| From both sides, thoughts and prayers for Trump, some more heartfelt than others Posted: 03 Oct 2020 01:34 PM PDT  Americans from across the political spectrum are offering prayers to the president as he battles COVID-19. Sadly, the virus hasn't shown itself to be particularly susceptible to prayer.
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| After $5 million bank heist, 26 years in hiding, being found in Hialeah, ‘The Ghost’ dies Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:36 AM PDT  Until he decided to start ripping off Hialeah jewelry stores in 2015, legendary criminal Anibal Mustelier lived life at least one step ahead of everyone else.
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| After Trumps' diagnosis: Vaccine or not, COVID-19 isn’t going away Posted: 05 Oct 2020 06:51 AM PDT  First family's diagnoses should serve as a reminder that we must remain vigilant
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| Hurricane Delta? New tropical storm is 'strengthening' and could make landfall on Gulf Coast this week, forecasters say Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:57 AM PDT  Newly formed Tropical Storm Delta is the 25th named storm in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
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| Margaret Ferrier faces being kicked out by her constituents if she refuses to resign, SNP warns her Posted: 04 Oct 2020 09:55 AM PDT  Margaret Ferrier faces being kicked out of her seat by her constituents, the SNP's Westminster leader has warned her as she continued to ignore Nicola Sturgeon's personal appeal to quit. Ian Blackford said the Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP, who travelled from Scotland to the Commons and back by train while suffering from coronavirus, should "do the honourable thing" and resign her seat. In a direct warning to Ms Ferrier, he told the Daily Telegraph that failing to resign "on her own terms" would mean she risks "having her fate taken out of her hands." SNP chiefs are understood to believe that she will be suspended from Parliament for at least 10 sitting days, or 14 consecutive days, the benchmark that could allow her constituents to recall her and force a by-election. But they are extremely worried that the longer Ms Ferrier clings on, the more damage will be inflicted to Ms Sturgeon's public health message to the Scottish people and her personal authority. The First Minister spoke on Friday morning to the MP, whom she described as a friend, urging her to resign but the 60-year-old defied her. She did not quit even when the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation on Friday evening.
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| Lawyer: Iran grants furlough to French-Iranian researcher Posted: 04 Oct 2020 01:14 PM PDT |
| Who Actually Declares the Winner of This Election? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 01:51 AM PDT  By Amy Dacey, The ConversationWith the U.S. presidential election rapidly approaching at a time of extraordinary political and social disruption, the possibility of an unclear or contested result is coming under scrutiny.Unlike many other countries, where the president or prime minister is chosen by direct popular vote, in the U.S., a candidate may win the popular vote and still not be elected to the nation's highest office. The U.S. also differs from most other democracies in that it has no independent electoral commission to certify the final vote count.So who actually confirms the winner? Step 1: Before Election DayAmerican democracy has many elected officials—state, local and national—and many processes for getting into office.I have been working on election campaigns since I was 8 years old, when my dad ran for school board and I went door to door asking people to vote for him. I've also worked on local, congressional, senate and presidential races and now direct an academic research center on politics.What's striking is that every race is different, from deadlines and filing process to certification. Here, I'll focus here on the presidential race.The unusual and complicated presidential election certification process in the U.S. entwines all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Senate, House of Representatives, the National Archives and the Office of the Federal Register. It also involves the Electoral College—a uniquely American institution that convenes in 51 separate locations once every four years to pick the president.This four-month process was custom designed as a compromise by the Founding Fathers, who did not believe the American people should directly choose the president and vice president but did not want to give Congress the power of selection, either.What if Trump Won't Leave the White House?The Constitution declares that American presidential elections occur on the first Tuesday in November, every four years. But the federal election process actually begins in October, when the Archivist of the United States—a presidential appointee responsible for maintaining the government's most important official documents—sends a letter to the governor of each state.The document outlines their responsibilities regarding the Electoral College, which is not a place but a process by which electors—people who are chosen by their party—vote for their party's presidential candidate.The machinery of the Electoral College is complicated, but in short Americans vote for electors and the electors vote for the president. Then, the winner is Step 2: After Election DayNot quite.Once a final tally of voters' in-person, mail-in and provisional ballots has been concluded, all 50 governors prepare their state's Certificate of Ascertainment, a document listing their electors for the competing candidates.Each state completes that process at its own rate. This year, because of the pandemic, finalizing the electoral vote count will likely take a lot longer. Once completed, copies of the Certificate of Ascertainment are then submitted to the U.S. Archivist.After the governor submits names to the Archivist, each state's Electoral College electors meet in the state capital—D.C.'s meet in D.C. —to formally cast their votes for president and vice president on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. This year, that's Dec. 14, 2020.In ways that vary state by state, each state's electors then prepares six Certificates of Vote, which are sent by registered mail to the President of the U.S. Senate and the Archivist of the United