The Biden administration is moving forward with the creation of a bipartisan commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary.
 
The commission will be housed under the purview of the White House Counsel’s office and filled out with the behind-the-scenes help of the Biden campaign’s lawyer Bob Bauer, who will co-chair the commission. Its specific mandate is still being decided. But, in a signal that the commission is indeed moving ahead, some members have already been selected, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.

An administration official said the commission is part of a broader court review and reform effort, part of which will focus on lower courts.
Progressives’ push to expand the Supreme Court was reenergized after Democrats won both Georgia Senate runoff races in January, giving them control of the White House and Congress for the first time since 2010.

But any major structural reform would still be a heavy lift, as several Democratic senators have signaled their opposition to such measures. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday he was waiting for Biden’s commission to decide a path forward on reforms to the Supreme Court.

“President Biden has put together this commission to come up with a report in 180 days,”

Former presidential advisor and right-wing pundit Steve Bannon had his show suspended from Twitter and an episode removed by YouTube after calling for violence against FBI director Christopher Wray and the government’s leading pandemic expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
 
Bannon, speaking with co-host Jack Maxey, was discussing what Trump should do in a hypothetical second term. He suggested firing Wray and Fauci, but then went further, saying “I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England, I’d put the heads on pikes, right, I’d put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats.”
 
This may strike one at first as mere hyperbole — one may say “we want his head on a platter” and not really be suggesting they actually behead anyone. But the conversation continued and seemed to be more in earnest than it first appeared:
 
Maxey: Just yesterday there was the anniversary of the hanging of two Tories in Philadelphia. These were Quaker businessmen who had cohabitated, if you will, with the British while they were occupying Philadelphia. These people were hung. This is what we used to do to traitors.
 
Bannon: That’s how you won the revolution. No one wants to talk about it. The revolution wasn’t some sort of garden party, right? It was a civil war. It was a civil war.

La crise économique n'affecte visiblement pas tout le monde. La fortune des milliardaires a touché un sommet durant la pandémie de Covid-19, passant les 10 000 milliards de dollars grâce au vif rebond des marchés, alors même que l'économie mondiale était en panne. Selon une étude réalisée par la banque suisse UBS et le cabinet d'audit et de conseils PWC, la fortune cumulée des milliardaires se montait à pas moins de 10 200 milliards de dollars, soit un nouveau record, au-delà du pic de 2017. Leur fortune cumulée atteignait alors 8 900 milliards de dollars.

Malgré des secousses durant le krach boursier de mars qui a vu certaines grosses fortunes sortir de ce club privilégié, la fortune des milliardaires s'est vite redressée à la faveur en particulier des géants de la technologie et de la santé. D'après la banque et le cabinet d'audit, qui dressent chaque année un état des lieux de l'évolution du patrimoine des super-riches dans une étude intitulée "rapport des milliardaires", ce cercle privilégié comptait fin juillet 2 189 milliardaires, soit 31 de plus qu'en 2017.

"Pour les milliardaires comme pour l'économie dans son ensemble, 2020 restera une année pivot", ont estimé les auteurs de l'étude, soulignant que "la tempête du Covid-19 a accéléré la divergence" entre les milliardaires issus des rangs de la technologie, de la santé et de l'industrie qui montaient déjà en puissance et les fortunes plus traditionnelles.
...

Depuis 2018, la fortune des milliardaires issus des rangs de la technologie a augmenté de 42,5%, avec un montant cumulé évalué à 1 800 milliards de dollars, selon cette étude. Celle des milliardaires dans le secteur de la santé s'est accrue de 50,3%, avec une valeur cumulée estimée à 658,6 milliards de dollars.

• An Oxfam report found billionaires' wealth increased by $3.9 trillion between March 18 and December 30, 2020.
• The increase for the world's 10 richest billionaires could pay for everyone to get vaccinated and stay out of poverty.
• The report recommends wealth taxes as one step toward a better world.

Worldwide, billionaires saw their wealth increase by $3.9 trillion between March 18 and December 31, 2020. While billionaires saw initial losses at the start of the pandemic - like millions of others around the globe - the report says they had recovered all losses by November.

Meanwhile, recovery for those at the bottom could take up to a decade; the report also estimates that between 200 million to 500 million people may have fallen into poverty during 2020.

Insider reported in December that American billionaires had seen their net worths grow to $4 trillion throughout the pandemic; at the time, the top 10 richest billionaires were worth over $1 trillion - a little more than half the value of President Biden's proposed stimulus package. Those gains were more than the cost of sending a $3,000 stimulus check to every American.

In recent months, 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty, Insider's Ayelet Shaffey reported.

Worldwide, Oxfam reports that the collective worth of billionaires is $11.95 trillion - "which is equivalent to what G20 governments have spent in response to the pandemic."

The Oxfam report lays out "five steps towards a better world." One of them is implementing wealth taxes and cracking down on tax dodging.

They cite Argentina's wealth tax, which, as Insider's Josh Zitser reported, is a one-time tax on the super-rich in order to pay for coronavirus equipment and supplies.

Wealth taxes as a concept have been gaining popularity throughout the pandemic; as Insider's Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported in April, the International Monetary Fund (which had previously advocated for tax cuts) said governments should consider taxing their wealthiest residents for much-needed revenue.

