By Holly Thomas, Wednesday, 11 November
GOP ALL IN ON ELECTION REJECTION As President Donald Trump and GOP leaders line up behind the false claim of a stolen election, the Trump-led General Services Administration is resisting signing paperwork that would give President-elect Joe Biden and his team access to millions in transition funds and official access to government officials and equipment to prepare the incoming administration. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared to completely dismiss the election results, saying “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” [HuffPost]
A MILLION COVID CASES IN 10 DAYS The U.S. surpassed 1 million new confirmed coronavirus cases in just the first 10 days of November, with more than 100,000 infections each day becoming the norm in a surge that continues worsening. The milestone came as governors are making increasingly desperate pleas with the public to take the fight against the virus more seriously. The Wisconsin governor planned to take the unusual step of delivering a live address to the state, urging unity and cooperation. The number of hospitalizations linked to COVID-19 has hit an all-time high. [AP]
CDC: SMALL MASK UPTICK COULD SAVE $1 TRILLION “Adopting universal masking policies can help avert future lockdowns, especially if combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions such as social distancing, hand hygiene, and adequate ventilation,” the CDC wrote in a scientific briefing. The agency added that even a 15% increase in mask-wearing throughout the U.S. could save $1 trillion in economic losses and avert future shutdowns. Check the latest coronavirus-related developments here. [HuffPost]
DEB HAALAND: ‘OF COURSE’ I’D LIKE TO BE BIDEN’S INTERIOR SEC Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) made history in 2018 as one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, along with Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas). Now, over 120 elected tribal leaders have written to Biden, urging him to make history again by picking Haaland to be his secretary of the interior. Haaland has conceded that she would enthusiastically take the Interior Department job if she were offered it. [HuffPost]
TRUMP ‘LIKE BARRICADED SUBJECT’ IN HOSTAGE SITUATION Frank Figliuzzi, the FBI’s former assistant director for counterintelligence, praised Biden for how he’s handling Trump’s refusal to concede and legal actions to overturn the 2020 election results. “We’re coming very close to having what the bureau calls a barricaded subject,” Figliuzzi said on MSNBC. “The barricaded subject is in the White House.” [HuffPost]
HONG KONG’S PRO-DEMOCRACY LAWMAKERS RESIGN EN-MASSE Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers said they were resigning en masse following a move by the semi-autonomous Chinese territory’s government to disqualify four of their fellow pro-democracy legislators. The 15 lawmakers announced the move hours after the Hong Kong government said it was disqualifying the four legislators — Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung. [AP]
TRUMP’S FALSE CLAIMS COULD GET SOMEONE KILLED Current and former law enforcement officials told HuffPost that they’re worried conspiracy theorists will turn violent after latching onto ludicrous claims driven by Trump that election officials engaged in a massive criminal conspiracy to steal the election from him. Republicans meanwhile continued to deny reality, insisting the 2020 presidential election isn’t over. [HuffPost]
EX-DEFENSE SECRETARY: TRUMP ADMIN ACTING LIKE DICTATORSHIP Former Defense Secretary William Cohen slammed the Trump administration for acting like a “dictatorship” as the president refuses to accept his defeat. “We’re witnessing the decimation of the democratic institutions which the American people have come to expect will be non-political in terms of our national security,” Cohen told CNN. Even the president’s former favorite news channel is looking impatient — Fox News host Laura Ingraham vented her frustration after Sen. Lindsey Graham pleaded for donations on air. [HuffPost]
THE TORTURED LIFE OF THE ONLY WOMAN ON DEATH ROW About a week before Christmas in 2004, Lisa Montgomery, a 36-year-old mother of four, drove from her home in Kansas to Missouri, ostensibly to buy a rat terrier puppy from a woman she’d met at a dog show earlier that year. But she didn’t buy a pet that day. She went home with a newborn, one she acquired by murdering the baby’s pregnant mother. In Trump’s final days in office, Montgomery — a mentally ill victim of sex trafficking — is set to be the first woman the U.S. executes in 70 years. [HuffPost]
WISCONSIN TEEN CHARGED WITH BUYING KYLE RITTENHOUSE RIFLE A 19-year-old Wisconsin man was charged with felony weapons offenses for allegedly purchasing the AR-style rifle that 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse is accused of using to kill two people during protests in Kenosha over the summer. Dominick David Black was charged with two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor causing death. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on both counts. [HuffPost]
POPE JOHN PAUL II PROMOTED CLERIC AFTER LEARNING ABOUT SEX ABUSE ALLEGATIONS A Vatican investigation into former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has found that a series of bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed reports of sexual misconduct with seminarians, and determined that Pope Francis merely continued his predecessors’ handling of the predator until a former altar boy alleged abuse. A summary of the 449-page report published by the Vatican Tuesday put the lion’s share of blame on a dead saint: Pope John Paul II, who appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000. [AP]