White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 5, 2020

 1 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Biden officially secures enough electors to become president
California has certified its presidential election and appointed 55 electors pledged to vote for Joe Biden, officially handing the Democrat the Electoral College majority needed to win the White House

Dec. 5 - California certified its presidential election Friday and appointed 55 electors pledged to vote for Democrat Joe Biden officially handing him the Electoral College majority needed to win the White House.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla s formal approval of Biden's win in the state brought his tally of pledged electors so far to 279, according to a tally by The Associated Press. That’s just over the 270 threshold for victory.

These steps in the election are often ignored formalities. But the hidden mechanics of electing a U.S. president have drawn new scrutiny this year as President Donald Trump continues to deny Biden's victory and pursues increasingly specious legal strategies aimed at overturning the results before they are finalized.

Although it’s been apparent for weeks that Biden won the presidential election, his accrual of more than 270 electors is the first step toward the White House, said Edward B. Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University.

“It is a legal milestone and the first milestone that has that status,” Foley said. “Everything prior to that was premised on what we call projections.”

The electors named Friday will meet Dec. 14, along with counterparts in each state, to formally vote for the next president. Most states have laws binding their electors to the winner of the popular vote in their state, measures that were upheld by a Supreme Court decision this year. There have been no suggestions that any of Biden's pledged electors would contemplate not voting for him.     continue to read

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The decision by the president-elect would be a send a positive sign to traditional allies facing an increasingly assertive Beijing 

Joe Biden considers appointing a White House tsar for Asia

Move would signal importance of region for incoming US administration amid China tensions

Dec. 2 - Joe Biden is considering appointing a White House Asia tsar, signalling the rising importance of the region as the US president-elect prepares to tackle a wide range of challenges from China.

Five people familiar with the debate inside the Biden transition team said he was weighing the option to create the role in the National Security Council. Establishing the position would underscore how the region has become even more critical since the Obama administration’s “Asia pivot”.

“The president-elect has repeatedly made clear the Asia-Pacific region is one of tremendous opportunity, but also one where our interests and values face increasing challenges,” said one Biden transition team official.

The official added that the new administration would install that “right people and structures” to promote US interests and values alongside allies.

The tsar role is one of several ideas being considered by Jake Sullivan, the incoming national security adviser. Any move would reflect how US-China relations have become more complicated and tense during the presidency of Donald Trump and since Mr Biden left his position as vice-president four years ago. It would also highlight the challenges Washington and its allies face dealing with an increasing assertive China.     continue to read

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Will Biden Be Able To Reopen The Door To Negotiations With Iran?

Dec. 5 - One of the key foreign policy areas facing President-elect Joe Biden is Iran. He wants to reach out to Iran after taking office, but recent attacks and sanctions could be driving the country away.     source

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Friday on the NewsHour, as COVID-19 cases spike the economic costs worsen for millions of U.S. families, Pfizer is making a vaccine in a Belgian town that they hope will change the world, a look at maternal mortality among Native Americans, and Shields and Brooks analyze the Biden team and President Trump's claims of election fraud.

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 4, 2020

 

Biden Turns Heads With His 100-Day Mask Plan

Dec. 3 - Throughout the campaign, President-elect Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he would follow the science when it came to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. He'd even mentioned a national mask mandate, saying, "It's time to end the politicization of basic, responsible public health steps like mask-wearing and social distancing. The single most effective thing we can do to stop the spread of COVID: Wear a mask" (via Vox).

During his first joint interview with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Biden followed through on a campaign promise to try and de-politicize mask-wearing in an effort to bring the spread of COVID-19 under control by asking Americans to wear masks. "Just 100 days to mask, not forever. 100 days. And I think we'll see a significant reduction," he said in the interview with Jake Tapper. There is one place where Biden actually can impose a mask mandate, which will be in federal buildings, or on buses, trains, and planes that cover interstate routes (via CNN).

Read More:
https://www.thelist.com/289156/biden-turns-heads-with-his-100-day-mask-plan/?utm_campaign=clip

PBS NewsHour full episode, Dec. 3, 2020
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Thursday on the NewsHour, COVID-19 kills more in the U.S. in a single day than ever before, the history-making moment of Kamala Harris' election as vice president, pressure on the incoming Biden White House to choose a diverse staff, and how China's economic rise comes with a human cost.

Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden's choice to be national security adviser, defended Australia on Twitter.
Biden adviser says US stands 'shoulder to shoulder' with Australia

Dec. 3, Washington - One of US President-elect Joe Biden's most senior advisers has declared that the United States will continue to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Australia in an apparent response to China's increasingly hostile actions towards the country.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry's fabricated tweet depicting an Australian soldier cutting the throat of a child in Afghanistan has drawn bipartisan criticism in Washington, with a Trump administration spokesman describing it as "a new low, even for the Chinese Communist Party".