States. The remaining four certificates are sent to state officials.That fulfills the Electoral College's duties until the next presidential election. Step 3: Congress meetsOn Jan. 6, Congress convenes to count the electoral votes and certify the winner of the election.Because the sitting vice president also serves as president of the Senate, Mike Pence will preside over this count in 2021, just as Vice President Joe Biden did in January 2017 when Donald Trump officially became president-elect. Each state, called upon in alphabetical order, files its votes.This process is in some respects ceremonial, because by January the media has declared a winner and usually a concession speech has been given. But, officially, it is the moment of truth.The Time Has Come: Reform the Electoral College NowAt the end of the Senate's electoral vote count, the vice president announces the results and asks if there are any objections. In 2001 Democratic House representatives tried for 20 minutes to block Florida's highly contested electoral votes for George W. Bush.That effort failed, because objections must be signed by both a member of the House and the Senate before being voted on by both chambers of Congress. It fell to Vice President Al Gore, as president of the Senate, to declare Bush—his Republican opponent—the winner of the 2000 election.After the Senate certifies the election results, all the Certificates of Ascertainment and Certificates of Vote then become available for public review at the Office of the Federal Registrar for one year, then transferred to the National Archives for the permanent record. Those who question the outcome of a U.S. election, in other words, can actually double-check the tabulations themselves.In the extraordinary event that no candidate wins in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives meets to elect the next president. This is how John Quincy Adams became president in 1824.Established almost 250 years ago, this complex process is a foundation of American democracy. Many have questioned whether this antiquated system truly represents the will of the people in modern America.But for 2020, it remains the process that will decide the presidential race.Amy Dacey is executive director of the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics, American UniversityRead 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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| Search underway for murder hornet nest in Washington state Posted: 04 Oct 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Agricultural officials in Washington state said Friday they're trying to find and destroy a nest of Asian giant hornets — also known as murder hornets.
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| Trump’s doctor admits he avoided saying president was on oxygen Posted: 04 Oct 2020 10:12 AM PDT  In an optimistic briefing on President Trump's condition Sunday morning, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley admitted to reporters he had tried to conceal the fact that the president had received oxygen at the White House.
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| This Latino cartoonist is on a mission to defeat Trump in November Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:49 AM PDT  The self-described "perennial anti-Republican Chicano cartoonist" is even working with GOP strategists who are against the president's re-election.
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| Factbox: How does the Nobel Peace Prize work? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:42 AM PDT  The laureate of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize, one of the world's top accolades, will be announced on Friday in Oslo. The prize should go to the person "who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses", according to the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who founded the awards. Thousands of people can propose names: members of governments and parliaments; current heads of state; university professors of history, social sciences, law and philosophy; and former Nobel Peace Prize laureates, among others.
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| Tropical Storm Delta forms, expected to near Cuba this week as a hurricane Posted: 05 Oct 2020 05:17 AM PDT  Tropical Storm Delta has formed, and it "is expected to be a hurricane when it moves near or over western Cuba" Tuesday night, the National Hurricane Center said.
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| SARS: Nigeria 'rogue' police unit banned from stop and search Posted: 04 Oct 2020 08:30 AM PDT  Videos allegedly showing SARS officers extorting money and shooting people cause public outrage.
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| South Korean minister apologises after husband breaks Covid rules for yacht-shopping trip to US Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:47 AM PDT  South Korea's foreign minister is under growing pressure to resign after her husband defied the ministry's travel advice and flew to the United States on Saturday. The public has been further enraged after it emerged that Lee Yill-Byung, a university professor and husband of Kang Kyung-wha, was travelling to the US to purchase a new yacht. Only essential overseas travel is permitted, at a time when many Koreans have lost their jobs due to the impact of coronavirus. The Chosun Ilbo newspaper accused Mrs Kang of "flagrant hypocrisy" after her ministry demanded that people skip this year's Chuseok holidays, the equivalent of Thanksgiving and the most important holiday on the Korean calendar, to stop the spread of the Covid-19. Mrs Kang, of the Left-leaning Democratic Party, was quoted as saying that people's "private lives are not an absolute right" as she ordered the public to stay at home. Local media have learned that her husband flew to Vietnam for a week in February, travelled to the French territory of Martinique shortly after returning and then went to Greece in June.
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| Indiana man who lost eye to tear gas canister sues police Posted: 04 Oct 2020 01:20 PM PDT |
| Armenia says facing 'decisive moment' as Karabakh fighting intensifies Posted: 03 Oct 2020 08:22 PM PDT  Armenian and Azerbaijani forces were engaged in fierce clashes Saturday as fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region intensified, with Armenia reporting heavy losses and its leader saying it was facing a historic threat.
