INJUSTICE TOO
Court drops rape, other charges against megachurch leader

FILE - In this Monday, July 15, 2019 file photo, Naason Joaquin Garcia, the leader of a Mexico-based evangelical church with a worldwide meCalifornia app
mbership, attends a bail review hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court. On Tuesday, April 7, 2020 a eals court has dismissed the criminal case against the Mexican megachurch leader on charges of child rape and human trafficking. The case was dismissed on procedural grounds. García, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, has been in custody since June. He is currently being held without bail in Los Angeles. The attorney general's office said it was reviewing the court's ruling. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court ordered the dismissal of a criminal case Tuesday against a Mexican megachurch leader on charges of child rape and human trafficking on procedural grounds.

Naasón Joaquín García, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, has been in custody since June following his arrest on accusations involving three girls and one woman between 2015 and 2018 in Los Angeles County. Additional allegations of the possession of child pornography in 2019 were later added. He has denied wrongdoing.

While being held without bail in Los Angeles, García has remained the spiritual leader of La Luz del Mundo, which is Spanish for “The Light Of The World.” The Guadalajara, Mexico-based evangelical Christian church was founded by his grandfather and claims 5 million followers worldwide.

It was not clear when he would be released.

The attorney general’s office said it was reviewing the court’s ruling and did not answer additional questions.

García’s attorney, Alan Jackson, said he and his client are “thrilled” by the decision.

“In their zeal to secure a conviction at any cost, the Attorney General has sought to strip Mr. Garcia of his freedom without due process by locking him up without bail on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations by unnamed accusers and by denying him his day in court,” Jackson said in a statement.

La Luz del Mundo officials in a statement urged their followers to remain respectful and pray for authorities.

“(W)e are not to point fingers or accuse anyone, we must practice the Christian values that identify us, such as patience, prudence, respect and love of God,” they said.

The appeals court ruling states that the Los Angeles County Superior Court must dismiss the 29 counts of felony charges that range from human trafficking and production of child pornography to forcible rape of a minor.

The appeals court ruled that because García’s preliminary hearing was not held in a timely manner and he did not waive his right to one, the complaint filed against him must be dismissed.

In June, García was arraigned on 26 counts and waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing — a common move. The following month, he was arraigned on an amended complaint that included three additional charges of possession of child pornography. That time, he did not waive the time limits for a preliminary hearing.

His hearing was postponed several times — in some instances, because prosecutors had not turned over evidence to the defense — as he remained held without bail, prompting his attorneys to file an appeal.

The appeals court ruled that a preliminary hearing on an amended complaint for an in-custody defendant must be held within 10 days of the second arraignment — unless the defendant waives the 10-day time period or there is “good cause” for the delay.

The appeal only mentioned the dismissal of García’s case and not those of his co-defendants, Susana Medina Oaxaca and Alondra Ocampo. A fourth defendant, Azalea Rangel Melendez, remains at large.

It was not immediately clear if the co-defendants’ cases would also be tossed.

In February, a Southern California woman filed a federal lawsuit against the church and García. In it, she said García, 50, and his father sexually abused her for 18 years starting when she was 12, manipulating Bible passages to convince her the mistreatment actually was a gift from God.

The lawsuit will continue despite the dismissal, the woman’s lawyers said Tuesday in a statement.

The dismissal is the latest in a series of blunders on this high-profile case for the attorney general’s office.

Mexico-based megachurch La Luz del Mundo, leader and self-proclaimed apostle Naasón Joaquín García's 50 birthday celebration portrait, is displayed on the side of the East Los Angeles temple on Friday, June 7, 2019. On Tuesday, April 7, 2020 a California appeals court dismissed the criminal case against the Mexican megachurch leader on charges of child rape and human trafficking. The case was dismissed on procedural grounds. García, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, has been in custody since June. He is currently being held without bail in Los Angeles. The attorney general's office said it was reviewing the court's ruling. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Attorney General Xavier Becerra himself pleaded with additional victims to come forward — a move defense attorneys said could taint a jury pool.

“It would be hard to believe that, based on the information that we’re collecting, that it’s only these four individuals,” Becerra said in June, repeatedly calling García “sick” and “demented.”

Prosecutors Amanda Plisner and Diana Callaghan also said multiple times in court that they expected to file additional charges based on more victims as the case continued to be investigated. But ultimately they only added three counts of possession of child pornography to the original complaint.

Plisner and Callaghan were additionally sanctioned by a Superior Court judge in September, who said they had violated a court order in failing to give defense lawyers evidence. The judge later rescinded the sanctions and overturned $10,000 in fines she had levied.

