| Lincoln Project targets 3 deep red states with million-dollar ad buy as election map ‘turning against’ Trump Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:31 PM PDT  With just three days left until the election, President Trump's enemies are seeing new opportunities in staunchly red states.
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| ‘You change police culture, you change American culture’: Police officers choose sides on killing of Walter Wallace Jr. Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:10 AM PDT  This week's fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. has again raised questions about the effectiveness of police procedures when engaging individuals with mental health issues. Officers, like the public at large, have varying opinions.
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| North Carolina pastor steps down from job after a woman accused him of peeing on her during a Delta flight, reports say Posted: 01 Nov 2020 10:19 AM PST  According to The Charlotte Observer, Daniel Chalmers stepped down from his "non-pastor" position at Catch the Fire Raleigh-Durham.
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| Super typhoon Goni slams into Philippines, at least 7 dead Posted: 01 Nov 2020 06:01 AM PST  "There are so many people who are really in vulnerable areas," said Ricardo Jalad, who heads the government's disaster-response agency.
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| How the second national lockdown will impact schools, shops and gyms Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:33 PM PDT  Boris Johnson insisted on Saturday he had no choice but to impose a second national lockdown to save tens of thousands of lives in the second wave of coronavirus. From one minute past midnight on Thursday, the whole of England will be plunged into the harshest measures since the original lockdown in the spring, subject to a vote in Parliament on Wednesday. The new rules will apply until at least December 2, when the regional tiering system is expected to return. Areas will be placed into Tiers 1, 2 or 3 depending on the prevalence of the virus locally at that point. The overall package announced by Mr Johnson puts Britain into one of the toughest lockdown regimes in Europe, and is almost as harsh as the measures imposed in March, with the biggest difference being that schools will remain open. Household mixing, overnight stays and support bubbles Just as in March, households will no longer be allowed to mix indoors, with the exception of the current support bubbles which allow one other person, such as an elderly relative, to visit. People will only be able to leave their homes for education, exercise, to buy essentials such as food and medicines, to go to work if they cannot work from home and for medical reasons. Meetings of more than one household in gardens are banned. Children will be allowed to move between households if their parents are divorced or separated. Overnight stays will be banned. It means that the "rule of six" no longer applies and until December 2 the only time households can mix is if you exercise outdoors with one person from another household, meaning dog walking with a friend is allowed if social distancing is maintained.
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| A man who killed a teen babysitter after she thwarted his attempt to steal a truck has been arrested Posted: 01 Nov 2020 12:58 PM PST  The babysitter, who was reportedly trying to prevent the man from stealing a truck, was discovered dead by the mother of the child she was caring for.
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| Lawyer: Wisconsin cop can't be fired for future shooting Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:25 AM PDT  An attorney for a Wisconsin police officer who has fatally shot three people since 2015 says his client shouldn't be disciplined or fired simply because city officials are worried he might do it again. Wauwatosa Officer Joseph Mensah, who is Black, has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in all three cases. Former federal prosecutor Steven Biskupic issued a report in early October saying Mensah should be fired because the risk that he would kill a fourth person and expose the city to liability was too great.
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| Taiwan celebrates equality, coronavirus success in Asia's largest Pride march Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:24 AM PDT  More than 130,000 people, many wearing rainbow masks, marched through Taipei on Saturday to celebrate LGBTQ+ equality and the island's success in fighting coronavirus, in one of the largest Pride marches globally this year. "Taiwan has done a fantastic job at both equality and pandemic control," said Chen Wei-chun, a 32-year-old bank employee who joined the march with a rainbow mask on. Taiwan has recorded just 555 COVID-19 infections and seven deaths, the majority of cases imported, thanks to early and effective response.
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| Chile elite say facing 'uncertain' future after vote Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:02 PM PDT  In Santiago's well-heeled suburbs, Chile's elite say they are facing uncertainty after the rest of the country voted to ditch the dictatorship-era constitution that has served them well for decades.
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| 'That's what I do': Barack Obama sinks 3-pointer as Joe Biden looks on ahead of Flint rally Posted: 01 Nov 2020 10:36 AM PST  Before heading out to the stage at the rally at Northwestern High School in Flint, Obama set up a shot on the basketball court and nailed it.
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| Pregnant New Jersey woman killed by shooter who waited outside her home, baby survives Posted: 01 Nov 2020 08:02 AM PST  The unidentified 31-year-old woman delivered a healthy child before dying, according to local reports.
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| Hong Kong pro-democracy politicians arrested Posted: 01 Nov 2020 02:57 AM PST  They were involved in a face-off with pro-Beijing lawmakers in the city's parliament in May.
