Democrats Are About To Discover How Much They Needed Mitch McConnell

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To liberals, Mitch McConnell is a dastardly master of the political dark arts, willing to do anything to serve his conservative aims. He enabled multiple GOP White Houses to play the long game, twisting himself when his previous pronouncements became inconvenient. The Kentucky Republican puppet-mastered into reality a regulatory regime that allows unchecked corporate and secretive individual cash back into politics after picking the scabs of McCain-Feingold campaign finance law until there was nothing left.

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In the liberal worldview, not only did McConnell steal a Supreme Court seat from Democrats in 2016 and clear the way for the conservative bench that dealt the death blow to federal abortion rights, he also stacked the decks in lower courts to make life easier for polluters, right-wing ideologues, and Wall Street. And, when the opportunity arose to finally purge the Republican Party of Donald Trump for good with a history-making second impeachment trial, McConnell looked away from the carnage once more.

Well, those same liberals who profess nothing short of loathing for McConnell might be about to find how much worse things can get without the Senate chieftain keeping his unruly Republican Caucus in some semblance of order. One can’t shake the meme asking “Miss Me Yet?”

McConnell on Wednesday announced that he was putting an end to his record-setting 17 years atop the Senate Republicans’ hierarchy. Only one other incumbent Republican—Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa—has experienced Washington without McConnell pulling major levers of power. And just seven incumbent Republicans have served in a Senate where McConnell was not in the party’s top job.

That longevity did little to mask McConnell’s own disappointment in his announcement.

“Believe me: I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time,” McConnell said in the well of the Senate. “I have many faults; misunderstanding politics is not one of them.”

As much as Democrats like to demonize McConnell, he has been a responsible cog for must-pass legislation to keep the government open and the national credit card working. McConnell’s years working alongside President Joe Biden in the Senate have kept that line of communication open between his second-floor suite in the Capitol and the White House’s satellite office nearby. McConnell also helped Biden pass part of his infrastructure investment agenda and, during the Trump years, provided a reliable guard against some of Trump’s most bananas ideas and watered down some of the others.

But absent McConnell’s Senate trickery and caucus wrangling, the Senate could soon devolve into its own version of the chaotic cos-play of The Hunger Games that is the House. While Democrats have no love for McConnell’s win-at-all-costs approach to politics, they often took it for granted when he rallied his ranks to dodge shutdowns and defaults. 

Perhaps the shrewdest mind in politics on either side of the aisle right now, McConnell is fully cognizant that he is leading a party that fundamentally disagrees with him on major questions—or at least hews to Trump’s prescriptions from afar out of fealty or fear. McConnell has fought an increasingly lonely fight within his party to secure funding to help Ukraine fight against Russia’s invasion and attacks from afar, much to the dismay of Trump and his worldview that views NATO as a racket. A $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan cleared the Senate this month with McConnell’s blessing and vote, although it is stuck in park over in the House, where Trumpian elements have incredible sway.

For McConnell, who arrived in office thanks to the same 1984 ballots that saw Ronald Reagan win 49 states, a Cold War worldview has evolved but never evaporated, and Moscow’s aggression needs to be answered on the battlefield and done so decisively. 

That put McConnell on a collision course with the Trumpists in his party, including some voting lawmakers who in recent years have grown emboldened in their face-to-face criticism of their leader. It’s not unheard of to hear screaming in the hallway outside Senate Republicans’ weekly private lunch, and McConnell is often the target. After one particularly nasty session, the ever-in-control McConnell coolly responded: “Are you suggesting I’m enjoying this?”

Since securing the party’s top role in 2007, McConnell has taken the criticism in stride. The self-described Grim Reaper of the Senate knows the rules well enough to thwart any legislation or nominee he found objectionable. In one legendary 1994 speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation, McConnell said inaction was, in itself, an action. “I am a proud guardian of gridlock,” he said. Through an often-inscrutable smirk, McConnell watches the chessboard of Washington move with few surprises. After all, the former campaign operative has run every model 20 clicks downstream, polls showing him to be the most unpopular elected official in national politics be damned.

But McConnell, who judges success in the Senate just as clinically as he does when watching his beloved University of Louisville Cardinals basketball and football teams, plainly saw his efficacy fading. In recent months, the 82-year-old Minority Leader has faced health challenges; after alarming freezing episodes, Congress’ doctor released a terse statement clearing him to serve, but the famously private McConnell has refused to be more candid than that.

Even as McConnell was delivering Trump legislative wins and confirming his judges, the then-President continued an unyielding series of insults at both McConnell and his wife, who happened to be serving in Trump’s Cabinet as his Labor Secretary. While McConnell employed his mastery at advancing Trump’s agenda—or blocking Democrats’ efforts where he deemed it necessary—he did so without any measure of appreciation from the President, who was focused on the few areas where McConnell refused to go his way.

The antipathy did not abate, even after McConnell spared Trump in his impeachment trial over a role in sparking the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that overran the Capitol. “Former President Trump’s actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty,” McConnell said on the floor of the Senate. “Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” Then, McConnell voted against convicting him.

Still, Trump is the biggest figure in the Republican Party and seems coasting to a third presidential nomination despite the ongoing legal challenges he faces on multiple fronts. Trump just orchestrated the ouster of the Republican National Committee’s top ranks. In early 2022, Trump backed a leadership challenge to McConnell from Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, an effort that flamed out. And the grudge match with McConnell seems to be nowhere close to abating, telling Fox News that the relationship was far from healed: “I don’t know that I can work with him.”

A relative eternity exists between now and the next Leadership elections, expected to come after November’s elections that will decide which party controls the chamber come January 2025. The Three Johns—Thune of South Dakota, Barrasso of Wyoming, and Cornyn of Texas—have long been setting themselves up as McConnell’s heir. Ambitious colleagues like Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Scott are also mentioned as favorites of the conservative wing of the GOP. And Sen. Steve Daines’ turn leading Senate Republicans’ campaign arm has made the Montana Republican an attractive option, too. Each of these men—and, yes, again they’re all men at this point—would face his own challenges in managing relationships inside a caucus where every single one of them looks in a mirror and sees a President, to borrow a well-trod trope. But, in the end, the winner very well may turn on who is seen as most agreeable—or pliable—to Trump.

As McConnell was informing his colleagues of his decision Wednesday, lawmakers struck a partial funding bill to dodge a shutdown, its fourth temporary spending plan since October. Instead of running out of money on Friday, some of the government has funding through March 8, while a new March 22 deadline has been put in place for other corners of government. The kick-the-can-down-the-road approach has left mainstream lawmakers of both parties and at all levels deeply frustrated. Republicans in the House are trying to insert riders into the budget to block access to abortion medications and to slash a proposed effort to boost spending for food programs for poor children and women, ideas that are likely to doom any progress. 

