Congress granted the HHS permission to move pandemic-related money between accounts, though the agreement stipulated the agency had to give lawmakers a heads up. Former Office of Management and Director Russ Vought defended the decision and said "we would do it again," telling Stat that not only did the administration have the authority, it was also "the right thing to do in order to move as quickly as possible because lives were on the line." Other Trump officials seemed to agree, per Stat, arguing that successful vaccines would reduce hospitalizations, making Warp Speed the more consequential outlet.
Senators Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah) on Tuesday pressed FBI Director Christopher Wray on the procedures federal law enforcement officials have used to track down those who participated in the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol. โI'm anxious to see those who committed unlawful, violent acts on January 6 brought to justice,โ Lee said during a Senate Judiciary Hearing on Tuesday. The Utah Republican explained that he had โheard a number of accountsโ of people who were in Washington, D.C. on January 6 who never went near the Capitol but were โinexplicablyโ contacted by FBI agents who knew of their presence in the district that day โwith no other explanation, perhaps, other than the use of geolocation data.โ
QAnon adherents apparently believe that Joe Biden is actually a malfunctioning robot wearing human-like skin. One former QAnon adherent, Ashley Vanderbilt, said when she left the movement she knew of several members who believed that Mr Biden is actually a robot. "The person that I started talking to ... that had initially got me into QAnon, he was like, 'You know, Joe Biden's not even real'," she said.
The leader of Taiwan's main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) said on Tuesday he is in no rush to travel to China to meet President Xi Jinping, and that Beijing's proposals to get Taiwan to accept Communist rule had "no market" on the island. The KMT ruled China before retreating to Taiwan at the end of a civil war with the Communists in 1949. While ties across the Taiwan Strait have improved dramatically in the last three decades, Beijing continues to claim Taiwan as its own territory.
The Biden administration sanctioned seven mid-level and senior Russian officials on Tuesday, along with more than a dozen government entities, over a nearly fatal nerve-agent attack on opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his subsequent jailing. The measures, emphasizing the use of the Russian nerve agent as a banned chemical weapon, marked the Biden administration's first sanctions against associates of President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader was a favorite of former President Donald Trump even during covert Russian hacking and social media campaigns aimed at destabilizing the U.S. The government officials included at least four whom Navalny's supporters had directly asked the West to ...
At the White House COVID-19 response team briefing on Monday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky expressed concern about a leveling off of the decline in weekly coronavirus cases.
What happened to Neera Tanden is racist, and we can't ignore how that influenced the White House's decision Tuesday to pull her nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Tanden's confirmation failure makes her the first of President Joe Biden's picks to be disqualified. It's no coincidence that she also happens to be an Asian American woman.
The European Union's top court ruled Tuesday that Poland's new regulations for appointing judges to the Supreme Court could violate EU law. The ruling obliges Poland's right-wing government to discontinue these regulations and observe the principles of judicial independence and the right to judicial protection. In a decision that could have a powerful effect on future court verdicts regarding judicial appointments, the ruling also allows Poland's courts to refrain from applying the regulations introduced by the government in 2018 and 2019.
Former CIA boss John Brennan said on MSNBC that he's "increasingly embarrassed" to be a white man considering the actions he saw during CPAC. The topic being discussed on Monday was last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference, its focus on "cancel culture" and the conspiratorial lens through which the Capitol riot on 6 January was handled. MSNBC anchor Nicole Wallace said that the Republican Party was hypocritical when claiming that they are the party of law enforcement after the events of 6 January, considering how some Republicans have been speaking about the event in its aftermath.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans has advised Catholics against receiving the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, calling the one-dose shot โmorally compromised. In a statement Friday, the religious organization said the new vaccine should be avoided due to its link to an โabortion-derived cell lineโ used in the vaccine's development and production phases. But the available vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are โmorally acceptable,โ the archdiocese wrote, because only some lab testing utilized stem cells from aborted fetuses, making their connection to abortion โextremely remote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed confidence on Tuesday that President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill will pass in the Senate this week, saying the Senate will take up the legislation as early as Wednesday. The Senate is using the budget reconciliation process to pass the bill, which limits time for debate and allows legislation to pass with a simple majority. Schumer spoke to reporters after Mr. Biden addressed Democratic senators virtually during their caucus lunch.
The military veteran announced his campaign on social media as Georgia Democrats aim to oust the freshman representative. Sgt. Marcus Flowers has announced his official campaign against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for her seat in Georgia's 14th Congressional district. In his newly released campaign video shared on social media, the military veteran laid out his case as a Democratic candidate.
Six Dr. Seuss books โ including โAnd to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Streetโ and โIf I Ran the Zooโ โ will stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery, the business that preserves and protects the author's legacy said Tuesday. โThese books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,โ Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator's birthday. โCeasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises' catalog represents and supports all communities and families," it said.