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| Government agencies paying thousands to become 'Diversity Champions' for gay-rights charity Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:04 AM PDT  Government agencies and public bodies are paying hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to become 'Diversity Champions' for a charity with controversial views on transgender rights. Roughly 250 Government departments and public bodies, including police forces, local councils and NHS trusts, pay thousands each year to be members of the programme run by Stonewall. The amount that each organisation pays is shrouded in secrecy, but the base rate is £2,500 and can vary depending on the size of the organisation, suggesting that the taxpayer is footing a bill of at least £600,000. A recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) shows it is paying the charity £6,000 a year for two subscriptions – one for their staff in England and one in Wales. A separate FOI request to the Scottish Government shows it paid £9,144 to the charity in 2019, including £7,200 for membership. As part of the programme, organisations are given training on inclusion and instructed to implement controversial policies such transgender people being able to choose which toilets and changing rooms to use. The CPS is currently facing a judicial review over its membership, which campaigners say renders it "institutionally biased". It is said the legal challenge could have "huge implications" for other public bodies. On Saturday evening, critics claimed signing up to policies set by a group which is lobbying to change the law on gender issues, calls into question the ability of public bodies to remain impartial. The list of members on Stonewall's website includes approximately 250 taxpayer-funded institutions, an analysis by The Telegraph has found, including GCHQ, MI5, the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office, the Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice. The list also contains 57 local authorities, 47 emergency service providers, including almost 30 police forces, and more than 50 NHS organisations. Stonewall's accounts show it made £3.26 million in fees last year, up from £2.76 million the year before, a large part of which comes from the Diversity Champions programme, but also includes payments from schools for becoming 'Education Champions' and for event speakers. On their own websites many organisations hail themselves as Diversity Champions without mentioning they pay a subscription fee for the title. For example, the Department for Work and Pensions notes: "Stonewall acknowledges DWP as a Diversity Champion in recognition of our work to promote supportive work environments for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) colleagues" – but does not disclose any payments. Stonewall says membership allows organisations to have access to their research and expertise as well as networking opportunities. One teenage girl, supported by the Safe Schools Alliance UK (SSA),has applied for a judicial review of the CPS membership of the Diversity Champions programme. The CPS has responded saying membership of the Diversity Champions programme has no bearing on its role as a prosecuting authority, and a judge is set to decide whether there is a case to answer in the coming weeks. Tracy Shaw, a spokesperson for the SSA, said there was a duty on public bodies to remain impartial, objective and balanced and that could be compromised by membership of a lobby group. She said: "How can you be impartial when you are part of a champion programme which compels you to do certain things and behave in a certain way that contravenes women and girls rights to safe spaces?" Nancy Kelley, chief executive of Stonewall said: "All employers, including public authorities, have a legal duty to reduce inequalities and ensure lesbian, gay, bi and trans people are free from discrimination at work. "Our industry-leading Diversity Champions programme supports organisations to make their workplaces more inclusive of LGBT people. This work is absolutely vital as more than a third of LGBT staff (35 per cent) hide who they are at work, while one in five (18 per cent) have been the target of bullying because they're LGBT. "The programme covers everything from policy and procedure, to staff networks and monitoring, to culture and well-being to help organisation create truly inclusive workplaces." A CPS spokesman said: "Our status as a Stonewall champion plays no part in our decision making. It is to show that the CPS is an employer that welcomes and respects our LGBT+ staff."
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| Trump admin funds plasma company based in owner's condo Posted: 01 Nov 2020 05:13 AM PST  When the Trump administration gave a well-connected Republican donor seed money to test a possible COVID-19-fighting blood plasma technology, it noted the company's "manufacturing facilities" in Charleston, South Carolina. Plasma Technologies LLC is indeed based in the stately waterfront city. Instead, the company exists within the luxury condo of its majority owner, Eugene Zurlo.
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| Greg Gutfeld: What the 2020 election means for everyone Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:38 PM PDT  Greg Gutfeld covers the final push to election day.
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| Despite closed border and pandemic, desperate Venezuelans return to Colombia Posted: 01 Nov 2020 06:09 AM PST  Dodging army border patrols, fording rivers and braving low Andean temperatures, thousands of Venezuelan migrants are making arduous journeys into Colombia in search of a better life, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Colombia, which slammed its border shut in March to protect against the spread of the coronavirus, has long been the top destination for migrants fleeing economic and social collapse in neighboring Venezuela. At the beginning of the pandemic, Venezuelan migrants flocked homeward, unable to find work when Colombia entered a strict lockdown.
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| Trump will reportedly declare victory if he's 'ahead' on Election Night but his claims will carry no legal weight and the remaining ballots will still be counted Posted: 01 Nov 2020 12:35 PM PST  The president, who has long questioned electoral institutions of the US, is taking steps to exert control over the messaging of Election night.
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| Priest shot outside French church, suspect arrested Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:56 PM PDT  An attacker armed with a sawn-off shotgun seriously wounded a Greek Orthodox priest in a shooting outside a church in the French city of Lyon on Saturday, with the country still reeling from a deadly church attack days before.
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| Bricks thrown at police, Northwestern University students pepper-sprayed in off-campus clash as protesters again call on university to defund its police Posted: 01 Nov 2020 02:53 PM PST  EVANSTON, Ill. — After leaving campus, protesters from Northwestern University who were demonstrating Saturday night clashed with Evanston authorities, and a school spokesman said both students and officers reported dangerous conditions from attacks by the other side. Jon Yates, a spokesman with the university, said he had been in contact with the department and was told officers used pepper ...
