British nuclear shipyard fire sends two to hospital, police say no nuclear risk


A significant BAE Systems nuclear submarine shipyard fire just after midnight at Britain's Barrow-in-Furness sent two people to the hospital early Wednesday morning. File Photo by Neil Hall/EPA-EFE

Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Two people were transported to a hospital for treatment after a fire at a BAE Systems nuclear submarine shipyard fire just after midnight at Britain's Barrow-in-Furness.

The two people were treated for smoke inhalation and released. The Ministry of Defense, emergency services and BAE were all working together in response and investigation of the cause as police said there was no nuclear risk

"There is no nuclear risk. However, people living nearby are advised to remain indoors and keep doors and windows closed," Cumbria Police said on X.

The main building facility of the nuclear submarine shipyard was evacuated overnight.

Naval sources downplayed the concern the fire may be suspicious and possibly be connected to Russia, but the investigation into the cause is in its early stages.

Cumbria Fire and Rescue's Stuart Hook said firefighters used 15 pieces of equipment to put out the fire.

The facility is huge and images posted to social media revealed flames coming from the Devonshire Dock Hall building. It's the main construction site for Britain's Trident nuclear submarine program.

Four Dreadnaught class submarines are currently being built at the roughly six-acre facility. They are scheduled to replace Vanguard submarines in the early 2030s.

"My son came and got me and said that the BAE alarms were going off, so we went. When I opened the front door, we just saw a lot of black smoke. It was a lot of black smoke, like really thick black smoke, and it was very loud," A woman witness told The Guardian.

David Harris, who lives near the shipyard, told the BBC he saw smoke in the distance as he left a local gym.

"Given the equipment used within the submarines... I only live a few streets back from where I took the footage, so I did feel worried," he said.

Smoke damage could be seen at the affected building, but the full extent of the damage was not yet known.

All non-essential staff at Devonshire Dock Hall were told not to come to work while other staff were told to come in as usual.

LITHIUM BATTERIES FIRE RISK

Missouri battery recycling plant erupts in flames; evacuations ordered


 A fire erupted at Critical Mineral Recovery in Fredericktown, Mo., Wednesday, 

prompting evacuations. Photo courtesy of Madison County 911/Facebook


Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A fire erupted at a Missouri lithium-ion battery recycling plant on Wednesday, prompting authorities in Fredericktown, Mo., to order some residents to evacuate.

Video of the incident at Critical Mineral Recovery shows smoke billowing from the 225,000-square-foot facility. One video shows an eruption piercing through the roof, ejecting a fireball into the sky.

"Per the Madison County Sheriffs Office EVERYONE North and North West of the village creek road and Madison 217 are needs to Evacuate IMMEDIATELY!" Maddison County 911 said on Facebook. "If you can see or smell smoke in this area you need to evacuate!"

Fredericktown Fire Department urged residents online to shelter in place, close windows and turn off air conditioning units.

At least 25 fire departments, along with multiple enforcement agencies, responded to the scene, according to Madison County Sheriff Katy McCutcheon, who told reporters during a brief conference that dispatch received a call about the fire at 1:37 p.m. local time.

She said the fire had been "somewhat contained" and that the evacuations were ordered for Madison County Road 277, where smoke from the plant was wafting. Fire officials are warning winds are expected to continue to push the smoke in a north-northwest direction into Thursday morning.

"We were told by plant operations managers that they're not concerned with the smoke but it's heavy enough that people do need to evacuate," she said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, and the contents of the smoke were to be tested by the Department of Natural Resources.

McCutcheon said it was unclear what was on fire. Critical Mineral Recovery was "being tight-lipped," she said.

No injuries were reported.

"This could have been completely worse," she said

Who should get paid for nature's sequenced genes?

Agence France-Presse
October 30, 2024 6:36AM ET

Vanilla is grown in tropical regions of the world (Menahem KAHANA/AFP)

Much of the vanilla that flavors our ice cream today is artificial, derived from the genetic signature of a plant that hundreds of years ago was known only to an Indigenous Mexican tribe.