FILE - This June 5, 2019 file photo shows Naasón Joaquín García, the leader of fundamentalist Mexico-based church La Luz del Mundo, appearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court. On Tuesday, April 7, 2020 a California appeals court has dismissed the criminal case against the Mexican megachurch leader on charges of child rape and human trafficking. The case was dismissed on procedural grounds. García, the self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, has been in custody since June. He is currently being held without bail in Los Angeles. The attorney general's office said it was reviewing the court's ruling (AP Photo/DamianDovarganes,File)

California court dismisses case against Mexico megachurch leader

Members of Light of the World congregate at its headquarters of Guadalajara, Mexico, on June 5. File Photo by Francisco Guasco/EPA-EFE

April 8 (UPI) -- A California appeals court has dismissed the human-trafficking and child rape case against the leader of a Mexico-based megachurch.

California's 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George Lomeli to dismiss the charges against Naason Joaquin Garcia on Wednesday.

The appellate court said the case had to be dismissed because Garcia's preliminary hearing wasn't held in a timely manner.

His lawyer, Alan Jackson, said the court "struck a major blow for justice."

"This is a long-overdue recognition that the government has violated Mr. Garcia's constitutional right to a speedy trial and reasonable bond," Jackson said in an email to UPI.

"In their zeal to secure a conviction at any cost, the attorney general has sought to strip Mr. Garcia of his freedom without due process by locking him up without bail on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations by unnamed accusers and by denying him his day in court.

"This is a good day for justice."

Authorities arrested Garcia and two co-defendants in June for alleged crimes committed between 2015 and 2018. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office charged him with 17 counts, including human trafficking, possession of child porn, child rape, forcible oral copulation, extortion and conspiracy.

Garcia, also known as Joaquin Garcia, leads the La Luz Del Mundo (Light of the World) evangelical church in Guadalajara, Mexico, which has many members in Los Angeles and 1 million members worldwide.

Prosecutors said in the complaint that García and his co-defendants coerced victims into performing sex acts by telling them that if they refused, it would be going against God.
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The church considers Garcia to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Three of the four alleged victims were children. An adult and child were raped, according to the complaint. The accusations include human trafficking and forcing children to perform oral sex.

According to the complaint, Garcia in September 2017 allegedly coerced a group of minors to perform "flirty" dances while in "as little clothing as possible" and gave them speeches about kings having mistresses and said an apostle cannot be judged for his actions.

INJUSTICE
Cardinal Pell freed after winning appeal over child sex abuse

AFP / William WESTCardinal George Pell leaves Barwon Prison near Anakie, some 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of Melbourne

Cardinal George Pell was released from prison Tuesday, hours after Australia's High Court quashed his conviction for child sex abuse, bringing an end to the most high-profile paedophilia case faced by the Catholic Church.

The 78-year-old left Barwon Prison near Melbourne after the court overturned five counts of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s.

Pell, who maintained his innocence throughout a lengthy court process, left the jail where he has been held for the last year and issued a statement saying a "serious injustice" had been remedied.

Hours later, without referencing Pell, Pope Francis decried "unjust" sentences against "innocent" people.

"In these days of Lent, we've been witnessing the persecution that Jesus underwent and how He was judged ferociously, even though He was innocent," the pope said on Twitter.

"Let us pray together today for all those persons who suffer due to an unjust sentence because someone had it in for them."

A jury convicted Pell in December 2018, a decision upheld by a three-judge Court of Appeal panel last August in a split verdict.

But Australia's High Court found there was "a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof".

The seven justices unanimously found a lower court had "failed to engage with the question of whether there remained a reasonable possibility that the offending had not taken place".

AFP / William WEST
Pell was taken to a Carmelite monastery in Melbourne after
 his release from Barwon Prison


Pell's legal woes, however, may not be at an end, as he faces possible civil action, including from the father of one of the alleged victims -- now deceased -- who is planning to launch a claim for damages.

The prosecution's case had relied heavily on the testimony of Pell's surviving accuser, who told a closed-door hearing that Pell had sexually assaulted the two boys in a Melbourne cathedral while he was archbishop of the city.

- 'Utter disbelief' -

The second choirboy -- who is not known to have ever spoken of the abuse -- died of a drug overdose in 2014. Neither man can be identified for legal reasons.

Lisa Flynn, the lawyer for the deceased man's father, said her client was "disgusted" and "in utter disbelief" at the outcome.
AFP / Janis LATVELSAustralian Cardinal

"He is struggling to comprehend the decision by the High Court of Australia. He says he no longer has faith in our country's criminal justice system," she said.

"He is furious the man he believes is responsible for sexually abusing his son was convicted by a unanimous jury only to have that decision overturned today."

The Blue Knot Foundation, a victim support group, said the decision would be "crushing" for survivors of abuse.

"The child sexual abuse pandemic within the Catholic Church has threatened the safety of millions of children, the adults they become and the very moral fibre of what it means to be human," said Blue Knot president Cathy Kezelman.

In his statement, Pell thanked his lawyers, supporters and family and said he held "no ill will" toward his accuser.