Jake Sullivan, whom Biden has chosen to be his national security adviser, tweeted on Thursday (AEDT): "The Australian people have made great sacrifices to protect freedom and democracy around the world.
"As we have for a century, America will stand shoulder to shoulder with our ally Australia and rally fellow democracies to advance our shared security, prosperity, and values."     continue to read

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 3, 2020

1 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

The big lie from Donald Trump

Dec. 3 - In a few weeks, Joe Biden will be sworn in as president and it will be the end of the time that Donald Trump has in office. It is also likely to be the start of the most dangerous phase of the current movement. Now that Trump is about to be unfettered by all the pesky advisers, generals, and bureaucrats, he could be more disruptive than ever.

Trump has inflicted us with some little lies each day, adding up to about 20,000 of them, according to the Washington Post. They include “total exoneration” by the special counsel, Hurricane Dorian bearing down on Alabama, and Barack Obama separating children. Such little lies have run the gamut from silly, like how the noise from windmills causes cancer, to serious, like his birther claims about Obama. They have been delivered to us in relentless waves of disinformation and calumnies.

But Trump and his minions had never created one big lie that is sustained, amplified, and repeated over and over until it is hard not to believe it. The big lie gathers all the little ones. It all adds up to one understandable and unifying theory. Now he has one big lie reduced to an easily digested but entirely bogus claim that he actually won the election.     continue to read

GOP Wisconsin Senator Called Trump an 'A**hole,' Admitted Biden Won in November Phone Call

Dec. 3 - Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican and close ally of President Donald Trump, reportedly described the president as an "a**hole" and admitted President-elect Joe Biden won the election about three weeks ago, a former Wisconsin Republican official said.

Johnson has backed Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, but according to Mark Becker—a former Brown County supervisor and former chairman of the Republican Party there—the senator told him privately on a call three weeks ago that he accepted Biden's victory.     continue to read

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List of Republicans breaking with Trump grows longer

Dec. 3 - The list of Republicans who are breaking with President Trump over his wild assertions about widespread voter fraud and acknowledging the reality of President-elect Joe Biden’s election win is growing longer.

So is the list of the president’s targets as he refuses to concede and rages against allies who, in his eyes, have shown insufficient loyalty.

The developments have divided Trump and some of his allies in the final weeks of his administration and raised concerns about the negative impact his attacks on the electoral process could have on the Senate runoff elections in Georgia that will decide if Republicans hold the majority.

Republican senators have not been vocal in pushing back on the president's unsubstantiated or false claims about the election, but a growing number are slowly acknowledging Biden as the apparent winner.

“They have a genuine fear that knowing that Donald Trump was never about the Republican Party and does not care about a future Republican Party except where it involves the word Trump, and as part of a last swift kick in the butt to Republicans, he can take down the two Senate seats if he wants to,” said Doug Heye, former Republican National Committee communications director.

“It’s why we see them moving slowly but methodically toward that place,” Heye added.     continue to read

PBS NewsHour full episode, Dec. 2, 2020
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Wednesday on the NewsHour, Britain approves a COVID-19 vaccine bringing questions about a U.S. plan, a top Georgia official warns of the dangers of election fraud claims by Republicans, and a Renaissance master painter has her day centuries later.

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 2, 2020

 2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Edward Emmett Kaufman (born March 15, 1939) is an American politician and former businessman who served as a United States senator from Delaware[1] from 2009 to 2010. He chaired the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program; he was the second and final person to hold the position, succeeding then-law-school-professor Elizabeth Warren. Kaufman is a Democrat.

.."Kaufman was appointed to the Senate to fill the term of longtime Senator Joe Biden, who was elected vice president in 2008. Prior to becoming a U.S. Senator, Kaufman had served as an advisor to Biden for much of his political career.[2]
In 1972 he joined Joe Biden's U.S. Senate campaign which was considered to be a long-shot on a volunteer basis. After Biden's surprise victory in 1972, he took a one-year leave of absence from DuPont to organize and head Senator Biden's Delaware Office.[7] In 1976 he became Biden's Chief of Staff/Administrative Assistant and served until 1995, also working on Biden's subsequent Senate campaigns.[8] Most recently, Kaufman was chosen to head Biden's transition team, should he win the 2020 presidential election.[9]

Prior to serving as a U.S. senator, Kaufman was a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) – the independent, autonomous, federal entity responsible for all U.S. government and government sponsored non-military international broadcasting.[10] He was appointed to the BBG by Presidents Clinton and Bush and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for four terms..."[11]

source from Wikipedia

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Hogan writes to Biden-Harris Transition Team, laying out state priorities

Nov. 30 - ...Hogan opened his letter to Kaufman by congratulating Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala D. Harris “and your entire team” ― a gesture that is likely to enrage many fellow Republicans, who have been slow to acknowledge Biden’s victory over President Trump.