The plant's sequenced genomic information, available on public databases, was used as the basis for a synthetic flavoring that today competes with vanilla grown in several countries, mainly by small-scale farmers.

Few, if any, benefits of the lucrative scientific advance have trickled down to the communities that gave us vanilla in the first place.

"Wild genetic resources and pharmaceuticals ... are a multi-multi-billion dollar businesses. They clearly are profitable... that's not in dispute," Charles Barber of the World Resources Institute think tank told AFP.

"A great deal of really valuable information has fed into the system from research and utilization of wild genetic resources. And there is no mechanism currently to compensate the people where this information is coming from" in the form of digitally sequenced data, he added.

Much of the information comes from poor countries.

Fair sharing of the gains derived from digitally-stored genetic sequencing data has been a headache for negotiators at the COP16 biodiversity summit into its second week in Cali, Colombia.

At the last conference, in Montreal in 2022, 196 country parties to the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agreed to create a benefit-sharing mechanism for the use of digital sequence information (DSI).

Two years later, they still need to resolve such basic questions as who pays, how much, into which fund, and to whom does the money go?

- 'Cheap and very fast' -

The issue is a complex one.

There is little debate that genetic data-sharing on mostly free-access platforms is crucial for human advancement through medicine and vaccine development, for example.


But how to quantify the value of the sequenced information itself? And should the first people to discover a plant's particular usefulness be compensated?

"Sequencing technology has become so advanced that you can go with a... handheld device a little bit bigger than a cell phone and you can literally sequence a genome in an hour or two and upload it as you sequence it," Pierre du Plessis, a DSI expert and former negotiator for African countries at the CBD told AFP.

These gene sequences are then uploaded to databases which artificial intelligence can mine for potential leads for product development.


DSI is worth an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars a year. And there is a lot of it out there.

"Once the sequence is put into a public database, generally, no benefit-sharing obligations apply," Nithin Ramakrishnan, a researcher with the Third World Network, an advocacy NGO for developing countries, told AFP in Cali.

"Like when the sandalwood sequence information is available in the database whether India wants to share its sandalwood... with a cosmetic company or not, doesn't matter.


- Mandatory -

A point of contention in Cali is a demand from developing countries that payment for DSI use be mandatory, perhaps through a one-percent levy on profits from drugs, cosmetics or other products.

They also want guarantees of non-monetary benefits such as access to vaccines produced from genetic information sequenced from viruses and other pathogens.


"We want real understanding, sector-specific understanding of what non-monetary benefits will be shared and we want the system to be obligatory -- the users should have some form of obligation to share benefits," said Ramakrishnan.

Another sticking point is access for Indigenous people and local communities to DSI funds.

Developing countries want the information on genetic databases to be traceable and "answerable to governments" of the countries where it comes from, said Ramakrishnan.


But rich nations and many researchers oppose such a model which they fear will be too onerous, potentially putting the brakes on scientific pursuits that could benefit all humankind.

With such divergent points of view, observers are doubtful the Cali COP will emerge with any firm decisions on the outstanding questions by closing time on Friday.

The World Wildlife Fund has said "many more rounds of negotiations appear necessary" on DSI.


Added Barber: "I think it's not going to all get solved here."

Tuberculosis cases hit record high: WHO

Agence France-Presse
October 30, 2024 

A Vietnamese doctor and his colleague check X-rays of a drug-resistant tuberculosis patient at the National Lung Hospital in Hanoi (AFP)

A record 8.2 million new tuberculosis cases were diagnosed worldwide last year, the World Health Organization said -- the highest number since it began global TB monitoring in 1995.

The WHO said its Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, released Tuesday, highlights "mixed progress in the global fight against TB, with persistent challenges such as significant underfunding".

While the number of TB-related deaths declined from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25 million last year, the total number of people contracting the infectious disease increased from 7.5 million to 8.2 million.

However, not all new cases are diagnosed, and WHO estimates that around 10.8 million people actually contracted the disease last year.

