WASHINGTON – Bob Dole is heading home to Kansas one last time.
The body of the former GOP Senate leader is returning to the state that launched his political career after two days of somber but warm ceremonies in the nation’s capital honoring the iconic Republican.
“Kansas’ favorite son,” recalled former Sen. Pat Roberts during a funeral service Friday at the Washington National Cathedral, where a bipartisan assemblage of politicians, led by President Joe Biden, honored Dole’s lasting legacy as a bridge-builder in Congress.
The services included two days of tributes reserved for Washington’s most consequential and revered dignitaries. Dole lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda Thursday as Biden, who served in the Senate with Dole, and congressional leaders heaped praise on him.
“America has lost one of our greatest patriots.” Biden said, while hailing him as “a hero of democracy.”
Friday’s tributes ended at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall where a throng of mourners heard actor Tom Hanks, NBC Today host Savannah Guthrie and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, laud Dole, a decorated World War II veteran himself, as a national hero who always seemed in command.
“There are many great lessons to take away from Bob Dole’s life,” Hanks said. “Go to the other guy’s office so you can decide when the meeting is over, get up and walk out. Speak straight, even when it gets you in trouble because it will. But at least everyone will know how you stand and what you stand for. And always plan not just to win, but to win big. Yes, you may try and fail. But you will not fail to try.”
Dole’s casket is set to arrive in Kansas on Friday evening in preparation for a public memorial service Saturday in the gymnasium at Russell High School, Dole’s alma mater. His casket will then go to the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka where he will lie in repose beginning at 5 p.m.
His body will then return to Washington, and Dole will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, according to a spokesman with Kansas GOP Sen. Jerry Moran’s office.
Gen. Mark Milley remembers Dole as ‘a man of deep character’
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, honored Dole as “a man of deep character and tremendous accomplishment” in remarks at the World War II Memorial Friday afternoon.
“Today is a solemn day for our nation as we collectively mourn, but more importantly, we celebrate the life of Senator Bob Dole, an incredible example of a lifetime of selfless service to our nation,” Milley said.
Milley said Dole’s “commitment to this democracy was unwavering” and described the late-senator’s time in the military. Dole, a decorated World War II veteran, was seriously injured in Italy’s Apennine Mountains located in 1945.
“He had a life of service defending this democracy, and we honor him today for his entire life,” Milley said.
Dole’s service to the United States went beyond his military career, Milley said, noting the Kansas Republican went on to serve the country “many, many times over” in different arenas.
“He served the army. He served the state of Kansas. He served his political party but above all, he served his country and he served his fellow American,” Milley said. “Bob Dole always, always put his country first.”
– Rebecca Morin
Hanks: Dole ‘willed’ World War II Memorial into place as monument to peace
In paying tribute to Dole, Actor Tom Hanks said there was perhaps no more fitting location to remember him than the World War II Memorial since the Kansas senator and wounded World War II veteran “willed this memorial into place.”
“He pushed the idea. He corralled the votes. He made the phone calls. He enlisted allies, all of us in the cause. And he raised the money,” Hanks said of Dole who led the national fundraising effort. “He did all but mix the concrete himself, which he may have done had he had the use of that right arm.”
Hanks, who played the iconic role of Capt. John Miller in ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ noted Dole’s service in World War II where he was wounded and lost the use of his right arm during an attack against Nazi German forces in Italy.
“This memorial stands in this rightful sight because Bob Dole remembered. He remembered the nearly half a million souls who, unlike him, never came home from the Second World War. He remembered the years of service the surviving Americans had invested,” said Hanks, addressing a crowd that included World War II veterans.
“Yet this memorial was not built only for the generation it honors anymore than it was erected to crow of their victory,” the actor continued. “Bob Dole called this a memorial to peace, so that all generations would remember that peace is achieved in shared labor, by shared sacrifice, by volunteering for the shared duty, if peace is to be won, and if we Americans are to continue our pursuit of a more perfect nation in an imperfect world.”
– Ledyard King
Dole’s life a “flesh and blood” memorial to American values, says NBC’s Savannah Guthrie
NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie opened Dole’s second service of the day, held at the World War II memorial, describing his life as a memorial to American values made of “flesh and blood.”
Guthrie highlighted Dole’s role in advocating for the memorial’s creation and talked about his many visits to the monument, even in his final years.
“He came here looking for you: soldier, service member, caregiver, patriot,” Guthrie said. “He came to grasp your hand and lock eyes to convey what could never be sufficiently captured with words alone.”
Despite only knowing the Dole family for a few years, Guthrie reminisced about her memories with them, including a FaceTime call between her children and the Doles’ dogs.
“What a glorious surprise, so marvelous and unexpected, this treasure of a relationship, and inside it, a valuable lesson,” she said. “Senator Bob showed me that even well into your 90s, it is never too late to make a new friend.”
She added that Dole stood for dignity, integrity, friendship and his country.
Guthrie addressed Elizabeth Dole directly and honored their long marriage.
“Dearest Elizabeth, I know how deeply you grieve your beloved, how sweet was the company you kept for nearly 50 years, how you will miss the humor and charm of your dearest companion,” she said. “I also know of your deep faith and of his, and that connection between you is eternal and unbroken. It is how you will hold hands with him until you meet again.”
