PoliticsAssociated PressBiden's news conference takes abrupt, lengthy turn
It started when CNN's Jeff Zeleny broke in with a question that referenced concerns many Americans hold about the competence of government, after the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal and the recent shortage of testing for COVID-19. Biden took to calling on reporters at random, and what started as a very traditional presidential news conference became something else entirely, stretching to nearly two hours. Biden took some unusual — and unusually blunt — questions when the session was opened up to all the journalists in front of him.
U.S.HuffPostMy Gentle, Intelligent Brother Is Now A Conspiracy Theorist And His Beliefs Are Shocking
In Australia, there's [a tunnel] all the way around the continent and it's being used for human trafficking and organ harvesting and basically using human beings like cattle. JFK found out about it 50 years ago, and it's taken 50 years to drive them out. And it's now over.
U.S.The Daily BeastRacist New York Couple From Viral Train Incident Are Arrested... and Fired
A man and woman in New York have been both fired and arrested for verbally assaulting a family on a train in an incident that police have determined to be a hate crime. The Daily Voice reported that Justin Likerman and Kristin Digesaro, of Long Island, turned themselves in on Wednesday. New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority said the charges were brought in conjunction with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the Hate Crimes Unit.
HealthYahoo LifeCervical cancer survivors urge other women to not ignore signs of the disease: ‘Your body whispers’
Like Felder, Tracy Jimenez had put off getting screened for cervical cancer but for a different reason: She didn't have health insurance. However, "I did keep going to the emergency room because of really bad back pain I was having," Jimenez, who was 46 years old at the time, tells Yahoo Life. "They told me I had sciatica in my back … They didn't check me to see if I had anything below so I had no idea what was going on."
U.S.BuzzFeedPeople Are Sharing Things They Don't Do Anymore Because Of COVID, And It's A Reminder How Much Our Lives Have Genuinely Changed These Past Two Years
So when I stumbled upon a Reddit thread comparing life before COVID versus now, I was intrigued by the conversation going on in the comments. Redditor u/Outrageous-Collar-09 asked the question, "What normal thing pre-COVID feels weird now?" and the responses ranged.
- PoliticsWTTG
Maryland Gov. Hogan calls closing Montgomery Co. schools a mistake
The decision to send 16 Montgomery Co. public schools back to virtual instruction in the face of rising COVID numbers drew a sharp rebuke from Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan today.
U.S.Associated PressLegislator dies using medical suicide law he helped pass
A former Vermont legislator and House majority leader has died with the help of a law he himself helped pass that allows the terminally ill to end their own lives, his wife said. Willem Jewett died Jan. 12 at his home in Ripton at age 58, said his wife, Ellen McKay Jewett. In the days before his death, he supported changes to the 2013 law to make it easier for terminally ill people to navigate and get a prescription, VTDigger first reported.
U.S.AxiosTexas energy company threatens to cut off plants powering 400,000 homes
One of Texas' largest power providers asked state regulators to force the Dallas-based pipeline company Energy Transfer to continue natural gas service to its power plants. Luminant Corp. says that Energy Transfer has threatened to stop providing natural gas to its plants as soon as Monday because of $21.6 million in fees related to last February's winter storm, according to a report from WFAA. Why it matters: Luminant power plants provide energy to 400,000 Texas homes, businesses, schools and hospitals.
U.S.Kansas City StarGo-kart slams into garage before dragging fleeing driver in snow, Arkansas video shows
A go-kart driver was taking a ride through a snowy Arkansas neighborhood when it appeared to stall at an intersection, surveillance video shows. The driver hopped off and tried to restart the engine when the go-kart took off — all by itself, the video shows. Video shared by police shows the driver ran up the driveway to get the go-kart and appeared to be pushing it back down when the go-kart once again took off.
WorldReutersBulgaria says it decides on its defence with NATO allies
Bulgaria decides on its defence plans in coordination with its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said on Friday after Russia said its security demands included that NATO forces leave Bulgaria and Romania. Concern is running high in the West as Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's border. Russia denies planning an attack, but says it could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met.
