voters approved an amendment that would begin the process of removing racist language from the state Constitution. Mississippi voters approved a new state flag, one that no longer features the Confederate battle emblem. And for the first time ever, lawmakers from the L.G.B.T.Q. community — one Democrat and one Republican — will serve in the Tennessee General Assembly.
I don’t discount for one instant the progress such news represents, and I celebrated as joyfully as anyone when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won. I celebrated their win, and I celebrated the resilience of our democracy. I celebrated the chance to right so many of the wrongs that have been done during the last four years. Mr. Biden can do an enormous amount of good, even if he ends up having to do it without the Senate.
But the 71 million people who voted for Donald Trump despite his incompetence, despite his lying, his bullying, his cheating, his racism, despite all the moral failings he proudly flaunts as virtues? Those people aren’t going anywhere, the poison-spewing right-wing media that created them isn’t going anywhere, and Donald Trump himself isn’t going anywhere. And it’s not remotely clear what the rest of us can do about any of that.
Margaret Renkl is a contributing opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South. She is the author of the book “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.”
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.
Source: Opinion | 71 Million People Voted for Trump. They’re Not Going Anywhere. – The New York Times
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Critical engine test for NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket shuts down earlier than planned
NASA fired up the core stage of its massive new rocket — the Space Launch System (SLS) — on Saturday (Jan. 16) in a critical test that ended prematurely when the booster’s engines shut down earlier than planned.
Smoke and flames billowed from the four RS-25 engines that power the behemoth rocket’s core booster, a centerpiece of NASA’s Artemis moon program, as it roared to life atop a test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Ignition occurred at 5:27 EST (2227 GMT), with 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of cryogenic fuel flowing through the engines as they roared for just over 1 minute, much shorter than planned.
The test was supposed to run for 485 seconds (or just over 8 minutes), which is the amount of time the engines will burn during flight. Following engine ignition, the four RS-25 engines fired for just over 60 seconds, NASA said.
“Not everything went according to script today,” NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said late Saturday after the test. “But we got a lot of great data, a lot of great information.”
The SLS core booster will help launch NASA’s Artemis 1 mission to the moon.
Source: Critical engine test for NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket shuts down earlier than planned
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Column: Who is the biggest hypocrite in Congress? We found out on Wednesday
After four years of enabling and normalizing President Trump, Kevin McCarthy now wants Democrats and Republicans to make nice.
Kevin McCarthy, the Bakersfield congressman who is the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been one of the most loyal and consistent of President Trump’s toadies, tying himself as closely as possible to the president through four years of lies, partisan attacks, petty cruelties, temper tantrums and abuses of power.
Since Trump’s election, McCarthy has served as senior sucker-upper and enabler, helping empower and normalize the most divisive president of our lifetimes at each step. At last year’s Republican convention McCarthy said that “no one has done more to protect and advance” our “great nation” than Trump.
Source: Column: Who is the biggest hypocrite in Congress? We found out on Wednesday
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Migrant caravan demands Biden administration ‘honors its commitments’ | Fox News
A migrant caravan moving from Honduras toward the U.S. border is calling on the incoming Biden administration to honor what it says are “commitments” to the migrants moving north, amid fears of a surge at the border when President-elect Joe Biden enters office.
More than 1,000 Honduran migrants moved into Guatemala on Friday without registering, The Associated Press reported. That is part of a larger caravan that left a Honduran city earlier in the day.
BIDEN OFFICIALS URGE CAUTION ON ‘DAY ONE’ IMMIGRATION CHANGES, SAY SOME WILL ‘TAKE TIME’
The outlet reported that they are hoping for a warmer reception when they reach the U.S. border, and a statement issued by migrant rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, on behalf of the caravan, said it expects the Biden administration to take action.
Source: Migrant caravan demands Biden administration ‘honors its commitments’ | Fox News
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KDKA’s Rose Ryan-Douglas retiring after 45 years in radio | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A legendary Pittsburgh radio newscaster will be stepping into the booth for the last time next month.
