| Some evangelicals fear the 'mark of the beast' from a coronavirus vaccine Posted: 14 May 2020 11:32 AM PDT  Peggy Popham, who described herself as a lifelong Republican, said that while her beliefs about the coronavirus vaccine "have a lot to do with my political views," they also "go along with my faith." "I'm 70 and I've gotten sick before," said Popham. But, she added, "I would not take the vaccine."
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| Crowds pack Wisconsin bars hours after court stops coronavirus stay-at-home order Posted: 14 May 2020 03:40 PM PDT  Hours after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state's stay-at-home order, bars were packed with crowds forgoing masks and social distancing recommendations during the coronavirus pandemic.
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| CDC warns of big drop in routine vaccinations for children as parents shun doctors' offices Posted: 15 May 2020 08:05 AM PDT  Alarmed by a dramatic drop in routine pediatric vaccinations since the start of the coronavirus scare, the Centers for Disease Control this week issued an urgent call to parents to take their children to the doctor for routine well-child checkups and vaccinations.
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| Republicans snatch rare prize of California seat Posted: 13 May 2020 07:23 PM PDT  It is the first Republican win from a Democrat in the liberal stronghold since 1998.
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| 25 Graduation Gifts They Need (And Want) Post-College Posted: 14 May 2020 12:43 PM PDT |
| House Democrats float $3 trillion coronavirus bill, Republicans reject it Posted: 14 May 2020 07:57 AM PDT  Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled on Tuesday a $3 trillion-plus coronavirus relief package with funding for states, businesses, food support and families, only to see the measure flatly rejected by Senate Republicans.
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| 'Unrepentant racist' and 'bulls---': Both Republicans and Democrats lawmakers condemn the idea of reinstating Steve King after racist comments Posted: 13 May 2020 05:18 PM PDT  "Steve King is an unrepentant racist," one Democratic lawmaker tweeted. "The GOP was right to try to exclude him."
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| Medal of Honor recipient dies; saved lives in Afghanistan Posted: 14 May 2020 05:21 PM PDT  WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Former Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, who received the Medal of Honor in 2018 for braving heavy gunfire to save lives in Afghanistan, has died of cancer. Miranda Shurer said her husband died Thursday in Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. She said he was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. Ronald Shurer II received the nation's highest military honor from President Donald Trump in a formal White House ceremony attended by 250 people.
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| Afghan accused of mutilating wife after she asks for divorce Posted: 15 May 2020 03:53 AM PDT |
| Headscarves and bare hands: women deliver baby during Kabul hospital attack Posted: 14 May 2020 05:36 PM PDT  As armed men rampaged through an Afghan hospital, shooting dead mothers and babies, a group of pregnant women hid in a room with one of them about to give birth. "The mother was in pain but was trying not to make any sound," said a midwife who helped deliver the baby girl and sever the umbilical cord with her bare hands. "She even put her finger in the newborn baby's mouth to stop her from crying," the woman told AFP by phone on Friday, her voice still shaking three days after the attack in Kabul.
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| A one-in-a-million discovery: Scientists spot 'incredibly rare' super-Earth Posted: 14 May 2020 09:30 AM PDT  New Zealand astronomers say the super-Earth is one of only a handful planets discovered with both size and orbit comparable to that of Earth's.
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| 50 Years After the Jackson State Killings, America's Crisis of Racial Injustice Continues—and Shows the Danger of Forgetting Posted: 14 May 2020 09:00 AM PDT  Police unleashed a 28-second barrage that killed two young people. Today, though the nation retains a vivid memory of the violence at Kent State, Jackson State has been largely forgotten
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| House Judiciary chairman demands Barr testify by June, warns of potential subpoena Posted: 13 May 2020 05:32 PM PDT  Rep. Jerry Nadler's comments come amid the Justice Department's handling of several criminal cases involving former advisers to President Donald Trump.
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| A black delivery driver filmed himself being trapped in an Oklahoma City neighborhood as an HOA president demanded to know why he was there Posted: 14 May 2020 01:45 PM PDT  Travis Miller, a delivery driver in Oklahoma City, says the HOA president demanded to know how he got into the gated community.
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| House to vote on massive new coronavirus relief bill Posted: 15 May 2020 08:58 AM PDT  The $3 trillion legislation is unlikely to gain any traction in the Republican-controlled Senate.
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| Gov. Cuomo extends New York's stay-at-home order until June 13 Posted: 14 May 2020 07:50 PM PDT  In an executive order on Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the "New York State on PAUSE" policy, put in place in March, would continue.
