Thursday, January 21, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Biden Urges National Unity



Joe Biden made an appeal for unity to a divided nation the central theme of his inaugural address Wednesday after he took the oath of office administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to become the 46th U.S. president. Declaring in the wake of the attack two weeks earlier on the U.S. Capitol, the same place where he was sworn in yesterday, that, quote, "democracy had prevailed," Biden spoke about the scope of the crises facing the country, led by the coronavirus pandemic, and urged Americans to unite to face them together, saying, "We must end this uncivil war." 


Biden also said that he'd be a president for all Americans, pledging to, quote, "fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did." There was also history made yesterday when Kamala Harris was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the first female vice president.


The inaugural ceremony also included Lady Gaga singing the national anthem, Jennifer Lopez performing, "This Land is Your Land," and Garth Brooks singing, "Amazing Grace." Additionally, 22-year-old poet Amanda Gordon read a poem she'd written for the occasion called, "The Hill We Climb." 
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton with there with their spouses, as was outgoing Vice President Mike Pence, representing the departing administration since Donald Trump broke more than 150 years of tradition by not attending.

Lady Gaga and Amanda Gordon
There were fewer people than normal attending because of the coronavirus pandemic, and for the same reason, people weren't packed on the National Mall to watch in celebration, instead 200,000 Americans flags had been planted. Some 25,000 National Guard troops were in the lock-downed streets of Washington to provide security in the wake of the attack on the Capitol. Although there had been warnings of potential violence in Washington and at the capitols in all 50 states surrounding the inauguration, demonstrations never materialized.

After the ceremony, Biden and Harris laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Ceremony, joined by their spouses as well as the three former presidents and their spouses. A "virtual parade" took place with events from across the country since a traditional parade couldn't be held due to the pandemic. But Biden, Harris and their families did walk part of the way as they proceeded to the White House. In the evening, an event called Celebrating America aired on all the major networks, hosted by Tom Hanks and with musical performers including John Legend, Katy Perry, Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato and more, instead of the traditional inaugural balls. Biden and Harris also spoke during it, and it concluded with a fireworks show around the Washington Monument as Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, watched from the White House.

Biden Signs Executive Orders:

After being inaugurated, President Biden signed some 15 executive orders, including rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, requiring the wearing of face masks on federal property, reversing former President Trump's removal of the U.S. from the World Health Organization, and extending eviction and foreclosure moratoriums amid the pandemic. Biden also revoked the permit for controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, halting its construction.

Trump Leaves for Mar-a-Lago

President Trump left the White House yesterday morning and held a brief farewell celebration at nearby Joint Base Andrews before flying Air Force One for the final time to Florida, where he plans to live at his Mar-a-Lago resort. He wished the incoming administration well, while never mentioning Biden's name, and suggested a potential political return of some kind, saying, "we will be back in some form." He also stated, "I will always fight for you. I will be watching. I will be listening and I will tell you that the future of this country has never been better." He also left with the words, "Have a good life." Although Trump never phoned Biden to congratulate him and concede, never invited him for a post-election White House visit, and didn't attend his successor's inauguration, he did honor one tradition, and left a note for Biden in the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Biden told reporters it was a, quote, "very generous letter."

➤THREE NEW SENATORS SWORN IN, GIVING DEMOCRATS MAJORITY: Three U.S. senators were sworn in yesterday by new Vice President Kamala Harris, giving Democrats majority control. Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, who won their runoff races in Georgia on January 5th, and Alex Padilla, who was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to Harris' Senate seat, took their oaths of office. The Senate is now split 50-50 between the Democrats and the Republicans, but Democrats have the majority with Harris able to cast the tie-breaking vote. 


➤STATES REPORTING COVID VACCINE SHORTAGES: Several states are reporting that they're running out of their supplies of Covid-19 vaccines, even as health officials grow increasingly concerned about mutations of the virus. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city had to cancel 23,000 appointments because of shortages, and Governor Andrew Cuomo said they expected to run out of first shot dosages in a couple of days. Complaints of shortages also came from places including the Miami area, San Francisco, Ohio, and Hawaii. The Health and Human Services Department suggested last week that states had unrealistic expectations for how much vaccine was coming. However, with the new administration now having taken office, President Biden has promised to administer 100 million shots in 100 days. 


➤VENDING MACHINES SELLING COVID TESTS FOR NEARLY $150 EACH LAUNCHING IN US CITIES:  Some Americans will be able to buy COVID tests as easily as a bag of chips. Vending machines that dispense at-home COVID-19 tests for $149 will soon debut in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Dallas from the health company Wellness 4 Humanity. The group says the machines are slated to pop up in cities this month. The machines will sell two types of the tests: the TRUSTPASS Rapid Antigen At-Home Test Kit (which provides results in 15 minutes, with no shipping or lab work required and is said to have 97.4% accuracy), and the At-Home Saliva RT-PCR Test, which is done through saliva collection, rather than nasal swabs, and customers can get their results within 48 hours with 99% accuracy. Those who use the latter test will be provided with a shipping label to use to send the saliva to a lab partner, and they can get their results via the TRUSTPASS app. Lian Pham, CEO and co-founder of Wellness 4 Humanity, said in a statement, “These vending machines are a significant milestone in helping to provide Americans with easier access to fast, highly accurate COVID-19 testing.”

