Noticias Telemundo’s “Inmigración, Trump y los Hispanos” (Immigration, Trump and the Hispanic Community) Town Hall broadcast on Sunday, February 12 at 7PM/6 C, ranked # 1 in Spanish-language TV in primetime across all key demographics, averaging 1.57 million total viewers, 708,000 adults 18 to 49 and 325,000 adults 18 to 34, according to Nielsen. The news special moderated by Noticias Telemundo News Anchor José Díaz-Balart also positioned Telemundo as the #1 Spanish-language network during the entire primetime on Sunday, across all key demos.
“Noticias Telemundo is empowering millions of Latinos with reliable and TRANSPARENT information at a time of change,” said José Díaz-Balart. “Viewers trust us because they know our only commitment is to present the facts the way they are, with professionalism and a total commitment to our community.”
“Immigration, Trump and the Hispanic Community” also reached 1.6 million viewers on Facebook, generating 23,000 global actions on the social network.
The Town Hall answered viewers’ questions about the impact of President Trump’s immigration policy on the Hispanic community. The news special featured a panel of experts, including immigration lawyer and Telemundo contributor Alma Rosa Nieto; Telemundo conservative political analyst Ana Navarro; the Deputy Vice President of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Clarissa Martínez, and CHIRLA’s Executive Director, Angélica Salas. In addition, “El Poder en Ti”, Telemundo’s robust community initiative, launched an Internet site for Hispanics looking for information, tools and resources on immigration in parallel to the Town Hall.
“Inmigración, Trump y los Hispanos” is part of a series of Noticias Telemundo specials, including “Trump en la Casa Blanca,” produced the day after the elections, and “Trump y los Latinos,” which aired on Inauguration Day. All of these programs share an emphasis on allowing audiences to express their views and empower them by giving them access to trustworthy, rigorous and relevant information presented under Noticias Telemundo’s banner “Telling It Like It Is” (“Las Cosas Como Son” in Spanish).
Noticias Telemundo is the information unit of Telemundo Network and a leader provider in news serving the US Hispanics across all broadcast and digital platforms. Its award-winning television news broadcasts include the daily newscast “Noticias Telemundo,” the Sunday current affairs show “Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart” and the daily news and entertainment magazine “Al Rojo Vivo con María Celeste.” The rapidly-growing “Noticias Telemundo Digital Team” provides continuous content to US Hispanics wherever they are, whenever they want it. Noticias Telemundo also produces award winning news specials, documentaries and news event such as political debates, forums and town halls.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering releasing migrants detained at the southern border on the streets of so-called sanctuary cities. Not only is this a clear abuse of power, but it is an abuse that seemingly seeks to enact revenge on jurisdictions because of their commitment to enforcing basic constitutional rights.
As the Washington Post reported on Thursday, the idea was explicitly political. As one congressional investigator explained to the Post: “What happened here is that Stephen Miller called people at ICE, said if they’re going to cut funding, you’ve got to make sure you’re releasing people in Pelosi’s district and other congressional districts.”
Wielding law enforcement as a tool to secure political advantage by, for example, deliberately releasing detained migrants in heavily Democratic areas undermines the basic idea of rule of law by replacing a commitment to justice with bowing to the whims of a political leader for partisan ends. Not only does this undermine the most basic premise of justice, but it also presumes that law enforcement should be beholden to the president, regardless of the constraints of law.
But the proposal to simply drop migrants in so-called sanctuary cities around the country is a step more pernicious even than simply supporting an authoritarian-style abuse of power.
Sanctuary cities, despite their frequent characterization as simply safe havens for illegal immigrants, are more accurately jurisdictions that refuse to abridge civil liberties simply because ICE wants them to.
This is an important distinction. Outside of sanctuary cities, ICE can, without a warrant, request that individuals be detained and held or turned over to the agency. That process skirts constitutionally protected rights such as due process as well as prohibitions against government detention without cause. Moreover, the concern that collaboration with ICE would be abused and undermine civil liberties is not an abstract fear but one that has played out in reality even resulting in the unlawful detention of citizens.
That the Trump administration would actively suggest not only undermining the rule of law but do so with the explicit aim of targeting cities because of their commitment to defending civil liberties merits no defense. That the White House would float such an idea in the first place should be a concern to citizens of all political inclinations as it demonstrates clear contempt for legal limits on power and a casual willingness to disregard even the most basic laws and principles.
Thankfully, this time such a plan was flat-out rejected by the legal department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and prompted whistleblowers to approach Congress. But as Trump looks to take immigration enforcement in a tougher direction, it seems to be just these sort of objections that he would like to circumvent.
‘Hannity’ host discusses the origin of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sean Hannity criticized mainstream media Tuesday for their reporting on the origins of COVID, saying there is a “very real possibility the Wuhan lab was the origin,” and that most journalists and “so-called fact-checkers…called this a debunked conspiracy theory.”
SEAN HANNITY: The new, compelling evidence that COVID-19 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. You know, the lab that studied deadly viruses? From cell phone data showing a potential shutdown at the lab in the fall of 2019, reports of hospitalized workers in November 2019, China’s silencing of journalists and doctors and other whistleblowers. We have long now covered the very real possibility that the Wuhan lab was the origin, was the source of COVID-19. But during the Trump administration, so-called journalists, so-called fact-checkers, the media mob in general, they called this a debunked conspiracy theory.
[The] abusively biased… media mob just hated Trump so much that you were willing to push Chinese propaganda from the World Health Organization to try and make Donald Trump look stupid… I’ll say it once again – Journalism in America is dead, it’s buried. And the great irony, every single one of these media mob outlets, all of them, they’re the ones that peddled in the massive Trump-Russia conspiracy theory lies. They spread the lies for three long years. They have never been held accountable, they never apologized, they never corrected the record.
In media news today, President Biden says he was ‘instructed’ to call on reporters from list following Kabul attacks, MSNBC’s Malcolm Nance downplays the Kabul suicide bombing, and ESPN gets slammed for ‘wokeism’ after canceling Rachel Nichols’ show
Liberal media members and pundits reacted angrily to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the federal moratorium on evictions, despite the Biden administration’s admitting weeks ago it had no legal standing to extend the moratorium.
The nation’s highest court voted Thursday in a 6-3 majority to overturn the moratorium, with the court’s three liberal-leaning justices dissenting.
The Biden administration previously admitted that it lacked the legal authority to extend the federal moratorium after it expired in July. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, issued a new moratorium that was set to expire in October.
