With so many crazy things happening, sometimes things fall through the cracks. Here are some headlines that you may find interesting and worth discussing. Please feel free to post ‘headlines’ you would like to share that we may have missed.
Biden Administration:
- Biden officially undoes Trump’s designation of Seattle as an ‘anarchist jurisdiction.’
- For the first time, states and localities will spend at least $77 million of Department of Homeland Security grant money on combating domestic violent extremism, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Thursday.
Congress:
- Where’s the neighbor when you need him?!
- And another idiot opens his yap: Sen. John Kennedy apologized on Thursday for calling President Joe Biden’s Interior Department nominee, Deb Haaland, a “whack job.“
- The Louisiana Republican said he regretted the remark about Haaland, explaining that he was searching for another word before calling her “a neo-socialist, left-of-Lenin whack job.”
- A divided House on Thursday narrowly passed a sprawling bill that would extend civil rights protections to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, but the measure faced an uphill battle to enactment, with Republicans almost uniformly opposed.
- The legislation, passed 224 to 206, almost entirely along party lines, stands little chance of drawing enough Republican support in the Senate to advance, at least in its current form. It was the second time the Democratic-led House had passed the measure, known as the Equality Act, which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add explicit bans on discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in both public and private spaces.
- While speaking about the Equality Act and why she feels it is necessary, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referenced the moment Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., hung an anti-transgender sign mocking Rep. Marie Newman, D-Ill., who put a transgender pride flag outside her office in support of her daughter. Pelosi said it was a “sad event” and that members of Congress should “take pride in our LGBTQ community.”
- The Equality Act has really caused some heads to explode:
- Pro Tip: NOT A RELIGION DEBATE!
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is facing sharp criticism after she posted an anti-transgender sign outside of her office, directly across the hall from another lawmaker who has a transgender child.
- Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Walmart pays employees “starvation wages,” on the heels of an announcement the company will increase pay to $15 per hour for only some employees.
- “Walmart pays wages so low that tens of thousands of their workers are forced to rely on public assistance in order to survive,” Sanders said Thursday in a meeting of the Senate Budget Committee. “They are forced to rely on food stamps to feed their families, paid for by the U.S. taxpayer; public housing to put a roof over their heads, paid for by the U.S. taxpayer; and Medicaid to get the health care they need paid for by the U.S. taxpayer.”
COVID-19 Updates:
- Flu has virtually disappeared from the U.S., with reports coming in at far lower levels than anything seen in decades.
- Experts say that measures put in place to fend off the coronavirus — mask wearing, social distancing and virtual schooling — were a big factor in preventing a “twindemic” of flu and COVID-19. A push to get more people vaccinated against flu probably helped, too, as did fewer people traveling, they say.
- This didn’t age well: Resurfaced Clip Shows Kayleigh McEnany Saying Coronavirus Won’t Come to the U.S.
White ISIS/MAGAts, White Supremacists/Wing Nut Watch:
- Top leaders in the Colorado Republican Party are doubling down on the baseless idea that voter fraud cost former President Trump the 2020 election.
- One of the rioters accused of storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was turned in by his ex-girlfriend after sending her several videos and texts from the scene, including one calling her a “moron,” court documents show.
- Richard Michetti is facing charges of knowingly entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and obstruction of justice/Congress, according to a Feb. 17 criminal complaint. The Ridley Park, Pa., resident was arraigned Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia and released on unsecured bail with electronic monitoring, reports The Morning Call.
- Capitol Police Chief: Records Prove Immediate Calls For Military Backup On Jan 6.
Other headlines:
- Weekly jobless claims drop sharply but labor market remains challenged.
- First-time jobless claims fell to 730,000 for the week ended Feb. 20, the Labor Department said.
- That was well below the 845,000 Dow Jones estimate and a sharp decline from the 841,000 the previous week.
- Continuing claims hit a fresh pandemic-era low just above 4.42 million.
- Drunken driving charge against Bruce Springsteen dropped.
