Low risk of researchers passing coronavirus to North American bats

USGS risk assessment examined likelihood of transmission during winter research season

US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Research News

 

IMAGE: USGS WILDLIFE DISEASE SPECIALIST KIMBERLI MILLER COLLECTS FIELD SAMPLES FROM A WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME POSITIVE CAVE IN VERMONT. view more 

CREDIT: USGS

The risk is low that scientists could pass coronavirus to North American bats during winter research, according to a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey. Scientists find the overall risk to be 1 in 1,000 if no protective measures are taken, and the risk falls lower, to 1 in 3,333 or less, with proper use of personal protective equipment or if scientists test negative for COVID-19 before beginning research.

The research specifically looked at the potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which is the type of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, from people to bats. Scientists did not examine potential transmission from bats to people.

"This is a small number, but the consequences of human-to-bat transmission of coronavirus are potentially large," said USGS scientist Evan Grant, an author of the new rapid risk assessment. "The virus has not been identified in North American bats, but if it is introduced, it could lead to illness and mortality, which may imperil long-term bat conservation. It could also represent a source for new exposure and infection in humans."

"These are hard risks for wildlife managers and other decision makers to weigh as they consider whether and how to allow researchers to study bats in their winter colonies," continued Grant.

Bats provide natural services that people value; for example, previous USGS studies found that bats save the U.S. agriculture industry more than $3 billion per year by eating pests that damage crops, reducing the need for pesticides. Yet they are often erroneously portrayed as menacing creatures at Halloween and in horror movies. They are also under duress from white-nose syndrome, a disease that has killed millions of bats in North America.

The origin of SARS-CoV-2 is not confirmed, but studies indicate the virus likely originated from similar viruses found in bats in the Eastern Hemisphere.

CAPTION

Bats showing signs of infections with Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome.

CREDIT

Kimberli Miller, USGS

The rapid risk assessment conducted by the USGS and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service focused on the winter season, when some wildlife scientists conduct field work that may require close contact with or direct handling of the animals. This includes research on white-nose syndrome and population studies that support Endangered Species Act decisions.

"If scientists wear protective equipment, particularly properly fitted masks with high filtration efficiency, or test negative for COVID-19 before conducting the research, they greatly reduce the risk of transmission to North American bats," said USGS scientist Michael Runge, another author on the new assessment.

"The current assessment represents the best available information and is useful for informing time-sensitive management decisions, but there are still many unknowns about how susceptible North American bats are to SARS-CoV-2 and how future virus variants may affect transmission," said Grant.

"The potential for SARS-CoV-2 to infect wildlife is a real concern for state and federal wildlife management agencies and reflects the important connections between human health and healthy environments," said Jeremy Coleman, National White-nose Syndrome Coordinator for the USFWS and an author of the paper. "Natural resource managers need information from these kinds of analyses to make science-based decisions that advance conservation efforts while also protecting the health of people, bats, and other wildlife."

Three bat species - free-tailed bats, little brown bats and big brown bats - were included in the analysis. They were chosen because they have physical and behavioral differences and are typical of the kinds of bats studied in winter. Scientists considered different ways the virus could be transmitted between humans and bats, with airborne transmission as the main pathway.

This study estimates transmission risk to at least one bat during a typical winter survey, which includes a team of five scientists spending one hour in a cave colonized by 1,000 bats.

This research builds on a USGS-led study published last year that examined the likelihood of researchers transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to bats during summer research. Since that study, a substantial amount of new data and knowledge on the virus has been acquired and applied. Winter and summer research can involve different settings and activities.

CAPTION

Insect-eating Brazilian free-tailed bats.

CREDIT

Paul Cryan, USGS

The USGS research was conducted through the Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge and National Wildlife Health Center.

Read the study, "Risks Posed by SARS-CoV-2 to North American Bats During Winter Field Work" published in Conservation Science and Practice at https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.410.

 

Towards a better understanding of natural hazard risk and economic losses in Europe

CMCC FOUNDATION - EURO-MEDITERRANEAN CENTER ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Research News

 

The "Science for Disaster Risk Management 2020: acting today, protecting tomorrow", the second of its series, has been produced with the collaboration of more than 300 experts in disaster risk management. The participants come from different disciplines and sectors to provide the reader with accurate and updated information on the consequences that disasters have on key assets of society (population, economic sectors, critical infrastructures, environment and cultural heritage) and how these can be managed. Finally, the report provides a set of recommendations addressed to four target groups of society that can actively work to reduce disaster risk: policymakers, practitioners, scientists and citizens.?

