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      in World Politics

      Amidst the Pandemic, Central and Eastern Europe Witnesses an Erosion of Democracy

      by

      Nearly a year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, its effects on people’s lives, countries’ economies and health care around the world are becoming clearer. In some Central and Eastern European countries, however, this pandemic has had repercussions in another crucial area: democracy. This begs the question of whether the COVID-19 pandemic is emboldening the rise of illiberal politics in certain parts of the region. Indeed, the US-based Freedom House concluded earlier this year that Hungary and Serbia are no longer democracies but are “in a ‘grey zone’ between democracies and pure autocracies.”

      One democratic process affected by the COVID-19 pandemic around the world was elections. Indeed, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, elections have been canceled or postponed in at least 67 nations around the globe. Central and Eastern Europe was no exception. Serbia’s parliamentary election, originally set for April 26, was postponed by two months even though it was boycotted by much of the opposition due to the steady decline of democracy and media freedom in the country, resulting in a turnout of less than 50%.

      The controversial election secured another term for President Aleksandar Vucic with over 60% of the vote, granting his Serbian Progressive Party 190 seats in the country’s 250-seat parliament. As a result of the election and in-person voting, while the rest of Europe is now in its second wave of the pandemic, Serbia is now in its third.

      Europe’s Far Right Fails to Capitalize on COVID-19

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      Leading up to the elections in Poland, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party proposed a change to the constitution to postpone the election for two years due to the pandemic, automatically extending President Andrzej Duda’s term in office. In the end, elections were held in June and July, with Duda narrowly beating the opposition Civic Platform’s candidate.

      Beyond elections, the pandemic has been used to mask legal and constitutional changes in the region. In Hungary, Viktor Orban’s government first passed the Authorization Act during the first wave of the pandemic, effectively giving the prime minister the power to rule by decree. The government’s first action was to pass a law mandating that transgender people only be recognized by their sex at birth. The government also announced that disseminating “fake news” about the pandemic or the government’s response to it was a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

      As a result, although no one has yet been charged under the new laws, several people were arrested and detained after criticizing the government on social media, which some commentators likened to being picked up by the notorious black cars driven by the secret police during the communist era.

      In November, as the country entered its second wave of the pandemic, the Orban government announced the Second Authorization Act for a period of 90 days. The following day, proposed amendments to the constitution were announced that would make it mandatory for children to be raised amid “Christian cultural values,” defining the mother as female and the father as male, as well as prohibiting changing gender after birth. These amendments bar same-sex couples from adopting, but single parents can request an exemption through special ministerial permission.

      Additionally, one minute before midnight on the day before new curfew measures went into effect, the government proposed a change to the election law, making it impossible for coalitions to contest elections, effectively wiping out the opposition.

      Embed from Getty Images

      At the same time that Hungary adopted its first Authorization Act, Poland adopted the Act on Special Solutions Related to the Prevention, Counteracting and Combating of COVID-19, which was ultimately used by the Polish government and PiS to limit social dialogue. A few weeks later, the “Stop Abortion” bill was enacted by the Polish parliament. Already among the strictest abortion laws in Europe, the high court’s October ruling that it was unconstitutional to abort a fetus with congenital defects effectively baned all abortions, bar in the case of incest, rape or a danger to the mother’s health.

      This new ruling was met with mass protests around the country, even spreading to church services in the devoutly Catholic Poland and seeing as many as 100,000 people on the streets of the capital Warsaw. This attack on women’s health was also met by a push to leave the European treaty on violence against women, known as the Istanbul Convention, citing that it is “harmful” for children to be taught about gender in schools. Hungary refused to ratify the treaty in May, stating that it promotes “destructive gender ideologies” and “illegal migration.”

      It is likely that what the world is seeing in these countries is what Ozan Varol calls “stealth authoritarianism” that “serves as a way to protect and entrench power when direct repression is not a viable option,” with the ultimate goal of creating a one-party state. The pandemic seems to be helping authoritarian leaders to secure their grip on power. In Serbia, Vucic gained popularity during the first wave and, even after criticism from the opposition and supporters alike, Orban maintained his popularity in Hungary, as shown in a recent Závecz Research poll.

      Findings from interviews carried out as part of a project, Illiberal Turn, funded by the Economic & Social Research Council, suggest that while people were predominantly supportive of democracy in the months before the pandemic, some of those interviewed in Hungary, Poland and Serbia during the first wave in the spring seemed to have a change of heart, expressing more sympathies toward authoritarian forms of government. This trend is worrying, as it shows the potential effects that crisis can have on democratic values. These abuses of power in Central and Eastern Europe cannot be ignored. It is crucial to pay attention to how these times of crisis can further exacerbate the already existing illiberal tendencies across the region.

      *[Fair Observer is a media partner of the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right.]

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

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      in US Politics

      Biden presents new defense chief as son Hunter reveals his taxes are being investigated – live

      by

      Key events

      Show

      4.50pm EST16:50
      House passes one-week spending bill

      3.56pm EST15:56
      Hunter Biden says his tax affairs are being investigated

      3.15pm EST15:15
      Fresh efforts to break up Facebook

      2.39pm EST14:39
      Pennsylvania governor tests positive for coronavirus

      2.08pm EST14:08
      Austin: ‘I come to this new role as a civilian leader’

      1.47pm EST13:47
      Biden formally introduces defense secretary nominee

      1.13pm EST13:13
      Kamala Harris named third most powerful woman in the world

      Live feed

      Show

      4.50pm EST16:50

      House passes one-week spending bill

      The House has passed a bill to fund the government for another week, through December 18, by a vote of 343 to 67.

      House Press Gallery
      (@HouseDailyPress)
      H.R. 8900 – Further Continuing Appropriations Act for FY2021, and Other Extensions Act passed by a vote of 343-67.

