JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
2020 AMERICAN ELECTION RESULTS BY STATE TRUMP VS LOSER LIBERAL SLEEPY (SLOPPY JOE) BIDEN.
ON D-73 OF THE TRUMP WIN OF THE PRESIDENCY. WED JAN 13, 21.
Key dates for the Electoral College and what they mean-AEIdeas-DECEMBER 14,20
What are the key dates for the workings of the Electoral College?
November 3 — Election Day
Election Day is November 3. We may or may not know the winner of the presidential contest on election night, but we certainly will not have a final tally and certified results until weeks later. States vary widely in the time they allot for certifying their election results. Some may give a final certification the week after Election Day. Others may take over 30 days. And there is the possibility of recounts and judicial contests of elections which could extend the time to determine an official winner of a state.
Ballots are passed out to 16 Electors on the Michigan Senate floor for them to cast their formal votes for the president and vice president of the United States in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
December 8 — Safe Harbor
December 14 — The meeting of the Electors
Two key dates loom in December. On December 14, presidential electors must have been selected by the states and will meet as a group in their states to cast electoral votes for president and vice president. But December 8 is also a significant date, the so-called “safe harbor” date. The Electoral Count Act sets this date as an important date for states to make their official selection of electors, as those electoral votes will be given greater protection from challenge when Congress counts the electoral votes in January. The Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore assigned great significance to this date in Bush v. Gore.
January 3 — The convening of the new Congress
January 6 — Congress counts the votes
January 20 — Inauguration Day. The new presidential term begins at noon.
On January 3rd, the new Congress will take office, and on January 6th it will meet to count the electoral votes and declare a president- and vice president-elect. On January 20th at noon, the current presidential term will end and the next one will begin.This is excerpted from the new fourth edition of After the People Vote, edited by John Fortier, senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and a member of AEI’s Election Watch team.John C. Fortier-AEI Adjunct Scholar-SENOIRFELLOWKarlyn Bowman-Senior Fellow
RON BUCK (R) COLORADO IS A GOOD GUY. RON SAID TO THE HITLER AND CLINTON PROPAGANDA MOUTHPIECE CNN. THAT PELOSI IS MAKING CASH OFF THIS NONSENSE IMPEACHMENT AGAINST TRUMP. AND YOU DO NOT IMPEACH A PERSON AFTER A WEEK OF THE INCIDENT. THIS IS JUST A DEMOLIBNUT STUNT. YOU GO FOR THE FACTS FIRST. YOU DO NOT RUSH IN JUST TO RUIN A PRESIDENTS LIFE JUST CAUSE YOU HATE HIM. AND BECAUSE HE OUT SMARTS THE DEMOLIBNUTS AT EVERY STUNT THEY TRY AGAINST HIM. TRUMP IS THE TEFLON DON OF POLITICS. THANKS TO GOD THWARTING ALL THE DEMOLIBNUTS TRYING TO DESTROY DONALD JOHN TRUMPY. THERES 5 BACKSTABBERS FROM THE REPUBLICANS THAT WILL BE VOTING TO IMPEACH TRUMP TODAY. WHICH ITS 9AM NOW AND AN HOUR DEBATE GOES ON. THEN THE BILL TO INTRODUCEMENT OF TRUMP IMPEACHMENT. THEN ANOTHER 2 HOURS OF DEBATES. SOMETIME AFTER 1PM I FIGURE THE VOTE TO IMPEACH TRUMP A 2ND TIME BY THE MENTALCASE DEMOLIBNUTS. WILL BE AROUND 2 OR 3PM. WITH AT LEAST 5 BACKSTABBERS OF TRUMP. TRUMPY HAD A TALK WITH LINSAY GRAHAM THE OTHER DAY. AND GRAHAM CAME TO HIS SENSES AND WILL NOT VOTE TO IMPEACH TRUMP. I HATE TO SEE HOW TRUMP COMES AGAINST THESE BACKSTABBERS WHEN HE SOMEHOW BECOMES PRESIDENT YET. MITCH MCCONNELL IT SOUNDS LIKE IS ALSO COMING AGAINST TRUMP AND WANT HIM IMPEACHED. MOST OF THE REPUBLICANS ARE AFRAID TO GO FOR IMPEACHMENT AGAINST TRUMP. EVEN THOUGH THEY WANT TO. THEY KNOW HE WILL GIVE THEM NICKNAMES. AND THEY STICK WITH YOU THE REST OF YOUR LIVES. RIGHT LIZY OR POCAHONTAS OR SLEEPY JOE BIDEN. ONCE TRUMPS DONE WITH USE. YOU'LL BE CRYING WITH THE DEMOLIBNUTS IN YOUR CRY ROOMS AND EVERY THAROPY GOING. JIM MCGOVERN - CHAIRMAN OF THE RULES COMMITTEE DEMOLIBNUTCASE. IS GIVING A SOB STORY ABOUT WHY TRUMP SHOULD BE IMPEACHED A 2ND FAKE TIME IN A 13 MONTHS. THEN TOM COLE (R) RANKING MEMBER OF THE RULES COMMITTEE. SAYS THE HOUSE CAN'T DO NOTHING TILL AFTER TRUMP LEAVES IN 7 DAYS AND 4 YEARS. FOR ME IT WILL GO INTO TRUMPS SECOND TERM. AND OF COURSE TRUMP WILL OUT SMART THE SNOWFLAKE CRY BABY DEMOLIBNUTS. AND WIN AGAIN. TOM SAYS THIS FAST USELESS IMPEACHMENT IS JUST A WORSE DIVIDER OF THE PEOPLE. AND THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL CAN NOT START UNTIL AN HOUR AFTER BIDENS FAKE WIN FROM A FIXED ELECTION. BECAUSE WE KNOW THE SENATE WILL NOT VOTE TO IMPEACH TRUMPY. BUT THEN MOUTHPIECE JIM MCGOVERN COMES BACK ON AND SAYS WE DEMOLIBNUTS CAN SEND THIS BILL FROM THE HOUSE TO THE SENATE TODAY. AND IF MCCONNELL SAYS THE SENATE VOTES ON IT TODAY. AND THE SENATE VOTES TO IMPEACH. IT WOULD BE COMPLETE. TRUMP WOULD BE IMPEACHED. THESE DEMOLIBNUTS ARE DREAMING NIGHTMARES. NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN TARDS. THESE CNN AND DEMOLIBNUTS ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF HITLER PROPAGANDISTS. AND BIGOTS-RACIST-HATER-TRADERS AGAINST THEIR OWN PRESIDENT OF AMERICA. DONALD JOHN TRUMPY. THE HOUSE AND SENATE NEED 2/3RDS TO PASS AND CONVICT TRUMP. TO FAST TRACK IT. THE HOUSE HAS TO PASS-OVER TO THE SENATE-A QUICK VOTE THERE.THEN TO CONVICT TRUMP - THE SENATE CAN HAVE ANOTHER VOTE AND THE MAJORITY VOTE WINS-NO 2/3RDS VOTES NEEDED IN THIS FINAL FAST TRACK. ITS 10.24AM.ITS 10.35AM-AND THE DEBATES ARE DONE.AND THE BILL TO IMPEACH TRUMP IS BEING VOTED ON BY A ELECTRONIC VOTE. INSTEAD OF JUST A YAY VOTE. UNLESS MCONNELL ASKS THE SENATE TO COME BACK EARLY. THE SENATE WILL NOT VOTE FOR TRUMPS IMPEACHMENT TILL JAN 19TH. IN THE VOTE HUS224 THE REPUBLICANS VOTED 203 AGAINST AND 8 NO VOTES. AND LAST I SEEN THE DEMOLIBNUTS VOTED 219 FOR AND 3 NO VOTES. SO 219 FOR AND 203 AGAINST IMPEACHING TRUMP. DEMONUTS WIN. ITS 12.33PM-AND THE 2 HOUR DEBATE CONTINUES IN THE HOUSE. SO AROUND 3PM OR 4PM THE IMPEACH TRUMP A 2ND TIME WILL BE VOTED ON BY THE HOUSE. THEN SENT TO THE SENATE SOMETIME BEFORE JAN 19THS SENATE VOTE TO IMPEACH TRUMP WHICH NEEDS A 2/3RDS VOTE. 19 MINUTES AFTER TRUMP WAS INAUGURATED ON JAN 20, 2017. THE NYT HEADLINE WAS-TIME TO IMPEACH TRUMP AS JIM JORDAN HAS JUST SAID 30 SECONDS AGO. AND NOW A WEEK TO GO IN TRUMPS FIRST 4 YEARS. ANOTHER IMPEACHMENT AGAINST TRUMP. THIS IS HOW MUCH THE TRUMP-HATING-HITLER-DEMOLIBNUTS WANT TO GET RID OF TRUMP FOR GOOD. THEY WANT THIS 2ND IMPEACHMENT SO BAD BECAUSE IF BTHEY GET IT. TRUMP CAN NEVER ENTER POLITICS EVER AGAIN. THIS IS WHY THEY WANT THIS 2ND FAKE-FIXED ELECTION-FAKE-FALSE FLAGE SETUP LAST WEDNESDAY. SO THEY CAN IMPEACH DONALD J FOREVER. GOD WILL HAVE THE LAST SAY HERE.NOT A BUNCH OF 57 MILLION BABY MURDERERS BY ABORTION LOVING DEMOLOIBNUTJOBS.
ON A SIDE NOTE. I HAD SOME NIGERIAN WOMAN SCAMMER PHONE ME 10 MINUTES OR SO AGO. ITS 9.48AM NOW. AND SHE SAID YOUR COMPUTER NEEDS FIXING. I SAID IN A BRITSH FAKE ACCENT OR SOME KINDA ACCENT. ARE YOU PHONING ABOUT FIXING MY COMPUTER. SHE SAID YES. I SAID YOU GIVE ME YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER AND I WILL FIX YOUR COMPUTER FOR YOU. I HEARD 5 SECONDS OF SILENCE-THEN A DIAL TONE. THAT WAS FUN TRYING TO SCAM THE SCAMMER. AND ALSO IF YOU GET ROBO CALLS THAT SAY YOUR VISA CARD HAS GOT 1,100.00 SUSPICIOUS CHARGE ON IT. OR WHATEVER AMOUNT. THEN IT SAYS HIT 1 TO ACCEPT THE CHARGE OR 2 TO DENY THE VISA CHARGE. I HIT 2 AND OF COURSE A NIGERIAN MUSLIM GUY COMES ON AND SAYS DO YOU WANT TO DENY THIS CHARGE ON YOUR VISA CARD. I TOLD HIM YES. HE ASKED ME FOR MY VISA NUMBER. AND I SAID TO HIM. MY VISA CARD IS AT MY OTHER PLACE. ITS NOT HERE. HE THEN SAID YOUR DEBIT CARD WILL DO. I AGAIN SAID MY DEBIT CARD IS AT MY OTHER PLACE ALSO. I THEN TOLD HIM-SOMEONE WHO HAD THIS TEL NUMBER BEFORE ME IS GETTING SCAMMED. AGAIN 5 VSECONDS OF SILENCE AND A DIAL TONE. THAT WAS YESTERDAYS SCAMMER. WHY DON'T THESE SCAMMERS WANNA TALK WITH LIL OLD ME. I WANT THEIR MONEY TO. LIKE THEY SCAM EVERYBODY ELSE. I WISH THEY WOULD GIVE ME THEIR VISA CARD OR DEBIT CARD OR THEIR BITCOINS.SO I COULD GET RICH OFF THESE SCAMMERS. LITTLE DO THESE SCAMMERS KNOW I ONLY HAVE LOTS OF GOLD (MILLIONS OF DOLLARS) HOARDED IN A BUNKER.(LIES)-BUT I WANNA LURE SCAMMERS TO PHONE ME-SO I CAN HAVE FUN IMITATING THEIR ARAB ACCENTS. AND TRY TO SCAM THEM. SO I HAVE TIPS TO GIVE TO PEOPLE ABOUT SCAMMERS.
ITS 3.33PM AND THE HOUSE WILL SOON BE VOTING FOR THE IMPEACHMENT. ITS 3.59PM AND THE VOTE IS NOW UNDERWAY TO IMPEACH TRUMP.WE KNOW IT WILL PASS. BUT BY HOW MUCH. THE HITLER MEDIA CLAIM 7 REP GOPS WILL VOTE TO IMPEACH TRUMP H RES 24. WE WILL SEE. THE FINAL VOTE FOR 232 AGAINST 197 AND NO VOTES 4. AND 10 REPUBLICANS VOTED WITH THE DEMONUTJOBS. TRUMP IS THE ONLY PRESIDENT IN USA HISTORY TO BE IMPEACHED TWICE. BOTH FAKE CHARGES AGAINST TRUMPY. HOPE HICKS LEAVES HER JOB AT THE WHITHOUSE YESTERDAY. ITS 4.25PM-JAN 13,21.ITS NOW 5.45PM-AND THE HITLER LAME BRAIN-MEDIA ARE HAVING A HAY DAY WITH TRUMPS ONLY HOUSE IMPEACHMENT.
