The Democrats’ victory involved working with minorities and helping the working class. Keir Starmer, take heed
“Culture war” used to be a term inextricably linked with the maelstrom of US politics. Popularised by American sociologist James Davison Hunter in his 1991 book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, it described how socially progressive and conservative coalitions were locked in a seemingly eternal conflict. It could make for surprising alliances, he noted, citing Pr...
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US detects two cases of South Africa Covid variant as Biden aims to expand healthcare – live
- Two unconnected cases of variant identified in South Carolina
- US economy shrank by 3.5% in 2020, worst year since second world war
- Biden to reopen Obamacare markets for special Covid coverage
- US death toll predicted to hit 500,000 by February
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South Carolina state health officials said Thursday that two cases of the coronavirus variant identified in South Africa had been detected in the state- the first time the variant has been found in the US.
South Carolina’s department of health and environmental control said the two cases don’t appear to be connected and the two people affected did not have a history of recent travel. One was detected by the state’s public health lab and the other by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Survivors of the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, asked congressional Republicans to publicly censure Marjorie Taylor Greene for suggesting the school shooting was a “false flag” and for harassing a teenage survivor on Capitol Hill in 2019.
House Republicans this week announced that Greene, a newly elected Georgia congresswoman, had been appointed to the House Education and Labor Committee.
House EdLabor committee chair @BobbyScott on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s appointment to the committee:
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“House Republicans have appointed someone to this Committee who claimed that the killing of 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook... was a hoax” pic.twitter.com/VoPgJ3tSLF
Georgia to uphold Biden’s win as Birx says states abandoned prevention tactics – live
- Raffensperger: ‘We counted three times and results remain unchanged’
- Sunday saw 175,663 new US Covid cases and 1,113 deaths
- Biden prepares for Republicans try to block cabinet picks
- Trump: Rudy Giuliani has coronavirus
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Donald Trump once again lashed out against Georgia’s Republican governor, as the state prepares to recertify Joe Biden’s victory there.
“The Republican Governor of Georgia refuses to do signature verification, which would give us an easy win. What’s wrong with this guy? What is he hiding?” Trump said in a tweet.
The Republican Governor of Georgia refuses to do signature verification, which would give us an easy win. What’s wrong with this guy? What is he hiding?
Xavier Becerra pledged to ensure Americans’ access to quality health care if he is approved as secretary of health and human services.
In Congress, I helped pass the Affordable Care Act. As California's Attorney General, I defended it. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, I will build on our progress and ensure every American has access to quality, affordable health care—through this pandemic and beyond.
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Joe Biden to nominate California attorney general Xavier Becerra as health secretary – reports
If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra will be the first Latino to head the federal health department
President-elect Joe Biden has reportedly picked California attorney general Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration’s coronavirus response.
If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, 62, will be the first Latino to head the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1-trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees and a portfolio that includes drugs and vaccines, leading-edge medical research and health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans.
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New York schools to close again as US approaches 250,000 Covid deaths – live
- New York City public schools to close again on Thursday
- President-elect Biden peaks virtually with healthcare workers
- Trump campaign to request recounts in two Wisconsin counties
- House Democrats reelect Pelosi as nominee for speaker
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10.51pm GMT
The US coronavirus death toll has now surpassed 250,029, representing a higher death toll than an...
Enough is enough: Republicans’ fealty to Trump imperils America itself | Jill Filipovic
When the president refuses to concede, it has a tangible impact on the nation’s future. Why are Republicans enabling this?
The Republican party has spent four years enabling Donald Trump: backing up his lies, defending his most egregious misbehaviors, shattering longstanding democratic norms to keep his, and by extension their, iron grip on power. But by refusing to push him to concede an election he clearly lost, they’re truly following him off a cliff – and threatening to take Amer...
Joe Biden names former Ebola tsar Ron Klain as chief of staff – as it happened
- Biden’s lead over Trump in the popular vote surpasses 5m
- ‘An embarrassment’: Biden criticizes Trump’s refusal to concede
- Pompeo promises smooth transition to ‘second Trump administration’
- Conservative supreme court justices suggest Obamacare will be upheld
- The misinformation media machine amplifying Trump’s election lies
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Waleed Shahid, the communications director for the progressive political action committee Justice Democrats, said Klain “understands the Democratic party has moved in a more progressive direction”.
Progressives and moderates came together to help elect Joe Biden. But post-election, the two camps have already begun to spar over the party’s future, with progressives saying that Biden should embrace more ambitious policy on climate change, policing and healthcare.
Ron Klain understands the Democratic Party has moved in a more progressive direction and that voters expect bold action.
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Best of luck to @RonaldKlain as he manages a team to act on the biggest crises of our time.
Progressives will keep pushing. pic.twitter.com/rxytnuAIy4
‘We are already beginning the transition’: Biden and Harris defend Obamacare – video
Joe Biden said he and vice-president elect Kamala Harris had already begun a transition before his swearing in as US president on 20 January and called Donald Trump's refusal to concede defeat 'an embarrassment'.
Biden said he believed he could 'get a lot done' as he and Harris defended the Affordable Care Act, which was brought before the supreme court in a legal challenge by Texas and other Republican-governed states that was backed by Donald Trump’s administration
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Trump’s longshot election lawsuits: where do things stand?
The president and other Republicans have filed a series of lawsuits in different states that several judges have already dismissed
- US politics live – follow all the latest
Since election day, Donald Trump and other Republicans have filed a smattering of lawsuits in battleground states that have provided cover for Trump and other Republicans to say that the election still remains unresolved.
Related: US election 2020: Biden to speak as Trump and the supreme cou...
Joe Biden says Trump’s refusal to concede defeat ‘an embarrassment’ – live
- President-elect says he has not spoken to Trump since Saturday
- Biden decries ‘rightwing ideologues’ for trying to wreck Obamacare
- Justices’ questions suggest skepticism of Republican arguments
- British PM Boris Johnson congratulates Biden
- Pompeo promises smooth transition to ‘second Trump administration’
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Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has drafted “anti-mob” legislation that would expand the state’s Stand Your Ground Law that would allow citizens to shoot anyone they suspect is engaged in looting, the Miami Herald reports.
The legislation is a reaction to anti-police brutality, The Herald’s Ana Ceballos and David Ovalle report:
“It allows for vigilantes to justify their actions,” said Denise Georges, a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor who had handled Stand Your Ground cases. “It also allows for death to be the punishment for a property crime — and that is cruel and unusual punishment. We cannot live in a lawless society where taking a life is done so casually and recklessly.”
The draft legislation put specifics behind DeSantis’ pledge in September to crack down on “violent and disorderly assemblies” after he pointed to “reports of unrest” in other parts of the country after the high-profile death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Since election day, Donald Trump and other Republicans have filed a smattering of lawsuits in battleground states that have provided cover for Trump and other Republicans to say that the election still remains unresolved.
Legal experts have noted these suits are meritless, and even if they were successful, would not be enough to overturn the election results. Indeed, judges in several of these lawsuits have already dismissed them, noting the Trump campaign has failed to offer evidence to substantiate allegations of fraud.
Related: Trump's longshot election lawsuits: where do things stand?
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