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      Ex-Twitter exec details ‘homophobic and antisemitic’ abuse over handling of Hunter Biden story

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      Ex-Twitter exec details ‘homophobic and antisemitic’ abuse over handling of Hunter Biden storyYoel Roth testifies before congressional committee that Elon Musk’s release of company’s internal records led to harassment A former Twitter executive testified on Wednesday that he was forced to leave and sell his home following a campaign of “homophobic and antisemitic” harassment over the company’s handling of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden.Yoel Roth, the former head of safety at Twitter, made the comments while speaking to a committee in the newly Republican-controlled House of Representatives, at a hearing convened to scrutinize the social network’s handling of a 2020 report on Joe Biden’s son.Republicans grill ex-Twitter executives over handling of Hunter Biden storyRead moreRoth said the release of the so-called Twitter Files by Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk, lead to a campaign of harassment against him and other employees. The harassment intensified when Musk and others amplified “defamatory” claims that he condones pedophilia, Roth said.The Twitter Files, shared by Musk in December 2022, was a series of internal records showing how the company initially stopped the story – which the Post said was based a copy of Hunter Biden’s laptop hard drive from Donald Trump’s then personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani – from being shared, citing the company’s internal policy on “hacked materials” and concerns from Biden’s campaign, among other factors.Roth said the release of the Twitter Files, which included his name along with those of other decision makers at the company, had “very real consequences” for his safety. “This lie led directly to a wave of homophobic and antisemitic attacks against me … of which Twitter has removed vanishingly little. And following the Daily Mail’s decision to publish where I live. I had to leave my home and sell it.”Roth noted he was not the only one affected, saying lower-level Twitter staff around the world, including the Philippines, “had their families threatened and experienced harm equal to or greater than what I’ve experienced”.“Those are the consequences for this type of online harassment and speech,” he concluded.Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat representing the District of Columbia, said Roth’s testimony showed the dangers of “legitimizing unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the deep state, big tech and government and government censorship for political gain”.“Committee Republicans are holding a match to a powder keg,” she said.Her point was underscored when the extremist Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who was temporarily banned from Twitter for sharing Covid-19 misinformation, used her questioning period to attack Roth, doubling down on unfounded and homophobic conspiracy theories.“I’m so glad you’ve lost your jobs,” she said. “I am so glad Elon Musk bought Twitter.”Wednesday’s hearing underscored a renewed interest from Republicans in wielding their power to pursue unproven claims that social media firms have anti-conservative biases, fanning partisan flames along the way. The lawmakers seem to have found an ally in Musk, who has given more fuel to such assertions with the Twitter Files and other tweets.Experts say Musk’s takeover of Twitter and sympathetic views towards such conspiracy theories could increase the risk for misinformation and harassment on the platform.Tears, blunders and chaos: inside Elon Musk’s TwitterRead more“This is somebody who flirts with conspiracy theories, has regularly retweeted conspiracy theories has re platformed conspiracy theorists and hate mongers and white supremacists and all kinds of nefarious actors,” Jessica J González, co-chief executive officer of the civil rights group Free Press, said of Musk.Other former senior Twitter staff, including Vijaya Gadde, the social network’s former chief legal officer, former deputy general counsel James Baker and former safety leader Anika Collier Navaroli, also testified in the hearing, stating that decisions around content moderation are complex and difficult.Democratic lawmakers said during the hearing that attacks on former Twitter staff were a “distraction” and that the witnesses had already declared under oath there was no collusion between the government and Twitter to suppress conservative speech.“We’re wasting our time here bullying former Twitter employees,” said Maxwell Frost, a Democratic representative from Florida. “I’ve been sitting here for over two hours and I’m not really seeing the point of this hearing.”TopicsTwitterElon MuskUS CongressRepublicansUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      George Santos is a ‘sociopath’, fellow New York Republican congressman says

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      George Santos is a ‘sociopath’, fellow New York Republican congressman saysNick LaLota is one of a growing number of people from both parties to call on Santos to quit over made-up résumé and investigations00:28George Santos is a “sociopath” who thrives on negative attention, another New York Republican congressman said.‘You don’t belong here’: Romney and Santos in tense State of Union exchangeRead more“He’s a sociopath,” Nick LaLota told CNN on Wednesday, after Santos’s confrontation with Mitt Romney at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address made headlines the night before.“He looks for that attention. Even the negative attention drives him. It’s become an embarrassment and a distraction to the Republicans in the House.“And every time I have to come to something like this and talk about George Santos, I can’t talk about what Republicans ought to be doing instead.”Santos later told reporters Romney’s remarks were “reprehensible” and said the senator’s behaviour “wasn’t very Mormon”.Romney, a senator from Utah, is a member of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. Santos claimed to have Jewish grandparents who escaped the Holocaust, a lie repeatedly exposed.The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “sociopathic” as “of, relating to, or characterised by asocial or antisocial behavior or exhibiting antisocial personality disorder”.LaLota was elected to Congress in New York’s first district last November, while Santos won in the third.Since then, Santos’s résumé has been shown to be largely made-up, his often bizarre past behaviour exposed and his campaign finance filings investigated.The congressman is also the subject of allegations of criminal behaviour, including a sexual harassment claim leveled by a former congressional aide.The 34-year-old has admitted embellishing his résumé but denied wrongdoing and repeatedly said he will not resign.LaLota is among a growing number of Republicans, Democrats and constituents who have called on Santos to quit. Party leaders accepted Santos’s withdrawal from committee assignments but have not said he should resign.Santos supported the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, through 15 rounds of voting for the position, against a far-right rebellion.Members of Congress often resign amid scandal but very few are reprimanded, censured or expelled. The last of only five members ever expelled was James Traficant Jr, an Ohio Democrat removed in 2002 after being convicted of crimes including obstruction of justice and racketeering.On Tuesday night, ahead of Biden’s speech, Santos positioned himself near the centre aisle of the House chamber as senators entered.He was seen to exchange words with Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who is now a senator from Utah.Romney later told a scrum of reporters: “I didn’t expect that he’d be standing there trying to shake hands with every senator and the president of the United States.“Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation, he should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the president and people coming into the room.”Romney called Santos a “sick puppy” and said he told the New Yorker he “shouldn’t be in Congress … if he had any shame at all, he wouldn’t be there”.Asked if he was disappointed McCarthy had not called on Santos to resign, Romney said: “Yes.”New add to George Santos’s résumé: producer on Spider-Man musicalRead moreRomney said he didn’t hear what Santos said to him. Santos claimed Romney told him he was an “ass” and to have retorted that the senator was “a much bigger asshole”. He also taunted Romney, tweeting “a reminder that you will NEVER BE PRESIDENT!”On Wednesday, Santos told reporters: “It’s not the first time in history that I’ve been told to shut up and go to the back of the room, especially by people who come from a privileged background.“I’m never gonna shut up and go to the back of the room. I think it’s reprehensible the senator would say such a thing to me … it wasn’t very Mormon of him.”LaLota told CNN: “Mitt Romney is right on this one. I’ve been clear on George Santos for months now. He does not deserve to be in Congress. He’s all about the rhetoric, he’s all about the drama, and he’s fallen far below the standard that we all should hold ourselves to.”TopicsGeorge SantosRepublicansUS CongressNew YorkUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Why Majorie Taylor Greene dressed like that at the State of the Union

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      Why Majorie Taylor Greene dressed like that at the State of the UnionThe congresswoman was trying to highlight Biden’s lack of comment on China’s spy balloon, an aide says Cruella De Vil, Kid Rock, Dr Zhivago – the internet was ablaze discussing who Marjorie Taylor Greene most looked like in the white knee-length coat and furry collar that she wore to the State of the Union. It turns out the question shouldn’t have been who but what.Greene apparently wanted to match the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the country last week. So she picked a white coat because, I guess, the balloon was also white.Nick Dyer, the congresswoman’s communications director, told the Guardian in an email that the $495 Overland coat – made with alpaca wool and fur trim – was meant to “highlight” the president’s lack of comment on the balloon during his State of the Union speech. “Biden refused to mention it, just like he refused to stop the intelligence-gathering operation that traversed the United States and surveilled some of our most important military facilities in the country,” Dyer said.Greene purchased the piece in Wyoming, Dyer said, while campaigning against Liz Cheney and fundraising for Harriet Hageman, who is now a US representative for the state.Political Twitter had its own feelings about what the coat represented. “I dunno why but Marjorie Taylor Greene in that white coat screaming at Biden gave me a powerful ‘Russian Karen vibe’,” tweeted Politico EU journalist Nika Melkozerova.“Marjorie Taylor Greene’s coat is made from the dogs George Santos said he was rescuing,” joked the former department of defense aide Adam Blickstein.Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in a white fur coat pic.twitter.com/YJZ5XzJSwa— Danielle Vermeer | Teleport ✨ (@DLVermeer) February 8, 2023
      Greene wasn’t the only divisive figure to make some choices when it came to styling. The Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema, known for her striking dress sense, wore a canary-yellow dress with voluminous sleeves that drew comparisons to Big Bird and out-there red carpet outfits.Quick – what is Kyrsten Sinema thinking pic.twitter.com/LREAYc3wKi— Lauren McKenzie (@TheMcKenziest) February 8, 2023
      Not long ago, if anyone was going to communicate a political message through their clothing at nights like these, it would be the first lady. In simpler times, these outfits were meant to symbolize unity, strength, or a vague sense of patriotism. There are staff who spend weeks wrangling outfits from designers. But – quick – do you remember what Jill Biden wore last night?I needed Google to remind me: a magenta dress. Purple, as color theory tells us, is a mix of the colors red and blue, and it has become something of a shorthand for outfits that encourage bipartisanship. That’s why so many people, from Kamala Harris and Michelle Obama to Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton, wore it to Biden’s 2021 inauguration.But no one’s tweeting about Jill Biden’s dress today. (Her on-the-lips kiss with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff? That’s another matter, and why #Swingers trended on the app this morning.) But Greene’s night-stealing outfit succeeded as a yet another ploy for attention, not unlike the white balloon she carried around Capitol Hill before the speech began.By the next morning, Greene’s outfit was being dissected on The View, with the co-host Farah Green pulling up a photo of Greene next to one of her puppy. If reports are true that the congresswoman is vying for a spot as Trump’s 2024 running mate, she’s certainly leaning into his playbook – get on television by any means possible, even if it means dressing up as a balloon.TopicsLife and styleState of the Union addressUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesJoe BidenUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Biden says US ‘building an economy where no one is left behind’ amid 2024 speculation – as it happened

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      Joe Biden is on a roll in Wisconsin this afternoon, touting the US economy and expanding on his theme at the state of the union address last night that, half way through his term, he wants to “finish the job.”Inflation is still high but most experts believe it’s peaked and the most recent jobs figures, the Democrats’ performance in last November’s midterm elections and the US president’s performance in his address last night were better than expected,“We are building an economy where no-one is left behind,” Biden said.He is pledging to “restore the dignity of work” the “pride and self esteem” that come with well-paid employment.It is now 4pm in DC. Here are the key events that happened across the country today:
      A top White House cybersecurity adviser is set to retire next week, according to reports. On Wednesday, CNN reported that Chris Inglis is expected to depart the White House on February 15. Inglis is currently the National Cyber Director. Inglis, who has over forty years of national security experience, currently heads an office which was created in 2021 by Congress to advise the president on cybersecurity matters and to track how federal agencies manage their cybersecurity.