McConnell won’t call Senate back early for Trump impeachment trial-Republican majority leader rejects Democratic attempt to swiftly move forward, ensuring impeachment proceedings won’t occur until after Biden’s inauguration-By Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor-jan 13,21-Today, 11:52 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Democratic-led House on Wednesday approved an impeachment article accusing Trump of inciting insurrection, an unprecedented second impeachment of his clamorous presidency, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a Democratic attempt to swiftly call the Senate into emergency session to hold an impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, all but assuring that those proceedings won’t occur until after Trump leaves office.The decision came even as a GOP strategist said the Kentucky Republican has told people he thinks Trump perpetrated impeachable offenses.McConnell also sees House Democrats’ move to impeach Trump as an opportune moment to distance the GOP from the tumultuous, divisive outgoing president, said the strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.McConnell’s souring on Trump is significant because as Washington’s most powerful Republican once Democrat Joe Biden is inaugurated next week, his view could make it easier for other GOP lawmakers to turn against the outgoing president. The New York Times first reported McConnell’s view on Tuesday.The Senate is currently in recess and isn’t scheduled to return to hold a business session until January 19, the day before Biden’s inauguration. By law, the Senate can be summoned to return for an emergency session if the two party leaders, McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, agree to do so.Schumer has called for an emergency Senate meeting so it can remove Trump from office before his term expires, citing potential, unpredictable problems that Trump could cause.A McConnell spokesman confirmed Wednesday that McConnell aides had told Schumer’s office that McConnell would not agree to an emergency session. The spokesman offered no explanation of McConnell’s reasoning.Trump exhorted a throng of his followers to march on the Capitol last Wednesday, where they disrupted Congress’ formal certification of Biden’s win in a riot that resulted in five deaths.The Republican strategist said McConnell hasn’t said if he’d vote to convict Trump when the Senate holds an impeachment trial. Nonetheless, McConnell’s thinking underscored how the GOP’s long reflexive support and condoning of his actions was eroding.Last weekend, McConnell spoke to major Republican donors to assess their thinking about Trump and was told that they believed Trump had clearly crossed a line, the strategist said. McConnell told them he was finished with Trump, according to the consultant.McConnell is looking out for his party’s long-term future, but the short-term political pain for Republican senators is clear, said a GOP aide granted anonymity to discuss the situation. The aide said a Senate vote on removing Trump was a big risk for Republican senators, with many of them almost certain to face challenges in GOP primaries.It is unclear how many Republicans would vote to convict Trump in a Senate trial, but it appears plausible that several would do so. So far, Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, has said she wants Trump to resign and Senator Ben Sasse, A Nebraska Republican, has said he would “definitely consider” House impeachment articles.Complicating GOP thinking about Trump’s second impeachment is the fact that Republicans will be defending 20 of the 34 Senate seats up for election in 2022. Thanks to Democratic victories this month in two Georgia runoffs, Democrats are about to take control of the chamber by 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking votes.Speaking out against impeachment Wednesday was Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican. A once-bitter Trump foe, Graham became one of his closest allies during his presidency, then lambasted him over last week’s Capitol invasion but has since spent time with Trump.Impeaching Trump now would “do great damage to the institutions of government and could invite further violence,” Graham said in a statement. He said Trump’s millions of backers “should not be demonized because of the despicable actions of a seditious mob,” but he did not specifically defend Trump’s actions last week.“If there was a time for America’s political leaders to bend a knee and ask for God’s counsel and guidance, it is now. The most important thing for leaders to do in times of crisis is to make things better, not worse,” Graham said.When the Senate voted against removing Trump in February after the House impeached him for pressuring Ukraine to provide political dirt on Biden, Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, was the only Republican who cast a vote to oust him.With the House in session to debate impeachment on Wednesday, the Capitol increasingly resembled a heavily defended compound as law enforcement braced for the possibility of more attacks by armed Trump supporters. The Capitol and nearby office buildings were surrounded by seven-foot-tall fencing and armed National Guard troops patrolled its grounds.Trump has falsely insisted that November’s presidential election was stolen from him by fraud. Those allegations have been rejected by state officials of both parties, state and federal courts and members of his own administration.
GOP's Liz Cheney: Trump 'assembled the mob, lit the flame'-Donald Trump impeached a 2nd time, charged with ‘incitement of insurrection’-US House votes 232 to 197, with 10 Republicans in favor; Senate trial unlikely before Jan. 19, so Trump – 1st president in US history to be impeached twice – set to serve out term-By Agencies and TOI staff-JAN 13,21-Today, 11:26 pm
In a historic vote, the US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump over the violent siege at the US Capitol last week by a mob of his supporters.After hours of intense debate, lawmakers passed a single charge, “incitement of insurrection.” It passed 232 to 197, with 222 Democrats and 10 Republicans supporting the motion. Five lawmakers — four Republicans and one Democratc, did not cast a vote.The vote made Trump the first US president to ever be impeached twice. Wednesday’s vote was also the most bipartisan impeachment vote in US history, CNN said.Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell’s office on Wednesday confirmed that he would not reconvene the Senate for a trial until January 19, the eve of Joe Biden’s inauguration, meaning Trump is virtually certain to serve out his term.However, a conviction in the Senate could lead to a decision to bar Trump from running again in 2024, a relief to those Republicans who have feared incurring his wrath.McConnell himself did not rule out voting to convict Trump. “While the press has been full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate,” he said in a note to Republican colleagues.In the House, the momentum for action had been unstoppable.The impeachment proceedings came one week after a violent, pro-Trump mob breached the US Capitol, sending lawmakers into hiding and revealing the fragility of the nation’s history of peaceful transfers of power. The riot also forced a reckoning among some Republicans, who have stood by Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.While Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 brought no Republican votes in the House, 10 House Republicans broke with the party to join Democrats this time, saying Trump violated his oath to protect and defend US democracy. Among them was Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.As two Republican lawmakers — Washington Reps. Dan Newhouse and Jaime Herrera Beutler — announced on the floor they would vote to impeach, Trump issued a new statement urging “NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind.” But he has repeatedly declined to take any responsibility for last week’s riots.House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said for the first time that Trump does bear responsibility, acknowledging on the House floor before the vote that Biden is the next president and that radical liberal groups were not responsible for the riots, as some conservatives have falsely claimed.But McCarthy said he opposed impeachment, instead favoring a “fact-finding commission” and censure.As for threats of more trouble from intruders, security was exceptionally tight at the Capitol with shocking images of massed National Guard troops, secure perimeters around the complex and metal-detector screenings required for lawmakers entering the House chamber.“We are debating this historic measure at a crime scene,” said Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern.Though McConnell is declining to hasten an impeachment trial, a Republican strategist told The Associated Press the GOP leader believes Trump committed impeachable offenses and considers the Democrats’ impeachment drive an opportunity to reduce the divisive, chaotic president’s hold on the GOP.McConnell called major Republican donors last weekend to gauge their thinking about Trump and was told that Trump had clearly crossed a line. McConnell told them he was through with Trump, said the strategist, who demanded anonymity to describe McConnell’s conversations.The New York Times first reported McConnell’s views on impeachment on Tuesday.The stunning collapse of Trump’s final days in office, along with warnings of more violence ahead, leaves the nation at an uneasy and unfamiliar juncture before Biden takes office.The four-page impeachment resolution relied on Trump’s own incendiary rhetoric and the falsehoods he spread about Biden’s election victory, including at a White House rally on the day of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, in making its case for “high crimes and misdemeanors” as demanded in the Constitution.Trump took no responsibility for the riot, suggesting it was the drive to oust him rather than his actions around the bloody riot that was dividing the country.“To continue on this path, I think it’s causing tremendous danger to our country, and it’s causing tremendous anger,” Trump said Tuesday, his first remarks to reporters since last week’s violence.Capitol police officer died from injuries suffered in the riot, and police shot and killed a woman during the siege. Three other people died in what authorities said were medical emergencies. Lawmakers scrambled for safety and hid as rioters took control of the Capitol, delaying by hours the tally of Electoral College votes that was the last step in finalizing Biden’s victory.The Republican lawmakers who chose to vote yes, including Cheney, were unswayed by the president’s logic. Their support of impeachment cleaved the Republican leadership, and the party itself.“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” said Cheney in a statement. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”Unlike a year ago, Trump faced impeachment as a weakened leader, having lost his own reelection as well as the Senate Republican majority.The president was said to be livid with perceived disloyalty from McConnell and Cheney, as calls mounted for her ouster. He was also deeply frustrated that he could not hit back with his shuttered Twitter account, the fear of which has kept most Republicans in line for years, according to White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing who weren’t authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.The team around Trump has hollowed out, without any plan for combating the impeachment effort. Trump leaned on Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to push Republican senators, while chief of staff Mark Meadows called some of his former colleagues on the Hill.Trump was expected to have watched much of Wednesday’s proceedings on TV from the White House residence and his private dining area off the Oval Office.The House tried first to push Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to intervene, passing a resolution Tuesday night calling on them to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Trump from officE.Pence made it clear he would not do so, saying in a letter to Pelosi, that it was “time to unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden.”It’s far from clear there will be the two-thirds vote in the evenly divided Senate needed to convict Trump, though at least two Republicans have called for him to “go away as soon as possible.”The FBI warned ominously of potential armed protests by Trump loyalists ahead of Biden’s inauguration. Capitol Police urged lawmakers to be on alert. Charges of sedition are being considered for rioters.Biden has said it’s important to ensure that the “folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable.”Fending off concerns that an impeachment trial would bog down his first days in office, the president-elect is encouraging senators to divide their time between taking up his priorities of confirming his nominees and approving COVID-19 relief while also conducting the trial.The impeachment bill drew from Trump’s own false statements about his election defeat to Biden. Judges across the country, including some nominated by Trump, have repeatedly dismissed cases challenging the election results, and former Attorney General William Barr, a Trump ally, has said there was no sign of widespread fraud.While some have questioned impeaching the president so close to the end of his term, there is precedent. In 1876, during the Ulysses Grant administration, War Secretary William Belknap was impeached by the House the day he resigned, and the Senate convened a trial months later. He was acquitted.Trump was impeached in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine but acquitted by the Senate in 2020.