Rose Ryan-Douglas, a KDKA Radio afternoon news anchor with 45 years of experience, announced her retirement earlier this week. Her last day on the air will be Feb. 26, according to KDKA Radio.
“Rose is the ultimate news professional,” Michael Spacciapolli, senior vice president and market manager for Entercom Pittsburgh (which owns KDKA), said in an emailed statement. “We have been so fortunate to have her in our newsroom for so many years delivering the news that matters to the city. I know she will be greatly missed by our listeners.”
Ms. Ryan-Douglas is a New Kensington native and a graduate of Valley High School in New Kensington and Clarion State College (now Clarion University). She began her radio career in the 1970s as a disc jockey and newscaster at WKPA/WYDD in New Kensington before moving over to WFFM in Braddock.
After a year at WFFM, she spent another year at 96KX before landing a job at 3WS, where she stayed for almost 20 years, mostly as a morning news anchor. Ms. Ryan-Douglas began working at KDKA Radio in 2002 before becoming an afternoon news anchor in 2003, a position she held for the next 17 years.
“Ultimately, we are grateful for all of her work over the years to help make KDKA the news source [in] Pittsburgh,” Mr. Spacciapolli said.In 1982, Ms. Ryan-Douglas married sportscaster Tab Douglas. The couple have two children together, a son and daughter. Ms. Ryan-Douglas is an avid gardener and also enjoys sewing, hobbies she will have a lot more time to pursue come Feb. 26.
Source: KDKA’s Rose Ryan-Douglas retiring after 45 years in radio | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Biden to sign executive orders rejoining Paris climate accord and rescinding travel ban on first day – CNNPolitics
President-elect Joe Biden plans to sign roughly a dozen executive orders, including rejoining the Paris climate accord and ending the travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries, on his first day in office, according to a memo from incoming chief of staff Ron Klain.
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Fast-Spreading Covid Variant Seen Becoming Top U.S. Strain – Bloomberg
The Covid-19 variant that emerged in the U.K. and sparked concerns of faster spread could become dominant in the U.S. as soon as March, government public-health researchers said in a report.
Several lines of evidence indicate the strain spreads faster than other versions, and steps should be taken to reduce its transmission, including increased genomic surveillance and adherence to public-health measures like testing and mask-wearing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in the report.
“Increased SARS-CoV-2 transmission might threaten strained health-care resources, require extended and more rigorous implementation of public-health strategies, and increase the percentage of population immunity required for pandemic control,” the report said.
Source: Fast-Spreading Covid Variant Seen Becoming Top U.S. Strain – Bloomberg
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Norway investigating deaths of 23 individuals who received COVID-19 vaccine
In Norway, authorities are investigating the deaths of nearly two dozen people who received the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NSDQ:BNTX).
To date, it has analyzed data from 13 of those individuals.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency concluded that common adverse reactions to mRNA vaccines, including fever and nausea, could have contributed to deaths in elderly and frail patients.
Get the full story from our sister site, Drug Discovery & Development.
Source: Norway investigating deaths of 23 individuals who received COVID-19 vaccine
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CHP Spins Van to End a 100-Mile Pursuit From Oceanside to Pacoima – NBC Los Angeles
Officers pursued the driver of a van on Southern California freeways from northern San Diego County to Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley before a CHP officer sent the vehicle into a spin in the Pacoima area.
The pursuit began in Oceanside and headed north on the 5 Freeway. It was not immediately clear what led to the chase.
It entered the downtown LA area at about 3:30 p.m. and arrived in the Cahuenga Pass between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley ten minutes later. The driver continued on the northbound 101 Freeway and transitioned to the 170 Freeway.
Source: CHP Spins Van to End a 100-Mile Pursuit From Oceanside to Pacoima – NBC Los Angeles
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Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, in Project Veritas video warns of actions ‘much bigger’ than Trump ban – Washington Times
Silicon Valley, beware: Project Veritas has infiltrated the top echelons of Big Tech.
