from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3nitXu4
US Election 2020: The 'dead voters' in Michigan who are still alive
from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/3nitXu4
Trump law firm withdraws from Pennsylvania case challenging election
The abrupt withdrawal overnight is a blow to the president’s efforts to overturn the result of the vote in court * US politics – live updatesA major law firm withdrew overnight from a Trump campaign case in Pennsylvania seeking to have mail-in ballots thrown out, in the latest blow to the president’s efforts to challenge the 2020 election result in court.The Ohio-based Porter Wright Morris & Arthur firm, which brought a suit on Monday alleging that the use of mail-in ballots had created “an illegal two-tiered voting system” in the state, abruptly withdrew from that case in a memo to the court.“Plaintiffs and Porter Wright have reached a mutual agreement that plaintiffs will be best served if Porter Wright withdraws,” the memo said. The lead lawyer in the case, the Pittsburgh-based Ronald L Hicks Jr, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The news was first reported by the New York Times.Separately, lawyers for the Trump campaign withdrew a lawsuit in Arizona, conceding that the case would not move enough votes to change the election result in the state. “Since the close of yesterday’s hearing, the tabulation of votes statewide has rendered unnecessary a judicial ruling as to the presidential electors,” Trump lawyer Kory Langhofer told an Arizona state court, in news first reported by the Wall Street Journal.Unlike most lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign, which targeted small pools of votes whose exclusion would not change the election result, the Porter Wright suit in Pennsylvania challenged nearly 2.65m votes that were cast by mail, the majority by Democrats.It accused the secretary of the commonwealth, Kathy Boockvar, of “arbitrary and illegal actions” and sought an emergency order prohibiting the certification of the Pennsylvania election result.With that lawsuit stalled, certification in Pennsylvania – and the formal election of Joe Biden as president – drew a step closer. By law the state’s result must be certified by 23 November.The news came as a coalition of US federal and state officials said they had no evidence that votes were compromised or altered in last week’s presidential election, rejecting unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud advanced by Trump and many of his supporters.The statement from cybersecurity experts trumpeted the 3 November election as the most secure in American history.The Trump campaign has been using lawsuits trying to prevent or delay states in which Trump lost from certifying their election results, an essential step to translating state popular-vote results into a national electoral college result.Biden has opened up a lead of 5.3m popular votes and counting, and he is on track to win the electoral college 306-232.Dozens of lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign in six states to challenge the election result have gained little traction. The campaign has won minor court victories, such as requiring Pennsylvania to set aside ballots received after election day in case they are later ruled invalid.But that pool of ballots and others targeted in Trump lawsuits is not large enough to overcome Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania, where he is up almost 60,000 votes and counting, and in other states.Porter Wright is representing the Trump campaign and the Republican party in other Pennsylvania lawsuits, including one seeking to throw out mail-in ballots for which missing voter identification information was not provided by 9 November. The disposition of that lawsuit, which Hicks was also leading, is unclear.Porter Wright and a second large law firm, the Ohio-based Jones Day, representing Republicans in 2020 election lawsuits have come under pressure for acting as perceived accomplices in Trump’s effort to cancel the election result.The legal news site law.com called it a “public relations nightmare” for the firms. At least one lawyer at Porter Wright resigned over the firm’s decision to carry Trump’s lawsuits forward, the NYT reported.The Lincoln Project anti-Trump Republican group has attacked the firms on Twitter, asking, “do you believe your law firms should be attempting to overturn the will of the American people?” The group was suspended from Twitter for publishing the names and office contact information of the lawyers.While legal actions by the Trump campaign are proceeding in multiple states, more than a dozen cases have been thrown out of court, and there is not a single case in which substantial evidence of election fraud has emerged.Instead, Trump lawyers have had to admit to judges that they have no evidence of fraud – in sharp contrast with the message the president is spreading on Twitter.In a case in Maricopa county, Arizona, accusing poll workers of misconduct – the case that was withdrawn on Friday afternoon – Trump lawyer Langhofer told a judge that the plaintiffs were “not alleging fraud” or “that anyone is stealing the election” but raising concerns about “good faith errors”.In a case in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, the lawyer Jonathan Goldstein, who has his own law firm, was attempting to have 592 mail-in ballots thrown out because of “irregularities” with the ballots’ outer envelopes.A judge pressed Goldstein on whether he was alleging voter fraud.“I am asking you a specific question, and I am looking for a specific answer,” the judge said. “Are you claiming that there is any fraud in connection with these 592 disputed ballots?”“To my knowledge at present, no,” Goldstein said.“Are you claiming that there is any undue or improper influence upon the elector with respect to these 592 ballots?” asked the judge.Goldstein replied: “To my knowledge at present, no.”