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| Boris Johnson Caved on Lockdown After He Was Warned Further Delay Would Kill 4,000 a Day Posted: 01 Nov 2020 05:08 AM PST  Six weeks ago, Boris Johnson's top team of scientific advisers came to him with a chilling warning. He had to bring in an immediate two-week national lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus from spiraling out of control, they said, and a failure to do so would likely result in what they called "a very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences."The warning went largely ignored. Only one of the raft of measures proposed by the advisory group—telling people to work at home if possible—was implemented by the government. Stricter rules were brought in for some virus hotspots in England, but Johnson refused to consider a national lockdown, and even publicly mocked the idea as "the height of absurdity" that would inflict unnecessary "misery" on the nation.But the scientists were right. On Sept. 21, the day they delivered their warning, the United Kingdom reported 5,596 new COVID-19 cases and 29 related deaths. On Friday, 274 people died, and there was a further 24,405 confirmed cases. As predicted, the virus had spun out of the government's control, and advisory group once again intervened.In a Friday meeting reported by the Times of London, the government's scientific advisers told Johnson that their data foretold that hospitals would become overwhelmed by December, and that deaths could soon peak at 4,000 a day—four times worse than at the height of the pandemic in the spring. After weeks of delay, the warning left him with no choice but to impose the lockdown he had flatly dismissed just days ago.Not only that, but, as the situation is now so much worse than it was in mid-September, Johnson's lockdown will have to last for twice the length of time than the two weeks initially recommended by his scientists if it's to have any chance of denting the spread of the virus."I am afraid that no responsible prime minister can ignore the message of those figures," he explained to the nation, adding that the coronavirus is now spreading faster than in the "reasonable worst case scenario" presented to him in September. "Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day... A peak of mortality, alas, far bigger than the one we saw in April," warned the prime minister.As of Thursday, England will go into a month-long lockdown—and government officials were already warning Sunday that it could go on even longer if it fails to cut the rate of infection. Pubs, restaurants, gyms, non-essential shops and places of worship will be closed, although, as is the case in other European lockdowns, schools and universities will stay open. The hope, as Johnson explained at his Halloween press conference, is to drive down infections in time to allow families to gather at Christmas.The other three countries of the United Kingdom—Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—control their own pandemic responses through their devolved governments, so aren't affected by the announcement. Their three leaders all took swifter preventative action than Johnson and, as a result, aren't in as critical a position as England and they have no plans to align with Johnson's November-long lockdown.Johnson's announcement has been attacked both from those who think it goes way too far, and those who think it has come way too late. The opposition leader, Labour's Keir Starmer, called for a lockdown three weeks ago. He wrote: "The delay in introducing these restrictions will come at an economic cost and a human cost. I'm glad that the government has finally taken this decision—but it should have done so weeks ago."A mutiny is underway among Johnson's Conservative colleagues, who believed the prime minister when he insisted for weeks that he wouldn't ask businesses across the country to shut down. Iain Duncan Smith, a former party leader, described Johnson's announcement as a "body blow to the British people" and accused his leader of "giving in to the scientific advisers" who had been "publicly lecturing" the government.The problem Johnson is now facing for the second time is that, throughout his political career, he has relied on personal popularity, and his ultra-confidence and optimism. While those have served him well in many situations, his reluctance to do anything to damage his popularity, and to overlook scientific advice and try to forge his own path, is what had led to a delayed lockdown that has infuriated almost everyone.Johnson has always tried to govern by hoping for the best—as his scientific advisers have now proved twice during this pandemic, the prime minister needs to spend more of his time pre-empting the worst.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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| Federal wildland firefighters say they're burned out after years of low pay, little job stability Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  As record fire years continue, USFS "forestry technicians" push for better working conditions.
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| Meng Wanzhou: Questions over Huawei executive’s arrest as legal battle continues Posted: 31 Oct 2020 05:21 AM PDT  More details emerge as a legal battle over the extradition of Meng Wanzhou continues in Canada.
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| Scientists capture two murder hornet queens after destroying nest Posted: 01 Nov 2020 07:29 AM PST  The team also uncovered the radio tag that led them to the nest in the first place — which appeared to have been chewed off.
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| Coronavirus: ‘Twindemic’ fears as California patient simultaneously tests positive for Covid-19 and flu Posted: 31 Oct 2020 11:32 AM PDT  The US reported almost 100,000 new Covid-19 cases in a day on Friday
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| Off-duty state trooper returning from a Halloween party in a Star Wars Stormtrooper costume stops drink-drive suspect driving the wrong way Posted: 01 Nov 2020 09:49 AM PST  Britta Foesch, who is with Nevada Highway Patrol, spotted the vehicle trying to enter the I-15 and going in the wrong direction.
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| 'Never see me again'? What Donald Trump has said he'd do if he loses the election Posted: 01 Nov 2020 02:59 AM PST  Trump has suggested repeatedly that in the event of a loss he would disappear from public view entirely. He has also floated darker suggestions.
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| What swing states are key to a Trump election victory? Posted: 31 Oct 2020 04:11 AM PDT  Senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics Sean Trende joins 'Fox & Friends' with insight.
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| Tropical Storm Eta ties record; expected to become hurricane Posted: 31 Oct 2020 10:53 PM PDT |
| Hardline politicians ramp up rhetoric after French church killings Posted: 01 Nov 2020 07:54 AM PST  "We are now the hostages of Charlie Hebdo, we are now the hostages of the jihadists," said French sociologist François Héran.
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| How the controversial Nile dam might fix Sudan's floods Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:03 PM PDT  Egypt and Ethiopia are at loggerheads over the mega dam, with Sudan literally stuck in the middle.
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| Transcript: Scott Gottlieb on "Face the Nation" Posted: 01 Nov 2020 08:49 AM PST  The following is a transcript of an interview with former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb that aired November 1, 2020, on "Face the Nation."