"The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

"WHO urges all countries to make good on the concrete commitments they have made to expand the use of those tools, and to end TB."

The increase in cases between 2022 and 2023 largely reflects global population growth, the report said.

Last year the TB incidence rate was 134 new cases per 100,000 people -- a 0.2-percent increase compared to 2022.

- Global targets 'off-track' -

The disease disproportionately affects people in 30 high-burden countries.

And five countries -- India, Indonesia, China, Philippines and Pakistan -- account for more than half of the global TB burden, with more than a quarter of the cases found in India alone.

According to the report, 55 percent of people who developed TB were men, 33 percent were women and 12 percent were children and young adolescents.

A preventable and curable disease, TB is caused by bacteria and most often affects the lungs. It is spread through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit.

The WHO said a significant number of new TB cases were driven by five major risk factors: undernutrition, HIV infection, alcohol use disorders, diabetes, and, especially among men, smoking.

"Global milestones and targets for reducing the TB disease burden are off-track," the WHO said.

Only $5.7 billion of the $22 billion global annual funding target for TB prevention and care was available last year.

"In 2023, TB probably returned to being the world's leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, following three years in which it was replaced by coronavirus disease (Covid-19)," the WHO added.

© Agence France-Presse

Discrimination may cause gut inflammation, digestive woes, study says

By Susan Kreimer

Based on the study, researchers predicted with 91% accuracy which participants faced discrimination by using stool samples to analyze their gut microbiome. 

Photo by cottonbro studio/Pexels


NEW YORK, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Discrimination -- prejudiced actions toward people based on their identity -- may cause stress that impairs gut health and lead to the growth of unhealthy bacteria that promote inflammation, a new study has found.

The study was published Friday in Frontiers in Microbiology.

When stress compromises the signals between the brain and the gut, it weakens the immune system and alters gut microbiome -- microorganisms that live in the digestive tract. The resulting inflammation prompts the gut to leak nutrients, lose good bacteria and disrupt the normal function of genes.

Advancing knowledge about the interaction between the brain and the gut enables scientists to learn about the impact of discrimination-induced anxiety on disease and perhaps offset some of the risk.

"It helps us understand the biological link between discrimination, stress, and potentially other social determinants of health and how they affect the body," the study's lead author, Dr. Tien Dong, an assistant professor of gastroenterology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles, told UPI.

Dong, who also is director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center Biorepository Core at UCLA, and his co-authors wrote that belonging to either an "advantaged" or "disadvantaged" group can affect healthcare outcomes.

Based on the study, the researchers predicted with 91% accuracy which participants faced discrimination by using stool samples to analyze their gut microbiome.

They surveyed 154 Asian, Black, Hispanic and White male and female adults about everyday types of discrimination -- including gender, race or religion -- and their psychological health.

Then they sequenced participants' stool samples and divided the individuals into two groups: those who ranked high on perceived discrimination and those who ranked low.

Individuals in the high-discrimination group had lower levels of Prevotella, a bacteria linked to anti-inflammatory properties, compared to the low-discrimination group.

Meanwhile, the low-discrimination group had higher levels of Ruminococcus, an anti-inflammatory bacterium, compared to the high-discrimination group.

Gene activity also varied between the two groups. A particular set of genes was triggered in the high-discrimination group, and a certain set of genes was switched on in the low-discrimination group.

Aside from these changes in the gut, the high-discrimination group also was more likely to have experienced early trauma. Participants in this group reported higher levels of anxiety and more profound sensations in their gut.

"Discrimination likely elevates your level of stress," Dong said.

"Stress is manifested in your body in multiple ways, including changes in your immune system, hormone signaling and signaling in your brain -- all of which can affect your gut microbiome," he added.

Although people may not be able to address systemic discrimination, they have the freedom to make decisions that will influence their health in positive ways, researchers said.

They suggested potential coping mechanisms, such as making dietary changes or taking probiotic supplements.

"People who are under stress tend to eat more processed foods high in simple carbs and fat," Dong said.

Other experts expressed great interest in the findings.