McConnell plans to remain in the Senate, returning to rank-and-file status and likely an unchallenged shift to chairman or ranking member on any committee of his choosing. “I still have enough gas in my tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics, and I intend to do so with all the enthusiasm to which they have become accustomed,” he told the Senate, where his aides lined the walls to watch the boss start unspooling a remarkable run atop the GOP.

The Kentucky Republican’s legacy will be studied for generations, much of it focused on his obsessive partisan focus. But as Leader, he was a voracious student of history and precedent. And, most importantly for Democrats, McConnell has never shielded his point of view or his priorities. That predictability helped the Senate stand as a guard against House-caliber chaos. At best, there will be a learning curve for McConnell’s successor. At worst, the Senate may lose its traditional check. It would be, as McConnell himself observed in 2013, a landmark: “No Majority Leader wants written on his tombstone that he presided over the end of the Senate.” Washington cannot afford that norm to be the one that falls next.

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source https://time.com/6836335/mitch-mcconnell-replacement-trump/

A Florida Bill Would Require Trans People to List Their Assigned Birth Sex on New IDs. Here’s What to Know

More than a hundred activists and allies gathered at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee Wednesday to protest anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, including one bill that would bar residents from having accurate gender markers on their state identification cards.

House Bill 1639, which is up for vote in the House on Thursday, expands on a memo issued by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles on Jan. 26 that prevents Floridians from updating their gender markers on existing state identification documents. 

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This proposed legislation would require individuals to list their sex assigned at birth on their identification cards, and affect those seeking a first-time ID or license. The bill would impact tens of thousands of Floridians; nearly 95,000 transgender adults and 16,200 transgender youth aged 13-17 call Florida home, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA’s School of Law.

Queer advocates and allies have largely opposed the legislation, which has unclear parameters for enforcement.

“Imagine a police officer pulling someone over for speeding and questioning the driver about whether the male or female designation on their license reflects the officer’s assumption about a person’s gender,” said Kara Gross, legislative director of the ACLU of Florida. “Are we really passing legislation that requires adults to prove their gender at traffic stops? Would the officer be able to confiscate the license if they refused?” 

Here’s what to know about the new legislation.  

What would the bill do?

House Bill 1639 would change any references to gender in section 322—which dictates how residents can obtain a state identification card—to sex. Sex, under state law, would be defined as the classification of an individual as either male or female based on the genitalia they present at birth. If the bill passes, state identification cards would reflect an individual’s sex assigned at birth, not gender identity.

These rules would go into effect on July 1, but other provisions could go into effect later. 

For example, the bill has additional measures that would require health insurance companies who offer coverage for sex-reassignment prescriptions to also require coverage for treatment to detransition. The proposed legislation also “may not prohibit the coverage of mental health or therapeutic services to treat a person’s perception that his or her sex, is inconsistent with such person’s sex at birth by affirming the insured’s sex.”

The ACLU of Florida said that these measures would require health plans to “cover the widely discredited practice of conversion therapy and create additional obstacles for health plans to cover gender-affirming care,” according to a February press release. (Rep. Doug Bankson, a co-sponsor of the bill, previously denied that the legislation would cover conversion therapy, but did not give any examples of other treatments health insurers would have to cover.) 

These changes would only apply to health insurance plans that are delivered, issued, or renewed on or after Jan. 1, 2025. 

Why are people protesting it?

LGBTQ+ residents, advocates, and allies are protesting against this legislation, and others, because they say the bill is part of a targeted attack against them. More than 10 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been filed this Florida legislative session, according to the ACLU’s legislative tracker. 

“No human being should be stripped of their rights. While we may not agree with the life an individual lives, respect isn’t a compromise! The Florida government has failed again to act in their professional capacity,” Ashley Figueroa, founder of the Gender Advancement Project, an organization that fights for trans inclusion, said via email. 

Other critics have pointed out that the legislation would deny the legal recognition of transgender individuals. 

How would it apply to current licenses?

HB 1639 would force transgender Floridians who are obtaining a first-time identification card to list their assigned sex at birth, instead of gender, on their state ID.

The proposed legislation would work in conjunction with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles memo, which bars residents with existing state IDs or licenses from being able to change their gender markers, according to Simone Chriss, the director of the transgender rights initiative at the Southern Legal Counsel. (Chriss is an attorney representing plaintiffs in Doe v. Ladapo, which challenges Florida SB 254 and related Boards of Medicine rules that restrict access to health care for transgender adults and ban care for transgender adolescents.) 

“Expanding the Department’s authority to issue replacement licenses dependent on one’s internal sense of gender or sex identification is violative of the law,” the department said in an email to TIME. “Therefore, the Department has rescinded IR-08 Gender Requirements, and the recission pertains solely to replacement license requests.” 

The department directive warned that people who “misrepresent” their gender on a state ID would face criminal and civil penalties that could include the “cancellation, suspension, or revocation of a driver’s license.” 

But how the state would enforce this is unclear. Florida requires residents to present primary identification documents, one of which can be a U.S. passport, to obtain a state ID. Chriss points out that many transgender folks have changed, or can change their gender markers on their passports. 

“For the folks that have a valid U.S. passport that reflects their gender identity, by the terms of the [Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles] policy, including the new one, they have to reflect that gender marker on the ID,” says Chriss. “It’s going to be interesting to see how they try to remedy that with their clear intent, which is to make it so that trans people can’t have IDs that reflect their gender identity.

The memo doesn’t appear to impact​​ residents who have already changed their gender markers on their state IDs, Chriss says. However, HB 1639 does not specify how or whether this will harm transgender individuals who have already updated gender markers on their state ID to match their gender identity. 

“Will their license be revoked? Will they no longer be able to hold a valid driver’s license? We ask these questions because they are not answered in the bill,” said Gross. 

Chriss says that a legal challenge is inevitable. “The state of Florida has consistently enacted rules, policies, and legislation with vague, ambiguous language and undefined terms, with the goal of creating fear and uncertainty among the targeted community,” she says. “If this passes, then I think we would challenge, holistically, the statute as well as the new [directive].”

source https://time.com/6836184/florida-house-bill-1639-transgender-id/

The Good Wife Spinoff Elsbeth Proves You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing

“These are beautiful bookcases.” 

That’s the first line ever uttered by Elsbeth Tascioni on The Good Wife, as she wanders into a crime scene taking pictures with her phone, like an out-of-towner who’d stepped off one of Chicago’s Architectural Tour boats and just kept on drifting away from the group. It’s the prototypical entrance for Elsbeth, who’s often gone fishing in her own stream of consciousness, right up to the point where she snaps back to reality and delivers some staggering piece of insight. We’ll know her as a brilliant trial attorney, but here she’s acting as a legal fixer, swooping in to help Alicia Florrock (Julianna Marguiles) keep her husband out of jail for violating the terms of his house arrest on corruption charges. He’s guilty, but Elsbeth turns the tables so deftly that the police almost have to apologize for their mismanagement.