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| Brazilians protest mandatory COVID-19 immunization, Chinese vaccine Posted: 01 Nov 2020 02:23 PM PST  More than 300 Brazilians gathered on São Paulo's main commercial thoroughfare on Sunday to protest state Governor João Doria's support for mandatory COVID-19 immunization and testing the potential vaccine developed by China's Sinovac . Doria has previously spoken in favor of making immunizations mandatory, once vaccines are available, sparking a spat with President Jair Bolsonaro who vows it will be voluntary. The Supreme Court's chief justice has said the court will ultimately decide on the issue.
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| Kyle Rittenhouse admitted he 'ended a man's life' and 'shot two white kids' in Kenosha shootings, but claimed self defense, police said Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:38 PM PDT  In a police report obtained by Insider, the 17-year-old told police he "shot two white kids" and "ended a man's life" when he turned himself in.
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| Berlin's Madame Tussauds put its wax Trump statue in a garbage bin just days before US election Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:47 AM PDT  The wax Trump statue was surrounded by images of his signature catchphrases — "Fake News," and "You Are Fired."
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| Despite obstacles, young voters are 'raising hell' with historic early voting turnout Posted: 01 Nov 2020 10:02 AM PST  Young voters face voting obstacles from cumbersome voter ID laws to a lack of polling places. Still, they're turning out in historic numbers.
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| ‘Was Jesus a Wizard?’ Is Actually a Serious Scholarly Question Posted: 01 Nov 2020 01:57 AM PST  It's Halloween weekend, when scary but sexy becomes a universally acceptable dress code. Though trick-or-treating may be off the table because of the pandemic, sexy devils, witches, and wizards are still on the sartorial menu. Though the Satanic undertones of Halloween might seem a world away from the pristine piety of Christianity there's a case to be made that the most famous magician of all time is not Harry Potter or Gandalf, but Jesus Christ himself.To us modern readers, who often first encounter Jesus stories in incense-scented churches or the hushed tones of a Bible study, the Son of God's biography and abilities might seem uniquely special. But there were a number of people in the ancient world who could perform what we might describe as miracles, magic, or wonders. A number of Roman historians tell us that the Emperor Vespasian could cure blindness, restore a "withered hand," and even assisted in a case involving a damaged leg (all things Jesus is supposed to have done). Both the mathematician Pythagoras and the Emperor Augustus were said to have healed "pestilences." And a competitor of the Apostle Peter, a man known as Simon Magus, could apparently fly. Many of these narratives sound more like the Elvis sightings that adorn the pages of the "newspapers" at the grocery store checkout than reliable accounts of historical events.Then of course there is the resurrection, the most important supernatural event in the Christian Bible. Some theologians argue that the resurrection is a unique event that distinguishes Jesus from other human beings who were either temporarily brought back to life (like Lazarus) or were taken up into heaven alive. While we don't actually know if ancient audiences cared about the permanency of the resurrection they were impressed when people could raise the dead. It's something of which the philosopher Empedocles was apparently capable and a wandering healer called Apollonius of Tyana could also bring the deceased back to life.This isn't to say that all of these men were wizards, but rather that the ability to heal, break the laws of physics, or cheat death wasn't confined to early Christians. Most interesting of all, no one, not even monotheists like the early Christians, disputed that members of rival groups could do these sorts of things. They just claimed that their own methods and sources of power were superior. In the Gospels, Jesus' rivals accuse him of being possessed by a demon and use this to explain how he performs exorcisms. There are also mentions of people unaffiliated with Jesus casting out demons in his name. Apparently, you didn't have to be baptized or a follower of Jesus to utilize his power.In 1978, Columbia historian Morton Smith published Jesus the Magician in which he argued that Jesus was one of many ancient magicians and that his ministry is best understood as wonderworking. He argued that while healing the sick, exorcizing demons, turning water into wine, multiplying bread, and walking on water read to us as signs of Jesus's divine nature, in his own time he sounded like a magician. If you transplanted Jesus to Hogwarts, it seems, he wouldn't even stand out.There are even examples of early Christian artwork that seem to confirm this theory. Stone reliefs on ancient Christian sarcophagi and the walls of the catacombs beneath Rome regularly show Jesus (and sometimes Peter) healing people while holding or even pointing with something that looks very much like a wand. In actual fact, he's holding a staff and even though we might also associate that with Tolkien's wizards, it was more likely a way of connecting Jesus to the biblical prophet Moses.Even if the artistic evidence doesn't hold up it's clear that there were those outside of Christianity who also viewed Jesus as a magician. Celsus, a Roman philosopher and critic of Christianity, said that Jesus was a magician who had learned his trade in Egypt. Dr. Shaily Patel, a professor of early Christianity at Virginia Tech and specialist in ancient magic, told the Daily Beast that Christians spent a lot of time defending themselves against these claims. Origen, the third century head of a kind of Christian university in Alexandria, "spilled a lot of ink talking about how Jesus' wondrous deeds weren't magic because they were aimed at things like moral reformation and salvation instead of the sorts of parlor trickery displayed by marketplace sorcerers."It's likely, Patel added, that both Celsus and Origen are stereotyping magicians in their comments about Jesus but the questions about the founder of Christianity arise from the fact that there were other accomplished ancient wonderworkers who did the same kinds of things. In this case calling someone a "magician," Patel went on to explain, is about delegitimization. It's a way of slandering someone by associating them with something negative.As David Frankfurter has argued in his recent Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic, the problem with these conversations about magic is that they usually start with an assumption about what magic actually is. That definition, in turn, is a scholarly reconstructing that relies upon centuries of accumulating biases and assumptions. Patel pointed out that magic wasn't always considered a bad thing or even something that the uneducated rabble did. She told me that when the Platonist philosopher Apuleius of Madura was put on trial for "evil acts of magic" he argued, among other things, that magic is no different from philosophy. In fact, in the ancient world, distinguishing magic, medicine, and religion from one another is not always easy. The supernatural is mixed up in everything from ancient physics, to philosophy, health care, and even banking. When an ancient elite writer describes one person as a philosopher and another as a magician they are often writing those differences into existence.All of which is to say that perhaps Jesus deserves a place alongside all the Halloween costumes of today, be they tasteful or of Tiger King and Karen. After all, and even when socially distanced, who wouldn't want a guest who can turn tap water into alcohol and multiply the snack options?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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| An activist's dreams 'were about to come true.' Then, a horrific accident cut her life short. Posted: 01 Nov 2020 01:30 AM PST  "Our mission is to make sure this doesn't happen again," the husband of Esther Nakajjigo told NBC News in an exclusive interview.