Jerusalem gives preliminary approval for location of new US Embassy-Capital’s building and planning committee approves construction plans for compound on Hebron Road, but another municipal body must still give final nod-By AP-14 January 2021, 12:19 am
Jerusalem municipal authorities said Wednesday they have given preliminary approval to a location for a new US Embassy in the city.In a statement on Twitter, Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum said the city’s building and planning committee approved the plans.She said another committee must still grant approval, which she expects to happen in the coming weeks.The location is on the city’s Hebron Road, a central thoroughfare, and not far from the current temporary embassy.The site is near an invisible line that divides West and East Jerusalem, the part of the city captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War and claimed by the Palestinians for a future capital. It was not immediately clear if it crosses the boundary.In a controversial move, the outgoing Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city in 2018. It was one of a string of diplomatic gifts delivered by US President Donald Trump to Israel.President-elect Joe Biden is expected to take a more balanced approach toward Israel and the Palestinians, but he has said he does not plan on moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv.
Donald J. Trump-jan 8,21-antcow's avatar-By antcow
Before you read, remember. If the shoe fits then wear it.Best President ever.Booming economy.Border security.Historic record low minority unemployment.Negotiated peace in the middle east.Did the same between North and south korea.Strove to get us the hell out of endless wars.And did it all while being called horrible names and I wish to God I could tell you how much better it would have been if he wasn't obstructed every single step of the way.Showed the Dems and Republicans how to do their jobs and never said sorry.And you people (With copious cheating) swapped him out for bumbling Biden and kneepads Kamala.Just watched the left steal the election, right in front of your eye's and had the nerve to tell you it wasn't what you seen with your own damn eyes.Just because the MSM called him -ist and -phobia names, "Orange man bad" "Boo hoo, he said factual things and sugar coating nothing, there fore I'm crying because my fee-fee's were hurt!"You fell for the lies of propaganda.I have been praying hard over this, don't act surprised when the democrats just decide to start another endless war and send your children off to die.This makes it easy to consider a third party.Edit: I found this text on the internet, I thought I would copy/paste it here.This post is not open for debate. I have listened to everyone else’s hatred, rhetoric and outright lies for the last four years, so now I am having my say.If you don’t like it, you know where the delete button is.Let me be clear, I HATE Biden. He is corrupt, a liar, a racist bigot, is in China's pocket, and probably suffering from dementia. He has done NOTHING to improve anything in his 47-year political career except lie. He wanted to attack Trump about his wall during the debate. And locking people in cages... Guess what? Joey built those cages. He was all about deporting illegal immigrants before he was Obama's Bitch Boy....But what has Trump done in the past 4 years? The "arrogant" in the White House brokered four Middle East Peace Accords, something that 71 years of political intervention and endless war failed to produce.The "buffoon" in the White House is the first president that has not engaged us in a foreign war since Eisenhower.The "racist" in the White House has had the greatest impact on the economy, bringing jobs, and lowering unemployment to the Black and Latino population of ANY other president. Ever.The "liar" in the White House has exposed the deep, widespread, and long-standing corruption in the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the Republican and Democratic parties.The "buffoon" in the White House turned NATO around and had them start paying their dues.The "fool" in the White House neutralized the North Koreans and stopped them sending missiles toward Japan, and threatening the West Coast of the US.The "xenophobe" in the White House turned our relationship with the Chinese around, brought hundreds of businesses back to the US, and revived the economy.This “clown” lowered your taxes, increased the standard deduction on your IRS return from $12,500 to $24,400 for married couples and caused the stock market to rise to record levels, positively impacting the retirement accounts of tens of millions of citizens.The same “clown” in the White House fast-tracked the development of multiple COVID Vaccines which are now available or will be soon. And yet we still don't have a vaccine for SARS, Bird Flu, Ebola, or a host of diseases that arose during previous administrations.The “clown” in the White House rebuilt our military which the Obama administration crippled and fired 214 key generals and admirals in his first year of office.I understand, you don't like him. Many of you utterly hate and despise him. (For no reason other than CNN told you to) How special of you. No one cares. Fuck your feelings... He is serving you and ALL the American people.What are you doing besides calling him names and laughing about him catching the China virus? Some of you were even hoping that COVID would be the cause of his demise. (Ah, the left. The party of “tolerance”. )-Please educate me again as to what Biden has accomplished for America in his 47 years in office, besides making the whole Biden family richer? By the way, where is Hunter? I’ll take the “clown” any day versus a fork tongued, smooth talking hypocritical corrupt liar who is nothing but a political puppet. I want a strong leader who isn’t afraid to kick some butt when needed.I don’t need a fatherly figure.I don’t need a liar.That's what Hollywood, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and the New York Times are for.Call me a chump, a racist, or part of the basket of deplorables. I do not care! I don't remember asking your for opinion anyway.God bless Donald Trump - the best, most unappreciated President in U.S. history.Feel free to copy/paste, I did. (With some editing of course)
Dylan Stableford-The latest-JAN 13,21-12.45PM
• The U.S. House of Representatives is meeting to consider an article of impeachment against President Trump for the "incitement of insurrection" in last week's deadly Capitol riot.
• A vote is expected Wednesday afternoon after several hours of floor debate.
• Some House Republicans, including Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., say they will vote to impeach Trump.