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| Virus tests hospitals in pockets of US as some states reopen Posted: 13 May 2020 10:32 PM PDT  From a hospital on the edge of the Navajo Nation to the suburbs of the nation's capital, front-line medical workers in coronavirus hot spots are struggling to keep up with a crushing load of patients while lockdown restrictions are lifting in many other parts of the U.S. Among them is a suburb of Washington, D.C. The head of a hospital system in Maryland's Prince George's County, a majority black community bordering the city, said the area's intensive care units "are bursting at the seams." Meanwhile, a civil rights group's lawsuit claimed the county's jail failed to stop an "uncontrolled" coronavirus outbreak and isolated infected prisoners in cells with walls covered in feces, mucus and blood.
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| UK COVID-19 reproduction rate rises to 0.7-1.0 Posted: 15 May 2020 08:26 AM PDT  The reproduction rate of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom is now somewhere between 0.7 and 1.0, government scientific advisers said on Friday. Last week Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the rate was 0.5 to 0.9. The government has said it will keep a close eye on the so-called 'R' rate as it looks at how quickly to ease lockdown measures.
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| Broward Cop, Fired for Hiding During High School Shooting, Will Be Reinstated with Back Pay Posted: 14 May 2020 08:25 AM PDT  A Broward County police officer who was fired after he hid behind his car at the start of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be reinstated with full back pay and return to his rank, the Broward Sheriff's Office union said on Wednesday.The officer, Sergeant Brian Miller, was fired for "neglect of duty" along with three other deputies in the wake of the shooting. Officers were criticized for failing to enter the building immediately during the shooting, in which 17 students and faculty were killed and another 17 injured.Miller had challenged his termination with the support of the BSO union, which said an arbitration ruling found that "BSO violated Sgt. Brian Miller's constitutional due process rights and improperly terminated him." Miller's salary for the year 2017 was $138,410.25.An investigation by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission in the wake of the shooting found that Miller was the first officer to arrive at the high school as shots were being fired, but hid behind his car and did not radio in for 10 minutes.Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, in January 2019 suspended Broward County head sheriff Scot Israel, who has been accused of mishandling the BSO's response to the shooting though a lack of coordination. The Florida Senate Rules Committee in October recommended removing Israel from his post entirely, after which DeSantis appointed officer Gregory Tony to head the BSO. Tony is now facing off against Israel in the 2020 election.
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| U.S. moves to cut off Huawei from chip suppliers Posted: 15 May 2020 09:16 AM PDT 
A big blow to China's Huawei. In a move that's sure to ramp up tensions, the Trump administration moved Friday to block global chipmakers from shipping semiconductors to the world's second largest smartphone manufacturer. The Commerce Department will require foreign companies using U.S. chipmaking equipment to obtain a U.S. license before they could supply certain chips to Huawei or its affiliates. It said the move "cuts off Huawei's efforts to undermine U.S. export controls." The reaction from China was swift with a report saying it was ready to put U.S. companies on an "unreliable entity list." Possible measures include launching investigations and imposing restrictions on U.S. companies such as Apple, Cisco Systems, Qualcomm as well as suspending purchases of Boeing airplanes. Huawei, which needs semiconductors for its widely used smartphones and telecoms equipment, is at the heart of a battle for global technological dominance between the United States and China. Huawei did not immediately comment on Friday. The U.S. has been trying to convince its allies to exclude Huawei from next generation 5G networks. Washington contends Beijing could use Huawei's equipment for spying, a claim Huawei repeatedly denies.
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| Ahmaud Arbery: What do we know about the case? Posted: 15 May 2020 09:23 AM PDT  The fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery has drawn national attention. Here's what we know.
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| Mortality rates hint at even higher coronavirus death toll Posted: 15 May 2020 03:00 AM PDT  The coronavirus has now taken 300,000 lives globally, according to official figures. This "excess deaths" metric raises the spectre of a much higher toll, as it includes fatalities indirectly related to the virus -- for example, people suffering from other illnesses who could not access treatment because of the strain the pandemic has placed on hospitals. For the United States, the difference is even more striking: according to data for March, before the country was hit by the worst of the pandemic, the number of excess deaths reached 6,000 -- more than triple the official COVID-19 toll.