The report aims to move from identifying problems to identifying solutions and approaches for action. The launch would be a good opportunity to engage with different stakeholders to identify what the community has learned up to now and to explore together how the proposed recommendations can be put in practice.

Jaroslav Mysiak, director of the CMCC research division 'Risk assessment and adaptation strategies' participated in the realization of the report as coordinating lead author (CLA).

In his contribution (Chapter 3 Assets at risks and potential impacts - 3.3. Economic Sectors), the authors reviewed the state-of-the-art knowledge, methodologies and practice of assessing damage and losses caused to residential building stock, agriculture, and industrial and energy assets.

Natural hazards are a major threat to sustainable development, economic stability and growth, territorial cohesion, and community resilience. According to the estimates of the European Environment Agency, the economic damage due to only natural hazard risks in the EU amounted to more than EUR 557 billion in 1980-2017, mostly triggered by extreme weather and climate-related events whose frequencies and/or intensities are expected to increase as a result of human-induced climate change.

"Over the past few decades, disaster risk assessment has improved thanks to the advancements in high performance computing, high-resolution topographic and other spatial data, a new generation of large-scale hazard and disaster loss/impact models, and high-resolution exposure datasets", Jaroslav Mysiak explains. "An accurate spatial representation of exposure features such as residential and industrial facilities and assets, infrastructure, population density and gross domestic product make it possible to improve the estimates and spatial distribution of disaster impacts. Advanced quality and accessibility of Earth observation products, including from the EU's Copernicus programme, have led the way to coherent exposure and vulnerability data at continental and global scales."

The authors concluded the chapter highlighting the lesson learnt from COVID-19 pandemic. "What we have lived through during the lockdown, and still will", they write, "is a mild foretaste of the systemic shocks that climate and global environmental changes may and will cause in the future. Future improvements of risk assessment need to be focused on a better understanding of indirect and spillover economic losses generated by slow-onset hazards, compound risks and cascading risks, as well as losses caused by disruption of social networks, economic flows and ecosystem services.

The EU Green Deal and the unprecedented post-COVID-19 recovery package will stimulate immense investments in green technologies and innovation, and lead the way to sustainable development and climate neutrality. Only with sound, evidence-based and multi-hazard risk assessments can we reconcile short-term 'building back better' recovery and medium- to long-term climate-resilient development."

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Read and download the full report "Science for Disaster Risk Management 2020: acting today, protecting tomorrow"?Casajus Valles, A., Marin Ferrer, M., Poljanšek, K., Clark, I. (eds.), 'Science for Disaster Risk Management 2020: acting today, protecting tomorrow', EUR 30183 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-18181-1, doi:10.2760/438998, JRC114026.

Section 3.3 - Economic Sectors Mysiak, J., Molinari, D., Tsionis, G., Toreti, A., Okuyama, Y., 'Economic sectors', in: Casajus Valles, A., Marin Ferrer, M., Poljanšek, K., Clark, I. (eds.), Science for Disaster Risk Management 2020: acting today, protecting tomorrow, EUR 30183 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-18182-8, doi:10.2760/571085, JRC114026.

Conclusions Casajus Valles, A., Marin Ferrer, M., Poljanšek, K., Clark, I., Tagarev, T., Romão, X., de Jager, A., Pelaez, S., Mysiak, J., Papadopoulos, G., Agius, J., 'Conclusions and final recommendations', in: Casajus Valles, A., Marin Ferrer, M., Poljanšek, K., Clark, I. (eds.), Science for Disaster Risk Management 2020: acting today, protecting tomorrow, EUR 30183 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-18182-8, doi:10.2760/571085, JRC114026.

Pollen season in Switzerland earlier and more intense due to climate change

SWISS TROPICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE

Research News

 

Pollen from trees, grasses and weeds are causing seasonal allergies for approximately one fifth of the Swiss population every year. A study now found that due to climate change, the pollen season has shifted substantially over the past 30 years in onset, duration and intensity. "For at least four allergenic species, the tree pollen season now starts earlier than 30 years ago - sometimes even before January," said Marloes Eeftens, Principal Investigator and Group Leader at Swiss TPH. "The duration and intensity of the pollen season have also increased for several species, meaning that allergic people not only suffer for a longer period of time but also react stronger to these higher concentrations."

