Thursday, January 27, 2022

Wake-UP Call: Justice Stephen Breyer Is Retiring

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, one of three members of the court's liberal wing, is retiring, and there's expected to be a joint event at the White House with President Biden today to make a formal announcement, according to multiple reports yesterday. The 83-year-old Breyer, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, is expected to step down this summer. The retirement will give Biden his first opportunity to appoint a justice to the high court, and he pledged during the 2020 presidential campaign to name its first Black woman. However, it won't change the Supreme Court's current 6-3 conservative balance. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said whoever Biden nominates, quote, "will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed."


➤U.S., NATO TELL RUSSIA WON'T CONCEDE ON ITS MAIN RUSSIA DEMANDS: The U.S. and NATO told Russia in separate written responses yesterday that they won't concede on Russia's main Ukraine demands, saying they won't permanently ban Ukraine from joining NATO. The written responses reflected what U.S. and NATO officials have been saying for weeks and were expected. There was no immediate response from Russia, which has massed some 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, raising fears of invasion. But Russia had warned of, quote, "retaliatory measures" if their demands were rejected. However, the U.S. and NATO did lay out ways some of Russia's security concerns could be addressed, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying, "All told it sets out a serious diplomatic path forward. should Russia choose it."

💸FED SIGNALS WILL BEGIN RAISING INTEREST RATES: The Federal Reserve signaled yesterday that it will begin a series of interest-rate increases in March as they move to tackle inflation, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell saying at a news conference that inflation has gotten, quote, "slightly worse" since they last met in December, and that raising the benchmark rate will help prevent the higher prices from becoming entrenched. At the same time, Powell sought to allay fears that moving to reverse pandemic policies that have helped fuel growth and hiring, but also inflation, would hurt the economy, saying, "I think there is quite a bit of room to raise interest rates without threatening the labor market."

 
➤TEXAS MAN CHARGED IN SALE OF GUN TO TEXAS SYNAGOGUE HOSTAGE-TAKER: A 32-year-old Texas man is facing federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, accused of selling a gun to the man who held four hostages for hours at a Colleyville, Texas, synagogue earlier this month, according to the Justice Department yesterday. It's alleged that Henry "Michael" Williams sold Malik Faisal Akram the semi-automatic pistol Akram used in the hostage-taking at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue two days before the incident. One hostage was eventually released and the other three managed to escape as an FBI team moved in and fatally shot Akram. Williams was convicted in 2005 of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and in 2013 with attempted possession of a controlled substance, and he told investigators he knew he wasn't allowed to have a gun and that selling it to Akram was illegal.

➤VATICAN DEFENDS POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT AFTER REPORT ON HIS HANDLING OF CLERGY SEX ABUSE CASES: The Vatican defended Pope Emeritus Benedict the 16th yesterday (January 26th) after an independent report out last week was critical of his handling of four clergy sex abuse cases when he was the archbishop of Munich, Germany. In an editorial in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, the Holy See's editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, noted that Benedict was the first pope to meet with victims of abuse and had put out strong norms to punish priests who sexually abused children. He warned against looking for, quote, "easy scapegoats and summary judgments." Benedict has said he would respond to the report, which was commissioned by the German church, in time.

➤BIDEN TO MEET WITH NYC MAYOR ABOUT FIGHTING GUN CRIME AFTER TWO OFFICERS KILLED: President Biden will meet with Mayor Eric Adams in New York City next week to discuss fighting gun crime, their meeting coming after two of the city's police officers died after being shot when they responded to a domestic disturbance call late last week. The White House says Biden plans to discuss the administration's strategy for combatting gun crime, which includes increased funding for cities and states

➤MAN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS, EIGHT MONTHS FOR ATTACKING POLICE OFFICERS ON JAN. 6TH: A 26-year-old man was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison yesterday for repeatedly assaulting police officers at the U.S. Capitol during last year's January 6th attack, one of the longest prison sentences for the Capitol rioters so far. Nicholas Languerand, who identified himself as a QAnon follower, pled guilty to felony assault in November. He is the fourth rioter to be sentenced for assaulting police, with the other three getting prison sentences ranging from 41 months to 63 months. More than 730 people so far have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol attack. More than 200 of them have pled guilty, mostly to misdemeanors with a maximum sentence of six months in prison.

