Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon says the rate at which Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar criticizes Israel is ‘pure anti-Semitism.’
Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar is facing backlash after her speech at a Muslim rights group’s event in which she described the September 11, 2001 terror attacks as “some people did something.”
Omar spoke at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) fundraiser last month, where she called upon other Muslim Americans to “make people uncomfortable” with their activism and presence in the society and criticized the Jewish state.
But another part of the speech surfaced on social media earlier this week, in which Omar described the terror attacks perpetrated by al Qaeda.
“CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something, and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties,” Omar said at the event.
The comments from the Minnesota freshman Democrat, still reeling from a number of anti-Semitic controversies, prompted Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw to slam Omar for her description of the terror attacks.
“First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as ‘some people who did something,’” Crenshaw wrote in a tweet. “Unbelievable.”
Others have also jumped on to criticize Omar’s language, urging Democrats to condemn her remarks about the largest terror attack on U.S. soil that left nearly 3,000 people dead.
“9/11 terrorists & the terror attacks they conducted are described as simply ‘some people did something’? Every Democrat should be asked by the media if they disavow @IlhanMN’s statements. Every one of them,” tweeted Andrew Pollack, father of a Parkland high school shooting victim.
“Ilhan Omar isn’t just anti-Semitic – she’s anti-American. Nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives to Islamic terrorists on 9/11, yet Omar diminishes it as: ‘Some people did something.’ Democrat leaders need to condemn her brazen display of disrespect,” said GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
CAIR has been infamously listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in funding of Hamas, stemming from the case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development which led to millions of charitable dollars getting funneled to the Palestinian terrorist organization.
Omar’s speech at CAIR in Southern California drew hundreds of protesters waving Israeli flags and denouncing the congresswoman’s comments about Israel that were perceived as anti-Semitic.
She first came under fire for tweeting in 2012 that “Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”
She then drew bipartisan uproar in February after she suggested politicians in the U.S. were bought by AIPAC, a non-partisan organization that seeks to foster the relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
Omar then reignited the controversy, saying groups supportive of Israel were pushing members of Congress to have “allegiance to a foreign country,” echoing the anti-Semitic trope of dual loyalty.
São Paulo – Over 30 companies have expressed interest in the auction for concession of Highway SP-099 (Tamoios Highway), in the state of São Paulo. The tender is scheduled to take place in July at the latest. According to the São Paulo State Transport Agency (Artesp), from Friday (Feb 28), when the call for tender for the public-private partnership (PPP) for the Nova Tamoios (New Tamoios) was made public, until Tuesday (1st), over 30 companies have collected the documentation to bid for the tender.
The winner will carry out duplication works in the highway’s mountain stretch, renovation in the flat stretch, and manage the highway for the next 30 years. Nearly R$ 4 billion (US$ 1.76 billion) should be invested during the period. In the first five years, R$ 2.9 billion (US$ 1.2 billion) will be invested. Brazilian and foreign companies, complementary social security companies and investment funds are eligible.
According to the Artesp special projects advisor Isadora Cohen, the strong demand for information on the auction was a “pleasant surprise,” however the Artesp was already anticipating much interest in the highway’s concession. “We had realized during our road shows that there was widespread interest from the market,” Cohen told ANBA this Wednesday (2nd).
Similar to other tenders floated in the state of São Paulo, foreign companies will be eligible for the “Nova Tamoios” auction. This was the case with the Anchieta-Imigrantes system auctions, which connects the city of São Paulo and the southern coast of the state; the Anhanguera-Bandeirantes system auctions, connecting the capital to the countryside, and the auctions of the Rodoanel ring road, around the Greater Metropolitan Area of São Paulo, among others.
“From our past experiences we have ascertained that the participation [of foreign enterprises] is not significant yet,” said Cohen. According to her, however, Tamoios has a strong potential for technology usage, and requires “robust” investment. “It may attract people from overseas,” he added.
The concession provides for duplication of the mountain portion comprehended between kilometres 60.48 and 82, and the operation, maintenance and conservation of the stretch between kilometres 11.5 an d 83.4, as well as roundabouts in Caraguatatuba and São Sebastião, northern coast cities to which the traffic from the capital and the Paraíba valley flows via the highway. Duplication of the mountain stretch will span approximately 21.5 kilometres, of which 12.7 will be tunnels. The road will include the longest tunnel in Brazil, at 3.675 kilometres. The flatland stretch between kilometres 11.5 and 60.48, has been duplicated and was delivered in January this year.