The researchers analysed pollen data from 1990 to 2020 from all 14 pollen-monitoring stations in Switzerland, studying airborne pollen concentrations from 12 different plant species. "Previous studies have looked at single species or only a few locations, but this is the first time a study brings together comprehensive pollen data from across Switzerland," said Sarah Glick, first author of the study and scientific assistant at Swiss TPH.

Health impact beyond sneezing

Pollen allergies are the most common chronic disease in many European and North American countries. Today, an estimated 20% of the Swiss population suffers from pollen allergies, a dramatic increase from 100 years ago when less than 1% was affected. This increase is most likely related to changes in our environment, such as personal hygiene and increase in urban rather than rural living. Besides the typical itching eyes and nose and frequent sneezing, pollen allergies can also cause inflammation in the lungs, and result in negative impact on the cardiovascular system, decreased quality of life, and reduced school and work performance.

"Similar to man-made air pollutants like particulate matter or nitrogen dioxide, pollen may actually have numerous negative effects on our body much beyond just nuisance," explained Eeftens. "Given the extent of the population affected and the increasing burden, it is key that we further study the health effects of pollen both acute and more long-term." Swiss TPH just launched the EPOCHAL study to deepen the understanding of the multiple effects of pollen on health including blood pressure, lung function, ability to concentrate, mood and sleep.

"There is little we can do to prevent pollen release from plants, but we hope that the results of the study can help allergic people manage their allergies better," said to Eeftens. "A better understanding of allergenic species could also help guide urban planners in identifying suitable plants for parks. For example, we may think twice before planting highly allergenic trees like hazel and birch in densely populated areas."

###

About the study

Glick S, Gehrig R, Eeftens M (2021) Multi-decade changes in pollen season onset, duration, and intensity: a concern for public health? Science of the Total Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146382

This research was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), grant no. 185864. This project has also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 853568).

A gender gap in negotiation emerges between boys and girls as early as age eight

Understood to persist between men and women in the workforce, Boston College team finds the gender gap in negotiation takes root during childhood

BOSTON COLLEGE

Research News

   

IMAGE: A GENDER GAP IN NEGOTIATION EMERGES IN GIRLS AS YOUNG AS EIGHT, ACCORDING TO THE LATEST RESEARCH FROM BOSTON COLLEGE'S KATHERINE MCAULIFFE, DIRECTOR OF THE COOPERATION LAB. view more 

CREDIT: BOSTON COLLEGE

Chestnut Hill, MA (4/1/2021) - A gender gap in negotiation emerges as early as age eight, a finding that sheds new light on the wage gap women face in the workforce, according to new research from Boston College's Cooperation Lab, lead by Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Katherine McAuliffe.

The study of 240 boys and girls between ages four and nine, published recently in the journal Psychological Science, found the gap appears when girls who participated in the study were asked to negotiate with a male evaluator, a finding that mirrors the dynamics of the negotiation gap that persists between men and women in the workforce.

The researchers say this study is the first to identify a gender gap in negotiation among children.

"We found that--consistent with adult work--girls asked for less than boys when negotiating with a man," said McAuliffe. "We did not see this gender gap when children were negotiating with a woman. There is still much more work to be done, but one thing this tells us is that we should be teaching young girls to advocate for themselves in the context of negotiation from as early elementary school."

The results point to a disparity that takes root in childhood which may help explain the well-documented gender gap in pay that separates women and men, said McAuliffe, who co-authored the study with New York University graduate student Sophie Arnold, who spent two summers working in McAuliffe's Cooperation Lab, which studies how attributes like fairness develop in children.

McAuliffe and Arnold say the findings reveal a need to determine if cultural signals sent to girls are to blame and whether there should be interventions in childhood to ensure that both girls and boys feel comfortable advocating for themselves, regardless of the gender of the person they are talking with.

"Boys and girls performed equally between the ages of four and seven," said Arnold, whose work on the project became her undergraduate honors thesis at the University of Chicago. "But by age eight, we see girls are requesting less than boys when they are negotiating with a man. It's not that girls are negotiating less overall - it's only when children are negotiating with a man that we see these gender differences emerge."

