Scott

The Supreme Court's conservative majority on Tuesday appeared deeply skeptical of the legality of a White House plan to forgive $400 billion in federal student loans during the pandemic, even as the Biden administration vigorously defended its power and attacked the ability of six states to block it. Oral arguments in a pair of cases challenging the Biden plan, which remains on hold pending the litigation, stretched well past their scheduled two hours, as the justices wrestled with key questions of legal standing and legal authority under a 2003 education law. The court's conservative justices seemed most concerned about the scope and scale of the administration's action, which was not specifically authorized by Congress. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-conservatives-skeptical-view-biden-student-debt/story?id=97530948

A picture appears to show a Ukrainian manufactured UJ-22 drone A drone has crashed in the Moscow region in what was likely an attempt to target civilian infrastructure, the regional governor said. Andrei Vorobyov was speaking after the defence ministry reported downing two Ukrainian drones in southern Russia. Ukraine does not claim responsibility for attacks inside Russia. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64802453

We may well at some point know if it is natural or not. There will be many, many Ph.D. students doing research and looking for this virus. These are the little soldiers that do a lot of leg work to earn a Ph.D. Some will be working with bats in the wild, some will be sequencing DNA in labs, but someone may well come up with a strong theory. Now, the problem of did a naturally occurring virus being studied in a lab accidentally (or on purpose) get released? With HIV, they were able to trace that back to patient zero -- the first person to bring HIV/AIDS to the western world. Again, there are researchers still looking at it's origins and then there are 'scientists' who say AIDS is not caused by the HIV virus.

Please be aware that posting unsubstantiated claims will result in posts being removed, warnings being given and possible suspensions. From the link provided by @candide: Among the most popular posts are baseless statements that the Great Reset is a strategic part of a grand conspiracy by the global elite, who somehow planned and managed the Covid-19 pandemic. In this narrative, lockdown restrictions were introduced not to curb the spread of the virus, but to deliberately bring about economic collapse and a socialist world government, albeit run for the benefit of powerful capitalists. The nebulousness of this conspiracy theory means it has found followers among anti-vaccine activists, anti-lockdown campaigners, new-age healers, and those on the far right and far left. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-57532368 Please post with care and discretion.

An updated intelligence assessment about the origins of the Covid-19 virus has reopened the long-simmering and unsolved debate about how the virus came to be – and will fuel a new committee House Republicans have created to investigate the issue. While scientists still predominantly believe the virus occurred naturally in animals and spread to humans in an outbreak at a market in Wuhan, China, the US Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence is now the second tentacle of the US government intelligence apparatus, along with the FBI, that endorses the “lab leak theory” – the minority view that the virus occurred as a result of work in a Chinese lab. The DOE office is one of 18 government agencies that make up the intelligence community, which are under the umbrella of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/27/politics/covid-lab-leak-what-matters/index.html

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NEW YORK — Matthew Seifer, a Long Island firearms safety instructor, is licensed by New York state to teach his students where they can legally carry their guns. It’s harder than it sounds. The U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned century-old New York regulations, ruling that citizens had a broad right to carry concealed weapons. The state Legislature, anticipating more gun toting, then made certain areas off-limits to firearms, but that new law has already been challenged in court at least 10 times. https://news.yahoo.com/where-carry-gun-whiplash-court-124006732.html

European low-cost carrier Wizz Air is suspending all its flights to the Moldovan capital of Chisinau starting on March 14 due to some “recent developments” in the country, the airline said.