–Ella Lee
Bob Dole’ casket arrives at World War II Memorial
The casket of Bob Dole arrived at the National Mall where the former Kansas Republican senator, who died Sunday at age 98, will be honored at the World War II Memorial he helped establish. As the flag-draped coffin was unloaded, onlookers snapped photos while mourners sat quietly.
Dole, a World War II veteran wounded from Nazi gunfire in Italy in 1945, was known for his enduring work recognizing his fellow soldiers. Admirers spoke of how he would make impromptu visits to the memorial to greet veterans who came from across the nation on “Honor Flights.
Dedicated in 2004, the memorial honors the service of 16 million members of the U.S. armed forces, the support of countless millions on the home front, and the ultimate sacrifice of 405,399 Americans.
Twenty-four bronze bas-relief panels flank the ceremonial entrance. Granite columns representing each U.S. state and territory at the time of World War II ring a pool that shoots water into the air. Quotes, references to theaters, campaigns, and battles, and two massive victory pavilions marking (the European and Pacific theaters) chronicle the efforts Americans undertook to win the war. A wall of 4,048 gold stars reminds all of the supreme sacrifice made by over 400,000 Americans.
– Ledyard King
Dole’s casket heads to World War II for public memorial
Bob Dole’s flag-draped casket was led out of the National Cathedral following his funeral service and placed back in the hearse where it will head to the World War II Memorial on the National Mall for a public commemoration.
The memorial service for the former veteran, who was wounded in 1945 in Italy, is slated to start around 1:15 EST.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will speak, along with friends of the Dole family, actor Tom Hanks and Savannah Guthrie of NBC News. Dole’s widow, Elizabeth, will lay a wreath at the memorial.
The World War II Memorial is part of Dole’s legacy, as he was national chairman in its fundraising effort.
– Ledyard King
Senate Chaplain described Dole, wife as ‘spiritual royalty’
Rev. Dr. Barry C. Black, the 62nd Senate Chaplain, said he grew to love Dole, despite not serving as chaplain while the Kansas senator held office.
He described a call with Dole and his wife, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole, as “a conference call with spiritual royalty.”
“At the end (of the call), I had a sense that Bob knew he was cared for by a great Shepherd,” Black said.
Black evoked one of the readings, Psalm 23, which reads “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
The Senate chaplain of 19 years joked that Dole enjoyed brevity and described him as a “covert spiritual agent.”
“He did not wear his religion on his sleeves,” Black said. “He resonated with the sentiment of Francis of Assisi: ‘Preach the Gospel everywhere you go. When necessary, use words.’”
– Ella Lee
‘The most generous person’: Robin Dole, daughter of late senator, honors father at funeral service
Robin Dole, the only daughter of the former GOP leader, hailed her father as an animal lover and “the most generous person” who “cared more about other than he did himself.”
“He was a giver, not a taker,” Dole, 67, said of her father. “He cared more about others than he did about himself.”
Dole recalled that her father had a “personal goal to help at least one person every day of his life.” She noted the Kansas Republican was unsure whether he was able to meet his goal.
“I said ‘Dad, you’ve got to be kidding. Some days you help one person and other days you help 40,000 people. I think you’ve met and exceeded your goal,’” Dole recalled.
“‘Well, you may be right,’ he said,” she continued.
Dole’s daughter: He was a lover of animals
Robin Dole said her father loved animals, noting how much he loved his dogs, Blazer and Leader. She said Blazer at times would lay at his feet “whenever he suspected dad needed special nursing care.”
“It really helped him because he loved them so much,” she said.
In her closing remarks, Dole quoted a farewell letter her father wrote.
“As I make the final walk on my life’s journey, I do so without fear because I know that I will again, not be walking alone,” Dole said, reading her father’s words. “I know that God will be walking with me.”
Dole added that she would miss her father so much, and will continue to talk to him every night.
“I love you dad,” she said. “You will never walk alone.”
– Rebecca Morin
Tom Daschle: Bob Dole transcended partisanship
Former Sen. Tom Daschle, who in the mid-1990s served as the Democratic majority leader while Dole was leading the Senate Republicans, praised the Kansan for possessing a love of country that transcended partisan politics.
“He stood up for minorities early in his career and he broke party ranks and voted for the landmark Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts. He stood up for the elderly when he worked with (New York Democratic Sen.) Pat Moynihan literally to save Social Security,” Daschle told the mourners. “He stood up for the young when he worked with my fellow South Dakotan (Democratic senator) George McGovern on nutrition assistance. And he stood up for the disabled when he worked with Ted Kennedy and Tom Harkin on the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
Dole said the agricultural community was particularly pleased when senators chose two Midwesterners to lead their respective parties in the chamber.
“He said every farmer in America that very moment ordered a new tractor,” he said, drawing a chuckle from the congregation.
– Ledyard King
Fellow Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts calls Dole ‘Kansas’ favorite son’
Former Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., described Dole as “Kansas’ favorite son,” along with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and told stories of Dole’s upbringing in the Sunflower State.
The former Kansas senator evoked a speech Dole gave to the 1986 graduating class of his hometown high school, Russell High School.
“There are two kinds of education in this world,” Dole said. “There’s one where you give yourself and another you get from others. You could get an education on the farm, or in a factory or in a science lab, at a church pew. Most of all, if you’re from Russell, you can get an education just by looking at life around you.”