Prior studies of adults have found gender differences in negotiation, but could not explain their origins, said the authors. The researchers tested 240 children between the ages of 4 and 9 to determine whether girls in the age range would negotiate differently than boys and whether girls, like women, would ask for less from a man than a woman.

"Although adult research supports the existence of gender differences in negotiation, it cannot reveal their origins. Learning when these gender differences emerge is imperative for understanding what individual and societal factors lead to these gender differences in adulthood," write Arnold and McAuliffe.

The experiments were modeled on real-world scenarios, the authors said. In phase one, children completed a task and then were allowed to ask for as many stickers as they liked as a reward. Unbeknownst to them, the evaluator would always accept requests for two stickers or less, and always reject requests above that threshold. If a request was rejected, negotiations would progress to the next phase.

In the second phase, the evaluator explained the rules of negotiation to the children and spelled out how their next sticker requests could be handled in a way that highlighted the risk and reward inherent to negotiations.

The results revealed a significant interaction between age, participant gender, and evaluator gender. For girls, the number of stickers initially requested decreased with age when the evaluator was a male. When the evaluator was female, girls requested more stickers with age.

Boys, on the other hand, made requests that did not change with age or the gender of the evaluator.

In measuring persistence, a proxy for negotiation length, the study found that girls' persistence decreased with age when the evaluator was male, but remained the same with age when the evaluator was female. For boys, persistence did not change with age or depending on the gender of the evaluator.

"Our study is the first to show that gender differences in negotiation emerge in childhood," the co-authors write. "Older girls in our paradigm differed from boys in how much they were willing to ask for from a male evaluator, showing a striking resemblance to findings in adults. Girls are not asking for less from both evaluators but instead are negotiating less only with the male evaluator."

"Our findings add negotiation to the list of early-developing gendered behaviors that may lead to and magnify the wage gap in adulthood," the researchers report.

McAuliffe said the next steps in this area of study include trying to determine why these differences emerge.

She and Arnold highlighted two potential avenues for future research: status and gender stereotypes. It could be the case that the gender differences observed in this study are not unique to gender but reflect a more general dynamic due to perceived status of social groups. Namely, that individuals perceived to be a part of a lower status group (in the US, with respect to gender, this would be girls or women) request less from individuals who are perceived to be part of a higher status group (men).

With respect to gender stereotypes, it could be the case that girls are adopting gender stereotypes about communality or modesty that in turn shape their behavior with men. More research is needed to understand how these avenues contribute to the development of gender differences in negotiation.

The challenge of the next steps in this research are clarifying exactly what explains the development of this behavior and trying to develop interventions that could help remedy the imbalance, said McAuliffe.

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MLB All-Star Game yanked from Georgia over voting law

BY RONALD BLUM AP BASEBALL WRITER
APRIL 02, 2021 

NEW YORK

Atlanta lost Major League Baseball’s summer All-Star Game on Friday over the league’s objections to sweeping changes to Georgia voting laws that critics — including the CEOs of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola — have condemned as being too restrictive.

The decision to pull the July 13 game from Atlanta’s Truist Park amounts to the first economic backlash against Georgia for the voting law that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp quickly signed into law March 25.

Kemp has insisted the law’s critics have mischaracterized what it does, yet GOP lawmakers adopted the changes largely in response to false claims of fraud in the 2020 elections by former President Donald Trump and his supporters. The law includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made the decision to move the All-Star events and the amateur draft from Atlanta after discussions with individual players and the Players Alliance, an organization of Black players formed after the death of George Floyd last year, the commissioner said in a statement. A new ballpark for the events wasn’t immediately revealed.

Manfred said he also spoke with the Major League Baseball Players Association, which at the time of the commissioner's decision said it had still not taken a stance.

“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB draft,” Manfred said. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”

The White House said President Joe Biden supports the decision.

“The President has made his concerns about the bill passed in Georgia clear, given its extreme provisions that impact the ability of so many citizens to cast their votes," the White House said. "He said earlier this week that if the decision was made by Major League Baseball to move the All-Star game, he would certainly support that decision – and now that MLB has made that choice, he certainly does.”

In a statement, Trump blasted the move and urged his supporters to “boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections.”

Kemp called MLB's action a “knee-jerk decision” that means “cancel culture and woke political activists are coming for every aspect of your life, sports included. If the left doesn’t agree with you, facts and the truth do not matter.”

