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Former President Donald Trumps niece Mary Trump said Sunday she was disturbed that her callous uncle was allowed to spew his lies at a vast, maskless rally in Alabama, which has run out of ICU beds as the state grapples with soaring cases ofCOVID-19.

During an interview on MSNBC with Alex Witt, she said the former president was willing to hold a rally not only in the middle of COVID, but in the middle of a state that is being absolutely pummeled by the coronavirus, and in a state that, as far as I last checked, had no ICU beds left.

The dangerous gathering speaks to his bottomless need for attention, his complete willingness to put other people at risk to feed his narcissistic needs, she said.

These arent just people going to a rally; these are people who are being asked to put themselves and other people at risk in order to attend his rallies, she noted. I dont believe there were any masks in the crowd.

Beyond that, she asked: Where are the adults who were saying, No, we cannot allow this to happen? This happens in the Republican Party a lot, she added.

Mary Trump accused the GOP, as it did with the Tea Party faction, of pander[ing] to the most extreme elements ... thinking that they control them, and then they see that they lose control. For example, she noted that the crowd in Cullman, Alabama, booed Trump when he uncharacteristically urged his fans to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

The former president quickly backed down, kowtowing to the crowd: Thats okay, thats all right. You got your freedoms.

He also dismissed the risk of COVID-19 at the rally.Im shaking hands with everybody backstage. I say, Well, I dont know, is this a good thing or bad? he asked dismissively.

Cullman declared a state of emergency the day before the rally due to COVID-19, and health officials feared the Trump rally could easily be a superspreader event on top of an earlier concert at the same location.

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We are absolutely shivering in our boots. We have great concern,Judy Smith, administrator of the Alabama Department of Public Healths Northern District, told AL.com just days before the rally.

Last year,researchers concludedthat 18 of Trumps political rallies led to more than 30,000 COVID-19 cases and 700 deaths.

The state is experiencing soaring numbers of cases, including nearly 4,000 new cases on Thursday alone. A record number of children were hospitalized with the illness 50 that day, with nine supported by ventilators in a single day recently. The number of children in the state testing positive for COVID-19 is four times higher than a year ago, according to the Alabama Political Reporter.

Alabama has counted663,000 cases since 2020, and 12,000 deaths, according to data from the Alabama Department of Public Health.

The hospital system is overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases and was short 26 ICU beds on Friday, the Alabama Hospital Association reported. Alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, with just 36% of residents fully inoculated.

Witt asked Mary Trump if the recovery from the pandemic would be quicker if people ignored the former president.

I wish we could, she responded. Its not because of him. He lost the election, decisively, he was twice impeached, he should be irrelevant ... The problem is that elected Republicans, Republican leadership, continue to allow him to be relevant, they continue to allow him a platform, they continue to give him power by going down to Mar-a-Lago and kissing his ring, by asking for his endorsements.

Check out Mary Trumps full interview in the video clip up top.

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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'Where Are The Adults?' Mary Trump Lashes Reckless Rally By 'Narcissistic' Uncle - Yahoo! Voices

A DAY service for disabled adults living in Barry Island was transformed into a Wonderland for a bonkers Mad Hatter's tea party.

Sully Day Opportunities -which offers support to people with a range of physical disabilities, learning disabilities and complex health needs - spent months renovating its garden after being closed for some time last year.

The people who use the service weeded the garden and planted colourful plants as part of a flowers in bloom project.

On a mission to turn the garden into a Wonderland many hours were spent in the art room creating decorations, including:

The team hosted a two-day garden party, with staff members dressing up as Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee and the White Rabbit.

Guests who are supported by the service wore home-made hats and fascinators.

A Cheshire Cat cake was made and donated by Grace Donovan, the 17-year-old daughter of team leader Lisa Donovan, and was enjoyed by attendees at the party.

Sian Harries, a team leader at Sully Day Opportunities, said: Everyone has worked incredibly hard on the garden, and it was lovely to celebrate with a Mad Hatters Tea party.

"We had lovely weather for our fun and games on one day, it was actually a bit too hot and the flowers and decorations looked amazing.

Id like to say a special thank you to two of our support workers, Leanne Waters and Kate Power, who did a great deal of work on the project. They did an outstanding job.

