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While you were sleeping: 8th February 2017
Travel ban contested in appeals court, DeVos elected education secretary, and Tom Brady to play until 45.
Wednesday, 8th February 2017
“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”
Mary Oliver
He giveth and he taketh away. On the same day President Jacob Zuma playfully told journalists to “just forget” about the rumours of a reshuffle of his Cabinet, he made a surprise announcement that he was employing 441 members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to help the police “maintain law and order” at the Opening of Parliament on Thursday. Opposition parties have reacted with shock and outrage, claiming this was a “show of force”, the imposition of “martial law” and a “declaration of war”.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
Trump travel ban scrutinised by court
A United States court of appeals grilled US Government officials over the travel ban, at one point calling the argument that it prevents terrorism “pretty abstract”. Presiding judges questioned whether the travel ban was in fact a “Muslim ban”, and generally appeared highly cynical of Donald Trump’s travel restrictions. Regardless, no decision will be final until it reaches the Supreme Court.
DeVos elected education head amidst divided vote
The US Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos as education secretary late yesterday. With two Republicans breaking ranks and voting against their own party, a 50-50 deadlock had to be split by Vice-President Mike Pence, the first time in American history that a presiding vice-president has cast a deciding vote. DeVos has never attended public school and has been criticised for her ungrammatical, poorly worded statements. Her posting should learn gooder from her for sure.
Night shifts and manual labour harm eggs
A new study has found that women who work nights and perform heavy labour have fewer and inferior eggs. A study involving 400 women with an average age of 35 found that the work lifestyle strongly affects fertility levels of eggs, as well as their overall number. This was particularly prominent in those studied who were overweight and 37 or older.
New England’s quarterback has said that his wife, Giselle Bundchen, has pleaded with him to retire. Brady, now 40, has refused, having made history at Super Bowl 51 and is simply “having too much fun”. Speaking to media ahead of a snowy Tuesday victory parade, Brady stated: “If you love what you do and you’re capable of doing it, then I might be so bored if I wasn’t going out there knowing that I could still do it.” The millions in endorsements couldn’t be hurting either.
IN NUMBERS
5th
The century where humankind’s first rap battles were waged. “Flyting” was a regular spoken word adversarial contest.
FACTS OF THE DAY
Today in 1950 the Stasi, East Germany’s secret police force, is officially formed.
Don’t believe Han Solo’s evasion of Empire TIE Fighters, there are many miles of vacuum space between each asteroid in a field.
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