      The accused Libyan man behind the deadly 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 190 Americans has pleaded not guilty to three federal criminal charges in Washington DC. On Wednesday, 71-year old Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud pleaded not guilty to two charges of an aircraft resulting in death and one charge of destruction of a vehicle used in foreign commerce, resulting in death. If found guilty, Mas’ud faces life imprisonment.
      Former senior staff at Twitter began testimony on Wednesday before the House oversight committee about the social media platform’s handling of reporting on Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. The hearing has set the stage for the agenda of a newly Republican-controlled House, underscoring its intention to home in on longstanding and unsubstantiated allegations that big tech platforms have an anti-conservative bias.
      Joe Biden is drew pantomime-type laughs and boos from the crowd in DeForest, Wisconsin as he chuckles about sparring with “my Republican friends” during their heckling when he delivered the state of the union address last night. He spoke on the economy, already touting the low unemployment rate of 3.4%. Biden also talked about the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, and how funds from that going into infrastructure are going to refurbish crumbling bridges and other structures in Wisconsin and across the country, boosting jobs and middle class incomes.
      Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz has been appointed by House speaker Kevin McCarthy to a select committee investigating the ‘weaponization’ of the government, NBC reports. Gaetz, who was one of the far-right Republicans that opposed McCarthy’s nomination as House speaker, replaced Texas Republican Chip Roy, according to the outlet.
      During a press conference on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden put the Republicans who heckled during his SOTU address last night “on the defense.” “He called members out on live television in front of millions of Americans and effectively put them on the defense… That’s what the president did is put them on the defense.”
      A new proposal in Missouri seeks to ban nearly all discussion of LGBTQ people, making it far more restrictive than Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law passed last year. Republican state senator Mike Moon’s bill would only allow licensed mental healthcare providers to talk to students about LGBTQ issues and gender identity in K-12 public schools, and only if guardians grant permission first.
      A tense exchange between Republican congressman George Santos and Republican senator Mitt Romney was caught on video last night as Biden was due to deliver his address. “You ought to be embarrassed,” Romney told Santos, who is expected to face an investigation by the House Ethics Committee following revelations that the freshman congressman falsified large portions of his biography.
      Joe Biden’s strong performance at the State of the Union address last night was a blow to critics on the right – and within his own party – and seemed a certain boost to the chances of him running for a second term in the White House in the 2024 election. And amid questions over his age as the oldest US president in history, at 80, vice president Kamala Harris praised him as bold and vibrant in an interview this morning, while he boosted her in a celebratory tweet.
      That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we wrap up the blog for today. We will be back tomorrow with the latest developments in US politics. Thank you.The US Navy has released dramatic photos of the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down on Saturday.In a Facebook post, the US Fleet Forces Command wrote:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.
      EODGRU 2 is a critical part of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Force that clears explosive hazards to provide access to denied areas; secures the undersea domain for freedom of movement; builds and fosters relationships with trusted partners, and protects the homeland.
      At the direction of the President of the United States and with the full support of the Government of Canada, U.S. fighter aircraft under U.S. Northern Command authority engaged and brought down a high altitude surveillance balloon within sovereign U.S. airspace and over U.S. territorial waters Feb. 4, 2023.
      Active duty, Reserve, National Guard, and civilian personnel planned and executed the operation, and partners from the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Administration, and Federal Bureau of Investigation ensured public safety throughout the operation and recovery efforts.”A top White House cybersecurity adviser is set to retire next week, according to reports.On Wednesday, CNN reported that Chris Inglis is expected to depart the White House on February 15. Inglis is currently the National Cyber Director.Sworn into office in July 2021, Inglis, who has over forty years of national security experience, currently heads an office which was created in 2021 by Congress to advise the president on cybersecurity matters and to track how federal agencies manage their cybersecurity.In a statement to CNN, Inglis said that the office is “is viable and valuable – in its capabilities, its people, and its influence on issues that matter: protecting our Nation’s critical infrastructure, strengthening and safeguarding our technology supply chain, expanding pathways to good-paying cyber jobs, and so many more.”The accused Libyan man behind the deadly 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 190 Americans has pleaded not guilty to three federal criminal charges in Washington DC. On Wednesday, 71-year old Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud pleaded not guilty to two charges of an aircraft resulting in death and one charge of destruction of a vehicle used in foreign commerce, resulting in death.If found guilty, Mas’ud, who is believed by US prosecutors to have built the bomb, faces life imprisonment.The bombing, which occurred on Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988 above Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 259 people aboard the Boeing 747 and another 11 people on the ground. The flight was traveling from London to New York. It is considered one of the deadliest terror attacks in American history.Last month, Scotland and US authorities announced that Mas’ud was in American custody.A detention hearing has been set for later this month.Former senior staff at Twitter began testimony on Wednesday before the House oversight committee about the social media platform’s handling of reporting on Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.The hearing has set the stage for the agenda of a newly Republican-controlled House, underscoring its intention to home in on longstanding and unsubstantiated allegations that big tech platforms have an anti-conservative bias.Recently departed Twitter employees speaking include Vijaya Gadde, the social network’s former chief legal officer, former deputy general counsel James Baker, former head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth and former safety leader Anika Collier Navaroli.The hearing centers on a question that has long dogged Republicans – why Twitter decided to temporarily restrict the sharing of a story about Hunter Biden in the New York Post, released in October 2020.The Post said it received a copy of a laptop hard drive from Donald Trump’s then-personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, that Hunter Biden had dropped off 18 months earlier at a Delaware computer repair shop and never retrieved. Twitter initially blocked people from sharing links to the article for several days, citing concerns over misinformation and spreading a report based on potentially hacked materials.“Americans deserve answers about this attack on the first amendment and why big tech and the swamp colluded to censor this information about the Biden family selling access for profit,” said the Republican committee chairman James Comer ahead of the hearing, referring to Trump’s characterization of the Democratic political establishment as a swamp. “Accountability is coming,” he added.In opening statements on Wednesday, the former Twitter staffers described the process by which the story was blocked, stating that it triggered Twitter’s rules against sharing hacked materials. The article had been greeted with skepticism due to questions about the laptop’s origins, and Twitter policy restricted the sharing of unlawfully accessed materials. While the company explicitly allowed “reporting on a hack, or sharing press coverage of hacking”, it blocked stories that shared “personal and private information – like email addresses and phone numbers” – which the Post story appeared to include. The platform amended these rules following the Biden controversy.Roth, the former head of safety and integrity, said Twitter had acknowledged that censoring the story was a mistake..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Defending free expression and maintaining the health of the platform required difficult judgment calls,” he said. “There is no easy way to run a global communications platform that satisfies business and revenue goals, individual customer expectations, local laws and cultural norms and get it right every time.”Full story here:Twitter: ex-executives begin testimony on handling of Hunter Biden laptop caseRead moreJoe Biden is drawing pantomime-type laughs and boos from the crowd in Wisconsin as he chuckles about sparring with “my Republican friends” during their heckling when he delivered the state of the union address last night.The US president is referring to the uproar that ensued among Republicans in the House last night when, as he said, “they sure didn’t like me calling them on it” when he referred to some Republican members who want to cut the long-standing benefits programs Social Security and Medicare, the popular retirement and health insurance programs for seniors.There is no doubt that Biden is feeling confident. The event just ended and he stepped gingerly off the platform at the gathering in DeForest. He noticeably walks like a relatively fit 80-year-old – rather slowly – but has had fire in his speech last night and this afternoon.Such are the signs that he is preparing to announce that he’ll run for president again in 2024, surely with vice president Kamala Harris on the ticket once again?Kamala Harris lauds ‘bold, vibrant’ Biden and attacks Republican ‘theatrics’Read moreHe’s now mingling with workers at the event, smiling, chuckling, taking selfies with them.Joe Biden is on a roll in Wisconsin this afternoon, touting the US economy and expanding on his theme at the state of the union address last night that, half way through his term, he wants to “finish the job.”Inflation is still high but most experts believe it’s peaked and the most recent jobs figures, the Democrats’ performance in last November’s midterm elections and the US president’s performance in his address last night were better than expected,“We are building an economy where no-one is left behind,” Biden said.He is pledging to “restore the dignity of work” the “pride and self esteem” that come with well-paid employment.Joe Biden is speaking now in DeForest, Wisconsin, on the outskirts of the state capital Madison.The US president is on a high after a strong performance at the state of the union address last night.He’s speaking on the economy, already touting the low unemployment rate of 3.4%.He’s also talking about the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, and how funds from that going into infrastructure are going to refurbish crumbling bridges and other structures in Wisconsin and across the country, boosting jobs and middle class incomes.Hello again, it’s been a lively day so far in US politics news as the ripples from Joe Biden’s state of the union address, and the Republicans’ response, continue across the reflecting pools of Washington and the sensibilities of the nation.The US president is due to make a fresh speech in Wisconsin at the top of the hour, where he will talk about the economy. We’ll have that for you live so stick with us.Here’s where things stand:
      Right-wing Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz has been appointed by House speaker Kevin McCarthy to a new select committee created since the GOP won a slim majority in the House, investigating the ‘weaponization’ of the government.
      White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden put the Republicans who heckled during his SOTU address last night “on the defense.”
      A new proposal by Missouri Republicans seeks to ban nearly all discussion of LGBTQ people, making it far more restrictive than Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law passed last year.
      A tense exchange between Republican congressman George Santos and Republican senator Mitt Romney was caught on video last night as Biden was due to deliver his address. The Utah senator thinks con artist Santos should be tossed out of congress.
      Joe Biden’s strong performance at the State of the Union address last night was a blow to critics on the right – and within his own party – and seemed a certain boost to the chances of him running for a second term in the White House in the 2024 election – with vice president Kamala Harris on the ticket, too.
      Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz has been appointed by House speaker Kevin McCarthy to a select committee investigating the ‘weaponization’ of the government, NBC reports.Gaetz, who was one of the far-right Republicans that opposed McCarthy’s nomination as House speaker, replaced Texas Republican Chip Roy, according to the outlet.Roy said that he spoke with McCarthy last night after Biden’s State of the Union address.“We had a conversation. I thought it made sense for me to balance my life and to do what I need to do,” Roy said, NBC reports.“I would like to be on it but I’ve got just way too much going on… I decided it would be better for everybody and for the cause to free that up,” he said.Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Gaetz told NBC that he “is honored to serve on the Weaponization Subcommittee and will be working very hard.”During a press conference on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden put the Republicans who heckled during his SOTU address last night “on the defense.”“He called members out on live television in front of millions of Americans and effectively put them on the defense… That’s what the president did is put them on the defense,” Jean-Pierre said, referring to several Republicans who jeered at Biden’s assertions that Republicans want to slash social security and Medicare costs.“They keep saying they want to cut Medicare and social security. They want to put it on the chopping block. And so he’s going to defend it with them on the defense again,” she said.In response to criticisms from public health advocates who felt that Biden did not thoroughly address the opioid crisis and threat of fentanyl in his address, Jean-Pierre said:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“You heard last night a powerful call to action…for members of both parties to step up, come together and fight the flow of fentanyl…which is something that you’ve seen from this president…
      He understands we have homework to do…but this cannot be a political issue. It’s a matter really, truly, as we’re seeing in communities, a matter of life or death. So that includes additional actions to go after traffickers, tougher penalties, expanding access to life-saving treatments…
      But what we saw from Republicans was jeers and casting blame and Republicans…should come together to find solutions to can to tackle the same exact issues the president wants to tackle.”A new proposal in Missouri seeks to ban nearly all discussion of LGBTQ people, making it far more restrictive than Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law passed last year.Republican state senator Mike Moon’s bill would only allow licensed mental healthcare providers to talk to students about LGBTQ issues and gender identity in K-12 public schools, and only if guardians grant permission first.“This is protecting vulnerable children and attempting to protect them from conversations that need to be had with the approval of the parent and potentially at home,” Moon told a Senate education committee, the Associated Press reports.Meanwhile, North Carolina senators on Tuesday passed their own limits on LGBTQ education in schools. Under the new bill, public school teachers would be required in most circumstances to notify parents before they address a student by a different name or pronoun.Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene who heckled at Biden last night pushed back against claims that far-right Republicans took the apparent bait from Biden whose calls for political unity was met with boos.“I didn’t take any bait… As a matter of fact, I got so many messages from people in my district and people across the country, it was like I won my election again. You know what, people are pissed off,” she told CNN this morning.During Biden’s SOTU address last night, Greene booed Biden and called him a “liar” following his assertion that some Republicans have proposed to cut social security and Medicare.“I didn’t take any bait,” MTG told me of heckling and calling Biden a liar during SOTU. “As a matter of fact, I got so many messages from people in my district and people across the country, it was like I won my election again. You know what, people are pissed off” pic.twitter.com/orCq4kkmag— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 8, 2023
      During her interview with GMA on Wednesday morning, vice president Kamala Harris defended Biden’s actions towards China’s high-altitude balloon, which has been criticized by numerous Republicans..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We invite competition with China, but we do not seek conflict. We do not seek confrontation. What the president did…it’s consistent with our perspective and our commitment, which is we are prepared to compete, but at the same time, if there’s any violation of our sovereignty, we’re going to act. And that’s what the president did,” she said.Republicans have fired at the Biden administration over its wait to shoot down the Chinese balloon, arguing that the delay jeopardized US security and could have potentially endangered American citizens.In response to a question about the prospect of bipartisanship amid tense relations with the GOP, Harris said, “The president, it’s his nature and it’s his commitment to the American people to work across the aisle. That’s not going to stop even if some people are cynical about it.”Following Biden’s SOTU address last night where he called for universal preschool and teacher raises, the president tweeted on Wednesday, “Let’s give public school teachers a raise.”Let’s give public school teachers a raise.— President Biden (@POTUS) February 8, 2023
      During his address last night, Biden said:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Restoring the dignity of work also means making education an affordable ticket to the middle class.
      When we made 12 years of public education universal in the last century, it made us the best-educated, best-prepared nation in the world.
      But the world has caught up.”The country is currently facing a teacher shortage as a result of low wages, high stress and an increasingly divided educational culture war following conservative pushback against topics such as American history, racism, gender and sexuality, among others.A tense exchange between Republican congressman George Santos and Republican senator Mitt Romney was caught on video last night as Biden was due to deliver his address.“You ought to be embarrassed,” Romney told Santos, who is expected to face an investigation by the House Ethics Committee following revelations that the freshman congressman falsified large portions of his biography.’You ought to be embarrassed’: Mitt Romney exchanges heated words with George Santos – video https://t.co/kizX9eFh3y— The Guardian (@guardian) February 8, 2023
      Romney later told reporters that Santos “shouldn’t have been there…”“Given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation, he should be sitting in the back row and being quiet instead of parading in front of the president,” he said.Asked Mitt Romney if he’s disappointed that Speaker McCarthy hasn’t called on George Santos to resign.“Yes,” he said. Santos “should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the President and people coming into the room,” Romney said. pic.twitter.com/obpaYD8v1x— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 8, 2023
      Joe Biden’s strong performance at the State of the Union address last night was a blow to critics on the right – and within his own party – and seemed a certain boost to the chances of him running for a second term in the White House in the 2024 election.And amid questions over his age as the oldest US president in history, at 80, vice president Kamala Harris praised him as bold and vibrant in an interview this morning, while he boosted her in a celebratory tweet.The whole show appeared to amplify the steady drumbeat that Biden will run again – and put Harris on the ticket with him as he did in 2020.The president presented his administration’s achievements at last night’s speech including record job growth. He also called on Republicans to help him “finish the job” of ensuring economic recovery and healing sociopolitical divides across the country.“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress,” said Biden, adding, “Pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years.”Biden also addressed other major issues including US-China relations, threats to social security and Medicare, police violence, gun control, reproductive rights, and political violence.Notable guests at the address included Tyre Nichols’ family, Monterey Park shooting hero Brandon Tsay, U2 singer Bono, Paul Pelosi and Ukraine’s ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova.Harris praised Biden, saying that he “did a great job.”Good morning, US politics readers. We are coming off the back of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last night where he presented his administration’s achievements since taking office in 2021 and condemned Republicans seeking to cut social security and Medicare – to which a few responded with boos and heckling.During what some saw as a “soft launch for his 2024 campaign,” Biden also addressed the US being in the “strongest position in decades” to challenge China, called for the need of meaningful policing as Tyre Nichols’ family watched on from the audience, and condemned rightwing threats to democracy.In response to Biden’s address, Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered her own speech, calling the president “crazy” and “unfit to serve.” The former president Donald Trump’s White House press secretary also condemned his Democratic supporters, calling them the “woke mob” and “radical left”.As we bring you the latest on today’s US politics, here’s what we can expect today:
      Biden will deliver remarks on the economy later this afternoon in Madison, Wisconsin.
