Happening Today: Queen Elizabeth II, Patriots, Lady Gaga, Travel Ban

What to Know

  • Tom Brady made history at the Super Bowl on Sunday, leading the Patriots to a comeback victory over the Falcons
  • Queen Elizabeth II will also make history when she celebrates her Sapphire Jubilee on Monday
  • The White House says it's confident that a travel ban on people from seven countries will be upheld by the courts despite legal opposition

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Patriots Win Super Bowl in Comeback

Even when they trailed by four scores, even when so many things all needed to go right for the Patriots, it seemed plausible to think Tom Brady would bring them back one more time in a Super Bowl. And so he did, leading New England to the tying score just inside the final minute to force overtime and erase the big lead the Falcons got out to with a scorching first half. The Patriots scored on their first possession in overtime, and Brady was handed a Lombardi Trophy for the fifth time in his career. Bostonians took to the streets in celebration. Here’s what celebrities and sports stars had to say about the win, a victory captured in these dramatic photos. The “Tonight Show” puppies may have gotten their Super Bowl prediction wrong, but they aren’t any less adorable.

Gaga Gives Halftime Show to Remember

Following on the heels of past Super Bowl performances by Beyonce, U2, Paul McCartney, Prince, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, and other legends, Lady Gaga's show had more fireworks than the lackluster first half of the game. But anyone expecting Gaga, a fervent Hillary Clinton supporter, to use her Super Bowl platform to stage a stinging condemnation of President Trump may have come away a bit disappointed (although some ads got political). "This performance is for everyone,” Gaga said before the game. Check out the other stars who were in attendance, including the Bushes

Trump Confident About Travel Ban

The White House says it expects the courts to restore President Trump's ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, an executive order founded on a claim of national security. Ten former senior U.S. diplomats and security officials planned to file an affidavit in a federal appeals court arguing that President Donald Trump's executive order curtailing immigration would actually make America less safe. Meanwhile, Twitter and other major technology companies planned to file a friend-of-the-court brief Sunday night with a federal appeals court hearing challenges to the executive order.

Queen Elizabeth II Makes History

On Monday, after nearly a lifetime of service to country and crown, Elizabeth II will commemorate her 65th anniversary as queen. She will become the only British monarch ever to celebrate her Sapphire Jubilee. It is a role that most Britons — whether royalist or republican — would agree that she has fulfilled with caution, dignity and an unending sense of duty.

"Bridgegate" Accuser Not Giving Up

Like the two-term Republican governor he has set his sights on, William Brennan exhibits a penchant for the type of bluntness that often seems a birthright for anyone born in this state but that still has the capacity to startle. It has catapulted the former-firefighter-turned-gubernatorial-candidate into the spotlight as he pursues a criminal complaint against Gov. Chris Christie in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal.

Alec Baldwin Returns as Trump

Alec Baldwin was back as Donald Trump in this week's "Saturday Night Live," though his portrayal of a buffoonish commander-in-chief was nearly upstaged by two other characters—White House strategist Steve Bannon in the form of a Grim Reaper and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, played by a violent, trash-talking Melissa McCarthy. Watch the skit

Fluff Is Turning 100

Fluff, the marshmallow concoction that has been smeared on a century's worth of schoolchildren's sandwiches, has been around for a century. Every year, between 5 million and 7 million pounds of the sticky cream is produced and sold worldwide. Half of that is bought up by New Englanders and people in upstate New York. 

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