➤PLANT-BASED McPLANT BURGER MORE POPULAR THAN EXPECTED:  McDonald's has been testing its plant-based McPlant burger, and it's turned out to be three times more popular than expected, CNBC reported yesterday, citing Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery's early estimates. The test of the McPlant, which is made using the plant-based meat Beyond Meat, will expand from just a few McDonald's to some 600 locations in the San Francisco Bay and Dallas-Fort Worth areas in mid-February. Other fast-food chains have also recently introduced plant-based meat, with Chipotle debuting plant-based chorizo earlier this month and KFC introducing plant-based fried chicken. Burger King was ahead of all of them, putting out the Impossible Burger in 2019. Axios notes that this success of the McPlant in early testing, if borne out, could speed up even more plant-based meat products showing up on fast food and fast-casual chain menus.

➤MCDONALD’S IS ADDING 3 FAN-INSPIRED HACKS TO MENUS NATIONWIDE STARTING JANUARY 31ST: For the first time ever, McDonald’s will feature four fan-favorite hacks on menus across the US. Beginning January 31st, fans can visit any participating location or go on the brand’s mobile app to order the custom “Menu Hacks” by name and receive all the menu items needed to build them by hand. The offerings are: the Hash Brown McMuffin (Sausage McMuffin with Egg + Hash Brown—stack the hashbrown in the middle of the sandwich); Crunchy Double (6 piece Chicken McNuggets drizzles with BBQ Sauce + a Double Cheeseburger—stack the sauced nuggets on the burger); the Surf + Turf (Filet-O-Fish + Double Cheeseburger—one sandwich stacked on the other, with the bottom bun piece of the top sandwich removed); and the Land, Air & Sea (Big Mac + McChicken + Filet-O-Fish—everything stacked into one tall combination sandwich.

➤STUDY: WALKING FOR JUST AN EXTRA 10 MINUTES EACH DAY COULD ADD YEARS TO YOUR LIFE: Adding ten minutes of walking to your day each day could extend your life. Researchers looked at 5,000 middle-aged and elderly US adults and found the risk of dying from any cause dropped as exercise levels increased. Just ten more minutes of moderate activity per day—such as a brisk walk—lowered deaths among people ages 40 to 85 by seven percent annually. The scientists estimate the small lifestyle change could save 100,000 lives in the US every year.


🏀HORNETS SCORE FRANCHISE-RECORD, SEASON-HIGH 158 POINTS IN WIN OVER PACERS: The Charlotte Hornets scored a franchise-record 158 points last night, which is also the season-high in the NBA, in their 158-126 win over the Indiana Pacers. Kelly Oubre Jr. had a career-high 39 points for Charlotte, and LaMelo Ball notched a triple-double with 29 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.

🎾MEDVEDEV MAKES IT TO AUSTRALIAN OPEN SEMIFINALS: Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev made it to the Australian Open semifinals with a win in his quarterfinal match yesterday, but it took him five sets to do it. Medvedev dropped the first two sets to ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, but then fought his way back to take the next three and the victory. Americans Madison Key and Danielle Collins will be playing in the women's semifinals today, with Key going up against top-seeded Ashleigh Barty, and Collins taking on Iga Swiatek.

🏀DONCIC GETS TRIPLE-DOUBLE IN MAVERICKS' 132-112 WIN OVER TRAIL BLAZERS: Dallas' Luka Doncic had a triple-double, his sixth of the season, in the Mavericks' 132-112 win over the Portland Trail Blazers last night. Doncic had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists for his 42nd career triple-double, putting him just one away from tying for 10th on the all-time list.

🏒HAT TRICK FOR STROME IN BLACKHAWKS' 8-5 VICTORY OVER RED WINGS: Chicago's Dylan Strome had a hat trick last night (January 26th) in the Blackhawks' 8-5 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, their highest-scoring game of the season. Strome scored two of his three goals in the first period and got the final one in the third period. Before this game, Strome had scored four goals for the season.



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