      December 9, 2020

      If the bill is also passed by the Senate, it will allow the government to avoid a shutdown on Friday night, when funding is currently set to run out.
      The legislation would also give lawmakers additional time to reach an agreement on an omnibus spending bill and a coronavirus relief package.
      It’s still unclear whether Congress will be able to strike a deal on coronavirus relief before lawmakers leave for the holidays. There are lingering disagreements over liability protections for employers and state and local funding.

      4.43pm EST16:43

      CNN has more details on the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes:

      After pausing in the months before the election, federal authorities are now actively investigating the business dealings of Hunter Biden, a person with knowledge of the probe says. His father the President-elect is not implicated.
      Now that the election is over, the investigation is entering a new phase. Federal prosecutors in Delaware, working with the IRS Criminal Investigation agency and the FBI, are taking overt steps such as issuing subpoenas and seeking interviews, the person with knowledge says.
      Activity in the investigation had been largely dormant in recent months due to Justice Department guidelines prohibiting overt actions that could affect an election, the person said. …
      Investigators have been examining multiple financial issues, including whether Hunter Biden and associates violated tax and money laundering laws in business dealings in foreign countries, principally China, according to two people briefed on the probe.
      Some of those transactions involved people who the FBI believe sparked counterintelligence concerns, a common issue when dealing with Chinese business, according to another source.

      4.33pm EST16:33

      According to CNN, the investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes started in 2018 and is focused on his business dealings in China.
      The investigation was put on hold in the immediate run-up to the presidential election because of department policy about not affecting elections, but investigators took additional steps after the race concluded last month.

      Shimon Prokupecz
      (@ShimonPro)
      Here are some more details as @evanperez reported. – Investigation started back in 2018 – Has to do with business dealings in China. -Investigation was put on hold around the election because of DOJ policy. -New investigative actions began after the election.

      December 9, 2020

      4.29pm EST16:29

      CNN reporter Evan Perez said he had been in contact with Hunter Biden’s legal team in the last few days to discuss investigative steps being taken in connection to the president-elect’s son.
      Biden’s attorneys did not get back to CNN before the transition team released its own statement today announcing the investigation.

      Kaitlan Collins
      (@kaitlancollins)
      On CNN, @evanperez says they’d been in contact with Hunter Biden’s attorney in the last few days about reporting on the investigative steps being taken regarding the president-elect’s son. His attorneys said they wold get back to them but instead issued statement via transition.

      December 9, 2020

      4.20pm EST16:20

      Hunter Biden was a frequent target of attack for Donald Trump and his allies in the months leading up to the presidential election.
      During his final campaign rallies, the president repeatedly (and falsely) referred to the Biden family as “a criminal enterprise”.
      Following news of the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes, one Republican congressman called on attorney general William Barr to appoint a special counsel to investigate the president-elect’s son.

      Congressman Ken Buck
      (@RepKenBuck)
      This is why AG Barr needs to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. It would be wildly inappropriate if his dad’s AG was involved in this matter. https://t.co/RUYVAyARE3

      December 9, 2020

      Updated
      at 4.47pm EST

      4.11pm EST16:11

      According to NBC News, Hunter Biden and his ex-wife had an IRS lien against them for unpaid taxes of $112,805.09 up until March of this year, but it’s unclear whether the newly announced investigation is in connection to that.

      Tom Winter
      (@Tom_Winter)
      MORE: Up until March 20th of this year Hunter and his former wife Kathleen Buhle had an IRS lean against them for taxes not paid in the total of $112,805.09, according to publicly available documents. It is unknown if the tax lean is connected to the investigation. https://t.co/7BvjgaOHul

      December 9, 2020

      3.56pm EST15:56

      Hunter Biden says his tax affairs are being investigated

      Joe Biden’s transition team has just released a statement from the president-elect’s son, Hunter Biden, saying his tax affairs are being investigated by federal prosecutors.
      “I learned yesterday for the first time that the US Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” the younger Biden said.
      “I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
      The transition also issued its own statement noting that the president-elect “is deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger”.

      Updated
      at 4.42pm EST

      3.40pm EST15:40

      Some Republican senators have said they are open to supporting Doug Jones if Joe Biden nominates him to become attorney general.

      Igor Bobic
      (@igorbobic)
      Shelby tells me he would support Jones as AG if Biden taps him. “He’d probably get a bigger vote than anybody nominated,” he says

      December 9, 2020

      When asked about Jones’ possible nomination, Ted Cruz replied, “I’ll assess every nominee on the merits.”
      Richard Shelby of Alabama added, “He’d probably get a bigger vote than anybody nominated.”
      Jones lost his bid to serve a full term in the Senate last month, but he is now the frontrunner to become attorney general, according to multiple reports.

      Updated
      at 3.41pm EST

      3.15pm EST15:15

      Fresh efforts to break up Facebook

      Joanna Walters

      The US Federal Trade Commission and a big coalition of states sued Facebook this afternoon, saying that the huge social media company broke US antitrust law.
      The FTC said in a statement that it would seek an injunction that “could, among other things: require divestitures of assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp.”
      In its complaint, the coalition of 46 states, Washington DC and the territory of Guam also asked for Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp to be judged to be illegal.
      The antitrust lawsuits were announced by the FTC, the federal regulators, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
      “It’s really critically important that we block this predatory acquisition of companies and that we restore confidence to the market,” James said during a press conference announcing the lawsuit, Reuters and the Associated Press report.
      In its lawsuit, the FTC is seeking the separation of the services from Facebook, saying Facebook has engaged in a “a systematic strategy” to eliminate its competition, including by purchasing smaller up-and-coming rivals like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
      James echoed that in her press conference, saying Facebook “used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users.”
      Facebook is the world’s biggest social network with 2.7 billion users and a company with a market value of nearly $800bn whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the world’s fifth-richest individual and the most public face of “Big Tech” swagger.
      Facebook did not have immediate comment. More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in World Politics

      The Problem of Food Security in America’s Consumer Society

      by

      Since the beginning of the 21st century and, more particularly, since September 11, 2001, the notion of security in the West has turned around the idea of terrorism and, more particularly, Muslim terrorism. During its first term, George W. Bush’s administration categorically refused the CIA’s findings identifying white supremacy as by far the most significant threat to national security. Bush forced the agency’s experts to put Muslim terrorism at the top of the list, despite all evidence to the contrary. Bush needed a reason to call himself a “wartime president.”