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| Biden is leading in Minnesota, many states in the Midwest: Amy Klobuchar Posted: 01 Nov 2020 08:09 AM PST  Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar joins Chris Wallace on 'Fox News Sunday.'
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| Virus Hospitalizations Are Up in New York City. But This Time, It's Different. Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:10 AM PDT  NEW YORK -- At one New York City hospital, coronavirus patients began arriving a few weeks ago from Brooklyn neighborhoods and nearby suburbs that have seen a resurgence of the virus.But in contrast to March and April -- when so many seriously ill New Yorkers flooded into the hospital, Mount Sinai, that a field hospital was erected nearby in Central Park -- patients were showing up in smaller numbers and were often less sick. After treatment, they were going home."There is a much lower recent mortality rate," said Dr. David Reich, president of the hospital, despite the fact that the number of people being treated for COVID-19 had grown from the single digits in August to 56 on a given day last week.As virus cases surge nationwide, hospitals around the country, particularly in rural areas of the Midwest, are seeing their largest uptick yet of critically ill patients. Some have begun to fill to capacity -- an autumn wave of the pandemic that appears to get worse each day.In New York City, hospitalizations have been slowly but steadily rising, eliciting painful memories of the surge of infections in the spring that killed more than 20,000 people. But the terrifying inundation of patients that overwhelmed hospitals then has yet to materialize again in New York City, even as cases rise.Broad acceptance of face masks and social distancing has helped curb the spread of the virus, public health experts said. Fewer cases means fewer patients, allowing hospitals to better care for those who do come through the door.And while there is no cure for COVID-19, doctors, nurses and other medical personnel in New York City have used their experiences during the spring surge to make significant improvements in hospital care.Across the city's public and private hospitals, patients with an illness serious enough to need treatment are given a diagnosis and cared for more quickly, spend less time on average in the hospital, and are less likely to end up on mechanical ventilation, doctors and hospital executives said.Fewer are dying: 139 people in the four weeks ending last Saturday. On the worst day during the spring, New York City recorded over 800 confirmed and probable deaths.That trend has been mirrored in other parts of the country and world, as studies have begun to show lower death rates."You would expect there would be a lot more in the way of hospitalizations and deaths and, happily, there are not," said Dr. Mitchell Katz, head of New York City's public hospital system. He noted that at the peak in April the city's public hospital system had more than 900 critically ill COVID-19 patients on ventilators. On a recent day there were nine."How can I call that a second wave?"Public health officials and epidemiologists had expected a resurgence of the virus in New York as the weather cooled, but many believed its effect would likely be less devastating than in the spring. Now, about 460 people are hospitalized in the city with COVID-19 -- near the highest levels seen since late June. That is nowhere near the peak in April, when the virus patient count on one day was more than 12,000.For now, patients who have been admitted tend to be doing better.Lorenzo Paladino, an emergency room doctor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, recalled how during the spring, some patients were "dying at the door" as they entered the emergency department or going into cardiac arrest while in the ambulance bay.Now, he said, patients tended to arrive in better shape.One reason might be that patients are not waiting to go to the hospital, as they were encouraged to do by health authorities at the height of the pandemic in New York, when crowding was an issue and seemingly milder cases were turned away.There are other factors, too. Nursing home patients today make up a smaller share of new cases, Katz said. And there are some indications that people being infected now tend to be younger on average than those in the spring, making them more likely to recover.Once hospitalized, patients are faring better because doctors have a better idea of how to treat them, such as using dexamethasone, a steroid.An NYU Langone Health study of more than 4,500 patients treated at its hospitals for COVID-19 from March to June found that outcomes began improving over time, even in the early months of the pandemic. At Mount Sinai, the mortality rate has similarly improved.After a summer of low numbers, the tide of cases began to rise. By early October, Gov. Andrew Cuomo had ordered localized shutdowns of schools and businesses in parts of Brooklyn, Queens and the city's northern suburbs.New hospital admissions began to rise, too, nearly doubling from their low point in September to about 120 a day across New York state, according to state health officials. A large part of the increase came from the communities with the sharpest rise in cases.But as of Sunday, fewer people were hospitalized in New York City than in the rest of the state, a reverse of the situation in the spring.The new cases have not been evenly distributed among hospitals. Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx has recorded only a slight rise in its coronavirus patient population. On Oct. 21, 32 people were hospitalized there, up from 30 two weeks earlier and 22 in early August.But in some parts of Brooklyn, the ambulance sirens -- after falling silent these past few months -- seem to have returned. Maimonides Medical Center, near the epicenter of an outbreak in south Brooklyn, was treating 57 patients with COVID-19 in mid-October. In late summer, there were typically about a dozen virus patients there.Mount Sinai, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, has also seen a sharp jump in patients, mostly from Brooklyn and the northern suburbs of Rockland and Orange counties, areas experiencing localized outbreaks. "It's busy but very stable," Reich said.Doctors and public health experts expressed confidence that treatments that emerged earlier in the year had prepared hospitals to better help patients, while underscoring that social distancing and mask-wearing remained critical."It's unlikely that New York City will experience again what it experienced in April and May," said Dr. Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.Out of 461 patients hospitalized Tuesday in the city, 122 were being treated in intensive care units, according to state data. On the worst days in April, more than 3,100 patients were in the ICU.Katz said he believed that a lower percentage of people with COVID-19 needed hospitalization now than in the spring. But he cautioned that it was hard to say for sure because testing was so limited then, and mild and moderate cases were far more likely to go undocumented.On April 7, the city saw its largest death toll -- 815 confirmed and probable deaths -- along with 6,045 cases and more than 11,000 hospitalizations. On Oct. 21, the most recent date for which city data is complete, the city recorded four deaths and 591 cases. On that day, 454 people were hospitalized.Katz listed a range of improvements that had helped patients at public hospitals, including a better understanding of when to put someone on a ventilator and improved use of blood thinners. Doctors have also seen the importance of turning COVID-19 patients onto their stomachs, a technique known as proning that helps distribute oxygen throughout the lungs.Similar developments have taken place at private facilities. At NYU Langone Health hospitals, for example, the length of stay for most virus patients has been declining, fewer were being treated in the ICU, and fewer were dying."Quite frankly, there were things that were tried early on in the pandemic that we weren't sure whether they were beneficial," Dr. Fritz Francois, chief medical officer at Langone, said. In some cases, he added, they "might have caused harm."For example, in the earliest days of the pandemic, hospitals in New York City tended to intubate patients early. Now, if possible, they avoid intubation, in which a mechanical ventilator breathes for a patient who is deeply sedated. Instead, doctors first attempt to give patients oxygen by less invasive means.Hospitals are also better prepared to rapidly assess patients from the start; get reliable virus test results in as little as two hours; and make better-informed decisions about whether people need to be admitted, taken to the ICU or provided some sort of oxygen support.So far, doctors and nurses have been helped by the small number of cases, allowing them to focus more attention on each patient.Like many health care workers, Dr. Ben McVane, who works in the emergency room at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, had spent months bracing for the return of virus cases. More recently, some doctors have also begun to worry about flu season, and what simultaneous infections from both the flu and the coronavirus could do to patients.In recent weeks, McVane said, there had been a small but noticeable uptick of COVID-19 patients at Elmhurst.For the time being, he said, the increase of patients was manageable, even if it did bring to mind the dark days of the spring, when the hospital was one of the hardest hit in New York."For now, it's more foreboding about what comes next," he said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| US election poll: One in five believe Covid-19 is a ‘depopulation plan orchestrated by UN’ amid disturbing rise in conspiracy theories Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:17 AM PDT  Exclusive: Only half of people questioned in US poll said that they would take a Covid-19 vaccine
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| Illinois officers who fatally shot a Black teen left him to bleed out on the ground for 8 minutes without treatment, his mother alleges in a lawsuit Posted: 01 Nov 2020 02:47 PM PST  The lawsuit filed by Marcellis Stinnette's mother says Waukegan, Illinois officers involved in the fatal shooting of her son had "no probable cause."
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| People are calling to boycott Home Depot after its co-founder said he was voting for Trump and encouraged others to do the same Posted: 01 Nov 2020 06:39 AM PST  Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus said he was supporting a second term for President Trump and explained why other Americans should do similarly.
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| Moldova election headed for runoff in Russia-West tug of war Posted: 01 Nov 2020 01:02 PM PST  Moldova's pro-Moscow President Igor Dodon won the most votes in Sunday's presidential election, according to partial results, but looks set to face his longtime pro-Western rival Maia Sandu in a second round later this month.