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Rob, who attends Sully Day Opportunities, said: The Mad Hatters Tea Party was great fun and the Cheshire Cat cake was delicious.

"I loved how we all worked together to turn the garden into Wonderland then got to sit together and enjoy it in the sunshine.

Sully Day Opportunities, is part of Ambito Care and Education, which is part of Salutem.

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Mad Hatter's tea party at Sully Day Opportunities' garden | Barry And District News - Barry and District News

Three new MagicBands, two of which are limited releases, have been released at Walt Disney World. We found these in the Emporium at Magic Kingdom.

This MagicBand features the famous archeologist Indiana Jones.

The orange and yellow Indiana Jones logo is above Indy.

Icons from the films are on the other end of the band.

This MagicBand is red with a blue puck in the center.

Its covered in various American icons from Liberty Square.

Sam Eagle is on one end.

This yellow MagicBand is perfect for fans of Alice in Wonderland and Mad Tea Party.

The Mad Hatter makes a face under the words its always tea time.

Teacups, unbirthday cake, and the Dormouse adorn the other end of the band.

Which of these will you be wearing on your wrist? Let us know in the comments.

As always, keep following WDWNT for all of your Disney Parks news, and for the absolute latest, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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PHOTOS: New Indiana Jones, Liberty Square, and Mad Tea Party MagicBands at Walt Disney World - wdwnt.com

Thirty new jobs are being created with the opening of a 160-seat new Boston Tea Party cafe in a historic Devon harbourside building later this year.

The boss of the South West-based independent chain says they chose the Pizza Express building on The Strand in Torquay because "we love a building with soul".

The firm's chief executive and co-owner Sam Roberts said they want the huge building overlooking the Clock Tower to become a community hub.

READ MORE: M5 driver to face court after 'unacceptable' 111mph speeding in Devon

"Every BTP [Boston Tea Party] is unique and designed to be sympathetic to the building and surroundings," he said.

"Thats why we were eager to snap up the former upholsterers and cabinet makers - we love a building with soul.

"Were aiming to create a community hub for Torquay, a place to share great food and drink.

"We put the company purpose of 'Making Things Better' at the centre of everything we do.

"Whether you bring the family for brunch or pop in to grab a takeaway coffee (bring your reusable cup) youll leave knowing youve done a little bit of good too."

On the June 1, 2018, BTP banned single use coffee cups the first cafe chain to do so in the UK, helping it save more than 270,000 cups from landfill.

However, it is not a problem is people who fancy a takeaway as they can bring any reusable cup, borrow one from the fully refundable cup loan scheme or buy one.

BTP's family-friendly cafes serve up a range of ethically sourced food and drink, including award-winning breakfasts - which are served all day - lunches and homemade cakes alongside speciality coffees, loose-leaf teas and homemade smoothies and juices.

BTP is currently recruiting to fill management, front of house, chef and barista positions.

Those interested should upload their application here.

The Torquay building was undergoing an exterior restoration when the Covid pandemic struck - it has never reopened since the first lockdown was followed by financial problems for Pizza Express which cut 2,400 jobs roughly a quarter of its UK staff and closed 74 sites.

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Read more Devon stories here:

Exeter's RD&E hospital is introducing new ANPR parking rules

Covid area-by-area as new data show infection rates rising in some parts of Devon

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Boston Tea Party creating 30 new jobs after taking over Torquay harbourside venue - Devon Live

After water, tea is the most common drink in the world. It is more popular than coffee, soft drinks, and alcohol combined. 84 percent of Brits enjoy a daily "cuppa," but this is a mere bagatelle against the Turks, who drink on average three to four cups every day. The tea industry is worth $200 billion worldwide and is set to grow by half by 2025.

Tea is such a huge part of many cultures, that it even has origin myths. For instance, one involves the Buddha waking up after falling asleep during his meditation. Disgusted at his lack of self-discipline, he cut off his eyelids and threw them to the ground. These lids then grew into tea plants to help future meditators stay awake.

Tea really matters to a lot of people. And, it mattered so much to the British and their empire that it directed their entire foreign policy. It also inspired one of the most incredible and ridiculous tales of 19th century espionage.