The guerilla investigative outfit released Thursday a stunning undercover video of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey talking about how the platform plans to concentrate on more than President Trump’s account, which was shuttered on Jan. 8, two days after the U.S. Capitol riots.
“We are focused on one account [@realDonaldTrump] right now, but this is going to be much bigger than just one account, and it’s going to go on for much longer than just this day, this week, and the next few weeks, and it’s going to go on beyond the inauguration,” Mr. Dorsey said. “And we have to expect that and we have to be ready for that.”
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AOC proposes funding to deprogram white supremacists
The federal government needs to fund the de-programming of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Friday night.
“The White supremacist cause is futile, it’s nihilist,” AOC, a Democrat who represents parts of The Bronx and Queens, said during a virtual town hall meeting Friday night.
“Their world will never exist. That’s why we’re seeing violence right now.,” she said, speaking in the wake of the violent siege on the US Capitol by radical supporters of President Trump.
“We have to pick up those pieces.”
Ocasio-Cortez said the House subcommittee on civil rights she serves on has held hearings over the prior two years on white supremacy and said there are programs to “de-radicalize” brain-washed adherents.
But she said funding was not a priority for those programs during the Trump years.
“There are people who are radicalized right now. It’s going to take a very long time to de-radicalize these people and a lot of effort,” she said.
“This is a problem that doesn’t go away on Jan. 20,” said the congresswoman, referring to when Trump leaves the White House and is succeeded by President-elect Joe Biden.
She said many fringe radicals operate in a “misinformation bubble” and it will take more than more than one conversation to de-program them, likening it to therapy.
But, she said, research has shown “healing is possible.”
Source: AOC proposes funding to deprogram white supremacists
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Here are the alternate ‘Free Speech’ apps that are taking Parler’s place | Technology News,The Indian Express
These are the apps that users are looking at as Parler alternatives.
Gab
Gab Chief Executive Officer Andrew Torba said the social network got 600,000 new users in the early hours of Monday alone after Parler was taken off the internet by Amazon Web Services. As of April 2020, the site had 1.16 million registered accounts and 3.7 million unique monthly users.
In addition to the social network, Gab also has a “Dissenter” web browser that blocks ads, a merchandise shop that sells t-shirts that say “Deleting Silicon Valley” and a subscription Gab Pro site.
Some of Gab’s most popular groups are for Trump supporters, QAnon and ‘Stop the Steal,’ several with more than 100,000 members. Gab has been funded by its founders, users, premium subscriptions and crowdfunding. Torba owns most of the company and controls 80% of voting shares.
Telegram
Channels bearing the names of Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. have hundreds of thousands of followers on encrypted messaging app Telegram. The company, founded by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov, raised $1.7 billion in 2018 to make its own crypto currency, a project that was ultimately abandoned after running afoul of regulators. Vedomosti newspaper reported that billionaire Roman Abramovich and businessmen David Yakobashvili and Sergei Solonin were among investors. On Sunday, Trump Jr. shared a list of links to other conservative accounts to follow, such as Right Side Broadcasting Network, PragerU and Turning Point USA, as well as groups like a Trump Supporters Channel.
Telegram (File Photo: Reuters)
The app, which competes with the likes of Facebook’s WhatsApp and has about 7 million monthly active users in the U.S., has seen downloads spike to more than 133,000 a day on Sunday up from a usual range of about 34,000 to 60,000, according to data from Apptopia.
WhatsApp has seen an exodus of some high-profile users such as billionaire Elon Musk following an update to the service’s privacy policy that requires its 2 billion users to share data with Facebook.
Rumble
Calling itself a “censorship free video platform,” the Canadian YouTube competitor is used by Conservative commentators including: Sean Hannity, the Daily Caller, Dinesh D’Souza, the One America News Network and Steve Bannon. Commentators beneath the site’s top news video on Monday morning, a Fox News interview about the Parler ban with Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, expressed outrage and discussed a coming “civil war.” The site was founded by Chris Pavlovski in 2013 and has 50 million unique users a month.