• A simple majority of 218 House votes are needed to impeach Trump
• If the article is approved, Trump would be the only president ever to be impeached twice.
• There are just seven days left in Trump's term. He leaves office on Jan. 20, when Joe Biden will be sworn in as president.
Democrats in Congress plan to move forward with impeachment proceedings against President Trump on Monday.
If agreed to by a majority in the House of Representatives, Trump would become the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. The Senate could then vote to remove him from office before Jan. 20, the final day of his term.A draft of the article, which will be introduced in the House by Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Ted Lieu of California and David Cicilline of Rhode Island, shows that Trump will be charged with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol by supporters he called to Washington to protest what he claimed was a “stolen election.”Here is a draft of the article that will be presented.
Amid violence fears, US army chiefs remind troops they are bound by Constitution-In striking letter to forces as National Guard deploys in Washington, Joint Chiefs of Staff say freedom of speech does not allow for ‘violence, sedition and insurrection’By Agencies and TOI staff-JAN 13,21-Today, 6:16 pm
WASHINGTON — Amid worry about renewed violence on Inauguration Day, the military’s top leaders issued a written reminder to all service members Tuesday that the deadly insurrection at the Capitol last week was an anti-democratic, criminal act, and that the right to free speech gives no one the right to perpetrate violence.A memo signed by all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also reminded military members that Joe Biden was duly elected as the next president and will be sworn into office on January 20.The memo was unusual in that the military leadership, including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, felt compelled to remind service members that it is wrong to disrupt the constitutional process. The language went further than statements by the civilian leader of the Pentagon, Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, by describing the assault as an act of sedition and an insurrection. Miller has called it “reprehensible and contrary to the tenets of the United States Constitution.”“The rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition and insurrection,” said the memorandum.The letter said the storming of the Capitol was an illegal assault on the constitutional process.“The violent riot… was a direct assault on the US Congress, the Capitol building, and our Constitutional process,” it said.The message came amid concerns that the Trump-supporting extremists who raided the Capitol to halt the certification of Joe Biden as the next president have supporters in the armed forces and law enforcement.Trump and his supporters have refused to accept that Biden fairly and soundly won the November 3 presidential election.The Pentagon is deploying as many as 15,000 National Guard troops to protect Biden’s inauguration on January 20, amid fears of new violence.Pentagon officials were asked Monday about the possibility of pro-Trump activists in the Guard and among regular troops.“We don’t tolerate extremists in our ranks,” said spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.Underscoring the point, the Joint Chiefs said that, “in accordance with the Constitution,” Biden would be inaugurated on January 20 “and will become our 46th commander in chief.”In South Korea, the commander of US Forces Korea, General Robert Abrams, retweeted the JCS statement saying there was “no ambiguity” and the events at the Capitol were an “attempted insurrection.”“If you are serving in uniform and think it was something else, I would encourage [you] to sit down and read the constitution that you swore an oath to support and defend,” wrote Abrams. “No room on our team if you are not willing to defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign AND domestic.”
New York City to terminate all contracts with Trump following Capitol attack-Mayor Bill de Blasio says move will stand up to legal challenges since ‘inciting an insurrection against the United States government clearly constitutes criminal activity’By Karen Matthews-JAN 13,21-Today, 6:48 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City will terminate business contracts with US President Donald Trump after last week’s insurrection at the US Capitol, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.“I’m here to announce that the city of New York is severing all contracts with the Trump Organization,” de Blasio said in an interview on MSNBC.De Blasio said the Trump Organization earns about $17 million a year in profits from its contracts to run two ice skating rinks and a carousel in Central Park as well as a golf course in the Bronx.The city can legally terminate a contract if the leadership of a company is engaged in criminal activity, the Democratic mayor said. “Inciting an insurrection — let’s be very clear, let’s say the words again — inciting an insurrection against the United States government clearly constitutes criminal activity,” he said.An email seeking comment was sent Wednesday to the Trump Organization.De Blasio had said earlier that the city was examining its legal options to end the Trump contracts. He said Wednesday that city lawyers determined that if Trump sues over the move, the city will win. Trump “incited a mob to attack the Capitol,” de Blasio said, adding, “The lawyers looked at it and it was just as clear as a bell that’s grounds for severing these contracts and we’re moving to do that right away.”The split with Trump’s namesake company won’t happen immediately, though. De Blasio said in a news release that terminating the contract to run the Ferry Point golf course in the Bronx is complex “and is expected to take a number of months.”Termination of the contract to run Wollman Rink and Lasker Rink in Central Park will take effect 30 days after written notice is delivered, de Blasio said. Termination of the contract to run the carousel, which is now closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, will take effect 25 days after written notice.The city will seek new vendors for all the attractions, the mayor said.Removing the Trump name from the rinks, carousel and golf course won’t erase him from New York City. He will still operate Trump Tower on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and the Trump International Hotel on Central Park West.Trump moved his official residence from Trump Tower to Florida in 2019.
Pence Reached His Limit With Trump. It Wasn't Pretty.Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni-Wed., January 13, 2021, 8:08 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON — For Vice President Mike Pence, the moment of truth had arrived. After three years and 11 months of navigating the treacherous waters of President Donald Trump’s ego, after all the tongue-biting, pride-swallowing moments where he employed strategic silence or florid flattery to stay in his boss’ good graces, there he was being cursed by the president.Trump was enraged that Pence was refusing to try to overturn the election. In a series of meetings, the president had pressed relentlessly, alternately cajoling and browbeating him. Finally, just before Pence headed to the Capitol to oversee the electoral vote count last Wednesday, Trump called the vice president’s residence to push one last time.“You can either go down in history as a patriot,” Trump told him, according to two people briefed on the conversation, “or you can go down in history as a pussy.”The blowup between the nation’s two highest elected officials then played out in dramatic fashion as the president publicly excoriated the vice president at an incendiary rally and sent agitated supporters to the Capitol, where they stormed the building — some of them chanting “Hang Mike Pence.”Evacuated to the basement, Pence huddled for hours while Trump tweeted out an attack on him rather than call to check on his safety.It was an extraordinary rupture of a partnership that had survived too many challenges to count.The loyal lieutenant who had almost never diverged from the president, who had finessed every other possible fracture, finally came to a decision point he could not avoid. He would uphold the election despite the president and despite the mob. And he would pay the price with the political base he once hoped to harness for his own run for the White House.“Pence had a choice between his constitutional duty and his political future, and he did the right thing,” said John Yoo, a legal scholar consulted by Pence’s office. “I think he was the man of the hour in many ways — for both Democrats and Republicans. He did his duty even though he must have known, when he did it, that that probably meant he could never become president.”Former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, one of Trump’s most outspoken Republican critics and a longtime friend of Pence before they drifted apart over the president, said he was relieved the vice president had finally taken a stand.“There were many points where I wished he would have separated, spoke out, but I’m glad he did it when he did,” Flake said. “I wish he would have done it earlier, but I’m sure grateful he did it now. And I knew he would.”Not everyone gave Pence much credit, arguing that he should hardly be lionized for following the Constitution and maintaining that his deference to the president for nearly four years enabled Trump’s assault on democracy in the first place.