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That’s the Elsbeth formula—a smattering of daffy non sequiturs and pleasantries, followed by a shrewd observation or argument that surprises everyone that hasn’t worked with her before. Carrie Preston plays Elsbeth with an indefatigable cheeriness that’s at once winning and vaguely unnerving, and armchair physicians have frequently diagnosed the character as “on the spectrum” for her disconnect with other people. It’s not as if she’s unfriendly, quite the contrary, but Elsbeth’s conversational style is conspicuously alien, like she’s earnestly reaching for a human connection that’s not quite there. That’s part of what makes her so effective in her job: She seems like a harmless eccentric to her adversaries (and her friends, too), but misses absolutely nothing.

For 13 years on CBS’s peerless courtroom drama The Good Wife and its rowdy CBS All-Access/Paramount+ spin-off The Good Fight, Elsbeth was the greatest of guest-spot ringers, recharging the atmosphere of both shows like a sudden swing in barometric pressure. There’s no shortage of brilliant character actors challenging for the crown, either: Consider Michael J. Fox as Louis Canning, a lawyer who uses his involuntary body movements to draw sympathy from juries, or Dylan Baker as Colin Sweeney, a rich and homicidal deviant in the mold of Claus Von Bülow or Robert Durst. No one in television has a casting rolodex as deep as show runners Robert and Michelle King, yet Preston could be counted on to give every episode a lift.

Read more: How The Good Wife Changed Feminism and Politics on TV

All of which makes the new CBS spin-off show premiering Feb. 29, Elsbeth, a be-careful-what-you-wish-for proposition. Now this delightful chaos agent who’d appeared on 14 episodes in seven seasons of The Good Wife and five episodes in six seasons of The Good Fight is at the center of every episode of Elsbeth, which is an abundance of Elsbeth Tascioni. When Elsbeth first floated into a room with Alicia Florrick, marveling about bookcases, she brought an offbeat lightness to a dark moment in the Florrick family, when its legal and marital crises had come to a head. And she stood out, too, on The Good Fight, as an oddly stabilizing presence amid that show’s batsh-t carnival of provocation. But shifting a supporting character to the lead, especially one as fundamentally unknowable as Elsbeth, simplifies and flattens the dynamic.

To a large degree, the lack of ambition makes it a cozier fit for CBS, which has made low-risk genre shows its bread and butter. Where The Good Wife found ways to reinvent the courtroom drama while ticking the requisite boxes—and The Good Fight, in the wilds of the streaming world, could cut loose completely—Elsbeth quickly settles into a case-of-the-week rhythm that’s satisfying but much more by the numbers. The one semi-ingenious conceptual twist is that Elsbeth is technically a lawyer, but on the show, she’s more of an unofficial homicide detective, slipping into a sleuthing job through the backdoor. Her uncanny powers of observation still apply, but they’re mostly used to clean up sloppy policing. 

In the opening of the pilot, Elsbeth is the only passenger on the upper deck of a “rap tour” bus in the middle of winter, beaming like a Midwestern rube in a novelty Statue of Liberty visor while her guide gently suggests joining the other passengers downstairs. She has the bus pull over at a murder scene and introduces herself: “I’m part of the thingie-thing,” she says. “The consent decree.” This consent decree gives her broad authority to oversee NYPD procedures, but from the moment she steps into her first murder scene, Elsbeth can’t keep herself from snooping around and annoying detectives with theories that are inevitably dead-on. One glance at the bathroom trash and a suicide becomes a homicide; her first instinct on who-dun-it is always correct.

Read more: How The Good Fight Was Rewritten to Be a Show About the Era of Donald Trump

The three episodes of Elsbeth made available to critics unfold like a typical episode of the Rian Johnson/Natasha Lyonne Peacock series Poker Face, with a dramatization of the murder first before our heroine enters the picture. (Elsbeth does not have the clever flashback structure, however.) If you’re thinking, “Wait, a network Poker Face with Elsbeth Tascioni sounds pretty damn appealing,” that’s true to a point, though there’s so little variance in style and in Elsbeth’s MO that most of the color comes from the one-and-done character actors who get juicy guest roles, like Jane Krakowski as a cutthroat realtor or Jesse Tyler Ferguson as a reality-show producer who, let’s say, makes a killer margarita.

Preston remains a funny, mischievous treat as Elsbeth, who’s so used to unsettling people that she tolerates their fits of annoyance and is skilled at self-deprecation. (On her name not quite being Elizabeth, she says, “It’s half the syllables but somehow twice the effort.”) Elsbeth gives her a top-drawer Angry Police Chief type to jostle with, too, in The Wire’s Wendell Pierce, whose character’s alleged shadiness allows the show to chip away at an overarching plot. 

But after watching Preston’s superb minor turn in The Holdovers, as an administrative assistant whose relentless positivity breaks down Paul Giamatti’s sour schoolteacher, it feels like there’s a missing dimension to Elsbeth that the show isn’t interested in finding. There’s a poignancy and warmth to Preston’s character in The Holdovers that goes beyond the spirited optimism and quirkiness that Elsbeth brings to every occasion. She didn’t need those qualities to steal scenes in The Good Wife and The Good Fight. On her own, she’s too much of what you expect. 

source https://time.com/6835183/elsbeth-spinoff-review/

Where You Can Watch the Solar Eclipse

The big map in the little shop in Casper, Wyo., was drawing a lot of attention when I visited on Aug. 20, 2017. A solar eclipse was coming the next day, with totality occurring at 11:43 a.m. Mountain Time. Our TIME reporting and video crew had arrived to cover the event and we selected Casper out of all of the cities and towns across the eclipse’s path, from Salem, Ore., through Carleston, S.C., because it has a very low likelihood of cloud cover at that hot and dry time of year. 

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The owner of the little shop had invited guests to place a pin in the map to mark where they lived—and, by extension, how far they’d traveled to see the magnificent sky show. The U.S. portion of the map was almost completely obscured by little plastic pinheads. But every continent in the world except Antarctica was represented too—and the eclipse did not disappoint. The sky was indeed almost entirely clear. Totality was reached precisely when the astronomers had said it would be. And the eerie disappearance of the sun—even when we knew what caused it and the exact second it was coming—was a reminder of why the ancients were so terrified when they witnessed such an event.

Now, another total eclipse is on the way—set to occur on Monday, April 8, 2024. An eclipse is always a must-see phenomenon, but this one is especially so, because it will be the last to touch the U.S. mainland until 2044. If you’re in the path of totality, simply step outside and look up (wearing protective eyewear, of course, until the sun is completely obscured). If you’re not in the path, if at all possible get yourself there. In big and little ways you’ll never be quite the same. So where do you need to go if you indeed want to watch?