      Organized violence, such as the threat of war or terrorism, is not the only threat to security — or even the most significant. Today’s pandemic provides a dramatic example of a threat to security with an impact as great as war.

      Poverty has always been an unrecognized security threat. In a capitalist society, we have all been taught that poverty is inevitable because some people have failed to take advantage of the opportunities civilization offers them. Poverty represents some people’s failure to exercise their freedom to succeed. For some, it may be due to unmerited misfortune. But for most, it is explained as their own moral failings or their incapacity to rise to the challenge. That is why that wonderful activity we call charity exists. Because poverty is seen as an inevitable consequence of our wonderful system of economic organization, it is dismissed as a security threat.

      As past history has shown, poverty and famine have often led to revolt. But in this age of technology, those who might fear revolt take comfort from the sophistication of the technology that now exists to repress it. Pitchforks simply cannot rival armored Humvees operated by the security state.

      Who’s to Blame for a Tanking Economy?

      READ MORE

      Nevertheless, poverty has other ways of destabilizing societies whose elites believe their way of life represents the ideal of order and good behavior. The Trump years have vindicated the CIA’s traditional analysis identifying white supremacy as the most obvious threat to domestic security. Republicans like to characterize the essentially peaceful protests of Black Lives Matter as threatening, but they have clearly retained a character of protest rather than revolt. No one knows how the white supremacists currently refusing Trump’s electoral defeat may react when he is definitively dislodged in January.

      US culture has always minimized the reality of poverty, which now has a new face. Living in squalor in the inner city is one thing. But now more and more “respectable” Americans simply don’t have enough to eat. And at the end of this month, millions will discover they won’t be able to pay their arrears on rent. Already, millions can’t afford their daily bread. Some struggle to even bury their dead.

      The Associated Press quotes a report that lists some startling numbers: “In four states — Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana — more than 1 in 5 residents are expected to be food insecure by year’s end, meaning they won’t have money or resources to put food on the table.” Some states are more affected than others: “Nevada, a tourist mecca whose hotel, casino and restaurant industries were battered by the pandemic, is projected to vault from 20th place in 2018 to 5th place this year in food insecurity, according to a report from Feeding America.”

      Today’s Daily Devil’s Dictionary definition:

      Food insecurity:

      The inability to feed a significant portion of the population, a condition that theoretically disappeared after the agricultural revolution of the 20th century, but which has become endemic principally in the United States in the 21st century due to the acceptance of its dogma that wealth inequality is the vocation of a dynamic modern society.

      Contextual Note

      The media present the idea of food insecurity as a problem for individuals and their families, not as a social problem. And yet the queues of cars waiting for hours for handouts bear comparison with the image of soup lines we associate with the Great Depression. The sheer length of these modern-day bread lines puts to shame the black-and-white images of people waiting for handouts in the 1930s. For many, the car they drive to the food banks has become their only shelter. Many have lost their homes, as many more will in the months to come. It isn’t even clear how many own their cars, though repossessing from the homeless has become a challenge for creditors.

      Embed from Getty Images

      Law enforcement strategists may already be thinking that the idea of food insecurity represents something more than a state of personal anguish for isolated individuals in times of pandemic. At some point, today’s pandemic may become tomorrow’s pandemonium. In other words, like everything else in a society built on the foundational idea of the individual’s “pursuit of happiness,” the cumulative effect of an experience shared on an increasingly wide scale leads to its recognition as a potentially insoluble social problem.

      What better illustrates the phenomenon than the opioid crisis? Until only a few years ago, US media treated the problem of addiction as a personal drama that affected random individuals. Like Frank Sinatra’s character in the 1955 film “The Man with the Golden Arm,” the victims needed to acquire the courage to kick the habit and rejoin healthy society. But when, a decade ago, statistics began revealing a rapidly mounting number of deaths by overdose — not limited to down-and-out jazz musicians in an urban nightmare or the black minority — opioid addiction became “the opioid crisis.” Even rural whites were involved. 

      That meant that it was time to analyze the phenomenon as a security threat, to be treated the way any extensive social crisis is treated, by taking into account complex economic, sociological and even commercial factors that structure the crisis. It became a topic that politicians could now talk about out in the open. In 2020, food security is reaching a similar point of public recognition. Since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, Republicans have led an insurgency campaign against food stamps. They see food assistance as a demeaning symbol of the acceptance of the maligned welfare state. Given a challenge, true Americans will always rise up on their own initiative to meet it. Handing out food shamefully discourages that vibrant sense of initiative.

      Earlier this year, as the cars began lining up in increasing numbers on their way to food banks, the Trump administration tried to block the distribution of food stamps allowed by the Coronavirus Food Assistance program. But in an economy that is shedding jobs, hunger doesn’t simply go away thanks to an individual’s willpower, especially in a consumer society that for decades has literally fed the trend toward super-sizing and obesity.