American workers saw the largest losses in earnings during the coronavirus pandemic, a 10.3% decline, per an International Labour Organization report.
 

• A new ILO report finds workers lost $3.7 trillion in earnings throughout the pandemic, with Americans losing the most.
• Women and younger workers were the hardest hit by employment losses.
• America will also have a harder recovery as the pandemic continues its spread.

Workers around the world cumulatively lost $3.7 trillion in earnings during the coronavirus pandemic - an 8.3% decline - according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO).
 
American workers saw the largest losses in earnings, a 10.3% decline.  
 
Globally, 8.8% of working hours were lost, and 114 million people experienced employment loss - what the report called an "unprecedented" level.  
 
Women have been harder hit by the pandemic's effect on employment. In December, the US lost 140,000 jobs - all of which were held by women.  
 
Now, the ILO finds that women experienced unemployment losses of 5%, while losses were at 3.9% for men. As the ILO notes, women were more likely to become "inactive," meaning that they dropped out of the labor market.
 
That would track with prior trends for women's unemployment: As Insider's Taylor Borden reported, one million married women lost their jobs in September 2020. Those losses came during back to school season, when many working American mothers may have exited the labor force to care for children who are attending school virtually or are without childcare.
 
Younger workers - those who are ages 15-24 - were also disproportionately impacted by employment losses. They saw losses of 8.7%, while adults on the whole saw a 3.7% loss.  
 
That trend has been consistent throughout the pandemic. Gen Z, the oldest of whom is 23, saw college experiences, a bustling labor market, and markers of adulthood all yanked away as the pandemic set in. As Insider's Hillary Hoffower reported, Gen Z has become the most unemployed generation - and is on track to repeat the same money problems as millennials.
 
The ILO report said the group is at risk of becoming a "lost generation."

The ILO's baseline recovery scenario still projects a 3% loss in working hours for 2021; its most pessimistic forecast sees a 4.6% decrease, while the most optimistic scenario sees a 1.3% drop.
 
The report calls for a targeted recovery that would provide support for hard-hit workers and sectors.  
 
As Bloomberg reports, a slow vaccine rollout - and uneven distribution - could also impact the global recovery, as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are adjusting their respective outlooks downward.
 
America's ever-continuing pandemic will also impact its recovery during 2021.
 
"The Americas and Europe and Central Asia are expected to suffer working-hour losses more than twice as large as those in other regions, owing to the stringent health measures that were in place at the start of the year," the ILO report says. "The Americas suffered by far the largest losses in 2020, and accordingly have the most ground to make up, while at the same time still experiencing serious restrictions because of the ongoing pandemic."

You mentioned the “Stop the Steal” stuff. How much of an impact do you think that had, and her advocacy of it had, in hurting turnout for the Senate runoffs in January?
 
Absolutely huge. I will go on record as saying I honestly think the paradox of this whole thing is that she pinned herself as the biggest Trump supporter, but she hurt Trump in Georgia and then she hurt the two Senate candidates in the runoff. The data for that is there were 75,000 less Republicans that voted in her congressional district in the runoff than did in the general. Compared to 15,000 less Democrats. That margin alone would have won it for both Loeffler and Perdue.
 
You think she cost Republicans the Senate?
 
Absolutely. If you look at all areas, we by far had [the biggest drop] in turnout of any other congressional district in the entire state. I will firmly place the blame on her and her rhetoric. It was her attorney, Lin Wood, who was spewing all this stuff. They’re in cahoots with each other. Instead of her saying, “No, your vote will count, go back out,” she was perpetuating this narrative of “can’t trust the vote. Stop the steal.” It really caused a drop in turnout. I will also tell you, in the general election, she was a horrible representative for Trump in Metro Atlanta. People saw through her. They saw the articles about her and said, “Well, if this is the kind of Republican we’re going to have in Georgia, maybe we shouldn’t vote for Trump again.” You see that there were probably 100,000 Republicans in Metro Atlanta who didn’t vote for Trump. This is evidenced by the fact that every down-ballot Republican in the state house and state senate won 55 to 45. Yet, Trump lost by 12,000 votes. People like Marjorie who were controversial, outspoken, and outlandish — a moderate Republican or a moderate Democrat who actually cares about low taxes or whatever is going to turn away from Trump in that regard. Her style did not help the Republican Party in the state of Georgia.

You mentioned her crazy past, are there more shoes that you think are going to drop? Is there more coming?
 
I’ve been told that there are eight hours of videos on her. I certainly have not watched eight hours of video on her. What I’ve seen is absolutely crazy. I’m sure there’s going to be other stuff that comes out about her crazy comments in the past.

I mean, someone needs to do a timeline, because after about 2010, she really did kind of start going off the deep end it seems: She goes off her company roles as an executive at her dad’s company. She gets into CrossFit. There’s rumors of numerous affairs. She starts hanging out with these kinds of unusual groups. That’s when she’s doing all her social-media videos. She’s trying to do podcasts, etcetera, etcetera. Then, the next thing you know, she’s running for Congress. Seems to put together a well-funded D.C. team that has their act together, that runs a great soup-to-nuts campaign. They hit radio media. They’re hitting on all cylinders, but they don’t even bother to scrub her social-media account. It’s almost like she’s like, “Yep, that’s who I am and I’m doubling down on it.”

we knew she was the best funded