Rare Presidential Items Up For Auction In Boston
It’s a chance to own a piece of history, with items ranging from lottery tickets to John F. Kennedy’s Harvard sweater. WBZ-TV's Rachel Holt reports.
Some believers think Trump will take power again on 4 March
The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions to punish Russia for what it described as Moscow's attempt to poison opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a nerve agent last year, in President Joe Biden's most direct challenge yet to the Kremlin. The sanctions against seven senior Russian officials, among them the head of its FSB security service, and on 14 entities marked a sharp departure from former President Donald Trump's reluctance to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin.
(SOUNDBITE) (German) MISS GERMANY CANDIDATE FROM THURINGIA, ANJA KALLENBACH, SAYING:"I am Anja. I am Miss Thuringia. I am an entrepreneur and a mother of two and I like mountain biking. And I want to encourage everyone out there to live their dreams, from now on."33-year-old Anja Kallenbach was crowned Miss Germanyin the revamped beauty contestLocation: Rust, Germany Organizers ditched the classic swimsuit walkand focused on a woman's conviction and personality rather than her looks(SOUNDBITE) RHINELAND-PALATINATE CONTESTANT, SABRINA REITZ, SAYING:"Yes, last year things started changing, the concept was changed so that it is about personality, so that what you have experienced or the kind of vision you have or how you can pass it on to other women is important. And you just notice that here too, we are united."(SOUNDBITE) (German) MISS GERMANY CANDIDATE FROM THURINGIA, ANJA KALLENBACH, SAYING: (AFTER BECOMING MISS GERMANY)"I am absolutely happy. But I think I haven't quite realized it yet. I think I have to let it all sink in first, but I'm incredibly proud to be the ambassador of all 16 of us women now. We will make a difference."
President’s warm tone towards Mexico has translated to substantial policy changes
Biden AG pick passes out of committee by bipartisan 15-7 vote
No Republicans supported restoring the right to vote to incarcerated felons. A majority of Democrats likewise opposed the measure.
"Not one person in baseball believes Albert Pujols is the age he says he is," former Miami Marlins President David Samson.
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. She was accused of driving two personal assistants out of the household and undermining the confidence of a third employee, The Times reported. A spokesman for the Sussexes told The Telegraph: "The Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma. "She is determined to continue her work building compassion around the world and will keep striving to set an example for doing what is right and doing what is good." 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. In his email, he said: "I am very concerned that the Duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of X was totally unacceptable. The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behaviour towards Y."
The Senate majority leader said that the Senate will take up President Biden's $1.9 trillion relief bill as early as Wednesday.
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. “I’m anxious to see those who committed unlawful, violent acts on January 6 brought to justice,” Lee said during a Senate Judiciary Hearing on Tuesday. “I also believe that … with this circumstance, like every other circumstance, we have to make sure that the civil liberties of the American people are protected.” The Utah Republican explained that he had “heard a number of accounts” of people who were in Washington, D.C. on January 6 who never went near the Capitol but were “inexplicably” contacted by FBI agents who knew of their presence in the district that day “with no other explanation, perhaps, other than the use of geolocation data.” “Are you geolocating people, through the FBI, based on where they were on January 6?” Lee asked Wray. “I think there may be some instances in which geolocation has been an investigative tool, but I can’t speak to any specific situation,” Wray responded. “But what are you using to do that?” Lee asked. “What’s your basis for authority? Are you using national security letters?” Wray said, “I don’t believe in any instance we’re using national security letters for investigation of the Capitol—” Lee interrupted to ask the FBI director if he had gone to the FISA court, to which Wray responded he did not “remotely believe FISA is remotely implicated in our investigation.” The senator continued pressing Wray, asking if the FBI is “using warrants predicated on probable cause.” “We certainly have executed a number of warrants in the course of the investigation of January 6,” Wray said. “All of our investigative work in response to the Capitol [riot] has been under the legal authorities that we have in consultation with the [Department of Justice] and the prosecutors.” Later, Hawley continued Lee’s line of questioning regarding geolocation data, asking Wray if his position is that he doesn’t know “whether the bureau has scooped up geolocation data, metadata cell phone records from cell phone towers.” “Do you not know, or are you saying maybe it has or maybe it hasn’t? Tell me what you know about this,” Hawley said. “So when it comes to geolocation data specifically—again, not in a specific instance, but just even the use of geolocation data—I would not be surprised to learn—but I do not know for a fact—that we were using geolocation data under any situation with connection with the investigation of [January 6],” Wray said. “But again, we do use geolocation data under different authorities and specific instances.” The FBI, Department of Justice and local police in Washington, D.C. are investigating the origins and execution of the January rioting at the Capitol, with the probe resulting in hundreds of arrests so far. Republicans have expressed concern that the methods law enforcement has used to track down rioters could infringe upon personal liberty. Last month Bank of America sparked outcry after it said it would hand over banking information to the federal authorities for people suspected of having involvement in the riots. In the days after the riot, Bank of America handed over data to the FBI on thousands of customers who traveled to Washington, D.C. around January 6, Fox News reported.