      Historical Note

      When the symptoms of poverty traditionally associated with marginalized minorities emerge as a feature of the landscape to which a majority may be exposed, even an ideologically rigid society may begin to rethink the relationship between poverty and security. The poorer classes in the US have for most of the past century created a false sense of order in their lives through obsessive consumer behavior. Addiction took a variety of forms, most of which were deemed “healthy” for the economy, if not for the consumers themselves, from Coca-Cola and McDonalds to reality TV. 

      Addictive behavior seemed to define the American way of life. In contrast, the wealthier segments of society focused on ensuring their security by living in a separate mental and physical world. One prominent late 20th-century trend among the upper-middle class was the retreat into gated communities. Seeking to move further and further away from multiracial cities, neighborhoods emerged that looked comfortably residential while benefiting from military-style security, including armed guards at their unique entrance. They were effectively sealed off from the rest of society.

      The gated community mentality has now become a largely unconscious feature of US culture. The idea of security has itself become an obsession in stark contrast with the romantic tradition that celebrated the rugged individualism of the West and of early capitalism. It has justified the creation of the national security state.

      The US is now undergoing perhaps its deepest historical and cultural psychodrama since the Civil War. The reality of a crisis of “food security” reflects more than just the disastrous material effects of growing inequality. It highlights an extraordinary conflict capable of undermining traditional cultural assumptions. History has repeatedly shown that there is no cure for cultural chaos.

      *[In the age of Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, another American wit, the journalist Ambrose Bierce, produced a series of satirical definitions of commonly used terms, throwing light on their hidden meanings in real discourse. Bierce eventually collected and published them as a book, The Devil’s Dictionary, in 1911. We have shamelessly appropriated his title in the interest of continuing his wholesome pedagogical effort to enlighten generations of readers of the news. Read more of The Daily Devil’s Dictionary on Fair Observer.]

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

    • 213 Shares129 Views

      in US Politics

      After the Trump years, how will Biden help the 140 million Americans in poverty? | Mary O'Hara

      by

      After four punch-drunk years of Donald Trump, the weeks since the November presidential election have presented a chance, despite his machinations to overturn the result, to reflect on what might come next for the tens of millions of Americans struggling to get by. What lies around the corner after the departure of an administration that brought so much destruction matters to the lives of the least well-off and marginalised people?
      President-elect Joe Biden sought to reassure people that he was on the case when he announced his top economic team last week. “Our message to everybody struggling right now is this: help is on the way,” he said, offering a steady economic hand to a weary public rattled by the virus and an unprecedented economic crisis.
      Many people are simply so relieved that Biden and Harris won that they talk about “getting back to normal” after the chaos. That’s an understandable reaction given all that’s transpired. However, getting back to normal isn’t an option. Nor should it be the goal. When Trump took power, around 140 million Americans were either poor or on low incomes even without a pandemic – a staggering proportion.
      For decades the wages of those at the top soared while paychecks for those at the bottom flatlined. Gender and racial income and wealth disparities endure. Despite widespread support for boosting minimum earnings, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 hasn’t been increased since 2009. Roughly 60% of wealth in the US is estimated to be inherited. And, as if this wasn’t enough to contend with, in 2020 billionaire wealth surged past $1tn since the start of the pandemic. The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) calculates that the wealth of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos alone leapt by almost $70bn to a colossal $188.3bn as the year draws to a close.
      Over the past four years I asked myself frequently what another term of the Trump wrecking ball would mean for the people at the sharp end of regressive policies and a reckless disregard for the most vulnerable in society. Thankfully, that is no longer the question. The question now is: after all the carnage, what next?
      So far, indications are that Biden and his team recognise that as well as confronting the gargantuan challenges unleashed by Covid-19, longstanding inequities cannot be left unchecked. The presidential campaign was calibrated to highlight this, including around racial injustices. Overtures have been made, for example, on areas championed by progressives such as forgiving loan debt for many students and expanding access to Medicare. Biden has also pledged to strengthen unions and, well before the pandemic during his first campaign speech, endorsed increasing the federal minimum wage to $15.
      Even in the face of unparalleled challenges – and while a lot rides on a Democratic win in the two Georgia Senate run-offs in January – Biden could and should “use all the tools” at a president’s disposal to shift the dial quickly, says Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Project at the IPS. Examples include placing conditions on workers’ pay for companies bidding for federal contracts and leveraging the presidential “bully pulpit” to try to push proposals such as a minimum wage hike through the Senate.
      There is also a genuine opportunity for the new administration to spearhead a concerted focus on policies affecting more than 61 million Americans who are disabled – a group all too often ignored in presidential campaigns and sidelined in policy. Biden’s disability plan makes for a comprehensive read. Off the bat, if the new administration takes steps to overturn the “abject neglect of disability rights enforcement” under Trump in areas ranging from education to housing it would be off to a good start, argues Rebecca Cokley, director of the disability justice initiative at the Center for American Progress.
      The pandemic is the most pressing challenge facing the incoming administration. However, structural inequalities, the people lining up at food banks, the children going hungry or homeless, historic injustices and the out-of-control concentration of wealth, must also be priorities. Right now, the US at least has a chance to finally put some of this right. However in the UK, with the end of the Brexit transition period looming and the chancellor under pressure to fend off accusations that another dose of austerity isn’t on the way, it’s a whole different story. The lessons in both countries from past mistakes – ones that harm those most in need – must be learned.
      • Mary O’Hara is a journalist and author. Her latest book, The Shame Game: Overturning the toxic poverty narrative, is published by Policy Press. She was named best foreign columnist 2020 by the Southern California Journalism Awards More

