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A PANEL OF expert advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday voted in favor of authorizing Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, bringing it an important step closer to a U.S. rollout. The FDA is likely to authorize the one-shot vaccine within a day or so after receiving the recommendation of the panel, making it the third available in the United States.

The White House has held “serious discussions” with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about recommending that those vaccinated for COVID-19 can socialize together, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci — who said he is eager to take up that advice and finally hug his daughter after a year. Noting that “even though it isn’t backed by data, it’s backed by common sense,” Fauci told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday night that people who have received all their doses could start hanging out. Fauci, who serves as science adviser to President Biden, noted that “even though the risk is not...

Total Vaccine Doses Delivered: 94,300,910 Receiving 1 or More Doses: 47,184,199 Receiving 2 Doses: 22,613,359

Senator Ted Cruz called out his neighbors for leaking text messages inviting them to join a controversial family trip to Cancun, Mexico, while millions of Texans remained without electricity and water last week during severe winter weather. The Texas Republican received swift backlash after photos of him boarding a flight last Wednesday to the tourist hot spot with his family circulated online. Responding to the criticism, Cruz quickly booked a return flight to Texas for the next day, saying he had been trying to be a "good dad." But the backlash persisted, with Democrats and some Republicans strongly criticizing the...

Fox News host Dana Perino broke down into tears on Friday as she ended an interview with a domestic violence survivor in Illinois whose 18-month-old son was shot to death by her estranged husband after he was released from jail on a cashless bond. Tragically, the killer was supposed to be in court at the time. Speaking through her tears as she composed herself, Perino said to co-host Tray Gallagher: “Trace, I don’t think I’ve ever cried on TV. That was really hard.”Fox News host Dana Perino broke down into tears on Friday as she ended an interview with a...

Businesses across the US are accepting cash only as their credit-card payments systems are down. Customers on Twitter reported outages at Ikea, Forever 21, McDonald's, and Popeyes, along with localities like a car wash and the Department of Motor Vehicles in New Jersey. Representatives from the businesses weren't immediately available for comment Friday. Chick-fil-A's payment machines weren't working earlier in the day, leading it to give out free meals. Miami International Airport put out a statement warning customers of a county-wide outage with credit-card machines inside of taxis. Some blamed payments processor, Fiserv, which is one of the biggest US...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) hit back at former Speaker John Boeher (R-Ohio) on Friday after Boehner reportedly told the senator to "go ---- yourself" while he was recording the audio book of his upcoming memoir. Cruz poked fun at the comments during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Fla. “You know yesterday, John Boehner made some news. He suggested that I do something that was anatomically impossible,” Cruz said. “To which my response was, who’s John Boehner?” On Thursday evening, Axios reported that the former Speaker went off script several times during the audio recording...

Today's action follows the recent suspensions of the securities of numerous other issuers, many of which may also have been targets of apparent social media attempts to artificially inflate their stock price. The SEC continues to review market and trading data to identify other securities where the public interest and the protection of investors require trading suspensions."The SEC's recent suspensions of trading in nearly two dozen securities – including 15 today – are one facet of our ongoing efforts to police the market and protect investors," said Melissa Hodgman, Acting Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "We proactively monitor...

BERLIN, Germany — The president of the German Catholic bishops’ conference said on Thursday that he would continue to give Holy Communion to Protestants who ask for it. Bishop Bätzing told journalists at a press conference on Feb. 25 that it was necessary to respect the “personal decision of conscience” of those seeking to receive Communion. Asked how he would respond if a Protestant came to him seeking the Eucharist, he told reporters: “I have no problems with it and I see myself in line with papal documents.” The 59-year-old bishop added that this was already a “practice” in Germany...

Twelve days after Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran voted to acquit former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection, he received Trump’s endorsement for re-election. Trump made the announcement Thursday evening. Moran will run for a third Senate term in 2022 in a state that went for Trump by double digits in two elections. “Senator Jerry Moran is doing a terrific job for the wonderful people of Kansas. Strong on Military, Vets, the Border, and our Second Amendment, Jerry has my Complete and Total Endorsement for his re-election in 2022!” Trump said in a statement released by his new Save...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 469.64 points, or 1.5%, to 30,392.37. The S&P 500 shed 18.19 points, or 0.5%, to 3,811.15. They posted weekly losses of 1.8% and 2%, respectively. While the Nasdaq Composite gained 72.91 points, or 0.6%, to 13,192.34 on Friday, it posted a weekly loss of 4.9%, the sharpest weekly decline since Oct. 30. Tech stocks have been hit by concerns about rising yields; potential earnings growth tends to be projected further in the future for tech stocks, and investors often assign steeper discounts to future earnings when yields rise.