The event will begin in the U.S. when the total eclipse shadow crosses from Mexico into Del Rio, Texas, in the southwestern part of the state, at 1:27 p.m. local time. The path of totality, which will then proceed northeast into New England, will be narrow—just 185 km (115 mi) wide, but most of the country will see the sun at least partly blotted out and get at least some darkness. NASA provides an abbreviated list of cities lying in the path of totality, including Dallas, which will see maximum darkness at 1:42 p.m.; Isabel, Okla. at 1:47 p.m.; Little Rock, Ark. at 1:52 p.m.; Poplar Bluff, Mo. at 1:56 p.m.; Paducah, Ky., at 2:01 p.m.; Carbondale, Ill. at 2:01 p.m.; Evansville, Ind., at 2:04 p.m.; Cleveland, Ohio., at 3:04 p.m.; Erie, Pa. at 3:18 p.m.; Buffalo, N.Y. at 3:20 p.m.; Burlington, Vt., at 3:27 p.m.; Lancaster, N.H., at 3:29 p.m.; and Caribou, Maine., at 3:33 p.m. (all times are local).

Read more: Here’s Where You Can See Every Total Solar Eclipse for the Next 50 Years

A much more comprehensive National Eclipse site surveys things in a more granular, state-by-state and town-by-town way. Live in Plano, Texas; Hugo, Okla.; DeQueen, Ark.; West Plains, Mo.; Tamms, Ill.; Henderson, Ky.; New Harmony, Ind.; New Paris, Ohio; North Springfield, Pa.; Chautauqua, N.Y.; Stowe, Vt.; Stewartstown, N.H.; or Jackman, Maine? This site’s got you covered. Other sites, including Astronomy Magazine, the Great American Eclipse, the National Solar Observatory, and many more provide similar information and path-tracking.

If you do make your way to the magical, 115-mi. darkness band, there are a great many things to notice during the three or so minutes of totality: feel the temperature drop, notice the breeze pick up, listen as the birds stop chirping, watch as the drivers flick their headlights on. And do stay silent—beyond, perhaps, the occasional and involuntary gasp. A total eclipse is best experienced quietly, thoughtfully, even reverently—and it’s best grabbed whenever the heavens offer it up to us. If you’re 15, you’ll be old enough to run for president the next time one returns to the U.S. mainland; if you’re 20, you’ll be middle-aged; if you’re 45, you’ll be retirement age; if you’re 70, you’ll be 90. Eclipses are gifts. As with any gift, it’s gracious to accept them when they’re presented to you—and to think about responding with a quiet bit of thanks.

source https://time.com/6835995/how-to-watch-solar-eclipse-cities/

Inside the GOP Fight Over Trump’s Mounting Legal Costs

Over the coming months, Donald Trump is set to carve out a singular place in American history: the first major party nominee to effectively run his campaign out of a courtroom. As Trump fights 91 felony indictments in four separate venues, some Republicans have a pressing question they want answered: How much money from the GOP machinery will go toward his legal expenses?

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The answer, Trump campaign officials say, is none. Sources close to Trump tell TIME the former President plans to pay his legal bills mostly through his personal checkbook and the help of allied Super PACs. But they are still mobilizing against a proposed resolution from a Republican National Committee member to ban party funds from covering Trump’s legal fees.

“It’s an insult,” says a Trump-allied committee member. “It’s kind of an F You to the Trump campaign. That’s why.” 

Drafted by Henry Barbour, an RNC member from Mississippi, the measure comes as Trump marches closer to solidifying the Republican presidential nomination and seeks to install new loyalists to lead the organization. That includes his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who has previously said she was willing to funnel some of the group’s funds toward Trump’s multi-million-dollar stack of legal fees. 

But after Barbour released his resolution over the weekend, both Lara Trump and the Trump campaign adamantly denied any such plans. The Republican National Committee, they say, will remain narrowly focused on Trump’s election and helping GOP candidates win up and down the ballot. “The primary is over and it is the RNC’s sole responsibility to defeat Joe Biden and win back the White House,” says campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita, whom Trump tapped to take over the RNC’s money operation. 

For that reason, few expect the resolution to pass. “I wouldn’t bet on it,” says one RNC member. In fact, it’s not clear whether there will even be a vote. There’s no resolutions meeting on the agenda for the upcoming RNC gathering in Houston next month, a source familiar with the matter tells TIME. Even Barbour admits his motion stands little chance. “If there is any hint in the room that the Trump campaign doesn’t want it, it doesn’t have a prayer,” says Barbour. “But I felt like we needed to have this discussion.” 

Such a resolution would have no concrete impact, as it’s non-binding. If RNC members want to statutorily prevent the committee from paying Trump’s or any candidate’s legal fees, they would need to vote on a rule change at the Republican National Convention in July. While some insiders anticipate someone will float new rules on the issue, they expect those efforts to be shot down. “It’s going to be a pretty Trump crowd at the convention,” an RNC member says. 

There’s another reason why some Republicans worry about Trump’s legal expenses sucking up GOP resources: the party has been struggling to compete with Democrats on fundraising. The RNC recently reported that last year was its worst fundraising year in almost a decade, raking in $87.2 million, with only $8 million leftover by year’s end. During the same time, the Democratic National Committee raised $120 million, starting 2024 with $21 million on hand.  

The RNC has paid for Trump’s legal fees before. In 2021 and 2022, the RNC executive committee voted a handful of times to cover specific attorney fees to help Trump weather investigations from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Together, those disbursements amounted to roughly $1.6 million, according to multiple RNC sources, including Barbour. In late 2022, when Trump was signaling a third bid for the White House, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, who is stepping down on March 8, said the committee would stop covering Trump’s legal bills once he declared his candidacy, citing the organization’s commitment to neutrality in primaries.

Since then, the former President’s legal woes have only mounted. Trump, who denies all wrongdoing, faces criminal prosecutions for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments during the 2016 election; hoarding classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them; and attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

Read more: Trump’s First Criminal Trial Set to Begin on March 25 in New York

It’s not only lawyers’ fees putting Trump in a cash crunch. In January, a jury ordered Trump to pay the writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of rape, $83.3 million for making defamatory remarks about her. And last week, a New York judge ordered him to pay $454 million in a civil fraud case, which Trump appealed on Monday.

Trump easily won the Michigan GOP primary on Tuesday, continuing a glidepath to the nomination that only gained traction last year as his legal liabilities grew. With each indictment, he rose in the polls and hauled in millions in fundraising. Throughout 2023, two pro-Trump Super PACs—Save America and MAGA Inc.—spent more than $50 million on his legal bills, with another $2.9 in January. Both groups explicitly solicit donations to cover the former President’s legal defense.

Sources close to Trump say he will continue relying this year on the PACs, as well as a GoFundMe account created by his supporters and his own personal wealth to support his legal defense.