Roberts said when he learned the news of Dole’s death on Sunday, Kansans from all walks of life “paused,” including himself.
“Bob Dole was a person who meant something to everyone in the coffee shop, the campaign trail, the halls of Congress,” he said. “Whether we were in Topeka, Abilene, Wichita or Dodge City, I saw Bob Dole connect with Kansans, always on a personal level. He would share with them this vision, this promise, and he would help them achieve it.”
– Ella Lee
‘And there was Bob’
Roberts also spoke on Dole’s dedication to American veterans, particularly in his persistence to the creation of the World War II memorial.
“Every weekend, when the Honor Flights would roll up to the World War II memorial, Kansas veterans, escorted by Kansas high school students, would visit their memorial to reflect on their fight to preserve a free world,” he said. “And there was Bob, shaking every hand, posing for every picture, listening to all the stories and the thanks of a still grateful nation.”
– Ella Lee
Biden: Dole was ‘a man of principle, pragmatism and enormous integrity’
President Joe Biden honored Bob Dole Friday morning, calling the late senator a “genuine hero” as he described his life as a war hero and a politician who “always did his duty” and “lived by a code of honor.”
“I found Bob to be a man of principle, pragmatism and enormous integrity,” Biden said of the former GOP leader. “He wanted government to work, to work for folks like him, who came up the hard way.”
Biden, who served with Dole in the Senate, noted that the Kansas Republican at times made decisions that were in opposition of those within his own party, such as creating a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Bob Dole did that,” Biden said, adding that the late Senator told colleagues that “No first class Democracy can treat people like second class citizens.”
During his closing remarks, Biden said Dole “will be with us always.”
“Bob will be with us always, cracking a joke, moving a bill, finding common ground,” Biden said.
– Rebecca Morin
Reverend: Bob Dole gone but ‘not lost’
Rev. Randolph Hollerith welcomed the mourners to the funeral, noting that it was only five weeks ago that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had his own memorial service in the very same church.
“We have indeed seen too much loss in recent days,” said Hollerith, dean of the Washington National Cathedral since 2016.
“Bob Dole was one of the greatest of the greatest generation, a patriot who always placed country above partisanship and politics. While we mourn his loss, we gather this morning to give thanks for him and to celebrate his extraordinary life,” the reverend said.
“Though Sen. Dole has gone from us he is not lost,” he said. “For now, it is enough to say on behalf of a grateful nation, well done, good and faithful servant. Well done.”
Ledyard King
Bill Clinton arrives at Bob Dole funeral service
Former President Bill Clinton is in attendance at Bob Dole’s funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral.
Clinton was seated in the first row, alongside President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Clinton defeated Dole in the 1996 presidential election.
Former Vice Presidents Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney and Mike Pence were also in attendance. The three former vice presidents were seated together.
– Rebecca Morin
Ex-VPs Mike Pence, Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney attend Dole funeral service
Former Vice President Mike Pence arrived at the Washington National Cathedral around 10:15 a.m. EST Friday to attend Dole’s funeral service.
Pence wasn’t the only former vice president there. Dan Quayle and Dick Cheney were also in attendance.
A number of lawmakers will be at the funeral service for the former senator. Some members of Congress, such as Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, were already in attendance at the Cathedral. Other lawmakers, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will be arriving with the motorcade that left the Capitol.
President Joe Biden will also be in attendance and will deliver remarks honoring Dole.
– Rebecca Morin
Casket carrying Dole leaves Capitol for funeral service
The flag-draped casket carrying former Sen. Bob Dole has been loaded on a hearse and has left the Capitol for the six-mile trip to the Washington National Cathedral where a funeral service for the former GOP leader is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. EST.
The casket of the World War II veteran, who lay in state Thursday, was carried down the steps from the Capitol Rotunda by eight members of the military as congressional leaders looked on.
Dole’s widow, Elizabeth, and daughter, Robin, were part of the police escort taking the former presidential candidate to the funeral service.
A private service is scheduled at the cathedral where President Joe Biden and former Sens. Pat Roberts and Tom Daschle, and Dole’s daughter Robin Dole will give tribute. Lee Greenwood will perform.
Mr. Netanyahu could be indicted. Israel’s attorney general announced last month that he planned to bring charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
A final decision on charges is likely by year’s end. Under the current law, Mr. Netanyahu, if re-elected, would not have to resign until a final conviction, although new legislation or public pressure could force him to step down. Mr. Netanyahu has described the charges as a baseless partisan witch hunt. But with a first sitting prime minister to be charged, Israel would be entering uncharted legal and political terrain.
The uncertainty has worked against Mr. Netanyahu in the prelude to the vote.
“The attorney general’s report has done something that has never happened in Israel’s 70-year history, and that is that a prime minister is under a legal cloud,” said David Makovsky, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The election also is the first time that three former heads of the army, the Israel Defense Forces, have united to run for office. The Blue and White alliance is led by Mr. Gantz and two other veteran generals, Gabi Ashkenazi and Moshe Yaalon.
They have teamed up with a well-known centrist party, Yesh Atid, led by Yair Lapid, a former journalist, television host and finance minister. Mr. Gantz has agreed to hand off the prime minister position to Mr. Lapid after two and a half years if their parties win.
