HealthYahoo NewsWhy experts like Dr. Fauci think 'there's a really good chance' the worst of the U.S. pandemic is behind us
According to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, two-thirds of Americans are either somewhat or very worried about the “newer, potentially more contagious” COVID-19 variants that have triggered huge overseas outbreaks and are now spreading in the United States. To be clear, worrying less about variants doesn't mean abandoning precautions; nothing will suppress cases and shorten the U.S. pandemic like wearing a mask, avoiding indoor gatherings, staying 6 feet apart and getting vaccinated. Asked if the worst of the pandemic was behind the U.S., Fauci told Yahoo News Tuesday that “it might be.”
PoliticsThe GuardianIlhan Omar leads calls to fire Senate official who scuppered $15 wage rise
The progressive Democrat Ilhan Omar has called for the firing of the government official who effectively blocked the party's plans to raise the minimum wage. Democratic plans to include a gradual raise to $15 in Joe Biden's $1.9tn coronavirus stimulus bill were effectively ended on Thursday when the Senate parliamentarian ruled it should not be part of the package. The decision by Elizabeth MacDonough, who has held the non-partisan position since 2012, dashed hopes of including the raise in the bill – the first increase in over a decade.
PoliticsThe WeekHusband of Hitler-quoting GOP congresswoman parked his militia-stickered truck outside Capitol Jan. 6
Illinois state Rep. Chris Miller (R), the husband of freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), acknowledged Thursday that his pickup truck was parked in a restricted area outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, but he said the "Three Percenter" militia sticker on the back window doesn't mean anything. "Army friend gave me decal," Miller told The Daily Beast in an email late Thursday. The Three Percenters, founded in 2008, are a "radical militia group" implicated in leading the Jan. 6 siege along with the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and other far-right extremist groups, the FBI said in an affidavit filed in the case against alleged rioter Robert Gieswein.
WorldThe TelegraphXi Jinping declares China has achieved 'human miracle' of eliminating extreme poverty
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday declared his country had achieved the "human miracle" of eliminating extreme poverty, though questions continue to surround the Communist Party's criteria for making the claim. China last year claimed it had achieved its long-trumpeted goal of lifting all of its people above a poverty line of $2.30 (£1.60) in daily income. The World Bank says China has lifted more than 800 million people out of extreme poverty since turning to market reforms in the 1970s, after decades of state planning and Maoist campaigns that had stifled the economy.
PoliticsAxiosSchumer privately says he wants to freeze last-minute stimulus changes in order to pass bill
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is privately saying he can pass President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus package but wants to avoid any last-minute changes jeopardizing its trajectory, three sources familiar with the talks tell Axios. Why it matters: While the president hoped to enlist Republican support for the measure, Schumer has worked to ensure he has a solid 50 votes to muscle it through if necessary. What we're hearing: Schumer met with a group of moderate Democratic senators Thursday morning.
U.S.NextSharkAsian Man in Critical Condition After Being Stabbed in the Back With a Butcher Knife in NY Chinatown
An Asian man is in critical condition after getting stabbed by a butcher knife in New York's Chinatown on Thursday evening. The 36-year-old local resident was attacked around 6:15 p.m. near the federal courthouse, near the corner of Worth Street and Baxter street next to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse, reports PIX11. Call came in at 6:20 for report of a stabbing at Baxter Street and Worth Street.
PoliticsThe WeekNewly confirmed Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is 'obsessed' with creating 'clean-energy jobs'
The Senate on Thursday confirmed former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, 64-35, to lead the Energy Department, with 14 Republicans joining all 50 members of the Democratic caucus to give President Biden his 10th Cabinet-level appointee (plus one deputy secretary). After her confirmation, Granholm tweeted that she's "obsessed with creating good-paying clean energy jobs in all corners of America in service of addressing our climate crisis" and "impatient for results." Granholm repeated her priorities on MSNBC Thursday night.
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Oklahoma man released early from prison accused in 3 family deaths
An Oklahoma man who had been released early from prison in January as part of a mass commutation effort is now accused of three killings, including the death of a neighbor whose heart he cut out, authorities said.
