Full Interview Teacher Union Pres.: 'There's no perfect solution' to reopening schools

In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers

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  • Federal Judge Indefinitely Blocks Biden Administration’s 100-Day Deportation Moratorium

    A federal judge on Tuesday indefinitely banned the Biden administration from enforcing a 100-day pause on deportations of most illegal immigrants in response to a lawsuit from Texas, which argued that the moratorium violated federal law and could saddle the state with additional costs. U.S. district judge Drew Tipton issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday, dealing a blow to President Biden’s efforts to follow through on his campaign promise to pause most deportations. The pause would not have applied to those who have engaged in terrorism or espionage or who pose a danger to national security. It would also have excluded those who were not present in the U.S. before November 1, 2020, those who agreed to waive the right to remain, and those whom the ICE director individually determined need to be removed by law. Tipton first ruled on January 26 that the pause violated federal law on administrative procedure and that the U.S. failed to show why a deportation pause was justified. He issued a temporary two-week restraining order, which was set to expire Tuesday. Texas attorney general Ken Paxton argued that Biden’s January 20 memorandum violated federal law and an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security that Texas be consulted before reducing immigration enforcement or pausing deportations. As part of the agreement, DHS must give Texas 180 days notice of any proposed change on any matter that would reduce enforcement or increase the number of “removable or inadmissible aliens” in the United States. However, the ruling does not require deportations to resume at their previous pace and immigration agencies have broad discretion in enforcing removals and processing cases. In the wake of the first ruling, authorities deported hundreds of people to Central America and 15 people to Jamaica. The administration has also continued deportations that began under the Trump administration due to a public-health law in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Palm Beach County refuses to lower flags for Rush Limbaugh

    Palm Beach County defied Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, refusing to lower its courthouse flags to half-staff in honor of the late conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh. The county's courthouse flags remained at full staff, ignoring Gov. Ron DeSantis' Tuesday afternoon order directing its U.S. and Florida flags to be flown at half-staff. Palm Beach County would only say it followed “normal protocols" on Wednesday, but Commissioner Melissa McKinlay posted a statement on Twitter saying, “The lowering of flags should be a unifying gesture during solemn occasions, such as in remembrance of the young lives lost during the Parkland High School massacre or first responder line of duty deaths."

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  • After suing Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Rudy Giuliani, Dominion says it will go after others who spread claims of election fraud - and it's 'not ruling anyone out'

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  • Meghan Markle and Prince Harry never intended to leave the royal family

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  • Forget Giuliani and the impeachment crew. This is how a real Trump defense would look.

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  • Thousands celebrate reinstatement of Nepal's Parliament

    Thousands of anti-government protesters threw confetti and chanted slogans in Nepal’s capital on Wednesday to celebrate Parliament's reinstatement by the Supreme Court. The court order was major blow to troubled Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, who dissolved the legislature in December because of a feud within the governing Nepal Communist Party. The jubilant demonstrators applauded the court's decision and demanded Oli's immediate dismissal.

  • For the first time, we have an audio recording from the surface of Mars - take a listen

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  • Northern Irish Brexit issue is two-way street, says EU's Sefcovic

    Britain must show it is fully using the avenues available under the Brexit divorce deal to minimise trade disruption in Northern Ireland before seeking concessions, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. Britain's exit from the EU's trading orbit in January has created trade barriers between Northern Ireland - which remains in the EU's single market for goods - and the rest of the United Kingdom. Maros Sefcovic, a vice president of the European Commission, said he hoped to learn of British efforts during an online meeting on Wednesday .

  • Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher are one of Hollywood's most private couples. Here's a timeline of their 20-year relationship.

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  • Hong Kong's freedoms threadbare as China removes last vestiges of political opposition

