Trump officials rush to auction off rights to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Biden can block it

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Officials aim to sell drilling rights to the pristine wilderness’s coastal plain before the president-elect takes office

The Trump administration is asking oil and gas firms to pick spots where they want to drill in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as it races to open the pristine wilderness to development and lock in drilling rights before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

The “call for nominations” to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register allows companies to identify tracts on which to bid during an upcoming lease sale on the refuge’s nearly 1.6 million-acre coastal plain, a sale that the Interior Department aims to hold before Biden takes the oath of office in January. The move would be a capstone of President Trump’s efforts to open up public lands to logging, mining and grazing, which Biden strongly opposes.

A GOP-controlled Congress in 2017 authorized drilling in the refuge, a vast wilderness that is home to tens of thousands of migrating caribou and waterfowl, along with polar bears and Arctic foxes. Continue reading.

Trump national security adviser vows ‘professional transition’ of power

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President Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, on Monday said there will be a “professional transition” to President-elect Joe Biden’s administration despite Trump’s refusal to concede that he lost the election.

Speaking to The Hill’s editor-at-large Steve Clemons at the Global Security Forum, O’Brien left open the possibility that Trump could still win a second term if the courts determine there was widespread fraud.

But O’Brien said it appears clear, at the moment, that Biden and running mate Kamala Harris won the election and should be given the time they need to get their people and policies in place. Continue reading.

Trump COVID-19 advisor accused of ‘inciting violence’ after calling for Michigan to ‘rise up’ against Whitmer

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President Donald Trump’s top coronavirus advisor, Dr. Scott Atlas, is being accused of sedition and inciting violence by calling for Michigan to “rise up” after Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued new orders to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

“The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept,” Atlas, who is a radiologist – not an epidemiologist – tweeted Sunday night. He added the hashtags “#FreedomMatters” and “#StepUp” to his tweet.

Last month 14 people were charged in an alleged domestic terror plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer. Some reportedly also had a plan to “overthrow” the government, and some allegedly had “made plans to kidnap Whitmer and commit violence with the hopes of sparking a ‘civil war,'” MLive.com reports, quoting Attorney General Dana Nessel. Continue reading.

Trump will get portrait, library no matter his future plans

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President Trump is getting a White House portrait and a presidential library — even if he announces another bid for the presidency in the meantime.

Life after the White House for most presidents typically includes writing memoirs, starting foundations and attending events as dignitaries.

But Trump, who remains the most popular figure in his party, might not be headed for a retirement from politics. Continue reading.

Ex-Trump aide pours cold water on claim president is playing 4-D chess: ‘He’s eating the chess pieces’

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President Donald J. Trump began his presidency lying about the crowd size at his inauguration and now appears to be ending his four-year tenure with another lie involving the same issue.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted out two overhead photos of Trump supporters Saturday, writing, “AMAZING! More than one MILLION marchers for President @realDonaldTrump descend on the swamp in support.”

McEnany did not respond to comments asking her where she derived at the crowd number. But falsifying a crowd-size isn’t a genius strategy perfectly crafted to change the stories of history. A former Trump aide explained it’s just another lie. Continue reading.

Most States Are Unprepared To Distribute Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine

As the first coronavirus vaccine takes a major stride toward approval, state governments’ distribution plans show many are not ready to deliver the shots.

The challenge is especially steep in rural areas, many of which are contending with a surge of infections, meaning that access to the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines may be limited by geography.

Pfizer announced Monday that its vaccine demonstrated more than 90 percent effectiveness and no serious bad reactions in early trial results — an impressive outcome that will pave the way for the company to seek an emergency authorization once it collects more safety data for another week or two. But establishing that the vaccine is safe and effective is just the first step. Continue reading.

‘The time is now, Minnesota.’ Leaders plead with public to curb COVID.

This is it.

The moment experts feared and predicted. We avoided it for months, but it eventually came.

Minnesota is about to enter, as Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota put it a few days ago, “COVID hell.”

State and hospital officials say we’re as prepared as we have ever been — but that it very well might not be enough. Continue reading.

Moderna says coronavirus vaccine is 94.5 percent effective

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Moderna announced Monday morning that its coronavirus vaccine candidate was 94.5 percent effective in an interim analysis, a second promising data point in the push for a successful vaccine.

The announcement comes one week after Pfizer announced its vaccine was over 90 percent effective, meaning there are now two vaccines with very high levels of efficacy in interim analyses of clinical trial data.

Moderna based its data on a large clinical study involving 30,000 volunteers, half of whom received two doses of the vaccine over a 28-day period. There were 95 cases of coronavirus recorded among participants, with only 5 of them in the group receiving the vaccine. Continue reading.

Senate DFL leader asks Majority Leader Paul Gazelka to resign his leadership post amid virus outbreak

Accused of hiding GOP outbreak, Senate leader tested positive himself. 

Hours after Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said Sunday that he has tested positive for COVID-19, the DFL called on him to resign from his leadership post, saying he mishandled an outbreak among the GOP ranks.

Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, said he has been in quarantine since experiencing symptoms Nov. 9 and “will remain in quarantine as long as my doctor advises me to.”

DFL Senate Leader Susan Kent said GOP gatherings led to an outbreak and that the information wasn’t shared with Senate DFLers or nonpartisan staff. Continue reading.

The ending of Trump’s presidency echoes the beginning — with a lie

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The Trump administration is ending as it began: with a lie about crowd size.

On Saturday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted two overhead photos of President Trump supporters who had gathered for a pro-Trump march in Washington, writing, “AMAZING! More than one MILLION marchers for President @realDonaldTrump descend on the swamp in support.”

McEnany was off by many orders of magnitude — the crowd of thousands was a notable show of force, perhaps, but a far cry from the million marchers she claimed. Continue reading.