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| Thousands of coronavirus cases were not reported for days in the UK because officials exceeded the data limit on their Excel spreadsheet Posted: 05 Oct 2020 04:25 AM PDT  Officials failed to report 15,841 new cases between September 25 and October 2.
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| Texas AG Ken Paxton took bribes and abused office, top aides say in call for federal investigation Posted: 03 Oct 2020 05:10 PM PDT  Top aides of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked federal authorities to investigate allegations of potential crimes.
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| Investigators probe 'possible ecological catastrophe' in Russia's far east Posted: 04 Oct 2020 09:04 AM PDT  "We need to understand what will happen to our health, to the health of animals," said surfer Anton Morozov.
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| Malaysian PM quarantines after minister tests positive for COVID-19 Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:18 AM PDT  Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Monday he would go into quarantine for 14 days after coming into contact with a minister who had tested positive for COVID-19. The 73-year-old premier said he had been at a meeting on Saturday with religious affairs minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri to discuss the country's rising number of coronavirus infections. Zulkifli tested positive two days later on Monday, the prime minister said.
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| Top Vatican Cardinal Accused of Buying False Pedophile Testimony Against Cardinal George Pell Posted: 05 Oct 2020 04:29 AM PDT  ROME—The strange case of a top Vatican cardinal who Pope Francis dismissed in September has just taken a Machiavellian turn that would make Dan Brown proud.Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the Vatican's former secretary of state and, until recently, head of the Holy See's saint-making wing, has been accused of funneling some $800,000 of the pope's charity money to Australia to buy false testimony against his archrival, Cardinal George Pell, while he was on trial for sexually abusing choir boys in Australia more than 30 years ago.Disgraced Cardinal George Pell Slithers Back to Rome and Targets His Vatican Bank Enemies Becciu adamantly denies all wrongdoing, issuing a statement Monday in which he said, "I categorically deny interfering in any way in the trial of Cardinal Pell."Pell, who mysteriously returned to Rome last week despite a ban on Australians traveling abroad, was first convicted in 2018, and then acquitted of historical clerical sex abuse in April, after what was known as the "cathedral trial" because the alleged crimes happened in Melbourne's main basilica. The trial in which he was acquitted came after a hung jury on the same case. A subsequent trial that involved accusations of Pell grabbing young boys' genitals in a public swimming club, known as the "swimmers trial," was dropped when Pell was convicted.Pell left Rome in 2017 while serving as the pope's top financial czar as head of the Secretariat of the Economy. The pope never removed him from that post, even after his conviction, but the term expired in 2019 and Pell's mandate was not renewed. The role has not been filled since. It was during that time as the Vatican's No. 3 that he first accused Becciu—who was then the Vatican's secretary of state and thus the church's No. 2—of financial improprieties tied to dodgy loans, a property in London's Sloane Square, and mysterious transfers of cash from the papal charity known as Peter's Pence to his brother in Sardinia. At the time, Pell ordered an audit into the Holy See's financial discrepancies, which was halted by Becciu, who was Pell's superior. It is unclear what Pope Francis said at the time Becciu pulled rank to stop the audit. Over the weekend, Italian newspapers were slipped leaked summaries of what is being reported as the Vatican's internal investigation into Becciu's alleged crimes. Those leaks imply that Becciu is being investigated for funneling around $800,000 to conservative groups in Australia meant to buy hostile testimony against Pell in his pedophile trial. Pell was unanimously convicted in February 2019 for assaulting two former choir boys in a cathedral while he was archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s. His conviction was overturned in April after an appellate court found that the testimony was lacking.The Italian leaks also refer to a 39-year-old woman named as Cecilia Morogna, who is described as Becciu's niece and reported to be involved in some of the transfers. But the investigation leaks imply that Morogna is no relative of Becciu's at all and is in fact part of a Freemasonry Roosevelt Movement. Grainy photos run in the papers imply that she has been seen in the cardinal's company several times in Rome.On Monday in Melbourne, a lawyer representing the primary witness in the trial against Pell adamantly denied receiving money for his testimony. Viv Waller represents the alleged victim, whose name has not been made public because of privacy issues related to child sex-abuse allegations. She said her client's testimony was genuine. "My client denies any knowledge or receipt of any payments," she told reporters in Melbourne. "He won't be commenting further in response to these allegations."Pell's Australian lawyer, Robert Richter, has instead insisted that these claims of paid-for testimony be investigated. "They are concerning allegations and require thorough investigation of the money trail, wherever that may be," he said Monday. The Vatican has not issued comment on the latest allegations beyond confirming that its investigation into Becciu and at last six others continues in secrecy.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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| Syrian Kurdish authorities to free 25,000 Syrians from camp for Islamic State supporters Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:23 AM PDT  Syrian Kurdish authorities say they will release 25,000 Syrians from a detention camp for Islamic State affiliates and their families in a "general amnesty" aimed at relieving overcrowding and appeasing local Arab communities. All Syrian nationals, mostly women and children, will be freed from Al Hol camp in Hassakeh province, the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council Ilham Ehmed told a public meeting in Raqqa on Saturday, without saying when this would occur. The majority of the camp's residents arrived early in 2019 after surrendering to Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as the western-backed group captured the final Islamic State (IS) territory. The camp also holds about 30,000 Iraqis and over 10,000 foreigners from other countries. Camp residents complain of a lack of healthcare and insufficient food and water. Between December 2018 and July this year, 656 people died in the camp, most of whom were under five years old, according to the International Rescue Committee. The camp is dominated by the most extreme IS supporters, with insufficient guards to provide internal security. Residents report tent burnings, killings and other crimes. An unknown number of detainees have escaped from the camp, including at least one woman believed to be British.
