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  • 'Get used to me': Defiant Postmaster General Louis DeJoy pushes back at lawmakers at tense hearing on mail delays

    Tempers flared as Democrats pressed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on delays in holiday mail and slow deliveries of prescription medicines.

  • Marvel Studios president hints 'we probably could' see characters like Jessica Jones again 'someday' in the MCU

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  • David Foster and Katharine McPhee welcome a baby boy

    Katharine McPhee and David Foster may want to channel their musical talents into lullabies. The couple, who wed in 2019, have welcomed a baby boy, McPhee's publicist confirmed Wednesday. McPhee and Foster were friendly for years after meeting in 2006 when Foster was a mentor on “American Idol.”

  • Postmaster General Taunts Dems: You’re Stuck With Me for Good

    Jim Watson./GettyLouis DeJoy had a defiant message on Wednesday for those craving to see him ousted as U.S. Postmaster General: “Get used to me.”The comment came after Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) asked the embattled U.S. Postal Service chief how long he would remain as Postmaster General—“long time,” DeJoy spat back—during a Wednesday hearing in the House Oversight Committee.That exchange was indicative of the entire proceeding, which was frequently chippy, combative, and fueled by Democratic lawmakers’ outrage over DeJoy’s handling of the USPS at a time of worsening mail delays and difficult questions about the service’s long-term viability.DeJoy’s crack to Cooper made Democrats’ blood boil even more. But he may have a point, at least for now: because the postmaster general is installed by the service’s board of governors—and not by the president—it means that President Joe Biden, or Congress, cannot fire DeJoy even if they wanted to.His removal would only be possible when Biden fills Democratic vacancies on the USPS Board of Governors, which has the authority to hire and fire postmasters general. Confirming those spots in the Senate will take time, though the Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Biden has identified three nominees to move forward.In the meantime, though, Democratic lawmakers are working with DeJoy on urgent legislation to reform the agency’s finances and employee pension burden, even while many publicly call for his resignation.To many Democrats, DeJoy’s performance on Wednesday on Capitol Hill may make that balancing act harder: they found much to dislike not only in what the postmaster general said, but how he said it.“I gotta say—I just don’t think the postmaster gets it,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a member of the Oversight Committee who questioned DeJoy on Wednesday about the agency’s delivery standards. “I think it’s time for him to go.”“I thought he approached a lot of our questions with that exact same attitude, which was one of sneering condescension,” Krishnamoorthi told The Daily Beast after the hearing, invoking DeJoy’s response to Cooper. “That’s not gonna fly, man. Not gonna fly.”Wednesday’s hearing was the second time in DeJoy’s short tenure that he has been subjected to a high-profile grilling in the House Oversight Committee. Shortly after taking the USPS’ top job in June 2020, delays and irregularities quickly began to mount—a particularly alarming development for lawmakers on the eve of an election in which more voters than ever planned to vote by mail.Biden to Nominate 3 New USPS Board Members, Opening Path to Oust DeJoyIn a contentious August 2020 hearing, Democrats interrogated the former logistics executive and GOP mega-donor on everything from cuts in overtime hours to the price of a stamp. Questioning from Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) produced a memorable DeJoy response: “I will submit that I know very little about postage and stamps.”By the time House Democrats called DeJoy back to Capitol Hill this week, their worst fears about the USPS delays’ impact on the voting system had failed to materialize. But they still had plenty of questions about DeJoy’s stewardship of the USPS: in October, the USPS inspector general issued a report finding that the changes DeJoy made to delivery schedules and protocol led to the worsening delays. Already battered by the pandemic, the USPS limped into a busy holiday season, and is now providing the poorest service that many longtime observers of the agency have ever seen.Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), a member of the Oversight panel, was a 29-year veteran of the USPS before she came to Congress. She told The Daily Beast after the hearing that she has never seen the service in such dire straits as it is now: “I don’t think we’ve ever confronted this,” she said.The unprecedented delays are happening around the country. In Washington, D.C., just 40 percent of all first-class mail arrived on time by the end of December 2020—compared to nearly 90 percent the same time the year before. Chicago residents are receiving holiday packages a month-and-a-half late. Lawmakers are inundated with calls and emails from frustrated constituents looking for answers; this week, 33 senators signed a letter to DeJoy asking him to explain the recent delays.DeJoy apologized for those delays at the top of Wednesday’s hearing. “We must acknowledge that during this peak season we fell far short of meeting our service goals,” he said. “I apologize to those customers who felt the impact of our delays"But Lawrence expressed concern about DeJoy’s forthcoming “strategic plan” to get the USPS through this difficult stretch. Though the postmaster general has not revealed specifics, he testified on Wednesday that he will propose cuts to delivery standards, including the standard that local mail be delivered within two days. Democrats believe that would be a disastrous move at a time when the USPS is struggling to compete with private-sector competitors, particularly if it is coupled with consumer cost increases, which DeJoy has suggested.“To say that’s what’s bold and needed… that’s not leadership,” said Lawrence. “He has to prove himself. He heard us loud and clear, that he needs to prove himself.”The Michigan Democrat stopped short of saying that DeJoy deserved removal, and told The Daily Beast that she and other Democrats are working with the USPS on postal reform legislation. On Wednesday, CNN reported that Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) was supportive of working with DeJoy to pass reforms.In the wake of the new political reality in Washington, the postmaster general has begun to attempt outreach to Democratic lawmakers. Lawrence said that during the last administration, DeJoy did not take her calls or respond to her—but after the 2020 election, they had a “cordial” call.Other Democrats see any charm offensive as too little, too late. Krishnamoorthi said he is supportive of working with whatever USPS leadership is in office in order to pass reforms, but argued that DeJoy should go as soon as is possible.Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), a senior member of the Oversight Committee, issued a statement after DeJoy’s hearing hailing Biden’s nomination of three appointees to the USPS Board of Governors—and explicitly stated his hope they would remove DeJoy. “These nominations are an important first step toward reforming the Postal Service,” said Connolly. “My hope is the newly constituted Board will do the right thing and bring in a new, qualified Postmaster General.”A majority of the nine-member board would be required to support DeJoy’s removal. Currently, there are four Republican appointees, and two Democratic appointees. If all Biden’s choices are confirmed, Democrats would hold a majority on the board.The Republicans on the Oversight Committee had questions for DeJoy about mail delays, but largely cast him as a victim in an anti-Trump Democratic crusade. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the top Republican on the panel, compared the party’s concerns about USPS delays—and Trump’s potential role in those delays—to the Trump impeachment investigation he said was predicated on “baseless conspiracies.”Far-right Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), meanwhile, suggested that the root cause of USPS delays was actually the Black Lives Matter protests that took place over the summer, and read articles from fringe outlets like the Gateway Pundit to prove his point. And Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) raised the unfounded belief in widespread conspiracies about election fraud while saying it was not time to get into “specifics.”At one point, tempers flared when Connolly said that Republicans who voted to object to the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6 had “no right to lecture” anyone on the dangers of partisanship.Democrats left more concerned about the fate of the USPS, however, than the state of things in Congress. “It’s not some theoretical concept,” said Krishnamoorthi. “It’s not some abstract issue, it’s real for every single one of us… I’ve gotta tell you, people are starting to work around the mail, which is a scary concept.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Marvel fans are unpacking 'WandaVision' on TikTok by cosplaying as characters and analyzing Easter eggs