"I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough," he said.

AFP / William WEST
Social distancing because of the coronavirus kept media crews apart outside Barwon Prison where Cardinal Pell was held


"However my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church; nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of paedophilia in the Church.

"The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not."

Local media footage showed Pell being driven from prison to a Carmelite monastery in suburban Melbourne.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said even the "discussion of these topics brings back great hurt" for victims, and his thoughts were "always with them".

"But the High Court, the highest court in the land, has made its decision and that must be respected," he said.

Coronavirus restrictions meant the verdict was delivered to a near-empty Brisbane courtroom -- in stark contrast to earlier hearings that drew large crowds of his supporters and detractors, the world's media and members of the legal profession.

Pell's lawyers had argued there were "compounding improbabilities" in the case, including that Pell would not have had the time or opportunity to molest the boys in the sacristy after Mass, when he would usually be on the cathedral steps greeting members of the congregation.

Pell's trial was held under a court-ordered veil of secrecy, but at the same time he was quietly removed from top Church bodies -- although the Vatican resisted launching an internal investigation.

The former Vatican treasurer remains in the priesthood, but his future role in the church remains unclear.

Also unknown is whether the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will continue its own investigation into the charges made against PelHome

Cardinal Pell accuser 'accepts' acquittal

A former choirboy who accused Australian Cardinal George Pell of molesting him said Wednesday he accepts the top Vatican cleric's acquittal, but urged survivors of child sex abuse to keep coming forward.

A day after Australia's top court quashed Pell's conviction and released him from jail, "Witness J" said he understood and accepted the court's verdict.

"There are a lot of checks and balances in the criminal justice system," the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said in a statement issued by his lawyer. "I respect the decision of the High Court. I accept the outcome."
AFP / Janis LATVELSAustralian Cardinal


The court found that the jury that convicted the cleric of molesting Witness J and his friend, both 13 years old at the time, should have had a reasonable doubt about his guilt.

"It is difficult in child sexual abuse matters to satisfy a criminal court that the offending has occurred beyond the shadow of a doubt," Witness J said. "It is a very high standard to meet –- a heavy burden."

Regardless, he said: "I would hate to think that one outcome of this case is that people are discouraged from reporting to the police."

"I would like to reassure child sexual abuse survivors that most people recognise the truth when they hear it."

As many activists expressed concern that Pell's case would compound survivors' pain, Witness J also said he was doing "OK" and was relieved the years-long case was over.

"I have my ups and downs. The darkness is never far away. I am OK. I hope that everyone who has followed this case is OK," he said.

"This case does not define me. I am not the abuse I suffered as a child."Crime

Cardinal Pell welcomes court’s dismissal of abuse conviction

1 of 3

Cardinal George Pell sits in the back seat of a car as he leaves prison in Geelong, Australia Tuesday, April 7, 2020. Pope Francis' former finance minister Pell had been the most senior Catholic found guilty of sexually abusing children and has spent 13 months in high-security prisons before seven High Court judges unanimously dismissed his convictions. (James Ross/AAP Image via AP)CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Cardinal George Pell welcomed Australia’s highest court clearing him of child sex crimes Tuesday and said his trial had not been a referendum on the Catholic Church’s handling of the clergy abuse crisis.Cardinal Pell welcomes court’s dismissal of abuse conviction

Pell, Pope Francis’ former finance minister, had been the most senior Catholic found guilty of sexually abusing children and spent 13 months in prison before seven High Court judges unanimously dismissed his convictions.

“I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice,” Pell said in his first public statement since he was convicted in December 2018. It was released before he left prison and was taken to the Carmelite Monastery in Melbourne, where he was greeted by a nun.

The Vatican welcomed the decision, while saying it reaffirmed its commitment “to pursuing all cases of abuse against minors.”

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• – Pandemic, border crackdown hamper Catholics' aid to migrants
• – Timeline of Cardinal George Pell's career and accusations
• – Australia's highest court to judge cardinal's abuse appeal

Francis appeared to refer to Pell’s acquittal in his morning homily, saying he was praying for all those unjustly persecuted.

Pell said, “I hold no ill will toward my accuser,” a former choirboy whose testimony was at the core of the 78-year-old cleric’s prosecution.

The High Court found there was reasonable doubt surrounding the testimony of the witness, now the father of a young family aged in his 30s, who said Pell had abused him and another 13-year-old choirboy at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in the late 1990s.

“My trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church; nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of pedophilia in the Church,” Pell said.

“The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not,” he added.

A judge and lawyers had urged two juries in 2018 to try Pell on the evidence and not on his senior position in the church’s flawed responses to clergy abuse in Australia. The first trial ended in a jury deadlock and the second unanimously convicted him on all charges.

The Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests said in a statement they were “dismayed and heartbroken” by the decision.

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher called for the ruling to end the pursuit of Pell in the courts.

