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Published by Reuters By Jason Lange and Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Republican Party on Thursday said its future presidential candidates might not participate in debates run by the Commission on Presidential Debates due to concerns about fairness, upending decades of tradition. In a letter https://bit.ly/3I0DPmB to the non-profit commission known as the CPD, which has run presidential debates since 1988, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the party was considering amending its rules to ensure its candidates do not attend the debates because of concerns about “whether the CPD credibly can provide a fair and impartial forum for presidential debates.” She said the party would try to help future Republican presidential nominees participate in debates that are organized more fairly. It is unclear what format those debates would take or whether they would take place as often as in recent decades. Prior to the debate commission’s founding in 1987, political parties or campaigns negotiated directly on the terms of debates. The looming schism comes as U.S. political divisions have grown deeper and the possibility of fewer debates could leave Americans with less access to unfiltered information about their aspiring leaders. At the same time, Republicans have long accused the debate commission, which was founded to codify the debates as a permanent part of presidential elections, of being biased in favor of Democratic candidates. Republicans are also concerned that the commission could hold its first debate for the 2024 presidential contest after the start of early voting, as it did in 2020, McDaniel said. Last year, McDaniel and other party officials asked the commission to agree to changes in how it conducts its business and how the debates were held. The RNC rule change could be made official at a party meeting in Salt Lake City in February, McDaniel said. (Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Drew Barrymore turned to the ‘Queer Eye’ team to re-enter the dating world. The 46-year-old actress – who has been single since splitting from ex-husband Will Kopelman in 2016 – had a Zoom date with ‘Top Chef’ star Sam Talbot as they were both “unable to fly”, she got tips from the cast of the reality show. Speaking about the date – which will air on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ this week – she told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “It was so fun. I had Jonathan [Van Ness] holding up, like, silly questions and naughty signs making me giggle. “I had Tan [France] saying, ‘Hey, I notice something over there,’ like, ask him about that. “I had Antoni [Porowski] tell me, ‘You are doing a good job and I had Bobby going, ‘Hey, I see plants and dogs, see how he is a caretaker,’ it was, like, every person. I do feel like I was on their show.” And it seems the boys did their job, as she and Sam have kept in touch and are already talking about the possibility of meeting in real life. She added: “We have been texting. So, I mean, this just happened. We were bold enough to say, ‘Should we meet in another forum?’ “And so, we’re keeping communication alive, which is really exciting and that is perfectly enough for the moment, and I think we will figure out what our next step is.” Although Drew – who has daughters Olive and Frankie with ex Will – has felt “apprehensive” about online dating, she has started to accept the need to “figure out [her] side of the street”, and accept that there’s nothing “wrong” with her for not dating for so long. She explained: “A lot of us out there who stay single for a really long time can start to get an inner dialogue of, ‘Maybe there is something wrong with me,’ rather than realizing it can be an empowered choice. “And in my case, I really wanted to honor raising two daughters, and their dad is now happily remarried. “It has been six years, I have a great sense of peace of what is happening on that side of the street.” View the full article

Published by Reuters UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Human Rights Watch on Thursday criticised U.S. President Joe Biden and other Western leaders for a weak defense of democracy and for failing to meet challenges from the climate crisis and COVID-19 pandemic to poverty, inequality and racial injustice. In contrast to what Human Rights Executive Director Kenneth Roth described as former U.S. President Donald Trump’s “embrace of friendly autocrats”, Biden took office in January 2021 with a pledge to put human rights at the center of his foreign policy. “But he continued to sell arms to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel despite their persistent repression,” Roth wrote in Human Rights Watch’s annual World Report, released on Thursday. “Other Western leaders displayed similar weakness in their defense of democracy,” Roth wrote, naming French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Roth also said that during key summits Biden “seemed to lose his voice when it came to public denunciation of serious human rights violations.” “The U.S. State Department has issued occasional protests about repression