    TikTokers are going viral analyzing 'WandaVision,' the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe installment on Disney+.

  • Don't blame wind for Texas blackouts

    Letter from Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council On Renewable Energy

  • Ecuador raises death toll from prison riots to 79, says situation controlled

    Ecuador on Wednesday raised the death toll from riots in four jails to 79, and said authorities had regained control following one of the bloodiest outbreaks of prison violence in its history. Police and troops were stationed at detention centers in the cities of Guayaquil, Cuenca and Latacunga, where gangs on Tuesday fought one another with handmade weapons in what authorities said was a coordinated outbreak of violence. The gangs began a battle for leadership within the prison system in December when a leader of Los Choneros, considered the system's most powerful gang, was killed in a shopping center several months after being released.

  • Charlie Munger warns of market 'frenzy'; frowns on gambling mentality, bitcoin, SPACs

    Charlie Munger, the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett, on Wednesday warned that the stock market bears signs of a bubble, reflecting a "dangerous" mentality among some investors to gamble on stocks as they would horse races. Munger, 97, lamented the recent mania for GameStop Corp, in which amateur investors encouraged each other online to buy the gaming retailer on platforms including Robinhood, and caught some hedge funds in a short squeeze. "A lot of them crowd in to buying stocks on frenzy, frequently on credit, because they see that they're going up, and of course that's a very dangerous way to invest."

  • AP FACT CHECK: Biden on virus deaths, Kerry's climate crisis

    President Joe Biden and his team are getting the numbers wrong when they talk about the enormity of the mounting COVID-19 death toll and the looming climate change threat. It shows the number of Americans who have been infected by or died from COVID-19. Based on conventional measures, coronavirus deaths in the U.S. currently do not exceed those from World War I, World War II and the Vietnam conflict.

  • Licht: Buccaneers open to giving Brady a contract extension

    The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are open to giving Tom Brady a contract extension. General manager Jason Licht reiterated Wednesday that the Super Bowl champions would like to keep the 43-year-old quarterback in uniform for as long as Brady wants to play. Licht declined to characterize any conversations the team’s had about that prospect.