While Mr. Netanyahu has a strong record of defending Israel, the Blue and White alliance’s military credentials have made it more difficult for him to attack Mr. Gantz and his colleagues as weak on security.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Monday that he will not “move forward” with the Presidential Medal of Freedom that Donald Trump planned to present to him on Thursday.
Belichick explained his decision in a statement:
“Recently I was offered the opportunity to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which I was flattered by out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients. Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award.
“Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation’s values, freedom and democracy. I know I also represent my family and the New England Patriots team. One of the most rewarding things in my professional career took place in 2020 when, through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions.
“Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by John F. Kennedy in 1963 and is awarded by the president to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the security of national interests of America, to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
The honor for Belichick comes as the U.S. House of Representatives is increasing pressure to force Trump from office before the end of his term on Jan. 20, after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday while Congress was in the process of confirming Joe Biden as his successor.
Trump recently has selected several sports figures and political backers for the honor. Hall of Fame golfers Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player, along with the late multisport athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday, the day after the siege on the Capitol.
Belichick, 68, just concluded his 46th season in the NFL and 21st as Patriots coach. He has led the Patriots to six Super Bowl championships, joining George Halas and Curly Lambeau as the only coaches with six championships since the league began postseason play in 1933. Belichick’s 311 victories (regular season and playoffs combined) are third all time, behind Don Shula (347) and Halas (324).
In an overdue but welcome move from the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday their new regulation replacing the Flores Settlement Agreement, which forces the separation of migrant children from their parents while they await asylum proceedings. For all that immigration activists and even members of the media have lambasted the DHS’ elimination of the potentially illegal Flores settlement, it may right one of the worst humanitarian evils on the border: the sexual assault epidemic of migrant children.
The new Flores Final Rule will immediately ameliorate the minor-on-minor sexual assault crisis by keeping children under the supervision of their parents rather than in understaffed cages. Of 1,303 sexual abuse cases of migrant minors, the Justice Department found that in 1,125 of them, the perpetrators were other minors. Keeping parents in charge of their children will drastically increase the supervision of children, all but eliminating not just fellow minors abusing them but also adult predators.
In the long term, the new regulation will disincentivize human traffickers from stealing children as an effective entry ticket to the country. Given the rightful blowback of family separation, border security has been forced to relegate to catch-and-release in migrant cases involving children, thus inviting false asylum seekers and illegal immigrants to traffic children in the hopes of being released into the country. Contrary to the claims of immigration doves, the child trafficking problem has catapulted into a crisis. In a pilot program of rapid DNA tests, border security officials found that 30% of children weren’t related to the “parents” who brought them to the country.
The legality of the Flores Final Rule remains unclear, and there’s no question that the change, as well as increased funding for border facilities and expediting immigration courts, ought to be coming from Congress. But as a matter of protecting human rights while preventing catch-and-release from inviting mass influxes of illegal immigrants and human traffickers, the replacement of the Flores Agreement should be celebrated by Americans across the political spectrum.
President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are facing pressure to extend federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits set to expire this weekend for millions of American workers, as the Delta variant continues to surge and job growth slows.
Three federal jobless aid programs, first put in place by former President Donald Trump‘s administration last March, will lapse Monday, with an estimated 7.5 million unemployed workers set to lose all their benefits. An additional 3 million will no longer receive a $300 weekly boost to the unemployment benefits provided by their state, according to estimates from the Century Foundation.
Individuals set to lose benefits have shared their stories on social media in an apparent effort to encourage lawmakers to get behind an extension—while other supporters of an extension have criticized Biden and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin—a moderate Democrat who has indicated he will vote against an extension in a Democrat-only budget bill—over the abrupt end to aid.
President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are facing pressure to extend federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits set to expire this weekend for millions of American workers. Here, Biden delivers remarks about the situation in Afghanistan in the East Room of the White House on August 16, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
“Over the next few weeks, millions of Americans will lose their enhanced unemployment and will face eviction and food insecurity. Biden’s response: ‘We’re ending all those things that are things keeping people from going back to work,'” tweeted professor Anthony Zenkus of the School of Social Work at Columbia University. “Joe Biden. He is our enemy.”
Salem Snow, a Pennsylvania activist running for the U.S. House in 2022, tweeted: “Extend unemployment benefits. There are millions of people that have been relying on these programs to survive. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic. Congress is going to have more American blood on their hands if they don’t do something.”
“Biden needs to reverse his position on unemployment insurance today and call on Congress to extend benefits. The facts on the ground have changed since he first announced he supported benefits expiring in September,” said Lindsey Owens, executive director of Groundwork collaborative, a center-left activist group with a focus on economic issues.
The benefits have previously been renewed after lapsing, but the Biden administration has indicated reluctance to extend the aid.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh sent a letter to lawmakers last month, saying it’s “appropriate” to allow the expanded $300 weekly boost to expire on September 6 as scheduled. And while the Biden administration has suggested that states can reallocate existing federal funds to continue aid, none have moved to do so.
In renewing the unemployment programs in March, the Biden administration and lawmakers had anticipated that the economy would largely recover by September with an aggressive vaccine rollout. But the unforeseen explosion of the highly contagious Delta variant, which now accounts for 94 percent of America’s coronavirus cases, has limited that plan.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data on Friday that showed 235,000 jobs were created in August—a steep decline from the 1.1 million jobs created in July and far below economists’ projections of 733,000 jobs.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment.