in certain countries, and in extreme cases the Biden administration introduced targeted sanctions on some officials responsible, but the influential voice of the president was often missing,” he wrote. U.S. officials have defended the Biden administration’s record, saying diplomats have frequently raised human rights concerns with foreign leaders, including in difficult talks with adversaries including China and Russia. “If democracies are to prevail in the global contest with autocracy, their leaders must do more than spotlight the autocrats’ inevitable shortcomings. They need to make a stronger, positive case for democratic rule,” Roth said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mary Milliken and Karishma Singh) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jarrett Renshaw (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will seek to rally Senate Democrats in a meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday to unite and alter the chamber’s rules to pass voting-rights legislation. Biden and most fellow Democrats have ratcheted up their campaign to pass voting-rights legislation after spending much of his first year in office debating spending bills focused on COVID-19 relief, infrastructure and social safety net programs. Democrats see the voting rights bills as a last chance to counter new voting restrictions in Republican-controlled states ahead of the Nov. 8 congressional elections, when they run the risk of losing their narrow majorities in at least one chamber. Former Democratic President Barack Obama wrote in a USA Today op-ed on Thursday that the Senate’s “filibuster” rule, which requires 60 of the 100 senators to agree on most legislation, has become a common tool for the chamber’s minority to block important progress on issues supported by the majority of voters. “We can’t allow it to be used to block efforts to protect our democracy. That’s why I fully support President Joe Biden’s call to modify Senate rules as necessary to make sure pending voting rights legislation gets called for a vote,” Obama wrote. Democrats, who hold just 50 seats, remain divided on how to get around the rule that has hampered them. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-meet-with-senate-democrats-voting-rights-thursday-aide-2022-01-12 outlined a strategy to ensure a Senate floor debate on voting rights, after three separate attempts last year were stymied by Republicans. Under the plan, the House of Representatives will soon repackage two elections-related bills into one and pass it. It would then go to the Senate under a special procedure preventing Republicans from blocking debate. If Republicans remain opposed, that bill would not pass the Senate unless all Democrats agree to change the filibuster, he said. At least two Democrats are opposed to a rule change. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday reiterated that Republicans oppose voting-rights legislation and changes to the filibuster. McConnell also criticized Biden for a speech in Atlanta on Tuesday pushing for an overhaul of the filibuster to pass voting rights bills, calling it “incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office.” Republican lawmakers in 19 states have passed dozens of laws making it harder to vote. The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act together would make Election Day a holiday, expand access to mail-in voting and strengthen U.S. Justice Department oversight of local election jurisdictions with a history of discrimination. (Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Bill Gates says “social media got behind” with dealing with misinformation after he was caught up in a COVID-19 conspiracy theory. The Microsoft founder was falsely accused of wanting to plant microchips in people’s arms via coronavirus vaccinations amid the global pandemic, and the billionaire has insisted apps like Twitter and Facebook need to do more to ensure only factual information is shared online. Gates was asked on Twitter by Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at Edinburgh University Medical School and director of the Global Health Governance Programme, “One major problem has been online misinformation on Facebook & other platforms around vaccines, masks and other interventions — how do we deal with this challenge?” To which, he replied: “Trusted authorities like @WHO and @CDCgov need more resources to see the pandemic early (surveillance) and to communicate better. Social media got behind on trying to get factual information out – there will be a lot of debate about how to do better on that… People like you and I and Tony Fauci have been subject to a lot of misinformation. I didn’t expect that. Some of it like me putting chips in arms doesn’t make sense to me – why would I want to do that?” Gates and his ex-wife Melinda’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – which has worked to help stop the spread of malaria, HIV and tuberculosis – continues to provide support throughout the pandemic. Gates previously said: “We’ve taken an organisation that was focused on HIV and malaria and polio eradication, and almost entirely shifted it to work on this. “This has the foundation’s total attention. Even our non-health related work, like higher education and K-12 [schools], is completely switched around to look at how you facilitate online learning.” As well as providing funding to help fight the disease, they have been focusing on eliminating extreme poverty. A statement read: “While we’ve announced more than $250 million in funding to date and a commitment to leverage our Strategic Investment Fund toward the pandemic, we are increasingly focusing the expertise of our staff and leveraging our partnerships toward the urgent efforts needed to end this pandemic. “These are unprecedented times, but our belief that all lives have equal value and our commitment to addressing inequities across all of our work remains more critical than ever.