The Duchess of Sussex wore earrings during a royal tour which were a gift from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia who is accused of ordering the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Chopard earrings worn by the Duchess at a formal dinner in Fiji in October 2018 during a royal tour of New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga were a wedding gift from the crown prince according to The Times. Kensington Palace was reportedly instructed to brief the media that the chandelier earrings were “borrowed” and this was reported by outlets covering the engagement. An aide has claimed the Duke and Duchess said the earrings were borrowed from a jeweller. Lawyers for the Duchess told The Times that while she may have stated the earrings were borrowed she did not say that they were borrowed from a jeweller. The lawyer denied the Duchess misled anyone about their provenance.
An Insider reporter struggled to book an appointment and had to wait in line for hours to get the first dose of the Moderna vaccine.
CrossFit has publicly disavowed Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over the Republican's previous support for QAnon and other conspiracy theories.
Authorities are investigating whether human smuggling was involved after a crash Tuesday involving an SUV packed with 25 people and a tractor-trailer that left 13 people dead and bodies strewn across a roadway near the U.S. Mexico border. When police arrived, some of the passengers were trying to crawl out of the crumpled 1997 Ford Expedition while others were wandering around the fields. The rig's front end was pushed into the SUV's left side and two empty trailers were jackknifed behind it.
Texas is experiencing an uptick in reported COVID-19 cases after the winter storm, and it has more hot-spot counties than any other state.
New polling from Morning Consult shows Ted Cruz's job approval fell more after traveling to Mexico than when he objected to the election results.
A US general says that he believes Iran "expected to destroy a number of US aircraft and to kill a number of US service members."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Tuesday that effective next Wednesday, "all businesses of any type" in the Lone Star state will be allowed to fully reopen. Additionally, he's ending the statewide mask mandate. Those in the room where Abbott broke the news applauded the decision, but plenty of skeptics took note, as well. Coronavirus cases have receded greatly across the country over the last several weeks, but it's unclear if that decline is now plateauing. On a related note, Houston, Texas' largest city, is the one city in the United States to have reported finding at least one case of every known variant of the coronavirus, which are believed to be more transmissible and have experts on the alert for another uptick in cases as they become the dominant sources of infection. It's unlikely Houston is actually alone in this regard, but it's still cause for concern. Texas is also lagging behind in vaccinating its population, which is the second largest in the nation. Only Utah and Georgia have slower per capita vaccination rates. Texas is bottom 5 in per capita vaccination rates, yet the governor seems to believe the pandemic is over. Wild. https://t.co/XptNvbu24U — Keya Vakil (@keyavakil) March 2, 2021 Abbott, it turns out, wasn't the only governor to ease restrictions Tuesday — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) actually beat him to the punch, announcing that businesses can operate at full capacity and county mask mandates will be lifted starting Wednesday. More stories from theweek.comThe biggest jazz star you've never heard ofArizona GOP lawyer tells Supreme Court the party needs certain voting restrictions to compete with DemocratsThe Trump administration reportedly quietly funded Operation Warp Speed with money set aside for hospitals
By late summer last year, Operation Warp Speed accounts were running dry, so the Trump administration appears to have used a financial maneuver allowing Department of Health and Human Services officials to divert $10 billion from a fund meant to help hospitals and health care providers affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Stat News reports. 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. In this case, it appears the HHS siphoned the funds quietly, albeit with permission from its top lawyer. Other attorneys told Stat that the agency likely did have the wiggle room to carry out the action. 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. It's still unclear whether the decision has resulted in less money for health care providers, as the Biden administration remains mum on the subject, Stat reports. Read more at Stat News. More stories from theweek.comThe biggest jazz star you've never heard ofArizona GOP lawyer tells Supreme Court the party needs certain voting restrictions to compete with Democrats7 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's CPAC appearance
