Bernie Sanders open to supporting primary challenges against Sinema and Manchin – live

Over on Capitol Hill, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell lamented the “sad spectacle” of Democrats trying to change the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation.

McConnell accused majority leader Chuck Schumer of launching a “direct assault on the core identity of the Senate” by attempting to amend the filibuster, which Republicans have repeatedly used to block Democrats’ voting rights bills.

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House Democrats hope to vote this week on infrastructure and reconciliation bills – live

About 80% of US adults now have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and 70% of American adults are fully vaccinated.

According to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 206,333,974 American adults have now gotten at least one vaccine dose, and 179,729,970 of them are fully vaccinated.

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Sanders urges progressives to stand firm in Democratic battle over Biden agenda

Party locked in a bitter struggle over two massive legislative bills that could make or break the Biden presidency

Bernie Sanders, the leftwing firebrand who has drawn the fight against poverty and inequality into the mainstream of American politics, issued a call to arms on Sunday for fellow progressives to stand firm in the intensifying battle over the future of Joe Biden’s economic and social policy agenda.

With the Democratic party locked in a bitter struggle over two massive legislative bills that could make or break the Biden presidency, Sanders said the outcome of the next few weeks would be critical not just for the future of American working families but also for the country’s political future.

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‘We must unite the country’: Biden signs anti-Asian hate crimes bill – live

In his remarks before signing the anti-Asian American hate crimes bill, Joe Biden denounced racism as an “ugly poison” that has tarnished the country.

“I believe with every fiber of my being that there are simple core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans,” the president said of the bill.

President Biden: "I believe with every fiber of my being that there are simple core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans. One of them is standing together against hate, against racism — the ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation." pic.twitter.com/DB1gsTNoen

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell applauded Joe Biden for signing the anti-Asian American hate crimes bill into law moments ago.

“Recent increases in anti-Asian hate crimes are alarming,” the Republican leader said on Twitter. “I’m proud the Senate took bipartisan action — and, as the proud husband of a remarkable Asian-American woman, I am especially glad this effort is now law.”

I applaud @POTUS for signing the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law. Recent increases in anti-Asian hate crimes are alarming. I’m proud the Senate took bipartisan action — and, as the proud husband of a remarkable Asian-American woman, I am especially glad this effort is now law.

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A room with a view: the Twitter account that spent a year staring into people’s homes

As the pandemic forced us inside and online, Room Rater was one Twitter account giving doomscrollers a well-needed levity break. A year on, co-founder Claude Taylor explains how he plans to keep going

With its stately lamp and verdant window view, Hillary Clinton’s “Zoom room” is nicer than most. So when Room Rater – a Twitter account which scores the video conference backgrounds of high-profile figures – gave it nine out of 10 last spring, Clinton took her disappointment to social media: “I’ll keep striving for that highest, hardest glass ceiling, the elusive 10/10,” she tweeted at the account.

Judging the backgrounds on video calls has been the armchair sport of the past year. Room Rater just happened to screengrab these moments. As we doomscrolled through bleak statistics online, it was cheering to see shots of Meryl Streep’s sterile shelves or the copies of Fahrenheit 451 and The Twits propped up behind Boris Johnson at a school in Leicestershire. Scrolling through the posts a year after it launched, these images have become emblematic of just how quickly coronavirus forced all of us inside and online.

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Sanders’ minimum-wage effort looks doomed as Covid relief votes go through night

Biden’s $1.9tn relief package struggles through Senate but majority leaders vows passage ‘however long it takes’

A fiery speech and last-ditch effort by Bernie Sanders to secure a place for a federal minimum wage hike in the $1.9tn coronavirus relief package appeared as good as doomed on Friday, following a day that saw the flagship legislation hit grinding delays in the Senate.

Senate leaders and moderate Democratic senator Joe Manchin struck a deal late on Friday over emergency jobless benefits, breaking a nine-hour logjam.

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Scramble on to replace Neera Tanden after nomination met perfect storm

Joe Biden’s nominee for budget director faced Republican opposition over old tweets but had also clashed with progressives

Neera Tanden’s decision to withdraw from consideration to serve as Joe Biden’s budget director marks the first major loss for the still young Biden administration, and sets off a scramble between various political factions to push through a new nominee.

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Biden urged to back water justice bill to reverse decades of underinvestment

Water Act proposes injection of federal dollars to overhaul ageing infrastructure, create jobs and address inequalities

Democratic lawmakers and advocates are urging Joe Biden to back legislation proposing unprecedented investment in America’s ailing water infrastructure amid the country’s worst crisis in decades that has left millions of people without access to clean, safe, affordable water.

