The government had initially asked to extend the current state of emergency until June 1. It allows authorities to impose various restrictions, including stay-at-home orders.

The measure would be "consistent with the dynamics of the epidemic," Health Minister Olivier Veran said, arguing that "time is needed for the vaccination campaign to fully take effect."

Not voting for the extension would be akin to "stabbing the government in the back in the middle of a battle," Senator Claude Malhuret said during debates.

© Gonzalo Fuentes / ReutersFrench Prime Minister Jean Castex exits the Elysee Palace in Paris, France following the weekly cabinet meeting, January 27, 2021.

Senators chose to extend the emergency powers, but only until May 3, a month less than what the government wanted. Nevertheless, Veran said he "understands" the parliament's desire to have more opportunities for policy review.

Meaning that May is merely a gesture and it will be extended.

The government is under growing pressure to impose another nationwide lockdown, the third since the start of the pandemic. The first lockdown was announced in mid-March 2020, when the country was first hit by Covid-19, and lasted until early May of that year.

Another lockdown was put in place from the end of October until mid-December, as officials were fighting the second wave of infections in the autumn. The stay-at-home orders were then replaced with an 8pm-6am curfew, which became 6pm-6am earlier this month.

Note that the above is only taking into account nationwide lockdowns. As was the case throughout most of Europe, restrictions of some form have been in effect for over a year now.

Gabriel Attal, a spokesperson for the government, said on Wednesday that the curfew has failed to "sufficiently slow down" the spread of the virus. Attal added that a "very strict lockdown" is among the scenarios that are being assessed.

Attal noted that President Emmanuel Macron requested "additional analyses" of all options, but "the continuation of the current [legal] framework seems unlikely."

French Health Minister Olivier Veran has warned that the country's current 6pm curfew is no longer effective at curbing the spread of Covid-19, as the government weighs implementing a third national lockdown.

Speaking at a press conference, Veran explained how new variants of Covid-19 are "actively spreading" throughout France and continuing to put significant pressure on the health service, despite the existing restrictions, including a 12-hour nightly curfew.

Alongside the curfew, French citizens are asked to remain at home unless traveling for work, education or essential trips, such as medical appointments, shopping or family emergencies. "What we want to avoid is an epidemic in the epidemic which is not yet truly visible in France," Veran said, warning that "everything leads us to believe that it will be a reality very quickly and very strongly if we do nothing."

An epidemic that's not really an epidemic? But it's possible it will become epidemic? Haven't the pathocrats and their minions been threatening people with this for a year now?

"Clearly, the effectiveness of the 6pm curfew is waning and it is not enough to reverse the virus."

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As part of a sweeping executive order signed on Wednesday, the new or expanded "climate justice" offices will be established at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"We know the communities who are being hurt, and we know we have to start enforcing the standards today in ensuring that they are part of the solution," Gina McCarthy, Biden's newly minted climate adviser, told reporters on Wednesday.

McCarthy, who ran the EPA between 2013 and 2017 during the Obama administration, praised the Biden-Harris administration for its "most ambitious climate vision" ever and said the new orders recognize the "intersectionality" of climate with the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and "racial equity."

"Science is telling us that we don't have a moment to lose," added McCarthy.

Biden's executive orders direct the US government to "develop programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionate health, environmental, economic, and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities," according to talking points released by the White House.

Among its provisions is the establishment of a "Justice40 Initiative," which aims to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of federal investment to "disadvantaged communities" and establish an Environmental Justice Scorecard to track its progress.

The newly established White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council will "prioritize environmental justice and ensure a whole-of-government approach to addressing current and historical environmental injustices," the White House said.

Biden will sign an executive order on Thursday directing the Department of Health and Human Services to reopen enrollment for the federal Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges via HealthCare.gov. The order gives members of the public in 36 states, without coverage, extra time to apply, targeting those who lost their insurance amid the coronavirus pandemic.
...
As part of Thursday's healthcare focus, Biden will also sign a presidential memorandum that protects access to abortion in the United States and overseas.

Following a tradition established by Democratic presidents before him, Biden will rescind the "global gag rule," or "the Mexico City Policy," which prevents international non-profit organizations that provide abortion counseling or referrals from receiving federal funding. That order also asks HHS to review its Title X family planning regulations.

Melvin Capital closed out its short position in GameStop on Tuesday afternoon after taking a huge loss, the hedge fund's manager told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin.