U.S.AxiosActing Capitol Police chief: Phone logs show Jan. 6 National Guard approval was delayed
Acting U.S. Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman testified on Thursday that cellphone records show former USCP chief Steven Sund requested National Guard support from the House sergeant-at-arms as early as 12:58pm on Jan. 6, but he did not receive approval until over an hour later. Why it matters: Sund and former House sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving clashed at a Senate hearing on Tuesday over a dispute in the timeline for when Capitol Police requested the National Guard during the Capitol insurrection. Irving insisted that he has no recollection of receiving the request until after 2pm.
U.S.National ReviewDeSantis Defends COVID Record, Needling Critics: ‘The Lockdown States Got It Wrong’
Florida governor Ron DeSantis defended his state's response to the coronavirus pandemic in a Friday morning speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference. DeSantis was the first elected official to speak to the conference, which is being held in Orlando, Fla. this year.
U.S.NBC NewsFormer U.S. gymnastics coach dies by suicide after sex crime charges filed in Michigan
Police found the body of a former U.S. gymnastics coach who had ties to disgraced doctor Larry Nassar hours after he was criminally charged in Michigan on Thursday. State police troopers found the body of the man, John Geddert, who died by suicide, in a rest area off an interstate at 3:24 p.m. ET in Grand Ledge, Michigan, said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, a spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Geddert, who led the U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, was charged with 20 counts of human trafficking and forced labor resulting in injury, one count of racketeering, two counts of criminal sexual conduct and one count of lying to police, according to a state criminal complaint filed in Eaton County.
LifestyleArchitectural DigestNo Need to Call an Architect—These 9 Room Dividers Elegantly Get the Job Done
From ornate to subtle, these beautiful screens double as functional art Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
PoliticsThe WeekJournalist Tim O'Brien, who's seen Trump's taxes, thinks Trump's accountant will now flip in D.A. inquiry
Bloomberg's Tim O'Brien, one of the few journalists who has seen former President Donald Trump's tax returns, told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Thursday night he will sleep better now that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance finally has eight years of Trump's financial documents, from 2011 to 2019. Trump "is very afraid of what's in these documents, I think," because they put him in serious criminal jeopardy, O'Brien said, but he isn't the only one implicated. O'Brien went on to explain why he thinks it's likely Trump's chief accountant, Allen Weisselberg, will flip on Trump.
WorldBBCNorth Korea: Russian diplomats leave by hand-pushed trolley
A group of Russian diplomats and their families made an unusual exit out of North Korea on a hand-pushed rail trolley due to strict Covid measures. The Russian diplomats were thus left with little choice. "Since the borders have been closed for more than a year and passenger traffic has been stopped, it took a long and difficult journey to get home," Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Facebook post.
WorldReutersRunaway schoolgirl who joined IS cannot return to Britain, top court says
A UK-born woman who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State should not be allowed to return to Britain to challenge the government taking away her citizenship, because she poses a security risk, Britain's Supreme Court ruled on Friday. Shamima Begum left London in 2015 when she was 15 and went to Syria via Turkey with two school friends. While there, she married an Islamic State fighter.
U.S.TheGrioTexas federal judge rules that national moratorium on evictions is unconstitutional
A federal judge has ruled that the national moratorium on evictions instituted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge John Barker did not issue an injunction; however, the Donald Trump appointee said he expected the CDC to respect his ruling. The federal government cannot say that it has ever before invoked its power over interstate commerce to impose a residential eviction moratorium,” Barker wrote in his ruling.
PoliticsThe GuardianWhat the Neera Tanden affair reveals about the Washington DC swamp
When sifting through the wreckage to try to make sense of this epoch, future anthropologists should dust off whatever records will be preserved about Neera Tanden's star-crossed nomination to an obscure-but-powerful White House office. As a political operative and head of a corporate-funded thinktank, she does not have especially relevant experience for the appointment – in fact, whether in gubernatorial administrations, mayoral offices or Capitol Hill budget committees, there are far more qualified experts for this gig. Critics allege that Tanden busted a union of journalists.