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| Naked doll hanging by a noose prompts fight at armed anti-lockdown protest in Michigan Posted: 14 May 2020 11:56 AM PDT  A fight broke out between anti-lockdown protesters in Michigan after one began waving an American flag with a doll tied to the pole by a noose around its neck.As armed demonstrators gathered at Michigan's State Capitol to denounce the governor's stay-at-home orders, one man began waving his flag with the naked doll attached in one hand while also carrying an axe in the other.
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| Republican leader: My state shows why voting by mail is secure and trustworthy Posted: 15 May 2020 03:01 AM PDT  My hope is that Washington's experience running mail-in elections will help other states reassure those who question whether the process is safe.
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| Wisconsin bars packed after court lifts stay-at-home order Posted: 15 May 2020 08:29 AM PDT  "It's been kinda boring sitting in my house, I love my fiancee but there's only so much we can handle from each other," one customer says.
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| Whistleblower: US could face virus rebound 'darkest winter' Posted: 13 May 2020 12:58 PM PDT  America faces the "darkest winter in modern history" unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus, says a government whistleblower who alleges he was ousted from his job after warning the Trump administration to prepare for the pandemic. Immunologist Dr. Rick Bright makes his sobering prediction in testimony prepared for his appearance Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Aspects of his complaint about early administration handling of the crisis are expected to be backed up by testimony from an executive of a company that manufactures, respirator masks.
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| Trump administration aims to nab 300 mln N95 masks in 90 days -official Posted: 14 May 2020 09:38 AM PDT  The Trump administration is seeking to add 300 million N95 masks, the respiratory protective devices that are key to protecting medical workers fighting the deadly coronavirus, to the U.S. stockpile by the fall, a senior administration official said on Thursday. Speaking to reporters during a telephone briefing, the official said the administration hopes ultimately to replenish its strategic national stockpile, which had only 13 million N95s at the beginning of the outbreak, to 1 billion in total. The administration is seeking to shore up medical supplies as part of a bid to prepare the country for future flare-ups of coronavirus cases, as states nationwide begin to reopen after lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
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| Sitting in a freezer for years, potential SARS vaccine now ready for coronavirus trial Posted: 13 May 2020 01:32 PM PDT  Three organizations have agreed to shepherd the vaccine, shelved since 2016, through clinical trials and ensure it is made safe and affordable.
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| Mystery deaths in Nigeria provoke fear of unrecorded coronavirus surge Posted: 14 May 2020 07:09 AM PDT  Authorities in Nigeria's northern Yobe state have reported hundreds of unusual deaths over the last few weeks, prompting fears that the coronavirus is spreading rapidly through Africa's most populous nation. Yobe authorities said that 471 people have died in the last five weeks in the state. The Yobe State Commissioner for Health, Dr Muhammad Lawan Gana, said that most of those who died were elderly people or had underlying health issues. It is not clear whether or not the Yobe deaths are linked to coronavirus because the Nigerian government is struggling to carry out many tests. In the last few weeks, there have been a spate of hundreds of unexplained deaths across northern Nigeria. Kano state, which is nearby Yobe, has seen at least mysterious 600 deaths. Doctors in Kano say they are being overwhelmed by patients showing clear signs of coronavirus, like temperatures and respiration issues.
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| Pope joins inter-faith prayers against coronavirus, irks ultra-conservatives Posted: 14 May 2020 08:19 AM PDT  Pope Francis joined an inter-faith day of prayer on Thursday to call on God to end the coronavirus pandemic, brushing aside criticism from ultra-conservative Catholic groups, with one accusing him of associating with "infidels". A multi-faith committee formed after the pope's historic visit to the Arabian Peninsula last year came up with the proposal that Christians, Muslims and Jews pray, fast and perform charitable works on Thursday. "Maybe there will be someone who will say 'This is religious relativism and it cannot be done," Francis said in the homily of his morning Mass at the Vatican on Thursday.
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| Russia registered 60% of all coronavirus deaths that happened in Moscow last month to other causes Posted: 14 May 2020 07:11 AM PDT  Russia has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world but claims to have one of the lowest death tolls.
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| Al-Qaeda and Islamic State cross swords in Sahel Posted: 15 May 2020 04:15 AM PDT  Al-Qaeda and the Islamic state group have turned their guns on each other in the Sahel, according to experts, fracturing a period of cooperation that has held for years. The semi-desert African region has seen years of conflict with Islamic militants, who first emerged in northern Mali in 2012 before sweeping into the centre of the country, and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
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| 'Calls to violence': Michigan Gov. Whitmer says armed protests could lengthen stay-at-home order Posted: 13 May 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Another protest is scheduled at the state Capitol building Thursday.