The concession scheme for this project is the sponsored concession. Under this scheme, the toll charged from users will not suffice to repay the investment made by the operator. Therefore, the state will have to make annual payments so the winning company does not incur losses, and so the toll is not too high. The government of São Paulo will transfer a maximum of R$ 156.8 million per year to the winning company. The bid that demands the lowest payment from the state government will win the auction.
There will be toll booth plazas at kilometres 15.7 and 56.6 of the flatland stretch, and another one in the Caraguatatuba roundabout. The toll will be R$ 0.077 per kilometre in single-lane stretches, and R$ 0.108 in double-lane portions. It will be charged starting on the contract’s second year. Interested parties are required to provide proof of former management and operation of highways with an average daily traffic of 8,000 vehicles per hour, among other requirements.
International companies willing to bid are not required to have a Brazilian partner, and may bid solo, as long as they have a legal representative in Brazil. If they decide on having a local partner or entering into a consortium, however, the venture’s leader must be the Brazilian partner.
As per the schedule, interested parties will have 45 days as of February 28 to peruse the call for tender. On May 14th, all bidders will be required to submit envelopes containing registration documents, bid bonds, licensing documents, construction work methods, commercial proposal, and business plan. They will also need to prove their capacity to make the investment and complete the works.
The bid envelopes will only be opened once the Artesp has reviewed the other envelopes, which should take place in June and July this year, after which the winner should be announced. The signing of the concession contract is scheduled for September, and works should start in the last two months of 2014.
He needed more makeup to look less like Emperor Palpatine, and launching by video always feels like a cop out. But Joe Biden nailed the message he needed to cement his front-runner status in the 2020 primary: This isn’t a question of politics, but the battle for America’s soul.
Biden effectively capitalized on the #Resistance’s ire while also providing an implicit but key dichotomy to those on the Right. Do you stand with a president who equivocates around the evils of white supremacy, or do you, conservative policy and all, stand with decency? He doesn’t frame the Trump administration as an inevitability, a natural endpoint for the Republican Party, but rather a mistake, “and abhorrent moment in time.” Biden came out of the gate with the distinction Hillary Clinton failed to make until it was too late: The alt-right is a cancer on, not a feature of, conservatism and the country.
Biden speaks a language nearly extinct in the Democratic Party: that America, even when we’ve failed to live up to them, is a nation of ideas. Just because the party leaders haven’t given a damn about American excellence doesn’t mean that the electorate at large will be any less receptive to it. As the New York Times studied earlier this month, the average Democrat is far more moderate or even conservative than loud people on the internet.
Hillary’s eleventh hour appeal to Republicans that they were separate from the alt-right failed on two fronts. First was the last-minute timing, and second, no one believed her. She could hardly hide her contempt for anyone who so much as considered voting for Trump, that even though her eventual plea to decency may have been true, it never rang as earnest.
Biden is believable. He’s a gaffe machine with two failed presidential bids behind him, and he’s a relic, not just in terms of his literal age — he’ll be days shy of 78 on Election Day — but also in terms of political tenor. With Democratic front-runners marching in lockstep to abolish private health insurance, nationalize one-fifth of the economy with “Medicare for all,” create a federal jobs guarantee with the Green New Deal, legalize abortion up until the point of birth, revive court packing, abandon Israel as a key ally, and ramp up wealth taxes, the Obama era looks positively moderate.
But Biden wisely framed his video around values, not policy. It remains to be seen how far left he will go, but in positioning himself as the one last Democrat who can save the country and his own party from the degradation of the Trump era, he granted himself the gravitas his polling merits. He didn’t break out his personal tragedies (including two dead children and one dead wife) or even his policy successes, such as unilaterally turning the Violence Against Women Act into law. Instead, he positioned himself as an arbiter of America, not just the Twitter Left.
He’s the front-runner, and he’s acting like it. Welcome back, Uncle Joe.
JERUSALEM — An Israeli hospital on Monday said preliminary research indicates a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine provides only limited defense against the omicron variant that is raging around the world.
Sheba Hospital last month began administering a fourth vaccine to more than 270 medical workers — 154 who received a Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine and 120 others who received Moderna’s. All had previously been vaccinated three times with the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine.
The clinical trial found that both groups showed increases in antibodies “slightly higher” than following the third vaccine last year. But it said the increased antibodies did not prevent the spread of omicron.
“Despite increased antibody levels, the fourth vaccine only offers a partial defense against the virus,” said Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the hospital’s infection disease unit. “The vaccines, which were more effective against previous variants, offer less protection versus omicron.”