“I’m glad he didn’t break the law, but it’s kind of hard to call somebody courageous for choosing not to help overthrow our democratic system of government,” said Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J. “He’s got to understand that the man he’s been working for and defending loyally is almost single-handedly responsible for creating a movement in this country that wants to hang Mike Pence.”The rift between Trump and Pence has dominated their final days in office — not least because the vice president has the power under the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office with support of the Cabinet. The House voted largely along party lines Tuesday demanding that Pence take such action or else it would impeach Trump.Pence sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Tuesday refusing to act. But Trump was nervous enough about it that he finally broke five days of the cold shoulder to invite his vice president to the Oval Office on Monday night to smooth over their split. The official description of the hourlong conversation was “good”; the unofficial description was “nonsubstantive” and “stilted.”The clash is the third time in 20 years that a departing president and vice president came to conflict in their last days. After Vice President Al Gore lost his presidential campaign in 2000, he had a bitter fight with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office over who was to blame.Eight years later, just days before leaving office, Vice President Dick Cheney castigated President George W. Bush for refusing to pardon I. Lewis Libby Jr., the vice president’s former chief of staff, for perjury in the CIA leak case.Trump came into office with no real understanding of how his predecessors had handled relationships with their running mates. In the early days, when it became clear that there would be no organizational chart or formal decision-making process, Pence made himself a regular presence in the Oval Office, simply showing up with no agenda, often walking into a policy discussion for which he had received no briefing materials.He arrived in the West Wing each morning, received an update about when the president was coming down from the residence and then simply stationed himself in the Oval Office for most of the day. He was almost never formally invited to anything and his name was rarely on official meeting manifests. But he was almost always around.Calm and unflappable, Pence took on the role of confidant for Cabinet secretaries and other officials fearing Trump’s ire, advising how to broach uncomfortable topics with the president without triggering him.Not angering Trump “was a key objective of his,” observed David J. Shulkin, the former secretary of Veterans Affairs. “He tried very hard to straddle a very tough line.”But that meant Pence’s own views were often opaque.“Were the policies and the statements being put out, were they ones that he completely agreed with?” Shulkin asked. “Or was it his strategy that it is better to be in the room, it is better to be a trusted party to help moderate some of those strategies and the way to do that is not to publicly disagree? I think that was a really hard one to figure out, exactly where he stood.”Pence ultimately discovered that loyalty to Trump only matters until it does not. Tension between the two had grown in recent months as the president railed privately about Pence. The vice president’s allies believed Trump was stirred up in part by Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, who told him that Pence aides were leaking to reporters. That helped create a toxic atmosphere between the two offices even before Election Day.When Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results were rejected at every turn by state officials and judges, Trump was told, incorrectly, that the vice president could stop the final validation of the election of President-elect Joe Biden in his role as president of the Senate presiding over the Electoral College count.Pence’s counsel, Greg Jacob, researched the matter and concluded the vice president had no such authority. Prodded by Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, two of his lawyers, Trump kept pressing.Pence’s office solicited more constitutional opinions, including from Yoo, a prominent conservative at the University of California at Berkeley who served in Bush’s administration.In the Oval Office last week, the day before the vote, Trump pushed Pence in a string of encounters, including one meeting that lasted at least an hour. John Eastman, a conservative constitutional scholar at Chapman University, was in the office and argued to Pence that he did have the power to act.The next morning, hours before the vote, Richard Cullen, Pence’s personal lawyer, called J. Michael Luttig, a former appeals court judge revered by conservatives — and for whom Eastman had once clerked. Luttig agreed to quickly write up his opinion that the vice president had no power to change the outcome, then posted it on Twitter.Within minutes, Pence’s staff incorporated Luttig’s reasoning, citing him by name, into a letter announcing the vice president’s decision not to try to block electors. Reached on Tuesday, Luttig said it was “the highest honor of my life” to play a role in preserving the Constitution.After the angry call cursing Pence, Trump riled up supporters at the rally against his own vice president, saying, “I hope he doesn’t listen to the RINOs and the stupid people that he’s listening to.”“He set Mike Pence up that day by putting it on his shoulders,” said Ryan Streeter, an adviser to Pence when he was the governor of Indiana. “That’s a pretty unprecedented thing in American politics. For a president to throw his own vice president under the bus like that and to encourage his supporters to take him on is something just unconscionable in my mind.”Pence was already in his motorcade to the Capitol by that point. When the mob burst into the building, Secret Service agents evacuated him and his wife and children, first to his office off the floor and later to the basement. His agents urged him to leave the building, but he refused to abandon the Capitol. From there, he spoke with congressional leaders, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — but not the president.A Republican senator later said he had never seen Pence so angry, feeling betrayed by a president for whom he had done so much. To Trump, one adviser said, the vice president had entered “Sessions territory,” referring to Jeff Sessions, the attorney general who was tortured by the president before being fired. (A vice president cannot be dismissed by a president.)-On Thursday, the day after the siege, Pence stayed away from the White House, avoiding Trump. The next day, he went in, but spent most of the day at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door, where he held a farewell party for his staff.But aides said Pence did not want to become a long-term nemesis of a vindictive president, and by Monday he was back in the West Wing.Unlike Trump, Pence plans to attend Biden’s inauguration, then expects to divide time between Washington and Indiana, possibly starting a leadership political committee, writing a book and campaigning for congressional Republicans.But no matter what comes next, he will always be remembered for one moment.“We’re very lucky that the vice president isn’t a maniac,” said Joe Grogan, Trump’s domestic policy adviser until last year. “In many ways, I think it vindicates the decision of Mike Pence to hang in there this long.”This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Concerned by potential violence, YouTube blocks new content on Trump’s channel-Video-sharing platform imposes seven-day ban on new videos, disables comments for US president’s account-By AFP-JAN 13,21-Today, 1:59 pm
WASHINGTON, United States — Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday temporarily suspended US President Donald Trump’s channel and removed a video for violating its policy against inciting violence, joining other social media platforms in banning his accounts after last week’s Capitol riot.Trump’s access to the social media platforms he has used as a megaphone during his presidency has been largely cut off since a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington DC last week.Operators say the embittered leader could use his accounts to foment more unrest in the run-up to US President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.“In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies,” YouTube said in a statement.The channel is now “temporarily prevented from uploading new content for a ‘minimum’ of 7 days,” the statement read.The video-sharing platform also said it will be “indefinitely disabling comments” on Trump’s channel because of safety concerns.Facebook last week suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts following the violent invasion of the US Capitol, which temporarily disrupted the certification of Biden’s election victory.In announcing the suspension last week, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said Trump used the platform to incite violent and was concerned he would continue to do so.Twitter went a step further by deleting Trump’s account, depriving him of his favorite platform. It was already marking his tweets disputing the election outcome with warnings.The company also deleted more than 70,000 accounts linked to the bizarre QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims, without any evidence, that Trump is waging a secret war against a global cabal of satanist liberals.Trump also was hit with suspensions by services like Snapchat and Twitch.The president’s YouTube account has amassed 2.77 million subscribers.The home page of the Trump channel featured a month-old video of Trump casting doubt on the voting process in November’s presidential election, and had logged some 5.8 million views.On Tuesday, an activist group called on YouTube to join other platforms in dumping Trump’s accounts, threatening an advertising boycott campaign.