“I am pleased that the Cardinal will now be released and I ask that the pursuit of him that brought us to this point now cease,” Fisher said in a statement.

“The cardinal’s vindication today invites broader reflection on our system of justice, our commitment to the presumption of innocence, and our treatment of high-profile figures accused of crimes,” Fisher added.

But Pell’s record on managing clergy abuse could come under further public scrutiny, with Australian Attorney General Christian Porter responding to the verdict by announcing he will consider releasing a redacted section of a report on institutional responses to child molesting.

Pell gave evidence by video link from Rome in 2016 to a royal commission, Australia’s highest level of inquiry, about his time as a church leader in Melbourne and his hometown of Ballarat.

Full Coverage: Religion

The royal commission found in its 2017 report that the Melbourne Archdiocese had ignored or covered up allegations of child abuse by seven priests to protect the church’s reputation and avoid scandal.

The royal commission was critical of Pell’s predecessor in Melbourne, Archbishop Frank Little, who died in 2008. It made no findings against Pell, saying then that it would not publish information that could “prejudice current or future criminal or civil proceedings.”

Where Pell will go and whether he will return to Rome has not been announced. Melbourne residents have been told to stay home except for essentials due to the coronavirus pandemic. He had stayed at a Sydney seminary when he was free on bail awaiting trial.

He is no longer a member of Francis’ Council of Cardinals or a Vatican official and will lose his right to vote for the next pope on his 80th birthday next year.

The Vatican has previously said Pell would face a canonical investigation after all his appeals had been exhausted in Australia, but it is not known what effect his acquittal will have on any church investigation.

Many Australians had already accepted Pell was guilty before the High Court decision. Judge Peter Kidd had berated Pell in a nationally televised sentencing hearing last year for a breach of trust that had an element of brutality a sense of impunity.

“I see this as callus, brazen offending — blatant,” Kidd said.

St. Patrick’s College, where Pell was educated in Ballarat, removed his name from a building and from the school honor board.

But the Australian Catholic University kept its Pell Center on its Ballarat campus until the appeal process was completed, angering academic staff.

The university’s president, Greg Craven, said Pell should never have been charged.

“This was a case that always had a reasonable doubt a mile wide,” Craven said. “The High Court unanimously — seven-nil — said the Victorian justice system got it hopelessly wrong.”

Pell had been serving a six-year sentence after he was convicted of sexually assaulting the two boys in December 1996 and convicted of indecently assaulting one of the boys by painfully squeezing his genitals after a Mass in early 1997.

Pell was regarded as the Vatican’s third-highest ranking official when he voluntarily returned to Melbourne in 2017 determined to clear his name of dozens of decades-old child abuse allegations.

All the charges were dropped or dismissed over the years except the cathedral allegations.

He did not testify at either trial or at the subsequent appeals.

But the juries saw his emphatic denials in a police interview that was video recorded in a Rome airport hotel conference room in October 2016.

The complainant first went to police in 2015 after the second alleged victim died of a heroin overdose at the age of 31. Neither can be identified under state law.

Lawyers for the father of the dead man, who also cannot be identified, said the verdict left him “in utter disbelief.”

Lawyers for the complainant said he was likely to make a statement on Wednesday.

Much of the hearing at the High Court last month had focused on whether the jury should have had a reasonable doubt about Pell’s guilt and whether he could have time to molest the boys in five or six minutes immediately after a Mass.

The Victorian Court of Appeal found in a 2-1 majority in August that Pell had had enough time to abuse the boys and that the unanimous guilty verdicts were sound. But the High Court found the appeals court was incorrect.

Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd told the High Court last month that the surviving choirboy’s detailed knowledge of the layout of the priests’ sacristy supported his accusation that the boys were molested there.

The High Court referred to the “unchallenged evidence” of witnesses in the trial to Pell’s practice of talking to the congregation on the cathedral stairs after Mass, church practice that required him to be accompanied in the cathedral while robed and the “continuous traffic in and out of the priests’ sacristy” as causes for reasonable doubt.

The High Court statement said, “There is a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof.”

___

Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

Sanders drops 2020 bid, leaving BOO BOO Biden as likely nominee

This image from video provided by the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign shows Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as he announces he is ending his presidential campaign Wednesday, April 8, 2020, in Burlington, Vt. (Bernie Sanders for President via AP)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders ended his presidential bid on Wednesday, making Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in a general election campaign that will be waged against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sanders initially exceeded sky-high expectations about his ability to recreate the magic of his 2016 presidential bid, and even overcame a heart attack last October. But he couldn’t convert unwavering support from progressives into a viable path to the nomination, with “electability” fears fueled by questions about whether his democratic socialist ideology would be palatable to general election voters.

“The path toward victory is virtually impossible,” Sanders told supporters Wednesday. “If I believed we had a feasible path to the nomination I would certainly continue the campaign, but it’s just not there.”