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2IxqGYU
Republicans officially set for at least 50 Senate seats after Alaska race is called for GOP's Dan Sullivan
Republicans will have at least 50 seats in the Senate next year after a re-election victory by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).Sullivan was projected on Wednesday to win his re-election bid by NBC News and CNN. The victory by Sullivan over independent candidate Al Gross had been expected for days, but it took some additional time for races to be called in Alaska because the state didn't release absentee ballot results until Nov. 10, The Associated Press explains.As a result of Sullivan's win, Republicans will have 50 seats in the Senate, while Democrats have 48, The Washington Post notes. Control of the Senate will therefore come down to Georgia, where two Senate races are headed for runoffs in January. Should Democrats win them both, that would give them 50 seats, and in that scenario, the Post explains, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast tie-breaking votes. Otherwise, Republicans will maintain control of the Senate.In terms of how likely a Democratic win in both runoffs is, FiveThirtyEight writes that "until recently, it would have looked like a pipe dream," but with President-elect Joe Biden possibly on track to defeat President Trump there, the site notes Georgia "may be undergoing a transformation."More stories from theweek.com Trump's willing accomplices 7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's refusal to concede Trump is reportedly 'very aware' he lost the election but is putting up a fight as 'theater'
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3kmy4DQ
Pennsylvania court blocks counting of some mail-in ballots
The Commonwealth Court found Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar lacked the authority to extend the deadline to Nov. 12 from Nov. 9 by which voters could provide missing information to validate their ballot. The case was brought by U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/35qGky4
Prosecutor reads racist messages by Ahmaud Arbery's killer
The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery had previously used racial slurs in a text message and on social media, a prosecutor said Thursday as a judge weighed whether to grant bond for the defendant and his father. Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, have been jailed since their arrests in May, more than two months after Arbery was slain. The McMichaels, who are white, chased and fatally shot the 25-year-old Black man after they spotted him running in their neighborhood just outside the port city of Brunswick.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2IyBbLo
Lucille Bridges, who took daughter Ruby to become first Black student at all-white school, dies at 86
Lucille Bridges, the mother of civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, who walked with her then 6-year-old daughter past crowds screaming racist slurs as she became the first Black student at her all-white New Orleans elementary school, has died at the age of 86.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2UjJtcP
U.S. judge dismisses Trump campaign libel lawsuit against CNN
A U.S. judge on Thursday dismissed a libel lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump's re-election campaign against CNN over a 2019 opinion piece which it said suggested the campaign would be open to Russian interference, according to a court document. The campaign sued CNN, which is owned by AT&T Inc, in March over the June 13, 2019, piece by Larry Noble, a CNN contributor and former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission. U.S. District Judge Michael Brown said the campaign had failed to prove the piece was maliciously published.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3pmx2eA
60 years after JFK, Biden as second Catholic president offers a refresh in church's political role
Running to become the first Catholic president of the United States in 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy told an audience of wary Protestant ministers that “if the time should come … when my office would require me to violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office.”Sixty years later, Joe Biden has become the second Roman Catholic to win the White House, and some prominent Catholics and bishops now appear to believe that the only way a Catholic should hold office is by putting conscience before what the law says about culture war issues like abortion. Five decades of abortion politics have taken a toll.The Roman Catholic Church is more diverse and more divided than it was 60 years ago. American Catholics have just been through an election season that brought accusations of “Catholic in name only” against Catholic Democrats like Biden and a bitter debate about the best way for a “good Catholic” to vote.Having observed and written about Catholics and American politics for 30 years, I believe this moment provides an opportunity to promote the diversity of Catholic social teaching rather than seeing it through the preeminent, singular lens of abortion. In Joe Biden, Americans have a president who seemingly views policy through his Catholic faith, but in a less divisive way. American Catholics have a chance to follow this example into a new