Ted Cruz says Senate will likely blockade Biden's nominations based on debunked election fraud allegations

Some Republican senators are using their unfounded election fraud claims as an excuse to muddy President-elect Joe Biden's transition.

Biden has spent the past few weeks since the election filling out his Cabinet, hoping quick confirmations will help him get a quick start on reversing President Trump's policies. But "as long as there's litigation ongoing, and the election result is disputed, I do not think you will see the Senate act to confirm any nominee," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Axios.

The Senate typically starts hearing from an incoming president's Cabinet nominees before Inauguration Day, allowing them to more quickly be confirmed and start work as soon as a new president is sworn in and can formally nominate them. That's especially essential during a pandemic — something retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) noted to Axios on Friday.

But much of the Republican Senate and House have yet to acknowledge Biden's win. More than 100 of those congressmembers joined Texas' lawsuit Thursday aimed at overturning the election results in four states that went for Biden. The lawsuit alleges Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin improperly changed voting rules in the 2020 election, but is unlikely to succeed in the Supreme Court, not least because several states included on the suit made similar changes by the same means.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) meanwhile wants a chance to challenge Biden's nominees on their credentials, particularly his controversial Defense Secretary pick retired Gen. Lloyd Austin.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ted-cruz-says-senate-likely-145300566.html

Spoopy Covid Comms. .

Houston doctor succumbs to Covid after months of saving patients

HOUSTON — Paige King knew something was wrong the moment she pulled up to her house on the evening of Oct. 26.

Her partner, Dr. Carlos Araujo-Preza, was sitting on the hood of his car in their driveway. He was wearing scrubs and a respirator — the one he'd worn in the intensive care unit each day while treating coronavirus patients — and he had a duffel bag packed at his feet.

King got out of her car and asked what he was doing.

"I have Covid," he said.

For a moment, King hoped he was messing with her. In their seven years together, she'd gotten used to his playful sense of humor. But this wasn't a joke.

Araujo-Preza told King he would quarantine at his lake house to protect her and his 78-year-old mother, who lived with them. But he told King not to worry.

As a critical care pulmonologist, he'd spent months treating hundreds of critically ill Covid-19 patients at HCA Houston Healthcare in Tomball. The sickest of the sick. The vast majority of those in need of hospital care were elderly or suffered from underlying health problems.

Araujo-Preza was 51 and fit, not at high risk of serious coronavirus complications, he assured her. King, a nurse practitioner at his practice, knew he was right.

She remembers teasing him as he loaded his bag into the trunk. Araujo-Preza loved "Star Wars" and sometimes jokingly referred to himself as a Jedi.

"I was like, 'If I don't get Covid after sleeping in bed with you, then I'm the real Jedi Master,'" King said.

They both laughed and said "I love you" before hugging briefly. Then he drove away.

"Neither of us was afraid," King said. "We both thought he'd be fine."

But as the disease ran its course, fear would come. Then desperation. And finally, unspeakable sadness.

A little more than a month after their playful exchange in the driveway, King would find herself rifling through the closet of her partner — the "love of my life," she called him — looking for his favorite suit.

Araujo-Preza was a handsome man, and King wanted him to look his best at his funeral.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/treated-houstons-most-desperate-covid-102803208.html

>>11982973

Scrub