Former President Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, a regular at some liberal outlets, called for the court to be expanded to make the conservative-leaning members a “minority.” She described the six justices in favor of overturning the moratorium as “cruel” and “conscienceless.”
“This week alone, the Supreme Court has attacked Biden’s eviction moratorium while pushing for the reinstatement of Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy. At what point do Democrats wake up, smell the coffee, get spines <choose your metaphor> and rebalance this packed Supreme Court?” wrote left-wing MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, before adding that any action taken would require Congress and Democrats to have “spines.”
Other critics from the media also took to Twitter to slam the decision, with some, including former Secretary of Labor and cable regular Robert Reich, joining the call to expand the court, and others expressing outrage over the court making the decision amid a pandemic.
Some critics lamented there was still unspent money for rental relief, while others predicted chaos as “millions” could be evicted. One critic even referred to the court as committing “another evil.”
Smaller landlords had been hit hardest by the pandemic with as many as 58% having tenets behind on rent, according to the National Association of Realtors. Smaller landlords are owed more than half of all back rent.
Fox Business’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
São Paulo – Kuwait’s The Sultan Center supermarket chain is promoting Brazilian products during the Brazilian Week, due from June 3rd through 16th at the store in Al-Salmiya. The action is sponsored by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
Most of the products featured will be foodstuffs. Approximately 150 items will be highlighted on the supermarket’s shelves, and consumers will be able to sample a few Brazilian flavours.
“This is an innovation action in the region. Kuwait is a high-end market mostly comprised of Arabs. We will be able to gauge the acceptance of Brazilian products among this specific audience,” says Karina Cassapula, the Arab Chamber Marketing coordinator.
The Brazilian Week is the outcome of a Sultan Center director’s attending the matchmaking held by the Arab Chamber in 2012 and 2013. “Matchmaking ranks among our best services, since it is conducive to actual deals,” says Cassapula.
“This is why we are hosting matchmaking rounds for the construction and food industries during the FIFA World Cup, since these are some of our top exporting industries to Arab countries,” she explains, referring to the World Cup Project, which will bring importers to Brazil during the football tournament.
According to the executive, a broad variety of items are involved in the promotional action, so as to showcase the different foods Brazil has to offer. “We have typical products such as assai, guaraná, Brazil nut and coconut water, but also mass consumption products such as chocolate powder, candy, coffee etc.,” she says.
At the opening, ten official Brazilian national team jerseys will be raffled. On the 3rd and 4th of June, the Brazilian singer Aline Lazzari will perform. The artist, a singer and acoustic guitar player, plays Brazilian popular music and lives in Dubai. The inaugural event will be attended by Michel Alaby, the Arab Chamber CEO.
The Sultan Center has units in Oman, Jordan, Bahrain and Lebanon. In Kuwait alone, the chain boasts 14 supermarkets and over 7,000 employees. It is the largest retailer in the Gulf country, and one of the leading suppliers of supermarket items, perishables, and general goods in the Middle East.
According to Cassapula, the Brazilian Week in Kuwait should be the first of several similar actions. “The plan is to repeat the action in other countries and with other supermarket chains, including more products,” she says.
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One of America’s Most Wanted fugitives credited with pulling off one of the largest bank robberies in the history of Cleveland, Ohio, had spent five decades living a quiet life in a Boston suburb, not far from where the movie investigators say inspired his notorious real-life heist was filmed.
An ordinary 20-year-old bank teller at the time, Theodore John “Ted” Conrad walked out of his job at Society National Bank in Cleveland on Friday, July 11, 1969, with $215,000 in a paper bag and vanished, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. That amount is equivalent to over $1.7 million in 2021. The bank didn’t check their vault until the following Monday when Conrad failed to report for work.
Fifty-two years would pass before U.S. Marshals, who traveled from Cleveland to Boston, positively determined that Conrad had been living an “unassuming” life under the alias Thomas Randele in Lynnfield, Massachusetts since 1970. He died there of lung cancer in May of 2021 at the age of 71.
Theodore John “Ted” Conrad walked out of his job at Society National Bank in Cleveland on Friday July 11, 1969 with $215,000 in a paper bag and vanished, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. That amount was the equivalent to over $1.7 million in 2021. (U.S. Marshals Service )
A year before the Cleveland bank robbery, Conrad became obsessed with the 1968 Steve McQueen film “The Thomas Crown Affair,” which featured a fictional millionaire businessman who decided to rob a bank for sport. Investigators say Conrad saw the movie more than a half dozen times and bragged to his friends about how easy it would be to take money from the bank and told them he planned to do so.
Ironically, he moved to the Boston suburb near the location where the original Thomas Crown Affair movie was filmed, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Conrad has been featured on America’s Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries. Investigators “perplexed” by the case over the past 50 years have chased leads across the country, including to Washington D.C., Inglewood, California, western Texas, Oregon, and Honolulu, Hawaii.
The cold case was cracked in part of a collaborative effort between a U.S. Marshal and his son, who grew up and joined the same federal agency decades later in northern Ohio.
“This is a case I know all too well,” Peter J. Elliott, U.S. Marshal for Northern Ohio, said in a statement. “My father, John K. Elliott, was a dedicated career Deputy United States Marshal in Cleveland from 1969 until his retirement in 1990. My father took an interest in this case early because Conrad lived and worked near us in the late 1960s. My father never stopped searching for Conrad and always wanted closure up until his death in 2020.
His statement continued, “We were able to match some of the documents that my father uncovered from Conrad’s college days in the 1960s with documents from Randele that led to his identification. I hope my father is resting a little easier today knowing his investigation and his United States Marshals Service brought closure to this decades-long mystery. Everything in real life doesn’t always end like in the movies.”
U.S. Marshals investigators from Cleveland were able to match documents that Conrad completed in the 1960s with documents Randele completed, including documents from when Randele filed for Bankruptcy in Boston Federal Court in 2014, according to the agency’s statement. Additional investigative information led Marshals to positively identify Thomas Randele as Theodore J. Conrad.
Two men have been arrested for assaulting Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after responding to the riots on January 6, the Department of Justice announced Monday. The details surrounding Sicknick’s death remain unclear.
Julian Elie Khater, 32, of State College, Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, West Virginia, are accused of spraying police officers with a chemical spray. They face nine counts, including assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.
Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Kater and Tanios working together to assault law enforcement with the chemical spray and tear down bike rack barriers that were guarding the Capitol building.