"This study demonstrates that discrimination -- a pervasive social stressor -- can significantly alter the gut microbiome, potentially contributing to negative health outcomes," said Ashutosh Mangalam, an associate professor of pathology and director of the Microbiome Core at University of Iowa Health Care in Iowa City. He was not involved in the study.

"Understanding this connection can raise awareness, inform public health initiatives and potentially lead to interventions that promote health equity," Mangalam said.

Based on this study, it's premature to recommend specific interventions, he said, adding that it wouldn't hurt to prioritize self-care strategies that support gut health, such as a balanced diet, stress management techniques, and possibly probiotic or prebiotic options in consultation with a healthcare professional.

Dr. Aasma Shaukat, director of outcomes research for gastroenterology and hepatology at NYU Langone Health in New York City, said the study doesn't demonstrate that changes in gut microbiome lead to more physical health conditions, such as cancer, lower immunity, infections or other symptoms.

It's conceivable that other factors played a role -- perhaps lack of sleep, differences in food intake and use of antibiotics or medications due to high stress and mental health disorders, Shaukat said.

However, she called the study "thought-provoking" and noted that additional research could shed more light on the connection between mind and body and its effects on gut microbiome.

The composition of gut microbiome differs greatly in healthy individuals compared to people with a broad range of chronic diseases, said Reza Hakkak, professor and chair of the department of dietetics and nutrition at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

Other reports have associated unhealthy gut microbiomes with the development of obesity, chronic conditions of the liver and cardiovascular system, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, mental health disorders, type 2 diabetes and certain malignancies, including colon cancer, Hakkak noted.

It's important to eat more fruits and vegetables and consume less fat, while maintaining a normal body weight and exercising more, he said, adding that "our diets and lifestyles play a major role in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome."

Legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin endorses Trump as Harris picks up support from Schwarzenegger

President Donald Trump talks to Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the Oval Office of the White House in July 2019. On Wednesday, the former president received Aldrin's endorsement for president. 

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 30 (UPI) -- With less than a week to go before Tuesday's general election, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have secured the endorsements of two well-known Americans.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin has officially endorsed Trump, while actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threw his support behind Harris.

ALDRIN IS A CONSPIRACY THEORIST QUACK

Aldrin said he's intrigued by Trump's support for space exploration and the importance that he placed on space while president.

"A half century ago, it was an honor to serve my country in the effort to put a human being on the moon," Aldrin said Wednesday in a post on X. "I have dedicated my life to the pursuit of an enduring human presence in space."

Aldrin said he has seen governmental support for space exploration "wax and wane," and was impressed at the importance Trump gave human space exploration while he was president.

"Under President Trump's first term, America saw are vitalized interest in space, and his administration reignited national efforts to get back to the moon and push on to Mars," Aldrin posted.

He said the Trump administration re-instituted the National Space Council and enhanced national security through the creation of the U.S. Space Force.

Aldrin said he also was encouraged by private investment in space exploration during the Trump administration.

"I have been enthused and excited by the great advancements in the private sector space economy, led by visionaries like Elon Musk," Aldrin said. "These are concrete accomplishments that align with my concerns and America's policy priorities."

Schwarzenegger's endorsement of Harris is especially important because he is a former Republican governor of California, he said Wednesday in a post on X.

He said he normally doesn't offer political endorsements, hates politics and doesn't trust most politicians.

Because he is a former Republican governor as well as a celebrity, Schwarzenegger said people are interested in knowing who he supports for the presidency.

"My time as governor taught me to love policy and ignore politics," Schwarzenegger said. Policy "requires working with the other side, not insulting them to win your next election."

He said policies can help make people's lives better and he supports the "fight for clean air and stripping the power from the politicians who rig the system against the people."

Schwarzenegger said he doesn't like the Democratic or Republican parties at the moment. The GOP has "forgotten the beauty of the free market" while driving up national deficits and rejected election results.

He said Democrats are just as bad about driving up deficits and he worries about "their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime."