The preliminary results raised questions about Israel’s decision to offer a second booster shot — and fourth overall — to its over-60 population. The government says over 500,000 people have received the second booster in recent weeks.
Dr. Nahman Ash, director of Israel’s Health Ministry, said the research did not mean the fourth vaccine effort was a mistake. “It returns the level of antibodies to what it was at the beginning of the third booster. That has great importance, especially among the older population,” he told Channel 13 TV.
But he said the research would be taken into account as authorities debate whether to expand the additional booster campaign to the broader population.
Israel was one of the first countries last year to widely vaccinate its population and last summer became the first to offer a booster shot. The latest booster campaign for older Israelis also is believed to be the first of its kind in the world.
Israel’s aggressive vaccination efforts have not been able to stop an omicron outbreak in recent weeks. The variant has caused record-setting infection levels and sent a growing number of people to the hospital, though the numbers of seriously ill remain below previous waves.
It has also forced large numbers of Israelis into quarantine, straining schools and businesses.
Omicron is already dominant in many countries and can also infect those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus. Early studies, however, show it is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant. Vaccination and a booster still offer strong protection from serious illness, hospitalization and death.
On Tuesday, the Israeli government said it was shortening the mandatory quarantine period from seven days to five days in order to help keep the economy running.
“This decision will enable us to continue safeguarding public health on the one hand and to keep the economy going at this time on the other, even though it is difficult, so that we can get through this wave safely,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
(CNN)Captain Angelo Capurro started showing symptoms of Covid-19 on his second day at sea. Within five days, the 61-year-old skipper was confined to his cabin, unable to get out of bed.
The 116th Congress will convene Thursday, including a new Democratic majority in the House after female candidates spearheaded gains for the party during the 2018 midterms. The presumptive incoming House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview that President Donald Trump can expect a “different world” from his first two years in office. She and her Democratic colleagues plan to confront Trump on such issues as the deaths of migrant children and the protection of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. And they will have subpoena power, giving them new leverage in the clashes.
Government shutdown: Fight for funding takes a new turn
Shortly after Nancy Pelosi returns as House speaker and Democrats reclaim the House majority Thursday, they will put their new political power to the test by moving to reopen the federal government. Democratic leaders have scheduled two votes on a package of bills to end the shutdown and give Congress more time to negotiate a deal with the White House over border funding. But the bills still must clear the GOP-controlled Senate, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has said he won’t call for a vote to end the standoff unless President Donald Trump backs it.
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Democratic leaders told press outside the White House that they’re presenting the president with a plan to reopen the government while still negotiating border security. USA TODAY
App could change the way we react to earthquakes
Los Angeles officials will formally announce a new app for Apple and Android smartphones Thursday that may give residents a few seconds to prepare for an earthquake. Similar to an Amber Alert, ShakeAlertLA will give warnings when significant shaking starts nearby, ideally allowing users to get to a safe place. The U.S. Geological Survey has been developing the alert system for the West Coast since 2006, ShakeAlertLA says. Users will only receive alerts for earthquake and aftershocks over 5.0 magnitude, which are deemed capable of creating damage and affecting public safety.
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PGA Tour begins 2019 with a notable absence
The Sentry Tournament of Champions begins Thursday in Hawaii, but Tiger Woods will not be participating after speculation he could start his 2019 campaign at Kapalua. Woods has not played the TOC since 2005, but will likely begin 2019 at the Farmers Insurance Open on Jan. 24 at Torrey Pines. Among the notable players in the field in Hawaii are defending champion Dustin Johnson, 2018 PGA Player of the Year Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau.
Didn’t get what you want over the holidays? Well, you’re in luck!
Thursday is expected to be the second biggest day for holiday returns which will mean shoppers may face crowds or issues when exchanging or bringing back unwanted gifts. In anticipation for the annual return-a-thon, — UPS is expecting returns to hit 1.3 million — retailers also have launched their after-Christmas sales. According to the National Retail Federation’s annual December survey, 50 percent of consumers plan to take advantage of after-Christmas sales in stores and 45 percent plan to do the same online. If you plan on returning gifts, experts recommend reading store policies and deadlines to avoid post-holiday-gift-return headaches.
El juez Claudio Bonadio dictó la inhibición de bienes de la expresidenta argentina Cristina Fernández tras la audiencia en la que debía notificarse del procesamiento y el embargo dictados en su contra, en el marco de la causa que investiga las operatorias de dólar a futuro.