    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump's 'Warp Speed' vaccine summit zooms into alternative reality | David Smith's sketch

      by

      The US government’s drive for a coronavirus vaccine was named “Operation Warp Speed” by Peter Marks, an official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and longtime Star Trek fan.
      A staple of Star Trek storylines is alternative realities: someone slipping through a wormhole into a parallel universe where history took a radically different turn. Cable news viewers went through the wormhole at 2pm on Tuesday: two captains, two crews, two languages (one English, the other Klingon).
      Those watching CNN and MSNBC could see a sombre president-elect, Joe Biden, opening his remarks by acknowledging the terrible Covid-19 death toll (more than 285,000 in the US), setting out an ambitious vision for his first hundred days in office (“Masking. Vaccinations. Opening schools”) and unveiling a healthcare team heavy on experience, science and diversity.
      But those watching Fox News or other conservative networks found the lame-duck president, Donald Trump, making no mention of the dead (“In many respects we’re still doing incredibly, with our stock markets and everything else, which are hitting all new highs”), boasting about the speed of vaccine development and ranting egregious lies about a stolen election.
      In what is now routinely described as a split-screen nation, the contrast was on the nose. It was also an unusual role reversal from the norm, with the outgoing president delivering happy talk and sunny uplands, while his successor offered a darker vision that warned of trouble ahead.
      It was the latest of Biden’s team unveilings in his home city of Wilmington, Delaware. Speaking against a blue “Office of the president-elect” backdrop, he said bleakly: “Last week, Covid-19 was the number one cause of death in America.
      “For Black, Latino, and Native Americans – who are nearly three times as likely to die from it – Covid-19 is a mass casualty. For families and friends left behind, it’s a gaping hole in your heart that will never be fully healed.”
      Over in Washington, in the south court auditorium in the White House grounds, Trump spoke against a less subtle backdrop of stars and stripes icons and “Operation Warp Speed” written in block letters. His vaccine summit had been dismissed as a public relations stunt amid embarrassing reports that his administration passed on buying additional doses of Pfizer’s vaccine.
      Despite a daily death toll that now rivals that of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, Trump began by taking a victory lap, praising Vice-President Mike Pence for doing “an absolutely incredible” job at the head of the coronavirus taskforce. “Stand up, Mike. Great job!” Applause.

      “We’re here to discuss a monumental national achievement,” Trump went on, describing the race for a vaccine with an exaggeration that veered back into Star Trek – or Buzz Lightyear – territory. “Before Operation Warp Speed the typical time frame for development and approval, as you know, could be infinity.”
      He then promised: “This will vanquish the problem, this horrible scourge, as I call it, the China virus, because that’s where it came from.”
      At the same moment that Trump was dabbling in casual racism, Biden was saying: “We’re in a very dark winter. Things may well get worse before they get better. A vaccine may soon be available but we need to level with one other. It will take longer than we would like to distribute it to all corners of the country …
      “We’ll need to persuade enough Americans to take the vaccine. Many have become cynical about its usefulness. It’s daunting, but I promise you that we will make progress starting on day one. We didn’t get into this mess quickly and it’s going to take time to fix.”
      Clenching both fists, he added: “But we can do this. That’s the truth, and telling you the truth is what this team, Vice President-elect Harris and I, will always do.”
      Trump, meanwhile, sat at his now infamous tiny desk and signed a reportedly toothless executive order which – “America first” to the end – is designed to give US citizens priority access to vaccines before they are shipped abroad. He was joined on stage by a dozen officials, all but two of whom were men. They included his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka.
      But they did not include the infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci, who had evidently realised the real party is now happening somewhere else. Fauci popped up on screen at the Biden event in Wilmington, stating: “I have been through many public health crises before, but this is the toughest one we have ever faced as a nation.”

      The 45th and 46th presidents share a notoriety for gaffes. So far, both had managed to stay on script. But Trump could not resist taking questions from the press. Why, someone asked, are you still hosting Christmas parties despite public health guidelines discouraging them? Trump insisted that there were far fewer parties and most people wore masks.
      Then came the question: why not include members of the Biden transition in this summit? “Hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration because you can’t steal hundreds of thousands of votes,” the president said airily, despite the fact he lost the November presidential election. “You can’t have fraud and deception and all of the things that they did and then slightly win a swing state.
      “And you just have to look at the numbers, look at what’s been on tape, look at all the corruption and we’ll see you can’t win an election like that. So hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration, a continuation.”
      He went on to extol that administration’s glories, including a soaring stock market and the creation of a space force, as if these would be enough to make defeat mathematically impossible. For the record, the homeland security department and state leaders have debunked Trump’s election disinformation and found no significant evidence of interference or fraud.
      Change the channel at that moment – as many yearn to do on his presidency – and you found Biden’s pick for surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, delivering an apt warning: “The truth is that the best policies – and the best vaccines and treatments – will not heal our nation unless we overcome the fear, anxiety, anger, and distrust so many Americans are feeling right now.”
      Does anyone have a vaccine for that? More

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      in US Politics

      Rudy Giuliani expects to leave hospital soon following Covid-19 diagnosis

      by

      [embedded content]
      Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday said he is feeling better after contracting Covid-19 and expects to leave the hospital on Wednesday.
      The 76-year-old former New York City mayor, who is spearheading Trump’s flagging effort to overturn the Republican president’s election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, said he began to feel unusually tired on Friday.
      By Sunday, when his diagnosis was announced, Giuliani said he was showing other “mild symptoms” but that currently he has no fever and only a small cough.
      “I think they are going to let me out tomorrow morning,” Giuliani said in an interview with WABC Radio in New York. He was at Georgetown University hospital in Washington, two sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday.
      Giuliani plans to attend a virtual hearing this week with Georgia lawmakers, one of the sources said on Tuesday.