engagement with American politics. ‘Be not afraid’For five decades, conservative Catholics and Republican leaders in the U.S. have tried to win over Catholic voters to an agenda that serves the interests of the GOP, especially on abortion.Despite these overtures in our national politics, that agenda never really has found any success at the federal level. Roe v. Wade is the law today as much as it was in 1973.The Catholic Church today is very different from the one to which JFK belonged. The church is more diverse, but it is also shrinking rapidly. And, increasingly, the Catholic Church is a body at war with itself. Biden is a different sort of Catholic for this moment.Biden has worn his Catholicism on his sleeve throughout his career – but especially during this campaign. In September, he quoted Pope John Paul II when he when he called on Americans to “be not afraid.” And quoting from a familiar Catholic hymn in his first address as president-elect, Biden has sent strong signals he sees his faith as a way to heal, and to lead. From FDR to Pope FrancisA week before Election Day, Biden went to Warm Springs, Georgia, a place best known for its association with Franklin D. Roosevelt, who returned many times to recuperate from illness before dying there in 1945. In that sense, the appearance by Biden signaled an administration that hopes for New Deal-level reform and transformation. Yet Biden’s inspiration was not limited to FDR. He quoted at length in Warm Springs from the most recent papal encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti.”An encyclical letter is an authoritative way that popes teach Catholic doctrine, and Pope Francis released a new encyclical in October. In part, “Fratelli Tutti” said, “Politics is something more noble than posturing, marketing and media spin.” Overall, the passages Biden chose to quote suggest that he may be thinking about how his own Catholic faith should guide his approach to leading a nation made up of Catholics and even more non-Catholics.“For those who seek to lead,” Biden said, quoting Pope Francis, “we do well to ask ourselves, why am I doing this? What is my real aim?”The message of “Fratelli Tutti” can be summed up in the phrase “we are all in the same boat.” Beyond abortionThe social teachings of the Catholic Church offer a place to begin crafting a policy agenda that could enjoy broad support among Democrats while also enlarging Catholic political engagement in a way that goes beyond the abortion question.For example, in “Fratelli Tutti” Pope Francis described how Catholics believe in a just distribution of wealth. He quotes John Paul II, who said, “God gave the Earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favoring anyone.” “Fratelli Tutti” called for “defense of the environment,” attention to unemployment and the creation of jobs that help people “earn a living by their own efforts and creativity.” Pope Francis said he hopes society can learn from the pandemic and reverse the “dismantling” of health care systems.Meanwhile, the Catholic Church condemns racism in the same terms as it condemns abortion – it is an intrinsic evil. Pope Francis does not name police violence in “Fratelli Tutti,” but he speaks passionately for racial justice, and he calls for “solidarity” against “new forms of violence threatening the fabric of society.”Hundreds of thousands of young people demonstrated in American streets during this past summer. Whether Catholic or not, they share these values with Pope Francis and Joe Biden. False dilemmaThat agreement holds potential for a new sort of moment in the Democratic Party, in the Catholic Church and in the United States.Besides President-elect Biden, there are other rising leaders in the Democratic Party who are Catholics – such as Julián Castro, Ted Lieu and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Leadership that summons Americans to recognize “we are all in the same boat” could heal divisions by bringing voices together over an agenda Catholics and non-Catholics can embrace. Catholics have been prominent in American politics for almost a century. Since abortion came to dominate our politics in the 1970s, the choice between Catholic conscience and public service has been framed as a one-way street toward just one destination.There is great diversity within Catholicism. A Biden administration offers a chance to unleash that diversity both as an expression of faith and by embracing all Americans, Catholic or not.Catholic Theological Union is a member of the Association of Theological Schools.The ATS is a funding partner of The Conversation US.[Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Steven P. Millies, Catholic Theological Union.Read more: * Pope Francis’ support for civil unions is a call to justice – and nothing new * Biden wins – experts on what it means for race relations, US foreign policy and the Supreme CourtSteven P. Millies was affiliated with the Biden/Harris campaign as a member of its National Catholic Advisory Council.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/36sRDFr
Baptism by fire: Georgia Democratic challenger Warnock faces first TV attack in crucial U.S. Senate race
Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia unleashed her first full-scale TV attack ads on Democratic challenger the Rev. Raphael Warnock on Thursday, as the final battle for control of the U.S. Senate intensifies ahead of their January runoff. Loeffler, who spent much of the year fighting fellow Republican Doug Collins for conservative votes in their 20-candidate Nov. 3 multiparty election, released two 30-second spots that accused the Democrat of celebrating "anti-American hatred," praising "Marxism" and calling police thugs and gangsters. "Saving the Senate is about saving America from that!" concludes one of the ads, in what the Loeffler campaign described as a statewide TV buy worth more than $1 million.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/38PU2wX
Turkey offended by Pompeo's plan to discuss religious issues
Turkey took offense at a U.S. statement that said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would promote religious freedom during an upcoming visit to Istanbul and called Wednesday on Washington to focus on racism and hate crimes in the United States instead. The State Department said in a statement Tuesday that Pompeo would travel to Istanbul to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Greek Orthodox Christians.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2IuCdZp
Nurse Charged With Murdering 8 Babies and Trying to Kill 10 More
A British nurse has been charged with murdering eight babies, as well as the attempted murders of 10 others, after a years-long investigation into an unexplained spike in baby deaths at a hospital’s neonatal unit.It’s the third time that Lucy Letby, 30, has been arrested. She was previously detained in 2018 and 2019 as authorities probed the string of infant fatalities at the Countess of Chester Hospital in England. Both times, the nurse was released with no further action against her, but she appeared in court Thursday to finally face 18 formal charges.In the courtroom, the nurse learned that she faces eight charges of “murder of a victim under 1 year old,” and each infant victim’s name was read aloud to her. According to BBC News, five baby boys and three girls died. They were named Cemlyn Bennett, Joseph Johnson, Barney Gee, Joseph Gelder, Eli Gelder, Elsie McNall, Daisy Parkin, and Maddie Freed.Letby did not speak in court other than to confirm her identity, and her representatives have not said whether or not she plans to plead guilty. The media has been ordered not to report the names of the alleged victims of attempted murder, but there are reportedly five boys and five girls.The charges all relate to a string of baby deaths, and non-fatal collapses, at the Countess of Chester Hospital near Liverpool in 2015 and 2016. According to a National Health Service report into the incidents, the hospital launched a probe after resident doctors became concerned about what was described as a “higher-than-usual number of neonatal deaths on the unit, several of them being apparently ‘unexplained’ and ‘unexpected.’”The police became involved a year later. This week, the inquiry’s leader, Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hughes, said that Letby’s third arrest came after more than three years of investigative work by his team.Susan Gilby, chief executive of the hospital where Letby is accused of committing the crimes, said in a statement that the major development was of “serious concern” and added that the trust that runs the hospital will be “fully supportive and respectful of the judicial processes.”Neil Fern, who is representing some of the families in the legal case, told The Guardian, “The families are overwhelmed with the news and there is a mix of emotion. All the families now have hope that they can finally start to learn the truth of what happened in the first days of their children’s lives. We have been working with the families for many years on these cases, and they have had to live with the consequences for all that time.”Letby is expected to make another court appearance on Friday.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/35tZcg1
California school board president quits after wife’s racist Kamala Harris comments
A school board president in the San Francisco Bay Area has resigned after his wife’s racist comments about Vice President-elect Kamala Harris raised an outcry. Jon Venverloh announced Sunday that he was stepping down from his position with the Las Lomitas Elementary School District in Menlo Park.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3plsFk0
Republicans officially set for at least 50 Senate seats after Alaska race is called for GOP's Dan Sullivan
Republicans will have at least 50 seats in the Senate next year after a re-election victory by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).Sullivan was projected on Wednesday to win his re-election bid by NBC News and CNN. The victory by Sullivan over independent candidate Al Gross had been expected for days, but it took some additional time for races to be called in Alaska because the state didn't release absentee ballot results until Nov. 10, The Associated Press explains.As a result of Sullivan's win, Republicans will have 50 seats in the Senate, while Democrats have 48, The Washington Post notes. Control of the Senate will therefore come down to Georgia, where two Senate races are headed for runoffs in January. Should Democrats win them both, that would give them 50 seats, and in that scenario, the Post explains, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast tie-breaking votes. Otherwise, Republicans will maintain control of the Senate.In terms of how likely a Democratic win in both runoffs is, FiveThirtyEight writes that "until recently, it would have looked like a pipe dream," but with President-elect Joe Biden possibly on track to defeat President Trump there, the site notes Georgia "may be undergoing a transformation."More stories from theweek.com Ivanka Trump may have incidentally undermined part of the Trump world's election argument Trump is a demonic force in American politics Trump's most dangerous ideas always start as 'jokes'