La audiencia fue realizada en el despacho de Bonadio, en el cuarto piso de los Tribunales Federales de Comodoro Py y finalizó poco después de las 13:15 horas, según informaron a La Nación fuentes judiciales.
Después de la notificación, la exmandataria subió al quinto piso, donde funciona la fiscalía de Gerardo Pollicita, que entiende en el caso Hotesur. Aunque no está confirmado, se cree que Fernández se presentó ante el fiscal para responder a las acusaciones de la diputada Margarita Stolbizer en su contra.
Stolbizer se presentó el martes ante el fiscal y denunció que en los últimos meses hubo “extraños movimientos bancarios en las cuentas de diferentes empresas de la familia Kirchner” y que “existirían cajas de seguridad a nombre de la familia Kirchner y/o sus empresas que atesoran millonarias cifras en dólares”. La causa Hotesur investiga el supuesto lavado de dinero a través de los hoteles de los Kirchner.
El trámite que Fernández hizo en el juzgado de Bonadio este miércoles es formal, notificatorio y personal. La exmandataria llegó a los tribunales antes de las 13. Entró al edificio sonriente, mientras saludaba a los simpatizantes que la esperaban. Cuando los medios le consultaron si estaba nerviosa por la situación, hizo “montoncito” con la mano y siguió caminando.
En declaraciones a la prensa recogidas por Todo Noticias, la expresidenta dijo que Stolbizer “además de mala es burra y es un principal problema porque si a la maldad se le suma la ignorancia hay un cóctel peligroso”.
El mismo día del cumpleaños de su hija Florencia, la exjefa de Estado pidió que se postergara la audiencia, prevista en un primer momento para las 10, porque debía ir al médico. En ese horario estaba prevista la presentación a indagatoria del otrora empresario cercano al kirchnerismo, Lázaro Báez, quien finalmente se negó a declarar y presentó un escrito.
Esta mañana había un importante despliegue de fuerzas de seguridad en los alrededores del los tribunales y se dispuso un doble vallado en el edificio. Respecto del operativo, la ministra de Seguridad argentina, Patricia Bullrich, confirmó que el kirchnerismo quería custodiar a la expresidenta cuando llegó el sábado al Aeroparque Metropolitano, pero aclaró que tanto en esa ocasión, como en esta en Comodoro Py, es una tarea “que corresponde al Estado y no a una agrupación política”.
Incredible GoPro footage takes you inside the gunfire-heavy raid that ended drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s six months on the run.
The video, obtained from Mexican authorities, looks as if it’s from an action movie. The camera follows the armed men as they storm the house, unleash grenades and bullets, and search room to room.
The Friday raid was called “Operation Black Swan,” according to the Mexican show “Primero Noticias.” Authorities decided to launch the raid Thursday after they got a tip about where Guzman was sleeping, the show reported.
Seventeen elite unit Mexican Marines launched their assault on the house in the city of Los Mochis at 4:40 a.m., “Primero Noticias” said.
They were met by about one dozen well-armed guards inside who were prepared for a fight, the show said.
The Marines moved from room to room, clearing the house. Upstairs they found two men in one room and found two women on the floor of a bathroom. All were captured, “Primero Noticias” said.
After 15 minutes, the Marines controlled the entire house, according to “Primero Noticias.”
In the end, five guards were killed and two men and two women were detained. One of the women was the same cook Guzman had with him when he was detained a couple years ago, according to “Primero Noticias.”
Eventually the marines determined that the only bedroom on the first floor was Guzman’s and they began pounding on the walls and moving furniture, finding hidden doors, the show said.
His room had a king-sized bed, bags from fashionable clothing stores, bread and cookie wrappers, and medicine including injectable testosterone, syringes, antibiotics and cough syrups, the show said. The two-story house had four bedrooms and five bathrooms. There were flat-screen TVs and Internet connection throughout the house, according to “Primero Noticias.”
The Marines eventually found a hidden passageway behind a mirror, with a handle hidden in the light fixture. The handle opened a secret door, leading down into the escape tunnel, the show explained.
The escape tunnel was fully lit and led to an access door for the city sewage system, “Primero Noticias” said, adding that Guzman had at least a 20-minute head start on the Marines.
The address where Guzman was captured had been monitored for a month, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez has said. According to Gomez, Guzman and his lieutenant escaped through that drainage system.
“Primero Noticias” said it obtained surveillance footage showing Guzman and his lieutenant emerging from the manhole cover, where they then stole two cars to flee, the show said.
Guzman was finally caught when he and the lieutenant were stopped on a highway by Mexican Federal Police, the show said.