In his letter, Hogan urges the president-elect to prioritize a new stimulus relief package for states and small businesses struggling during the COVID-19 crisis.

“States are already fighting an uphill battle to rebuild our economies and maintain essential services in education, health care, emergency operations, and public safety,” Hogan wrote.

The governor has publicly expressed the hope that a COVID-19 relief package can be worked out during the lame duck session of Congress, which is now under way, and has met with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about the need for relief, including the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. But hopes are fading for deal before the new president and next Congress take office ― even as negotiations continue to avoid a federal government shutdown"...     more info.

In this March 13, 2009 file photo, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) speaks with Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-DE) (2nd-L) as Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) (R) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) (2nd-R) look on at Union Station during an event.
The man who created the modern presidential transition now faces an extraordinary one
Ted Kaufman likely has more control over a future Biden administration than anyone other than the Democratic presidential nominee himself.

Date published on October 29, 2020
The man who literally wrote the laws on presidential transitions is now running one — and it could be the country’s most difficult handover of power since the Great Depression, with dueling health and economic crises as well as an unpredictable incumbent who may throw wrenches into the process.

Ted Kaufman, Biden’s longtime chief of staff in the Senate and head of his 2020 transition effort, likely has more control over a future Biden administration than anyone other than the Democratic presidential nominee himself. That makes him one of the most popular men in Washington now, as job seekers angle for potential posts and lobbyists try to divine his intentions.

Kaufman has his fans on the left, thanks to his tough stance on the banks during a short stint as a senator after the 2008 financial crisis. He has friends in the center, who say he and Biden share the same strand of moderate politics. Kaufman’s animating force, however, is an almost quaint belief in the American government’s institutions, friends and allies say...     continue to read

PBS NewsHour Weekend Full Episode December 1, 2020
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Tuesday on the NewsHour, a look at what President-elect Joe Biden and his team say about their plan to revive the economy, a CDC committee recommends who should receive the earliest doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and why the pandemic is forcing millennials to move in with their parents.

White House News (白宮消息) | Dec. 1, 2020

 1 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Trump still has power to make policy. Watch what he does

Dec. 1, (CNN) - Another key state -- Arizona -- certified its election results on Monday. And Wisconsin did too, after a recount requested by Republicans wound up affirming Joe Biden's victory there. Yet President Donald Trump is in a state of suspended animation, pushing conspiracy theories about his loss as the world moves on without him.

The question for all Americans to consider is how long we must continue to pay attention to this man.     for video

Top secret: Joe Biden gets access to President’s Daily Brief

Dec. 1 - Joe Biden on Monday got his first look as president-elect at the President’s Daily Brief, a top secret summary of US intelligence and world events — a document former first lady Michelle Obama has called ‘The Death, Destruction, and Horrible Things Book.’ Biden has already had eyes on different iterations of the so-called PDB, which is tailored to the way each president likes to absorb information.

More than a decade ago, Biden read President George W Bush’s PDB during Biden’s transition into the vice presidency. After that, he read President Barack Obama’s PDB for eight years.     continue to read

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Biden and Harris receive first Presidential Daily Brief after transition delay
President-elect Joe Biden received his first Presidential Daily Brief on Monday. Michael Morell, the former acting and deputy director for the CIA, joins CBSN's "Red & Blue" to discuss the next administration's national security goals.

‘This is Disgusting!’ Maria Bartiromo Goes Off After Trump Claims Biden Could Not Have Received More Black Votes Than Obama

Nov. 29 - Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo expressed outrage on Sunday as President Donald Trump leveled a series of baseless allegations of voter fraud in support of the outlandish conspiracy theory that the election was stolen from him.

Bartiromo, whose network Fox News has called the race for Joe Biden, landed the first interview with Trump since he lost re-election. The lengthy phone conversation, which came as top Republicans prepare for a Biden administration and the Trump administration begins the transition, focused almost entirely on Trump’s claims that the election was stolen through fraud.

A dizzying series of false claims and conspiracy theories were mounted by Trump and Bartiromo throughout the interview, ranging from allegations that the FBI and Justice Department were involved in the stolen election to claims that the election was rigged through voting machines.        continue to read

PBS NewsHour Weekend Full Episode November 30, 2020
Dec. 1, 2020
Monday on the NewsHour, the U.S. faces another spike in COVID-infections following the Thanksgiving holiday, the transition of power continues as President-elect Biden names top economic advisers, and Armenia hands over control of two regions under Russia-brokered armistice.

Anita Babbitt Dunn (born January 8, 1958) is an American political strategist who served as Acting White House Communications Director from April through November 2009. She is managing director at SKDKnickerbocker, a strategic communications firm in Washington, D.C.,[1] and currently serves as a senior advisor to the presidential transition team of President-elect Joe Biden.[2]