The new bill is signed just days before the Derek Chauvin verdict is expected to be announced, potentially provoking nationwide riots
In a move meant to uphold law and order and avoid a repeat of the summer of leftist riots seen last year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill which increases criminal penalties for crimes committed during riots and helps protect law enforcement agencies from local governments.
On Monday morning, during the signing ceremony, Gov. DeSantis declared that “It is the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country, and there’s just nothing even close.” The bill became law effective immediately.
The law, summarized here, hopes to prevent violent riots by criminalizing “violent or disorderly riots, obstructing roadways, destroying or toppling monuments, and harassment in public accommodations.” It also prohibits state funding to local governments who defund the police, as well as allowing victims of a violent riot to sue local governments for crimes relating to such riots.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has staunchly rejected the use of Covid passports to reopen travel in a meeting of its emergency committee, over concerns that vaccinations alone won’t prevent the transmission of the virus.
Reiterating their previously stated position on Monday, the WHO’s Emergency Committee said it opposed the use of proof of vaccination documents as a condition of international travel due to the lack of evidence over the impact of vaccination on the transmission of coronavirus.
The WHO’s declaration comes amid alarm from the group over “the persistent inequity in global vaccine distribution”, with the international health body stating that Covid passports would only further promote unequal freedom of movement.
Parties are strongly encouraged to acknowledge the potential for requirements of proof of vaccination to deepen inequities.
Instead, the WHO has recommended that countries impose quarantine measures for international travellers and introduce “coordinated, time-limited, risk-based and evidence-based approaches for health measures.”
Concerns about the inequality that would be caused by the use of Covid passports has been sparked by wealthier nations snapping up vaccines, while poorer countries have been left without enough doses to effectively vaccinate their population.
Fostering a Christ-first, others-second team model, the Baylor University Bears won their first NCAA men’s basketball national title earlier this month, completing a championship turnaround over 17 years after scandal and murder rocked the program.
But unlike many other Division I basketball teams, the Bears took steps to ensure Christ was at the center of their program, not selfish ambition.
Moments after clinching the national title and being presented with the national championship trophy, Baylor Coach Scott Drew told CBS’ Jim Nantz that his team plays with a “culture of J.O.Y.,” which stands for “Jesus, Others and then Yourself.”
Drew, who has been the men’s head basketball coach at the Waco, Texas-based university since 2003, told The Christian Post in an interview last Friday that the “culture of J.O.Y.” motto factors into how the team seeks to honor God and love others.
“J.O.Y., it’s pretty simple, ‘Jesus, Others, Yourself. [Its] very easy to remember and yet so hard to do. But at the end of the day, we want to make sure we always honor and give credit to Jesus first, and our teammates and others second, and talk about ourselves third,” Drew, the son of National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame coach Homer Drew, explained.
He said all Baylor coaches strive for their team to play selflessly. But with a Christ-centered approach to life, this is easier to achieve.
“As coaches, your mission and goal for any team is to put your teammates in front of yourself,” he said. “Obviously, the only person you would want before others would be God. So if you could keep that priority, then obviously you’re playing selfless, you’re playing for others, you don’t have the pressure on yourself to perform.”
“At the same time, as we get older in life, you know it’s much better to give than to receive. Yet, obviously, with sin in the world, we get prideful, we get jealous, we want to get the attention. So it’s a constant battle …,” he continued. “It’s such a hard thing to actually enact. So you do have to love your teammates to put them in front of you, and it’s only through God’s grace and mercy are we able to do those kinds of things.”
Since Baylor is a Christian university — one of America’s largest Baptist universities — there are many ways for team members to become active in their faith. But the coaches seek to integrate faith into the team’s routine.
Arizona’s Senate is preparing to conduct an audit of the presidential votes in the 2020 election.
Last week, Senate President Karen Fann announced a team of officials will meet up on Monday, and the audit will begin Thursday at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Certified auditors will conduct a hand recount of Maricopa County’s more than 2 million ballots, which is set to take up to four weeks.
During an interview with One America News, Fann said the audit is needed to answer thousands of questions and concerns regarding the security of the election.
“Our job here at the Arizona Senate, we are not in the business of overturning an election or decertifying electors or anyone else. That’s not our job. Our job is, we pass election laws,” Fann explained. “It is our job to make sure those laws are followed to the T, that they are always above reproach, and if we find any mistakes, we need to fix it and or report it.”
Fann said the audit will be overseen by a Florida-based security company and will be “independent, bipartisan and true.”
In the 1950s, a liberal commentator who had a number of aborted runs for public office wrote some of the most important words in modern American political discourse. Words that should have an impact as we evaluate the totalitarian approach the Western world has undergone in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dean Alfange, a progressive and labor activist, wrote the following 163 words as first published in Reader’s Digest in 1952:
“I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek to develop whatever talents God gave me—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say – ‘This, with God’s help, I have done.’ All this is what it means to be an American.”