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| UK’s Johnson defends virus strategy as infections soar Posted: 04 Oct 2020 05:00 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday despite weeks of rising infections, but warned that the country faced a "bumpy" winter ahead. Britain has Europe's highest coronavirus death toll, at more than 42,400, and Johnson's Conservative government is facing criticism from all sides. Opponents say tougher social restrictions are needed to suppress a second wave of COVID-19 that is already sweeping the country.
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| Cities under fire as Armenia-Azerbaijan fighting intensifies Posted: 04 Oct 2020 02:06 PM PDT  Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged heavy rocket and artillery fire as fighting intensified over Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday, with the breakaway region's capital and Azerbaijan's second-largest city hit.
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| Were proper precautions taken at Trump's Supreme Court announcement in Rose Garden? Posted: 03 Oct 2020 12:14 PM PDT  Republican Senator Kelly Loffler joins 'America's News HQ' to discuss if COVID was 'alive and well' at Amy Coney Barrett announcement
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| Trump mocked for signing apparently blank paper in ‘staged’ photos at Walter Reed Posted: 04 Oct 2020 09:35 AM PDT  Twitter users decry 'reality TV presidency'
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| Apple is suing a recycling firm for $23 million, claiming it resold iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches instead of breaking them down Posted: 05 Oct 2020 02:36 AM PDT  Apple claims in the suit that it sent more than 530,000 iPhones, 25,000 iPads, and 19,200 Apple Watches to the Ontario-based GEEP from 2015 to 2017.
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| Poland's total number of coronavirus cases exceeds 100,000 Posted: 04 Oct 2020 02:07 AM PDT  Poland's total number of coronavirus cases passed the 100,000 mark on Sunday, according to the health ministry's Twitter account, as infection rates surge in the country which has reported daily records three times in the past week. While Poland's total number of cases remains well below that in many western European virus hotspots, reaching 100,000 illustrates how the spread of COVID-19 has accelerated in a country which avoided the worst of the first wave and where in July the prime minister played down risks ahead of an election. The country of 38 million has now reported a total of 100,074 cases of the coronavirus and 2,630 deaths.
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| Republicans panic that congressional COVID eruption will derail SCOTUS confirmation vote Posted: 04 Oct 2020 05:30 AM PDT  Republicans are reportedly asking McConnell to "take the Senate out of session next week"
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| Father-son duo charged for chasing, shooting at Black teens riding ATVs in Mississippi Posted: 04 Oct 2020 08:00 AM PDT  Two white males in rural Mississippi have been arrested and charged with assault after chasing and shooting at two Black teenagers who were riding ATVs on their property, according to local news reports. Forty-eight-year-old Wade Oscar Twiner and his 22-year-old son Lane Twiner were arrested in late September and each charged with three counts of aggravated assault. Deputies from the Yazoo County Sheriff's Office responded to calls of the father and son chasing the teens in a white Chevrolet pickup truck and shooting at them as they were riding ATVs near their home.
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| Tasmanian devils return to Australian wild after 3,000 years Posted: 04 Oct 2020 08:46 PM PDT  Tasmanian devils have been released into the wild on Australia's mainland 3,000 years after the feisty marsupials went extinct there, in what conservationists described Monday as a "historic" step. Aussie Ark, along with a coalition of other conservation groups, revealed on Monday that they had released 26 of the carnivorous mammals into a 400-hectare (1,000-acre) sanctuary at Barrington Tops, about 3.5 hours north of Sydney. Tim Faulkner, president of Aussie Ark, said the "historic" releases in July and September were the first steps in a project akin to the successful move to return wolves to Yellowstone National Park in the United States in the 1990s. After 16 years of work, including the establishment of mainland Australia's largest Tasmanian devil breeding programme, Faulkner said it was "incredible and surreal" to have reached the goal. "It's the stuff dreams are made of," he told AFP.
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| Now boarding: A trip anywhere in Microsoft Flight Simulator's virtual world Posted: 04 Oct 2020 03:04 AM PDT  In addition to a wide variety of airplanes to pilot, the new simulator offers a realistic digital representation of the world, weather included.
