politicnewsbusterinsiderpostreview: Domestic terrorism is 'metastasizing'

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Wednesday March 3

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GEORGIA GOP-ERS ARE SICK OF PEOPLE VOTING The Georgia House of Representatives approved a sweeping election overhaul bill that would place new voter ID requirements on absentee ballots and limit weekend voting ― becoming the latest Republican-controlled state legislative chamber to clamp down on voting in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s loss in November. [HuffPost]

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BIDEN: U.S. WILL HAVE ENOUGH VACCINE FOR ALL ADULTS BY END OF MAY President Joe Biden said that the U.S. will have enough vaccine supply for all adults by the end of May, two months earlier than the previous projection. Biden called this “important progress,” but cautioned that the government also needs enough staff and vaccination sites for everyone to get inoculated. [HuffPost]

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TEXAS LIFTS MASK MANDATE Texas is lifting its mask mandate and allowing businesses to fully reopen, despite pleas from health officials, making it the largest state to end measures preventing the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 42,000 Texans. Gov. Greg Abbott had faced sharp criticism from fellow Republicans over the restrictions, which were lightly enforced even during the worst of the pandemic. Abbott's action was slammed as "premature and reckless". [AP]

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FBI DIRECTOR: DOMESTIC EXTREMISM IS 'METASTASIZING' FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that domestic extremism has been “metastasizing” and the number of domestic terrorism investigations has grown “significantly” since he took over the agency three years ago. Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee he believed the Jan. 6 Capitol attack was “not an isolated event,” but part of a growing trend of violent extremism. [HuffPost]

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ROCKETS HIT IRAQ AIR BASE HOSTING U.S. TROOPS At least 10 rockets targeted a military base in western Iraq that hosts U.S.-led coalition troops. It was not immediately known if there were any casualties. The rockets struck Ain al-Asad airbase in Anbar province two days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Iraq in a much-anticipated trip. [AP]

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13 DEAD IN CRASH OF SUV PACKED WITH 2 DOZEN PEOPLE A big rig hauling gravel collided with a Ford SUV packed with 24 people, killing 13, in California's Imperial County, a border area heavily traveled by farmworkers. Twelve people were dead at the scene, and another succumbed at the hospital. The SUV was designed for a maximum of seven or eight people. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

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SCOTUS LEANS TOWARD UPHOLDING VOTER RESTRICTIONS

U.S. Supreme Court justice seems inclined to uphold GOP-backed voting restrictions in Arizona in a case that could further hobble the Voting Rights Act, a landmark 1965 federal law that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. The court’s conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority, asked questions indicating they could issue a ruling that would make it harder to prove violations of the Voting Right Act. [Reuters]

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WHITE HOUSE WITHDRAWS NEERA TANDEN AS BUDGET NOMINEE The White House withdrew its nomination of Neera Tanden, Biden’s pick to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget, after it became clear that she would lose a Senate confirmation vote. Biden said he still planned to have her serve in another role within his administration. [HuffPost]

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WOMEN RECOGNIZE THE HORROR CAPTURED BY THIS CUOMO PHOTO Incredibly, a friend captured the moment Anna Ruch said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo grabbed her cheeks and asked, “Can I kiss you?” at a wedding in 2019. The photograph of Ruch and Cuomo is remarkable — not for its aesthetic quality, but for the casual horror that it captures. [HuffPost]

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MEGHAN MARKLE SEEKS $2.1 MILLION IN LAWSUIT WIN Meghan, Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, is seeking 1.5 million pounds ($2.1 million) in legal costs after she won a privacy claim against the Mail on Sunday, which printed extracts of a letter she wrote to her father. Last month, a judge at London’s High Court ruled the tabloid had breached her privacy and infringed her copyright by publishing parts of the five-page letter she wrote to her father Thomas Markle. [Reuters]

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UN: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM IN CANCER ALLY MUST END

United Nations human rights officials issued a report condemning environmental racism in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” where the mostly Black population breathes air heavily polluted by a corridor of petrochemical plants. Once the site of plantations where enslaved African workers toiled and died, the 85-mile stretch along the lower Mississippi River has for decades served as an industrial hub. [HuffPost]

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CATHOLICS URGED TO SHUN J&J VACCINE The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked American Catholics to avoid Johnson & Johnson’s new COVID-19 vaccine if possible because researchers used stem cells distantly linked to two abortions decades ago. The bishops’ declaration could affect vaccine distribution, since many churches serve as vaccination centers. [HuffPost]