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| 'Crossroads of the climate crisis': swing state Arizona grapples with deadly heat Posted: 01 Nov 2020 12:00 AM PDT  Maricopa county is home to America's hottest city, where deaths from the heat are weighing on voters' mindsEven now, Ivan Moore can't think why his father didn't didn't tell anyone that the air conditioning in their house was busted. "I honestly don't know what was going through his mind," he said.That week three years ago, temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona were forecasted to top 115F (46C). Moore, his wife and two children went to the mountains for a camping trip, and his dad Gene, stayed behind. A few days later, Gene died.The air conditioning had been blowing hot air. "He'd opened a window but it was too hot," Moore said. "My dad's heart basically gave out on him."Phoenix – America's hottest city – is getting hotter and hotter, and Moore's father is one of the hundreds of Arizonans who have succumbed to the desert heat in recent years.In August this year, Maricopa county, which encompasses Phoenix, recorded 1,000 Covid-19 deaths. That same month, the county was investigating more than 260 heat-related deaths.This summer, temperatures here stayed above 90F (32C), even at night, for 28 days straight, with the scorching weather in July and August breaking records. It was so hot and dry that towering saguaro cactuses that dot the landscape began to topple over and die.At the same time, wildfires across the western US this year cast a foreboding orange glow over the region and clouded Phoenix communities, already breathing some of the highest concentrations of toxic pollution in the nation, with even more smoke."I grew up in the desert, in the heat," Moore said. "But I think about what it's going to be like in another five years, in 10 years."The thought has been weighing on him – and many other Arizonans – as they cast their ballots ahead of next week's elections. Even amid a global pandemic, and the economic catastrophe it has triggered, polls find that Americans increasingly cite the climate emergency as a major concern. That's especially true in regions like Maricopa, where the crisis is already having deadly effects.Once a stronghold of western conservatism, Maricopa county has been slowly undergoing a political transformation – and has become one of the fiercely contested election battlegrounds in the nation.Asked to choose between a Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, who recognizes global heating as an emergency, and a Republican, Donald Trump, who has called it a "hoax", a growing number of voters in the Valley of the Sun say they are seeking leadership that will address climate and help their desert home survive an increasingly precarious future. 'The crossroads of the climate crisis'"We are a desert community," said Laura Jimena Dent, the executive director of the Arizona-based environmental justice non-profit Chispa. "We are literally at the crossroads of the climate crisis."Since 1865, the temperatures in Maricopa have risen by nearly 2C. And since the 1950s, the water level in the region's well has dropped by 125ft. Even in a politically divided swing state, that's hard for anyone to ignore. A recent survey found that nearly three-quarters of Arizonans "agree" or "strongly agree" that the federal government "needs to do more to combat climate change".Even after the coronavirus pandemic hit this year, when researchers at Yale university conducted an annual survey of voters across the country, climate change went up on a list of voter priorities.> For the first time in American history, climate change has reached the very top echelons of voting issues> > Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University"You see that reflected in how much political leaders – especially Democrats – have been talking about climate change this election," said Anthony Leiserowitz, an expert on public opinion of climate change at Yale University.Whereas liberal Democrats ranked climate change as their second most important issue out of 30, moderate Democrats rank it 8th, and moderate Republicans rank it somewhere in the middle.But in the US, and in Maricopa county, most voters agree climate change is happening, and they want lawmakers to do something about it. "For the first time in American history, climate change has reached the very top echelons of voting issues," Leiserowitz said.Indeed, just a few weeks ago, Americans heard Trump and Biden respond to the first question about the climate crisis at a presidential debate in 20 years. While Trump flatly refused to acknowledge that climate change was fueling wildfires across the west, Biden touted a $2tn plan to invest in green infrastructure, emphasizing the "millions of good-paying jobs" that his climate proposals could create.Responding to the wildfires ripping across California in a speech earlier this summer, Biden also cast the climate crisis as a threat to the safety and security of America's suburbs, flipping an attack the president has leveled against him to appeal to voters in regions like Maricopa – a sprawling suburban oasis in the desert."If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if we have more of America ablaze?" he asked.Similarly, in a heated debate between the state's US Senate candidates, the incumbent Republican Martha McSally, who serves on the Senate energy and natural resources committee and is a close ally of the president, acknowledged "the climate is changing", but derided any "heavy-handed approach" to addressing it.Meanwhile, the Democrat Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, mused about how fragile the planet looks from low-Earth orbit. "There is no planet B," he said. "We have to do a better job taking care of this planet."The stark contrast between the parties' stances can help explain why voters in Maricopa have been increasingly repelled by the Republicans, said Josh Ulibarri, a Democratic pollster based in Phoenix.Conservatives here have been slowly leaving a Republican party that has grown increasingly extreme and rightwing. "Climate is part of that," Ulibarri said.Fifteen years ago, Arizona was one of the first states to develop a climate action plan, and climate change – at least in this region – was a bipartisan issue. John McCain, the state's late senior senator, was one of the few Republican lawmakers in Washington DC to support climate change legislation. But as national and local politics became more polarized, Republican politicians moved right.series linker embedAs a result, "college-educated voters and women voters have moved away from Republicans because they don't believe in science", Ulibarri said.Many independents recoiled, as well.Moore falls in that category. "Normally I go through, and I don't care if candidates are Republicans or Democrats – I do my research on whose viewpoints I agree with," he said. "But right now, the GOP – not Republicans but the party itself – has gone too far, too far right. They've been ridiculous with the choices they're making – the party needs a reset."Among other things, "we need our leaders figuring out: how do we live in a world that's going to get even hotter?" he added. This year, he picked Democrats up and down the ballot.Ultimately, Republicans' resistance to acknowledging and addressing climate change will hurt them politically, said Jeff Flake, a former Arizona senator. "I do think over time it really makes it difficult to attract, particularly, the younger generation, millennials, Gen Xers, and whoever else, when we don't have rational policies on climate change," said Flake, a Republican who has been critical of Trump's politics.With so much else going on, he said that while he doesn't see climate change playing a big role in this election, he imagines it will be hard to ignore in future ones. 