They also viewed an open-source video of the attacks they said showed Khater approaching Tanios, saying, “Give me that bear s***,” and “They just f*****g sprayed me.” Khater is then shown holding a white can that appears to be chemical spray. Later, they said Khater sprayed the chemical toward three officers.
“The officers immediately retreat from the line, bring their hands to their faces and rush to find water to wash out their eyes,” the affidavit reads. Prosecutors said the officers were temporarily blinded and required medical attention.
Sicknick reported being pepper-sprayed with a substance. The two other officers described the spray as a “substance as strong as, if not stronger than, any version of pepper spray they had been exposed to during their training as law enforcement officers.”
Later that night, Capitol police said Sicknick, 42, returned to “his division office and collapsed.” He was taken to a local hospital where he died. His cause of death has yet to be determined.
His brother, Ken Sicknick, said Brian wanted to be a police officer his entire life. “Brian is a hero and that is what we would like people to remember,” Ken said in a January statement.
U.S. Capitol Police officers guard the remains of Officer Brian Sicknick on February 3, 2021.
Demetrius Freeman / Getty
Prosecutors said a tipster flagged Khater’s LinkedIn page to investigators, who then contacted his former colleague in State College, Pennsylvania. After reviewing old work documents, the ex-colleague confirmed Khater was his last name.
Meanwhile, investigators received two tips including photos of Tanios at the Capitol riot. Prosecutors said Tanios was wearing clothing with “Sandwich University” in his profile photo and in other photos from January 6. The tipster said Tanios is the owner of Sandwich University, a fast-food restaurant in Morgantown.
Both men appeared in court Monday. Prosecutors are requesting detention so the men will stay behind bars for the time being. Tanios has a bail hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 300 people and have arrested over 280 in connection with the Capitol riot on January 6. Officials have called it “the most complex investigation ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice.”
ST. LOUIS — A judge on Friday temporarily blocked Missouri from taking action that would have made the state the first in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade to not have a single abortion clinic.
Without Friday’s court action, the St. Louis clinic’s license for providing abortions would have expired at midnight.
Judge Stelzer was careful to say his order took no sides in the ongoing dispute, but only found that a further hearing was warranted. “A [temporary restraining order] does not purpose to pass upon the merits of a controversy or dispose of any issue,” he wrote.
Planned Parenthood, however, met the standard that harm would result without a temporary restraining order, according to the court.
“Petitioner has demonstrated that immediate and irreparable injury will result if petitioner’s license is allowed to expire,” the judge wrote.
Abortion rights advocates outside the clinic cheered and exchanged high-fives when the ruling came down. They were cautiously optimistic in advance of Tuesday’s hearing.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” said Chris Kaufman, 61, in a pink Planned Parenthood shirt. “I’m still nervous but I’ll call it a win. We won the battle but there still a war.”
Maud Essen, another advocate for abortion rights at the clinic, added: “The battle is not over, we will keep fighting, we’re grateful for this ruling and will keep fighting.”
A handful of anti-abortion protesters at the clinic said they were saddened by Friday’s ruling.
“I’m very disappointed, but we’ve had disappointments before and we will keep fighting and we will continue to be here to show these moms that they will be supported,” said Mary Maschmeier, 69, founder and president of Missouri-based Defenders of the Unborn.
Planned Parenthood hailed the reprieve, even if it is temporary.
“A state court just blocked Missouri’s egregious attempt to eliminate abortion access in the state,” Planned Parenthood said in a tweeted statement. “Today, Missourians can breathe a sigh of relief as abortion care will continue in the state, for now.”
The state of Missouri’s health department has maintained that it has the right to ban abortions at the clinic if doctors who perform the procedure don’t submit to questioning as a condition of license renewal.
Planned Parenthood says many of the doctors at the clinic are not their employees, so they can’t force them to comply with the questioning.
Planned Parenthood claims the health department “is refusing to renew” its St. Louis clinic’s license in a deliberate effort to shut it down.
“This is real. This is not a warning, it’s not a drill. It’s not a hypothetical,” Dr. Leana Wen, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” on Thursday.
“We could face a situation tomorrow where 1.1 million women of reproductive age in Missouri will no longer be able to access abortion care, which is essential health care, in their own state.”
Wen added: “This is a real public health crisis.”
Women cheer during a protest rally over recent restrictive abortion laws on May 21, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri.Michael B. Thomas / Getty Images file
Missouri is among half a dozen states that have recently passed sweeping new anti-abortion laws, sharply curbing women’s access to the medical procedure. Gov. Mike Parson last week signed a bill that bans abortions on or beyond the eighth week of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
States with GOP-led legislatures are pushing anti-abortion measures in hopes of re-visiting Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed women the right to terminate a pregnancy.
Conservatives hope the recent appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have tilted the high court enough that it would reconsider Roe v. Wade.
The aggressive strategy is being hailed by many abortion foes, though famed televangelist Pat Robertson told his fellow conservatives that they are pushing these laws — especially those with no exception for rape and incest — too far.
“My humble view is that this is not the case we want to bring to the Supreme Court because I think this one will lose,” Robertson said just after Alabama passed such legislation.
In the highly contentious Kavanaugh confirmation last year, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a rare Republican who supports abortion rights, cast a key vote for the nominee. The centrist lawmaker said Kavanaugh told her Roe v. Wade was “settled law,” making her comfortable with backing him.
Wen expressed less confidence that Kavanaugh would rule in favor of abortion rights.
“We’re seeing extreme attacks on abortion happening all around the country,” the Planned Parenthood head told MSNBC on Thursday. “This is part of the coordinated attack with Trump in the White House, with Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, to overturn Roe v. Wade to ban all safe, legal abortions in this country.”
Ali reported from St. Louis, Li reported from New York
Safia Samee Ali writes for NBC News, based in Chicago.
David K. Li is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
It’s not yet clear if the first US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden swayed the country’s few undecided voters, but there was another group who clearly enjoyed a moment in the spotlight last night: the Proud Boys.
During the debate, Trump was confronted by Biden about his leniency toward white supremacists and right-wing militias, and he was asked by moderator Chris Wallace to publicly condemn them. He didn’t do that, although he did address one such group, the Proud Boys. He said:
Proud Boys stand back, and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right wing problem this is a left wing.
Who are the Proud Boys Trump told to “stand back and stand by”? If you’re wondering, you’re not alone—the whole world (wide web) was , too, propelling the group toward newfound notoriety.