For Barbour, that’s hardly reassuring. While McDaniel, as RNC chair, made a point of asking the organization’s executive committee to approve Trump legal payments, sources say there’s nothing requiring a future chair to continue that practice. That means the group could end up disbursing money for Trump’s courtroom battles unbeknownst to the membership. “I don’t think we’d find out about it,” Barbour says, “until somebody discovered it in an FEC report.”

source https://time.com/6836021/trump-legal-costs-rnc-gop/

Supreme Court Casts Doubt on GOP-Led States’ Social Media Laws

(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court cast doubt Monday on state laws that could affect how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users. The cases are among several this term in which the justices could set standards for free speech in the digital age.

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In nearly four hours of arguments, several justices questioned aspects of laws adopted by Republican-dominated legislatures and signed by Republican governors in Florida and Texas in 2021. But they seemed wary of a broad ruling, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett warning of “land mines” she and her colleagues need to avoid in resolving the two cases.

While the details vary, both laws aimed to address conservative complaints that the social media companies were liberal-leaning and censored users based on their viewpoints, especially on the political right.

Read More: The Supreme Court Could Determine the Future of Social Media Content Moderation

Differences on the court emerged over how to think about the platforms — as akin to newspapers that have broad free-speech protections, or telephone companies, known as common carriers, that are susceptible to broader regulation.

Chief Justice John Roberts suggested he was in the former camp, saying early in the session, “And I wonder, since we’re talking about the First Amendment, whether our first concern should be with the state regulating what we have called the modern public square?”

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas appeared most ready to embrace arguments made by lawyers for the states. Thomas raised the idea that the companies are seeking constitutional protection for “censoring other speech.”

Alito complained about the term “content moderation” that the sites employ to keep material off their platforms.

“Is it anything more than a euphemism for censorship?” he asked, later musing that term struck him as Orwellian.

But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, seemingly more favorable to the companies, took issue with calling the actions of private companies censorship, a term he said should be reserved for restrictions imposed by the government.

“When I think of Orwellian, I think of the state, not the private sector, not private individuals,” Kavanaugh said.

The precise contours of rulings in the two cases were not clear after arguments, although it seemed likely the court would not let the laws take effect. The justices posed questions about how the laws might affect businesses that are not their primary targets, including e-commerce sites like Uber and Etsy and email and messaging services.

The cases are among several the justices have grappled with over the past year involving social media platforms. Next month, the court will hear an appeal from Louisiana, Missouri and other parties accusing administration officials of pressuring social media companies to silence conservative points of view. Two more cases awaiting decision concern whether public officials can block critics from commenting on their social media accounts, an issue that previously came up in a case involving then-President Donald Trump. The court dismissed the Trump case when his presidential term ended in January 2021.

The Florida and Texas laws were passed in the months following decisions by Facebook and Twitter, now X, to cut Trump off over his posts related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

Trade associations representing the companies sued in federal court, claiming that the laws violated the platforms’ speech rights. One federal appeal struck down Florida’s statute, while another upheld the Texas law. But both are on hold pending the outcome at the Supreme Court.

In a statement when he signed the bill into law, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the measure would be “protection against the Silicon Valley elites.”

When Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Texas law, he said it was needed to protect free speech in what he termed the new public square. Social media platforms “are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely — but there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas. That is wrong, and we will not allow it in Texas,“ Abbott said.

But much has changed since then. Elon Musk purchased Twitter and, in addition to changing its name, eliminated teams focused on content moderation, welcomed back many users previously banned for hate speech and used the site to spread conspiracy theories.

The Biden administration is siding with the challengers. Lawyers for Trump have filed a brief in the Florida case urging the court to uphold the state law.

Still, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, cautioned the court to seek a narrow ruling that blocked the laws. Prelogar said governments maintain the ability to impose regulations to ensure competition, preserve data privacy and protect consumer interests.

Several academics and privacy advocacy groups told the court that they view the laws at issue in these cases as unconstitutional, but want the justices to preserve the government’s ability to regulate social media companies to some extent.

source https://time.com/6835543/supreme-court-social-media-content-moderation/

Lawmakers in Both Parties Call to Protect IVF After Alabama Ruling

Lawmakers across the country are scrambling to safeguard access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) after several clinics in Alabama paused treatments over a recent state supreme court ruling that classified frozen embryos as children.

The controversial decision by Alabama’s top court effectively opened the door for legal action against those who discard frozen embryos during IVF, a widely-used fertility treatment method involving the fertilization of eggs outside the body. Now the fight over the procedure will move to the legislative realm, with both Democrats and Republicans alike calling to protect the procedure in law. Some Democratic legislators have already introduced measures aimed at preserving the rights of individuals seeking fertility treatments, but a bipartisan solution is yet to emerge as Republicans grapple with reconciling their support for IVF with anti-abortion stances.

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Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who had her two children via IVF and has spearheaded the effort in Congress to protect the treatment, tells TIME that no Republicans have expressed support for her legislation. Her bill would enshrine a statutory right for patients to access IVF services nationwide and retain authority over how sperm or egg cells are used during such treatments. “Crickets. Not a single one of them has come forward,” Duckworth says.

Yet several prominent Republican figures, including former President Donald Trump, have voiced their support for IVF treatments and called on legislators to come up with a solution that protects fertility clinics and preserves the treatment. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Trump’s top rival for the Republican nomination, initially said she supported the Alabama ruling but then walked back her comments.

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The Senate GOP’s campaign arm released a memo telling candidates to affirm support for IVF. “When responding to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, it is imperative that our candidates align with the public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments,” National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director Jason Thielman wrote, warning that Democrats could use the decision as a campaign issue.

Read More: As Her Clinic Pauses IVF, an Alabama Doctor on What’s Next After the Court’s Embryo Ruling

“Republicans seem to finally be getting the message that they are out of touch with what vast majorities of Americans—even pro-life Americans—want,” Duckworth says. She first introduced legislation to protect IVF in 2022, but Republicans blocked the bill from passing. Now, she’s hoping the pressure from voters will spur Republicans to take action on her latest bill. “I wish Republicans would have come around before people got hurt,” she says, “but I hope that at least now they’ll help me fix it and protect Americans across the country from being criminalized for trying to start or grow a family through IVF before other states follow Alabama’s lead.”

The Republicans calling to protect IVF come amid a broader struggle within the GOP to navigate the increasingly complex landscape of reproductive rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the federal right to abortion.

As Republicans rush to limit the damage of the court’s ruling and develop a unified position, the Biden Administration has pointed to legislation that more than 120 House Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, co-sponsored last year that would have restricted IVF by establishing that “the term human being includes all stages of life.” The GOP’s previous legislative stance, the White House says, appears at odds with its recent calls to support IVF, highlighting a potential inconsistency in its approach to reproductive rights.

There’s even a difference between the positions of the two Republicans vying to be the next President. Trump on Friday called on the Alabama legislature to “find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF” in the state, while Haley has cautioned against taking legislative action. “Government doesn’t need to get into something this sensitive,” she told NBC News on Saturday. “This should be between the doctors and the parents, period… If they need to do legislation to fix it, that’s fine, but I don’t want states to have knee-jerk reactions to insert government into the conversations with doctors and parents.”