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| ‘I can’t wait to vote.’ Miami immigrants become U.S. citizens in time to pick a president Posted: 04 Oct 2020 11:00 AM PDT  As Carlos Aybar stood inside the Miami immigration office last Friday, holding up his right hand and reciting the words of the citizenship oath through a face mask, the Dominican native felt a big wave of relief.
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| Jim Carrey's Biden mutes Alec Baldwin's Trump in SNL cold open debate parody Posted: 04 Oct 2020 05:59 AM PDT  Saturday Night Live is back.The live comedy sketch show was up and running again Saturday night for its 46th season on NBC. The episode, which did not shy away from President Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis, actually began with a cold open parody of Tuesday evening's presidential debate between the incumbent, Trump, who was once again portrayed by Alec Baldwin, and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, who was played by Jim Carrey. SNL alum Maya Rudolph also returned to the stage during the skit as Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).The skit took aim at the chaotic nature of the actual debate, which was rife with interruptions. Beck Bennett's Chris Wallace struggled, as did the real Wallace, to keep things on track as moderator before Rudolph's Harris came in to assert control.Carrey's Biden spent quite a bit of time talking to himself in an attempt to stay calm, but usually couldn't refrain from getting angry at Baldwin's Trump, who continuously cut him off. In the end, Carrey's Biden simply muted and froze his opponent, so he could get a clean word out. Watch the full skit below and read more about the rest of the season premiere, which was hosted by Chris Rock, at The Washington Post. More stories from theweek.com 4 plausible election scenarios after Trump's coronavirus diagnosis The pandemic wake-up call America needs Trump is sick. So is the GOP.
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| 'Human-sized' spider web found in Missouri forest Posted: 04 Oct 2020 12:39 PM PDT  A giant spider web was discovered by the Missouri Department of Conservation's Francis Skalicky off a trail near Springfield
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| Philippines' Duterte scores record high rating, despite virus crisis Posted: 05 Oct 2020 12:56 AM PDT  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's approval rating has hit a record high, an opinion poll showed on Monday, despite a stubborn coronavirus crisis that has ravaged the economy and caused millions of job losses. The Pulse Asia survey, conducted last month with in-person interviews with 1,200 adult Filipinos, found 91% of respondents approved of both his performance and his personality, up from 87% and 83% respectively in December. The Philippines, for years among the world's fastest-growing economies, is forecast to see a 6.9% economic contraction this year, the World Bank has said, the biggest since the 1980s and worse than the government's projected 5.5% decline.
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| Facing a conservative turn, Supreme Court opens new term Posted: 04 Oct 2020 09:09 PM PDT  The Supreme Court began its new term Monday with a remembrance of "a dear friend and a treasured colleague," the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Chief Justice John Roberts paid tribute to Ginsburg, who died last month, as the court resumed its work via telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic. The justices are beginning a new term with Republicans on the cusp of realizing a dream 50 years in the making, a solid conservative majority that might roll back abortion rights, expand gun rights and shrink the power of government.
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| Merkel outraged over 'attempted murder' of Jewish student Posted: 05 Oct 2020 08:18 AM PDT  German investigators said Monday they were probing an attack on a Jewish student outside a synagogue in Hamburg as attempted murder with anti-Semitic intent, a case condemned by Chancellor Angela Merkel as a "disgrace".
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| Police searching for suspect after deadly stabbing on subway platform Posted: 04 Oct 2020 05:31 AM PDT  Police are searching for a suspect after a deadly stabbing at a subway station in Lower Manhattan.
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| The best 20 airports in the world for 2020 according to expert reviewers Posted: 04 Oct 2020 05:03 AM PDT  Skytrax completed its annual ranking just before the pandemic upended global travel but these are the airports worth a visit once the world re-opens.