Amazon showed it has its limits when it comes to its dedication to diversity and inclusion when it failed to continue streaming a critically acclaimed and popular documentary on the only black Supreme Court justice during Black History Month. Recently, Amazon Prime dropped Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, an acclaimed and popular PBS documentary on Justice Clarence Thomas, making it unavailable to stream during Black History Month. Thomas is our nation’s only black justice currently serving on the U.S. Supreme Court, and one would think that between Amazon’s claim to “building an inclusive culture” and the fact...

Back in October of 2004, Jon Stewart — then at the height of his fame and relevance — went on CNN’s “Crossfire” and committed a murder on live TV. You can read the transcript here. Readers will recall this was the infamous “hurting America” clip, where Stewart crapped all over the very concept of a debate show that paired left and right as co-equals in a running debate over the direction of America.

A distorted view of COVID control measures has become an obstacle for quality science, researchers reveal Researchers have found that preventing COVID-19 deaths has been elevated to a “sacred value” in society, such that those who question pandemic restrictions are morally condemned. Meanwhile deaths, abuses of power, and public shaming that occur in the name of “preventing COVID” are deemed acceptable. The unprecedented restrictions placed upon Western civilizations in 2020 would likely have been met with protest a year earlier. But, when issued in the name of COVID-19 mitigation, people are more likely to accept what otherwise might be regarded...

The California State Supreme Court has issued its ruling on Senate Bill 1391, which was challenged in the case of Adrian “A.J.” Gonzalez, the accused killer of 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton. In a written opinion issued on Thursday, the court stated that SB 1391 was constitutional. The law, which went into effect in 2019, prevents anyone under the age of 16 years old being tried as an adult. The Middleton Family released a statement after the supreme court ruling. "The decision by the California Supreme Court that SB 1391 is constitutional is absolutely disappointing to our family. We have thought...

TOPLINE A number of senators who objected to President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory last month now want to “restore confidence” in American elections with a long-shot bill severely restricting voting as part of a nationwide push by GOP politicians to scale back expanded voting access.

39-year-old Kenyeitta Gordon of Jacksonville, Florida was able to successfully rob the bank she was visiting Monday evening, but the getaway was less successful. Maybe she should have reconsidered her getaway vehicle: her electric wheelchair. According to Action News Jax, Gordon grew frustrated after she was unable to withdraw some money. She started screaming profanities at the teller and began demanding money. The teller then gave Gordon $100, and she immediately fled from the bank. Unfortunately because she was in a wheelchair, she didn't make it very far, and the police caught up to her quickly, upon which she was...

After a whistleblower complained that Coca-Cola was asking its employees to engage in diversity training offered by LinkedIn Learning that encouraged them to "try to be less white," the social media firm has removed the program. "The Confronting Racism course featuring Robin DiAngelo is no longer available in our course library, at the request of the 3rd party content provider we licensed this content from," LinkedIn vice president of corporate communications Nicole Leverich told Newsweek in an email on Monday. "We provide a wide variety of learning content, including more than 270 courses on the topics of diversity, inclusion and...

The latest publishing news has set a tune running through my head: “Anything Bill can do, Hill can do better....” Settle down, nobody in the Clinton family is running for office. The news, announced Tuesday by publishers Simon & Schuster and St. Martin’s Press, is that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has collaborated with bestselling mystery author Louise Penny on a novel. The political thriller, State of Terror, will be published in October. The book, according to the news release, is about a novice U.S. secretary of state who joins the administration of a former political rival inaugurated after...

DeSantis calls Florida an "oasis of freedom" at CPAC. Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off CPAC on Friday slamming the "failed Republican establishment of yesteryear." "Now, Florida's leading on the issues that matter to conservatives, we don't spout hollow rhetoric, we take decisive action," DeSantis said on the opening day of the annual gathering of conservatives. "And what's true in Florida it's true for conservatives across the nation. We cannot, woe will not go back to the days of the failed Republican establishment of yesteryear." The event is being held this year in DeSantis' home state, in the city...