      With Trump’s legal effort so far failing to convince any court of the president’s claim that widespread fraud cost him the election, Giuliani has been meeting with state officials in a long-shot bid to persuade them to overturn the election results.
      State and federal officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence of fraud on any significant scale. Across the country, courts have rejected cases seeking to toss out votes, including the US supreme court, which on Tuesday refused to block Pennsylvania from formalizing Biden’s victory there.
      In Georgia, state lawmakers are due to hold a virtual meeting on Thursday to discuss election issues, after a hearing last week in which Giuliani urged the lawmakers to intervene to overturn Biden’s victory in the state. Giuliani made similar pleas last week in Michigan and Arizona.
      After news broke on Sunday of Giuliani’s test result, the Arizona state legislature said it would close both chambers this week out of caution “for recent cases and concerns relating to Covid-19”. Giuliani met with about a dozen Republican lawmakers there last week.
      In his radio interview, Giuliani said he had tested negative just before his trip to the three states.
      He also confirmed that Jenna Ellis, an attorney with whom he has worked side-by-side on Trump’s legal challenges, also had contracted the coronavirus. More

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      in US Politics

      Biden pledges '100m shots in 100 days' as he introduces health team

      by

      Joe Biden vowed on Tuesday to ensure 100m coronavirus vaccinations would be administered to Americans during his first 100 days in the White House – as Donald Trump held a parallel event where he ignored the deepening public health crisis, instead repeating his false claims that he, not Biden, won the November election.
      The Democratic president-elect on Tuesday introduced his new leadership team covering healthcare and laid out an aggressive plan to defeat the coronavirus pandemic that contrasted sharply with the Trump administration’s efforts.
      Speaking at an event in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, Biden formally introduced the team of scientists and doctors he assembled to guide the nation through what they hope will be the final stage of a public health crisis that has killed nearly 284,000 American lives and is one of the worst crises ever to hit the US.
      Preparing to assume office in the midst of what experts believe could be the pandemic’s darkest hour, Biden outlined his priorities for his first three months in office, including a commitment to distribute “100m shots in the first 100 days”, a plea for all Americans to wear masks during that period to prevent the spread of the virus and a promise to open a “majority of schools”.
      “Out of our collective pain, we are going to find a collective purpose,” Biden said, striking a somber tone as he acknowledged the toll of the brutal coronavirus surge averaging more than 2,200 deaths per day. “To control the pandemic, to save lives and to heal as a nation.”
      Leading what Biden dubbed his “core Covid healthcare team” was Xavier Becerra, his nominee for secretary of health and human services. Becerra, the son of Mexican immigrants, served 12 terms in Congress and is California’s the attorney general. He would be the first Latino to serve as US health secretary.
      “The mission of the Department of Health and Human Services has never been as vital or as urgent as it is today,” Becerra said via video link from California.
      Among the other members of the health team is the former surgeon general Vivek Murthy, whom Biden nominated again for the role, and Rochelle Walensky, whom he picked to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, accepted Biden’s invitation to stay on as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a position he has held since 1984, and will serve as Biden’s chief medical adviser.
      “Like every good doctor, he’ll tell me what I need to know, not what I want to know,” Biden said of Fauci, who has become one of the most prominent and trusted sources of information during the coronavirus epidemic, despite his turbulent relationship with Trump. Biden said he was honored to be the seventh president Fauci would serve.
      In a pre-recorded video, Fauci said the current public health crisis was “the toughest one we have ever faced as a nation” and warned that the “road ahead will not be easy”.
      Echoing Fauci, Biden and his nominees were clear-eyed about the challenges that lay ahead. The promise of multiple vaccines has raised hopes, but his team will be judged by its execution of what Biden vowed would be the “most efficient mass vaccination plan in US history”. A coronavirus vaccine by the drugmaker Pfizer is expected to receive approval by the Food and Drug Administration as soon as this week.
      Still, “developing a vaccine is only one herculean task; distributing it is another”, Biden said, acknowledging that it may take longer than expected and would require persuading skeptical Americans to take the vaccine.
      That, Biden said, risked slowing the process. He implored Congress to pass a coronavirus economic relief package that would help finance the administration of the vaccines. Forestalling aid, Biden warned, could dramatically “slow and stall” the distribution process.
      Biden vowed a starkly different approach from that of the current occupant of the White House, who has spent his final weeks in office ignoring the crisis, fixated instead on overturning the results of an election he lost with increasingly wild legal challenges.
      Whereas Trump has long downplayed the threat of the disease and disregarded public health guidelines, Biden, who used his presidential campaign to demonstrate the seriousness of the pandemic, said his team would “spare not a single effort” to defeat the virus and repeated his promise to be guided by science.
      At a dueling event celebrating Operation Warp Speed, Trump boasted that his administration had procured vaccines much quicker than expected and claimed that even his critics were praising the achievement as “one of the miracles of modern medicine”.
      Yet the celebratory White House event came as his administration faced new scrutiny after the New York Times reported that the Trump administration declined an opportunity to purchase more doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine this summer. The White House has denied the story, though several news outlets have corroborated the reporting.
      As the virus continues its uncontrolled spread, Trump has refused to use his remaining time in office – and significant political sway – to urge Americans to take safety precautions such as mask-wearing and social distancing. Biden, meanwhile, has little power to influence public response to the virus until he is inaugurated next month.
      In his remarks from Delaware, Biden warned that a preliminary review of the Trump administration’s vaccine distribution plan found several shortcomings, and it remained unclear how the administration had planned to get vaccines from the containers into the arms of 330 million Americans. Until then, Biden said the “easiest” and most “patriotic” action Americans could take to protect their families and friends was to wear a mask.
      “We’re in a very dark winter – things may well get worse before they get better,” Biden said. “It’s daunting. But I promise you, we’ll make progress.” More

