Rodeo cancellation 'heartbreaking,' but right thing to do, most say

Even with plans to shift the event later than its traditional February/March start, the ongoing pandemic jeopardized this year's festivities.

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    President Biden on Wednesday nominated three people for the U.S. Postal Service board of directors. The nominations would fill vacant seats on the board and allow Biden to indirectly assert control over an independent agency beset by service delays and rumored cuts by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major Republican donor appointed last year under former President Donald Trump. Biden nominated Ron Stronman, the recently retired deputy postmaster general; Amber McReynolds, a vote-by-mail advocate who heads the National Vote at Home Institute; and Anton Hajjar, former general counsel of the American Postal Workers Union. If confirmed to the nine-member board, "the new slate would create a Democratic advantage and potentially the votes to oust DeJoy, whose summer overhaul led to precipitous service declines that snarled up untold numbers of Americans' bills, prescriptions, and paychecks," The Washington Post reports. At a House Oversight Committee hearing earlier Wednesday, DeJoy said he plans to stay postmaster general for "a long time," telling Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), "Get used to me." "DeJoy spent most of the hearing dodging questions about his forthcoming strategic plan for the Postal Service, which includes higher prices and slower delivery," the Post reports, citing two people familiar with the plan. DeJoy said the 10-year plan should be ready in March and conceded it might include lower delivery standards for first-class mail and fewer airplanes to transport mail, a move that would slow service across the country. Even if the newly configured board — the six current members are older men, five of them white — doesn't fire DeJoy, he's unlikely to get the same level of support for his cost-cutting measures. "The board has the right to hire and to fire postmaster generals, so DeJoy's certainly going to have to function in a way that he keeps the support of the board," Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, told The Associated Press. "He's going to be dealing with some changing dynamics on the board." More stories from theweek.comIt's been 1 year since Trump infamously tweeted the 'coronavirus is very much under control' in the U.S.The MyPillow guy might be Trump's ultimate chump5 cartoons about Andrew Cuomo's nursing home scandal

  • Exclusive: Northern Ireland Protocol must be abolished, demands European Research Group

    The Northern Ireland Protocol must be abolished rather than tweaked, the European Research Group will urge the Government on Thursday. The hardline Tory Brexiteers will publish a report, seen by The Telegraph, urging Boris Johnson to overhaul the problematic protocol rather than work with the EU to amend it. It comes amid a growing outcry over bureaucracy and checks, required under the protocol, hampering the inward flow of some goods to Northern Ireland from Great Britain. The protocol was established to smooth trade friction arising from Northern Ireland remaining inside the UK internal market while continuing to apply some EU rules. The Brexiteer MPs propose replacing it with a “mutual enforcement” arrangement, via which both the UK and EU would agree voluntarily to enforce each other’s rules. This would see the UK apply EU customs regulations in Northern Ireland, undertaking checks “at source” in warehouses and factories instead of checks taking place at a border. The ERG’s 38-page report comes after Michael Gove and Maros Sefcovic, the EU Commission vice-president, on Wednesday night issued a joint statement declaring both the UK and EU’s “full commitment” to “the proper implementation of the protocol”. The pair’s statement acknowledged that “joint action” was needed to make it work, but their declaration of support for it disappointed Tory Eurosceptics and Unionists. A UK Government source was also downbeat on the prospect of a breakthrough over the issues surrounding the protocol, conceding “there was no real progress” made in the meeting between Mr Gove and Mr Sefcovic. The source added that there “seems to be a lack of understanding on the EU side” of the situation on the ground in Northern Ireland and how the protocol is impacting people’s everyday lives there. It appeared Mr Sefcovic has “not been given any political room for manoeuvre” by hardliners in the Commission and member states, the source added, saying the bloc appeared to have forgotten its aborted move to trigger Article 16 of the protocol last month. The ERG, which boasts more than 50 MP supporters, called in senior Brexiteer lawyers Martin Howe QC, Barnabas Reynolds and James Webber to help draft its report. Their publication, entitled “Re-uniting the Kingdom: How and why to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol”, argues the mechanism has “had a profound and negative effect” on the UK’s internal market, as well as the constitutional position of Northern Ireland. It sees the ERG formally join the growing chorus of opposition to the protocol, which has been led by the Democratic Unionist Party and other Unionists who insist it is unworkable. This week DUP leader Arlene Foster, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, and senior party DUP MPs announced they were backing legal action against it. She has said a “long-term solution rather than sticking plasters” is needed, adding: “Whether it is the flow of parcels, supermarket goods, chilled meats or medicines, from GB to NI, the United Kingdom single market has been ruptured.” Mark Francois, chairman of the ERG, told The Telegraph: “As this report makes crystal clear, from the viewpoint of the ERG, the NI protocol has to go. We’ve recommended an alternative called mutual enforcement which gives both sides what they need without infringing the sovereignty of either party.” He added: “We very much hope that just as the EU swore blind they would never abandon the backstop and then did so, they may yet abandon their adherence to the protocol as well.” Eurosceptic Tories were buoyed last week by Downing Street’s promotion of Lord Frost to the Cabinet to lead on the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU, believing he will take a tougher approach to Brussels than Mr Gove, who holds the brief until the end of this month.

  • Biden news - live: Trump Jr deposed over inaugural funds as White House defends migrant camp after AOC attack

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    Former Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa told a Japanese court Wednesday he believed the compensation for his predecessor Carlos Ghosn was too low “by international standards,” and so he supported Ghosn’s retirement packages to prevent him from leaving. “Mr. Ghosn had outstanding abilities and achievements,” Saikawa said, testifying in Tokyo District Court in the criminal trial of Greg Kelly, a former senior executive at Nissan Motor Co.

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  • U.S. Senator Manchin to back Biden pick for interior secretary

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