Authorities took them to a motel to wait for reinforcement. The men were then taken to Los Mochis airport and transfered to Mexico City.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP PHOTO
Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers and marines to a waiting helicopter, at a federal hangar in Mexico City, Jan. 8, 2016.
Guzman is now back in prison as his lawyers fight his extradition to the U.S.
The drug kingpin escaped from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City on July 11, launching an active manhunt. When guards realized that he was missing from his cell, they found a ventilated tunnel and exit had been constructed in the bathtub inside Guzman’s cell. The tunnel extended for about a mile underground and featured an adapted motorcycle on rails that officials believe was used to transport the tools used to create the tunnel, Monte Alejandro Rubido, the head of the Mexican national security commission, said in July.
Guzman had been sent there after he was arrested in February 2014. He spent more than 10 years on the run after escaping from a different prison in 2001. It’s unclear exactly how he had escaped, but he did receive help from prison guards who were prosecuted and convicted.
Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was once described by the U.S. Treasury as “the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.” The Sinaloa cartel allegedly uses elaborate tunnels for drug trafficking and has been estimated to be responsible for 25 percent of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. through Mexico.
According to Johns Hopkins University, at least 777,286 people around the world are known to have been infected since the outbreak began, though the true figure is likely to be higher. The institution says 37,140 people have died and 164,435 have recovered.
The daily government tally only accounts for those dying in hospital but authorities say they will very soon be able to compile data on deaths in retirement homes, which is likely to result in a big increase in registered fatalities.
Israeli prime minister tests negative
Benjamin Netanyahu and his key advisers isolated themselves after one of the prime minister’s aides tested positive for the coronavirus. Later, it was confirmed that Netanyahu had tested negative, though his spokesman said he would remain quarantined until further instructions were issued by the Israeli ministry of health.
Italians face lockdown extension despite slowing growth in cases
The lockdown imposed on Italians is being extended at least until Easter, health minister Roberto Speranza says. Italy has been under lockdown for three weeks and the restrictions were due to end on Friday.
Earlier, it was revealed that the number of new cases rose by just 4,050 on Monday; the lowest nominal increase since 17 March.
UK police to get lockdown guidelines
New guidance is being drawn up warning police forces not to overreach their lockdown enforcement powers after some were criticised for deploying controversial tactics in recent days.
Study reveals increased risks from middle age onwards
The first comprehensive study of Covid-19 deaths and hospital admissions in mainland China reveals the increase in risk for patients once they reach middle age. The analysis finds that, while the average death rate for confirmed cases is 1.38%, the rate rises sharply with age – from 0.0016% in the under 10s, to 7.8% for those in their 80s and over.
Tasmania records its second death
Peter Gutwein, the Tasmanian premier, says a man died overnight, bringing the state’s total to two. “This is … two deaths too many, and it serves as a warning to us all that these are going to be tough and difficult times and we must all do our part to keep Tasmania safe,” he said. The new deaths bring Australia’s death toll to 19.
Covid-19 cluster in Bondi
There are signs of community transmission in Waverley and Bondi in New South Wales in Australia, according to the state’s premier Gladys Berejiklian. She says it istoo early to say NSW is beating the curve and reduce any restrictions. “Do not leave your home unless you absolutely have to,” she tells residents.
US ‘faces hundreds of thousands of deaths’
As many as 200,000 people in the US may die even if Washington plays its response to the outbreak “almost perfectly”, according Dr Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House coronavirus taskforce.
“If we do things together well, almost perfectly, we could get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities,” she told NBC News’ Today. We don’t even want to see that … the best-case scenario would be 100% of Americans doing precisely what is required, but we’re not sure … that all of America is responding in a uniform way to protect one another.”
Rescue flights to repatriate Britons
Tens of thousands of people stranded abroad will be flown back to the UK by airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Titan Airways on chartered planes as part of a partnership between the government and private enterprise announced by the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab.
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.
Voters stand in line to cast their ballots during the first day of early voting in the U.S. Senate runoffs at Lenora Park in Atlanta in December 2020.
Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images
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Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images
Voters stand in line to cast their ballots during the first day of early voting in the U.S. Senate runoffs at Lenora Park in Atlanta in December 2020.
Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed a massive overhaul of election laws, shortly after the Republican-controlled state legislature approved it. The bill enacts new limitations on mail-in voting, expands most voters’ access to in-person early voting and caps a months-long battle over voting in a battleground state.
“With Senate bill 202, Georgia will take another step toward ensuring our elections are secure, accessible and fair,” Kemp told reporters Thursday evening.