The Alabama legislature is also wrestling with how to respond to the state court’s decision. Alabama house minority leader Anthony Daniels, a Democrat, recently proposed legislation aimed at clarifying the legal status of embryos by establishing that “any fertilized human egg or human embryo that exists outside of a human uterus is not considered an unborn child or human being for any purpose under state law.” State sen. Tim Melson, a Republican, has said he plans to file a bill clarifying that embryos are not human life until they are implanted inside a uterus.

But both bills could face an uphill legal battle. Daniels’ legislation, which has no Republican co-sponsors, would be at direct odds with the Alabama supreme court’s ruling that frozen embryos are considered children under the state constitution. And Melson’s bill, which is yet to be released, may require a constitutional amendment.

“We firmly believe in the fundamental right to life and the dignity of every woman to bring life into the world,” Alabama senate Republicans said in a statement. “We are committed to supporting strong families and providing women grappling with infertility the resources and support they need to build healthy and happy families.” Alabama house speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, did not respond to a request for comment on how GOP state lawmakers would respond legislatively.

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Alabama’s Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall has reassured IVF patients and providers that the ruling will not be wielded to prosecute families or providers. But some clinics have decided to pause IVF treatments over the legal uncertainties stemming from the court’s decision.

Meanwhile at the federal level, Duckworth has been getting personal in her messaging. She told TIME that during her own IVF experience more than 10 years ago, three of her five fertilized eggs were found not to be viable and were discarded, an action that could now be considered manslaughter under Alabama law. “You can’t have it both ways,” Duckworth says of pro-life Republicans who claim they support IVF. “Despite what Donald Trump says, you can’t actually be supportive of protecting IVF but then also say a fertilized egg is a human being so women can’t have reproductive choice.”

source https://time.com/6835548/lawmakers-ivf-embryos-alabama-legislation/

U.S. Air Force Member Sets Self on Fire Outside Israel’s Embassy in D.C. to Protest War in Gaza

An active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, in apparent protest of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which he described as a “genocide.”

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DC Fire and EMS (DC FEMS) said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that it responded to an incident outside the embassy at 12:58 p.m. to find the fire extinguished by U.S. Secret Service members. Secret Service spokesperson Joe Routh told TIME in a statement that officers of its uniformed division responded to what appeared as “an individual that was experiencing a possible medical / mental health emergency.”

The burn victim, who identified himself in video of the incident as 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell, reportedly succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night, according to independent journalist Talia Jane, who posted on social media that she is in contact with Bushnell’s family and friends.

DC FEMS initially said an adult male was transported with critical, life-threatening injuries to an area hospital, and authorities have confirmed neither the identity nor updated condition or status of the person when asked by TIME.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said in a post on X that it also investigated a suspicious vehicle near the scene but that no hazardous materials were found. Embassy spokesperson Tal Naim told media outlets that no embassy personnel were injured. Secret Service, MPD, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are investigating the incident.

Spokespersons for the U.S. Air Force confirmed to CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post that the man who set himself on fire, prior to his public identification, was an active-duty airman. Defense Department policy states that service members on active duty should “not engage in partisan political activity.” Military regulations also prohibit wearing the uniform during “unofficial public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies or any public demonstration which may imply sanction or endorsement by [the Defense Department] or the Military Service.” 

Bushnell, who was wearing fatigues on Sunday in Washington, was a DevOps engineer based in San Antonio, Texas, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Bushnell reportedly sent a message to media outlets before his planned self-immolation. “​​Today, I am planning to engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people,” he warned. He also reportedly live-streamed the act on the web-broadcasting platform Twitch, which has since removed the video for guideline violations and has not responded to a request for comment from TIME.

“I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” the airman repeated, in footage reviewed by TIME, as he walked toward the driveway of the Israeli embassy. “But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

After Bushnell doused himself with liquid and reached for his lighter, unidentified law enforcement or security officers could be heard asking off-screen, “Can I help you?” After setting himself aflame, he repeatedly shouted “Free Palestine.”

Protests have become commonplace against Israel’s military actions in Gaza as well as against U.S. support for Israel since war broke out after the Oct. 7 assault from Palestinian militant group Hamas that Israeli officials claim killed about 1,200 people. Gaza’s health ministry, overseen by Hamas, has said that Tel Aviv’s bombardment of the enclave has in turn killed some 30,000 people.

Israel’s diplomatic outposts have since become sustained areas of protest against the war in the Middle East, and it is not the first time someone had set themselves on fire outside it.

Self-immolation has a long history as a form of protest, gaining particular prominence during the Vietnam war and in Tunisia during the Arab Spring.

In December, an unidentified person with a Palestinian flag was left in critical condition after they lit themself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.

This is a developing story.

If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental-health crisis or contemplating suicide, call or text 988. In emergencies, call 911, or seek care from a local hospital or mental health provider.

source https://time.com/6821425/israel-embassy-air-force-protest-fire-self-immolation-aaron-bushnell-latest-updates/

‘We Will Focus Our Resources Where We Can Make the Difference’: Koch Super PAC to Stop Funding Nikki Haley’s Presidential Campaign

The Charles Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Action will cut off funding for Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign, a blow to the sole remaining Donald Trump challenger.

AFP, a conservative super political action committee, has spent millions of dollars since the fall on advertising and voter outreach efforts for Haley helping to fuel her bid for the Republican nomination. 

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“Given the challenges in the primary states ahead, we don’t believe any outside group can make a material difference to widen her path to victory,” Emily Seidel, a senior advisor for AFP Action, said in a memo Sunday, obtained by Bloomberg News. “And so while we will continue to endorse her, we will focus our resources where we can make the difference. And that’s the U.S. Senate and House.”

Read More: Nikki Haley Vows to Stay in Presidential Race

Politico earlier reported the group’s decision.

The move to cut funding for Haley’s presidential effort comes a day after she suffered a roughly 20-percentage point loss to Trump in South Carolina, the state where she served two gubernatorial terms, before serving as Trump’s U.N. Ambassador. Haley vowed to stay in the race until Super Tuesday on March 5, when more than a dozen states vote. But she has virtually no path to secure the nomination with Trump expected to clinch enough delegates by mid-March.

Since endorsing her in late November, Americans for Prosperity Action has spent more than $32 million in support of Haley, Federal Election Commission records show, with the bulk of that amount going to digital advertising and canvassing.

source https://time.com/6817405/koch-afp-pac-funding-nikki-haley-presidential-campaign/

An Asthma Drug Can Drastically Reduce Food Allergies

About 20 million people in the U.S.—including four million children—have food allergies. Now, there’s a new way to reduce their risk of severe allergic reactions. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that the drug omalizumab, or Xolair, allows people with food allergies to tolerate higher doses of allergenic foods before developing a reaction after an accidental exposure. It also leads to milder reactions if they are exposed.