PoliticsHuffPostTrump Revives Beef With One Of His Most Bizarre Foes In Rambling 'Hannity' Call
Former President Donald Trump revived his years-long beef with windmills on Fox News, this time complaining that they are “ruining the atmosphere.” It's one of his go-to talking points during his rambling phone interviews with the network's Sean Hannity, who hosted the former president Thursday for a similar affair. Trump has long disliked wind turbines, ever since a protracted and unsuccessful legal battle to stop Scottish officials from building what he called a “really ugly wind farm” in view of his Aberdeen golf resort.
WorldBuzzFeedIt Turns Out Some Tattoos Are MAJOR Red Flags To Have — Here Are 24 Of The Worst
Here are 24 tattoos — besides the obvious, like tattoos of hate symbols — that people think are major red flags for someone's personality. "Something in a language they don't speak." u/Hullaba-Loo "What you think it means: 'Wisdom and Courage.
WorldReutersSpain sends warships to Black Sea, considers sending warplanes
Spain has sent warships to join NATO naval forces in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as tension in the region rises over the Russian military build-up on the Ukrainian border, Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Thursday. A mine-sweeper is already en route and a frigate will sail within three or four days, Robles told reporters. "Russia cannot tell any country what to do, so NATO will protect and defend the sovereignty of any country that can or wants to join NATO," she said.
U.S.Tacoma News TribuneAfter mega-quake, there won’t be much time before tsunami waves reach Olympic Peninsula
Those same residents would have only 10 minutes to evacuate for waves up to 100-feet-high that would hit them following a massive earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone. Some might not get that much time. Ground sinking below their feet might flood during a magnitude 9 quake.
PoliticsThe Commercial AppealSenate Ethics Committee recommends Sen. Katrina Robinson's expulsion, will go before Senate vote
The Senate Ethics Committee determined Thursday that state Sen. Katrina Robinson, D-Memphis, violated the Senate code of ethics and recommended her expulsion due to her conviction on federal fraud charges. Robinson will now face a full Senate vote based on the committee's recommendation. The senator is awaiting a March sentencing date for two federal fraud charges related to the mismanagement of federal funds in connection to her leadership of a nursing school.
U.S.ReutersTeddy Roosevelt statue removed from outside New York museum
Workers on Wednesday dismantled a towering statue of President Theodore Roosevelt from outside New York City's American Museum of Natural History. The "Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt," commissioned in 1925 and unveiled to the public in 1940, depicts Roosevelt on a horse, with a Native American man and an African man on foot at his side. The New York City Public Design Commission voted last June to remove it, the museum said on its website.
PoliticsHuffPostRepublican Group Torches Kevin McCarthy Over Jan. 6 In Scathing Ad Campaign
A Republican group is calling out House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for refusing to cooperate with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. “Kevin McCarthy was one of the few people who spoke to Trump during the January 6 attack,” the GOP group's executive director, Sarah Longwell, said in a statement. Shortly after the insurrection, McCarthy said that Trump “bears responsibility” for the attack, which was carried out by his supporters as they attempted to block the certification of the 2020 election.
U.S.NBC NewsFBI raid on Rep. Henry Cuellar's Texas home, office said to be tied to Azerbaijan
Rep. Henry Cuellar's home and campaign office in Texas were raided as part of a federal investigation into the country of Azerbaijan and a group of U.S. businessmen who have ties to the country, a senior law enforcement official said Thursday. Witnesses said federal agents were seen carrying items out of Cuellar's home in Laredo on Wednesday, while more agents were spotted outside his campaign office. While it did not specifically refer to Cuellar by name or offer details about the investigation, the FBI acknowledged the search Wednesday night.
U.S.Associated PressRittenhouse seeks return of gun used during Kenosha protest
Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois man acquitted of fatally shooting two men and wounding a third during street protests in Kenosha in 2020, is seeking the return of the gun and other property that police seized after his arrest. Rittenhouse's attorney Mark Richards filed paperwork with the Kenosha County Circuit Court on Wednesday seeking the return of the items, explaining that Rittenhouse wants the AR-15-style rifle back so that it can be destroyed, the Kenosha News reported. He also wants the clothing he was wearing the night of the shootings returned. Law enforcement has had the gun since the day after Rittenhouse shot three men, two of them fatally, on Aug. 25, 2020, during a night of protests and unrest in the southeastern Wisconsin city of Kenosha over the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer.