A far-right, self-described “western chauvinistic” group, Proud Boys are listed as a white supremacist hate group by the FBI, and have been tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center since 2016, when they were founded by Gavin McInnes, the co-founder of Vice Media (which he had left in 2008). In an article introducing the group, McInnes said they longed for a time “when girls were girls and men were men” and stood against politically correct conversations. Essentially a social club with a mission to promote white western values, Proud Boys was born as an informal small group, but it quickly grew into a more structured organization, with rules against masturbation, and mandatory tattoos of the group’s name to attain a certain level of membership.
Although the group rejects labels of white supremacy or accusations of harboring biases against certain religions, its members are vocally Islamophobic and anti-Semitic, as well as misogynistic, believing that western values, particularly as embodied by white men, are endangered. (McInnes—who supposedly left the group in 2018 but is still active in its channels—publicly decried a “war against whites”). The Proud Boys were among the main groups represented in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, where a woman was killed by violent neo-Nazis.
The exact number of members is unknown, but there are estimated to be at least several hundreds, with representation in all US states and several international chapters, including in UK, Canada, Australia, and Norway.
Proud Boys member have a uniform of sorts: Fred Perry polo shirts in black with yellow trimming are a favorite—to the point the UK clothing brand decided to discontinue making them to distance itself from the group.
The group is opposed to Black Lives Matter and this past Saturday it organized a rally in Portland, Oregon, and other US cities, where members of the group gathered carrying protective gear and weapons, threatening violent clashes. In 2019, a member of the group had threatened the life of Portland’s democratic mayor, Ted Wheeler.
Although some Republicans said Trump’s instructions during the debate were meant to criticize the group, and Proud Boys chairman Eric Tarrio said he didn’t take the president’s words as a direct endorsement, many of his fellow group members didn’t take it that way. Proud Boys have always been Trump supporters, and they celebrated his comments, reading it as an acknowledgement of their importance and their role opposing BLM protests:
Though they have been banned from Facebook and Twitter, the group has a presence on the rightwing favored social network Parler; on it, they celebrated the debate mention, and called Trump their “new leader:”
While watching the debate live, McInnes associate Ryan Katsu Rivera referred to Trump’s statement as “a general command,” and Tarrio, posted in response to the president’s words, “standing by, sir.”
Primero fue Fabián Rinaudo quien no llegó -viajó a Italia para negociar con el Catania- y ahora es Agustín Pelletieri, volante argentino de Racing Club de Avellaneda, quien también dijo que “no” a la opción de llegar a la Universidad de Chile.
Diego Rivarola, asesor deportivo del club azul, dijo a La Tercera que el volante no llegaría a la “U” debido a su deseo de continuar jugando en Argentina.
“Tengo entendido que el jugador quiere seguir en Argentina. Su idea es continuar su carrera allá”, confesó el ex delantero estudiantil.
Respecto a la posibilidad de traer otro volante o si se descartaba finalmente dicha opción, Rivarola señaló que “la posibilidad todavía está, pero no tenemos ningún nombre por el momento”.
Con esto, la “U” sigue sin poder encontrar un reemplazante para Charles Aránguiz.
Questions have been raised over Haiti’s official narrative for the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse, who was gunned down at his mansion in Port-au-Prince last Wednesday.
Haitian police and the politicians who stepped into the political vacuum created by Moïse’s killing have claimed he was shot at about 1am by members of a predominantly Colombian hit squad who had stormed the president’s hillside residence. “Foreigners came to our country to kill the president,” police chief Léon Charles alleged after the shooting.
However, opposition politicians and media reports in Haiti and Colombia are now casting doubt on that version, as uncertainty grips the Caribbean country and the streets of the capital remain eerily quiet amid fears Haiti is lurching into a new phase of political and social upheaval.
On Friday, Steven Benoit, a prominent opposition politician and former senator, told the local radio station Magik9: “The president was assassinated by his own guards, not by the Colombians.”
A report in the Colombian magazine Semana, citing an anonymous source, suggested the former Colombian soldiers had travelled to Haiti after being hired to protect Moïse, who had reputedly been receiving death threats, rather than kill him.
Further adding to the mystery, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo claimed a source had told it that security footage from the presidential compound showed the Colombian operatives arriving there at between 2.30 and 2.40am on Wednesday. “That means they arrived one and a half hours after the crime against the president,” the source was quoted as saying.
Earlier on Friday Colombian authorities named 13 of the alleged Colombian mercenaries whom Haitian security officials have captured and claim were involved. They included Manuel Antonio Grosso Guarín, a former member of an elite unit of the Colombian army called the urban counter-terrorism special forces group, which specialises in handling hostage standoffs and the protection of VIPs.
Grosso, 41, is alleged to have arrived in Haiti with 10 former soldiers on 6 June after travelling through the resort town of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. A second group of ex-soldiers arrived in Haiti about a month earlier via Panama.
Haiti’s police chief told journalists 15 Colombians had been arrested in the aftermath of the president’s killing as well as two US citizens of Haitian descent, who have been named as 35-year-old James Solages and 55-year-old Joseph Vincent. Three Colombians were killed while eight suspects remained at large, Charles said, adding: “We urge citizens not to take justice into their own hands.”
The presence of such a large number of foreigners among the Haitian leader’s alleged killers has shocked many, particularly in Haiti itself. But Colombian guns-for-hire have been turning up in war zones around the world, including Yemen, Iraq, Israel and Afghanistan, for years. Many were once trained by US soldiers and, having spent years battling insurgent groups or drug traffickers within Colombia, go on to find work with US-based private military contractors.
“After so many years of warfare, Colombia just has a surplus of people who are trained in lethal tactics,” said Adam Isacson, the director for defence oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, a thinktank. “Many of them have been hired by private firms, often in the Middle East, where they make a lot more money than they did in Colombia’s armed forces. Others have ended up being hired guns for narco-traffickers and landowners, as paramilitaries. And now, for whoever planned this operation, in Haiti.”
The wife of one of the arrested Colombians told local radio that her husband, Francisco Eladio Uribe, had been hired by an agency to travel to the Dominican Republic to provide security to wealthy families but had not been given specific details of his mission. “He was a very good soldier, husband and partner,” she said, admitting, however, that her spouse had been investigated for his role in the forcible disappearance and murder of civilians, who were later passed off as guerrillas to inflate combat kills and receive bonuses.
Conflicting claims over the president’s assassination and controversial calls from Haiti’s elections minister, Mathias Pierre, for US military intervention to protect key infrastructure have left many of Haiti’s 11 million citizens suspicious and on edge.