'We're building the political power'Like many areas of the country, in Maricopa, poor neighborhoods and neighborhoods where Latino and Black families live are worst affected by both the heat and the bad air. Across the US, young voters and Latino voters are especially likely to prioritize climate action, polling shows."Latinos are more convinced climate change is real and that it's human caused, more worried about it, and more supportive of action than any other voting bloc," said Leiserowitz of Yale.In Maricopa, where about one third of the county's 4.5 million residents identify as Latino, environmental justice activists are at the forefront of efforts to galvanize voters to elect environmentally minded candidates."Our focus is on getting young people, Latino people, people of color across our state who have traditionally been less engaged in the political process," Dent said. "We are making calls, we are sending mail and digital ads, text messages and handwritten postcards."Translating concern about climate change into votes has proved challenging in the past, but as the region grows hotter, and more polluted, "we're building the political power", she said.The county earned an "F" rating this year from the American Lung Association. The cars and trucks that congest the city's sprawling highways have made Phoenix the seventh-most ozone-polluted metropolitan area in the country. Here, the heat speeds up production of the toxic ozone particles, which can damage the lungs and lead to serious, even deadly respiratory issues."For a decade, we in our communities have been raising our voices about these issues," said Blanca Abarca, 54, a community activist.Abarca lives in a largely Latino neighborhood in south Phoenix located downwind of an industrial dump the EPA has found is leeching "low levels" of toxic compounds and heavy metals including arsenic, barium, mercury, and nickel. She, her husband and their teenage daughter have MacGyvered their whole house to cope with the heat.They rely on a swamp cooler, ventilators on their roof and ceiling, and the trees they planted all around their house. They've got an AC unit - but they hardly use it. The high electricity bills could send them into debt."I tell people who can vote to do it for the community – to elect leaders who are going to better this great country, and for the future of our children," she said while on a break from gardening at Spaces of Opportunity, a community farm in south Phoenix where she and many others in the neighborhood come for a respite from heat.To be clear, she added, that is not how she would characterize the current president.Her efforts – and those of other progressive Latino activists – have been paying off. Young Latino voters have been casting ballots in record numbers in recent years, helping elect Democratic lawmakers in local and statewide elections.In 2019, the Democrat Kate Gallego was elected mayor of Phoenix – in part thanks to a wave of young, progressive Latino voters. Gallego has a bachelor's degree in environmental science."I grew up with asthma. And as you spend time wheezing by the track, it gives you an opportunity to reflect on air quality," she said. Since taking office, Gallego has focused on developing better public transportation infrastructure to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. She's also overseeing the development of a network of "cool corridors" – to ensure that no resident is more than five minutes from water and shade.In another sign of progress, Arizona utility regulators this week approved a plan to transition to 100% carbon-free energy sources – such as solar and nuclear energy – by 2050. Two Republicans on the utilities board voted with a Democrat to get the measure passed.In the desert, "we just have to take climate change very seriously", Gallego said."And, you know, I have a father who fancies himself a political consultant," she added. "And he told me if I can just do something about the summer heat, I will definitely be re-elected."
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| Coronavirus updates: COVID restrictions and lockdowns rise in US and Europe, as Trump's rallies are blamed for cases Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:09 PM PDT  A surge in COVID-19 cases is underway in the U.S. and abroad, leading to a new round of virus-related rules in some areas. Latest COVID news.
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| BBC director general apologises to Diana’s brother over use of fake bank statements to secure interview Posted: 01 Nov 2020 11:30 AM PST  BBC director general has apologised to Diana's brother for the use of fake bank statements to secure a Panorama interview. Tim Davie wrote to Earl Spencer last week regarding the methods of BBC journalist Martin Bashir, but declined to open a formal investigation into the allegations. The Princess of Wales took part in an interview with Mr Bashir 25 years ago, but recent allegations claimed that subterfuge was used to obtain it, according to the Sunday Times. It is understood that Earl Spencer told Mr Davie that he has records of all of his conversations with the BBC journalist and that these are alleged to show that Mr Bashir used fake bank statements to obtain his first meeting with Princess Diana. The BBC admitted last month that Mr Bashir had shown Earl Spencer bank statements that had been made by a graphic designer from the broadcaster. An internal BBC investigation in 1996 into Mr Bashir's behaviour concluded that fake documents were not used to secure the interview with the Princess of Wales. Sources close to Earl Spencer told the Sunday Times that the BBC had tried to brush the allegations aside to avoid investigating the matter. The sources claimed that the Earl's own evidence "has the most unbelievable stuff" and includes Faxes from Mr Bashir about Prince Charles and records of claims that MI6 had tapped Princess Diana's phone. The broadcaster said that although they would be willing to look into the matter if new evidence comes to light, they would be unable to go further with this while Mr Bashir is unwell with coronavirus-related complications. The BBC told the Sunday Times: "Suggesting that mocked-up documents were genuine was wrong then and it's wrong now; the BBC of today is happy to apologise for this. The BBC's editorial processes are now even tougher and this would not happen today. "We are open as we can be about events from a quarter of a century ago. However, with Martin Bashir seriously unwell and the programme editor having died, the BBC's records from the time are our best, and often only, source of information, especially about the timeline of events. "These records show the focus of the BBC's investigations into these events was whether or not the Princess of Wales had been misled, and they show that the BBC's key piece of information was the written statement from the Princess of Wales, who said she hadn't seen the mocked-up documents and they had played no part in her decision to take part in the interview. "None of this means the BBC won't look at issues raised and if anyone has substantial new information they would like to share with us, we encourage them to do so - we have not been offered nor received a 'dossier' from anyone. While Martin is unwell, however, we are unable to progress this further." A BBC spokesperson told the Telegraph: "We would never comment on or confirm private correspondence." Earl Spencer has been contacted for comment.
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