  • How new GM Bill Zito improved the roster of the steamrolling Florida Panthers

    During the past 26 years, only two top executives have taken over South Florida teams and orchestrated a significant and immediate transformation, and both are Hall of Famers: the Dolphins’ Bill Parcells (Miami ascended from 1-15 to 11-5 in his first season as football operations czar) and Heat president Pat Riley, who also coached the team, immediately elevating Miami from 32-50 to 42-40 and the first of six consecutive playoff appearances.

  • U.S. scientists have shown it's plausible to power the Earth from solar panels in space

    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was widely mocked and criticized for having suggested Jewish-run space lasers might be responsible for California's wildfires. But it turns out the technology she flagged — orbiting panels that beam solar energy to Earth — does exist, at least in prototype form, CNN reports. Only instead of the Rothschilds, the Pentagon controls the technology, and instead of destroying California's forests and homes, Photovoltaic Radiofrequency Antenna Modules (PRAMs) could provide emergency power during natural disasters. Scientists working for the Pentagon have successfully tested a solar panel the size of a pizza box in space, designed as a prototype for a future system to send electricity from space back to any point on Earth. https://t.co/ubPUKtpVX5 — CNN (@CNN) February 24, 2021 The Pentagon sent a prototype PRAM into orbit in May 2020 aboard its secretive X-37B unmanned drone. The 12-inch-square photovoltaic panel showed it's capable of producing 10 watts of energy, or enough to power an iPad, to transmit back to Earth, Paul Jaffe at the U.S. Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C., told CNN. The advantages of putting solar panels in space include constant sunlight, more powerful light including blue waves filtered out by the Earth's atmosphere, and the ability to direct power to where it's needed most at any given time. "You can send power to Chicago and a fraction of a second later, if you needed, send it instead to London or Brasilia," Jaffe said. If enough solar panels are grouped together, it could provide enough clean electricity to power a city, he said. That would have been extremely helpful last week, Jaffe's colleague Chris DePuma told CNN last week. "My family lives in Texas and they're all living without power right now in the middle of a cold front because the grid is overloaded," DePuma said. "So if you had a system like this, you could redirect some power over there, and then my grandma would have heat in her house again." Jaffe and DePuma are experimenting with sending the energy back down to Earth as microwaves, hitting the correct destination using a technique called "retro-directive beam control," where the energy beams wouldn't be transmitted until a pilot signal from the terrestrial receiver is locked in at the orbiting panels. Jaffe "also allayed any future fear that bad actors could use the technology to create a giant space laser," CNN reports. More stories from theweek.comThe MyPillow guy might be Trump's ultimate chumpInvestors say Trump properties are worthless until his name is removedHouse Democrats reintroduce police reform bill named for George Floyd

  • Hyundai to replace 82,000 electric-vehicle batteries over fire risk

    The South Korean carmaker is replacing batteries for huge numbers of Kona electric cars.

  • Myanmar's hardened Chinese population takes stand against Beijing

    The chorus of banging pots and pans begins in Chinatown at about 8pm. The district in Myanmar's commercial city of Yangon is normally festooned with bright red lanterns to celebrate Chinese New Year. But when the Year of the Ox arrived in mid-February, the usual festive atmosphere was gone - replaced by a tension in the air. Here, and across the country, swelling ranks of young ethnic Chinese protesters are joining mass rallies against the brutal junta that abruptly deposed Aung San Suu Kyi's government. Many are united by rumours, circulated widely among the protest movement, that China is helping the regime install a repressive new internet system akin to one across the border that severely restricts online freedoms behind a 'Great Firewall'.

  • The more data we get, the more it seems vaccinated people aren't spreading the coronavirus

    A preliminary study from Israel suggests people vaccinated against COVID-19 have lower viral loads, which are linked to less spread of the virus.

  • Kaley Cuoco thought she was meeting with her 'Big Bang Theory' costars to discuss a 13th season - instead she found out the show was ending

    The actress said she was "in a state of shock" when Jim Parsons said he wanted to leave the series, which ended the popular CBS sitcom.

  • India warns of worsening COVID-19 situation, vaccinations to expand

    India announced an expansion of its COVID-19 vaccination programme on Wednesday but warned that breaches of coronavirus protocols could worsen an infection surge in many states. Nearly a month after the health minister declared that COVID-19 had been contained, states such as Maharashtra in the west and Kerala in the south have reported a spike in cases amid growing reluctance to wear masks and maintain social distancing. India's infections are the second highest in the world at 11.03 million, swelled by a further 13,742 in the past 24 hours, health ministry data showed.

  • 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

  • The White House has 132 rooms and its own restaurant. Here's what it's like inside Joe Biden's new home.

    The most famous home in America also comes with a movie theater, bowling alley, and underground bunkers.

  • Wild sheep freed from his own wool

    This wild sheep had a much-needed shearingrelieving him of over 78 lbs of fleeceThat's nearly half the weight of an adult kangarooBaarackLocation: Lancefield, AustraliaRescuers say he used to have an ownerbut was found wandering in a forestBaarack is now settling in with other rescued sheep in a farm sanctuary