“This attack on our state is the direct result of repeated lies from (President) Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams about a bill that expands access to the ballot box and ensures the integrity of our elections," Kemp said in a statement, referring to the Democratic candidate whom he narrowly defeated in the 2018 election. "I will not back down. Georgians will not be bullied.”

Georgia state House Speaker David Ralston, a powerful Republican, vowed to stand behind the new law, which adds strict identification requirements for voting absentee by mail, limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to hand out food or water to voters waiting in line, among many other provisions.

Georgia Republicans say changes were needed to maintain voter confidence in the election system. Democrats and voting rights groups say the law will disproportionately affect communities of color. On Wednesday, two of Georgia's most prominent business leaders sided with the law's opponents.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian labeled the law “unacceptable,” while Coca-Cola chief executive James Quincey called the legislation a “step backward.”

The Atlanta Braves issued a statement Friday saying the team is disappointed by Manfred's decision.

“We are saddened that fans will not be able to see this event in our city,” the team said. “The Braves organization will continue to stress the importance of equal voting opportunities and we had hoped our city could use this event as a platform to enhance the discussion."

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who is to guide the National League All-Star team, applauded MLB for moving the game from Georgia.

“I think in a world now where people want and need to be heard — and in this particular case, people of color — for Major League Baseball to listen and do something about it, to be proactive, it sets a tone,” said Roberts, the son of a Black father and Japanese mother.

Abrams, who has championed voting rights since her loss to Kemp, blasted the new voting law. The Democrat is being closely watched to see if she seeks a rematch against Kemp in 2022.

“Georgia Republicans must renounce the terrible damage they have caused to our voting system and the harm they have inflicted on our economy,” Abrams said.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, said she supports MLB's decision. Atlanta will no doubt share in the economic loss, though the Braves' home stadium is now located outside the city, in suburban Cobb County.

“Unfortunately, the removal of the MLB All-Star Game from Georgia is likely the first of many dominoes to fall until the unnecessary barriers put in place to restrict access to the ballot box are removed,” Bottoms said in a statement.

Some Democrats from the Georgia county where the game was to be held said they oppose MLB's move. Lisa Cupid, the Black chairwoman of the Cobb County Commission, said she urged the league to stay rather than harm hotels and other businesses still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

State Rep. Teri Anulewicz, a Democrat whose district includes the stadium, added: “I don’t know who Major League Baseball feels they are punishing. The governor, from his statement, has made clear he doesn’t feel he is being punished.”

The relocation of high-profile sports events from cities in response to social issues has a long history in the U.S.

The NFL originally awarded the 1993 Super Bowl to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, but decided in March 1991 to move it to Pasadena, California, after the state failed to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day an official holiday. Arizona became the last state to adopt an MLK Holiday when voters approved it in November 1992.

The NBA first scheduled its 2017 All-Star Game at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, then shifted it in July 2016 because of its objections to a North Carolina law that limited anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. The law was partially repealed in 2017, and the 2019 All-Star Game was held in Charlotte.

Manfred said despite the change of venue, MLB still plans to use the All-Star Game this year to honor Hank Aaron, the Braves’ Hall of Famer and former career home run champion who died on Jan. 22 at age 86.

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker, a former teammate of Aaron's, applauded the move and said the late outfielder "always had the rights of the people in the forefront of his mind and in his heart.”

“This is what Hank would have liked, even if it was his town,” Baker told reporters.


FILE - Cardboard cutouts of fans in the otherwise empty seats face the field during the sixth inning of a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays in Atlanta, in this Thursday, July 30, 2020, file photo. Georgia’s new voting law _ which critics claim severely limits access to the ballot box, especially for people of color _ has prompted calls from as high as the White House to consider moving the midsummer classic out of Atlanta. The game is set for July 13 at Truist Park, the Braves’ 41,000-seat stadium in suburban Cobb County.(AP Photo/John Amis, File) JOHN AMIS AP

Trump calls for boycott of MLB, Coke, Delta after they opposed Georgia voting law


By Jesse O’Neill

NY POST
April 3, 2021

The Republican called for a boycott in a statement he issued hours after MLB announced it is pulling

 the All-Star Game from Atlanta.  Bloomberg via Getty Images

Former President Trump called Friday night for a boycott of Major League Baseball, Coke and Delta Airlines — and all other companies that have pulled out of Georgia or otherwise protested the state’s controversial new voting reform bill.