EntertainmentAssociated PressLeft out of MeToo: New initiative focuses on Black survivors
It's been more than three years since the #MeToo movement launched a culture-shifting conversation about sexual violence. But Tarana Burke, the activist who gave the movement its name, says concrete change has been incremental at best — and especially for Black survivors. Now, Burke is part of a new initiative — called “We, As Ourselves” — in which three prominent groups are focusing on those survivors, who she says often feel that #MeToo has passed them by.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderWhile Biden visits storm-torn Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz will be giving a speech on 'cancel culture' in Florida
President Joe Biden heads to Texas on Friday to tour some of the areas hit hardest by the winter storm last week. While he's there, he won't be meeting with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz has a speaking engagement that day at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.
PoliticsThe IndependentGold statue of Trump appears at CPAC conference
A golden statue of Donald Trump, wearing shorts in the print of the US flag and carrying a wand, has caused a stir on Twitter since a video of it being wheeled into the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) conference surfaced on the social networking site. A Bloomberg reporter shared footage of staff at the conservative conference wheeling a golden statue of the former US president across the conference floor. Voices in the background can be heard saying “awesome” and “that is so cool” in reaction to the golden model of Mr Trump.
PoliticsPoliticoHistoric LGBTQ rights bill passes — after exposing GOP divisions
The House passed sweeping legislation on Thursday to ban discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, delivering a major victory to the LGBTQ community — while exposing an ugly rift in the GOP. The Equality Act, which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to provide protections for LGBTQ individuals, garnered unanimous support from House Democrats on its way to approval on a 224-206 vote. Three Republicans crossed party lines to join Democrats to endorse the bill, less than half of the number of GOP votes the measure got the last time it came to the floor.
WorldAssociated PressBrazil death toll tops 250,000, virus still running rampant
Brazil's COVID-19 death toll, which surpassed 250,000 on Thursday, is the world's second-highest for the same reason its second wave has yet to fade: Prevention was never made a priority, experts say. Since the pandemic's start, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro scoffed at the “little flu” and lambasted local leaders for imposing restrictions on activity; he said the economy must keep humming along to prevent worse hardship.
U.S.TheGrioFemale track star on lawsuit to stop trans athletes from competing: ‘Biological males are taking our medals’
Less than 48 hours into his presidency, Joe Biden took steps towards protecting the rights of transgender athletes looking to participate as their identified gender in both high school and college sports. But now a Connecticut high school track athlete has come forward to say she's disappointed that the Justice Department withdrew from a lawsuit aiming to prevent transgender athletes from competing in girls' high school sports. Wednesday, Alanna Smith, who filed the lawsuit with fellow athletes Selina Soule and Chelsea Mitchell, appeared on Fox News with her lawyer to denounce the actions of the current administration.
LifestyleMiami HeraldThis spot in the Florida Keys was just named one of the best coastal cities in America
Everybody loves the Florida Keys. Especially Key West, which international travel website Big 7 Travel placed in one of the top 10 spots on its annual 50 Best Coastal Towns in the United States report. “Many consider Key West to be the best beach area in the States,” Big 7 Travel writes.
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13 years after Madeleine McCann went missing, investigators believe they have a credible suspect
Three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished from her bed on vacation in 2007. Now, investigators believe they have a credible suspect who may know what happened to McCann. Peter Van Sant joins "CBS This Morning" with the investigation into this suspect on this week's "48 Hours."
“How about we skip ‘he won’t win’ cycle and not do 2016 all over again. Trump can absolutely win another presidential election.”
“With independents deserting him, there is simply no path for Trump to get back into the White House — except as a tourist.”
“They might as well cancel the 2024 primaries...because there is no way he can lose.”
“The next Republican presidential primary will be heavily shaped by Trump — whether or not he decides to run again.”
“Donald Trump will not be running for president again. He will, however, continue to tease the possibility of a 2024 run.”