5:29 pm-Democrats warn America in danger so long as Trump in office-By AP-JAN 13,21
Democratic lawmakers have opened the historic impeachment effort in the House by saying that every moment Donald Trump is in the White House the nation is in danger.Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat of Massachusetts, says the debate is taking place at an “actual crime scene and we wouldn’t be here if it were not for the president of the United States.”The House is considering impeaching Trump for the second time after last week’s riots at the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify the election results. McGovern says it was Trump and his allies who were stoking the anger of the violent mob.He says Trump told the crowd to march to the Capitol and “the signal was unmistakable.”Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma says January 6th will live in his memory as the darkest day of his service in the House. But Cole says the Senate could not even begin to consider impeachment until after US President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.He says he can think of no action the House can take that would further divide the American people than the actions being taken Wednesday. He says “it’s unfortunate that a path to support healing is not the path the majority has chosen today.”
5:29 pm-National Guard members snooze in Capitol as House moves to impeach Trump-By AP and TOI staff-JAN 13,21
As the House opens its impeachment hearing, the District of Columbia National Guard says it has been authorized to arm troops assigned to security duty on the US Capitol grounds.The Guard says in a statement that the authority was requested by federal authorities and approved by Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy as of approximately 6 p.m. Tuesday.Up to 15,000 Guard members are expected to be on duty in coming days in the district to support law enforcement in connection with the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Authorities are concerned about threats of violence, following the insurrection at the Capitol last week.
Shots fired at IDF bulldozers in 2 attacks on Gaza border, none injured-Israeli tanks shell nearby Hamas position in response to attacks; exchange comes amid relative lull in violence from the Strip-By Judah Ari Gross-JAN 13,21-Today, 1:51 pm
Gunshots were fired at Israeli military bulldozers operating on the southern Gaza border in two separate attacks on Wednesday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said.No Israeli troops were injured. At least one vehicle was lightly damaged, the military said.In response to the two attacks, Israeli tanks shelled empty Hamas positions near the border. Palestinian media published photos of the demolished posts, which were principally constructed of tin sheets.Residents of southern Israel, as well as Palestinian media outlets, reported that Israeli fighter jets were heard overhead following the second exchange.The first shooting attack was reported shortly after noon Wednesday. Just over an hour later, the military said a second round of shots were fired at another engineering vehicle on the border.Photographs of the bulldozer that was hit in the first shooting, which were quickly shared on social media, showed damage caused to the vehicle’s bulletproof windshields.Following the first attack, an IDF tank destroyed one Hamas observation post along the border, the military said. Two more were targeted following the second attack, according to the IDF.The military said it was not immediately clear if a bulldozer was hit in the second attack.The IDF said the vehicles had been working near the border when the gunshots were heard.The bulldozers had been clearing land in the buffer zone between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which lies on the Gaza side of the border, near the city of Khan Younis.Palestinian media reported that the Israeli military on Wednesday had also dropped fliers in Arabic, warning Gazan farmers to keep their crops away from the fence.Wednesday’s attack came amid a relative lull in violence from the Gaza Strip. The day before, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk announced that Qatar had agreed to continue providing humanitarian aid to the enclave for another year.Official says bombed site served Iranian nuclear program.
US official: Israel carried out Syria strikes using American intelligence-Intel official tells AP overnight raids targeted warehouses used to store Iranian weapons; says Pompeo and Mossad chief discussed the attack during meeting at DC restaurant-By AP and TOI staff-JAN 13,21-Today, 1:28 pm
A senior US intelligence official on Wednesday said airstrikes in eastern Syria on Iranian-linked targets the previous night were carried out by Israel with intelligence provided by the United States.The remarks by the official after the attack marked a rare incidence of publicized cooperation between the two countries over choosing targets in Syria.The US official, who requested anonymity to speak about sensitive national security matters, said the strikes targeted a series of warehouses near the Iraqi border that were being used in a pipeline to store and stage Iranian weapons.According to the official, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed Tuesday’s airstrikes with Yossi Cohen, chief of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, at a public meeting in popular Washington restaurant Café Milano on Monday.The official said the warehouses also served as a pipeline for components that support Iran’s nuclear program. It was not clear if that statement was meant to indicate that such nuclear components were targeted in the overnight strikes or if it referred to past uses of those facilities.The massive airstrikes, which reportedly targeted more than 15 Iran-linked facilities, were the fourth reported attack by Israel against Iranian targets in Syria in the past two weeks, a significant increase from the normal rate of such strikes.According to Syria’s official SANA news agency, the strikes targeted sites in the areas of Boukamal and Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, where there is a major presence of Iranian-backed militias. Though not unprecedented, alleged Israeli strikes on targets near the Syrian-Iraqi border are uncommon, due to the challenges of conducting such operations far from Israel, which likely accounts for the large numbers of targets struck in the raids.SANA said officials were assessing if any damage or casualties were caused.The reported strikes came hours after Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited the Syrian border, where he said Israel would continue to take action against its enemies “near and far.”“We aren’t sitting around and waiting. We’re active defensively, politically, and economically,” he said.Europe-based Syrian expert Omar Abu Layla, whose news organization DeirEzzor24 maintains researchers on the ground in Syria, reported that the Israeli strikes hit at least 16 distinct targets associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and a number of other Iran-backed Shiite militias.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-Syrian opposition organization, said that the strikes hit 18 facilities and that 57 fighters were killed, at least nine of them Syrian soldiers and the rest “militia fighters allied with Iran” of as yet unknown nationalities.Though other news outlets in Syria reported that there were casualties in the strikes, those figures could not be verified and were not reported by official sources in Syria. The Observatory has regularly been accused by Syrian war analysts of inflating casualty numbers, as well as inventing them wholesale.The organization said these were the deadliest airstrikes by Israel since June 2019, when the Israeli military allegedly conducted raids in the same area.The Israel Defense Forces had no comment on the late-night strikes, in accordance with its policy to neither confirm nor deny its operations in Syria, save for those in retaliation for an attack from the country.The area targeted has reportedly been repeatedly struck by Israel in recent years as it houses a number of bases used by Iranian-backed groups and is key to a land corridor for Tehran that links Iran across Iraq and Syria through Lebanon, which Iran uses to smuggle in weapons and rockets, mainly to the Hezbollah terror group.The IDF has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011 against moves by Iran to establish a permanent military presence in the country and efforts to transport advanced, game-changing weapons to terrorist groups in the region, principally Hezbollah.Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
Kim Jong Un vows to boost North Korea’s nuclear arsenal-With Biden set to take office, North Korean leader insists US policy toward Pyongyang ‘will never change, whoever comes into power’-By AFP-JAN 13,21-Today, 12:32 pm