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      in US Politics

      Joe Biden pledges to distribute 100m vaccine shots in first 100 days of presidency – live

      by

      Key events

      Show

      3.57pm EST15:57
      Biden confirms Lloyd Austin to be nominated as defense secretary

      3.50pm EST15:50
      Judge dismisses Flynn’s criminal case after Trump pardon

      3.04pm EST15:04
      Trump peddles false election claims during vaccine event

      2.45pm EST14:45
      Fauci at Biden event: ‘The road ahead will not be easy’

      2.09pm EST14:09
      Biden calls for ‘100 million shots in first 100 days’ of his presidency

      2.01pm EST14:01
      Biden formally introduces team of health care advisers

      1.00pm EST13:00
      Today so far

      Live feed

      Show

      4.44pm EST16:44

      Senator Doug Jones would not say whether he has recently had talks with Joe Biden about becoming attorney general.
      “I know that the transition team has a really good process that’s working out really well I think so far,” the Alabama Democrat said on Capitol Hill.

      Manu Raju
      (@mkraju)
      Doug Jones, the outgoing Dem senator, wouldn’t say if he’s had talks recently with Biden or his team on AG job. “I know that the transition team has a really good process that’s working out really well I think so far,” he said.“I’m not going to comment any further.”

      December 8, 2020

      NBC News reported earlier today that Jones is now the leading contender to become attorney general, although former deputy attorney general Sally Yates and federal judge Merrick Garland are also under consideration.
      Jones has been in the Senate since winning a 2017 special election, but he lost his bid to serve a full term last month. He and Biden have known each other for decades.

      4.25pm EST16:25

      As soon as Lloyd Austin’s nomination as defense secretary was officially announced, the Atlantic published an op-ed from Joe Biden defending the choice, and another contender for the job, Michèle Flournoy, released a statement congratulating Austin.
      The coordinated publicity campaign seemed to suggest Biden’s team is worried about Austin’s confirmation, as one Daily Beast writer argued.

      Sam Stein
      (@samstein)
      An oped from Biden around his Lloyd Austin nomination coupled with a statement from Flournoy right as the nomination is made formal suggests that the transition team believes it has work to do to sell this one

      December 8, 2020

      Some Democrats have already voiced concerns about granting Austin a waiver to run the department, which the former general will need because of his recent military service.
      Depending on how Republicans handle Austin’s nomination, it could be a very close confirmation vote.

      4.11pm EST16:11

      Joe Biden has written an op-ed for the Atlantic explaining his nomination of Lloyd Austin to lead the defense department.
      The president-elect writes:

      Austin’s many strengths and his intimate knowledge of the Department of Defense and our government are uniquely matched to the challenges and crises we face. He is the person we need in this moment. …
      Above all, I chose Lloyd Austin as my nominee for secretary of defense because I know how he reacts under pressure, and I know that he will do whatever it takes to defend the American people. …
      Moreover, we need leaders like Lloyd Austin who understand that our military is only one instrument of our national security. Keeping America strong and secure demands that we draw on all our tools. He and I share a commitment to empowering our diplomats and development experts to lead our foreign policy, using force only as our last resort.

      The president-elect also urged Congress to grant Austin a waiver to be confirmed as defense secretary. Because of Austin’s recent military service, he must receive the waiver before assuming the role.

      Lloyd Austin retired from military service more than four years ago. The law states that an officer must have left the service at least seven years before becoming secretary of defense. But I hope that Congress will grant a waiver to Secretary-designate Austin, just as Congress did for Secretary Jim Mattis. Given the immense and urgent threats and challenges our nation faces, he should be confirmed swiftly.

      But some Democrats have already expressed hesitation about granting the waiver, expressing a desire to honor the tradition of civilian leadership at the Pentagon.

      4.03pm EST16:03

      Michèle Flournoy, who was previously considered the leading contender to be nominated as defense secretary, released a statement congratulating Lloyd Austin on his nomination.

      Natasha Bertrand
      (@NatashaBertrand)
      And JUST IN: Statement by Michèle Flournoy, who was the other frontrunner for SecDef. “I look forward to helping him and the President-elect succeed in any way that I can.” pic.twitter.com/s1JsA5PQHU

      December 8, 2020

      “General Austin is a man of deep integrity who has spent a lifetime in service to our country,” Flournoy said.
      “General Austin is a colleague and friend, and I know he will bring his impressive skills to bear to lead all those who volunteer to defend our country, military and civilian, at this critical moment.”
      If she had been nominated and confirmed, Flournoy would have been the first woman to lead the Pentagon.

      3.57pm EST15:57

      Biden confirms Lloyd Austin to be nominated as defense secretary

      Joe Biden confirmed in a new statement that retired four-star general Lloyd Austin would be nominated to lead the defense department.
      “General Austin shares my profound belief that our nation is at its strongest when we lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example,” the president-elect said.
      “He is uniquely qualified to take on the challenges and crises we face in the current moment, and I look forward to once again working closely with him as a trusted partner to lead our military with dignity and resolve, revitalize our alliances in the face of global threats, and ensure the safety and security of the American people.”
      If confirmed, Austin would be the first African American to lead the Pentagon. News of his nomination comes as some civil rights leaders have complained about the level of representation of African Americans among Biden’s cabinet members.
      However, some Democrats have voiced concern about a recently retired general leading the Pentagon, given the tradition of a civilian leading the department. Austin will have to receive a waiver from Congress to be confirmed.