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| 'Surge' in illegal bird of prey killings since lockdown Posted: 15 May 2020 04:10 AM PDT  The RSPB says it has been "overrun" by reports of birds of prey being illegally killed.
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| Hong Kong shop offers 'tear gas' flavor ice cream Posted: 14 May 2020 08:16 PM PDT  Tear gas is among the new flavors at a Hong Kong ice cream shop. The main ingredient is black peppercorns, a reminder of the pungent, peppery rounds fired by police on the streets of the semi-autonomous Chinese city during months of demonstrations last year.
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| As unemployment continues to rise, the US could face another crisis: Homelessness across the country could increase by 45% Posted: 14 May 2020 09:06 PM PDT  "This is unprecedented," Dan O'Flaherty said, according to the study. "No one living has seen an increase of 10% of unemployment in a month."
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| Trevor Noah Calls Out Sean Hannity Over ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ Dog-Whistle Racism Posted: 14 May 2020 11:27 PM PDT  On Thursday night, The Daily Show's Trevor Noah addressed "a brand new conspiracy that Trump and Fox News are calling: Obamagate." (It's not new but more on that later.)Cue Trump sycophant and Fox News host Sean Hannity, who called it "the biggest abuse of power/corruption scandal in American history," adding, 'What did Barack Hussein Obama know, and when did he know it?" "Oh snap! Barack Hussein Obama!" exclaimed Noah. "That's how you know you're in trouble, when Fox is calling you by your full government name. 'Barack Hussein Jihad Nairobi Kenya Obama, get your butt down here right now!'" "Now, as you can tell, Fox News hasn't been this excited since the last time Colin Kaepernick bent down to tie his shoes," Noah continued. "They're claiming that, when Obama was president, he illegally used the power of the Justice Department to spy on his political enemy, Donald Trump. And if you're thinking, wait, didn't we already do this, like, a year ago and they called it Spygate? Well, yeah, we did." Yes, according to the conspiracy theorists over at Fox News and Trumpworld, Obama abused his power by ordering the surveillance of Michael Flynn, a man who has twice pleaded guilty to lying to the authorities about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, who wrote pro-Erdogan propaganda columns in the U.S. while accepting money from the Turkish government, who was a registered foreign agent, and served as the special (paid) guest of Vladimir Putin at a 2015 gala dinner hosted by RT, the Russian government's pet TV station.Trevor Noah Defends Jared Kushner Over Sensational Media Headlines: 'Let's Not Gin Up Controversy'John Oliver Unloads on Bill Barr Over Michael Flynn Reversal: 'A Dangerous Precedent'Attorney General William Barr dropped charges against Flynn last week, alleging—in a seemingly partisan move, and with scant evidence—that the FBI shouldn't have been looking into Flynn in the first place, even though Flynn was engaged in shady conversations with Kislyak concerning the retaliatory measures the Obama administration took against Russia for their interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election (Trump's DOJ has refused to make even redacted transcripts of the Flynn-Kislyak phone conversations, which do exist, public), and subsequently confessed to lying to Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI about the nature of the calls. A 2019 Justice Department Inspector General report found no evidence of any foul play on the part of the Obama administration with respect to the Trump-Russia investigation, but of course, that hasn't stopped Trump from repeating a conspiracy theory he first began tweeting about in May of 2018 after seeing it floated on his favorite show, Fox & Friends. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| California governor warns of state budget shortfall, looming 25% unemployment rate Posted: 14 May 2020 03:10 PM PDT  Reflecting the financial hit the state is already seeing from the coronavirus pandemic, California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday proposed cutting $6.1 billion from a variety of programs in a budget he says prioritizes public education, public health and public safety. Watch his remarks.
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| Doctors in Italy have found a link between the coronavirus and the rare inflammatory disease seen in more than 100 children Posted: 14 May 2020 05:47 AM PDT  Eight out of 10 children with a rare 'Kawasaki-like' disease had also been exposed to the coronavirus, according to a Lancet study in Bergamo.
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| Video shows police pushing woman to the ground and handcuffing her in front of her young child ‘for not wearing mask properly’ Posted: 14 May 2020 04:07 AM PDT  A video of police in New York grabbing a woman and pushing her to the ground as her young child looks on has turned up the heat on the city's law enforcement.The footage, which has been shared widely on social media, shows several police officers in a Brooklyn subway station in a heated exchange with a woman holding her small child's hand. After their angry conversation escalates and becomes physical, four officers wrestle her to the ground and handcuff her while an onlooker repeatedly says "that's too much".