He called Biden a “very decent man” but didn’t offer an explicit endorsement of the former vice president. Sanders said his name would remain on the ballot in states that have not yet held primaries so he can gain more delegates and “exert significant influence” on the Democratic platform.

Biden, who is backed by much of the party’s establishment, told supporters at a virtual fundraiser that he had a “short conversation” with Sanders on Wednesday.

“He didn’t just run a political campaign. He created a movement,” Biden said. “That’s a good thing for our nation and our future. His campaign has ended, but I know his leadership will continue.”

Trump sought to foment the tension among Democrats by tweeting Wednesday that the party stacked the race against Sanders. The president said the senator’s supporters “should come to the Republican Party.”

Sanders began his latest White House bid facing questions about whether he could win back the supporters who chose him four years ago as an insurgent alternative to Hillary Clinton. Despite winning 22 states in 2016, there were no guarantees he’d be a major presidential contender this cycle.

But Sanders used strong polling and solid fundraising — collected almost entirely from small donations made online — to quiet early doubters. Like the first time, he attracted widespread support from young voters and made new inroads within the Hispanic community, even as his appeal with African Americans remained weak.

Sanders amassed the most votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, which opened primary voting, and cruised to an easy victory in Nevada — seemingly leaving him well positioned to sprint to the Democratic nomination while a deeply crowded and divided field of alternatives sunk around him.

But Biden won a crucial endorsement from influential South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn and a subsequent, larger-than-expected victory in South Carolina, which propelled him into Super Tuesday, when he won 10 of 14 states.

In a matter of days, Biden’s former Democratic rivals lined up to endorse him. His campaign had appeared on the brink of collapse after New Hampshire but found new life as the rest of the party’s more moderate establishment coalesced around him as an alternative to Sanders.

Things only got worse the following week when Sanders lost Michigan, where he had campaigned hard and upset Clinton in 2016. He was also beaten in Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho the same night, and the results were so decisive that Sanders headed to Vermont without speaking to the media.

The coronavirus outbreak essentially froze the campaign, preventing Sanders from holding the large rallies that had become his trademark and shifting the primary calendar. It became increasingly unclear where he could notch a victory that would help him regain ground against Biden.



Though he will not be the nominee, Sanders was a key architect of many of the social policies that dominated the Democratic primary, including a “Medicare for All” universal, government-funded health care plan, tuition-free public college, a $15 minimum wage and sweeping efforts to fight climate change under the “Green New Deal.”

Sanders began the 2020 race by arguing that he was the most electable Democrat against Trump. He said his working-class appeal could help Democrats win back Rust Belt states that Trump won in 2016, including Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. But as the race wore on, the senator reverted to his 2016 roots, repeatedly stressing that he backs a “political revolution” from the bottom up under the slogan “Not me. Us.”
Full Coverage: Election 2020

Sanders, 78, also faced persistent questions about being the field’s oldest candidate. Those were pushed into the spotlight on Oct. 1, when he was at a rally in Las Vegas and asked for a chair to be brought on stage so he could sit down. Suffering from chest pains afterward, he underwent surgery to insert two stints because of a blocked artery, and his campaign revealed two days later that he had suffered a heart attack.

A serious health scare that might have derailed other campaigns seemed only to help Sanders as his already-strong fundraising got stronger and rising stars on the Democratic left, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, endorsed him. Many supporters said the heart attack only strengthened their resolve to back him.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren outshone him throughout much of the summer, but Sanders worked his way back up in the polls. The two progressive candidates spent months refusing to attack each other, though Sanders offered a strong defense of Medicare for All after Warren offered a plan for a transition to it that would take years.

But they clashed bitterly, if briefly, in January, when Warren said that Sanders had suggested during a 2018 private meeting that a woman couldn’t be elected president. Sanders denied saying that, but Warren refused to shake his outstretched hand after a debate in Iowa.

Warren left the race after a dismal Super Tuesday showing in which she finished third in her own state. Any lingering tension seemed to fade by Wednesday when Warren tweeted her thanks to Sanders for “fighting so relentlessly for America’s working families.”

With the leading progressive now out of the race, Biden moved to appeal to their supporters on Wednesday.

“I hope you will join us,” he said in a statement. “You are more than welcome. You’re needed.”

But Sanders made clear that while he is exiting the campaign, he will still be a force.

“Please stay in this fight with me,” he told his backers. “The struggle continues.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders exits 2020 Democratic presidential race

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters at a rally in St. Louis, Mo., on March 9. The Vermont senator left the Democratic presidential race on Wednesday Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo
April 8 (UPI) -- Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday he is ending his 2020 presidential campaign, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the party's only remaining candidate.

Sanders thanked his supporters and campaign workers in his announcement

"I wish I could give you better news, but I think you know the truth," he said. "The path toward victory is impossible.