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| Meet the Cuban YouTuber Hoping to Turn South Florida Into MAGA Country Posted: 05 Oct 2020 03:30 AM PDT  It's five minutes before showtime when Alexander Otaola appears in the control room with a few pages of notes and a bag, carrying his pet monkey, Karma, slung over his shoulder.He has a brief meeting with his three producers, feeds Karma some milk from a pink sippy cup, and downs a shot of Cuban coffee – a much-needed, pre-show pick-me-up.In the studio, Otaola settles into a red swivel chair in front a yellow backdrop where for the next three hours – with no breaks to speak of – he's all energy as he preaches, laughs, dances and sings about topics important and mundane; he highlights oppression on the island of Cuba, roasts Cuban celebrities, invites a handful of his sometimes-bashful online followers to sing.And over and over, he urges his audience to vote for President Donald J. Trump."Señores, este Noviembre, votamos, todos, votamos, y votamos Republicano!"Otaola, 41, is a YouTube celebrity in Florida, the host of the Spanish-language variety show "Hola Ota-Ola!" which attracts tens of thousands of loyal viewers every evening.Tonight Otaola is dressed in a bright green T-shirt, blue rimmed glasses, white skinny jeans with torn knees, and an arm full of beaded bracelets.He's loud, colorful, outrageous, which is to say he's not your typical Republican activist.But in Hispanic-heavy South Florida, Otaola has become a key figure in the reinvigoration of the region's Republicans, particularly the important Cuban bloc, which had been trending blue.Early last month, a raft of new polls showing Trump performing surprisingly well among Florida Hispanics sent Democrats and the media into a tizzy. "What do we do?" panicked Democrats wondered in a Politico headline. NBC News wanted to know why Trump's supposed insults to the Latino community haven't cost him supporters.If Trump carries Florida's Hispanic voters in November, he'd be hard to beat in a state that has served as something of a king-maker in recent presidential elections.There's no one, simple answer why Florida's Hispanic voters seem to be trending toward Trump and Republicans. Talk to them, and in big brush strokes they note the leftward drift of the Democratic Party, the party's seeming openness to self-described socialists, big city riots that seem remarkably similar to "actos de repudios" (acts of repudiation) in their native countries, the left's seeming obsession with race and insistence on identifying all Hispanics as "people of color," and the progressive imposition of the oft-despised "LatinX" identity on their culture.But some of them just really like Trump. They like his strongman act. And they particularly like the hard line he's taken with Latin American dictatorships.Social media influencers like Otaola have seized on this and are using their reach to teach younger Cubans about the island's real history, to highlight the misery and terror associated with communism and socialism, and to win converts to the conservative cause."The objective of the show has always been to reach young Cubans who leave Cuba indoctrinated," Otaola said in a written interview with National Review.Politico took notice last month, noting that Otaola is one person whom both Republicans and Democrats credit with helping Trump among South Florida Hispanics.Otaola's role in winning Republican support from recent Cuban arrivals cannot be overstated, said Rey Anthony, 24, a Republican activist in Miami and third-generation Cuban American."He is the movement," Anthony said. "I don't know how to explain it to you. He is the movement."Shifting allegiancesIn the days after then-President Barack Obama won re-election in 2012, polls in Florida had a sobering message for the state's Republicans: Obama nearly won the Cuban vote – a typically solid Republican bloc – and won handily among every other Hispanic group."Obama is picking the Republican lock in Florida," pollster Fernand Amandi told the Miami Herald at the time.Hillary Clinton continued making inroads into the Cuban vote in 2016.Polls showed younger Cuban-Americans and newer arrivals to the U.S. were less inclined to identify as Republicans simply because their parents did. And they were becoming increasingly comfortable with the Democratic Party, according to a recent deep-dive analysis of Florida's Cuban vote by Equis Research, a Democratic Latino research firm.The analysis found that Cubans who'd arrived in Florida after 1993, during an economic crisis on the island, were the most pro-Obama and anti-Trump cohort of Cuban-American voters.But something strange has occurred since 2016. For some reason, almost all of the left's gains with Cuban-American voters have been wiped out.Over the past few years, the Equis polling has shown a dramatic shift by that same post-93 cohort in the Republican direction. The sample sizes were small, so the extent of the swing isn't perfectly clear, but "the trend is undeniable," according to the analysis.The Republican drift became even more clear in early September when new polls showed strong support for Trump among Florida's Hispanic population.An NBC News/Marist poll found Trump leading Democratic nominee Joe Biden 50% to 46%, while a Quinnipiac University poll showed Trump ahead 45% to 43%. And Trump was running even with Biden among Hispanic voters in Miami-Dade County, the state's most populous and solidly-Democratic community. Democrats were rattled.Political analysts noted that Trump isn't likely to win in Miami-Dade County, but he doesn't need to. Cutting into the Hispanic vote there would greatly increase his chances in Florida."President Trump is going to lose in Miami-Dade County, OK. But what will matter is if you have 10,000 more Venezuelans and 30,000 more Colombians and maybe 40,000 more Nicaraguans who vote for Trump, because in the context of the state, that's where the sum goes," said Eduardo Gamarra, a Florida International University political science professor and pollster who studies American politics and its impact on Latin America.A Florida International University poll released just last week continued to show Trump with commanding leads over Biden among Cuban voters of all ages. And the poll showed that 76% of Cuban-Americans who arrived between 2010 and 2015 identify as Republicans.Gamarra's polling has