Republican attorneys general (AGs) across the country are prepared to fight the recently introduced court-packing legislation, as indicated by their vocal statements of opposition to it, endorsements of the Keep Nine amendment, and vows to explore legal routes to challenge the legislation.
In interviews with Breitbart News, several AGs expressed they were firmly against the court-packing bill, unveiled Thursday as the Judiciary Act of 2021 by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), and other Democrats.
“This is an effort for the Democrats to try to add numbers to the Court to be able to validate the most liberal agenda that we’ve seen out of Congress in clearly my lifetime,” Alabama AG Steve Marshall told Breitbart News. Missouri AG Eric Schmitt called it “a total affront to our Republic” and “counterintuitive to the Founders’ vision.”
Talk of court packing first resurfaced last fall amid the swift confirmation process of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the third justice appointed by former President Donald Trump.
Barrett’s appointment fueled Democrat outrage, prompting leftist calls for court-packing as party leaders decried Trump and the Republican-majority Senate seating a new justice with the 2020 election — and the possibility of party control shifting in Washington — just weeks away.
Markey, as he introduced the Judiciary Act, claimed the Supreme Court, which tends to lean 5–4 conservative, was “illegitimate” and that after justices are added to it, “the bench will then rightfully reflect the values of the majority of the American people on whose behalf they serve.”
Marshall assessed the effort: “This is all about power.”
As a part of renewed efforts to advance diversity and inclusion, Disney is set to allow staff and cast members at theme parks more freedom to express themselves — including the wearing of gender-flexible costumes.
In a blog post last week, Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, announced a new addition — “Inclusion” — to the company’s “Four Keys,” the long-standing tradition of promoting Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency at its parks.
The new key, he said, aims to “cultivate a culture of belonging” at the company and guide its efforts to “realize our rich legacy of engaging storytelling, exceptional service, and Disney magic.” Among the changes coming as a result of the new key is a reworking of the policies that guide how cast members can dress at work.
“Our new approach provides greater flexibility with respect to forms of personal expression surrounding gender-inclusive hairstyles, jewelry, nail styles, and costume choices; and allowing appropriate visible tattoos,” D’Amaro wrote. “We’re updating them to not only remain relevant in today’s workplace, but also enable our cast members to better express their cultures and individuality at work.”
LONDON—The dollar slumped to a six-week low against major peers on Monday, with Treasury yields near their lowest in five weeks, after the U.S. Federal Reserve reiterated its view that any spike in inflation was likely to be temporary.
The dollar was also held down by improved risk sentiment amid a rally in global stocks to record highs.
Bitcoin stabilized after losses from Sunday, when it plunged as much as 14 percent to $51,541, which a report attributed to news of a power outage in China.
The dollar index, which tracks it against six other currencies, fell to 91.079, not far from last week’s low of 91.484, a level not seen since March 18.
The greenback’s weakness was pronounced across the board on Monday, with the currency hitting multi-week lows against major peers in the G10 group of currencies: the Japanese yen, the Swiss franc, the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar, and the euro.
The 10-year Treasury yield sank as low as 1.5280 percent last week from 1.7760 percent at the end of last month, its highest in more than a year.
“Indeed, the USD rally is all-but-distant memory by now and the currency’s underperformance seems to reflect the apparent divergence in the outlook between the slumping UST yields and the rather perky bond yields elsewhere,” said Valentin Marinov, head of G10 FX research at Credit Agricole.
“This is almost the exact opposite of the moves we saw in March and, given that the U.S. fundamentals have improved sharply since March, the UST yield drop could reflect the negative impact of the huge cash injection from the unwinding of the TGA that started last month.”
The euro rose above $1.20 for the first time in over six weeks, touching a high of $1.2048 by midday in London. The European Central Bank meets on Thursday with internal divisions over the pace of bond buying, extended COVID-19 lockdowns and potential delays to the EU recovery fund forming the backdrop.
The teenage girls were reportedly forced to use ‘plastic bags for toilets’
A Houston-area migrant center that housed hundreds of teenage girls who crossed into the United States as unaccompanied minors abruptly closed over the weekend, leading immigrant advocates to more questions than answers.
Even more surprising, the facility opened less than three weeks ago — and shuttered after one worker suddenly died.
According to KTRK-TV, a “flurry of activity” was witnessed outside the facility prior to the Department of Health and Human Services announcing the facility was being closed.
The government said the displaced girls — ages 13-17, who numbered between 450-500 at the facility — would be united with sponsors or transferred to another HHS refuge facility.
Today, HHS announced that all of the children in HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) care at the Emergency Intake Site (EIS) for Unaccompanied Children at the National Association of Christian Churches site in Houston, Texas (NACC Houston) will be immediately unified with sponsors or transferred to an appropriate ORR facility.
