| Smartmatic Demands Retraction from Fox News Smartmatic, an international voting technology firm that has been the subject of conspiracy theories involving the 2020 presidential election, has sent demands for retractions to Fox News, Newsmax and OAN for airing “false and defamatory statements” about the firm. In a lengthy legal notice sent on to Fox News — and obtained by Mediaite — Smartmatic demanded the retraction of dozens of comments made by hosts Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo, as well as Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, who appeared frequently as guests on the network.
Cuomo Accused
Lindsey Boylan, a former aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, alleged in an emotional tweet thread on Sunday morning that Cuomo sexually harassed during her tenure on the job.
Shootings and Stabbings
Police in Olympia, Washington said Saturday that they declared a local demonstration a riot after confrontations involving left- and right-wingers, which resulted in one person being shot.
In Washington, D.C., at least four people were stabbed in similar confrontations between left and right.
TornHub Up to half of all videos uploaded to massive purveyor of pornography PornHub were reportedly deleted this weekend, following a bombshell report revealed that the site featured underaged performers and rape videos.
Alternate Reality
White House advisor Stephen Miller promised the hosts of Fox & Friends that the states the administration is disputing will have “alternate” electors cast an alternate vote — as in, votes for President Donald Trump — and that the “alternate” results will be presented Congress as part of a wacky plan to overturn the popular vote.
VACCINE: 20 Million to Get it THIS Month Up to 20 million Americans should receive a Covid-19 vaccination by the end of December, Health and Human Secretary Services Alex Azar said this morning. And 100 million by March.
VACCINE: No Pressure from White House
FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn says he was not pressured by the White House to fast-track a coronavirus vaccine, as Democrats and media have alleged. CNN's Jake Tapper pressed on the idea that the vaccine may have been rushed - an idea pushed by Democrats which can undermine public faith in the vaccine - but Hahn adamantly denied the speculative theories.
“Jake, we have been very clear, and I’ll say it again here, that nothing guided our decision, no external comments, no external pressure other than the science and data guided our decision making," Hahn, a scientist and medical doctor, stated very clearly and emphatically.
VACCINE: No Political Interference Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the head of Operation Warp Speed, said on Fox News Sunday that despite the political “noise” surrounding the work they’ve been doing, there has been no political interference that’s gotten in the way. Slaoui told Chris Wallace the plan is to have 14 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available all around the U.S. by the end of the year, with tens of millions more distributed in January and February. He emphasized that it's important to have a lot of people take the vaccine, and that this goal requires public confidence in it.
“There was a lot of noise on top of us in terms of the politics and the tweets and, you know, the campaigns, et cetera, on all parties, but that did never translate into any kind of interference of any sort,” Slaoui, a scientist and infectious disease expert, stated emphatically. “And I would assume that the FDA behaved exactly the same way. People can talk on top of the news, et cetera, but the experts are working and doing their work in the relentless way, just focusing on the science and the data.”
VACCINE: Look at Facts, Not Conspiracy Theories NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins spoke with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press Sunday as the first batch of U.S. vaccines started being shipped. One issue in the vaccine rollout is the fact that a lot of people either don’t want to take it or are spreading conspiracy theories about the vaccine. “This is a source of great concern for all of us.” He pled to Americans to understand that the data is out there, the vaccines are being thoroughly vetted, and that getting vaccinated is critically important. He addressed skepticism over the speed at which the vaccine was produced and theories that the Trump administration had forced it to be rushed. Dr. Collins emphasized that there has been a serious level of scrutiny by the nation’s top scientists and said all this noise that’s been going around “did not determine the outcome” of the approval process. “This was based upon scientific decision making of the most rigorous sort. I’m part of that. I’m talking out of knowledge of having been totally immersed in this 100 hours a week since last January,” the doctor and geneticist who previously led the Human Genome Project emphatically stated. 6.5.0 | 