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| Experts warn about the 'brutal arithmetic' of applying herd immunity to humans Posted: 15 May 2020 03:45 AM PDT  Health professionals and officials continue to warn that there is no easy way out of the pandemic, particularly with parts of the U.S. beginning to ease lockdowns.
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| Afghan attack: Maternity ward death toll climbs to 24 Posted: 13 May 2020 01:23 PM PDT  Afghan mothers and babies make up most of the dead in militant violence condemned for its savagery.
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| Hong Kong history exam questions sparks China rebuke Posted: 15 May 2020 04:09 AM PDT  A history exam question asking Hong Kong students to assess colonial Japan's occupation of China sparked a rebuke by Beijing on Friday and reignited a row over academic freedoms in the semi-autonomous city. The criticism comes as Hong Kong's schools and universities -- some of the best in Asia -- become the latest ideological battleground in a city convulsed by political unrest. China's foreign ministry and state media rounded on a university entrance exam question that asked students whether they agreed Japan "did more good than harm" to China from 1900 to 1945.
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| Religious Far Right Mounts Anti-Abortion Attack on COVID-19 Vaccine Posted: 15 May 2020 12:34 AM PDT  As universities and pharmaceutical companies race to put out the first COVID-19 vaccine, some sectors of the religious right are gearing up to fight it, based on tenuous ties to what they call "the abortion industry" and a biblical teaching about "the mark of the beast." LifeSite News, a Catholic, anti-abortion website, has gathered more than 350,000 signatures on a petition protesting mandatory coronavirus vaccination orders—none of which have actually been issued. The petition starts with the kind of big-government concerns that have become a hallmark of anti-shutdown protests, claiming that "fear of a disease" could inadvertently lead to support for "the hidden agenda of governmental as well as non-governmental bodies" with plans to "restrict personal freedoms.""The so-called 'public health experts' have gotten it wrong many times during the current crisis," the petition states. "We should not, therefore, allow their opinions to rush decision-makers into policies regarding vaccination."How the Hunt for a Coronavirus Vaccine Could Go Horribly WrongFurther down, the petition raises the issue of stem cell research used in the production of vaccines. A number of life-saving vaccines—from the chickenpox to measles—are cultured in human stem cells originating from legally aborted fetuses, a process long approved by the Food and Drug Administration. At least one pharmaceutical company is currently using these stem cell lines to test a vaccine, according to a letter sent to the FDA by two dozen religious leaders. The LifeSite petition calls the use of these stem cell lines "a total non-starter," stating that the organization "opposes immorally-produced vaccines using aborted fetal cell lines." (A note at the bottom of the page, seemingly meant to distance the organization from the anti-vaxxer crowd, states that LifeSite has no position on "any particular coronavirus vaccines produced without such moral problems.")The stem cells used in vaccine development come from two fetuses aborted more than 50 years ago and, according to vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit, contain "incredibly small amounts of [their] DNA." The Pontifical Academy for Life, National Catholic Bioethics Center, and former Pope Benedict XVI have all determined that using vaccines cultured in stem cells is acceptable in the interest of public health, not least because they are so far removed from any actual abortion. Just last year, the Pontifical Academy stated that parents could vaccinate their children with a "clear conscience" that the use of most modern vaccines "does not signify some sort of cooperation in voluntary abortion." Still, some religious leaders have gone so far as to declare that they will not accept a COVID-19 vaccine developed with these products—even though experts the world over agree a vaccine is the best chance to stop a pandemic that has already killed some 300,000 people."So sad… even with Covid-19 we are still debating the use of aborted fetal tissue for medical research," Bishop J. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, tweeted in April. "Let me go on record...if a vaccine for this virus is only attainable if we use body parts of aborted children then I will refuse the vaccine...I will not kill children to live."What Are the Most Promising Coronavirus Treatments, Vaccines, and Tests?Deacon Keith Fournier, founder of the Common Good Foundation, tried to convince his Twitter followers this week that some COVID-19 vaccines are being made using "body parts from unborn babies.""I GUARANTEE I, and any other Pro-Life Catholic and any other TRUE Christians will NEVER use such a vaccine. NEVER. NEVER," he wrote.The religious leaders who wrote to the FDA did not go quite as far, instead urging the U.S. government not to fund vaccines developed through stem cell technology. The letter to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn states that the leaders "strongly support efforts to develop an effective, safe, and widely available vaccine as quickly as possible.""However, we also strongly urge our federal government to ensure that fundamental moral principles are followed in the development of such vaccines, most importantly, the principle that human life is sacred and should never be