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Anthony Deutsch and Simon Jessop AMSTERDAM/LONDON (Reuters) – The Dutch wing of environmental group Friends of the Earth, which won a landmark court victory against Royal Dutch Shell last year, is targeting 30 major corporate emitters of greenhouse gases in a campaign launched on Thursday. Milieudefensie has set its sights on large companies with legal bases in the Netherlands, where a court ruled in May that Shell must reduce its environmental footprint. The heads of the companies were being sent letters demanding that they provide plans outlining how they will trim emissions of the heat-trapping gases by 45% from 2019 levels by 2030. A failure to do so may result in legal action, said Peer de Rijk, policy officer at Milieudefensie. “We are very clear that in the end, if needed, we are willing to go to court. But of course we are hoping these companies will be moving by themselves,” De Rijk told Reuters in an interview. “We are willing to engage in talks, but we are in a hurry as well, so we won’t accept talks for the sake of talks themselves,” he said. “Climate science is very clear. This is exactly what is needed.” Shell is appealing against The Hague district court order to cut emissions in line with the 2015 Paris agreement. Among leaders in finance, retailers, oil and energy majors, builders and industrial manufacturers on the list are KLM, the Dutch arm of airline Air France KLM, ABN Amro bank and supermarket operator Ahold Delhaize. “You lead an enterprise with control over and influence on a substantial amount of CO2 emissions. An enterprise that can and must contribute to the system change necessary to prevent dangerous climate change,” a draft letter seen by Reuters said, asking: “Are you a frontrunner or a straggler?” Some of the businesses are “small in the Netherlands itself, but they have a very large, international, global impact and the Shell verdict very clearly states that it is …possible to hold them accountable for their global emissions via the Dutch law,” he said. MID-APRIL DEADLINE The move by Milieudefensie follows a commitment by countries to accelerate their emissions reductions at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in November, with investors managing $130 trillion in assets signing up to net-zero and pressuring companies to ensure their plans are good enough. The broadening out of Milieudefensie’s campaign also comes against a backdrop of increased climate-related litigation globally, with more than 1,000 cases brought since 2015, research from the London School of Economics showed. Milieudefensie set a three-month deadline until April 15 for the companies to present a climate plan. They will be used to set an emissions baseline against which progress in cutting climate-heating gasses can be measured, the group said. Other companies receiving a letter were: Pension fund ABP, insurer Aegon, paint maker AkzoNobel, insurer Atradius, builder BAM Groep, dredger Boskalis Westminster, oil company BP, Dow Chemical, nutrition maker DSM, oil company ExxonMobil, dairy group FrieslandCampina, bank ING Groep, airline KLM, chemical manufacturer LyondellBasell, insurer NN Group, pension fund PfZW, Rabobank, energy company RWE, Schiphol airport, oil major Shell, car producer Stellantis, Tata Steel, products group Unilever, Uniper energy, food group Vion, commodities trader Vitol, Vopak storage and Yara chemical. KLM said it has committed to aligning its net-zero pathway with climate science, and planned to use more sustainable aviation fuel. An ABN spokesperson said the bank supported efforts to limit global warming and was working to reduce emissions from its lending. Ahold Delhaize said it had not yet received the official letter and could not comment. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam and Simon Jessop in London; Editing by William Maclean) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two months after U.S. President Joe Biden announced an unprecedented effort among major oil consuming economies to work together to bring down rising fuel prices, prices are again approaching multi-year highs. And Biden has few options to stop the rally. Global benchmark Brent crude passed $84 a barrel on Wednesday and leading analysts are forecasting that oil could pass $100 a barrel in the first quarter. [O/R] Biden spearheaded a coordinated release of oil from strategic reserves with Japan, India, South Korea, Britain and China in November that helped quell prices – even though, in the end, China did not take part. Brent briefly dropped below $70 a barrel, but the effects were short-lived. Rising oil prices present a political headache for Biden and any U.S. president, because the United States is the biggest consumer of gasoline globally, burning roughly 9 million barrels per day (bpd) of the motor fuel. Crude prices make up about two thirds of the price of gasoline, making the commodity’s price an important part of consumers’ budgets. Republicans are pointing fingers at climate-focused policies supported by Biden, a Democrat, for rising prices, but the reality is that oil market is linked to global factors beyond any U.S. political party’s control. Investors have been buying oil on expectations that the Omicron coronavirus variant will have a limited effect on global economic activity. Currently U.S. pump prices are about 80 cents a gallon below their all-time record hit in 2008, but they are expected to rise. WHY ARE OIL PRICES RISING AGAIN? Worldwide oil demand recovered to pre-pandemic levels at roughly 99 million bpd, but supply is at least a million bpd short of that, according to the International Energy Association. Economists say the combination of strong demand, weak investment and a lack of spare capacity has caused prices to rise. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, have been routinely falling short of targeted supply increases. “OPEC+ remain steadfast in adding 400,000 bpd back to the market each month, but our data suggests that monthly additions tally closer to 250,000 bpd,” Mike Tran, commodity strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said in a note to clients. U.S. production averaged roughly 11.3 million bpd in the second half of 2021, compared with a peak of about 13 million bpd at the end of 2019. CAN’T BIDEN PRESSURE OPEC AGAIN? Biden last year joined his predecessors who at one time or another pressed OPEC to raise output, with variable success. The president announced several steps to try to bring fuel prices down in November. The White House, in conjunction with Japan, South Korea and India, announced a release of barrels from its strategic reserves. Biden had also said China would be involved, but the country, the world’s largest crude importer, said it would sell from its reserves on its own schedule. The group cut supply by a record 9.7 million bpd in early 2020 as the pandemic broke out. It has been slowly restoring output, but currently OPEC+ is still withholding more than 3 million bpd in supply. WHAT ARE BIDEN’S OTHER OPTIONS? Biden could increase sales from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). However, that supply is limited, and pales in comparison to the size of the global market. SPR crude inventories have fallen to 593 million barrels, their lowest since November 2002. Biden’s announcement in November was for a release of 50 million barrels in sales and loans – roughly half of one day’s global consumption. The president could also consider a federal gas tax holiday; the federal excise on gasoline is 18.4 cents a gallon. In 2008, lawmakers floated this idea in response to a surge in prices that brought gasoline costs to more than $4 a gallon – but because refiners cannot quickly produce more gasoline, such a move would likely only boost demand, which would ultimately send prices higher, economists have argued. (Reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault; Editing by Heather Timmons, David Gaffen and Marguerita Choy) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – Personalized smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers after two decades of questions about reliability and concerns they will usher in a new wave of government regulation. Four-year-old LodeStar Works on Friday unveiled its 9mm smart handgun for shareholders and investors in Boise, Idaho. And a Kansas company, SmartGunz LLC, says law enforcement agents are beta testing its product, a similar but simpler model. Both companies hope to have a product commercially available this year. LodeStar co-founder Gareth Glaser said he was inspired after hearing one too many stories about children shot while playing with an unattended gun. Smart guns could stop such tragedies by using technology to authenticate a user’s identity and disable the gun should anyone else try to fire it. They could also reduce suicides, render lost or stolen guns useless, and offer safety for police officers and jail guards who fear gun grabs. But attempts to develop smart guns have stalled: Smith & Wesson got hit with a boycott, a German company’s product was hacked, and a New Jersey law aimed at promoting smart guns has raised the wrath of defenders of the Second Amendment. The LodeStar gun, aimed at first-time buyers, would retail for $895. The test-firing of the LodeStar gun before Reuters cameras has not been reported elsewhere. A range officer fired the weapon, a third-generation prototype, in its different settings without issue. Glaser acknowledged there will be additional challenges to large-scale manufacturing, but expressed confidence that