The Republican called for a boycott in a statement he issued hours after MLB announced it is pulling the All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to the bill, which President Biden has labeled “Jim Crow in the 21st century.”

“Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter ID, which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections,” Trump’s statement read.

“Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!”

On Wednesday, Atlanta-based Coca Cola’s CEO appeared on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” to oppose the bill’s voting restrictions, after a growing chorus of critics called for a Coke boycott over the company’s silence following the March 25 passage of the bill.

On the same day, Delta’s CEO called the bill “unacceptable” and “based on a lie,” after the Georgia company was criticized for not speaking out harshly against the measure.MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Friday that the MLB All-Star game will not take place in Atlanta.MLB Photos via Getty Images

The new GOP-led law includes new restrictions, including ID requirements, on voting by mail and limits the number of drop boxes for mail-in ballots.

It increases legislative control over elections in the state, moves that conservatives said will improve election integrity.

Democrats said the law is full of “voter suppression tactics,” and a response to Georgia turning blue in the 2020 election, a result that Trump falsely claimed was due to fraud.

THE NY POST A TRUMP CHEERLEADER AT LEAST ADMITS TRUMPS CLAIMS ARE FALSE

NOT SO NEWSMAX (TO THE  RIGHT OF FOX)

Trump Urges MLB Boycott After 

All-Star Game, Draft, Pulled

Former President Donald Trump (AP)

By Sandy Fitzgerald    |   Saturday, 03 April 2021 NEWSMAX

Former President Donald Trump is urging baseball fans to boycott Major League Baseball over its decision to pull this year's All-Star Game and 2021 Draft out of Georgia over its recently passed election law. 

"Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans," Trump said in a statement Friday night, reports Fox News. "Now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections.

He also called for a boycott of "all of the woke companies that are "interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!"

Coca-Cola and Delta are among companies based in Georgia whose CEOS have spoken out agains the new law. 

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey told CNBC this week that the law is "unacceptable" and a "step backward. (It) is wrong and needs to be remedied, and we will continue to advocate for it both in private and now even more clearly in public."

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, meanwhile, also called the law "unacceptable," in a memo circulated to staff and said "entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie" about widespread voter fraud in 2020.

More than 100 other companies around the country, including Twitter, Zillow, and Uber on Friday issued a joint statement through Civic Alliance to express concern about the new voting law.  

"We believe every American should have a voice in our democracy and that voting should be safe and accessible to all voters," the statement says. "We stand in solidarity with voters 一 and with the Black executives and leaders at the helm of this movement 一 in our nonpartisan commitment to equality and democracy. If our government is going to work for all of us, each of us must have equal freedom to vote and elections must reflect the will of voters."

MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred said Friday that the league would move both events out of Atlanta this year because it would be the "best way to demonstrate our values as a sport," as the league "fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box."

Georgia's new law, signed by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, has come under fire by critics who say it makes voting more difficult for Black people and other racial minorities and is already facing legal challenges from civil rights groups. 

President Joe Biden has derided the measure as "Jim Crow on steroids," and told ESPN this week that he would back MLB moving the game out of Atlanta. 

"Today's professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly. I would strongly support them doing that. People look to them, they're leaders," he told ESPN's Sage Steele.

The new law prohibits electioneering within several dozen feet of a polling station, including giving food or water to voters waiting in line, requires identification when people register for an absentee ballot and expands early voting on weekends. 

Kemp has made a series of television appearances in the past week to defend the new law, which came into play after controversy following Trump's election to Biden in Georgia. 

Trump's call for a boycott is not the only time the former president spoke out against sports leagues. He slammed the National Football League for allowing players to take a knee while the national anthem was being played before games, and last year called the National Basketball Association a "political organization" after teams called off playoff games to protest police brutality. 

He also accused the NBA of being "bought off" from China and claimed the basketball league favored its overseas profits over supporting pro-democracy policies. 

Trump, in a separate statement, railed against the "fake news media" on the topic of election fraud, reports Fox News. 

"Why is it that every time the 2020 ELECTION FRAUD is discussed, the Fake News Media consistently states that such charges are baseless, unfounded, unwarranted, etc?" Trump said. 

"Sadly, there was a massive fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election, and many very angry people understand that. With each passing day, and unfortunately for the Radical Left CRAZIES, more and more facts are coming out."