Less than a month after deeming the 15-month total shutdown of the L-train tunnel linking Manhattan and Brooklyn “vital,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday backpedaled at the 11th hour and announced a piecemeal approach that will allow the line to still run 24/7.
Rather than the long-anticipated complete year-plus closure of the tunnel — which was expected to plunge cross-borough commutes into chaos starting April 27 — Cuomo backed a longer-term overhaul that would close one of the tunnel’s two tubes at a time on nights and weekends, leaving the line fully operational during weekdays.
“The simple fact is you have roughly 250,000 people who are going to need another way to work,” Cuomo said at a Thursday press briefing. “Fifteen months sounds like a relatively short period of time, but it’s not if you’re doing it one day at a time trying to get to work.”
A small circle of city and state officials was summoned Wednesday by the governor’s office to a highly-secretive meeting detailing the sudden change, multiple sources familiar with the situation told The Post ahead of Cuomo’s briefing.
The about-face came after Cuomo personally toured the tunnel — badly damaged by the salty deluge of Superstorm Sandy — in December and conceded that there was likely no alternative to the 15-month shutdown, expected to torpedo more than 225,000 daily commutes.
“I’m not holding out hope” for an alternative to the shutdown, Cuomo said at the time. “New Yorkers are willing to bear the expense and the burden of change, and they get that sometimes big projects are required, but to make sure that it’s really done right and it really has to be done.”
That announcement seemingly confirmed what the MTA knew — and commuters had been bracing for — for years.
WASHINGTON – The fighting in Congress over Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court started even before she was nominated.
Democrats warned of the precedent set if Republicans rushed through a nominee in the middle of a pandemic and presidential election, arguing no nominee should be considered until after voters cast ballots. They rattled off threats to slow the process, teasing a host of tools that could bog down the hearings, with some lawmakers even publicly suggesting launching impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
Replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon on the court, with Barrett, a staunch conservative, was gearing up to be a fight for the ages, with some speculating her nomination could lead to even more contentious proceedings than the hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which were nearly derailed in 2018 after sexual assault allegations.
But instead, the hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee were largely drama-free, leaving Barrett unscathed and on track to be confirmed by the full Senate by the end of October. Democrats, while pressuring Barrett for her stance on issues, were at times warm and complimentary to the federal appeals court judge and her family. The four days of hearings even ended with a hug between the top Republican and Democrat on the panel.
“It was eerily smooth,” said Mike Davis, a former clerk for Justice Neil Gorsuch who worked as the top counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee during Kavanaugh’s nomination.
“Frankly, I’m surprised that the Democrats aren’t being more aggressive,” he added. “It went from unhinged during Kavanaugh to like whipped puppies this time.”
But as the hearings ended Thursday, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the panel, thanked Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., for his “fairness” during the hearings and praised the process.
“This has been one of the best Senate hearings I have ever participated in,” she said.
Graham praised the conduct of senators on both sides, saying “I don’t think anybody crossed the line with the judge in terms of trying to demean her as a person.”
There were moments of tension, however. Democrats repeatedly called the hearings a “sham” and there was an attempt on the final to stop her nomination, which was shut down by the Republican majority.
With so much at stake, why weren’t Barrett’s hearings contentious? Here are some of the reasons experts say led to more civility.
Democrats unable to block nomination
It took only days after Ginsburg’s death for Democrats to concede they could not do anything to halt Barrett’s nomination. As swing-state Republicans, one-by-one, got behind Trump’s nominee, it was clear Democrats would not have the votes to block her addition to the high court before Election Day.
Republicans outnumber Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate, which gets final say on Barrett’s confirmation likely later this month. Since Barrett’s nomination requires a simple majority of votes in each body, as long as Republicans vote together in support of the conservative justice, there’s little Democrats can do to stop her nomination from moving forward.
“The fix is in,” said Boston College Law School professor Kent Greenfield, who added of Democrats, “at this point, there’s nothing they can do.”
Instead, Democrats tried to appeal to voters, urging them to cast ballots and stressing what another conservative justice on the court would mean for the future of the Affordable Care Act, which will be taken before the court in November.
But the hearings appeared to start with a foregone conclusion, seemingly stripping the hearings of the drama inherent at previous confirmations.
At one point during the hearings, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., appeared to reveal the inevitability of Barrett’s ascension to the high court. While speaking about the need for tougher ethics and financial reporting requirements for Supreme Court justices, he told Barrett, “Take a look at that when you get up there.”
Sam Erman, a University of Southern California constitutional law professor, said he was struck by Democrats’ sense of “resignation” throughout the hearings.
“There simply were not the votes to stop these from going through,” he said.
That wasn’t the case two years ago with Kavanaugh, whose nomination was filled with last-minute drama that left his confirmation to the high court a mystery. Key senators stayed mum on how they would vote.
With Kavanaugh’s future on the high court uncertain, lawmakers and advocates lodged a public-pressure campaign to block his appointment, an effort that was energized after sexual assault allegations surfaced against him.