Kemp’s remarks during the signing appeared to have been cut short as Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon was escorted out of the building and arrested by Georgia State Patrol. Cannon was seen on video before that knocking on the governor’s door as he spoke. According to the Fulton County Department of Public Safety website, Cannon was charged with willful obstruction of law enforcement officers by use of threats or violence and preventing or disrupting general assembly sessions.
The Georgia State Constitution states that lawmakers “shall be free from arrest during sessions of the General Assembly” except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.
The 96-page bill makes dramatic alterations to Georgia’s absentee voting rules, adding new identification requirements, moving back the request deadline and other changes after a record 1.3 million absentee ballots overwhelmed local elections officials and raised Republican skepticism of a voting method they created.
Previous plans to require an excuse to vote by mail, as well as restrict weekend voting hours primarily used in larger Democratic-leaning counties, were scrapped amid mounting opposition from voting rights groups, Democrats and county elections supervisors.
On a 100-75 party-line vote, the state House approved SB 202 early Thursday, and the Senate voted later Thursday to agree with the House changes 34-20 on a party-line vote as well.
“Included in SB 202 are topics that are important to all Georgians,” Ethics Committee Chair and state Sen. Max Burns said when presenting the bill, ticking through provisions like a new fraud hotline for the attorney general’s office to a new expansion of early voting.
Earlier law required three weeks of in-person early voting Monday through Friday, plus one Saturday, during “normal business hours. The new bill adds an extra Saturday, makes both Sundays optional for counties, and standardizes hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or as long as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
SB 202 also criminalizes passing out food or drinks to voters waiting in line, except for a self-serve water station.
Many of the measures in SB 202 will streamline the election administration process at the local level, such as allowing officials to process absentee ballots sooner, require them to count ballots nonstop once the polls close and allow flexibility with voting equipment for smaller, lower-turnout races. Poll workers could serve in neighboring counties, after the pandemic saw a shortage of trained workers.
Precincts with more than 2,000 voters that have lines longer than an hour at three different points throughout the day have to add more machines, add more staff or split up the poll. The absentee ballot request window is narrower, starting for most Georgians 11 weeks before the election and ending 11 days before.
Third-party absentee ballot applications must be more clearly labeled, and state and local governments are not be allowed to send unsolicited applications.
The bill will also shorten Georgia’s nine-week runoff period to four weeks by sending military and overseas voters instant-runoff ranked choice absentee ballots and only requiring in-person early voting starting the Monday eight days before election day.
Democrats opposed several pieces of the bill, including language that removes the secretary of state as chair of the State Election Board, allowing the SEB and lawmakers a process to temporarily take over elections offices and limiting the number, location and access to secure absentee drop boxes.
Drop boxes were enacted as an emergency rule of the SEB because of the coronavirus pandemic, so this codifies their existence, requires all counties to have at least one, and would only allow voters to use the drop boxes during early voting hours and inside early voting locations.
“How does this bill help to build voter trust and confidence?” state Rep. Debbie Buckner said. “The bill adds up to more burdens and cost and returns to old practices that were abandoned years ago for security, convenience and safety.”
Voters who show up to the wrong precinct will not have provisional ballots counted, unless it’s after 5 p.m. and they signed a statement they could not make it to the correct poll.
A performance review of local elections officials could be initiated by the county commission or a certain threshold of General Assembly members. The SEB could also create an independent performance review board, and no more than four elections superintendents could be suspended at any given time.
Democratic Rep. Kim Alexander said county elections officials shared concern about the timing and the cost of the legislation, including a requirement for more expensive security paper for ballots.
“We have heard testimony from county election officials … that more time is needed to fully understand the fiscal and logistical impacts the provisions in these bills would have,” she said. “Given the substantial changes we’d be making with this legislation, why not take more time to get county input on the proposed legislation and take this up next session?”
In the Senate, Democrats objected to the bill being brought up without a fiscal analysis of the cost to the state and counties, but Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan ruled that the bill did not meet requirements that needed that sort of analysis.
Elsewhere in the bill, the secretary of state will be required to conduct a pilot of posting scanned ballot images from elections, and those images would be public records. Ballots used in the election will have to be on special security paper, which will cost more to use.
Overall, the bill will touch nearly every facet of elections, like a section that aims to provide more information about vote totals as results come in.
As soon as possible, but no later than 10 p.m. on election night, counties must publish the total number of votes cast by each method, and all absentee ballots have to be counted by 5 p.m. the day after the election, otherwise a county supervisor could face the state’s new performance review process.