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to strengthen his country’s nuclear arsenal as he delivered his closing address to a top ruling party meeting, state television showed Wednesday, days before Joe Biden takes office as US president.Kim is looking to grab the attention of the incoming Biden administration, analysts say, with his country more isolated than ever after closing its borders to protect itself against the coronavirus pandemic.A nuclear summit between Kim and outgoing US President Donald Trump in Hanoi in February 2019 broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.“We must further strengthen the nuclear war deterrent while doing our best to build up the most powerful military strength,” Kim told the Workers’ Party congress, footage broadcast on Korea Central Television showed.Thousands of delegates and attendees — none of them wearing masks — repeatedly rose to their feet in the cavernous April 25 House of Culture venue to interrupt his speech with applause.Earlier in the eight-day meeting, which has lasted twice as long as the previous gathering in 2016, Kim called the US “the fundamental obstacle to the development of our revolution and our foremost principal enemy.”Its policy towards the North “will never change, whoever comes into power,” he added, without mentioning Biden by name.The North had completed plans for a nuclear-powered submarine, he said — a strategic game-changer — and offered a shopping list including hypersonic gliding warheads, military reconnaissance satellites and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).Pyongyang’s weapons programs have made rapid progress under Kim, and at a parade in October it showed off a huge new ICBM that analysts said was the largest road-mobile, liquid-fueled missile in the world.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) and US President Donald Trump prepare to shake hands at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, June 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)-The change of leadership in Washington presents a challenge for North Korea: Biden is associated with the Obama administration’s “strategic patience” approach and characterized Kim as a “thug” during the presidential debates.he North, meanwhile, has called Biden a “rabid dog” that “must be beaten to death with a stick.”Kim and Trump had a tumultuous relationship, engaging in mutual insults and threats of war before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance featuring headline-grabbing summits and declarations of love by the outgoing US president.Kim’s latest comments built on his rhetoric earlier in the congress while leaving a door open for dialogue, said Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.“It is a message to the US that it will continue to build up its strategic arsenal unless the US changes its course on North Korea policy,” he told AFP.“If Washington treats it nicely, it will act nice, but if it treats it harshly, it will act harshly too.”‘Senseless’ The congress is the top ruling party gathering, a grand political set-piece that reinforces the regime’s authority and can serve as a platform for announcements of policy shifts or elite personnel changes.At the gathering, Kim was named the party General Secretary, a title previously reserved for his father and predecessor Kim Jong Il, in what analysts said was a move to reinforce his authority.The official KCNA news agency reported that the congress will be followed on Sunday by a meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the North’s rubber-stamp legislature.The North’s economy is struggling in the face of its self-imposed coronavirus blockade, chronic mismanagement and sanctions, and Kim repeatedly admitted to the party delegates that mistakes had been made.And his influential sister and close adviser Kim Yo Jong indicated that a military parade had been scheduled to accompany the congress.Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un attends a ceremony in Vietnam, March 2, 2019. (Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP, File)-In a statement carried by KCNA, she derided the “idiot” authorities in Seoul for a “senseless” declaration this week by the South’s joint chiefs of staff about a possible military parade in Pyongyang that she said demonstrated a “hostile attitude.”“We are only holding a military parade in the capital city, not military exercises targeting anybody nor launch of anything.”Kim Yo Jong had appeared to suffer a demotion at the party congress, not being listed as a party central committee appointee after previously being an alternate member.But the issuing of a statement in her own name is an indication she remains a key player in the North’s diplomacy, having been behind its destruction of a liaison office on its side of the border last year.The South’s President Moon Jae-in brokered the talks process between Kim and Trump, and said in his New Year address on Monday that Seoul remained willing to talk to Pyongyang “at any time and any place,” including online.But since the process with Washington became deadlocked, the North has repeatedly said it has no interest in discussions with the South.
News-'How does this make sense?': Ontarians confused about what they can, can't do during Premier Ford's new stay-at-home order-Elisabetta Bianchini-Yahoo News CanadaTue., January 12, 2021, 4:03 p.m. EST
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a second state of emergency, and a stay-at-home order that will go into effect this Thursday.“Everyone must stay home to save lives,” Ford said.Schools in Windsor, Peel, Toronto, York and Hamilton will remain closed for in-person learning until Feb. 10. By Jan. 20, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health will provide recommendations for in-class learning for the remaining regions.What Ontarians can and cannot do-This stay-at-home order means everyone must stay home and only go out for essential trips to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing healthcare services, for exercise, or for essential work.The following additional public health measures will also be put in place:Outdoor organized public gatherings and social gatherings are restricted to a limit of five people.Individuals are required to wear a mask or face covering in the indoor areas of businesses or organizations that are open.All non-essential retail stores, including hardware stores, alcohol retailers, and those offering curbside pickup or delivery, must open no earlier than 7:00 a.m. and close no later than 8:00 p.m. - this does not apply to stores that primarily sell food, pharmacies, gas stations, convenience stores, and restaurants offering takeout or delivery-Non-essential construction restricted, including below-grade construction, exempting survey-Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health said the province is asking businesses to make sure any employee who can work from home, does so moving forward.How will these new rules be enforced? The premier said that “enforcement and inspections will increase” and that “bad actors” will get fined.The premier spoke about large retailers, big-box stores, that have “crazy line ups.” The province will be starting an “inspection blitz” of these stores in the coming days.“I promise you, if we find any issues there will be consequences, “ Ford said. “We’ll come down hard on these big box stores if we have to and this enforcement, it will continue for as long as necessary.”Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s solicitor general, said if employees in occupational and retail settings are found to not be complying with the order, enforcement personnel have the authority to issues a fine. They also have the authority to disperse crowds, both indoors and outdoors.“If people are found not complying with these orders they will be subject to fines and prosecution,” Jones said, adding that this may include up to a year in jail.How are people in Ontario reacting to the new order? People in Ontario shared their thoughts about the stay-at-home order and new measures on Twitter, many indicating that they are not satisfied with the information being provided by the provincial government.A state of emergency & stay-at-home orders may be needed in Ontario, but we must be cautious.Low-income racialized people (many are essential workers) have a history of being over-policed. They've also been hardest hit by #COVID19.We can't police our way out of this pandemic.— Naheed Dosani (@NaheedD) January 12, 2021-Telling Ontarians that we're gonna see 10k new cases of COVID a day by February while continuing to allow outdoor gatherings and asking Wal-Mart and Costco to close just half an hour earlier than they normally do kind of undermines this "Ontario is in a state of emergency" thing.— Dead Sea Squirrel (@the_ns) January 12, 2021-Ford says he doesn't believe in a curfew because he doesn't want police harassing you for pulling out of your driveway after 8 p.m. But a stay-at-home order means police can theoretically harass you for pulling out of your driveway at 2 p.m. How does this make sense??— Robyn Urback (@RobynUrback) January 12, 2021-So basically nothing really changes in @fordnation's newly declared "State of Emergency" except now it's a "State of Emergency" and not the State of Chill we've been in up until now? https://t.co/LJt7Q39dVX — Tabatha Southey (@TabathaSouthey) January 12, 2021-This Tim Hortons dark roast campaign is the perfect rollout for pandemic Ontario. It's ill-timed, confusing, and involves doing the same thing that's failed badly twice already, but adding a new slogan. Could have been planned by Doug Ford himself. #onpoli #BoldestComeback-— Jeff Rybak🍁😷 (@JeffRybak) January 12, 2021-"i'm not blaming anyone" says doug ford, whose one and only move today is asking individual citizens to change their individual behaviour— Rebecca Tucker (@RebeccaTee) January 12, 2021.