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‘Everybody will get their mittens’: maker of Bernie Sanders’ mittens forges business partnership

Jen Ellis, a Vermont elementary school teacher, joins forces with the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to meet demand

The teacher who created the recycled wool mittens that Bernie Sanders wore to the presidential inauguration and which triggered endless social media memes is now partnering with the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to meet soaring demand.

Some of the proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Vermont charity.

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Crochet artist turns viral Bernie Sanders image into a doll that sells for $20,000

‘I really hope he thinks this is something cool,’ said Tobey King, who made the doll and plans to donate the proceeds to charity

Bernie Sanders went from becoming a hit meme to a nearly $20,000 crochet doll in less than a week.

After an inauguration day image of the Vermont senator went viral, showing him sitting on a folding chair, socially distanced from other guests, hunched against the cold wearing chunky knitted mittens, Tobey King in Texas got to crocheting. She turned the sensational meme that trended for days into a crochet doll.

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How to make Bernie Sanders’ inauguration mittens

Feel the Bern, not the cold, with your own pair of winter-proof hand warmers – here’s how to stitch them at home

While it was Michelle Obama’s hair that brought the glamour to Joe Biden’s inauguration day, it was Bernie Sanders’ mittens that delivered the memes. Sitting at the event in a winter coat and mittens, arms and legs crossed, he was the yin to the rest of the Capitol’s sharp-suited yang – and promptly Photoshopped into Edward Hopper paintings, scenes from Glee and the vice-presidential debate, replacing the fly atop Mike Pence’s head.

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Bernie Sanders says Republicans are afraid to stand up to Trump following election loss – video

Democratic senator Bernie Sanders says members of the Republican party are afraid to stand up to Donald Trump as he continues his refusal to concede the result of last week's presidential election. Speaking on CNN, Sanders said his Senate colleagues on the Republican side are not 'idiots', but there's an intimidation factor from Trump that is preventing members from speaking up. 'They understand Trump has lost,' Sanders said. 'But one of the other things we should all be nervous about and fearful about is the degree to which Trump intimidates and scares the hell out of Republican members of Congress. They are afraid to stand up to him'

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Bernie Sanders offers congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – video

Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator of Vermont who put up a strong challenge to Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries before helping him campaign, has offered congratulations to the president-elect and his running mate, Kamala Harris. Sanders called this election the most important in modern American history

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Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders and anti-Trump Republicans: day one at the DNC – video highlights

At the first day of a Democratic national convention unlike any other in history, Michelle Obama urged voters to head to the polls 'like their lives depend on it'. She was joined by many other speakers attacking Donald Trump's presidency. Speaking online because of coronavirus restrictions, the former first lady's words were echoed by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who likened Trump to tyrannical Roman emperor Nero. The first day of the convention was hosted by actor Eva Longoria and featured contributions by George Floyd's family, voters and politicians from across the country and even a former Republican governor

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Bernie Sanders slams Trump at DNC: ‘Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The president golfs’ – video

In his convention remarks, the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders strongly urged his supporters to vote for Joe Biden in the November election, warning that Trump represents a severe threat to US democracy. “Our great nation is now living in an unprecedented moment,” Sanders said, describing this election as the “most important in the modern history of this country”

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Democratic national convention: Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders among speakers – watch in full

Democrats kick off a four-day virtual convention with a display of party unity for Joe Biden and the broad coalition aiming to defeat Republican Donald Trump in November.

Biden's top primary rival, Bernie Sanders, and the former first lady Michelle Obama will headline a parade of speakers appearing from around the US to make a virtual case for a Biden presidency, organizers said

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Voting in the New York primary is by no means futile for Sanders supporters | Billy Richling and Francisco Navas

Voters need to understand that Sanders’ delegate candidates aren’t running against Biden’s delegate candidates – they’re running against each other

Although Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, voting in the New York primary on Tuesday (or during early voting) is by no means futile for progressives who were largely supporting Bernie Sanders and policies such as the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.

Related: 'Just ridiculous': what it’s like to wait five hours in line to vote in the US

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Joe Biden officially clinches Democratic presidential nomination

Former vice-president crosses delegate threshold in latest round of primaries as he campaigns largely from home

Joe Biden has officially captured the Democratic presidential nomination, crossing the delegate threshold to represent the party in a general election contest against Donald Trump.

The Associated Press called the nomination for the former vice-president on Friday night.

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Sanders says his supporters will vote for Biden but he needs to court them

Sanders: Biden should focus on student debt relief, health insurance coverage, a living wage, climate change and racism

Former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has said he thinks his supporters will vote for Joe Biden in November’s US election, despite a former aide’s warning that Biden was not consolidating Sanders supporters.

In a memo released last week, former Sanders adviser Jeff Weaver said Sanders supporters were “currently unsupportive and unenthusiastic” about Biden and “there is a real and urgent need to help Biden consolidate Sanders supporters”.

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