✕Over the next several weeks, President-elect Joe Biden will assemble his Cabinet. Politicos are scrutinizing , from the suddenly all-important post of Health and Human Services, to the question of if there will be a place available for Biden's Pete Buttigieg (Veterans Affairs, perhaps?).But unlike the governments of at least 50 other countries — including France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Ethiopia, Thailand, and Syria — there will be no culture czar to look for on Biden's list. The United States has no Department of Culture, and thus no Secretary of the Arts.That doesn't mean Biden...…✕Over the next several weeks, President-elect Joe Biden will assemble his Cabinet. Politicos are scrutinizing , from the suddenly all-important post of Health and Human Services, to the question of if there will be a place available for Biden's Pete Buttigieg (Veterans Affairs, perhaps?).But unlike the governments of at least 50 other countries — including France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Ethiopia, Thailand, and Syria — there will be no culture czar to look for on Biden's list. The United States has no Department of Culture, and thus no Secretary of the Arts.That doesn't mean Biden...WW…

MenuSee More Speed ReadsLike many Americans, Vice President Mike Pence needed a vacation after the year that was last week. And so he's making like a man who isn't partially embroiled in , and heading to Florida, ."According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Pence is scheduled to travel to Sanibel, Florida, Tuesday through Saturday," . Once there, he will presumably knock back a few while continuing his habit of when things are going off-the-rails, a skill he honed ."President goes to Palm Beach; I go to Sanibel Island," the vice president of his preferred vacation spot, which is...…MenuSee More Speed ReadsLike many Americans, Vice President Mike Pence needed a vacation after the year that was last week. And so he's making like a man who isn't partially embroiled in , and heading to Florida, ."According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Pence is scheduled to travel to Sanibel, Florida, Tuesday through Saturday," . Once there, he will presumably knock back a few while continuing his habit of when things are going off-the-rails, a skill he honed ."President goes to Palm Beach; I go to Sanibel Island," the vice president of his preferred vacation spot, which is...WW…

MenuSee More Speed ReadsWhite House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has officially found the line for Fox News — and crossed it.On Monday, McEnany continued to peddle the Trump administration's baseless claims that Democrats stole the election, alleging that the party is "welcoming fraud and … welcoming illegal voting." Though Fox News let McEnany run on for some time before cutting in, anchor Neil Cavuto did eventually interrupt. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I think we have to be very clear," he said after breaking in. "She's charging that the other side is welcoming fraud and illegal voting....…MenuSee More Speed ReadsWhite House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has officially found the line for Fox News — and crossed it.On Monday, McEnany continued to peddle the Trump administration's baseless claims that Democrats stole the election, alleging that the party is "welcoming fraud and … welcoming illegal voting." Though Fox News let McEnany run on for some time before cutting in, anchor Neil Cavuto did eventually interrupt. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I think we have to be very clear," he said after breaking in. "She's charging that the other side is welcoming fraud and illegal voting....WW…

MenuSee More Speed ReadsWith 72 days to go until Joe Biden is sworn into office as the 46th president of the United States, the country remains wrapped up in "the unprecedented spectacle of a president who has lost the election declining to accept reality." Rather than take his own advice — mockingly aimed at his political adversary, Hillary Clinton, in 2016 — to "lose with dignity," President Trump continues to assert, without any evidence, that the presidential election was "stolen" from him.Trump has a long history of refusing to accept his losses with anything close to dignity, though....…MenuSee More Speed ReadsWith 72 days to go until Joe Biden is sworn into office as the 46th president of the United States, the country remains wrapped up in "the unprecedented spectacle of a president who has lost the election declining to accept reality." Rather than take his own advice — mockingly aimed at his political adversary, Hillary Clinton, in 2016 — to "lose with dignity," President Trump continues to assert, without any evidence, that the presidential election was "stolen" from him.Trump has a long history of refusing to accept his losses with anything close to dignity, though....WW…

MenuSee More Speed ReadsPresident Trump appeared to temper his tone on Friday afternoon, issuing a statement that stood in sharp contrast to on Thursday night and his flurries of all-caps tweets . Though the statement still insinuated the existence of "illegal ballots" — something have failed to identify any evidence of — it lacked the defiance of his earlier addresses, and possibly even left room for his acceptance of a narrowing path to victory."We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer...…MenuSee More Speed ReadsPresident Trump appeared to temper his tone on Friday afternoon, issuing a statement that stood in sharp contrast to on Thursday night and his flurries of all-caps tweets . Though the statement still insinuated the existence of "illegal ballots" — something have failed to identify any evidence of — it lacked the defiance of his earlier addresses, and possibly even left room for his acceptance of a narrowing path to victory."We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer...WW…