      Vice-president Kamala Harris will travel to Atlanta, Georgia to participate in a conversation on climate change.
      Three former Twitter executives will testify at the House oversight committee over the social media platform’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story.
      ‘Pride is coming back’: Biden touts victories on jobs and climate in State of the Union addressRead more More

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      'You ought to be embarrassed': Mitt Romney exchanges heated words with George Santos – video

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      The Republican senator Mitt Romney appeared to confront congressman George Santos before Joe Biden was due to deliver his State of Union address on Tuesday. Though his remarks were not audible, Romney clearly told Santos that he ‘ought to be embarrassed’ several times. Later Romney told reporters that Santos did not ‘belong here [in Congress]’ and called him a ‘sick puppy’ 

      ‘You don’t belong here’: Romney and Santos in tense State of Union exchange
      Dozens of George Santos’s constituents call for his resignation at US Capitol
      George Santos accused of sexual harassment by congressional aide More

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      Twitter probably fumbled the Hunter Biden story. But don’t expect a sane investigation | Margaret Sullivan

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      Twitter probably fumbled the Hunter Biden story. But don’t expect a sane investigationMargaret SullivanWhy I’m not hopeful that the Republican-led House investigation will stay grounded in reality You can’t get Americans to agree on much these days – not on gas stoves, not on Chinese spy balloons, not on the books allowed in school libraries.But one thing they apparently can bond over is whether the Republicans in the House of Representatives are likely to spend the next two years responsibly serving as the loyal opposition to President Biden and the Democrats who control the Senate.Checks, balances and all that good stuff.The consensus: fat chance.Most Americans, in an NBC poll, think Republicans will spend too much time on investigations; a CNN poll showed three out of four respondents agreeing that House Republicans haven’t been paying enough attention to things that matter; a Pew Research poll finds two-thirds of Americans are concerned that they will focus too much on investigating the Biden administration.In other words, the public has seen enough grandstanding to know exactly what’s coming.“The GOP’s investigations are going to be drawn from a grab bag of rightwing grievances,” as Hayes Brown, an MSNBC editor, recently predicted.Things kick off in earnest on Wednesday morning with the House oversight committee taking up how Twitter handled a controversial New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, back in the fall of 2020.Will this committee stay grounded in reality as members explore legitimate questions?I’m not hopeful, especially after hearing committee chairman James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, speculating on Fox News a few days ago about the Chinese spy balloon. Comer suggested that the balloon might be loaded with bioweapons, and then went full Trump: “Did that balloon take off from Wuhan?”Comer is the same guy who suggested back in December, again preaching to the Fox News faithful, that the Brittney Griner prisoner swap may had some tie to Hunter Biden. (Well, yes, of course, because in the Republican conspiracy world, everything must have that same diabolical connection.)Then there’s the oversight committee’s Republican membership, which includes Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Not exactly a Mount Rushmore of governmental statesmanship.Get out your tin-foil hats and, while you’re at it, your earplugs.It’s too bad, because Congress’s oversight role is a crucial one.What’s more, the way Twitter handled the New York Post story really was dubious, as Jack Dorsey, then the CEO, has acknowledged.The Murdoch-owned paper reported in the fall of 2020 that it had received a copy of a hard drive of a laptop that Hunter Biden had left many months before at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved, and that it included emails that showed attempted influence peddling by then vice-president Joe Biden’s wayward son.For several days, Twitter blocked users from sharing links to the story.To be sure, skepticism and caution were in order. Was there reason to wonder whether such a laptop even belonged to Hunter Biden? Was there reason on Twitter’s part to fear that the whole thing was part of a Russian disinformation campaign and thus to be wary of spreading it weeks before a presidential election?Again, legitimate questions.“We want to make sure that our national security is not compromised” is Comer’s explanation for bringing the former Twitter executives in for a grilling. (They are the former chief legal officer, Vijaya Gadde, former deputy general counsel James Baker, and former global head of trust and safety Yoel Roth.)Dorsey himself later called his company’s decision to block the story without communicating the reasons “unacceptable”.Major news organizations, meanwhile – considering the dubious source and unable to verify the facts in real time – held the New York Post’s article at arm’s length, while not entirely ignoring it.One reason for caution: as the Washington Post wrote in an October 2020 analysis, the article repeated the debunked claim, spread by then president Trump, that Joe Biden, vice-president at the time of the alleged influence peddling, had pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor at his son’s behest.But the media’s hesitancy to play up the story brought howls of partisan censorship from the right – especially because the presidential election was right around the corner.Speaking to the National Press Club recently, committee chairman Comer talked a good game about how he wants to lead his committee with transparency and bipartisanship, hewing closely to the mission of rooting out government fraud and mismanagement. He unveiled a long list of targets to investigate, from prescription drug pricing to the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and of course, the inappropriate involvements of family members, which never seemed to trouble Republicans about the Trump clan.Comer claimed the high ground: “I want [it] to be a substantive committee.”I would love to believe that. But since what’s past is prologue, I will not be holding my breath.
      Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
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      Wednesday briefing: Five key takeaways from Biden’s rowdy State of the Union

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      Wednesday briefing: Five key takeaways from Biden’s rowdy State of the UnionIn today’s newsletter: US president uses unity message to attack his opponents – and set up bid for a second term

      Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition
      Good morning. “Finish the job,” Joe Biden said nearly a dozen times in a speech to a joint session of Congress in Washington DC a few hours ago. His combative State of the Union address was designed around both halves of that equation: persuading Americans that he has achieved a lot so far, and asking them to agree that he should keep going – with a nudge towards the idea that the Republicans are getting in the way.Biden is a pretty confusing political figure at the moment: on a downward trajectory in the polls, with even most members of his own party not wanting him to stand for re-election – but with better-than-expected midterm results in his favour, and a chaotic and extreme opposition who many voters like even less.Last night, Biden made a case to blue-collar voters that sounded awfully like a pitch for a second term. And he repeatedly drew contrasts with his Republican opponents, who heckled throughout even as their leader shushed them. Today’s newsletter, with Guardian US political reporters David Smith and Lauren Gambino, takes you through all of it. Here are the headlines.Five big stories
      Turkey-Syria earthquake | Anger has mounted in Turkey over what was described as a slow and inadequate response by authorities to the earthquake that also hit neighbouring Syria, as the death toll passed 8,000 and chances of finding survivors narrowed.
      Crime | The death of Epsom College headteacher Emma Pattison, her daughter and her husband is being treated as a homicide, Surrey police have confirmed. Detectives, who have recovered a firearm, are examining the possibility George Pattison killed his wife and daughter before killing himself.
      UK politics | Rishi Sunak appointed trade minister Greg Hands to replace Nadhim Zahawi as Conservative party chair in a mini-reshuffle to stamp his authority on his fractured party. As part of a sweeping Whitehall restructure that created four new government departments, Grant Shapps takes over the new department for energy security and net zero.
      Police | Former Metropolitan police officer and serial rapist David Carrick has been sentenced to life in prison and must serve a minimum term of 32 years, before he can be considered for release. At Southwark crown court, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Carrick had taken “monstrous advantage” of his position as a police officer to coerce and control women.
      Climate | David Nixon, a 36-year-old care worker and Insulate Britain activist, has been jailed for eight weeks for contempt of court after disregarding a judge’s order to not to mention the climate crisis as his motivation during his trial for taking part in a road-blocking protest.
      In depth: ‘A soft launch for Biden’s 2024 campaign’At last year’s State of the Union, shortly after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Joe Biden had Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic then-speaker of the House of Representatives, standing behind him leading bipartisan applause.This time around, things looked different. Instead of Pelosi, there was Kevin McCarthy, a Republican. Biden was repeatedly booed. And the midterm defeat in the House, although narrower than expected, significantly constrains his power.He still talked about unity: “If we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress.” In reality, “most of Biden’s policy initiatives are not going to pass,” Lauren Gambino said. “Republicans are more focused on investigations into him, his family, the administration.” Paradoxically, though, that may help him make unity a dividing line.“This was a good night for Joe Biden,” said David Smith. “It was a soft launch for his 2024 campaign, and a speech that some are describing as the best of his presidency.”Here are five key takeaways.1. Biden led with an argument that his policies are helping blue-collar voters“As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs,” Biden said, “more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years.” That was one of many appeals to voters who are worried about the economy, like boasts about taking on inflation, a call to “reward work, not wealth” with a new tax on billionaires’ investments, and a protectionist call to “buy American”.NBC News said that he spent 17 minutes speaking on the economy, infrastructure, and taxes – and those were the dominant threads in the speech. He called it a “blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America”.“He spent a lot of time talking about initiatives he’s already passed,” Lauren said. “Poll after poll shows that people don’t feel he’s achieved very much, despite having done a lot legislatively. He’s going to spend the next two years trying to convince Americans that those policies will make a difference in their lives.”2. He talked less about foreign policy, abortion, and the climate crisisBiden’s preferred emphasis was evidenced as much in what he left out as what he put in. “These speeches are often checklists,” Lauren noted. “But there wasn’t a ton of time on Ukraine, and there was no mention of the Chinese spy balloon except to talk tough and say if China ever threatens us we’ll respond as we did.”The Ukraine section came at the back end of his speech, and was relatively brief; abortion rights and the overturning of Roe v Wade were the subject of just four sentences, the climate crisis about the same. That reinforced the sense that this was a speech intensely focused on pocketbook issues on which many swing voters will make up their minds.3. He made an emotional appeal for change in policingIn another long section of the speech, Biden quoted RowVaughn Wells (above), the mother of Tyre Nichols, a Black man killed last month in Memphis by police officers who now face murder charges: “Something good must come of this.”He invited Wells and Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, who were in the gallery, to stand as he told the audience: “What happened to Tyre in Memphis happens too often. We have to do better.” In a rare section heard in something like silence, he noted that like the other white people in the room, he had never had to have “the talk” with his children about what to do if stopped by the police.It was not a radical appeal: while he demanded that police departments do more to hold officers accountable, he was also careful to note that “police officers put their lives on the line every day, and we ask them to do too much”. But it felt like a sharper message than he gave in 2022, when he said that “the answer is not to defund the police, it’s to fund the police”.4. He was repeatedly heckled by Republicans – but leaned inThere was a time when a single Republican congressman shouting “You lie!” at Barack Obama was deemed, as the Guardian put it in 2009, “an extraordinary breach of political protocol”. That looked pretty quaint last night, when an unruly Republican caucus became so caught up in jeering and shouting that McCarthy had to try – in vain – to shush them.At one point, far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (who actually brought a balloon with her?) called Biden a liar as many of her colleagues booed his assertion that some Republicans have proposed cutting social security and medicare programmes (which is, in fact, true, but exaggerated as a real threat).If anything, though, Biden appeared to relish the confrontation – getting into a spontaneous back-and-forth which he then presented as consensus.