➤AMAZON OFFERS TO HELP WITH VACCINE ROLLOUT: Amazon is really good at getting things to people as quickly as possible, so why not the coronavirus vaccine? Amazon sent President Biden a letter on Inauguration Day yesterday offering to help with his goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office, saying it can leverage its, quote, "operations, information technology, and communications capabilities." But the offer may not be entirely altruistic. CNN reports that Amazon also asked Biden to prioritize its more than 800,000 U.S. workers for getting the vaccine. Most of them work in Amazon fulfillment centers, Web Services data centers, of Whole Food stories. If you're wondering why this offer wasn't made to the Trump administration, Fox News did too, saying the company didn't respond to its request for them to comment on why they didn't.

➤CONNECTICUT MAN CHARGED FOR PINNING OFFICER CRUSHED IN DOORWAY IN CAPITOL ATTACK: A 23-year-old Connecticut man who was caught on widely-viewed video pinning an officer who was being crushed in a doorway during the attack on the U.S. Capitol has been charged with assaulting officers, federal authorities said yesterday. Patrick McCaughey III of Ridgefield was arrested Tuesday, and a federal magistrate judge yesterday ordered him detained without bail, calling his actions disturbing and saying he was a threat to the community. McCaughey is accused of hitting several police officers with a plastic riot shield, and authorities say he used the shield to pin Officer Daniel Hodges against a doorway. 


➤THREE NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS KILLED IN N.Y. HELICOPTER CRASH: Three New York National Guard soldiers were killed last night in a helicopter crash during a routine training mission in upstate Mendon, New York. Monroe County Sheriff Todd K. Baxter told reporters, "According to the 911 reports . . . there were calls of a sputtering, the sounds of an engine and that the aircraft was flying very low, more low than normal." First responders arrived to find the crash site in flames. The Division of Military and Naval Affairs said the incident is under investigation.

🤑POWERBALL HAS A WINNER! A single Powerball ticket sold in Maryland is the winner of an estimated $731.1 million jackpot, the first to get the top prize in months. Thanks to math and bad luck, lottery players had another shot at a giant jackpot Wednesday night that earlier had been estimated at $730 million, but it grew even further based on final ticket sales. Following the win, the new jackpot drops to an estimated $20 million for the next drawing Saturday. The winning ticket for Wednesday's jackpot was sold in Allegany County, located in northwestern Maryland, but additional details weren't immediately available, the Maryland Lottery said in a statement. The Powerball jackpot was the fifth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever, and it came only a day after nobody won the even-larger Mega Millions prize, which now stands at $970 million. Winning numbers for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing were: 40-53-60-68-69 and a Powerball of 22.

☔RECORD RAINFALL EXPECTED IN SOME PARTS OF DROUGHT-STRICKEN CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, ARIZONA: Those living in the Southwest have been hoping for rain for a while now. CNN reports that 70 percent of the region has been dealing with severe drought. Las Vegas, for example, has only had two episodes of rain in the last 273 days. But weather models are now predicting that three or four storms are on the way to Nevada, Arizona, and California by the end of the month, and some parts of California are predicted to get more rain over the next several days than they usually get over the course of two years. Weather.com also predicts that New Mexico, Utah, and western Colorado may also benefit from the various weather systems headed toward that part of the country.




🏀IRVING RETURNS TO NET AFTER TWO WEEKS AWAY: Kyrie Irving returned to the Brooklyn Nets last night after taking two weeks away for personal reasons. Irving scored 37 points in his first game with Kevin Durant and James Harden, which the Nets ended up losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers 147-135 in double-overtime. Irving had missed Brooklyn’s previous seven games to address unspecified issues. He told reporters only that he needed space to work through some issues to find balance in his life.

🏈MAHOMES STILL IN CONCUSSION PROTOCOL, BUT PRACTICED YESTERDAY: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was still in the NFL's concussion protocol Wednesday, but he was able to practice in limited capacity. That raised hopes that he will be able to play in the AFC title game this Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. Mahomes suffered a concussion in the third quarter of last Sunday's 22-17 divisional round playoff win over the Cleveland Browns and had to come out of the game. 


🏈COLTS QUARTERBACK RIVERS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers announced yesterday that he's retiring, ending his 17-year NFL career. The 39-year-old broke the news in a statement on the Colts' website and said, "Thank you God for allowing me to live out my childhood dream of playing quarterback in the NFL. I am grateful to the Chargers for 16 seasons, and the Colts for the 17th season." Rivers won 134 career games, second among quarterbacks who haven't won a Super Bowl and eighth overall. He's also fifth in career completions, yards passing and touchdown passes. Additionally, his 240 consecutive regular-season starts was the second-longest streak since 1970, behind Brett Favre.

🏀TWO MORE NBA GAMES POSTPONED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS ISSUES: Last night's scheduled NBA game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Portland Trial Blazers was postponed because of coronavirus issues, and the Washington Wizards planned Friday return after not playing for more than a week was pushed back to at least Sunday to give them more time to get game-ready. That brings the total to 17 games this season so far that have been postponed because of the virus, with teams dealing with not having enough players due to positive tests or contact tracing.

🏒CAPITALS FINED $100K FOR COVID VIOLATIONS: The NHL's Washington Capitals were fined $100,000 by the league yesterday for violating coronavirus protocols, including by having a gathering in a hotel room. Additionally, star Capitals player Alex Ovechkin and three others on the team were put on the Covid-19 list. Elsewhere in the league, five Carolina Hurricanes players are on the Covid list, and the team's games were postponed through at least Saturday.

🏈CAMPBELL HIRED AS LIONS' NEW HEAD COACH: The Detroit Lions announced yesterday that they had hired Dan Campbell as the team's new head coach. Campbell had been the New Orleans Saints' assistant head coach and tight ends coach for the past four years. His only past experience as head coach was 12 games as an interim head coach with the Miami Dolphins in 2015. Campbell also played 10 seasons in the NFL.

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