Schwarzenegger said he'd like to tune out politics this year but can't and alluded to Trump challenging the 2020 election results.

"Rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets," he said. "Calling America ... a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious."

He said he "will always be an American before I am a Republican."

"That's why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz," Schwarzenegger said. "I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don't recognize our county, and you are right to be furious."

PUERTO RICANS PISSED OFF

'Fuera!' Latinos protest Trump in battleground Pennsylvania city

Agence France-Presse
October 30, 2024

Supporters of US Vice President Kamala Harris, including Puerto Rican Americans, protested near a Donald Trump rally in Allentown, a minority-majority city in Pennsylvania (SAMUEL CORUM/AFP)

The chants Tuesday in the largely Hispanic Pennsylvania city of Allentown came from a small but proud and passionate group of protesters outside Donald Trump's latest campaign rally: "Immigrants make America great!"

The refrain -- a play on Trump's "Make American Great Again" slogan -- along with pointed calls of "Trump, fuera!" (Trump, go away) reflect mounting anger among Latinos, in particular those from Puerto Rico, after a comedian who spoke at last weekend's Trump rally in New York likened the US island territory to a pile of garbage.

"Latinos are very disgusted by this," 60-year-old clerk Ivet Figueroa, raised in working-class Allentown by Puerto Rican parents, told AFP as some 50 protesters gathered near the long line of Trump supporters waiting to enter the arena for the former president's speech.

"We are citizens, and he's referring to us that way?" she added. "How dare him!"

The shock remarks at Sunday's Madison Square Garden rally from the comic who called Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage" have reverberated across the American voter landscape with just a week before Election Day on November 5.

And in a race going down to the wire, the biggest battleground state of all is a toss-up, polls show. A shift of just a few thousand votes could tilt Pennsylvania either to Democrat Kamala Harris or Trump.

Which makes comedian Tony Hinchcliffe's remarks all the more startling.

They have galvanized Puerto Rican voters -- not those on the island, who cannot vote in US presidential elections, but the million-plus so-called "Boricuas" who reside in the country's 50 states, notably the seven battleground states likely to determine the result of the race between Trump and Harris.

- 'Changing their minds' -

Pennsylvania is home to more than 400,000 Puerto Ricans, and get-out-the-vote organizers have already said they see evidence that the controversy is turning Latinos against the Republican former president, even as Trump claims he has been making inroads with the traditionally Democratic-leaning bloc.

"We have heard people actually changing their minds, who are Republicans and now because of this are going to vote for Kamala," said Armando Jimenez, a deputy organizing director for Make the Road Action Pennsylvania.

Tuesday's protest was not the flashpoint it could have been. Many Puerto Ricans stayed home out of fear or nerves, and road closures suppressed the protest attendance, Jimenez argued. It was also a weekday, when people were at work.

But the demonstration -- with Trump supporters occasionally trying to shout down protesters as they marched toward the venue -- highlighted the potential influence of a scorned voter demographic.

"We're the largest-growing voting bloc in the whole country, so anything can really sway the election if we continue to be attacked," Jimenez said.

For Puerto Rican Michelle Fernandez, a devout Trump supporter standing in line at the rally, the comedian's remarks were water off a duck's back.

"It didn't touch a nerve with me," the 54-year-old told AFP alongside her husband, both of whom held "Boricuas con Trump" placards, explaining that the remark "didn't come out of Trump's mouth."

"The comment was ugly, but the comment is not the deciding choice for me," Fernandez, a private sector worker, told AFP. More important to her: undocumented immigration, crime, and the US economy.

While she is more than ready to see a woman win the White House, Harris "has shown no leadership at all in my eye."

As Garbage-gate raged, Trump allies warmed up the arena crowd before the headliner arrived. They included Puerto Ricans like Tim Ramos, a former mayoral candidate in Allentown.

The current mayor, Democrat Matthew Tuerk, was outside at the protest, venting over Hinchcliffe's garbage remark.

"It's an insult to the people here in Allentown!" he told dozens of protesters.