BusinessMarketWatch‘Good luck! We’ll all need it’: U.S. market approaches end of ‘superbubble,’ says Jeremy Grantham
The U.S. is approaching the end of a “superbubble” spanning across stocks, bonds, real estate and commodities following massive stimulus during the COVID pandemic, potentially leading to the largest markdown of wealth in its history once pessimism returns to rule markets, according to legendary investor Jeremy Grantham. “For the first time in the U.S. we have simultaneous bubbles across all major asset classes,” said Grantham, co-founder of investment firm GMO, in a paper Thursday. “One of the main reasons I deplore superbubbles — and resent the Fed and other financial authorities for allowing and facilitating them — is the underrecognized damage that bubbles cause as they deflate,” said Grantham.
U.S.OxygenMom Credits Tracking Device She Installed On Daughter's Car With Finding Her Killer
Wendy Poulsen wanted “a bit of peace of mind” when she installed a tracking device inside the trunk of her 18-year-old daughter's car, but she never imagined it would ultimately help catch her daughter's killer. Poulsen's adopted daughter, Dani, was discovered dead in her car on Sept. 1, 2019 from a fentanyl overdose, according to The New York Post. While the tragic death devastated Poulsen, the data collected within the tracking device was able to lead Minnesota investigators to Dani's drug dealer, Calvonzo Burnett — a man who was also eventually held responsible for selling a lethal amount of fentanyl to another teen, Jordan Knudson, who died in December 2019.
WorldAssociated PressNorway mass killer tests limits of lenient justice system
Obviously this has been extremely trying for survivors, the bereaved and Norwegian society as a whole,” said Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, professor of law at the University of Oslo, adding that there is debate in Norway over whether parole regulations should be overhauled in a bid to prevent this type of grandstanding. In 2016, Breivik successfully sued the Norwegian government for human rights abuses, complaining about his isolation from other prisoners, frequent strip searches and the fact that he was often handcuffed during the early part of his incarceration.
U.S.Miami HeraldSleeping woman wakes up to man touching her on United flight, feds say. ‘Get away’
A woman who drifted off to sleep in her seat during a United Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Virginia opened her eyes to find the man next to her touching her breast, federal officials said. When she yelled “get away from me,” the man hopped out of his seat and headed to the back of the plane, where he told a flight attendant he “sexually assaulted the woman sitting next to him,” according to prosecutors. Ivan Lopez, Jr., 26, is now facing a charge of “abusive sexual contact aboard an aircraft in flight” after the Dec. 24 flight bound for Washington Dulles International Airport, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a Jan. 19 news release.
PoliticsThe Daily BeastJimmy Kimmel Reveals the Unlikely Guy Who Could Bring Down Trump
On Thursday night, Jimmy Kimmel gleefully ran down the significant legal problems facing former President Donald Trump during his monologue. “The legal woes for Trump are piling up,” said Kimmel. Yes, according to Trump's former press secretary Stephanie Grisham, Trump held top secret closed-door meetings at the Executive Residence of the White House just prior to the Jan. 6 insurrection, and attendees were not officially recorded to keep it off the books.
WorldReutersUkraine war necessary if Russia recognises breakaway regions - pro-Kremlin MP
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian-backed separatists in east Ukraine would expect Russia's army to fight with them against Ukrainian government forces if Moscow follows through on a parliamentary proposal to recognise their independence, a pro-Kremlin lawmaker said on Thursday. Alexander Borodai made the comment after 11 lawmakers proposed that parliament ask President Vladimir Putin to recognise https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/might-russia-recognise-independence-breakaway-east-ukraine-regions-2022-01-20 the independence of the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Such a move would mark a major escalation by Russia after weeks of mounting tensions around Ukraine.
“Cooking is the No. 1 way you’re polluting your home … You’re basically living in this toxic soup.”
“People (myself included) like cooking with gas! It’s one of the few energy uses that inspires brand loyalty to the fuel consumed.”
“It’s time to start making new buildings all-electric and switching out all those existing gas appliances, including gas stoves.”
“If you're looking for personal ways to protect the environment and your health right now, you have much bigger fish to fry.”
“Market-based solutions have not achieved their desired goals, thus new ways of thinking need to emerge.”