exploited," the letter says.Others have tried to tie the vaccine to abortion through donations from Bill Gates, who has pledged $300 million to developing and distributing a vaccine. LifeSiteNews has long opposed Gates for his donations to Planned Parenthood and support of contraception and abortion access. Its petition claims the billionaire "should not be permitted to influence policy decisions on a coronavirus vaccination program." "Unwitting citizens must not be used as guinea pigs for New World Order ideologues, or Big Pharma, in pursuit of a vaccine (and, profits) which may not even protect against future mutated strains of the coronavirus," the petition reads.Trumpists Believe Bill Gates Is Using Coronavirus to Implant Brain ChipsOther religious figures have decried Gates' participation because of a popular but ludicrous conspiracy theory that suggests the billionaire will plant a microchip in every injection. Ronnie Hampton, a free Methodist pastor who died of the virus in March, told followers before his death that the vaccines would have "some type of electronic computer device that's gonna put some type of chip in you and maybe even have some mood, mind-altering circumstances.""They're saying that the chip would be the mark of the beast," he added, referring to a belief among some Christians that the anti-Christ will one day return and physically mark his followers.Pastor Curt Landry of Oklahoma, meanwhile, claimed the vaccine would not contain the mark of the beast itself, but a microchip that the government could use to track who was willing to accept it."Do not pray, do not hope, do not think, 'Oh, praise God they are going to have a vaccine,'" he told followers in a YouTube video. "That vaccine is from the pit of Hell. Do not pray for those vaccines, and do not take the vaccine. These vaccines are going to be coming. They are not going to be good. They're not good for you physically, and spiritually, they're a set-up for what shall come later." The conspiracy theory seems to have come from a Reddit AMA in which Gates suggested that countries would eventually have digital certificates to show who has recovered from the virus, who has been tested recently, and who has received the vaccine. He did not say anything about microchips.The "mark of the beast" theory, meanwhile, has been roundly dismissed by religious scholars. Writing for the Logos Academic Blog, minister and theology PhD Matthew Halstead argued that the mark of the beast is something given to people who willingly worship the anti-Christ—not something you accidentally ingest in a Gates-funded vaccine. Christians should not fear the vaccine unless they plan on using it as a symbolic expression of their "willful and public rejection of the Christian faith," he wrote. "If that's you and if that's your plan," he added, "then it's not the vaccine that's the problem."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Biden Has an Edge on Trump. So Why Are Democrats Worried? Posted: 13 May 2020 12:01 PM PDT  In his first weeks as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden went days at a time with no public events. His campaign staff in early April was about half the size of Hillary Clinton's at the same time in 2016. A much-touted virtual rally last week was riddled with glitches. And Biden and his advisers remain stuck at home, uncertain if their Philadelphia headquarters will ever reopen.Less than six months before Election Day, Biden finds himself in an extraordinary position: Party leaders have quickly united around him, and he has an edge over President Donald Trump in most polls. But he has yet to prove himself as a formidable nominee who can set the political and policy agenda for Democrats and the nation, and his campaign has so far not solved the unprecedented challenges of running for the White House from the seclusion of his home.Biden's inability to influence the debate about the coronavirus and the nation's economic collapse has worried some Democratic allies, donors and former Obama administration officials who want Biden to be more visible. He rarely goes on offense against Trump in ways that have lasting impact. And his tentative handling of his biggest test recently -- responding to the sexual assault allegation by Tara Reade -- prompted skepticism among some progressives and others about his instincts and his team's agility.Trump has his own enormous problems politically, and he and his campaign have yet to get a handle on Biden, veering from attacks over China to personal jabs at his mental acuity and his son Hunter. Still, even some Democrats who are optimistic about Biden's chances say they are worried about whether he and his operation are ready for the campaign of personal destruction that Trump is expected to accelerate.The circumstances could hardly be more difficult for Biden. He lacks Trump's bully pulpit, and the coronavirus crisis has eliminated the kind of intimate retail politicking at which he excels. But interviews with more than two dozen donors, advisers, activists and party strategists paint a portrait of an operation that is also exhibiting some of the same difficulties that proved troublesome in the primary: slow decision-making processes and multiple power centers across Biden's sprawling political network, generational differences between some longtime Biden advisers and younger operatives, inadequate staffing and a tendency to be reactive in the face of controversy."Whatever hard hits you took in the primary does not even compare to what's coming from this White House and this president," said Leah D. Daughtry, a prominent Democratic strategist who ran the party's 2008 and 2016 conventions. "We've just got to