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The drug was originally approved more than two decades ago to treat allergic asthma. But because of this new study and other data, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the approval of Xolair on Feb. 16 to include treatment of food allergies in anyone one year or older. It’s now the first drug approved to treat allergies to multiple foods.

Anabelle Terry, a 12-year old with severe peanut and tree nut allergies, experienced that benefit firsthand as a participant in the trial. While participating in the study, she ate half a cupcake while with friends that she thought was nut-free but had made been made with cashew flour. Within about an hour, her stomach and throat started to hurt and her lips tingled, so she thought she was having an allergic reaction and went home. Her mom gave her an antihistamine, which was enough to quell her symptoms. Before Xolair, if she ate even a tiny amount of peanuts or tree nuts, she would generally need a shot of epinephrine, which is an emergency treatment for an allergic reaction, and a visit to the doctor. “I did notice a difference—I didn’t react as badly as I thought I would have,” Terry says. “I only had half, but it was a big cupcake, and it was amazing to see that even though I accidentally ate some, I was okay.”

Xolair does not cure food allergies, so people must continue to avoid allergy-causing foods by reading labels and asking how food is prepared. But people now “have another layer of protection in case of accidental exposure,” says Dr. Sharon Chinthraja, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and co-lead of the study.

How Xolair works to fight allergic reactions

The drug works by mopping up something called immunoglobulin E (IgE) cells, which activate the immune cells responsible for inflammation and allergic reactions. “I think of the drug as a sponge that takes allergic antibodies out of circulation,” says Chinthraja. It was this mechanism that led to Xoalir’s original approval in 2003 for allergic asthma, since IgE cells play a role in that condition as well. “There were suggestions that the drug should work in food allergy too, but no study until this one demonstrated that to the level required by the FDA to add it to the label, says Dr. Robert Wood, director of pediatric allergy, immunology, and rheumatology at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and the principal investigator of the study.” In fact, because of the way the drug blocks IgE, it “may be more applicable to food allergies because asthma has a lot of different triggers, but food allergies are pretty much an IgE-driven reaction.”

What the new study shows

The study included 177 children from ages 1 to 17 at 10 different sites in the U.S. The participants were randomly assigned to receive Xolair as an injection either every two weeks or every four weeks, depending on their body weight and levels of IgE (a proxy for how severe their food allergies are), or a placebo. All of the participants were allergic to peanuts and at least two other foods such as tree nuts (cashews, walnuts, and hazelnuts), milk, eggs, or wheat. After about four months of receiving the injections, the kids were given high levels of peanut or other food allergens—much higher than doses they might encounter by accidentally taking a bite of food containing them. Of those who took Xolair, 67% were able to tolerate the higher dose of peanut without a severe allergic reaction, compared to 7% of those getting placebo. The breakdown was similar for the other allergens.

“Over half [of the participants] could eat a lot of the foods they were allergic to,” says Dr. Robert Wood, director of pediatric allergy, immunology, and rheumatology at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and the principal investigator of the study. “More than 50% could eat the equivalent of 16 peanuts with no reaction.” Among the remaining half, about 15% experienced allergic reactions even at small doses of exposure, but all of the reactions were milder among the Xolair group than the placebo group. It’s not clear how long the drug blocks IgE activity, but doctors anticipate that people will have to continue getting the shots to lower their risk of severe reactions.

How to use Xolair for food allergies

For Anabelle, the drug provides a sense of security. “I’ll be able to try new things and do some things that I wasn’t able to before,” she says. “I love traveling even more now because I don’t always have to worried about whether a new food is safe. I’m still cautious, but more free to experience things.”

Xolair isn’t an emergency treatment. It’s designed to be a maintenance therapy that keeps the immune system in check for as long as people take the medication, so that if someone is accidentally exposed to an allergy-causing food, their reaction will be dampened and not life-threatening. The first few doses might be given at the doctor’s office to make sure people don’t have adverse reactions to the shot, but parents give subsequent doses to children at home. Adults can also give the shots to themselves.

To work, a person has to keep taking the shots. That can get expensive: A spokesperson for Genentech, which makes the drug, says the injections for food allergies will cost the same as those for asthma, which amounts to $2,900 for children and $5,000 for adults each month. It’s not clear yet whether insurers will cover Xolair for treating food allergies, but many do cover the drug for asthma. For the uninsured, Genentech offers a patient assistance program.

Anabelle’s parents are still discussing with their allergist how Xolair might fit into her life. Anabelle completed the trial in 2022 and has not taken the drug for two years. “I would be willing to go back on it,” she says. “Maybe with more treatment, it could become even less severe and make me less stressed about food.”

source https://time.com/6801999/asthma-drug-xolair-food-allergies/

AT&T to Reimburse Customers Impacted by Hours-Long Outage. Find Out If You Qualify

AT&T will reimburse some customers after a major hours-long cellular and internet outage Thursday.

The company said in a statement posted on its website that it will reach out to potentially impacted customers and automatically apply a $5 credit to each account—the estimated average cost of a full day of service.

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The credits will typically be applied within two bill cycles. AT&T Wireless customers are eligible. The offer doesn’t apply to AT&T Business, AT&T Prepaid or Cricket accounts (AT&T owns Cricket Wireless). 

An AT&T spokesperson tells TIME in an email that its Business, Prepaid and Cricket account holders are “valuable customers and we’ll have options available to them if they were potentially impacted by the outage,” but did not provide details. “We believe we have contacted potentially impacted customers, but if someone needs to talk to us about their situation, our call centers are available.”

In the statement announcing the compensation, AT&T apologized for the network outage. 

“We recognize the frustration this outage has caused and know we let many of our customers down,” the company said. “We understand this may have impacted their ability to connect with family, friends, and others. Small business owners may have been impacted, potentially disrupting an essential way they connect with customers.” 

“We want to reassure our customers of our commitment to reliably connect them––anytime and anywhere,” the company continued. “We’re also taking steps to prevent this from happening again in the future. Our priority is to continuously improve and be sure our customers stay connected.” 

More than 70,000 customers were impacted by Thursday’s outages, according to downdetector.com. The most affected locations were Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, and New York City.

Customers first reported the outage around 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. AT&T acknowledged the issue in updates posted on its website at 11:15 a.m. ET and marked the situation as resolved roughly four hours later. The company said it believed the outage was caused by applying and executing the wrong process as it expanded its network.

Cricket saw a peak of 13,638 reports of outages, according to downdetector.com. It said on its website that the issue was resolved around two hours after publicly announcing it.

TIME reached out to Cricket to find out if there are any compensation plans.

On Thursday, a person who self-identified as a Cricket customer said on X (formerly Twitter) that they nearly missed work because they couldn’t use their mobile data for directions and asked for a free month of service.