In one remarkable moment, two female protesters followed then Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who served on the Senate Judiciary Committee, into an elevator and told him they were sexual assault survivors, pleading with Flake to vote against Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Hours later, Flake – a key swing vote on the panel – forced a delay in Kavanaugh’s appointment to allow for an FBI investigation of the allegations, though Flake ultimately voted in favor Kavanaugh-
This time, however, protesters weren’t allowed inside the building because of COVID-19 restrictions.
COVID pushed protests outside
Every few minutes, shouting would bring Kavanaugh’s hearings to a halt. Protesters, some wearing all black or others with signs supporting Planned Parenthood, would stand up in the back of the large hall and scream, “Save Roe, vote no!” or “Health care is a human right!”
Each time, officers lined against the walls of the chamber would quickly dart for the protesters, dragging them out of the large wood-paneled room.
Although protests were lively, COVID-19 restrictions kept the general public out of the Capitol and the surrounding office buildings. Smaller groups rallied outside instead.
Anti-Barrett protesters, some wearing face masks emblazoned with Ginsburg’s famous collar, faced off at times against pro-Barrett demonstrators in judge costumes. Some protesters donned red robes and white bonnets, costumes from the drama “The Handmaid’s Tale,” to highlight women’s health care.
On Thursday — the last day of Barrett’s hearings — Capitol Police said 27 people were arrested, fewer than half the 69 people who were arrested on the last day of the Kavanaugh hearings. And without protesters inside the building, lawmakers were able to go in and out of the hearings without being heckled.
Barrett is a different nominee than Kavanaugh was.
Even before allegations surfaced against Kavanaugh that briefly held up his nomination, Democrats grilled Kavanaugh for hours over his communications with the White House and missing and confidential documents that chronicled his time working in the George W. Bush White House.
Tensions reached a boiling point multiple times during the Kavanaugh hearings, with senators raising their voices as Kavanaugh sat with a stern face, sometimes even pushing back quite forcefully against Democratic inquiries.
But even the toughest lines of questioning posed to Barrett felt mild in comparison.
Unlike Kavanaugh, Democrats largely veered away from attacks or questions about Barrett’s personal life, particularly her Catholic faith, which opponents used to argue she was too religiously conservative to serve on the nation’s highest court.
Santa Clara University School of Law professor Margaret Russell noted how Democrats “stayed away from” religion after Feinstein was “chastised” for her questioning of Barrett in 2017, when she told Barrett, then an appeals court-nominee, about her concern “that the dogma lives loudly within you” and religion could be guiding her opinions on controversial issues, rather than the law.
Even though Democrats on the committee didn’t target Barrett’s faith, Republicans still denounced such efforts with Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., saying it’s “an attempt to bring back the days of the religious test.”
Barrett told the committee that while her faith “was important” to her and her family, she would only apply the law to the cases that would come before her as a Supreme Court justice should she be confirmed.
Election Day clouded hearings
Election Day is only weeks away, which gave both sides different incentives to keep the process from going too far off the rails.
Democrat Joe Biden is leading Trump in national polls, Democrats are favored to keep control of the House, and could even flip control of the Senate.
Even Graham mentioned the possibility of Trump losing reelection as he spoke about the future of the committee, telling Democrats, “Y’all have a good chance of winning the White House.”
“Thank you for acknowledging that,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., quipped.
Gregg Nunziatta, a former nominations counsel for Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, noted how both parties had the elections in mind and were “more coordinated and more disciplined” than in past cycles.
Republicans were “comfortable” with their position on nominations and Trump’s record on nominations, whereas Democrats felt like Biden was winning the presidential race.
Democrats “didn’t want to interrupt that narrative and didn’t want to be too obstructionist, or showing they were resigned to the fact that this nomination is probably getting confirmed,” he said.
Several Democratic senators used their role in Kavanaugh’s 2018 hearings to catapult themselves into greater political fame, but the dynamics were different in 2020.
Erman, the USC constitutional law professor, said Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., though lauded by progressives for her tough questioning of Kavanaugh, had less incentive to aggressively question Barrett because of Harris’ status as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee.
“It’s in her interest to not do anything to change the dynamics of the race because it’s on her side so far,” he said.
TOKYO (Reuters) – Two elderly passengers became the first people from aboard a cruise ship moored near Tokyo to die of the coronavirus, the Japanese government said on Thursday, as hundreds more passengers disembarked after two weeks’ quarantine.
The 621 coronavirus cases aboard the Diamond Princess cruise liner are by far the largest cluster of infection outside China. The ship has been held since Feb. 3 with initially 3,700 people on board.
The two patients who died, an 87-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman, had both tested positive for the virus although the woman’s cause of death was listed as pneumonia, the health ministry said. Two government officials who had worked on the ship were infected, it added, bringing the number of infected officials to five.
Public broadcaster NHK reported that 27 people from the ship were in serious condition.
The quarantine operation has sparked criticism of Japan’s authorities just months before Tokyo is due to host the Summer Olympics.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga defended Japan’s efforts. He told a news conference that after measures were put in place to isolate passengers on Feb. 5, the number of new infections fell.
Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) said in a report issued Wednesday that no new cases of the onset of the COVID-19 disease from the cruise ship were reported on Feb. 16-17 and only one crew member case on Feb. 15.
In a move to reassure the public, the health ministry also issued a statement in both English and Japanese that said all passengers had been required to stay in their cabins since Feb. 5. Critics have noted that the day before that order, as passengers were being screened, shipboard events continued, including dances and quiz games.