"This battle for the Democratic nomination cannot be successful."

Sanders called his decision to leave "very painful."

His exit came as Biden held a substantial lead in Democratic delegates and was the party's presumed nominee.

Sanders cited the coronavirus crisis as undeniable proof that employer-based healthcare in the United States is failing Americans.

This was Sanders' second run for president, following an unsuccessfully campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

At age 78, and following a heart attack last year, this was likely his final run for the presidency. He finished second in Iowa's early primary before winning New Hampshire and Nevada. He struggled to maintain momentum in the contests that followed, giving way to large swaths of support for Biden in South Carolina, Texas and Florida.

Sanders' coalition and the source of millions of dollars in small donations were largely made up of young voters supportive of his plan to cancel student debt and offer Medicare to all Americans. Support from female and black voters proved more difficult to obtain, and he lost some of his white working-class voters to Biden.

Speaking directly to the camera in social distancing conditions on Wednesday, Sanders suspended the campaign, offering "deep gratitude" to 2 million financial contributors who he said offered, on average, $18.50 per donation. He noted that "we won the ideological struggle" and "moved radical ideas to mainstream thought," and with young voters supporting him, "the future of this country is ours."

Sanders said the current coronavirus pandemic magnifies "how absurd our current employer-based [healthcare] system is." Sanders cited Nelson Mandela in noting that healthcare, better working conditions, education, a clean environment and social justice are impossible to achieve "if we don't believe we are entitled" to them.

He closed his address by adding that his name will remain on the ballots in states that have not yet held primaries, to bring the largest possible support to the Democratic National Convention in August.

Mexico urges end to harassment of health workers in pandemic

By CARLOS RODRÍGUEZ 8/4/2020

A doctor gathers information from a driver arriving to get tested for COVID-19 at private laboratory Biomedica de Referencia, in the Lomas Virreyes neighborhood of Mexico City, Thursday, March 26, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — They are the first line of defense against the COVID-19 pandemic, but in parts of Mexico, doctors, nurses and other health workers are being harassed to the point that federal authorities have pleaded for Mexicans to show solidarity.

While tributes to courageous medical personnel putting themselves in the virus’ path circle the globe, Mexico and some other places have seen disturbing aggression born of fear.

Recently, a hospital in Guadalajara — Mexico’s second-largest city — were told to wear civilian clothes to and from work rather than their scrubs or uniforms because some public buses refused to allow them to board. Other medical personnel have reported attacks and this week someone threw flammable liquid on the doors of a new hospital under construction in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon.


“There have been cases, you could say isolated, but all outrageous,” Mexican undersecretary of health Hugo López-Gatell said Monday night. “Fear produces irrational reactions, reactions that make no sense, have no foundation and have no justification when they have to do with respecting the dignity and the physical integrity of people.”

It also comes as the Mexican government has embarked in a massive recruiting drive to bolster the thin ranks of its public health system before the virus hits with its full force.

“It’s even more outrageous when it concerns the health professionals that we all depend on in this moment, because they are on the front lines facing this epidemic,” López-Gatell said. “The declaration is of indignation and a demand that this not occur because it is completely punishable, sanctionable and won’t be allowed.”

Mexico has nearly 2,800 confirmed COVID-19 infections and 141 deaths. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Authorities were moved to speak out publicly because the incidents have continued spreading. Harassment of medical personnel in the western city of Guadalajara became a daily occurrence in recent weeks.

Edith Mujica Chávez, president of Jalisco state’s Interinstitutional Commission of Nurses, denounced the attacks including physical aggression, verbal harassment and even having bleach solutions thrown at nurses.

In a letter to Gov. Enrique Alfaro, her organization asked for help and public condemnation of the attacks.

“We all know we are potentially at risk in public health, but violence can never be tolerated, even though we are afraid of catching coronavirus,” the letter said. “We have to maintain our mental health and share information so that they know nurses are not enemies of society.”

A group of cab drivers calling themselves “Code Red” in that city banded together to offer free or reduced cost rides to health workers.

But the attacks haven’t been limited to that city.

A nurse in the city of Merida, Yucatan wrote on Facebook of a recent attack.

“While I was waiting for my ride, two people on a motorcycle threw an egg at my uniform,” wrote Rafael Ramírez, who works at a public health clinic in Merida. “I didn’t think these kinds of things happened in our city. I felt powerless not being able to do anything while they rode on laughing.”

“We don’t deserve it,” he wrote. “Am I afraid to go to work? Of course I am.”

In the central state of Morelos late last month, residents of the rural community of Axochiapan protested outside their local hospital, which they heard might be used to treat coronavirus patients. When the hospital director came out to say nothing had been decided yet, a man shouted that they would burn the hospital down.

The hospital attacked this week in Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon had been turned over to the military to receive COVID-19 patients.