The 20-candidate special election to fill the remainder of Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term and accompanying runoff between then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler and current Sen. Raphael Warnock is no more: special elections have special primaries.
Fulton County is no longer be able to use its two mobile voting buses for early voting, as the bill limits mobile polls to emergencies.
Party officials are frustrated that the former president’s record was collateral damage in the debate attacks on Joe Biden.
Joe Biden is fair game. Barack Obama is not.
Former Obama White House officials and allies responded in force Thursday to stress that message after several Democratic contenders criticized the former president in a debate that featured uncharacteristically tough assessments of his policies.
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The disparagement of aspects of Obama’s record led to stern warnings that the tactic could backfire on the presidential candidates themselves — and perhaps arm Republicans with ammunition to attack the eventual Democratic nominee next fall.
“Stay away from Barack Obama,” advised Steve Elmendorf, a well-known Democratic lobbyist who worked on John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.
“I don’t know why you would attack Barack Obama or his record or any part of him when he’s the most popular person in the party,” he added. “And I don’t think it helps for the general election voters, either. I don’t know what they’re thinking.”
Republicans have already seized on the division. Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump’s eldest son, tweeted Thursday morning how nice it was “to see Democrats finally go after Obama’s failed policies very aggressively.”
On Thursday night at a campaign rally in Cincinnati, the president echoed the theme.
“The Democrats spent more time attacking Barack Obama than they did attacking me, practically,” he said. “This morning, that’s all the fake news was talking about.“
Obama, who endorsed dozens of party candidates in 2018 and was active on the campaign trail, remains a revered figure within the party. Several presidential hopefuls have sought the two-term president’s advice and counsel, and he continues to have periodic conversations with candidates, according to a source close to the former president.
But as rivals attempted to level attacks on Biden, Obama got caught in the crossfire Wednesday. The former president, once referred to by critics as the “deporter in chief,” came under fire for the rate of deportations under his watch, and his signature health carelaw also drew heavy scrutiny.
In large part, it’s because Biden’s eight-year service to the nation’s first black president has made him a difficult target in the primary. He often calls Obama by his first name to illustrate their closeness and makes references to the “Obama-Biden administration.” More recently, he used Obama’s decision to tap him as a running mate in 2008 to swat down criticism of his record on criminal justice.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker accused Biden of invoking Obama more than any other candidate on stage Wednesday. “You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “You can’t do it when it’s convenient and then dodge it when it’s not.”
But Booker wasn’t the only one to call out Biden. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio asked Biden if he used his power as VP to stop the deportations. Biden said he was keeping his recommendations private but said Obama “moved to fundamentally change the system.”
“But much more has to be done,” Biden said. “Much more has to be done.”
Biden asserted he would “absolutely not” deport immigrants at the rate the Obama administration did in its first two years. The administration’s nearly 800,000 deportations were more than the number of deportations during the Trump administration’s first two years.
In a discussion with California Sen. Kamala Harris over her “Medicare for All” style plan, Biden stressed that “Obamacare is working” and Democrats should build on its success.
It was one of many instances in which Biden was forced into a defensive posture over the Obama record, leaving some Democrats frustrated.
“The GOP didn’t attack Reagan, they built him up for decades,” tweeted Neera Tanden, CEO and president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress and the Obama campaign’s domestic policy director. “Dem Candidates who attack Obama are wrong and terrible. Obama wasn’t perfect, but come on people, next to Trump, he kind of is.”
Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director, told MSNBC, “It was interesting last night to see a debate in which a lot of Democrats on the stage decided to attack the legacy of Barack Obama rather than to take it directly to Donald Trump.”
Biden himself told reporters in Detroit onThursdayhe was proud to serve alongside Obama and proud of what he accomplished. He said he was surprised by the“degree of criticism” but insisted Obama had nothing to apologize for.
“The next debate, I hope we can talk about how we fix our answers, to fix things that Trump has broken, not how Barack Obama made all these mistakes,” Biden said. “He didn’t. He didn’t.”
Obama, who has largely stayed on the sidelines and has no plans to endorse in the primary, understands that the Democratic Party has changed since 2008 and candidates won’t be entirely in lockstep with him, according to the source close to him.
He wants to see them share a forward-looking vision for the country but doesn’t mind a fact-based criticism of his record, said the source, who described talking about what the Obama administration did — and what the candidates would do differently — as the appropriate way to criticize him.