    China’s Communist Party wields much, if not all, of the political power in Hong Kong, having chipped away at the “one country, two systems” model meant to guarantee the former British colony’s unique freedoms after being returned to mainland rule. Four elected opposition lawmakers were ousted last year and those remaining resigned in protest, further skewing the city legislature toward Beijing loyalists. Mainland allies have also long represented the majority on a committee that selects the city’s leaders. Outsized political influence has allowed Beijing the ability to exercise its will over Hong Kong, often thinly disguising it as ‘process’ – for instance, passing a law last June through city legislature making it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. In some instances, China has completely bypassed Hong Kong, imposing new laws at will, including introducing a sweeping national security law last summer criminalising any behaviour deemed as subversion, secession, terrorism or foreign collusion. Now, China is moving to remove the last threads of political opposition in Hong Kong by introducing restrictions on the city’s electoral system to identify and bar candidates deemed unpatriotic from running for any elected office. China is expected to press forward with plans to create a senior group of government officials with the legal authority to investigate and determine whether candidates are loyal to Beijing. Hong Kong officials also plan to introduce a bill requiring district councillors, one of the lowest elected offices, to take loyalty oaths and ban them from running again for five years if deemed unpatriotic. Local councillors have no legislative power and instead oversee community affairs, such as upgrading public facilities or organising cultural activities. But in November 2019, Beijing was alarmed when pro-democracy candidates tripled their seats on district councils to hold a record 389 of 452 elected spots in a stunning victory – viewed as a referendum against China’s leadership at the end of a long year of mass protests. Such actions – blocking candidates, no matter how little power they have while in office – are aimed at ensuring only one voice in government is allowed to shine through, and to snuff out future revivals of the pro-democracy movement. It also serves to prompt even more Hongkongers, worried about a lack of liberties in the city, to move abroad – giving them even more reason to flee. Already activists are seeking asylum in countries including the UK. Protesters during mass unrest in 2019 spoke of fears that Hong Kong would soon become ‘just another Chinese city’ – governed by an ever-tightening authoritarian government that demands complete deference and punishes any pocket of dissent. Beijing has done everything in its power to first squash the protests and create a culture of fear, and now to ensure that political dissent never returns, suggesting that those fears are indeed quickly coming true. Telegraph View: Democracy in Hong Kong is now nothing more than a charade

  • Instagram Influencer Sparks Outrage After Posing Naked on Top of Endangered Elephant in Bali

    A 22-year-old Russian social media influencer is facing heavy criticism online for posing naked on top of an endangered elephant in Bali, Indonesia for her 553,000 Instagram followers. Alesya Kafelnikova received backlash for the short video she posted on Feb. 13, where she was filmed lying naked on top of a “critically endangered” Sumatran elephant, according to The Sun. In a follow-up post, Kafelnikova shared an image presumably with the same elephant and said in the caption, “To love nature is human nature.”

  • Analysis: Boeing alters course in speedy response to engine blowouts

    Two years ago, after a second fatal 737 MAX crash in five months, Boeing Co worked behind the scenes to urge aviation regulators not to ground the jet. Its efforts went as far as the White House, with Boeing's then-Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg calling former U.S. President Donald Trump to assure him the jet was safe. But Saturday's engine failure on a United Airlines 777, which produced jarring footage of an engine on fire and chunks of metal littering a Denver suburb - but no injuries - triggered a very different response inside Boeing.

  • Daniel Kaluuya said he wasn't invited to the 'Get Out' world premiere: 'that's the industry'

    Kaluuya said he was shooting "Black Panther" and even cleared his schedule to attend the premiere but no one invited him.

  • Ghana 1st nation to receive coronavirus vaccines from COVAX

    Ghana received the world’s first delivery of coronavirus vaccines from the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative on Wednesday — the long-awaited start for a program that has thus far fallen short of hopes that it would ensure shots were given quickly to the world’s most vulnerable people. The arrival of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the West African country marks the beginning of the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. It is a linchpin of efforts to bring the pandemic to an end and has been hailed as the first time the world has delivered a highly sought-after vaccine to poor countries during an ongoing outbreak.

  • Imran Khan invites Sri Lankan Buddhists to visit Pakistan

    Visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has proclaimed his Muslim-majority nation a choice destination for religious tourism by Sri Lankans, most of whom are Buddhists. In talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday, Khan highlighted Buddhist heritage sites in Pakistan and stressed the building of cultural ties, the Pakistan Embassy said in a statement.

  • Every single Dakota Fanning movie, ranked by critics

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  • Delays rattle asylum seekers waiting in Mexico as hopes of quick U.S. entry fade

    The United States abruptly canceled plans on Monday to bring asylum seekers into Texas at two ports of entry, dashing the hopes of hundreds who have been waiting for months in Mexico under a Trump-era policy President Joe Biden promised to unwind. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that "given current operational considerations," it could no longer say when it would begin bringing in migrants through ports in Brownsville and El Paso, Texas. The department said last week it would start accepting asylum seekers with active cases at those locations on Monday and Friday, respectively.