Paul Raymond, a 41-year-old schoolteacher from Port-au-Prince, said he was convinced the president had been betrayed by members of his own security team, who have reportedly been summoned to explain why they failed to protect him. “This was planned by people who know him and people who know the house,” Raymond claimed, voicing bewilderment that none of Moïse’s bodyguards were reportedly injured during the assault. “Not even his dogs!” Raymond added.
Alfredo Antoine, a former congressman, said he suspected the murder was the work of powerful Haitian oligarchs. “They killed him because they didn’t want their interests [harmed],” he claimed.
Jake Johnston, a Haiti specialist from the Center for Economic and Policy Research thinktank, said sending US troops was not the solution to the political upheaval. “To think that foreign intervention is a solution to this is mind-boggling,” said Johnson, pointing to a centuries-long history of foreign meddling in Haiti, including an almost two-decade US occupation that followed the 1915 assassination of its president Jean Vilbrun Guillaume Sam.
“The last intervention of the United Nations brought cholera and killed thousands of people,” said Kinsley Jean, a youth leader and political activist. “This is not what we need right now.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is claiming the Jan. 6 select committee’s subpoena for documents and testimony from Steve Bannon is “invalid” ahead of the House’s vote to recommend that the former White House strategist be held in contempt of Congress after he declined to comply with the panel’s request.
Bannon — who was a private citizen during the time of the riot on the Capitol — cited “executive privilege” in pushing back on cooperating with the panel, with his attorney Robert Costello stating that he would “comply with the directions of the courts.”
While the panel was issued subpoena power, McCarthy (R-Calif.) said the courts should determine whether Bannon would be covered by executive privilege.
“They’re issuing an invalid subpoena,” he said at a press conference Thursday. “Issuing invalid subpoenas weakens our power, not if somebody votes against it. He has the right to go to the court to see if he has executive privilege or not. I don’t know if he does or not but neither does the committee.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy claims the Jan. 6 select committee’s subpoena for documents and testimony from Steve Bannon is “invalid.”Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Bannon was subpoenaed by the panel on Sept. 23, along with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former White House communications official Dan Scavino and former Pentagon official Kash Patel.
When pressed on what makes the subpoena invalid, McCarthy argued that the entire panel is invalid due to it passing largely along party lines.
McCarthy has long been critical of the select committee, arguing it is politically motivated. He escalated his criticisms of the panel after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rebuffed two of his five selections — Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.), both allies of President Donald Trump — to sit on the committee. After the speaker rejected his picks, he opted not to have any of his members serve.
Steve Bannon was a private citizen during the time of the riot at the Capitol.AP Photo/Steve Helber
The nine-person panel — which was created after a vote in June which passed largely along party lines — currently includes two Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), both of whom defied McCarthy’s calls not to partake in the committee.
Members of the committee voted unanimously Tuesday to advance the resolution to recommend the Department of Justice pursue criminal charges.
Bannon is seen as a critical witness for the panel due to his communications with Trump in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
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Según Macri el kirchnerismo está poniendo palos en la rueda y dificultado la transición, algo que el gobierno niega.
Cuando la presidenta argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner llamó el mismo domingo al opositor Mauricio Macri para felicitarlo por su victoria en las elecciones presidenciales, el gesto parecía augurar una transición en tranquilidad.
Fernández aprovechó la llamada para invitar a Macri a visitarla en la residencia presidencial dos días después de los comicios, en lo que se tomó como un primer paso para un traspaso de poder ordenado y pacífico.
Pero ahora el propio líder de la alianza de centroderecha Cambiemos parece dudar de que esto se vaya a dar.
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Macri consideró que su reunión con la presidenta “no valió la pena”.
Tras su encuentro con la mandataria, el martes, Macri se mostró decepcionado y dijo a la prensa que la reunión –que según varios medios duró apenas 20 minutos– “no valió la pena”.
“Me dijo que me convocó para felicitarme personalmente antes de verme el 10 de diciembre”, relató a su salida.
“Hablamos formalidades de la reunión de traspaso. No hubo más que eso”, contó, molesto, el presidente electo, quien había llegado hasta la residencia de Olivos con la intención de ir organizando con su sucesora la transición de poder.
El encuentro entre Fernández y Macri fue a puertas cerradas y no hubo un registro fotográfico ni en video de los dos juntos. Tampoco hubo conferencia de prensa posterior.
En seguida las redes sociales en Argentina se llenaron de imágenes y mensajes en los que los críticos del gobierno marcaron las diferencias entre lo que ocurría en su país y lo que sucede en otras naciones, como la vecina Chile, donde existe toda una tradición alrededor de la sucesión presidencial.
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Muchos argentinos marcaron el contraste entre la transición presidencial entre Fernández y Macri y lo que ocurrió en Chile.
En particular se puso el énfasis en una situación comparable a la de la Argentina, en la que un gobierno de izquierda le entrega el mando a un gobierno de derecha, como ocurrió cuando Sebastián Piñera fue elegido para suceder a Michelle Bachelet en 2010.
Los noticieros televisivos argentinos y los portales de noticias online mostraron el tradicional llamado entre mandatarios chilenos, en el que Bachelet felicitó a su sucesor y le dijo que iría “a saludarlo personalmente” al día siguiente.
En contraste, Fernández convocó a Macri a verla dos días más tarde, reservando el primer día tras los comicios para un encuentro con el candidato perdedor, el oficialista Daniel Scioli.
Tensiones de fondo
Más allá de lo protocolario, referentes del futuro gobierno macrista han denunciado que el kirchnerismo ha estado poniendo palos en la rueda, dificultado la transición.
Macri dijo a la prensa que la presidenta le informó que sus ministros estarían disponibles para reunirse con sus sucesores recién a partir del 10 de diciembre, el día en que asume el nuevo gobierno.
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Fernández y el candidato oficialista, Daniel Scioli, gobernador de la provincia de Buenos Aires, llamaron a Macri el domingo para felicitarlo.
Y el futuro ministro del Interior, Rogelio Frigerio, acusó directamente a la presidenta de querer perjudicar la llegada del nuevo gobierno.
“(La presidenta) dio la orden de no facilitar una transición ordenada, prolija, transparente”, denunció en una entrevista con el canal de noticias TN.
“Lamentamos que no podamos conocer un poco más de cerca la real situación, para poder a partir del 10 de diciembre ya empezar con un conocimiento, con un diagnóstico preciso, a resolver los problemas de los argentinos”, señaló.