When the European powers of the 16th century first traded with, then militarily colonized, various East Asian nations, it was impossible not to come across tea. Since the 9th century, the Tang Dynasty of China had already popularized tea across the region. Tea was already firmly entrenched when the Portuguese became the first Europeans to sample it (in 1557), followed by the Dutch, who first shipped a batch back to mainland Europe.

Britain was relatively late to the tea party, not arriving until well into the 17th century. In fact, in Samuel Pepys' 1660 diaries, he makes reference to "a cup of tee (a China drink) of which I had never drunk before." It was only after King Charles II's Portuguese wife popularized it at court that tea became a fashionable societal drink.

After the Brits got going, there was no stopping them. Tea became a huge business. However, since tea was monopolized by the East India Company and the government imposed a whopping 120 percent tax on it, an army of smuggler gangs opened back channels to get tea to the poorer masses. Eventually, in 1784, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger got wise to the popular cry for tea. To stamp out the black market, he slashed the tax on the leaf to just 12.5 percent. From then on, tea became the everyman's drink marketed as medicinal, invigorating, and tasty.

Tea became so important to the British that it even sparked wars across the empire.

Most famously, when the British imposed a three pennies per pound tax on all tea the East India Company exported to America, it led to the outraged destruction of an entire ship's tea cargo. The "Boston Tea Party" was the first major defiant act of the American colonies and led ultimately to ham-fisted and insensitive countermeasures from the London government. These, in turn, sparked the U.S. War of Independence.

Less well known is how Britain went to war with China over tea. Twice.

Credit: Ingo Doerrie via Unsplash

Back then, tea was only being grown and exported from China to British India and then around the empire. As such, it led to a massive trade imbalance, where the largely self-sufficient China only wanted British silver in return for their famous and delicious homegrown tea leaves. This sort of economic policy, known as mercantilism, made Britain really mad.

In retaliation, Britain grew opium and flooded China with the drug. When China (quite understandably) objected to this, Britain sent in the gunboats. The subsequent "Opium Wars" were only ever going to go one way, and when China sued for peace, they were lumped with $20 million worth of reparations and had to cede Hong Kong to Britain (which only returned in 1997).

But even these wars did not resolve the trade deficit with China. The attempts to make tea in British India resulted in insipid rubbish, and the British needed the good stuff. So, they turned to a Scottish botanist named Robert Fortune, whose mission was simple: cross the border into China, integrate himself amongst Chinese tea farmers, and smuggle out both their expertise and preferably their tea plants.

Fortune accepted the mission, even though he could not speak a word of Chinese and had barely left his native Britain. (A forefather of 007 he was not.) But not one to let these details get in the way, he shaved his hair, plaited a pigtail that resembled those worn by the Chinese, and then set off on his adventure.

And what an adventure it was. He came under attack by bandits and brigands, his ship was bombarded by pirates, and he had to endure fever, tropical storms, and typhoons. In spite of all this, Fortune not only managed to learn Chinese and travel around the forbidden City of Suzhou and its surrounding tea-farming land, but he also integrated himself into secluded peasant communities. When the skeptical tea farmers challenged Fortune on why he was so tall, he fooled them by claiming that he was a very important state official all of whom were tall, apparently.

Amazingly, Fortune had good fortune and got away with it. Over the course of his three-year mission, he secreted out several shipments of new tea plants to Britain as well as the art of bonsai (previously, a closely held secret). Most of the smuggled tea leaves died from mold and moisture in transit, but Fortune persisted, and eventually the British began to cultivate their own tea plants using Chinese tea farming techniques in their colonial Indian soils.

It was not long until an Indian variant, almost indistinguishable from the stolen Chinese one, began to dominate the market, not least for Britain's huge and growing empire. Within 20 years of Fortune's remarkable mission, the East India Company had more than fifty contractors pumping out tea worldwide.

Today, things have reverted back. China now produces not only substantially more than India (in second place) but more than the top ten countries combined. In total, 40 percent of the world's tea comes from China. But it was British tea and Robert Fortune's incredible and unlikely mission which catalyzed the huge global market. Without this overly confident Scottish plant-lover, the world's love of tea might look very different.

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Of spies and wars: the secret history of tea - Big Think