Britain Approves Vaccine, Trump Considers Pardons
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Vol. 9, No. 275
Viral News: Britain has become the first country to approve the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, making it possible to start vaccinating Brits next week.
The Pfizer shot is the one that has to be transported in a deep freeze.
This is likely to put more pressure on American regulators who are already under fire from President Trump to hurry-it-up.
The Centers for Disease Control issued guidelines for administering the new coronavirus vaccines, saying residents of nursing homes and their caretakers should be first to get it, as well as health care workers and people with the most exposure to Covid-19 patients.
Going from there, the priorities would be based on age, risk factors or essential worker status.
In the last 24 hours, another 2,588 Americans died of the virus.
Unpardonable: President Trump has discussed with advisers whether to grant pre-emptive pardons to his family and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, The NY Times reports.
Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt report that Trump is worried that a Biden Justice Department would come after his three oldest children, Donald Jr., Eric, Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, a White House senior adviser.
Don Jr. had been investigated in the Russian election-meddling inquiry. It’s possible Eric and Ivanka could get sucked under in the Manhattan DA’s investigation of the family business, but the President can’t pardon them for a state crime.
Giuliani’s criminal liability is unclear, but Haberman and Schmidt report with certainty that he’s talked to the President about a pardon. The President himself was mentioned as “Individual 1” in the investigation that sent his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to prison.
And of course, there’s been talk in recent weeks about whether Trump would attempt to pardon himself for …. whatever.
See No Evil: In a dramatic departure from President Trump, Attorney General William Barr yesterday told the Associated Press that the Justice Department has found no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told the AP.
Barr said US attorneys and FBI agents have been investigating specific complaints and information they’ve received. It’s significant coming from Barr, who has been one of the president’s most loyal supporters in the administration. He had joined Trump before the election in warning that mail-in voting could be rife with fraud.
This came as President Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were still pressing claims of fraud. Giuliani emailed a statement on campaign letterhead, claiming that he had found “ample” proof of national voter fraud. The former federal prosecutor and New York mayor said, “With the greatest respect to the Attorney General, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud.”
So far, evidence never follows such claims.
Trump was tweet-sniping at fellow Republicans who’ve upheld unfavorable election results. Directly to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp he tweeted,. “You allowed your state to be scammed. We must check signatures and count signed envelopes against ballots. Then call off election. It won’t be needed. We will all WIN!”
That came from the man who is followed by the nuclear football. He also tweeted, “We won Michigan by a lot!” and “Fake election results in Nevada, also!”
Changes: Ellen Page, the actress who rose to fame in the charming movie “Juno” and later declared that she was gay, has announced that Ellen is transexual and is now Elliot Page.
He wrote on social media, “Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot.” The 33-year-old Canadian has been in such movies as “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and “Inception,” as well as the recent Netflix series “Umbrella Academy.”
He wrote in his announcement, “I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self,”
Down to the Sea: The Defense Department has decided to scrap rather than repair the 20-year-old amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard that was gutted by fire five months ago in San Diego. The cost of replacing it is estimated at $4 billion.
The Obit Page: Former ABC News Correspondent Tim O’Brien, who covered law and the Supreme Court for more than 20 years, was killed riding his bicycle in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He was 77.
O’Brien was riding on the sidewalk with his wife when two cars collided and one went up on the sidewalk, hitting him. O’Brien and his wife had moved to the area to live closer to his twin brother.
O’Brien was with ABC News for 22 years and later reported for CNN.
Undone: The buzz on social media is that viewers were terribly disappointed —even feeling betrayed — by the ending of the HBO murder-mystery series “The Undoing,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.
One Twitter user said, “The real killer in #TheUndoing was that beautiful Givenchy 2019 resort collection gown.” Another said, “However you might feel, we can all agree that Nicole’s hair was the real star here.”
Many viewers claimed to have known all along who the killer was and then were annoyed when they turned out to be right. It’s more fun to guess at the ending and be wrong. We haven’t seen the show it so we can’t give it away, but if you watch it, evidently you are going to be unhappy with the ending.
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