of cnn this morning. it is sunday, december 25th. of course you know, we ve all been waiting for this beautiful morning. i m amara walker. good morning and merry christmas to you as well. thank you for spending part of your holiday morning with us. just ahead this morning, fighting racism from a one horse open sleigh, after getting hate mail for put putting up a black stanta in his yard santa in h yard, one man fights back. and how dollar stars are quickly becoming the go-to destination for shoppers. and we re going to introduce you to this year s cnn hero of the year, with a heart warming moment as she accepted her award. first let s get you caught up with this morning s headlines with whitney wilde. good morning and merry christmas to you, if you re celebrating at home. we begin with this brutal weather storm. at least 22 deaths are blamed on the storm and more than a quarter million people are without electricity. more than 3,400 flights were cancelled yesterda
hi there, everyone. it s 4:00 in new york. whatever the results of next tuesday s midterm elections, there is no denying that these midterm elections are taking place with the very real specter of political violence and the prevalence of disinformation as a political weapon, unmatched in modern political times. large swaths of the gop have been swallowed up completely by the disinformation about the integrity of our very election systems, and many on the right have normalized conversations around political violence to the point in which polls show it is accepted by many as a useful tool to achieving the right s political aims. now, this says all sorts of things about the weakness of our democracy right now. more importantly, it says a whole lot of things about the weakness of the gop as a governing party. now, a party interested in governing would be desperate to debate policy and have those debates and win those debates ridded in data and a shared set of facts. there s none
taiwan there is what growing speculation that she will visit taipei as soonest tomorrow. of course that s not sitting well with beijing because it views the independent nations as its territory. chinese foreign minister terry spokesperson is making it abundantly clear there will be serious consequences if that visit goes ahead saying we would like to once again warned the united states that we are fully prepared and solemnly waiting to bear the people s liberation army will never sit by idly and if nancy pelosi insists on visiting taiwan as for what measures exactly, we will take and see if she dares making the visit. you know i think about, this doesn t have to happen in my view. this be the first time in 25 years you d have a house speaker visit, the biggest visit of united states official going back to 1987. it s an porton it happens because a verbal commitment was made and we must show strength. and you think about all of the foreign policy debacles we ve had starting
the governor issues a state of emergency in six counties and warns hundreds of people will lose their homes. the end of the so called wagatha christie trial rebecca vardy and colleen rooney will find out today which of them has won their high court libel case. # everybody needs good neighbours. and it s farewell to neighbours after four decades as fans here in the uk prepare for tonight s final episode. birmingham put on a spectacular show last night for the opening ceremony of the commonwealth games. 30,000 people gathered at the alexander stadium, while millions more watched around the world. the show kicks off 11 days of sporting action, with more than 5000 athletes from 72 nations and territories across the commonwealth all taking part across 280 medal events. competition has already started, with lawn bowls the first sport to get under way. today will also see commonwealth games debuts for women s t20 cricket, basketball and wheelchair basketball. but it all started la