after years of trial and error the technology was advanced enough and the microelectronics inside the gun are well-protected. “We finally feel like we’re at the point where … let’s go public,” Glaser said. “We’re there.” Most early smart gun prototypes used either fingerprint unlocking or radio frequency identification technology that enables the gun to fire only when a chip in the gun communicates with another chip worn by the user in a ring or bracelet. LodeStar integrated both a fingerprint reader and a near-field communication chip activated by a phone app, plus a PIN pad. The gun can be authorized for more than one user. The fingerprint reader unlocks the gun in microseconds, but since it may not work when wet or in other adverse conditions, the PIN pad is there as a backup. LodeStar did not demonstrate the near-field communication signal, but it would act as a secondary backup, enabling the gun as quickly as users can open the app on their phones. SmartGunz would not say which law enforcement agencies are testing its weapons, which are secured by radio frequency identification. SmartGunz developed a model selling at $1,795 for law enforcement and $2,195 for civilians, said Tom Holland, a Kansas Democratic state senator who co-founded the company in 2020. Colorado-based Biofire is developing a smart gun with a fingerprint reader. Skeptics have argued that smart guns are too risky for a person trying to protect a home or family during a crisis, or for police in the field. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearms industry trade association, says it does not oppose smart guns as long as the government doesn’t mandate their sale. “If I had a nickel for every time in my career I heard somebody say they’re about to bring us a so-called smart gun on the market, I’d probably be retired now,” said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the NSSF. Guns coming to market could trigger a 2019 New Jersey law requiring all gun shops in the state to offer smart guns after they become available. The 2019 law replaced a 2002 law that would have banned the sale of any handgun except smart guns. “The other side tipped their hand because they used smart guns to ban everything that’s not a smart gun,” said Scott Bach, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs. “It woke gun owners up.” When Smith & Wesson pledged in 1999 to promote smart gun development, among other gun safety measures in an agreement with the U.S. government, the National Rifle Association sponsored a boycott that led to a drop in revenue. In 2014, German company Armatix put a smart .22 caliber pistol on the market, but it was pulled from stores after hackers discovered a way to remotely jam the gun’s radio signals and, using magnets, fire the gun when it should have been locked. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Donna Bryson and Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Ava Phillippe says “gender is whatever” in response to being asked about her sexuality. The 22-year-old daughter of Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon gave a frank admission when asked on Instagram if she likes “boys or girls” Ava responded: “I’m attracted to… people (Gender is whatever). She was linked last summer to Owen Mahoney, a student at UC Berkeley, where Ava also studies. It is unclear if they are still together or not. The Ivy Park model also answered a question about what was like to have famous parents – who met on the set of 90s teen movie ‘Cruel Intentions but split in 2006 – and admitted to not wanting to “change a thing”. Asked if her life would have been different if her parents weren’t famous, Ava answered: “Yes. Very. That said though, I wouldn’t change a thing. The good and the not so good all made me who I am and gave me so many amazing opportunities. And my parents get to do what they love which is super cool.” Recently, Ava’s mother – the ‘Legally Blonde’ star – admitted it was “odd” to raise children in the limelight. Reese – who, along with Ava has 18-year-old Deacon with Ryan and nine-year-old Tennessee with her second husband Jim Toth – said: “It’s an odd situation because I didn’t grow up famous. So [Ava is] living an experience that I did not have, and so are my sons. “We are lucky enough to have friends who grew up in Hollywood and can help give them advice on how to navigate. Ava is so down-to-earth. She wants to do great things in the world. She’s studying and learning and trying to find herself. It’s a big thing in life to try different things and figure out what is really your path.