"Other than that," he finished, "Happy Easter!"

'Happy Easter': Twitter goes bananas after 

Trump releases bizarre rant about his election loss

Meaghan Ellis, AlterNet
April 03, 2021

HBO screenshot

It's Easter weekend and several months after the presidential election, but former President Donald Trump is not done ranting about his landslide loss and his latest remarks have set Twitter ablaze.

On Friday, April 2, Trump released a second statement after sounding off about the MLB All-Star game relocation. In that statement, the former president targeted the "radical left crazies" as he reiterated his complaints about the presidential election and "the Fake News Media" insisting his claims are "baseless, unfounded, unwarranted."

"With each passing day, and unfortunately for the Radical Left CRAZIES, more and more facts are coming out," Trump wrote. He even closed the bizarre rant by saying, "Other than that, Happy Easter!"

Twitter users wasted no time slamming the unhinged former president for his bizarre rant. Some users pointed out how Trump, widely supported by evangelical Christians, seemed to refer to Easter as if it were an afterthought. A user wrote, "Loving the message from Trump on the holiest of days in the Christian calendar "OTHER THAN THAT, HAPPY EASTER"

Another user offered a simplified interpretation of Trump's remarks. "Sadly, there was massive fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election, and many very angry people understand that ... Unfortunately for the Radical Left CRAZIES, more and more facts are coming out. Other than that, Happy Easter!"

Trump's latest mindboggling statement also reminded Twitter users of his series of epic blunders in April of last year. Around that time, the former president's COVID circus was in full swing as he appeared on national television nearly every day with countless unfounded claims that kept fact-checkers quite busy.
The latest Easter statement reminded many Twitter users of the running claim last Easter: despite the country being under nationwide lockdown, the United States would likely be reopening so people could attend church for the religious holiday. To make matters worse, Trump also claimed the virus would "miraculously" go away by April with the arrival of the warmer spring weather.
Now, Trump is being mocked for those remarks yet again.
It's been a year since Trump's Easter claims and the United States has reported more than 30 million coronavirus cases and over 560,000 COVID-related deaths since then.

 

NOT TO BE OUTDONE UNCLE MIKE CHIMES IN WITH 

THE WHITE BAPTIST RANT

'Racist much Mike?': Huckabee slammed for anti-Asian and anti-Trans tweet amid rise in violent hate crimes

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
April 03, 2021

www.rawstory.com

Amid near-daily reports of horrific hate crimes against Asian Americans and transgender Americans, Mike Huckabee is under massive criticism for posting a hateful, racist, anti-Asian, transphobic tweet that's also anti-democracy, amid a rise in vicious and violent hate crimes.

Huckabee is the host of “Huckabee" on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), and is the father of Arkansas GOP gubernatorial candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former Trump White House press secretary. For decades Huckabee has played the part of a conservative Christian, using his faith as a sword and a shield.

“I've decided to 'identify' as Chinese," Huckabee tweeted Saturday. “Coke will like me, Delta will agree with my 'values' and I'll probably get shoes from Nike & tickets to @MLB games. Ain't America great?" he asked, mocking the millions of Americans furious about Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp signing the nation's worst voter suppression bill into law. On Friday Major League Baseball pulled the All-Star Game out of Atlanta and hundreds of corporations and organizations have denounced the legislation designed to make voting even more difficult, especially for the state's Black and low-income voters.

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister who ran for the Republican Party's presidential nomination but failed twice, is the former Arkansas governor. He has a long history of attacking minorities, especially LGBTQ people.

Many across the nation reacted in horror when video of a New York City man attacking a 65-year old Asian American woman in a hate crime, including repeatedly kicking her in the stomach, causing her to fall to the ground, then stomping her head multiple times, went viral last week. Just weeks ago a gunman massacred eight people at a Asian spa in Atlanta. Six of the eight murdered were Asian American.

Huckabee's attack comes on Holy Saturday, just one day before Easter, a highly important holiday for people around the world of the Christian faith who celebrate what they believe is Christ's resurrection.

This is far from the first time Huckabee has been accused of racism.
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“2020 was the deadliest year for the transgender community," according to ABC Tampa.

“There were 122 incidents of anti-Asian American hate crimes in 16 of the country's most populous cities in 2020, an increase of almost 150%," Voice of America reports.

On social media many expressed their outrage in response to Huckabee's tweet:

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