“El nivel de desinformación es bastante particular”, ratificó Macri ante el mismo medio.
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El próximo gobierno critica el hecho de que no haya estadísticas oficiales sobre pobreza, entre otros datos.
La falta de información oficial y de datos económicos confiables es algo que han estado criticando muchos en Argentina hace tiempo.
Incluso el canal de noticias C5N, considerado afín al gobierno, reconoció esta semana que no se sabe con certeza cuántas reservas internacionales tiene el Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA), presidido por un economista kirchnerista, Alejandro Vanoli.
El país tampoco ha dado a conocer las cifras oficiales de pobreza desde 2013.
Y sus estadísticas sobre la inflación han sido cuestionadas por años, incluso por el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), que censuró al país por la falta de transparencia de sus estadísticas.
Funcionarios “militantes”
Macri ha denunciado que varias instituciones importantes del país, que debieran ser independientes del poder político, están en este momento controladas por “militantes kirchneristas” que, según él, entorpecerán el funcionamiento de su gobierno.
Entre estos funcionarios incluyó a Vanoli, cuyo mandato vence en 2019, y a la procuradora general de la Nación, Alejandra Gils Carbó, quien ya anunció su intención de permanecer en el cargo durante la presidencia de Macri.
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Sabbatella, quien busca dividir al Grupo Clarín, es uno de los “funcionarios militantes” que Macri quiere cambiar.
También pidió que renuncie el presidente de la Autoridad Federal de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual (Afsca), Martín Sabbatella, cuyo mandato vence en 2017.
El organismo es el que se encarga de aplicar la nueva Ley de Medios aprobada durante el kirchnerismo, y que obligaría al principal holding mediático del país, el Grupo Clarín, a desprenderse de varias de sus licencias.
Macri también pretende reemplazar al responsable de la Unidad de Información Financiera (UIF), José Sbatella, y al director del multimedios oficial, Tristán Bauer.
Todos los funcionarios involucrados se han negado a renunciar, exigiendo que el nuevo presidente respete sus designaciones.
Algunos, como el periodista Reynaldo Sietecase, apoyaron públicamente esta postura, sosteniendo que los mandatos de muchos de estos organismos están pensados para favorecer el balance de poder.
Es lo que sostuvo Sabbatella para explicar por qué no renunciará a pesar de ser un opositor a Macri.
“Los mandatos están desacoplados, no por capricho. Significa que un presidente está obligado a convivir con un directorio de la Afsca que está conformado por una composición que surge de un momento de dos años atrás y tiene cuatro años de vigencia”, señaló.
“No hay vocación”
También algunos ministros kirchneristas negaron que estuvieran entorpeciendo la llegada de sus sucesores.
El saliente Ministro de Educación, Alberto Sileoni, señaló ya se reunió con su sucesor macrista, Esteban Bullrich, a quien le deseó lo mejor para su gestión.
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Macri ganó la elección de manera ajustada, casi la mitad del país votó por su rival oficialista.
Además consideró que los medios malinterpretaron el tono del encuentro entre la presidenta y Macri.
“Han hecho una interpretación de una reunión ríspida y distante cuando creo que no fue así. Fue cordial y es un trabajo (el de la transición) que tendremos que ir haciendo en estos días”, dijo a la radio Vorterix.
Por su parte, el vocero más expresivo del kirchnerismo, el jefe de Gabinete Aníbal Fernández, reveló que por orden de la presidenta había convocado a su sucesor, Marcos Peña, a un encuentro en su despacho, pero que este rechazó la invitación por no tener carácter público.
Según Fernández el macrismo no tiene “vocación de hacer una transición”, sino que solo busca generar un impacto mediático.
“Si la vocación es hacer una transición para las cámaras, porque la intención es hacer un showcete (sic) televisivo, no es nuestra vocación. Queremos aportar datos, pero sin este gesto de chiquilines”, criticó.
“Decir que una reunión es en vano es insensato”, agregó, en referencia a los comentarios de Macri quien había dicho que no valió la pena ir al encuentro con su predecesora.
Habló la presidenta
Por su parte la presidenta Fernández, quien sorprendió al no hacer mención en estos días a la derrota electoral en su sitio en Twitter –donde suele explayar su opinión personal– aseguró durante un acto que cooperará con el próximo gobierno.
“Vamos a colaborar, no vamos a dejar nunca un gobierno sin presupuesto como me tocó a mí en 2010, porque sabemos de las responsabilidades de gobierno, que cuando no se cumplen no impactan en los ricos, sino en los de más abajo, en los más vulnerables”, señaló el miércoles.
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Fernández aseguró que “no dañará la gobernabilidad” de Macri.
Además, Fernández también prometió no dificultar la tarea del gobierno de Macri, cuando esté en la oposición.
“Quédense tranquilos que no vamos a hacer las cosas que nos han hecho a nosotros (…) Jamás se nos ocurriría hacer algo que dañara la gobernabilidad y convivencia de los argentinos”, aseguró, tras destacar “la tranquilidad con la que se votó el domingo pasado en el primer balotaje presidencial de la historia”.
Hoy encontraron sin vida a la mujer que era buscada en Cerro Largo desde ayer domingo, que había perdido contacto con su hija sobre las 20:00 horas de ese día.
El cuerpo de la mujer fue hallado luego de que su familia diera aviso a la Policía este lunes. Estaba sin vida en la casa de su pareja, un hombre de 36 años, que vivía en la calle España y Las Tropas, en la ciudad de Melo.
El domingo por la noche el agresor invitó a la mujer a su casa, un mono ambiente que alquilaba a la hermana de la víctima, y luego por discusiones del momento el hombre la mató a puñaladas.
El agresor habría dormido en la habitación con la mujer asesinada y este mediodía decidió quitarse la vida ahorcándose con una cuerda en un bosque frente a su casa.
Una vez que la denuncia fue efectuada, la Policía buscó a la mujer en la casa del hombre, al que visitaba generalmente.
De inmediato comenzaron a recorrer la zona y finalmente encontraron al hombre sin vida en un bosque cercano a la casa, informó La Voz de Melo.
Personal policial de la seccional 15, Policía Científica, el jefe de Policía de Cerro Largo, José Adán Olivera, y autoridades judiciales se hicieron presentes en el lugar.
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Maduro anuncio también reformas en el sistema de control de precios.
El presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, anunció este miércoles una devaluación de la moneda, una flexibilización del control de cambios y una subida en el precio de la gasolina por primera vez en 20 años.
Maduro dijo en una intervención televisada que el precio del litro de 91 octanos pasará a ser de 1 bolívar y el de 95 octanos, que representa un 70% del mercado, se venderá a 6 bolívares.
Eso equivale a US$0,10 y US$0,60 si se calculan a la tasa de cambio oficial fija, que también el presidente anunció será devaluada para pasar a ser de 10 bolívares por dólar.
Sin embargo, el precio es mucho menor si se toman en cuenta los más de 1.000 bolívares a que se cambia el dólar en el mercado negro.
El nuevo sistema de precios de la gasolina entrará en vigor este viernes 19 de febrero en las 1.600 bombas de gasolina del país.
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En la capital del país, Caracas, los ciudadanos acudieron a comprar gasolina preocupados por la anunciada subida.
La última vez que el gobierno venezolano subió el precio de la gasolina fue en 1996.
El asunto sigue siendo políticamente muy delicado por el recuerdo del “Caracazo”, la ola de protestas contra el alto costo de la vida duramente reprimida en 1989 y que tuvo como uno de sus detonantes la subida del precio de la gasolina.
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El nerviosismo se empieza a sentir en las gasolineras de Caracas.
A pesar de la subida, la gasolina venezolana sigue siendo una de las más baratas del mundo.
Sistema cambiario
Maduro además anunció cambios en el sistema de control de cambios en el que hasta ahora vienen funcionando en paralelo tres tasas oficiales, junto a la del mercado negro.
A partir de ahora, el esquema se manejará bajo dos bandas: una protegida y otra en un sistema complementario flotante.
El mandatario habló del Plan Nacional de Divisas convertibles con el que la tasa del llamado Sistema Marginal de Divisas (Simadi) pasará a ser “flotante”.
A grandmother from Indiana who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to three years of probation for her participation in the riot, making her the first person sentenced in the attack.
Anna Morgan-Lloyd, a 49-year-old hair salon owner, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. Washington, D.C., District Judge Royce Lamberth also ordered her to complete 40 hours of community service and pay $500 in restitution.
The sentence is what the defense had asked for, and the government supported.
Morgan-Lloyd, who prosecutors said did not participate in any of the violence at the Capitol, posted on Facebook after the attack that it was the “best … day ever,” adding a curse word to the description.
Prior to sentencing, prosecutors said they found the sentence “appropriate,” despite what they called Morgan-Lloyd’s initial “ill-considered and misguided commentary,” in part because there was no evidence that she preplanned her attack or incited others, and because she worked with investigators, admitted to her actions, and expressed contrition.
Before receiving her sentence, Morgan-Lloyd tearfully apologized to the court for participating in what she called a “disgraceful” day.
“I went there to show support for President Trump peacefully, and I’m ashamed that it became a savage display of violence that day,” Morgan-Lloyd said.
She did not face any major charges for her role.
The sentencing marks a milestone in the Jan. 6 investigation, which enters a new phase after its first seven months. Dozens of accused rioters are in early plea discussions, according to prosecutors, with nearly a dozen rioters having pleaded guilty to charges so far.
To date, roughly 500 individuals have been arrested for participating in the riot in what has become one of the largest investigations ever undertaken by the Department of Justice.
Morgan-Lloyd first came to the attention of authorities in January when she applied for a gun permit just weeks after the riot, and an employee at the local sheriff’s office recognized her while processing the application. A client at her hair salon told FBI investigators that she “regularly spoke supportively of QAnon and other conspiracy theories,” according to court documents.
A friend who accompanied Lloyd to the Capitol later posted multiple photos on Facebook, with one caption reading, “Inside Capitol Building.”
“Best … day ever!! I’ll never forget. We got into the Capitol Building,” Morgan-Lloyd responded in the comments accompanying the photo, according to prosecutors.
In a letter written to the judge in support of probation, Morgan-Lloyd said she “felt ashamed” that the riot had turned violent and apologized for the chaos that day. Morgan-Lloyd said that she is a registered Democrat who “found [herself] supporting Trump” in the 2016 election, which she “found hard to believe because we didn’t like him at all before.”
“But he was standing up for what we believe in. We couldn’t argue with it,” Morgan-Lloyd said in the letter.
“Probation comes once in a lifetime,” Judge Lamberth told Morgan-Lloyd Wednesday in court. “This is your once.”
Mulvaney, one of the few establishment fiscal wonks of the Trump administration, has been in high demand in a White House bleeding mainstream political operatives. The selection of Mulvaney for a job that no one really wants is wise, insofar as the former congressman has demonstrated political skill.
In practice, it’ll probably be a disaster.
For one thing, when the relationship between Trump and Mulvaney blows up (which it inevitably will, as it would with any chief of staff pick), the White House will lose one of its few truly competent fiscal conservatives. Second, placing Mulvaney front and center will render his entire strategy to manage his relationship with Trump impossible.
At the OMB, Mulvaney’s been responsible, perhaps more than anyone else in the administration, for conservative rollbacks of Obama’s regulatory state. Consider this exchange from a Politico magazine piece last year:
“Look, this is my idea on how to reform Social Security,” the former South Carolina congressman began.
“No!” the president replied. “I told people we wouldn’t do that. What’s next?”
“Well, here are some Medicare reforms,” Mulvaney said.
“No!” Trump repeated. “I’m not doing that.”
“OK, disability insurance.”
“Tell me about that,” Trump replied.
“It’s welfare,” Mulvaney said.
“OK, we can fix welfare,” Trump declared.
Sure enough, the Trump budget plan that Mulvaney unveiled a few weeks later would cut about $70 billion in disability benefits over a decade, mostly through unspecified efforts to get recipients back to work.
Mulvaney is an economic wonk, an attorney with a focus in anti-trust law. The self-described “right-wing nutjob” has excelled in both of his posts during this presidency, mainly because of his ability to circumvent Trump on policy minutiae while maintaining an excellent rapport with him. Trump thinks himself a warrior, and Mulvaney is certainly a happy one.
But managing Trump as a person and as his personnel is a different story. If it ends badly with Mulvaney leaving the administration altogether, Trump will have lost a true and increasingly rare talent.
To hear Gov. Gavin Newsom tell it, the question of whether you’re eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot in California is an easy one.
“If it’s been 6 months since you received Pfizer/Moderna or 2 months since [Johnson & Johnson], you can get your shot,” he tweeted Tuesday morning. “It’s that simple.”