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Janet Jackson “loves” that women have “got comfortable” with their size in modern times. The 55-year-old pop icon spoke out about positivity and “loves” that that she no longer feels a pressure to be thin like she did “back in the day.” She said: “Women have gotten comfortable in their skin, in their size, in being full-figured and I love that, as opposed to back in the day. You had to always be thin and always look a certain way. And now it’s all accepted and it is all beautiful and I absolutely love that.” The ‘All For You’ hitmaker – who shot to fame as a child alongside her brothers as part of The Jacksons and has since gone on to sell 100 million records world wide – opened up about her “tomboy” nature when she was growing up, noting that she would always prefer to wear “a suit or a bow tie.” She told Allure Magazine: ““I was never a girly girl. I was always a tomboy. So it was always about pants, suits, even as an early teenager. I remember when my brothers got their star on the Walk of Fame and other awards they got, and I look back on pictures and I always had on a suit with a tie, a bow tie, or suspenders. Always loving black and never wanting to expose any part of my body, I felt most comfortable to cover it up to here. “[These days] I’m embracing me and trying to learn to love me for me, my body, all of that. Trying to feel comfortable in embracing that. Throwing myself in the lion’s den. Just going for it, wanting to do something different” View the full article

Lia ThomasTrans Swimmers Compete Last week, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas returned to the pool for the first time since her record-breaking performance in Dec. 2021. Much like that December meet in Akron, OH, Thomas turned in winning performances, tuning out weeks of comments calling for her ban from competing as her gender identity. What was different this time was that Thomas wasn’t the only trans NCAA swimmer that impressed. Alongside Thomas was Yale swimmer Iszac Henig, a trans man who competes on the school’s women’s swimming team. According to Outsports, Thomas and Henig notched victories at Thomas’ finale in her home pool. Thomas won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle while Henig broke a pool record in the 50-yard freestyle. The two went head-to-head in the 100-yard freestyle event, with Henig claiming first and Thomas finishing sixth. The duo also competed against one another in the 400-yard freestyle relay, with Henig’s Yale squad winning and Thomas’ Penn team finishing third. It is sure to not be the last time the two cross paths as the NCAA swimming season rolls on until the NCAA championships in March. It appears that their swimming teams have their backs as well. The two shared a moment of solidarity alongside their teammates ahead of the weekend’s events, standing side-by-side with their fellow seniors for a photo celebrating Penn’s Senior Day. Lia Thomas: Previously on Towleroad Trans Swimmers Lia Thomas And Iszac Henig Compete, Win At Ivy League Meet Brian Bell January 12, 2022 Read More Queen Honors Olympian Tom Daley for His Athletics and Advocacy; Diver, Knitting Entrepreneur Now ‘Officer of the Order of the British Empire’ Brian Bell January 4, 2022 Read More WNBA Champ Candace Parker, Former Teammate Come Out on Wedding Anniversary; Rapinoe’s New Nike Clothes Line; Top 200 LGBTQ Pro Wrestlers Brian Bell December 15, 2021 Read More Carl Nassib Designs Custom LGBTQ Cleats For NFL Charity Program; First Time Multiple Players Honor LGBTQ Orgs Brian Bell December 14, 2021 Read More Chicago Blackhawks Covered Up Player’s Report of Sexual Assault By Former Coach in 2010; NHL Fines $2 Million, Execs And Coach Resign Brian Bell October 29, 2021 Read More Texas House Votes to Ban Transgender Girls From Sports. No Sign of An Issue. Just More Red Meat For the Gaslit Base Towleroad October 15, 2021 Read More Photo courtesy of Penn Athletics View the full article

Published by Reuters By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats’ razor-thin majority in the U.S. Senate has led to them making new calls to change the chamber’s longstanding “filibuster” supermajority rule to allow them to pass a voting rights bill that President Joe Biden will urge https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-biden-filibuster-idUSKBN2JK1L8 action on on Tuesday. Critics say the “filibuster,” which requires 60 of the 100 senators to agree on most legislation, is an anti-democratic hurdle that prevents Washington from addressing pressing problems. Supporters say it forces lawmakers to seek consensus, serves as important check on the party in power and ensures that major laws that affect American life don’t change radically with every election. Once a rarity, the filibuster is now routinely invoked. In recent months, Republicans have used it to block voting-rights bills and bring the United States perilously close to a crippling debt default. Democrats could use their razor-thin Senate majority to eliminate the filibuster altogether. But centrist Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema oppose this move, saying that it will shatter the few bipartisan bonds that remain and give Republicans free rein if they take a majority in the Nov. 8 midterm elections. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has warned that his party would use other tactics to bring the chamber to a halt if the filibuster is eliminated. WHAT IS THE FILIBUSTER? Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate was set up to allow for unlimited debate. In the 19th century, lawmakers developed the filibuster — a word derived from Dutch and Spanish terms for Caribbean pirates — as a way to talk a bill to death. Then-Democratic Senator Strom Thurmond set the record https://www.cop.