MenuSee More Speed ReadsFacebook's internal monitoring of "violence and incitement trends" showed a 45 percent spike based on hashtags and search terms during the days immediately before and after the presidential election, . The metric had an average score of around 400 on Oct. 31, rising to nearly 580 as of Thursday morning.Facebook has faced heavy criticism over the years for not doing more to curb the spread of conspiracies on its platform. The social media website recently , and in the aftermath of the election, that falsely purported Democrats were trying to steal the election. Around...…MenuSee More Speed ReadsFacebook's internal monitoring of "violence and incitement trends" showed a 45 percent spike based on hashtags and search terms during the days immediately before and after the presidential election, . The metric had an average score of around 400 on Oct. 31, rising to nearly 580 as of Thursday morning.Facebook has faced heavy criticism over the years for not doing more to curb the spread of conspiracies on its platform. The social media website recently , and in the aftermath of the election, that falsely purported Democrats were trying to steal the election. Around...WW…

MenuSee More Speed ReadsPresident Trump raged on Wednesday that he wants "all voting to stop." But emails obtained by and the revealed Friday that it was Republican Party officials in Wisconsin who have allegedly been urging their volunteers to call Pennsylvanians and implore them to send in late — and therefore illegal — votes. "That would be exactly what the president and his campaign are accusing Democrats of doing," one legal expert observed to The Daily Beast.The email was sent by a group called Kenosha For Trump around 5 p.m. on Thursday. "Trump Victory urgently needs volunteers to...…MenuSee More Speed ReadsPresident Trump raged on Wednesday that he wants "all voting to stop." But emails obtained by and the revealed Friday that it was Republican Party officials in Wisconsin who have allegedly been urging their volunteers to call Pennsylvanians and implore them to send in late — and therefore illegal — votes. "That would be exactly what the president and his campaign are accusing Democrats of doing," one legal expert observed to The Daily Beast.The email was sent by a group called Kenosha For Trump around 5 p.m. on Thursday. "Trump Victory urgently needs volunteers to...WW…

MenuSee More Speed ReadsPresident Trump demanded that the country "" on Thursday morning, following attempts by his campaign to stall the ongoing vote count in states like , , , and, as of Thursday morning, . Though the Trump campaign's lawsuits argue that vote counting needs to be temporarily paused until the campaign is given "meaningful access" to observe "the opening of ballots and the counting process," which they are , Trump's tweet seems to recklessly insinuate that he wants a complete stop to the recording of legal votes.As many have pointed out, though, Trump's demand is almost...…MenuSee More Speed ReadsPresident Trump demanded that the country "" on Thursday morning, following attempts by his campaign to stall the ongoing vote count in states like , , , and, as of Thursday morning, . Though the Trump campaign's lawsuits argue that vote counting needs to be temporarily paused until the campaign is given "meaningful access" to observe "the opening of ballots and the counting process," which they are , Trump's tweet seems to recklessly insinuate that he wants a complete stop to the recording of legal votes.As many have pointed out, though, Trump's demand is almost...WW…

MenuSee More Speed ReadsFormer Vice President Joe Biden is projected to receive more votes for president than any other candidate in U.S. election history, with 69,165,955 votes on Wednesday morning with 50 percent reporting, compared to former President Barack Obama's 2008 popular vote total of 69,498,516.The news follows reports on Tuesday night that the 2020 election was shaping up to have the highest voter turnout since 1908, when 65 percent of eligible Americans voted, . The country was on track for around 160 million votes this year, which would put the eligible turnout rate at around...…MenuSee More Speed ReadsFormer Vice President Joe Biden is projected to receive more votes for president than any other candidate in U.S. election history, with 69,165,955 votes on Wednesday morning with 50 percent reporting, compared to former President Barack Obama's 2008 popular vote total of 69,498,516.The news follows reports on Tuesday night that the 2020 election was shaping up to have the highest voter turnout since 1908, when 65 percent of eligible Americans voted, . The country was on track for around 160 million votes this year, which would put the eligible turnout rate at around...WW…

MenuSign up for our free email newslettersSign Up forOur free email newslettersThe Tokyo Olympics are a disaster. There is no way of getting around it: from controversy over to of the organizing committee's president, to the games' pandemic-induced postponement from 2020 to 2021 (costing the country ), to accusations that the Olympic bid was for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, almost nothing about the lead-up to Tokyo has gone smoothly or as planned.Even on Wednesday, when the Olympic flame began its 121-day journey across Japan, critics slammed the ceremonial relay — since the...…MenuSign up for our free email newslettersSign Up forOur free email newslettersThe Tokyo Olympics are a disaster. There is no way of getting around it: from controversy over to of the organizing committee's president, to the games' pandemic-induced postponement from 2020 to 2021 (costing the country ), to accusations that the Olympic bid was for former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, almost nothing about the lead-up to Tokyo has gone smoothly or as planned.Even on Wednesday, when the Olympic flame began its 121-day journey across Japan, critics slammed the ceremonial relay — since the...WW…