In TV interviews Thursday morning, Harris and Booker heaped praise on Obama but also defended their approaches in the debate. Harris framed her health care proposal to MSNBC as a plan that builds on Obamacare. Booker, meanwhile, told CNN that “nothing is without” criticism in public service and not even Obama is perfect.
Still, many Democrats feel going after Obama is the wrong way to go.
“I think attacking President Obama is bad policy and bad politics,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said.
“No sane political person would advise any candidate to run on a policy platform of third Obama term because the issues facing our country have changed and the debates have progressed,” said Jen Psaki, who served as the Obama White House’s communications director. “But every minute spent arguing over the record of a former president who is supported by 95 percent of the Democratic electorate and not on making the case for why a Democrat should replace Donald Trump is a minute wasted.”
Henry Crespo, former chair of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida, who watched the debate with about a dozen fellow black Democratic officials and operatives, cold-called a POLITICO reporter outraged with what he saw transpire on the debate stage Tuesday and the following day, when Harris and Bookerappeared to him to be insufficiently supportive of Obama.
“Obama is an icon in our community. And they’re attacking his legacy Obamacare? And Joe Biden is the one defending it?” he asked.
“We were sitting here watching this and wondering: ‘What the hell are you doing? What is wrong with our party?’ It’s like they want to lose,” Crespo said, adding that Democrats like him resent Harris and Booker for attacking Biden’s record on race.
“Joe Biden is not Bull Connor,” Crespo said. “You just can’t make us believe it.”
Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), Biden’s campaign co-chair and the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Obamacare is widely supported among African Americans because it’s good policy and people know how hard it was for Obama to pass his signature health law.
“I don’t think it’s the wisest move to go after it. You’ve got to realize when you go after it, you’re doing exactly what Trump and Republicans have tried to do, which is repeal Obamacare,” he said. “When you talk about the Affordable Care Act, there’s deep, deep appreciation for it. That was a hard-fought win.”
Though two prominent African American senators — Harris and Booker — have emerged as prominent Biden critics in the primary, Biden has a significant edge in support from black voters.
“The attacks, particularly from Harris and Booker, have been backfiring with black voters who always show up in Democratic primaries,” said Patrick Murray, a Monmouth University pollster who released a survey last week showing Biden capturing 51 percent of the African-American vote in South Carolina’s Democratic primary, where more than 60 percent of the electorate is black.
“Black voters are significantly less liberal than white voters in the Democratic primary,” Murray said. “So if their strategy is to attack him because he’s not woke enough on race or left enough on issues like Medicare for All, it’s not going to help you with these voters.”
Murray said polls show the dismissal of Obamacare made no sense more broadly with Democratic voters who like the program. Surveys also show voters prefer Biden’s proposal to add a Medicare-like public option to Obamacare rather than scrapping all private insurance and instituting a Medicare for All plan.
Several members of the Obama administration let his first attorney general, Eric Holder, speak for them, retweeting a now-viral message to the field he posted Wednesday night.
“To my fellow Democrats. Be wary of attacking the Obama record,” he wrote. “Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained — for you or the party — by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President.”
Alex Thompson,Quint Forgey and James Arkin contributed to this report.
Campaign Trail Mix: Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg back Stephanie Abrams’ claim that she was the victim of voter suppression in Georgia’s gubernatorial race.
“Don’t listen to anybody in either party who says we can just go back to what we were doing,” Buttigieg told the Des Moines crowd, according to the Washington Examiner. “We in the LGBT community know that when we hear phrases like ‘Make America Great Again,’ that that American past was never quite as great as advertised.”
It’s a usual refrain for Buttigieg to criticize Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, but by including “both parties” he seemed to reference Biden — who is running on his decades-long political career and on Democrats’ nostalgia for the Barack Obama presidency.
In fact, Biden posted a tweet Saturday, reminding his followers of his close association with his former boss.
But Biden has recently come under scrutiny over issues like his reversal on the Hyde Amendment on abortion funding and the 1994 crime bill, according to the Examiner.
The former vice president has consistently led the pack of 2020 Democratic contenders, and his rivals have struggled to tread the fine line between standing out from Biden and avoiding alienating his supporters.
Despite the dig, Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., balked at the idea that he should see the other candidates as the enemy.
“I don’t even view us as having opponents so much as competitors. You would be surprised how often we are in dialogue with each other,” he said. “We might as well carpool,” he joked about the large number of candidates in Iowa over the weekend.
A new poll of likely Democratic caucus goers in Iowa that came out Saturday shows Biden’s support in the first caucus state has gone down by nearly a third since last fall and Buttigieg is now in a statistical tie for second place with Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
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