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture/overview.htm in 1957, when spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes to block a major civil rights bill. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy spoke for nearly 15 hours in 2016 to press for gun-control legislation and Republican Senator Ted Cruz spoke for more than 21 hours in 2013 to protest President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act. None of those efforts were successful. Senators agreed in 1917 that a vote by a two-thirds majority could end debate on a given bill. That majority was reduced in 1975 to three-fifths of the Senate, currently 60 senators. Under current rules, senators don’t need to talk to gum up the works — they merely need to register their objection to initiate a filibuster. Over the past 50 years, the number of filibusters has skyrocketed as Democrats and Republicans have become more politically polarized. From 1969 to 1970 there were six votes to overcome a filibuster, the nearest reliable proxy. There were 298 such votes in the 2019-2020 legislative session. WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM FOR DEMOCRATS? Democrats control 50 seats in the Senate, which allows them to eke together a majority with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking 51st vote when needed. They can’t overcome filibusters unless at least 10 Republicans vote with them. Democrats were able to bypass the filibuster to pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus plan using a special process known as “reconciliation” that only requires a simple majority for certain budget bills. But that process is subject to complex limitations and cannot be used regularly. Republicans have blocked many other Democratic priorities, though 19 of them did vote for a $1 trillion package to revamp the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure. CAN THE FILIBUSTER BE CHANGED? There have already been changes. In 2013, Democrats removed the 60-vote threshold for voting on most nominees for administration jobs, apart from the Supreme Court, allowing them to advance on a simple majority vote. In 2017, Republicans did the same thing for Supreme Court nominees. Both the 2013 and 2017 Senate rule changes were made by simple majority votes. Some Democrats have called for eliminating the filibuster entirely, but they lack the 50 votes needed to take that step. Democrats plan to vote sometime over the next week to scale back the filibuster so it would not apply to voting-related legislation. But it’s not clear whether they have the votes for this either; Manchin said last week that he would prefer https://www.reuters.com/world/us/senators-meeting-with-manchin-voting-rights-bills-schumer-2022-01-04 to get some Republican buy-in for that change. On Sunday he said he might support making the tactic more “painful” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-senate-fillibuster-idUSKBN2AZ0IW by requiring senators to keep talking on the Senate floor. Biden, who spent 36 years in the Senate, long supported the filibuster but has grown more open to changing it as Republicans have blocked several of his major initiatives over the past year. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan, additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Tim Reid LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Campaign donations are surging to candidates for U.S. election oversight roles, a report released on Wednesday found, in a sign of how former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud are raising the stakes in this year’s November elections. Candidates for the previously low-profile secretary of state positions in swing states — a role that holds substantial power in determining how votes are certified — are smashing fundraising totals from previous recent election cycles, according to the report https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/financing-races-offices-oversee-elections-january-2022 by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. At least 10 Republicans running for secretary of state in five presidential battleground states have embraced Republican Trump’s false claim that he lost a “rigged” election last year, according to a Reuters analysis https://www.reuters.com/world/us/backers-trumps-false-fraud-claims-seek-control-next-us-elections-2021-09-22. The former president has endorsed three of those candidates, in Arizona, Michigan and Florida. Democrats warn that having proponents of Trump’s debunked claim https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-false-claims-debunked-2020-election-jan-6-riot-2022-01-06 that his defeat was the result of widespread fraud in charge of the election process in swing states threatens the integrity of future elections, especially if Trump runs for president again in 2024. In two states that were crucial to Biden’s victory last November – Georgia and Michigan – candidates for secretary of state have received 2.5 times more campaign funding than they had at a comparable point in either of the last two election cycles, according to an analysis of fundraising data by the Brennan Center. In the