“So folks, as we all apparently agree, social security and Medicare is off the books now,” he said. “They’re not to be touched? All right. We’ve got unanimity!” You can watch the exchange here.“That was very unusual,” David said. “It felt like Biden had won the bout, and done so in a very down-to-earth, human way, not crowing or getting into poisonous arguments as Trump would.”Again, using unity as a dividing line felt like a precursor to what we might see over the rest of Biden’s term. As he said to McCarthy, with obvious enjoyment: “Mr Speaker, I don’t want to ruin your reputation, but I look forward to working with you.”5. He seems intent on running againskip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionOnly 22% of voters, and 37% of Democrats, say they want the 80-year-old president to seek a second term – well down on where those figures stood before the midterms. But it appears increasingly clear that despite his age, he fully intends to run again, and believes he is the best placed candidate to beat Donald Trump, should he win the Republican nomination.There were plenty of features of last night’s speech that seemed to point in that direction. And while there’s often a sense in Biden’s speeches that you’re waiting to hear him falter, last night’s 72-minute address was energetic, combative and largely howler-free.“It will quell the discontent within the Democratic party,” David said. “After this, it’s looking more unlikely than ever that we will see a serious challenger.”What else we’ve been reading
      The natural next step for our collectively dwindling attention spans was, of course, the hyper-short date. Elle Hunt surveys a new study that suggests the average person can only manage 51 minutes of a date that is not going well. Hunt writes that on some occasions you might want to give the date a bit longer, to remind yourself to be “open to possibility, to being surprised and potentially swept off your feet”. Nimo
      Don’t ask why Rich Pelley spent the day as Mr Blobby (above) – although it’s actually pretty interesting that there appears to be a spate of costumes on sale online that claim to be Noel’s House Party originals. Just enjoy his account of life as a “giant novelty condom”, and the Blobby experts he met along the way. Archie
      Recycling is one of those things that we all wish we were better at (or maybe I’m projecting). Emma Beddington’s piece on how to get wise when it comes to taking out your rubbish is informative and extremely helpful. Nimo
      There’s an amazing piece on the Afghan Analysts Network made up of five interviews with members of the Taliban about how they’ve found life in Kabul. From traffic troubles to complaints about colleagues corrupted by visits to hookah bars, it’s full of remarkable, granular insights. Archie
      I absolutely loved this list of the best and worst TV endings of all time by Guardian staff – I’m still confused and upset by Sex and the City, and it ended in 2004. Nimo
      SportFootball | Non-league Wrexham’s FA Cup run was ended in a fourth-round replay by Sheffield United, who scored twice in injury time to win 3-1. There was controversy after the game when United’s Billy Sharp (above) accused Wrexham of being “disrespectful”. Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said: “My message to Billy is: you’re better than that.”Cricket | Yorkshire has reached an agreement with the ECB after admitting to four charges of bringing the game into disrepute. As a result, it will no longer have to take part in the Cricket Discipline Commission hearings into allegations of racism and discrimination at the club. The news comes as former bowling coach Richard Pyrah joined the list of charged individuals who have pulled out of the proceedings.Football | As Manchester City reel from 101 charges of breaking Premier League financial rules, Jamie Jackson writes that the question for Pep Guardiola – who has said he would leave the club if he was lied to about its affairs – may now be: “Is this your last chance to win the Champions League with City?”The front pagesThe Guardian front-page splash is “‘Monstrous’: rapist ex-Met officer jailed for life after years of attacks”. The Telegraph says “Met rapist’s ‘lenient’ sentence to be reviewed”. The Metro calls David Carrick and his crimes “A scar on our police” and says “Met rapist gets 30 years”. The Financial Times has “Sunak breaks up business department to sharpen focus on energy and science”.“Race to find survivors” – that’s the i leading on the Turkey and Syrian earthquake. “Life and death under the ruins” – the Times shows a baby born in the earthquake rubble, the rest of whose family died. “Born in earthquake hell,” says the Daily Mirror, above a picture of the baby’s rescue – its lead story though is about “BP’s spoils of war” as the oil company stands accused of profiting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The top story in the Daily Express is “Distressed call … then school head and daughter shot dead”, about the Epsom College killings. “Now even God could be going gender neutral” – the Daily Mail on how the Church of England might stop “referring to the almighty as ‘He’”. “Fawlty Towers returns” – Basil is coming back, 44 years on, says the Sun.Today in FocusWhy are more people in the UK turning to private healthcare?The NHS turns 75 this year, but as waiting lists for appointments grow, increasing numbers of patients are looking elsewhere for healthcare. Denis Campbell reportsCartoon of the day | Martin RowsonThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all badThe early days of motherhood proved tricky for Freya Bennett. A long labour and an emergency C-section left her in shock and she found herself grieving her baby-free life. A growing sense of disconnection from the outside world spurred Bennett on to sign up for a parenting group that changed her first year of motherhood.It was in this group that she met Kristen. In the following weeks and months, the two saw each other everyday, babies in tow, sharing their life stories and commiserating over sleepless nights and the other challenges of new parenthood. Their daughters have become like sisters to one another, and even after Kristen’s maternity leave ended and their daily dates were replaced by organised catch-ups, Bennett found a version of sisterhood for herself that proved to be extremely important to her as a new mum.Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every SundayBored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s crosswords are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
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      Cryptic crossword
      Wordiply
      TopicsJoe BidenFirst EditionUS politicsState of the Union addressUS CongressnewslettersReuse this content More