found that overall Hispanic enthusiasm for Biden is well below the enthusiasm Hispanics showed for Hillary Clinton in 2016, nationally and in Florida.He said Republican messaging that links Democrats to radical socialism "has worked very well.""That is absolutely part of what explains the trend," Gamarra said, though he mostly finds the arguments disingenuous.He also notes that Republicans have championed school choice, a key issue with many Hispanic voters, and social values that align with many religious Hispanics.And Trump's regular trips to South Florida to meet with Hispanic leaders and court Hispanic voters have made Cuban-Americans in particular "believe that they have been absolutely respected by this president," Gamarra said.Armando Ibarra, 35, president of the Miami Young Republicans, said the level of excitement about the election is palpable among Hispanic Republicans in South Florida, particularly among younger Hispanics. He said they don't see Trump as the lesser of two evils.They approve of the sanctions Trump has placed on Venezuela and the hardline stance his administration has taken against that country's socialist regime, which is behind a humanitarian crisis unparalleled in the region. And they approve of Trump putting new restrictions on travel and investment in Cuba, a stark contrast to Obama's rapprochement policy, which offered an olive branch to the country's communist leaders."President Trump has stood with the people of Cuba and Venezuela and Nicaragua stronger than any president has in recent history," Ibarra said.Polling showed Obama's policy efforts toward Cuba were popular, even in the Cuban-American community, Gamarra said.Ibarra believes younger Cubans gave Obama's policies a chance, but now they're recoiling, worried that the efforts only served to prolong communist rule of the island."And now we have people like Otaola who know how to speak to them, who get that audience," Ibarra said. "They're seeing these things, and being called to action."Seeing things clearlyIt's the night after the presidential debate, and Otaola has a lot of material to work with.He shows clips of Trump sparring with Biden and debate moderator Chris Wallace. He cheers when Trump says he brought jobs back to the country.Menacing music plays in the background when Otaola talks about Democrats and Antifa.Otaola's show is unscripted, a producer says. He's working off his notes. His producers know which music to play and which graphics, photos and cartoons to add to the screen because "we're connected," one says – an almost psychic bond.Otaola is clearly happy with a Telemundo poll that showed two-thirds of the station's viewers thought Trump won the debate. They show a cartoon of Trump literally spanking Biden.This turn toward Republicans and toward Trump is still relatively new to Otaola, who was born and raised in Cuba and moved to Miami in 2003 after winning a visa lottery.When he first got to the U.S., he was a registered Democrat, and voted for Obama and Clinton. But looking back, Otaola said, he had been indoctrinated by the Cuban government to support Democrats in the United States. When he got to the U.S., he said, "I couldn't see things clearly.""You arrive here and you keep thinking with the limitations that they imposed on you during your life on the island," he said, describing growing up in Cuba as "living without dreams."He said he began to evolve when he saw Democrats traveling to Cuba to learn about the country's socialized health care system during the thaw in relations under Obama.Cuba's health system, he said, "exploits its professionals and sells them around the world, under the cloak of 'humanitarian aid.' That is how they contaminate nations and penetrate democracies."The 2018 election of New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, was the final straw."I decided to quit (the Democratic Party) live on the show," Otaola said. "I became a Republican in front of everyone."Otaola was still living in Cuba when he began working as an actor in radio novels and soap operas, he said. Once in Miami, he got into comedy and began working in local TV.He launched "Hola Ota-Ola!" in April 2017, and records the show from a small studio on the ground floor of an ocean-front Miami high rise.He uses celebrities, jokes and pop culture to attract viewers, he said, but he's always been interested in politics. The point of the show has always been "to warn and help the awakening of Cuban-Americans," so they can finish the fight of their elders and protect their adopted nation, he said.Otaola said it's clear to him many other Cuban-Americans have made a similar political journey. "Cubans increasingly detest everything that smells like lefties," he said.His shows, broadcast live but archived on YouTube, typically rack up over 100,000 views in a matter of days. And his audience appears to be loyal and committed.In March, the Miami Herald took notice when Otaola organized a large car caravan for his followers to support Trump and show their disdain for Cuba's communist government.Otaola also has feuded with Cuban celebrities and musicians who travel between the island and the U.S., and don't speak out about the Cuban government, according to the Herald.Otaola said he can't see himself voting for Democrats again. The Democratic Party needs to reinvent itself if it doesn't want to "lose everyone who loves freedom, security and growth," he said, calling the political left a "breeding ground for the lazy, resentful and losers."When asked if he sees himself as a new style of Republican, Otaola demurs."I don't know, I never propose to be different," he said. "I simply am."But he hopes more traditional Republicans will look at his results, which he calls "epic," and begin to realize how the younger generations work and consume media."Whoever implements it first will have an advantage," he said.Standing up to dictatorsCuban-Americans aren't the only bloc of Florida Hispanics trending toward Trump.About two-thirds of Venezuelan-Americans are planning to vote for Trump in November, according to a recent poll out of the University of North Florida.Venezuela has fallen into chaos under the leadership of dictators Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, and Trump has levied severe and wide-ranging sanctions on the government.The Venezuelan-American population in Florida is small; only about 