      3.50pm EST15:50

      Judge dismisses Flynn’s criminal case after Trump pardon

      A federal judge officially dismissed the criminal case against Michael Flynn today, two weeks after Donald Trump issued a pardon for his former national security adviser.
      The AP reports:

      The order from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan was largely procedural in light of the pardon from President Donald Trump, which wiped away Flynn’s conviction for lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation.
      Sullivan made clear in a 43-page order that he was compelled to dismiss the case because of the pardon. But he also stressed that a pardon, by itself, did not mean that Flynn was innocent. Flynn had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts during the presidential transition period with the Russian ambassador.
      ‘The history of the Constitution, its structure, and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the pardon power make clear that President Trump’s decision to pardon Mr. Flynn is a political decision, not a legal one,’ Sullivan wrote. ‘Because the law recognizes the President’s political power to pardon, the appropriate course is to dismiss this case as moot.’

      Flynn became a cause célèbre among the far right, with many of the president’s supporters pushing claims that Flynn was unfairly targeted by the FBI, even though he pleaded guilty twice.
      In recent weeks, Trump has reportedly also weighed potential preemptive pardons for some of his closest advisers, like Rudy Giuliani, and his family members.

      3.29pm EST15:29

      The White House is reportedly pushing to include $600 stimulus checks in the next coronavirus relief package.
      The Washington Post reports:

      Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not include a second round of stimulus payments in the relief proposal he released last week. Senior Republican leadership in Congress are listening to White House officials push for the inclusion of the stimulus checks, the two people said, a provision also broadly supported by congressional Democrats.
      President Trump has privately indicated a willingness to send another round of stimulus checks of as much as $2,000, according to one person in direct communication with the president.

      Republican senator Josh Hawley has also pushed for another round of stimulus checks, but Republican lawmakers have generally expressed skepticism about the idea.
      The first round of stimulus checks was approved as part of the March CARES Act, and the treasury department broke precedent by printing Trump’s name on the checks.

      3.14pm EST15:14

      During his vaccine event, Donald Trump was also asked why the White House was holding Christmas parties with hundreds of unmasked guests despite urgent warnings from public health experts to avoid indoor gatherings.
      “Well, they’re Christmas parties,” Trump replied. “And frankly we’ve reduced the number very substantially, as you know, and I see a lot of people at the parties wearing masks.”

      Bloomberg Quicktake
      (@Quicktake)
      “They’re Christmas parties, and frankly we’ve reduced the number of them substantially and I see a lot of people at the parties wearing masks,” Trump said after a reporter asked about the White House hosting large gatherings amid the pandemic pic.twitter.com/6IX5MPkzRX

      December 8, 2020

      Trump’s comments came hours after reports emerged that one of his campaign’s legal advisers, Jenna Ellis, had tested positive for coronavirus.
      Ellis attended a White House Christmas party on Friday, raising concerns about another coronavirus outbreak among Trump’s senior staffers.
      Ellis posted a photo of herself at the party on Instagram. She is not masked in the picture.

      3.04pm EST15:04

      Trump peddles false election claims during vaccine event

      David Smith

      Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine summit went off the rails when a reporter asked him about coordinating the effort with members of Joe Biden’s transition.The US president has boasted about the achievement of getting vaccines much quicker than expected and claimed that even his critics were praising “one of the miracles of modern medicine”. He signed an executive order that he said would prioritize the vaccine for Americans before it is shipped abroad.But once the touchy subject of his election defeat was raised, Trump reverted to ranting about false conspiracy theories that last month’s vote was rigged and stolen from him.

      Aaron Rupar
      (@atrupar)
      “Well, we’re gonna have to see who the next administration is … hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration … we were rewarded with a victory” — Trump is still lying about his election loss pic.twitter.com/amriO46DW9

      December 8, 2020

      “Hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration because you can’t steal hundreds of thousands of votes,” he said in the south court auditorium in the White House grounds. “You can’t have fraud and deception and all of the things that they did and then slightly win a swing state.“And you just have to look at the numbers, look at what’s been on tape, look at all the corruption and we’ll see you can’t win an election like that. So hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration, a continuation.”The homeland security department and state leaders have found no significant evidence of interference or fraud in the election. Back in the real world, as Trump was making his attack on democracy, a sombre Biden was sitting in Wilmington, Delaware, listening intently to Vivek Murthy, his nominee to become surgeon general, assess the challenges ahead.

      2.52pm EST14:52

      Speaking at the Wilmington event, vice-president-elect Kamala Harris congratulated Joe Biden on building an impressive team of health care advisers made up of eminently qualified experts.
      Harris noted she and Biden spoke to frontline health care workers over the Thanksgiving holiday to express their gratitude for the workers’ service amid the coronavirus pandemic.
      The vice-president-elect said one nurse told her it felt like a matter of when, not if, she would contract the virus.
      Harris sent this message to those frontline workers: “Help is on the way, and it is long overdue.”
      Once Harris’ speech concluded, the event wrapped up. Biden did not take any questions from reporters.

      2.45pm EST14:45

      Fauci at Biden event: ‘The road ahead will not be easy’

      Dr Anthony Fauci, who will serve as Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, filmed a speech that was played during the president-elect’s event in Wilmington, Delaware.
      Fauci noted that he was missing the event because the National Institutes of Health is simultaneously holding a ceremony to honor Harvey Alter winning the Nobel Prize in medicine.
      The infectious disease expert thanked Biden for allowing him to join his health care advisory team, noting that many of the president-elect’s other advisers are longtime colleagues whom he deeply respects.
      Reflecting on past pandemics the US has experienced, Fauci described the coronavirus pandemic as “the toughest one we have ever faced as a nation.”
      “The road ahead will not be easy,” Fauci said. “I also know we can get through this pandemic together as a nation.”

      2.26pm EST14:26

      Xavier Becerra, Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the department of health and human services, delivered a virtual speech for the Wilmington event.
      Speaking from his home state of California, Becerra emphasized the need to get the virus under control in order to help the country recover from the pandemic.
      “To build back a prosperous America, we need a healthy America,” Becerra said. More