MeWe
The social networking site, founded by Mark Weinstein, promotes its privacy credentials and doesn’t support ads. The site has seen more than 1 million new users sign up in the last 72 hours and is currently adding more than 20,000 members an hour, according to a spokesman. “People are leaving Facebook and Twitter in droves because they are fed up with the relentless privacy violations, surveillance capitalism, targeting, political bias, and newsfeed manipulation by these companies,” spokesman David Westreich said in an email.
MeWe lists Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist and privacy advocate credited with inventing the World Wide Web, as an adviser. Its terms of service say, among other things, that users aren’t allowed to bully, harass, intimidate or harm another user or make posts that incite violence or are hateful or threatening or risk having their accounts suspended or permanently canceled.
Its political pages include groups sympathetic to QAnon, such as the Great Awakening and the Empowered Citizen Institute’s Great Awakening Patriots a group that’s been banned from Twitter. The company ranked fourth on Apple’s App Store two days after the U.S. presidential race was called for Biden. MeWe raised $5.2 million in 2018 from investors including Lynda Weinman, who sold Lynda.com to LinkedIn in 2015, author Marci Shimoff, Rachel Roy and Chicken Soup for the Soul creator Jack Canfield.
2nd1st
Created by Howly Inc., 2nd1st says it offers uncensored news and tells users on its app “we must not yield to advertisers or cancel culture.” The app costs 9.99 pounds for a subscription in the U.K. Top posts on the app on Monday included mock-ups of Jesus standing behind President Trump, vague warnings about a revolution or history changing event tied to Trump and skepticism about requirements to wear masks to prevent Covid-19.
None of the companies listed here, aside from MeWe, responded to a request for comment. A representative for 2nd1st couldn’t be found and an email address for Gab’s press office appeared to be faulty.
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$1,400 stimulus checks: Here’s where we stand halfway through January | WANE 15
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — As part of President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan unveiled this week, most Americans will receive a $1,400 stimulus checks.
Though it’s not the $2,000 many people hoped for, the new direct payment equals the $2,000 figure when combined with $600 stimulus checks that went out earlier this month.
With Democrats in control of the presidency and Congress, the overall plan has a good chance for passage. However, the process may take more time than many Democratic leaders hope. The checks are part of a complex and layered plan that includes increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, expanding paid leave for workers, and increasing tax credits for families with children.
Analysts noted that a one-off bill focusing only on stimulus checks might be passed quickly. Something totaling nearly $2 trillion may take days if not weeks of debate and discussion.
But before any of that happens, Biden needs to take office — as do the two new Democratic senators from Georgia. The results in Georgia first need to be certified. The deadline to certify results is Friday, Jan. 22. Biden will assume office on Wednesday.
Source: $1,400 stimulus checks: Here’s where we stand halfway through January | WANE 15
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Green New Deal Gets Fresh Push As Democrats Take Control : NPR
A coalition of progressive groups say they are organizing a sweeping network to mobilize around climate change, racial and environmental justice, making a new unified push as President-elect Joe Biden is days away from taking office with Democrats set to control both the House and the Senate.
The group, the Green New Deal Network, plans to invest in partner organizations in 20 key states to mobilize grassroots power to pressure elected officials to support their goals; introduce Green New Deal-related legislation at the state and local level, spearhead federal legislation that would implement parts of the Green New Deal agenda, and to pressure the incoming Biden administration to enact a series of executive actions related to climate, jobs and justice.
“Every day [SEIU members] confront the crisis of climate, as well as environmental racism and economic inequality, so the Green New Deal is not something that is abstract to them,” said Rocio Sáenz, the executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union.
Source: Green New Deal Gets Fresh Push As Democrats Take Control : NPR
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Biden Seeks Quick Start With Executive Actions and Aggressive Legislation – The New York Times
In an effort to mark a clean break from the Trump era, the president-elect plans to roll out dozens of executive orders in his first 10 days on top of a big stimulus plan and an expansive immigration bill.
Source: Biden Seeks Quick Start With Executive Actions and Aggressive Legislation – The New York Times