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The cheapest way from Ireland to Europe used to be via Dover. But now Cherbourg and Rosslare are thriving. Rain or shine, Colm Lambert likes to sit on a bench overlooking Rosslare port on the south-eastern tip of Ireland and watch the new freight ships and passenger ferries sailing in from the Irish Sea. “They’re coming in from France, Spain, Belgium, Holland – it’s great to see,” he said. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/25/ports-france-ireland-brexit-cherbourg-rosslare

HONG KONG -- Four family members including the ex-husband of murdered Hong Kong socialite influencer Abby Choi appeared in court on Monday, in a horrific case that has stunned the city. On Sunday police said they discovered remains that are believed to belong to the 28-year-old. The remains were found in a large soup pot, her body parts appearing to have been cooked along with "green radishes and carrots," police said. https://abcnews.go.com/International/hong-kong-influencers-husband-relatives-face-court-grisly/story?id=97476661

This week marks another critical moment for US President Joe Biden's one-time student loan forgiveness plan. The Supreme Court is reconvening to hear two cases related to the programme, which could determine whether more than 40 million people in the US are able to have thousands of dollars in debt cancelled. Mr Biden announced a plan last August to cancel up to $10,000 (£8,400) in federal student loans for Americans who earned less than $125,000 each year, but applications for the programme were halted after a lower court judge ruled last November that it was unlawful. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64752727

San Benito, Texas CNN — Raul Rodriguez says he’ll never forget the moment he realized his life was built on a lie. He was so shaken that he felt the blood rushing to his feet. In a matter of seconds, a family secret had shattered the way he saw the world and his place in it. “That day will never leave my mind. … It’s a terrible feeling,” he says. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/26/us/undocumented-border-officer-cec

Appearing at the doorstep of Walt Disney World, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday that gives him new power over Disney, effectively punishing the entertainment giant for speaking out against the Republican’s political agenda. The new law amounts to a state takeover of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the government body that has given Disney unique powers in Central Florida for more than half a century. It allows the governor to replace the district’s existing board – mostly people with ties to Disney – with a five-member body that he hand-picks. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/27/politics/desantis-disney-reedy-creek/index.html

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Fox News host Howard Kurtz said on Sunday that the network will not allow him to cover the defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox. Kurtz said on his “MediaBuzz” show on Sunday that the company is not allowing him to cover the case, despite his belief that he should cover it since it is a “major media story.” He said that for now, he cannot talk about the case, but will let his audience know if that policy changes. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3874914-fox-news-howard-kurtz-says-company-wont-let-him-cover-dominion-voting-case/

Elon Musk defends Dilbert cartoonist over racist rant, calling media ‘anti-white’ Elon Musk has defended the artist behind cartoon strip Dilbert, which has been dropped from papers across the US after its creator’s racist online rant. Scott Adams, 65, had been producing nationally-syndicated Dilbert since 1989, but landmark papers such as the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, as well as smaller titles around the country, have stopped publishing the cartoon in the wake of the artist’s description of Black people as a “hate group” and urging white people to “get the hell away from” them. Mr Adams made the comments on Wednesday but appeared to double down on Saturday, tweeting: “Is it racist to avoid racists who are the same race as each other? Or is it only racist if the racists you are avoiding are white?” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/elon-musk-racism-dilbert-scott-adams-b2290330.html

Rishi Sunak is meeting the European Commission president on Monday for what No 10 describes as "final talks" on a new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland. The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen will be trying to resolve the "range of complex challenges" around the protocol during the UK meeting. The UK wants to change the protocol, an agreement with the EU which sees some goods checked when entering from the rest of Great Britain. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-64780244

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More than 126,000 customers are without power in California as a major storm brings record rainfall, heavy snow and damaging winds. The storm will be moving from southern California across the entire country over the next few days, eventually moving northeast by Tuesday. As of Saturday morning, more than 30 million Americans are under weather alerts in the West, ranging from blizzard warnings in the mountains near Los Angeles to wind chill alerts in the Northern Plains. https://abcnews.go.com/US/122000-power-california-storm-brings-rain-heavy-snow/story?id=97465105

At least 58 migrants, including a baby, have died and dozens more have survived after their overloaded boat sank in rough seas off southern Italy. The vessel reportedly broke apart while trying to land with about 150 people aboard near the coastal town of Crotone in the Calabria region. Many bodies have been recovered from the beach at a nearby seaside resort. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64776621