SAFE TO GO HOME?
About 1,000 Japanese released from the ship after testing negative for the virus were permitted to go straight home this week. Other countries are flying their citizens home but subjecting them to two more weeks of quarantine on arrival.
“We believe the isolation was effective,” Suga, the chief cabinet minister, said.
Those who have shared a room with infected people are being kept on board under further quarantine.
Around 600 people are expected to disembark on Thursday, 500 of whom will return to their homes in Japan, according to the health ministry. On Wednesday, 800 people left the ship including foreigners who left on evacuation flights.
Slideshow (3 Images)
“We are asking people to keep an eye on their temperature at home,” a health ministry official told Reuters. The government handed out pamphlets with advice on the disease, which has killed more than 2,100 people, mostly in China.
Some experts, however, worry returnees could infect others. Findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday suggest the virus may be spread more easily than previously thought, including by carriers who have no symptoms.
The health ministry official said the United States had taken the decision to risk bringing home infected passengers, and it was up to each country to quarantine people entering their ports as appropriate.
“Our stance is that Japan as the local authority has already quarantined these people for two weeks,” the official said, adding that if people sent home from the Diamond Princess later test positive, they would have caught the virus off the ship.
Additional reporting by Akiko Okamoto, Ju-min Park, Hideto Sakai, Daewong Kim, Elaine Lies, Makiko Yamazaki and Tim Kelly; writing by Linda Sieg and David Dolan; Editing by Sam Holmes, Michael Perry and Peter Graff
South Carolina Republican says the Wuhan lab leak ‘coverup’ is a lot like the Steele Dossier
Dr. Anthony Fauci gave a wide-ranging interview that was published late Thursday that mainly focused on the origins of the coronavirus, and he was asked if he believed his own National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases could have any responsibility for the global pandemic.
“Are you really saying that we are implicated because we gave a multibillion-dollar institution $120,000 a year for bat surveillance?” he asked, according to the Financial Times.
The paper did not post the precise question asked to Fauci, but the top disease doctor has been facing increased criticism by Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul over a $600,000 grant that went to a group called EcoHealth Alliance and ended up at the Chinese lab. The lab was reportedly tasked with studying the risk that bat coronaviruses.
Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health, said at a May 25 hearing that the taxpayer-funded grant was not approved to conduct gain-of-function research, which is research that involves modifying a virus to make it more infectious among humans.
NIAID did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News about the comments in the FT.
Medical records
Fauci told the paper that the medical records of the three workers who were said to have become sick at the Wuhan lab in late 2019 would be beneficial in the probe of the virus’ origin.
“Did they really get sick, and if so, what did they get sick with?” he asked.
“The same with the miners who got ill years ago. … What do the medical records of those people say? Was there [a] virus in those people? What was it? It is entirely conceivable that the origins of Sars-Cov-2 was in that cave and either started spreading naturally or went through the lab,” he said.
Fauci was referring to 2012, when miners became sick after they entered a bat cave, the report said. Three of them died. The paper pointed out that Fauci still believes the virus jumped to humans through animals.
David Asher, the former State Department investigator, told the paper that he respected Fauci, but was “stunned” that he would only now request the records. Asher pointed out that the Trump administration mentioned the reports of sick scientists in January.
China has promoted unproven theories that the virus may have originated elsewhere or even been brought into the country from overseas with imports of frozen seafood tainted with the virus, a notion roundly rejected by international scientists and agencies.
Robert Redfield, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Vanity Fair that in January 2020, he received a message from Dr. George Fu Gao, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gao warned him about sickened individuals in Wuhan. The report said “Redfield immediately offered to send a team of specialists to investigate” because he had suspicions about the Wuhan lab. If a team found antibodies in blood samples of workers there, that would be convincing evidence. China refused, he said.
The ex-boyfriend of the Florida mom whose body has been found in a shallow grave in Alabama reportedly told her father that she had asked him to drop her off “in the middle of nowhere in Destin” to stay with a friend before she vanished.
Authorities found the body of Cassie Carli, 37, buried inside a barn in Springville, about 300 miles north of where she was last seen in Navarre Beach, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson announced Sunday.
Carli’s ex-boyfriend Marcus Spanevelo, who was arrested Saturday, has ties to the property, the sheriff said without elaborating on the connection.
According to a text exchange, Spanevelo told the woman’s father that she had asked him to drop her off “in the middle of nowhere in Destin,” a city in northwest Florida, so she could stay with a friend named Stacey.
“Stacey moved to Alabama a while ago. Cassie would never have you drop her off anywhere. Is her car at your house?” Carli’s father replied, the US Sun reported, citing text messages from March 28.
The day before, she went to pick up her daughter, 4-year-old Saylor, in a custody exchange with her ex in the parking lot of Juana’s Pagodas restaurant at Navarre Beach in Pensacola.
Cassie Carli’s body was identified by a tattoo.Facebook / Cassie Carli
Later that night, Carli’s worried father received a text response from her number saying she had car trouble and that she was spending the night at Spanevelo’s home.
Carli was officially reported as a missing person on March 28, when her friends and family began their own search.
The following day, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office officially announced her as a missing person and her car was discovered in the restaurant parking lot — with her purse inside the vehicle, according to the US Sun.