“To threaten the physical safety of medical personnel or to affect the functioning and operation of the hospital infrastructure dedicated in this moment to the health emergency puts at risk the capacity of response that the population requires,”said Víctor Hugo Borja, director of medical services for Mexico’s public health system.

Mexico is not the only place seeing such harassment of medical personnel.

In Argentina, each night residents go out to their balconies or windows to applaud those working in the health system. But in one incident, a group of residents in an apartment building advised a doctor living there that she not be in the building’s common spaces or risk legal consequences. They told her to “not touch door handles, stairway railings and to not be on the terrace.”

In another case, a pharmacist found a sign on his building’s elevator telling him he should leave the building to not spread the virus to his neighbors. He reported it to authorities.

Victoria Donda, head of Argentina’s National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, said doctors and nurses were among an “enormous quantity of cases of discrimination” they are receiving related to the pandemic.

“We can’t applaud at 9 at night and discriminate at 9 in the morning,” she said. “We have to inform ourselves well so that the emotions that burst forth are not irrational in this emergency and we don’t let fear overtake us.”

TRUMP SAYS PHUK WHO 

Trump threatens withholding funds from UN world health body

AFP/File / Fabrice COFFRINIUS 

President Donald Trump threatened "to put a very powerful 

hold on" funding to WHO, whose logo is pictured, but later 

said he wasn't saying he was going to do it

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cut US funding to the World Health Organization, accusing it of bias toward China during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump told reporters he was "going to put a very powerful hold on" funding to WHO, the UN body whose biggest funding source is the United States.

"We're going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO," said Trump, who pursues an "America First" agenda and has previously criticized other UN and multilateral agencies.

He gave no details about how much money would be withheld and minutes later during the same press conference he said: "I'm not saying I'm going to do it."

"We will look at ending funding," he added.

According to Trump, the WHO "seems to be very biased toward China. That's not right."

His comments built on an earlier statement on Twitter in which he accused the WHO of being "very China centric."
Trump asked why the WHO had given "such a faulty recommendation," apparently referring to the UN body's advice against curtailing international travel to stop the virus which first spread from China.

"Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on," Trump wrote, referring to his decision to ban travel from the country.

China faces criticism in Washington, particularly from Republicans, over the way it handled the pandemic and Trump has expressed doubt over the accuracy of Chinese statistics for cases and deaths.

However, Trump himself has been widely criticized for initially downplaying the virus, which he likened to an ordinary flu and said was under control in the United States, before later accepting that it was a national emergency.

By JONATHAN LEMIRE, JILL COLVIN and ZEKE MILLER


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to freeze U.S. funding to the World Health Organization, saying the international group had “missed the call” on the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump also played down the release of January memos from a senior adviser that represented an early warning of a possible coronavirus pandemic, saying he had not seen them at the time. But he turned his anger on the WHO, first declaring that he would cut off U.S. funding for the organization, then backtracking and saying he would “strongly consider” such a move.

Trump said the international group had “called it wrong” on the virus and that the organization was “very China-centric” in its approach, suggesting that the WHO had gone along with Beijing’s efforts months ago to minimize the severity of the outbreak. The WHO has praised China for its transparency on the virus, even though there has been reason to believe that more people died of COVID-19 than the country’s official tally.


“They should have known and they probably did know,” Trump said of WHO officials.

Throughout his presidency, Trump has voiced skepticism toward many international organizations and has repeatedly heaped scorn on the WHO. In its most recent budget proposal, in February, the Trump administration called for slashing the U.S. contribution to the WHO from an estimated $122.6 million to $57.9 million.

The organization’s current guidance does not advocate closing borders or restricting travel, though many nations, including the United States, have enacted those steps. The WHO declared COVID-19 a public health emergency on Jan. 30, nearly a month before Trump tweeted that “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA” and a full 43 days before he declared a national emergency in the United States.

Health experts have suggested that the weekly death totals will reach a new high in the United States this week. More than 12,000 people have died from the virus in the U.S.

Vice President Mike Pence said that the Centers for Disease Control will release new guidelines this week for returning to work for people with potential exposure but who may not be displaying symptoms.

Trump continued on Tuesday to defend his actions in the early days of the crisis. He played down memos written by Peter Navarro, a senior White House adviser, that were made public this week. In the late January memos, the most direct warning as yet uncovered in the upper levels of the Trump administration, Navarro warned that the coronavirus crisis could cost the United States trillions of dollars and put millions of Americans at risk of illness or death.

Trump said Tuesday that he was not aware of the memos back in January but that he unilaterally followed some of their recommendations, including taking steps to curtail travel from China. But he said he wouldn’t have wanted to act prematurely when it was not clear how dire the situation would become.

“I don’t want to create havoc and shock and everything else. I’m not going to go out and start screaming, ’This could happen, this could happen,’” Trump said. “I’m a cheerleader for this country.”