GameStop, hedge funds' most-hated stock, was targeted by an army of retail investors who marshaled forces against short sellers in online chat rooms. In the Reddit forum "wallstreetbets" with more than 2 million subscribers, rookie investors encouraged each other to pile into GameStop's shares and call options, creating massive short squeezes in the stock.

CNBC could not confirm the amount of losses Melvin Capital took on the short position. Citadel and Point72 have infused close to $3 billion into Gabe Plotkin's hedge fund to shore up its finances. On Wednesday's "Squawk Box," Sorkin said Plotkin told him that speculation about a bankruptcy filing is false.

According to screenshots shared on social media, on Thursday morning a notification appeared on Robinhood telling users that they could close their position on GameStop's stock but not buy any additional shares. Redditors are currently panicking, looking for ways to transfer their shares of GameStop off of Robinhood to other platforms, and are generally furious at the platform.

In a blog post, Robinhood confirmed that it has placed restrictions on several stocks due to volatility. "We continuously monitor the markets and make changes where necessary. In light of recent volatility, we are restricting transactions for certain securities to position closing only, including $AMC, $BB, $BBBY, $EXPR, $GME, $KOSS, $NAKD and $NOK. We also raised margin requirements for certain securities," the blog post read.

Robinhood did not respond to a request for comment.

Motherboard was unable to place orders to purchase shares or fractional shares of GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, or Nokia in pre-market trading on the RobinHood app. We were able to buy a stock we picked randomly — something called SRNE — with no problem. "This stock is not supported on Robinhood," a message reads when we tried to purchase GME. Searches for "GameStop" and "GME" on the app itself no longer return any results.

This is likely to have a massive impact on Robinhood users and ultimately the company. Holders are now unable to freely trade it; the app is only allowing users to close out their positions, meaning they can sell it but not buy more. This is potentially devastating for novice investors or those who simply want to follow the general marching orders of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit, which is to hold (and buy more) GameStop stock until further notice.

Robinhood Reportedly Selling People's GME Positions Without Warning, Investors Sue

Update 1445 EST: Users are starting to report that Robinhood is selling their GME shares without warning. Screenshots like the one below are starting to make their rounds on social media. Meanwhile, platforms like Webull and Merrill Edge have also joined in the restrictions.

Update 1232 EST: Following the outrage of stock manipulation from AOC, Brendon Nelson (presumably a Robinhood user), sued Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, and Robinhood Markets, Inc. in the Southern District of New York this afternoon for "removing Gamestop from its trading platform."

The lawsuit reads:

"Robinhood purposefully, willfully, and knowingly removing the stock "GME" from its trading platform in the midst of an unprecedented stock rise thereby deprived retail investors of the ability to invest in the open-market and manipulating the open-market."

Social media users on Twitter were infuriated by the trade restrictions Robinhood and other discount brokerages placed on clients this morning. Some said:

"Does this suit mention Robinhood's relationship with Citadel, who are deeply interested in the shorting of GME?" someone else said.

Meanwhile, Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy said he's down a "milly," (we believe that's a reference to $1MM) following the trade restrictions placed by Robinhood and other discount brokerages. He called Robinhood trading app "crooks" and started calling out executives on Twitter.

Portnoy still thinks "$amc and $nok come back the second the free markets open again."

Portnoy had this message to the founder of Robinhood:

Even rapper Ja Rule chimed into the discussion about the corruption on Wall Street. He said, "They hedge fund guy shorted these stocks now we can't buy them ppl start selling out of fear... we lose money they make money on the short... THIS IS A FUCKING CRIME!!!"

And that's coming from the guy who helped organize Fyre Fest.

* * *

Update 1141 EST: Robinhood is reportedly adding more names to its restricted list, including American Airlines, which was up more than 70% at one point in pre-market trading this morning.

ROBINHOOD ADDS AAL, CTRM, SNDL, OTHERS TO RESTRICTED TRADING

Additionally, it looks as though the first of what is likely to be many lawsuits has been filed against Robinhood. We wonder if Citadel has a good lawyer they can recommend?

ROBINHOOD CUSTOMER SUES OVER REMOVAL OF GAMESTOP

Update 1103 EST: Everyone seems to be piling on Robinhood, including hip hop artist and Fyre Festival bankroller Ja Rule, who says "this is a fucking CRIME" about the measures Robinhood is taking.

Update 1017 EST: Bloomberg is reporting that the SEC and Fed will likely take "little action" over the trading in GameStop and other names - but that it may include a trading suspension in the names.