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3kmy4DQ
Senator Whitehouse Slams FBI for Lack of Transparency around ‘Tanked’ Kavanaugh Sex Assault Probe
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) slammed the FBI for not investigating sexual assault allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.The hearing itself was organized by Committee head Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) to interview former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe regarding the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. However, Whitehouse criticized the Republicans on the committee for not looking into other allegations of wrongdoing involving the FBI and Justice Department."We have what appears to have been a tanked FBI investigation into the Kavanaugh hearings, and I've asked questions about that, to which I've had no answer whatsoever," Whitehouse said. "We're highly selective in what we choose to look into, and we've been extremely solicitous of the stonewalling and non-responsiveness of this Department of Justice."Whitehouse went on to argue that Senate Republicans had established a precedent during the Trump administration whereby the FBI could simply ignore requests for information issued by the minority, and suggested this precedent would come back to haunt them during the Biden administration.The FBI investigated allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford, but found "no corroboration" of those allegations, according to a summary of the report released by then-Judiciary head Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa).During the 2018 confirmation hearings, Whitehouse also released a report detailing an allegation of rape against Kavanaugh. However, after the FBI investigated that allegation, the accuser admitted that the story was false.Democrats on the committee have vociferously opposed President Trump's nominations to the Supreme Court, including Kavanaugh himself as well as Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. With the confirmation of all three, conservative justices hold a 6-3 majority on the Court bench.During Barrett's confirmation hearings in late October, Whitehouse portrayed the nominee as a "judicial torpedo" who would strike down the Affordable Care Act.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3khdnc7
CNN's John Berman: Is Trump in 'hiding' because he's 'so embarrassed' by his election loss?
Where is President Trump? CNN's John Berman would like to know.The CNN anchor on Wednesday wondered about Trump's unusual lack of public appearances ever since news outlets projected that he would lose the 2020 election on Saturday, and the network's chyron declared during the segment, "President Trump In Hiding After Election Defeat." "Where's the president actually been?" Berman asked. "If he's so certain about the outcome of the election, why hasn't he come out and said it in person? Is it embarrassment that has kept him from showing his face since last Thursday? Lack of conviction?"Trump last Thursday delivered an address from the White House claiming without evidence that he's being cheated out of an election win and that "I easily win" the presidential race "if you count the legal votes." Two days later, the race was officially called in President-elect Joe Biden's favor while Trump was golfing, though the president has not conceded. As Berman deemed Trump to be "in some sort of hiding," CNN's Alisyn Camerota questioned whether he might be "plotting" while his team mounts legal challenges to the election results in battleground states. Berman quickly dismissed that notion, though. "Oh, he is clearly a brilliant political strategist planning these intricate moves," Berman sarcastically shot back, per Mediaite. "No, I think it's fair to ask the question about whether he's so embarrassed and knows that he will face questions about losing an election, or forced to justify the BS lawsuits, and he doesn't have good answers. ... He either lacks the conviction or the energy."Trump will reportedly attend an event for Veterans Day on Wednesday, although Berman wondered whether he'll "muster the energy" to answer questions later in the day. > "Where's the President actually been?" asks @JohnBerman on NewDay.> > "If he's so certain about the outcome of the election, why hasn't he come out and said it in person? Is it embarrassment that has kept him from showing his face since last Thursday? Lack of conviction?" pic.twitter.com/J9NXUoVd5t> > -- New Day (@NewDay) November 11, 2020More stories from theweek.com Ivanka Trump may have incidentally undermined part of the Trump world's election argument Trump is a demonic force in American politics Trump's most dangerous ideas always start as 'jokes'
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/3llZNG3