55,000 are eligible to vote.Lourdes Ubieta, 53, a Venezuelan-American journalist who fled her native country after the Chavez took power, identifies as a political independent. But she said she's behind Trump "5,000%" because of his hardline foreign policy in Latin America."People understand that after 20 years, the only president who has stood up firmly against the Venezuelan regime is Trump. Not Bush. Not Obama. It's President Trump," she said.Helen Aguirre Ferré, executive director of the Republican Party of Florida who is a Nicaraguan-American, said the party itself hasn't made a specific push to win over Hispanic voters. "We want to increase the vote statewide," she said, but added that they make note of issues that resonate specifically with the state's Hispanic voters."When it comes to foreign policy, there is no question about it that that's an issue that is unique to Hispanic voters," she said. "We look at what happens in Latin America almost like local news."Miguel Arango, 25, and his brother Federico, 30, are Colombian-Americans and one-time Obama supporters who have become full-fledged Trump backers.They are the leaders of a nonpartisan music group, "Voices of Freedom," which performs for veterans groups and at Honor Flight ceremonies. They also have an offshoot group, "Spirit of 76," which performs at Republican rallies and campaign events, and have composed a song they hope will adopted as the theme of the Space Force.Miguel Arango was in middle school in 2008, and remembers waiting in line for eight hours with his Democratic family members who were voting for Obama. "It was electrifying," he recalled.But over the last eight years, the brothers have evolved politically. They took to the internet to become educated about socialism in Latin America, and to take a closer look at Trump, finding that mainstream media claims of his alleged racism were overblown, they said.Like the young Cuban Republicans who flock to Otaola, the Arango brothers credit internet-savy new media voices like Steven Crowder and Ben Shapiro for inspiring their political switch.They said the Democratic Party is moving too far to the left, coalescing around policies espoused by open socialists like Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.Not all Hispanic groups are leaning red this year in Florida. Puerto Rican voters still overwhelmingly support Democrats, and their numbers are on the rise.Daniela Ferrera, 22, co-founder of the Democratic group "Cubanos con Biden," hosted a pro-Biden car caravan on Wednesday outside Versailles Cuban restaurant, the heart of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. Several people passing by accused the group of being "socialistos,"an attack the members find frustrating and hear constantly.Ferrera, a former Republican, said calling Biden and Harris socialists is just a political tactic.Even though Biden has clearly swung to the left and said that if elected he would go down as "one of the most progressive presidents in American history," to Ferrera he is still a moderate."They're trying to exploit the trauma of our community for votes," she said. "They like to use the socialism, communism bogeyman when there's nothing factual to back that up."But Rey Anthony, the Cuban-American Republican activist, said the leftward tack of the Democratic Party is real and a legitimate concern in his community.He points to video of Obama doing the wave at a baseball game with Cuba's then-President Raul Castro in 2016. He points to Sanders praising a Cuban literacy program. He points to the democratic socialists elected to Congress who've become Democratic Party celebrities."The Democratic Party has been hijacked by the radical left," he said. "That's very worrisome to people in this community who've lived through socialism, understand the horrors of socialism, and don't want this place of refuge to become another failed socialist experiment."
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| A ShotSpotter alert led police to an injured man. Is it related to another shooting? Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:54 AM PDT  Police responding to a ShotSpotter alert found a man with a gunshot wound at an apartment complex in South Miami-Dade early Monday. They later learned that another man, also with a gunshot wound, showed up at a nearby hospital.
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| Letters to the Editor: Do Republicans actually reject white supremacy, or do they fear losing votes? Posted: 04 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  It is profoundly sad that the biggest concern in the Republican Party is that Trump's remarks on white supremacy will cause it to lose votes.
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| Beirut blast was 'historically' powerful Posted: 05 Oct 2020 09:52 AM PDT  The port area of Beirut was destroyed by one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history.
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| One in 10 may have caught COVID, as world heads into 'difficult period': WHO Posted: 05 Oct 2020 05:13 AM PDT  Roughly one in 10 people may have been infected with the coronavirus, leaving the vast majority of the world's population vulnerable to the COVID-19 disease it causes, the World Health Organization said on Monday. Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergency expert, was addressing the agency's Executive Board, where the United States made a thinly veiled swipe at China for what it called a "failure" to provide accurate and timely information on the outbreak. China maintained close contacts with all levels of the U.N. health agency, she added.
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| AP EXPLAINS: What happens if a candidate for president dies? Posted: 04 Oct 2020 06:35 AM PDT  It's a month before Election Day and President Donald Trump is in the hospital, infected with a virus that has killed more than 209,000 Americans. If the president is unable to serve, through illness or death, the 25th Amendment makes clear the powers of the presidency transfer to Vice President Mike Pence until the president regains the ability to perform his duties. It's never happened in a country with a long transition between Election Day at the start of November and the start of a president's new term on Jan. 20.
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