secretary of state race in Georgia, a state Biden won by less than 12,000 votes, four candidates have each raised more than the Republican incumbent, Republican Brad Raffensperger, had at this point in 2018. Raffensperger refused Trump’s demands to overturn Biden’s win and faces a tough re-election battle. Republican congressman Jody Hice, who voted to overturn Biden’s victory after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, has been endorsed by Trump and is challenging Raffensperger. He has raised over $500,000, more than any other candidate. The Georgia secretary of state contest also shows how these normally obscure races have been nationalized. Out-of-state donors so far have made 22% of the contributions to this race, nearly twice that of 2018, when it was 13%. In Michigan, incumbent Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has raised $1.2 million, six times what the last incumbent had raised at this point in 2014. Her Republican challenger Kristina Karamo, endorsed by Trump, has raised over $164,000 from more than 2,600 contributions. (Reporting by Tim Reid; Editing by Scott Malone and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Britney Spears has hinted at writing her memoir. The 40-year-old star – whose 13-year conservatorship was terminated in November – took to Instagram to suggest she could be putting pen to paper to tell her story. Alongside an image of a typewriter seated next to a bed of pink roses, she teased: “Shall I start from THE BEGINNING??? (sic)” It’s not the first time the ‘Toxic’ hitmaker has hinted at telling her story in her own words, previously hinting at a book back in October, in an apparent jibe at sister Jamie-Lynn, who had just announced her own tell-all book. She wrote: “I’m thinking of releasing a book next year. But I’m having issues coming up with a title so maybe my fans could help !!!! Option #1 … ‘S***, I really don’t know’ Option #2 … ‘I really care what people think’ !!!!’ What do you guys think ???? (sic)” Meanwhile, in October Britney revealed plans to write a book about a “girl who was murdered” who finds her ghost “stuck in limbo”. She explained the book will see the girl’s ghost try to come to terms with the “trauma and pain” she had endured throughout her life so that she can finally cross to the other side. In a post on Instagram, she wrote: “I’m writing a book about a girl who was murdered … yet her ghost gets stuck in limbo because of trauma and pain and she doesn’t know how to cross over to the world she use to know !!!! “After being stuck in limbo for three years, she is a ghost who thrives off of her reflection in her mirror for existence!!!! She has no one she can trust but something happens and she figures out how to cross over to the world where her family is !!!! “Coming out of the limbo she has a decision to make … greet the same people who murdered her or create a whole new life !!!! “She no longer needs her mirror … she found a portal by citing certain prayers constantly that give her the insight and gift to not be scared anymore and come out of limbo … but what I will leave to the IMAGINATION is what she does when she crosses over …… besides learning to write her name again (sic)” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Princes Charles has commissioned paintings of Holocaust survivors to pay tribute to their generation. The Prince of Wales – who is patron of the National Holocaust Memorial Day Trust – commissioned seven artists to paint people who survived concentration camps, and they will be featured in an upcoming BBC Two documentary ‘Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust’. In a statement, he said: “As the number of Holocaust survivors sadly, but inevitably, declines, my abiding hope is that this special collection will act as a further guiding light for our society, reminding us not only of history’s darkest days, but of humanity’s interconnectedness as we strive to create a better world for our children, grandchildren and generations as yet unborn; one where hope is victorious over despair and love triumphs over hate.” The 73-year-old royal also gave an interview for the film, which will air on Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27), while the pieces will be on public displayed in Buckingham Palace. All seven people feautred in the artwork are survivors of concentration camps, now in the 90s and still living in the UK. Paul Benney has painted Helen Aronson, Ishbel Myserscough painted Lily Ebert and Clara Drummond painted Mandfred Goldberg. Other survivors and artists in the project include Arek Hersh (painted by Massimiliano Pironti), Anita Lasker Wallfisch (Peter Kuhfeld), Rachel Levy (Stuart Pearson Wright) and Zigi Shipper (Jenny Saville). Holocaust Educational Trust chief executive Karen Pollock added: “Holocaust survivors endured the very worst. They were rounded up into ghettos, sent to concentration camps and enslaved as forced labourers. “To survive the concentration and death camps and 77 years later see their portraits displayed in Buckingham Palace is very special indeed, and a poignant and fitting testament to their lasting contribution to this country.” View the full article