Cricket Wireless’ account responded: “We might be able to provide a compensation once the outage ends. Our top priority now is to get this resolved as soon as possible.”

source https://time.com/6817361/att-outage-refunds-customers-cell-internet-service/

How the Lantern Festival Is Being Celebrated Around the World

Communities in China and around the world are spending the weekend celebrating the Lantern Festival, which falls on Saturday, Feb. 24 and signals the end of the 2024 Lunar New Year festivities, which welcomed the Year of the Dragon.

The lantern festival falls on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese calendar and marks the first full moon of the new lunar year. People traditionally celebrate the holiday by decorating with colorful lanterns, often with riddles written on them and prizes for those who solve the puzzles.

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Here’s how people around the globe are enjoying the holiday. 

How China is celebrating the Lantern Festival 

Throngs welcomed the Lantern Festival in cities across the world’s second most populous country with 1.4 billion people. Beijing hosted a slew of lantern festival events across the city. Families flocked to see impressive lantern displays and illuminated inflated animals. In Rizhao, bakers bustled to make the holiday’s special sweet rice balls, shaped and colored like persimmons.

Celebrations everywhere featured lion and dragon dances. One city, Qiandongnan, even combined a dragon dance with fireworks—the performers dressed in fire suits and helmets.

Many cities featured a regional twist on the celebrations, with displays of unique folk art and clothing. In Anyang, face-painted creatives performed on stilts in a parade. Another city, Qingdao, threw a carnival featuring traditional dances, drum performances, and folk art. 

Fireworks burst across skylines nationwide. In Chongqing, tourists watched a remote-controlled performance of a giant illuminated bird fly through the sky.

How Asia is welcoming the Lantern Festival

Some communities in southeast Asia also celebrate the holiday, which they call Cap Go Meh.

Penang, Malaysia hosted a street festival with fire juggling, food, art, crafts, a dragon dance, orchestra, drum performances, and a traditional Malay Dondang Sayang, a type of song that has been honored by UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, some families flocked to Chinese temples and then ate lontong cap go meh, a traditional holiday dish consisting of a rice cake in banana leaves, served alongside chicken, boiled eggs, vegetables in coconut milk soup, prawn crackers and chili paste.

Others in Indonesia pierced their faces with needles—a practice said to ward off evil spirits.

The Lantern Festival festivities in Canada

Canada, home to a large Chinese diaspora, was set to light up for the holiday. Vancouver was hosting a series of events for its LunarFest, including art exhibits, film screenings, origami workshops and more.

Toronto’s Chinatown planned two days of celebrations featuring a lion dance, a Chinese luncheon, and a mahjong game tournament. Across the city, restaurants prepared to offer deals and special treats. Performances, lantern displays, and arts fairs filled public places.

Some events paid homage to other cultures honoring the holiday, with a Vietnamese New Year celebration expected and a library hosting a Korean Lunar New Year with readings in Korean.

The Lantern Festival proceedings in the U.K.

Some British communities also observed the holiday, with a Chinatown food crawl in London and a commemoration in Southampton.

Elsewhere, modern Chinese restaurants in Birmingham are hosting their own celebrations to mark the special occasion.

How the U.S. is marking the Lantern Festival  

Beyond local celebrations among Chinese communities, some official events were marking the holiday in cities across the U.S., including a make-your-own lantern event in New York City.

In San Francisco, local organizations coordinated a celebration featuring performances, lanterns and mahjong. In neighboring Oakland, home to its own Chinatown, non-profit groups collaborated to feature Asian-American artists and support local businesses over the weekend.

source https://time.com/6812225/lantern-festival-2024-global-celebrations-lunar-new-year/

U.K. Conservatives Suspend Lawmaker After He Accused London Mayor of Being Controlled By Islamists

LONDON — The U.K.’s governing Conservative Party has suspended ties with one if its lawmakers after he accused London Mayor Sadiq Khan of being controlled by Islamists, as tensions over the Israel-Hamas war roil British politics.

The party said on Saturday that Lee Anderson was suspended after he refused to apologize for remarks made about Khan in a television interview on Friday. The action means that Anderson, a deputy chairman of the Conservatives until last month, will sit in Parliament as an independent.

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other senior Conservative leaders had come under increasing pressure to reject the comments, which the chairwoman of the opposition Labour Party called “unambiguously racist and Islamophobic.”

The controversy comes as the Israel-Hamas war fuels tensions in British society. Pro-Palestinian marches in London have regularly drawn hundreds of thousands of demonstrators calling for an immediate cease-fire, even as critics describe the events as “antisemitic hate marches.” Figures released over the last week show that both anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim incidents have risen sharply since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

That anger has spilled over into Parliament, where some lawmakers say they fear for their safety after receiving threats over their positions on the conflict in Gaza.

In his interview with GB News, Anderson criticized the police response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London, leveling the blame on Khan.

Anderson said he didn’t “actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London.’’

Khan flatly rejected the allegations, telling the BBC that all forms of hatred need to be rejected, including antisemitism, Islamophobia and misogyny.

“My concern is there’ll be people across the country, people who are Muslim, or look like Muslims, who’ll be really concerned about entering into politics, because they know if these are the sorts of comments that are said against me by a senior Conservative, what chance do they have?” he said.

source https://time.com/6812240/lee-anderson-mp-suspended-conservatives-uk-london-mayor/

King Charles III Sends Message to Ukraine on Anniversary of Russia’s Invasion

King Charles III lauded Ukrainians’ heroism and commended the U.K. and other allies’ support of the country in a message issued on the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The determination and strength of the Ukrainian people continues to inspire, as the unprovoked attack on their land, their lives and livelihoods enters a third, tragic, year,” the King said in a message shared on X, formerly Twitter, along with a picture of himself and his wife, Queen Camilla, lighting candles in a church. “Despite the tremendous hardship and pain inflicted upon them, Ukrainians continue to show the heroism with which the world associates them so closely. Theirs is true valor, in the face of indescribable aggression.”

King Charles said in the message that he has personally felt the bravery of Ukrainians—from meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska to new army recruits training in the U.K.—since the war started.

“Despite the tremendous hardship and pain inflicted upon them, Ukrainians continue to show the heroism with which the world associates them so closely.”

A message from His Majesty The King, marking two years of conflict in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/1sjJoYrcTu

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 24, 2024

His Majesty also expressed that he is encouraged that the U.K. and other allies are at the forefront of international efforts to support Ukraine, relaying that his “heart goes out to all those affected, as I remember them in my thoughts and prayers.” 

The King’s message comes amid a pause on his public-facing duties, as he undergoes treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.

Meanwhile, other Western leaders and Ukrainian allies gathered in Kyiv to mark the war’s anniversary on Saturday, Feb. 24, as the conflict continues.

source https://time.com/6808583/king-charles-message-ukraine-russia-war-anniversary/