Marcus Spanevelo was arrested Saturday.Maury County Sheriffs Department
Carli’s sister Raeann messaged Spanevelo to cooperate with authorities.
He told her he had Saylor and that investigators had already contacted him, then forwarded her screenshots of the explanation he provided to her father, the outlet said.
On Wednesday, Spanevelo and Saylor were located in Birmingham, where the girl was turned over to Alabama Child Services.
Johnson expressed concern the next day about some findings of the probe, including that Carli had no credit card or phone activity since she went missing.
The barn in St. Clair County, Alabama, where Cassie Carli’s body was discovered.
The FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement joined the investigation on Thursday.
Spanevelo was arrested in Lebanon, Tennessee, Friday and charged with tampering with evidence. He also faces charges of destruction of evidence and giving false information.
More charges are pending following the results of an autopsy, which has been scheduled for Monday.
The day before Cassie Carli went missing, she went to pick up her daughter, Saylor, in a custody exchange.Facebook / Cassie Carli
Johnson expects Spanevelo to eventually be extradited to Santa Rosa County Jail from Tennessee.
“He was totally uncooperative. He never cooperated with us,” he said. “And that goes a long way. It’s your baby’s mother and she’s missing — and you’re not going to cooperate with authorities? That’s pretty tell-tale.”
Carli’s remains were found Saturday night in a barn in St. Clair County, Alabama, police announced Sunday. Her body was identified by a tattoo, officials said.
Cassie Carli had no credit card or phone activity since she went missing.Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Offi
The property is linked to Spanevelo, who had recently been living and working in the Birmingham area, according to the US Sun.
“It’s not the ending that we wanted, obviously, but we’re hoping to provide a little closure to the family,” Johnson told reporters.
Tras pasar por el momento público más vergonzoso y raro de su vida en la competencia en vivo de Miss Universo 2015, Ariadna Gutiérrez puede mirar hacia el futuro.
Y estas son solo algunas de las muchas posibles razones que la podrían alentar de pasar a las lágrimas a las sonrisas.
Primero, sin duda este bochornoso escándalo le ha dado una visibilidad y fama mundial. Sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que incluso en este país este concurso de belleza no es tan famoso como lo es en todo América Latina y Asia pero hoy está en todas partes su nombre, su cara y su reacción. Todas las cadenas en inglés y español están tratando de obtener la primera entrevista con ella y eso es solo una muestra del interés general por saber más de su difícil experiencia. Ella está más solicitada que la misma Miss Universo 2015, la filipina Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.
Segundo, la fama ayuda a la hora de buscar un nuevo empleo y no sería nada de difícil con esa cara, cuerpo y ahora nombre reconocido para ella obtener muchas ofertas laborales. Incluso, ella podría seguir los pasos de Alicia Machado e incursionar en las telenovelas. Si se mira bella llorando, eso ya es un gran punto a su favor. Y ni que decir de modelar o representar marcas reconocidas en todo el mundo.
Tercero, su parecido físico con Sofía Vergara es innegable. Aunque no siempre ha lucido igual, tras teñirse el pelo más claro y un secreto que está a continuación, ahora sí lucen bastante parecidas sobre todo antes los reflectores y seguir el mismo estilo de la famosa barranquillera: vestido entallado, strapless, cabello suelto, partido por la mitad. Algunos aseguran que son primas lejanas y no sorprendería si esa información es cierta. Y con Vergara siendo de las actrices mejor pagadas del mundo, ella fácilmente podría ser la hermana menor o prima de la actriz en “Modern Family” o en alguna próxima película. Es más, ya hasta el acento al hablar inglés lo tiene y bastante parecido.
Cuarto, antes de llegar a Las Vegas para el concurso, Ariadna se puso a dieta para adelgazar unas libritas de más y lucir regia. Y lo logró con la ayuda profesional del entrenador José Hernández, conocido por sus apariciones televisivas. Así que sin duda se logra lo que se propone, bueno, casi todo. Sus curvas ahora son más estilizadas.
Quinto, circulan rumores de que está considerando demandar a la Miss Universe Organization por estrés emocional y de concretarse estos planes podría embolsarse varios miles de dólares, o hasta millones si alega haber sido expuesta a una crisis nerviosa por las imágenes de su errónea coronación que dieron la vuelta al mundo.
Y sexto y último, contrario al resto de las participantes que soñaron con vivir el momento de ser coronada, ella no lo tiene que soñar, ella lo vivió. Y aunque al final, tuvo que devolver la corona, pese a quien le pese tiene la foto y video de recuerdo con la banda y corona que la nombraban la Miss Universo 2015.
Al final de cuentas, como ella misma lo dijo: “Todo pasa por alguna razón”. O como dice otro dicho: “No hay mal que por bien no venga”.
Y ella misma comentó en Instagram que “estos momentos estarán siempre conmigo… Lo logramos Colombia!” Y sí, ahora el país y ella están en boca de todos.
“The Commonwealth has made tremendous progress over the last two years—banning no knock warrants, curbing pretextual stops, mandating crisis intervention training for police, limiting the use of choke holds, establishing civilian review boards—but there is more to do to ensure all Virginians are treated safely, and with basic respect, in interactions with police,” the spokeswoman said.
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