With so many crazy things happening, sometimes things fall through the cracks. Here are some headlines that you may find interesting and worth discussing.
- President-elect Joe Biden appeared to blame the “Defund the Police” movement for contributing to surprising Democratic downballot losses in the November election, telling civil rights leaders this week that they should proceed carefully on criminal justice issues.
- “That’s how they beat the living hell out of us across the country, saying that we’re talking about defunding the police. We’re not. We’re talking about holding them accountable,”
- Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., is threatening to subpoena CDC Director Robert Redfield and Health and Human Services Secy. Alex Azar over allegations over concealing information on the administration’s coronavirus response. NBC’s Heidi Przybyla reports
- The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allegedly ordered the destruction of an email written by a top Trump administration health official who was seeking changes in a scientific report on the coronavirus’s risk to children, the head of a congressional oversight subcommittee charged Thursday.
- In a letter to CDC Director Robert R. Redfield and his superior, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), expressed “my serious concern about what may be deliberate efforts by the Trump Administration to conceal and destroy evidence that senior political appointees interfered with career officials’ response to the coronavirus crisis at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
- President-elect Joe Biden is reported to select former national security adviser Susan Rice to lead his Domestic Policy Council. NBC’s Mike Memoli has details.
- As ICU beds in Albuquerque, New Mexico hit 118% capacity, Mayor Tim Keller says “the city’s ready to convert anything into a hospital or a care space.”
- Starbucks is set to raise its wages Monday, bringing 30 percent of its employees or “partners” above $15 an hour.
Pass around the smelling salts!
- Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Thursday introduced legislation to provide a second round of stimulus checks to most Americans as negotiations on a larger coronavirus relief package struggle to reach a breakthrough.
- Hawley, who has said he will oppose any deal that doesn’t include another round of direct assistance, said his legislation mirrors a proposal from the March CARES Act that provided a $1,200 check for individuals who made up to $75,000.
- A federal judge denied a request from the Trump administration to reinstate a longstanding rule requiring that people seeking abortion pills obtain them in person in a health care setting.
- Someone in Ohio gets it:
