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Modi Congratulates Joe Biden

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: IANS)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday greeted US President Elect Joe Biden and said that as Vice President his contribution to strengthening Indo-US relations was critical and invaluable and India will look forward to work closely together.

The Prime Minister also congratulated Vice President elect Kamala Harris saying her success is pathbreaking, and a matter of immense pride not just for your chittis, but also for all Indian-Americans.

In a series of tweets, Modi said, “Congratulations Joe Biden on your spectacular victory! As the VP, your contribution to strengthening Indo-US relations was critical and invaluable. I look forward to working closely together once again to take India-US relations to greater heights.”

Congratulating Kamala Harris, who is set to become first women Vice President of the US, he said, “Heartiest congratulations Kamala Harris! Your success is pathbreaking, and a matter of immense pride not just for your chittis, but also for all Indian-Americans. I am confident that the vibrant India-US ties will get even stronger with your support and leadership.”

Modi’s remarks came soon after Biden, the former two-term vice president and a Senate veteran, won the US Presidential elections to be the 46th President of the US. While Harris will be the next vice president, the first woman and the first person of colour to hold the office.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi also extended warmest congratulations to President-elect Biden and Harris on her election as the next Vice President.

She said, “Under the wise and mature leadership of President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris; India looks forward to a close partnership that will be beneficial to peace and development in our region and around the world.”

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi took to twitter and wrote, “Congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden. I’m confident that he will unite America and provide it with a strong sense of direction.”

“Congratulations, Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris! It makes us proud that the first woman to serve as Vice President of the US traces her roots to India,” he said in another tweet congratulating Harris.

Also Read-KAMALA: ‘Dream With Ambition, Lead With Conviction’

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Politics USA

‘Kamala looks like me’: Young Americans

Academics who study Black American history are hopeful about the Biden-Harris transition for the way it speaks to the long arc of the country’s Civil Rights movement…reports Asian Lite News

Americans from coast to coast are framing Kamala Harris’ historic ascension to the Vice President-elect in deeply personal ways. Young girls celebrating in downtown hubs like New York City’s Times Square and Union Square say it’s because Harris “looks like me”, others talk about how America is late to the party and it’s about time there’s a woman in the country’s most powerful office.

Senators who have worked alongside Harris, talk frequently about her tough-as-nails qualities as her superpower. Academics who study Black American history are hopeful about the Biden-Harris transition for the way it speaks to the long arc of the country’s Civil Rights movement. Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude and former Senator Claire McCaskill, in public comments, spoke with palpable excitement about Harris’ historic moment.

Eddie Glaude: “We’ve made history today. I think we need to enjoy it. We need to celebrate that. Look, I’m thinking ofA Kamala Harris, in particular, her ascension to the vice presidency and as the first Black woman to hold that position…I’m thinking about the Atlanta Washerwomen strike of 1881, I’m thinking about Matilda Crawford and Sally Bell, I’m thinking about the Women’s Political Council in Montgomery, who are so central to the Bus Boycott in 1955, Mary Fair Burks and Jo Ann Robbinson. I’m thinking about Ella Baker and Shirley Chisholm.

She (Kamala Harris) has an enormous win at her back. Now politicians are only as good as our demands and expectations. We should not assume that Joe Biden is the saviour, that Kamala Harris is the saviour, but we can celebrate this moment, and prepare ourselves for the difficult and challenging work that will begin tomorrow and the next day, but I’m going to enjoy this.”

Claire McCaskill: “Kamala is amazing. I am so lucky to call her a friend, and the country is so lucky to have her be the first woman who is going to have the bright Klieg lights of power. And frankly, press that will be examining her every move, every statement, they’ll go after her outfits, they’ll go after her hair, they’ll figure out a way to go after her husband, they will do all of that, and she’s the right person to stand up to that kind of pressure.

This was a wise choice, which reflects on the President-elect. There were many people he could have chosen, and by the way, they were all amazing, but he knew that Kamala, particularly, was ready for the pressure that this job would bring. Joe Biden was the vice president. He knows what it feels like. When Kamala Harris is at that podium tonight, she will be the kind of partner that will make Joe (Biden) proud, and frankly do America well.”

Also read:KAMALA: ‘Dream With Ambition, Lead With Conviction’

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-Top News USA

KAMALA: ‘Dream With Ambition, Lead With Conviction’

Below is the full transcript of US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ first public remarks after the election was called Saturday by news networks for the Joe Biden ticket.

Good evening. Congressman John Lewis, before his passing, wrote: “Democracy is not a state. It is an act.”

And what he meant was that Americaa�s democracy is not guaranteed.

It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it, to guard it and never take it for granted.

And protecting our democracy takes struggle.

It takes sacrifice. There is joy in it and there is progress.

Because ‘We The People’ have the power to build a better future.

And when our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, with the very soul of America at stake, and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America.

To our campaign staff and volunteers, this extraordinary team, thank you for bringing more people than ever before into the democratic process and for making this victory possible.

Former Vice President Joe Biden delivers his speech accepting the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination from Wilmington, Deleware State, on August 20, 2020. (Photo: DNC/IANS)

To the poll workers and election officials across our country who have worked tirelessly to make sure every vote is counted, our nation owes you a debt of gratitude as you have protected the integrity of our democracy.

And to the American people who make up our beautiful country, thank you for turning out in record numbers to make your voices heard.

I know times have been challenging, especially the last several months.

The grief, sorrow, and pain. The worries and the struggles.

But we’ve also witnessed your courage, your resilience, and the generosity of your spirit.

For four years, you marched and organized for equality and justice, for our lives, and for our planet.

And then, you voted. You delivered a clear message.

You chose hope, unity, decency, science, and, yes, truth.

You chose Joe Biden as the next president of the United States of America.

Joe is a healer. A uniter. A tested and steady hand.

A person whose own experience of loss gives him a sense of purpose that will help us, as a nation, reclaim our own sense of purpose.

And a man with a big heart who loves with abandon.

kamala Harris.

It’s his love for Jill, who will be an incredible first lady.

It’s his love for Hunter, Ashley, his grandchildren, and the entire Biden family.

And while I first knew Joe as Vice President, I really got to know him as the father who loved Beau, my dear friend, who we remember here today.

To my husband Doug, our children Cole and Ella, my sister Maya, and our whole family, I love you all more than I can express.

We are so grateful to Joe and Jill for welcoming our family into theirs on this incredible journey.

And to the woman most responsible for my presence here today, my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who is always in our hearts.

When she came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn’t quite imagine this moment.

But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible.

Joe Biden and wife Jill.

So, I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women, Black women.

Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation’s history who have paved the way for this moment tonight.

Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality, liberty, and justice for all, including the Black women, who are too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.

All the women who worked to secure and protect the right to vote for over a century: 100 years ago with the 19th Amendment, 55 years ago with the Voting Rights Act, and now, in 2020, with a new generation of women in our country who cast their ballots and continued the fight for their fundamental right to vote and be heard.

Tonight, I reflect on their struggle, their determination and the strength of their vision, to see what can be unburdened by what has been, I stand on their shoulders.

And what a testament it is to Joe’s character that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country and select a woman as his vice president.

But while I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last.

Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.

And to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message:

Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.

And we will applaud you every step of the way.

To the American people:

No matter who you voted for, I will strive to be the vice president that Joe was to President Obama, loyal, honest, and prepared, waking up every day thinking of you and your families. Because now is when the real work begins.

The hard work. The necessary work. The good work.

The essential work to save lives and beat this pandemic.

To rebuild our economy so it works for working people.

To root out systemic racism in our justice system and society.

To combat the climate crisis.

To unite our country and heal the soul of our nation.

The road ahead will not be easy.

But America is ready. And so are Joe and I.

We have elected a president who represents the best in us.

A leader the world will respect and our children can look up to.

A commander-in-chief who will respect our troops and keep our country safe.

And a president for all Americans.

It is now my great honor to introduce the President-elect of the United States of America, Joe Biden.

Also Read-Biden’s First Address To The Nation After Victory

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-Top News USA

Twitter flags more Trump tweets as Biden wins

The president tweeted that “tens of thousands of votes were illegally received after 8 P.M. on Tuesday, Election Day, totally and easily changing the results in Pennsylvania and certain other razor thin states.”…reports Asian Lite News

Twitter flagged nearly all tweets by US President Donald Trump on Saturday as he kept making “potentially misleading claims about an election” despite Democratic candidate Joe Biden winning the presidential race.

The president tweeted that “tens of thousands of votes were illegally received after 8 P.M. on Tuesday, Election Day, totally and easily changing the results in Pennsylvania and certain other razor thin states.”

He also claimed that thousands of votes were “illegally not allowed to be OBSERVED,” and said “bad things took place,” during a time when “LEGAL TRANSPARENCY was viciously & crudely not allowed.”

Twitter later labelled a fifth tweet where Trump claimed he had won the election “by a lot” with the notice “official sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted” that took people to news sources about the latest election results.

A Twitter spokesperson told The Verge that the platform placed warnings on the three tweets and one quote-tweet “in line with its Civic Integrity Policy, and as is standard with this warning, we will significantly restrict engagements on these Tweets.”

One tweet that was not flagged was where Trump announced a “lawyer’s press conference” at 11:30AM ET in Philadelphia.

Earlier, during the vote count that began from November 3, Trump tweeted or retweeted nearly 37 times and Twitter flagged 13 of those tweets.

Of those disclaimers, 12 indicated that “some or all of the content” about the election in the President’s tweet is “disputed” and possibly “misleading.”

“Twitter is out of control, made possible through the government gift of Section 230!” Trump said in a tweet.

Also read:Trump Rejects Biden’s Victory

Also read:Trump demands ‘transparency’ in vote counting

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-Top News USA

Biden’s First Address To The Nation After Victory

Below is the full transcript of Joe Biden’s first address to the nation after he became America’s president-elect, on the night of Saturday in Wilmington, Delaware,

My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken.

They have delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory.

A victory for “We the People”.

We have won with the most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket in the history of this nation, 74 million.

I am humbled by the trust and confidence you have placed in me.

I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify.

Who doesn’t see red and blue states, but a United States.

And who will work with all my heart to win the confidence of the whole people.

For that is what America is about: The people.

Joe Biden and Kamala harris

And that is what our administration will be about.

I sought this office to restore the soul of America.

To rebuild the backbone of the nation, the middle class.

To make America respected around the world again, and to unite us here at home.

It is the honour of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for this vision.

And now the work of making this vision real is the task of our time.

As I said many times before, I’m Jill’s husband.

I would not be here without the love and tireless support of Jill, Hunter, Ashley, all of our grandchildren and their spouses, and all our family.

They are my heart.

Jill’s a mom, a military mom, and an educator.

She has dedicated her life to education, but teaching isn’t just what she does it’s who she is. For America’s educators, this is a great day: You’re going to have one of your own in the White House, and Jill is going to make a great first lady.

And I will be honoured to be serving with a fantastic Vice President Kamala Harris, who will make history as the first woman, first Black woman, first woman of South Asian descent, and first daughter of immigrants ever elected to national office in this country.

It’s long overdue, and we’re reminded tonight of all those who fought so hard for so many years to make this happen. But once again, America has bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice.

Kamala, Doug. like it or not. you’re family. You’ve become honourary Bidens and there’s no way out.

To all those who volunteered, worked the polls in the middle of this pandemic, local election officials a” you deserve a special thanks from this nation.

To my campaign team, and all the volunteers, to all those who gave so much of themselves to make this moment possible, I owe you everything.

And to all those who supported us: I am proud of the campaign we built and ran. I am proud of the coalition we put together, the broadest and most diverse in history.

Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Progressives, moderates and conservatives.

Young and old.

Urban, suburban and rural.

Gay, straight, transgender.

White. Latino. Asian. Native American.

And especially for those moments when this campaign was at its lowest the African-American community stood up again for me. They always have my back, and I’ll have yours.

I said from the outset I wanted a campaign that represented America, and I think we did that. Now that’s what I want the administration to look like.

And to those who voted for President Trump, I understand your disappointment tonight.

I’ve lost a couple of elections myself.

But now, let’s give each other a chance.

It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric.

To lower the temperature.

To see each other again.

To listen to each other again.

To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy.

We are not enemies. We are Americans.

The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal.

This is the time to heal in America.

Now that the campaign is over, what is the people’s will? What is our mandate?

I believe it is this: Americans have called on us to marshal the forces of decency and the forces of fairness. To marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time.

The battle to control the virus.

The battle to build prosperity.

The battle to secure your family’s health care.

The battle to achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country.

The battle to save the climate.

The battle to restore decency, defend democracy, and give everybody in this country a fair shot.

Our work begins with getting Covid-19 under control.

We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality, or relish life’s most precious moments, hugging a grandchild, birthdays, weddings, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us, until we get this virus under control.

On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisors to help take the Biden-Harris Covid plan and convert it into an action blueprint that starts on January 20th, 2021.

That plan will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern.

I will spare no effort or commitment to turn this pandemic around.

I ran as a proud Democrat. I will now be an American President. I will work as hard for those who didn’t vote for me as (for) those who did.

Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end, here and now.

The refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not due to some mysterious force beyond our control.

It’s a decision. It’s a choice we make.

And if we can decide not to cooperate, then we can decide to cooperate. And I believe that this is part of the mandate from the American people. They want us to cooperate.

That’s the choice I’ll make. And I call on the Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to make that choice with me.

The American story is about the slow, yet steady widening of opportunity.

Make no mistake: Too many dreams have been deferred for too long.

We must make the promise of the country real for everybody, no matter their race, their ethnicity, their faith, their identity, or their disability.

America has always been shaped by inflection points, by moments in time where weave made hard decisions about who we are and what we want to be.

Lincoln in 1860 coming to save the Union.

FDR in 1932 promising a beleaguered country a New Deal.

JFK in 1960 pledging a New Frontier.

And 12 years ago, when Barack Obama made history, and told us, “Yes, we can”.

We stand again at an inflection point.

We have the opportunity to defeat despair and to build a nation of prosperity and purpose.

We can do it. I know we can.

I’ve long talked about the battle for the soul of America.

We must restore the soul of America.

Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses.

It is time for our better angels to prevail.

Tonight, the whole world is watching America. I believe at our best America is a beacon for the globe.

And we lead not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.

I’ve always believed we can define America in one word: Possibilities.

That in America everyone should be given the opportunity to go as far as their dreams and God-given ability will take them.

You see, I believe in the possibility of this country.

We’re always looking ahead.

Ahead to an America that’s freer and more just.

Ahead to an America that creates jobs with dignity and respect.

Ahead to an America that cures disease(s) like cancer and Alzheimers.

Ahead to an America that never leaves anyone behind.

Ahead to an America that never gives up, never gives in.

This is a great nation.

And we are a good people.

This is the United States of America.

And there has never been anything we haven’t been able to do when we’ve done it together.

Joe Biden and wife Jill.

In the last days of the campaign, I’ve been thinking about a hymn that means a lot to me and to my family, particularly my deceased son Beau. It captures the faith that sustains me and which I believe sustains America.

And I hope it can provide some comfort and solace to the more than 230,000 families who have lost a loved one to this terrible virus this year. My heart goes out to each and every one of you. Hopefully this hymn gives you solace as well.

‘And He will raise you up on eagle’s wings,

Bear you on the breath of dawn,

Make you to shine like the sun,

And hold you in the palm of His Hand.’

And now, together on eagle’s wings, we embark on the work that God and history have called upon us to do.

With full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with a love of country and a thirst for justice, let us be the nation that we know we can be.

A nation united.

A nation strengthened.

A nation healed.

The United States of America.

God bless you.

And may God protect our troops.

Also Read-Biden-Harris Victory: Celebrations Break Out Across US

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-Top News USA

Biden-Harris Victory: Celebrations Break Out Across US

Wild celebrations have broken out on America’s streets, and for a moment, you might even forget that we’re in the middle of a raging pandemic…reports Nikhila Natarajan

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. (Photo Credit: instagram/joebiden)

 “Someone on my street is singing through a bullhorn, ‘the witch is dead’, I’m going to go out and yell too!’,” reads a text from a Manhattan voter, running down her stairs to join the jubilation outside.

“Give me your address, I’ll send you cupcakes!” says another.

After an anxious wait for the US election results, hinging mostly on Pennsylvania, the action is moving at a phenomenal speed now.

Wild celebrations have broken out on America’s streets, and for a moment, you might even forget that we’re in the middle of a raging pandemic.

Let’s get you caught up with the reactions pouring in.

President-elect Joe Biden says it’s time for America to “unite” and “heal.”

“With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” he said in a statement moments after multiple networks called the race for Biden.

“We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together,” the statement read.

The Biden campaign did not mention Trump by name in its statement.

Biden’s victory came when Pennsylvania broke from Trump. Penn State is where Biden was born and where he lived till he was 10.

Trump is handling the loss in signature fashion, saying in a statement that “our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.”

“I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” sits right on top of Trump’s Twitter handle.

“The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 11:26 am local, November 7, 2020,” reads a tweet from The Lincoln Project, a band of Republicans who turned against Trump and leaned on the power of biting satire to get their message to voters all year.

Categories
-Top News USA

Trump Rejects Biden’s Victory

Donald Trump has issued a statement shortly after noon, when he was at his golf course in Virginia, bordering Washington DC…reports Nikhila Natarajan

US President Donald Trump.

US President Donald Trump put out a one page statement soon after America’s major news networks and newspapers called the US elections for his rival Joe Biden.

Below is the full text of Trump’s statement, issued shortly after noon, when he was at his golf course in Virginia, bordering Washington DC:

“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process. Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.

“Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room – and then fight in court to block their access.

“So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”

Categories
-Top News USA

Biden Wins The Race; Becomes President-Elect

Biden’s victory comes amidst a most unusual terrain for a presidential election. From coast to coast, mail-in ballots did the star turn for Biden and his VP pick Kamala Harris in an election transformed by the coronavirus pandemic…reports Nikhila Natarajan

The moment has met Joseph R. Biden. The networks have called the US election for Biden.

After four full days of waiting patiently for the slow march of vote counting to work itself out, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph R Biden, 77, pulled off one of the great political turnarounds in America by defeating Donald Trump in the US 2020 election and is now effectively the country’s President-elect.

Exactly 160 years ago around this time, Abraham Lincoln was elected US President.

The current occupant of the White House continues to project a defiant public posture, though. White House insiders, although deflated, have been sending signals that Trump has no plans to concede until every last fight is finished. Five states are yet to report final results.

For Biden, today’s win caps a more than three decade hunt for the big prize. During that time, he has carried the burden of many personal sorrows in his winding path to America’s highest office.

Biden’s victory comes amidst a most unusual terrain for a presidential election. From coast to coast, mail-in ballots did the star turn for Biden and his VP pick Kamala Harris in an election transformed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden’s big breakthrough came around 9 am Friday EST when he broke into the lead in Pennsylvania and initially overtook Trump by about 5,000 votes. Since then, that lead is only growing as votes continue to be counted.

Oddly enough, this is the state where, in the week before election day, Trump told voters that he wanted to “get the hell out of here.” That was a roundabout reference to the circumstances forcing Trump to campaign in places which he won comfortably in 2016 but the irony isn’t lost in the context of a Biden win here.

https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1325118992785223682

Biden is a sharp contrast to Trump, both in the personal and political realm. The last three days in particular have shown Americans glimpses of that very difference.

Biden spent every day since November 3 trying to ease tensions and delivering his messages with little outward show of anxiety. The disciplined nature of the campaign extends to plans for the lame duck phase of the Trump presidency. Two full days before the final results came, the Biden campaign unveiled its transition website, underscoring its quiet confidence in what was to come.

“I ask everyone to stay calm. The process is working,” Biden has said repeatedly. “It is the will of the voters. No one, not anyone else who chooses the president of the United States of America.”

The Biden campaign believes it has crossed the Pennsylvania challenge and is “joyous”, according to reporters on the ground in Delaware, the Biden headquarters. He is currently leading by 30,000 votes there.

Millions of votes are still to be counted but even before we have the final tally, Biden has already 73 million votes nationally, the most in American political history.

Kamala, the Vice-President Elect

It is now clear that Kamala Harris, the first Indian American and Black American candidate on a US presidential ticket, will be America’s next Vice President, capping a historic run for the nation’s second-highest office.

The Biden-Harris ticket is at 273 electoral votes against 214 for Trump-Pence.

Harris’ mighty achievement comes at a time when the US President is rage tweeting as his hold on power slips away.

The Biden-Harris team knew the hammer would come down either late Friday or Saturday at best and even had a stage ready in Wilmington, Delaware since the evening of November 5.

With millions of votes still to be counted, the Biden-Harris ticket has received the most votes ever – more than 74 million – in the history of America’s elections.

Harris’ lightning fast political rise and her triumph marks a high point for women of colour in politics at an anxious time in American society.

Harris, 55, is a California senator, the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. She is also a former prosecutor whose grilling of Trump’s appointees and unflappable cool has transported her to Democratic Party stardom.

Harris won her first election in 2003 and became San Francisco’s district attorney. In 2010, she became the first woman of colour to be elected California’s attorney general. Harris was elected to the US Senate in 2016.

The historic nature of Harris’ candidacy has underlined her every stump speech, and Harris handled the pressure with a certain confidence that comes from years of tough questioning and tons of preparation.

Surrounded by the unmistakable aura of a historic campaign, the Harris candidacy has had some remarkable moments since August.

Kamala Devi Harris

First came Harris’ introduction to America, during the Democratic National Convention. There, Harris framed the election as a race that hinges, among other things, on the fighting spirit that her mother taught her.

“There’s another woman, whose name isn’t known, whose story isn’t shared. Another woman whose shoulders I stand on. And that’s my mother.”

“She’d say, ‘Well, what are you going to do about it?'” has become Harris’ favourite pull out on her mother Shyamala Gopalan, a woman who paved the way for Harris’ pathbreaking candidacy.

Shyamala Gopalan came here from India at age 19 to pursue her dream of curing cancer. At the University of California Berkeley, she met Donald Harris who had come from Jamaica to study economics.

“They fell in love in that most American way — while marching together for justice in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.”

Harris grew up between Oakland and Berkeley in California and spent time in college towns in the Midwest before attending college on the US East Coast.

Harris’ father, in an essay, describes his elder child Kamala Harris as “ever the adventurous and assertive one”.

Since 2018, and until she became vice presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, Harris was best known for her video clips that went viral especially when she was grilling Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Attorney General William Barr.

Harris’ interrogation style, her smirks and grimaces during the vice presidential debate, her “I’m speaking” takedown of Mike Pence, her Chuck Taylors and even lighthearted dancing to Mary Blige’s ‘Work That’ have cemented Harris’ reputation as a candidate with an exquisite knowledge of the production of visual culture in American politics. There’s one more, on the other side of 2020.

When Biden gives his first speech to Congress, his first words promise to be memorable: “Madame Vice-President”.

Memories of Hillary Clinton do stick to Harris but it’s also moved on from there. Multiple Kamala avatars have entered the public imagination, some inserted by Trump and some by Harris’ recent big ticket political performances, notably the VP debate.

At a fairly steady clip, Harris’ remarks have lit up the internet. Her latest kicker: “I have, in my career, been told many times…it’s not your time, it’s not your turn. And let me just tell you, I eat ‘no’ for breakfast.”

In all her best moments of political oratory, Harris finds ways of weaving in echoes of her mother’s fight song and the civil rights movement, just like she did during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. The Shyamala Gopalan stamp on Kamala Harris’ candidacy is at once powerful and unmistakable.

“Years from now, this moment will have passed. And our children and our grandchildren will look in our eyes and ask us: Where were you when the stakes were so high?” Harris said at the Democratic National Convention in August. “They will ask us, what was it like? And we will tell them. We will tell them, not just how we felt. We will tell them what we did.”

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Pelosi seeks reelection as House speaker

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Veteran Democrat Nancy Pelosi has announced that she was seeking a re-election as Speaker of the US House of Representatives.

In a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Friday, the 80-year-old said: “Our vision for the next two years must be built on the success of Democratic House Majority in the 116th Congress, and to harness the extraordinary visions, values and vibrancy of our Caucus to secure the progress that the American people deserve.

“In that spirit. I am writing to request your support to be re-elected as Speaker.”

Pelosi became the first woman elected as Speaker of the House in 2007 and she served until 2011, reports ABC News.

She was elected again in 2019.

Pelosi was re-elected to the US House in California’s 12th Congressional District during this year’s general elections, in which all the 435 seats of the chamber were contested, Xinhua news agency.

House Democrats will formally begin the process of choosing their leaders on November 18.

Democrats are expected to keep control of the lower chamber, but their majority has been forecast to be narrower.

Photo shows US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confronting President Donald Trump at a reportedly explosive White House meeting. In the image, leading Democrat Pelosi is standing up at a large table, surrounded by male Congressional leaders and top military officials, pointing her finger towards the President, who is seated opposite her and appears stunned.

During a conference call on Thursday with House Democrats, Pelosi encouraged optimism from her colleagues, reports ABC News.

“This has been a life-or-death fight for the very fate of our democracy. We did not win every battle, but we did win the war,” she said.

“You hold your head up high. We helped Joe Biden get that mandate.”

Meanwhile in the Senate, based on races that have been called so far, Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked at 48 seats each.

Republican leaders said on Friday that it is still unclear which party will control the 100-seat upper chamber.

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‘We are going to win with clear majority’

Democratic nominee Joe Biden said: “We’ve gotten over 74 million votes, that’s more than any presidential ticket has ever gotten in the history of the United States of America.”…reports Asian Lite News

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Amid the growing suspense over the outcome of the recently-concluded US presidential election, Democratic nominee Joe Biden said that he was going to win the hotly-contested race “with a clear majority, with the nation behind us”, but stopped short of declaring victory.

In a televised address on Friday night, Biden said: “We’ve gotten over 74 million votes, that’s more than any presidential ticket has ever gotten in the history of the United States of America.”

The former Vice President said that the Biden/Harris ticket was on course to win on course to win over 300 electoral college votes and also Arizona and Georgia, the two traditionally Republican states, for the first time in over two decades, the BBC reported.

Biden added that he, along with his running mate Kamala Harris, have “rebuilt the blue wall” by winning back the Midwestern states.

“We’ll win this race with clear majority of nation behind us,” he said.

Regarding the raging Covid-19 pandemic, Biden said he would take action on the virus on “day one of his presidency”.

Acknowledging that tensions were high after the “tough election”, Biden urged the American public to “put anger and demonisation behind us”.

Donald Trump

“We have serious problems, we don’t have any more time to waste on partisan warfare. We may be opponents, but we’re not enemies,” the BBC quoted the former Vice President as saying.

“Your vote will be counted, I don’t care how hard people try to stop it, I will not let it happen.

“There is no reason we can’t own the 21st Century, we just need to remember who we are,” he added.

Currently, Biden appears close to winning the presidency after securing over 27,000 votes more than President Donald Trump in battleground Pennsylvania.

He is also leading in the swing states of Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.