UN health agency on defensive after Trump slams it on virus

FILE - In this Monday, March 9, 2020 file photo, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization speaks during a news conference on updates regarding on the novel coronavirus COVID-19, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. After the new coronavirus erupted in China, the World Health Organization sprang into action: It declared an international health emergency, rushed a team to the epicenter in Wuhan and urged other countries to get ready and drum up funding for the response. Many analysts have praised the initial response by the world’s go-to agency on health matters. But now, governments have started to brush aside, ignore and criticize WHO recommendations on issues of public policy, like whether cross-border travel should be restricted or whether the public should wear masks. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, file)

GENEVA (AP) — In a heartfelt plea for unity, the World Health Organization’s chief sought Wednesday to rise above sharp criticism and threats of funding cuts from U.S. President Donald Trump over the agency’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The vocal defense from the WHO Director-General came a day after Trump blasted the U.N. agency for being “China-centric” and alleging that it had “criticized” his ban of travel from China as the COVID-19 outbreak was spreading from the city of Wuhan. Tedros, an Ethiopian and the WHO’s first African leader, projected humility and minimized his personal role while decrying invective and even racist slurs against him amid the WHO’s response to the disease. The new coronavirus has infected more than 1.4 million people and cost over 83,000 lives across the globe. “Why would I care about being attacked when people are dying?” he said. “I know that I am just an individual. Tedros is just a dot in the whole universe.


But he dodged questions about Trump’s comments, while acknowledging the the agency was made up of humans “who make mistakes,” and insisted his key focus was saving lives, not getting caught up in politics.

“No need to use COVID to score political points. You have many other ways to prove yourself,” he said. “Without unity, we can assure you, every country will be in trouble.”

Avoiding any direct mention of Trump, Tedros’ comments testified to the often-delicate task faced by U.N. leaders when criticized by member states. That challenge is especially difficult with the United States, the biggest donor to the world body and its offshoots. At the White House on Tuesday, Trump first said the United States would “put a hold” on WHO funding, and then revised that to say, “We will look at ending funding.” He took aim particularly at its alleged criticism of the U.S. ban on travel to and from China.

“The WHO ... receives vast amounts of money from the United States,” Trump said. “And they actually criticized and disagreed with my travel ban at the time I did it. And they were wrong. They’ve been wrong about a lot of things.”

Generally, the WHO has been careful not to criticize countries on their national polices, and it was not immediately clear what specific criticism Trump was alluding to.

Trump’s remarks came as many governments, particularly in Europe, have started to brush aside, ignore and criticize WHO recommendations on issues of public policy, like whether travel restrictions are warranted or whether the public should wear masks. In guidance that dates to Feb. 29, WHO advises against travel or trade restrictions with regard to countries facing the outbreak - now nearly every country in the world - arguing the measures could divert resources, prevent the delivery of aid, and hurt economies. The United States contributed nearly $900 million to the WHO budget for 2018-2019, according to information on the agency’s website. That represents one-fifth of the WHO’s total $4.4 billion budget for those years.


The U.S. gave nearly three-fourths of the funds in “specified voluntary contributions” and the rest in “assessed” funding as part of Washington’s commitment to U.N. institutions.

A more detailed WHO budget document provided by the U.S. mission in Geneva showed the United States provided $452 million in 2019, including nearly $119 million in assessed funding. In its most recent budget proposal from February, the Trump administration called for slashing the U.S. contribution to the WHO to $57.9 million. Some African leaders and the U.N. chief rallied around Tedros and the agency, insisting a worldwide public health crisis was no time to reduce the budget of the entity working to coordinate an often-disjointed international response. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the WHO “is absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19” and must be supported. Once the pandemic ends, he said, there must be an investigation into how it emerged and spread so quickly as well as into the reactions of all those involved in the crisis so lessons can be learned.

The chair of the African Union’s commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, wrote on Twitter: “Surprised to learn of a campaign by the U.S. govt against WHO’s global leadership. The African Union fully supports WHO and Dr. Tedros.” Namibia’s President Hage Geingob tweeted that “WHO, under the stewardship of Dr. Tedros, has shown itself to be a true flag-bearer of multilateralism when global solidarity has become critical.”

Some U.S. lawmakers piled on alongside Trump, with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida calling for Tedros to resign. “Unfortunately, it has been politicized,” he said of the WHO on Fox News. “I have deep concerns about it.” ___ Jill Colvin in Washington, Edith M. Lederer in New York, Cara Anna in Johannesburg and Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.

CATS CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN MEME

FORGOTTEN HEROES MEME

MY PROFESSION 

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY TECHNICIANS

AKA JANITORS, CUSTODIANS, CARETAKERS, CLEANERS

A member of cleaning crew washes metro car as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus in Mexico City, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. For most people COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms. For others, especially the elderly and people with existing health problems, it can cause many other serious illnesses, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)