GettyA growing number of activists and lawmakers have called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to step down following multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him. Notably absent are the powerful women’s groups that supported his election.All three of the women’s groups who endorsed Cuomo over progressive challenger Cynthia Nixon in 2018 called for an independent investigation of the allegations—an arrangement to which the governor has already agreed. Two of the groups, Planned Parenthood and the National Institute for Reproductive Health, declined to discuss the matter by phone, instead sending statements via email.The Daily Beast reached the president of the third organization, the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women, on her cell phone. Asked about her organization's decision to endorse Cuomo in 2018, the president, Sonia Ossorio, called it a “ridiculous question.”But Nixon, the actress-turned-activist, sees it as a valid issue. In an email to The Daily Beast, she said pointedly: “I wish the courage shown by Charlotte Bennet and Lindsey Boylan was shared by more of those with power and influence in Albany, particularly those who claim to advocate for women.”Boylan, a former top aide to Cuomo who is now running for elected office, was the first woman to go public with allegations against the governor; she claims Cuomo forcibly kissed her and asked her to play strip poker. Bennett, a former executive assistant, came forward within days to say Cuomo asked her if she had ever slept with an older man and whether she was in a monogamous relationship—questions she saw as clear sexual overtures. A third woman, Anna Ruch, who did not work for Cuomo, said this week that he touched her bare back and asked to kiss her after meeting her at a wedding two years ago.Women’s rights activists have previously taken issue with Cuomo’s professional conduct as governor: A pro-choice group protested outside his office for much of 2017 over his failure to move a key piece of reproductive rights legislation through the Democratic-controlled Senate. The bill eventually passed in 2019, after being held up for years by a group of Democrats who formed a power-sharing agreement with Republicans—a group that Cuomo was reportedly “deeply involved” in creating.Third Woman Accuses Cuomo, Says He Asked to Kiss HerNixon pilloried the governor during the 2018 campaign for stalling on this legislation, and for other missteps around women’s issues: the time he told a female reporter asking him about sexual misconduct in state government that she was doing a “disservice to women,” for example, or the time he told another woman reporter he wanted to watch her “eat the whole sausage.” (The woman was holding a sausage sandwich.)Despite this, Planned Parenthood Empire State Votes—a PAC representing the interests of one of the largest abortion providers in the state—threw their weight behind Cuomo in both 2018 and 2014, when Cuomo’s primary opponent was another progressive woman, Zephyr Teachout.The second-most prominent abortion rights group in the state, NARAL New York, also supported Cuomo in 2014. The group later restructured as the National Institute for Reproductive Health, whose PAC threw its support behind Cuomo in 2018, calling him “a national champion for women’s health, rights, and equality.”Other prominent women’s groups such as EMILY’s List, which supports pro-choice women running for office, stayed out of the primaries altogether. In fact, the only prominent women’s group to go against Cuomo was NOW-NY, which endorsed Teachout in 2014. The president at the time, Zenaida Mendez, was voted out of her post shortly thereafter. The group endorsed Cuomo in the following election.“It was really amazing and powerful for NOW to support me in that first race, and Cuomo made it clear that that was unacceptable and [Mendez] would lose her job for doing that,” Teachout told The Daily Beast. She added: “I think there's a combination in New York of fear and, I don't know, kind of a learned helplessness in the face of Cuomo.”Cuomo’s office did not respond to a request for comment. A campaign spokesperson previously described claims that Cuomo had a hand in Mendez’s ouster as a conspiracy theory.The Young Women Cuomo Underestimated Are About to Bring Him DownIn a statement to The Daily Beast on Monday, hours before the third Cuomo accuser’s story was published, Planned Parenthood Empire State Votes said it stood with victims of sexual harassment, but refused to answer questions about whether it stood by its decision to endorse Cuomo in 2018 or had plans to do so in the future.“We believe Attorney General Tish James is the right person to oversee a truly independent investigation of the allegations against Governor Cuomo,” a spokesperson said. “This is a necessary step on a path to restore trust and ensure accountability.”NIRH President Andrea Miller also called for an independent investigation, adding via a spokesperson that “no amount of public support for policies that advance reproductive freedom can ever excuse sexual harassment.”Asked if the organization would consider endorsing Cuomo in the future, Miller’s spokesperson passed along this comment: "We haven't had those conversations yet, but we do take a mix of factors into account when issuing an endorsement, including ethical conduct while in office."Andrew Cuomo Won, But He’s Living in Cynthia Nixon’s WorldNOW-NY released a statement following Boylan’s allegations, calling on the state legislature to initiate a “full examination” of the complaint and how it was handled. The group re-released the same statement in the wake of the second allegation.Other women’s groups have also attracted criticism for their handling of the situation. Time’s Up, the organization created to support victims of sexual harassment amid the MeToo movement, called on Cuomo’s administration to conduct a “full and independent investigation” of Boylan’s claims shortly after they were published. Several critics pointed out that the administration could not conduct an independent investigation of itself.Erica Vladimer, co-founder of the Albany-based Sexual Harassment Working Group, said there needed to be more transparency about how allegations of sexual harassment will affect these group’s endorsements. Part of shutting down systemic abuses of power, she said, is “making sure that there is public accountability.”“Otherwise it looks like your traditional politics, and that's what got us here in the first place.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? 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