be ready for the new tactics and to not rely on anything we've done in the past as the gospel truth of campaigning."Nan Whaley, the mayor of Dayton, Ohio, who supported former Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the primary and backs Biden now, said she is hearing about Trump "fatigue" in her battleground state, but she was quick to note: "We got beat four years ago. None of this is rational anymore."In recent days, the Biden campaign has started its biggest hiring spree since entering the race, fortifying the thin team that carried him through the primaries with additions ranging from new deputy campaign managers to digital experts. But that hiring began weeks later than many party strategists had expected, curtailed by financial concerns and uncertainty over how to invest in a campaign grounded by a national health crisis.And despite facing the most forbidding political environment of any president seeking reelection in decades, Trump still enjoys significant advantages. Although Biden matched the president in fundraising for April, Trump and his party began the general election with an advantage of nearly $187 million and an advanced digital operation. Already, Trump's reelection team is directing a $10 million ad campaign at attacking Biden.Biden's campaign does not have the financial firepower to answer on air, but this week it did produce an anti-Trump ad on the coronavirus that quickly racked up millions of views, the kind of insurgent maneuver that allies had been anxiously waiting for.In many respects, Biden's candidacy continues to test the proposition that in an election dominated by the coronavirus and Trump's conduct as president, the former vice president can win by running a steady, low-key campaign that appeals to a broad coalition. Democratic voters rewarded Biden for that approach in the primary, despite his uneven performances on the campaign trail, but a general election may test Biden and his campaign in a more strenuous way as he faces a wider audience of voters across the ideological spectrum.Some of the Biden campaign's vulnerabilities were laid bare in recent weeks as he confronted an accusation of sexual assault by Reade, a former aide in his Senate office in the 1990s. After the allegation surfaced, his campaign weighed several approaches, with some arguing that it should not be elevated. Others wanted a more proactive posture.Biden waited more than five weeks to address the matter directly, personally issuing a forceful denial only after a chorus of Democrats had urged him to speak out and several of his female surrogates fielded the issue first. In the meantime, the issue gained traction in social media posts by conservatives, Trump campaign officials and some in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.At one point Biden taped a video statement detailing his work combating sexual assault and harassment. But it did not mention Reade's allegations, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, and the campaign did not release it. The campaign declined to comment on the video.Many Biden allies are eager to see the former vice president engage in socially distanced public events. But his team is keenly sensitive to the health risks, including those for the 77-year-old Biden himself, and to the need for Biden to model the respect for scientists and doctors that he argues Trump has flouted, a point Biden made on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday.In the meantime, he has held virtual town halls and round tables and started a podcast, and his team is increasingly focused on intensifying the campaign's presence in battleground states. Biden has spent considerable time fundraising, and he routinely receives briefings from public health and economic experts. On Tuesday, Biden announced that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would join a committee on climate change policy in coordination with Sen. Bernie Sanders.Andrew Bates, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement that Biden had won the Democratic primary "by running a race that was true to Joe Biden's values.''"We did this all with the foot of the incumbent, impeached president on our backs," he added, dismissing "the concerns of pundits." "That is why Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee, and that is why we are going to beat Donald Trump in the fall."Still, some Democrats privately worry that Biden's advisers may have taken the wrong lesson from a primary campaign that he won rapidly, despite a series of missteps and controversies: That a deep wellspring of good will for Biden, and intense antipathy for Trump among some voters, will smooth any stumbles."Joe Biden is a known quantity, and most voters have a generally positive feeling about him," said Jim Margolis, a veteran Democratic strategist who stressed his admiration for the Biden campaign. But he added: "Hillary Clinton started her race as the most admired woman in the world, and she didn't end that way. The Trump attacks can have a real impact over time."Staffing has been a concern as well. The number of people on Clinton's payroll who were paid at least $1,000 in March 2016 was about 750, federal records show. Biden's had about 375 in March 2020. In fact, Biden entered April with the smallest campaign staff of any Democrat since at least John Kerry in 2004.Daughtry said she believed the Biden team understood the challenge. "The question," she said, "is whether the campaign is able to pivot quickly. All campaigns quickly become bureaucratic."That is especially the case for a seasoned politician like Biden, who is surrounded by layers of family members, longtime friends and advisers from