Analysts told BBG: "We do not believe the SEC will issue an emergency order nor will the Fed change margin requirements. The only possible action that will potentially be taken is the SEC suspending trading in one or more of the names for one to two business days"

Update 0950 EST: Robinhood (once again) appears to be down. There's no word on whether the disruption is just from the volatility or whether or not it is directly related to the platform's ban of buying certain equities:

ROBINHOOD SAYS ISSUES WITH EQUITIES, OPTIONS, CRYPTO TRADING
ROBINHOOD SAYS DISRUPTION WITH IOS, ANDROID AND WEB APP
ROBINHOOD SAYS EXPERIENCING SERVICE DISRUPTION

Update 0925 EST: Interactive Brokers has joined Robinhood and has put option trading in some names into liquidation. This headline crossed the terminal around 0925EST:

INTERACTIVE BROKERS PUTS SOME OPTION TRADING INTO LIQUIDATION

In a statement to CNBC, IB said:

"As of midday yesterday, (1/27/2021) Interactive Brokers has put AMC, BB, EXPR, GME, and KOSS option trading into liquidation only due to the extraordinary volatility in the markets. In addition, long stock positions will require 100% margin and short stock positions will require 300% margin until further notice. We do not believe this situation will subside until the exchanges and regulators halt or put certain symbols into liquidation only. We will continue to monitor market conditions and may add or remove symbols as may be warranted."

Additionally, Robinhood has released the following statement:

"We continuously monitor the markets and make changes where necessary. In light of recent volatility, we are restricting transactions for certain securities to position closing only, including $AMC, $BB, $BBBY, $EXPR, $GME, $KOSS, $NAKD and $NOK. We also raised margin requirements for certain securities."

We can't help but wonder...

Update 0842 EST: Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy has weighed in on the restriction, stating "Either @RobinhoodApp allows free trading or it's the end of Robinhood. Period."

He has also Tweeted: "And it turns out @RobinhoodApp is the biggest frauds of them all. "Democratizing finance for all" except when we manipulate the market cause too many ordinary people are getting rich."

He continued: "Somebody is going to have to explain to me in what world [Robinhood] and others literally trying to force a crash by closing the open market is fair? They should all be in jail."

--

One day after TD Ameritrade implemented unprecedented restrictions on trading in GME, AMC and other massive short squeezes, on Thursday morning reports are circulating on social media that Robinhood is no longer allowing GameStop or AMC share purchases.

"Robinhood Removes GameStop, AMC; Puts Notice On Pages Saying 'You Can Close Out Your Position On This Stock, But You Can Not Purchase Additional Shares'," Benzinga reported at about 0830 EST.

The report was corroborated by additional sources shortly after 0830 EST.

Users are reporting the same on Twitter.

There are also scattered reports that the app has restricted BlackBerry. Users on social media are furious:

Developing...

© Odin19199

Article III gives Congress the authority to set the number of Supreme Court justices. The court currently has one chief justice and eight associate justices, but the number has fluctuated since 1789.

• Originally, the total number of justices was set at six by the Judiciary Act of 1789. President George Washington signed the act into law on September 24, 1789, and he nominated John Jay to serve as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.[4]

• The Judiciary Act of 1801 reduced the number of justices from six to five.[5]

• In 1807, Congress increased the number of justices on the Supreme Court to seven "in response to the geographic expansion of the nation and the increased caseload of the district courts in the west. The act established a Seventh Circuit, consisting of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and specified that the new justice be assigned to preside over the U.S. circuit courts within that circuit."[6]

• The Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act of 1837 created the Eighth and Ninth Circuits to provide for an expanded caseload due to the admission of new states to the Union. This Act also rearranged the Seventh Circuit and created two new seats on the Supreme Court to support the circuit court.[7]

• The Tenth Circuit Act of 1863 created the Tenth Circuit to represent California and Oregon, eliminated the California Circuit Court and added another member to the Supreme Court. This act gave the Supreme Court its highest number of members in history, with the chief justice and nine associate justices serving.[8]

• The Judicial Circuits Act of 1866 reorganized the circuits in the thirty-six state nation, reducing the number of circuits from ten to nine. This reorganization created a basic structure of circuits lasting to present day. The Act also eliminated three positions on the Supreme Court.[9]

• The Judiciary Act of 1869 again increased the size of the Supreme Court, setting it at nine justices, one for each circuit.[10]