However, a quick scan of the replies to his message shows that, for some, things still aren’t that cut and dried. Eligibility questions have still thwarted people when trying to snag an appointment at major pharmacy chains. Others say the state’s own online platform is telling them they can’t get the shots.
As one user put it: “I tried to make an appointment last night and the site told me I wasn’t qualified. There’s no way around it but to lie …”
But do you really have to fib to get the jab?
The stumbling block is the criteria listed to qualify for a booster shot when trying to book an appointment. Some have said they don’t qualify for any of the categories.
For instance, on the state’s MyTurn.ca.gov vaccine scheduling website, the site asks:
Are you in one of the following eligible groups?
Resident of a long-term care facility (for example nursing home or assisted living for seniors)
At high risk for COVID-19 complications
At high risk for COVID-19 exposure due to occupation or institutional setting
At increased risk of social inequities (Learn more)
If you say “no,” the website says you’re not eligible for the booster at this time.
But there is, in fact, one category for which virtually all adults qualify, according to a permissive interpretation articulated recently by health officials across California and in New York City.
With winter coming, health officials in California and other areas are pushing harder for COVID-19 booster shots.
Under this interpretation, essentially all adults qualify because essentially all are “at high risk for COVID-19 exposure due to occupation or institutional setting.”
This confusing language on California’s vaccination website is shorthand from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which sets official recommendations on who is eligible for the vaccine.
All recipients of the Johnson & Johnson shot have been recommended to get a booster two months after their initial vaccination.
But for weeks, the CDC website has said that, among people who got the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, those eligible for a booster include adults “who work or live in high-risk settings.” They can be workers in settings such as schools, hospitals, grocery stores, factories and jails.
But the CDC also pointedly allows vaccinated adults to use their own judgment in determining whether they think they’re “at increased risk of being exposed to COVID-19.”
It’s this loose interpretation that a number of states and local governments are zeroing in on as they urge all fully vaccinated adults to get a booster shot as soon as possible.
Federal health officials aren’t giving any specific recommendations, but there are options for COVID-19 boosters, and it’s OK if you mix vaccines.
California’s health officer and director of public health, Dr. Tomás Aragón, said in a letter to vaccine providers that adults can decide to get a booster shot if they feel they’re at higher risk of exposure to the coronavirus simply by living in an area heavily affected by COVID-19 — a criteria that could essentially describe anyone worldwide.
The letter directed vaccine providers: “Do not turn a patient away who is requesting a booster,” as long as enough time has passed since the person has received an initial vaccination series.
Updates to California’s scheduling site may emerge in days. On Tuesday morning, the MyTurn site was updated: “Announcement: Booster doses are now available to people age 18+. Find a walk-in clinic now or schedule an appointment on My Turn starting 11/18.”
However, the older eligibility question is still listed when trying to book an appointment.
California health officials sought to clarify things further Tuesday, releasing new guidance that all adults at least six months removed from their last dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, or two months clear from their single J&J shot, can get a booster.
Some counties late last week stopped asking confusing eligibility questions. By Thursday evening, Santa Clara County — Northern California’s most populous — no longer asked whether those seeking booster appointments were members of the CDC’s four eligibility groups.
San Francisco officials issued a news release Friday evening offering advice on how to fill out forms. While local city-affiliated clinics “are ready to turn no one away, health systems and pharmacies may need time to respond to the booster expansion. For example, patients may still see screening tools used during appointment bookings asking them to attest to a narrower set of eligibility criteria. As the systems are updated, people should choose the least restrictive of the criteria that applies to them. Many work and residential settings pose the risk of exposure to COVID.”
Not only have California and New York City made the case for this interpretation, but so has Colorado, which has said that “because COVID-19 is spreading quickly throughout the state, Colorado is a high-risk place to live and work,” and thus all adults are eligible for the booster.
New Mexico made the same interpretation, with a top statewide health official stating that, with high case rates and hospitals beyond capacity, the state is now in a “high-risk setting.”
As a result, there are many health officials who say you can, in good conscience, declare that you are eligible for the booster because you’re “at high risk for COVID-19 exposure due to occupation or institutional setting.”
Approving COVID-19 booster shots seemed like a slam dunk, but two influential advisory boards raised a host of complicated questions.
What’s the reason for this confusing situation?
A lot of it has to do with a September debate by an advisory committee of scientists to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who opposed recommending all adults get a booster.
In August, members of President Biden’s COVID-19 task force signaled that the federal government would be ready to offer all vaccinated adults booster shots by late September if the FDA and CDC’s independent review of the situation resulted in such a recommendation.
While there was widespread consensus that seniors 65 and over and others at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 should get the booster, there was plenty of debate whether the available data pointed to recommending that younger, healthier adults also should.
But new federal recommendations might come out soon. The FDA is currently evaluating a new request by Pfizer/BioNTech to make its vaccine available as a booster to all adults.
A number of health officials and experts have weighed in about the broad importance of boosters to the pandemic response.
“We’re starting to see waning immunity against infection,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical advisor for the COVID-19 pandemic, told “The Daily” podcast recently.
“And if you look at Israel — which has always been a month to a month and a half ahead of us in the dynamics of the outbreak in their vaccine response and in every other element of the outbreak — they are seeing a waning of immunity, not only against infection, but against hospitalizations, and to some extent death, which is starting to now involve all age groups. It isn’t just the elderly,” Fauci said.
Eventually, it may become clear that the booster shot will be determined to be “an essential part of the primary [vaccination] regimen that people should have,” Fauci said. “The boosting is going to be an absolutely essential component of our response. Not a bonus, not a luxury, but an absolute essential part of the program.”
Health officials are urging the vast majority of adults to get a booster shot as soon as possible.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former head of the FDA and a member of Pfizer’s board, said on the CBS News program “Face the Nation” that the confusing message about boosters may end up being “one of the biggest missed opportunities in this pandemic.”
“We now see very clear evidence of declining vaccine effectiveness over time. There’s different reasons why that may be the case, but the trend is unmistakable,” he said. “Anyone who’s eligible for a booster — and most Americans probably are eligible for a booster at this point — should be going out and seeking it. And this is the fastest way that we can increase the total immunity in the population,”
People who have been vaccinated long ago “may only have 50% of its effectiveness left,” Gottlieb said, but getting a booster can restore effectiveness to 95% “based on the data that we’ve seen — within a matter of days.”
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