different corners of his political universe. Navigating that landscape can be difficult for newer and younger staff members who might have divergent views about what could go viral and what warrants a response.As his team works to build itself out now, a number of progressive leaders said they had yet to hold formal conversations with Biden or his campaign about their policy priorities. Some also worry that Biden is relying on a strategy that's too focused on Trump's self-inflicted wounds and fails to articulate his own vision for the country."It is hard to break through right now, but it's their job to break through," said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. "We need to see a more robust response on these issues."Still, many Democrats are eager to give Biden room to maneuver.Biden's campaign manager, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, assumed her new role just as the coronavirus hit. Working remotely, she scrutinized the campaign's departments and devised clearer lines of authority, a process that slowed hiring but was considered a necessary part of pivoting to the general election."I just don't have the anxiety other people have about this," said Jennifer Palmieri, a former senior aide to Clinton and President Barack Obama. "Everybody in the Democratic Party is dying for this to work. They're going to have the support they need."But staggering uncertainties about campaigning during the crisis remain.Few expect that Biden will enjoy the same traditional multiday coronation before a large national convention that other nominees have received. And the absence of in-person campaigning makes the need for improved digital communications all the more critical.But the Biden campaign has struggled with basic technical difficulties.What was hailed as the first all-digital rally last Thursday evening more closely resembled late-night local-access television. Midway through, the feed went black for almost 7 minutes. The audio was garbled. A dramatic walk-up entrance showing Biden removing his aviator sunglasses was mangled. "Did they introduce me?" he asked. "Am I on?"David Axelrod, who served as chief strategist to Obama, co-wrote an op-ed last week in The New York Times that read as a call to arms for the Biden campaign to shift into a higher gear, including significant expansion of its digital operation -- an article that outraged many on the Biden campaign, who saw it as unsolicited advice at a moment of strength in the polls.In a follow-up interview, Axelrod praised O'Malley Dillon, saying he thought the campaign was "working very hard to get up to speed and doing it under difficult circumstances." But he cautioned: "As much as Trump is wounded, he is dangerous as a candidate. He is unbridled by any kind of norms. He has the power of the presidency. He is relentless."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Hundreds of child weddings thwarted in Ethiopia as coronavirus locks girls out of schools Posted: 14 May 2020 11:09 AM PDT |
| Leaked email reveals Carnival CEO's message to employees after the company announced mass layoffs, furloughs, and pay cuts Posted: 14 May 2020 02:41 PM PDT  Carnival Corp. is laying off workers and cutting pay in response to the impact of COVID-19, which has shut down the cruise industry since March.
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| FBI offers $1m reward for captors of Caitlan Coleman and Joshua Boyle Posted: 14 May 2020 09:46 AM PDT  * US-Canadian couple were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012 * After release Boyle was cleared of abusing Coleman in CanadaThe FBI has offered a $1m reward for the arrest and prosecution for those responsible for the kidnapping of US citizen Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle, eight years ago in Afghanistan.The offer of a reward for their captors is the latest twist in the protracted saga of Coleman and Boyle, who were the subject of intense media scrutiny following their dramatic rescue in 2017 – and a subsequent trial over allegations of abuse by Boyle.Shortly after their wedding in 2012, Boyle and Coleman travelled to Afghanistan, where they were kidnapped by a Taliban-linked group shortly after arriving in the restive country. The couple spent five years as captives of the Haqqani network, during which time Coleman gave birth to three children."At times the [guards] could be very violent, even sometimes with the children," Coleman told ABC News in 2017, shortly after their release. "Some of the guards actually actively hated children and would somewhat target [one of our children], try to come up with reasons to hit him, either with a stick or otherwise, claiming that he was making problems, he was being too loud."The family say they were shuffled between different sites and captors – often kept underground – until they were eventually freed by Pakistani soldiers in October 2017 and returned to Canada.But in late December of that year, Boyle was arrested in Ottawa and charged with 19 offenses – including sexual assault, forcible confinement and uttering a death threat – all of which were alleged to have taken place after the family had arrived in the city. The closely watched trial lasted more than a year, culminating in a judge clearing Boyle of all charges in December 2019.Timothy Slater, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, told the Canadian Press that agents were still actively working to track down the family's captors but need the public's help. In one proof of life video recorded by the family, Coleman identified her captors – but more information was needed for a breakthrough in the case.
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