Politics

Abbott Defiant After SCOTUS Temporarily Blocks Texas Immigration Law

Go Nakamura/ReutersTexas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has remained defiant amid a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Monday that extended an administrative stay blocking a controversial immigration law from taking effect in the state amid a legal showdown over the border crisis. The one-page order handed down by the conservative Justice Samuel Alito was issued several minutes after a deadline he set a week ago, eliciting a few moments of confusion as to whether the freeze had lapsed. The latest stay did not include a new deadline, effectively suspending the law indefinitely as the high court weighs its next steps.Texas’ Senate Bill 4, signed into law by Abbott in December, empowers state and local law enforcement to arrest people on suspicion of illegally crossing the southern border. It was originally set to go into effect earlier this month, but has faced an uphill battle after the Justice Department stepped in, arguing it is “flatly inconsistent” with Supreme Court precedent.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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RFK Jr.: ‘I would never choose a VP candidate based on how much money they have’

Independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. has yet to confirm a running mate but said on Tuesday that he would never choose someone "based on how much money they have." "We, our campaign is one of the principal priorities of our campaign is bringing young people into politics and addressing the deprivation that is now...
Read MoreRFK Jr.: ‘I would never choose a VP candidate based on how much money they have’

RFK Jr. Takes Some Credit for Photo of Kennedy Family With Joe Biden

NewsNationRobert F. Kennedy Jr. took partial credit Monday for several dozen members of his family meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day, telling NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that he’s happy to have “played a role” in bringing about the visit.Kennedy initially challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination and is now running as an independent, though his candidacy is opposed by several relatives in part due to his conspiratorial attitudes that include vaccines. A Super Bowl ad by a pro-Kennedy Super PAC ripping off John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign spot didn’t help matters, either.Kennedy reacted to the photo first by downplaying the size of the group gathered around Biden, which he said was “a very small percentage of my family.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Paris 2024 Olympics lifting intimacy ban for athletes, stocking up with 300,000 condoms

The Summer Olympics will no longer ban its athletes from private intimacy, eschewing 2020 rules brought on by the COVID pandemic. Olympics Village Director Laurent Michaud told Sky News on Tuesday that its Paris athlete accommodations will be stocked with as many as 300,000 condoms in preparation. "It is very important that the conviviality here...
Read MoreParis 2024 Olympics lifting intimacy ban for athletes, stocking up with 300,000 condoms

‘The Bachelor’ Calls Out Racist Bullying From Its Fans

John Fleenor/Disney(Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Bachelor Season 28, “The Women Tell All.”)For the first half of Bachelor Joey Graziadei’s “The Women Tell All” reunion, everything unfolded as expected. Season alums like Maria Georgas, Sydney Gordon, and Lea Cayanan rehashed old feuds, while others, like Jennifer “Jenn” Tran, shed bittersweet tears about the time they spent with the hottest and most emotionally intelligent man this franchise has seen in decades. About halfway through the night, however, the proceedings took a turn as host Jesse Palmer addressed the audience directly. Prompted by a tearful disclosure from the season’s third runner-up, Rachel Nance, Palmer called out the rise in bullying that Bachelor contestants have endured this season. In Nance’s case, a lot of the online hatred was racist harassment.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Lauren Boebert Is Still Complaining About ‘Beetlejuice’

Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesRep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) may have been kicked out of a performance of the musical Beetlejuice last September, but a part of her never really left that Denver theater, as evidenced by her comments in a recent interview.Speaking on KHOW’s Dan Caplis Show on Friday, the Colorado congresswoman referenced the day she was ejected from the Denver Center for Performing Arts for obnoxious behavior like vaping, singing, and groping her date as she responded to a question about what scandals might emerge in her future.“As far as [opposition] research, I am very clearly an open book,” she told Caplis. “And I can’t even go to a theater without that being, you know, broadcast to the world.”Read more at The Daily Beast.
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RFK: ‘I don’t think the government should be involved’ in social media, accuses Biden of censorship

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. supported Republican-backed lawsuits against the White House over social media censorship on Tuesday, claiming President Biden also attempted to censor his social media posts. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for two social media cases Tuesday, which claim the Biden White House illegally coerced social media companies to...
Read MoreRFK: ‘I don’t think the government should be involved’ in social media, accuses Biden of censorship

Mar-a-Lago Judge’s Stark Ruling: Jury Sees Secret Files or Trump Wins

Jay Paul/ReutersThe MAGA-friendly federal judge who keeps siding with Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago classified records case has forced prosecutors to make a stark choice: allow jurors to see a huge trove of national secrets or let him go.U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s ultimatum Monday night came as a surprise twist in what could have been a simple order; one merely asking federal prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers for proposed jury instructions at the upcoming trial.But as she has done repeatedly, Cannon used this otherwise innocuous legal step as yet another way to swing the case wildly in favor of the man who appointed her while he was president.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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Gun restrictions on defendants awaiting trial are constitutional, U.S. appeals court rules

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that criminal defendants can be stripped of their right to handle firearms, affirming a lower court ruling and dealing a blow to gun rights advocates. The 9th Circuit decision sided against two defendants who claimed that the government could not take away their firearms before they could be convicted...
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Congressional leaders strike deal on Homeland Security funding ahead of shutdown deadline

Congressional leaders have struck a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the remainder of fiscal year 2024, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill, closing out the six bills due by Friday's shutdown deadline. Negotiators are still working out the details and legislative text of the DHS agreement,...
Read MoreCongressional leaders strike deal on Homeland Security funding ahead of shutdown deadline