The Duchess of Sussex faced several bullying complaints from members of her staff during her time as working royal, it was claimed on Tuesday night, as tensions between the couple and Buckingham Palace deepened. Jason Knauf, the couple's communications secretary at the time, submitted a formal complaint about the claims in October 2018 in an apparent bid to protect his staff. Royal aides are said to have approachedย The Timesย ahead of Meghan and Harry's Oprah Winfrey interview, due to be broadcast in the US on Sunday evening, because they felt only "a partial version" had emerged of the Duchess's two years as a working member of the Royal family.
And while Mr Biden has kept Mr Trump's policy in place to send new migrants back to Mexico due to concerns about Covid spread, the new president has already begun rolling back other Trump-era policies that hardened the border against refugees and other migrants seeking opportunities or safe haven in the US. The Biden administration has ended Mr Trump's so-called Remain in Mexico programme that forced more than 70,000 asylum-seekers to stay south of the border while their cases wound their way through immigration courts. Thousands of those enrollees have now crossed into the US under the Biden administration's supervision.
GOP Sen. Ted Cruz drew national ire after he attempted to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election, but according to a new poll from Morning Consult, his overall job approval from Texans was hurt far more when he vacationed in Cancรบn during a winter storm that left much of Texas without power or water for days. According to polling conducted between February 18-28, Cruz's net approval rating dropped from +6 to -5 in the weeks following his Cancรบn excursion. A net approval rating is calculated by subtracting the share of disapproving Texan voters from the share of voters that approve of Cruz.
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Fitness brand CrossFit, a staple of Marjorie Taylor Greene's political brand, is distancing from the Republican. A spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that the company is against Greene's conspiracy theories. CrossFit's statement comes after the House voted to strip Greene of her committee assignments.
In a press conference on Monday, Middletown Police Chief David Birk said Brittany Gosney, 29, confessed to killing young James, but he said the motive was still unclear. According to the report, which was provided to The Daily Beast by the Preble County Sheriff's Office, Gosney told cops she drove Hamilton's 2005 Dodge Caravan to a local park on Feb. 27, where she tried to ditch James and her other kids, ages 7 and 9. โBrittany stated she had planned to get the kids out of the vehicle and to leave them behind as Hamilton had been pressuring her to get rid of the kids,โ it says.
Merrick Garland could be confirmed as the next US attorney general as early as this week, after the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced his nomination for consideration before the full chamber by a bipartisan 15-7 vote. Mr Garland has breezed through his nomination process with the Senate Democratic majority controlling committee gavels. The longtime DC Circuit Court judge's ascent to the top spot in Justice Department leadership has been welcomed by Democrats and even some Republicans as a welcome change from the tumult of the Donald Trump years.
Progressive Democrats introduced a measure Tuesday to give incarcerated people the right to vote. The amendment, to major voting rights legislation, failed by a 93-278 vote. A majority of Democrats also voted against it.
China appears to be moving faster toward a capability to launch its newer nuclear missiles from underground silos, according to an American expert who analyzed satellite images of recent construction at a missile training area. (March 1)
Royal Caribbean's newest ship,ย Odyssey of the Seas, is set toย debut in May with departures from Israel with all passengers and crewย over age 16 vaccinated. "In conjunction with Israel's health and tourism authorities, Royal Caribbean will be the first to offer fully vaccinated sailings, where both crew and guests above the age of 16 will be vaccinated against COVID-19," the cruise line said in a statement posted to its website. Israel has not yet opened vaccination appointments to residents 16 and under, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
Wailer, a baritone singer whose birth name is Neville Livingston, formed The Wailers in 1963 with late superstars Bob Marley and Peter Tosh when they lived in a slum in the capital of Kingston. They catapulted to international fame with the album, โCatch a Fire and also helped popularize Rastafarian culture among better-off Jamaicans starting in the 1970s. Jah-B was a vanguard, always pushing the boundaries of expression, whether in song, in style or in spoken word,โ said Brian Paul Welsh, a local reggae musician known as Blvk H3ro.
Dabo Swinney spoke to the media for the first time in nearly two months last week as Clemson started spring practice. There was plenty for Swinney to discuss, including his team's 21-point season-ending loss to Ohio State in last year's Sugar Bowl.
โHow about we skip โhe wonโt winโ cycle and not do 2016 all over again. Trump can absolutely win another presidential election.โ
โWith independents deserting him, there is simply no path for Trump to get back into the White House โ except as a tourist.โ
โThey might as well cancel the 2024 primaries...because there is no way he can lose.โ
โThe next Republican presidential primary will be heavily shaped by Trump โ whether or not he decides to run again.โ
โDonald Trump will not be running for president again. He will, however, continue to tease the possibility of a 2024 run.โ