"They're making a closing argument of grievances, about 'the enemy within,'" he said, paraphrasing Trump's own provocative words about Americans he perceives as evil.

"You know who he means? Us. He's talking about us."

Nearby a lone man held up a sign: "Make Racism Shameful Again."


Figueroa, the Allentown native, held her own handmade sign featuring an image of a garbage can.

"Nov 5 is trash day," the sign read. "Let's put you where you belong."

Singer Nicky Jam yanks Trump endorsement over 'island of garbage' Puerto Rico joke

Sarah K. Burris
October 30, 2024 
RAW STORY


Reggaeton artist Nicky Jam pulled his endorsement of former President Donald Trump on Wednesday after a comedian at his Madison Square Garden rally called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."

Nicky Jam, whose father is Puerto Rican, renounced his support for Trump in an Instagram video post, CBS News political campaign reporter Nidia Cavazos was among the first to announce.

"The reggaeton star said he once supported Trump with the economy being top of mind," Cavazos wrote, "but will not tolerate disrespect toward Puerto Rico.

In the video, Jam addressed his 43.5 million followers in Spanish.

MSNBC reported that Jam said “never in his life” did he think “a comedian would appear to criticize and talk badly about my [Puerto Rico]. That’s why I’m renouncing my support for Donald Trump and stepping away from any political conversation. Puerto Rico deserves respect.”

His caption for the video was of the flag of Puerto Rico.

The Reggaeton star reportedly scrubbed his presidential endorsement off social media in September after former President Donald Trump mistakenly introduced the singer as "hot" and used the pronoun "she."

Now, Jam is pulling the endorsement entirely.

See the video below or at the link here.

'They are switching their vote!' Analyst says music star's decision is a fiasco for Trump

Matthew Chapman
October 30, 2024 
RAW STORY

Donald Trump (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP)

Democratic strategist Maria Cardona warned longtime Trump insider Matt Mowers on CNN to ignore the Puerto Rican influencers abandoning former President Donald Trump at his own peril.

The latest to do so is Reggaeton superstar Nicky Jam, who on Wednesday walked back his endorsement of Trump over a racist comedy routine at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally in which a comedian called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage." Jam's endorsement has already faced questions after he scrubbed it off social media last month when Trump mistakenly thought he was a woman and called him "hot."

"Obviously, he's not a household name, but in some communities, he's a very popular artist who means a lot," said CNN anchor Boris Sanchez. "What's the significance of him coming out now and withdrawing his endorsement of Donald Trump?"

Mowers insisted that it wouldn't do very much.

"I get it. Six days out from election, Democrats are going to try to spin whatever they can to try to say, 'Look, it was really about the Puerto Rican community in Pennsylvania' ... if you look at the vast majority of polling, voters are not undecided right now and yes, maybe there's going to be one or two people who will flip. I guarantee if we found a couple of anecdotes, we could find some on the other side, at the end of the day though this is a very baked-in electorate, voters have made up their minds. They're not going to change it in the final six days, regardless of what you say."

Indeed, he added, "I think President Biden's comments last night calling half of Americans garbage is going to resonate ... where they could be more motivated to show up as a result of the fact that they feel like they were attacked by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris."

Cardona told him that was wishful thinking.

"What I'm hearing from what Nicky Jam did, and from what I'm hearing what voters are saying, they are switching their votes," she said. "In Pennsylvania, 500,000 Puertorriqueños, more in the battleground states. In Nevada, John King had a piece about Latinos, not Puertorriqueños, Latinos who were saying, 'That didn't just p--- off Puertorriqueños, it p---ed the Latino community off, because you're talking about us.' And people are calling into my show, Latino DJ, saying they are switching their vote. So if you think that that has no effect, keep thinking that. We'll talk on Tuesday."

Watch the video below or at the link here

Latino evangelical voters torn between their faith and harsh rhetoric around immigration


Pastor Arturo Laguna speaks during services at Casa de Adoracion, 

Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Chris Coduto)

BY DEEPA BHARATH
, October 30, 2024

The Rev. Arturo Laguna leads a largely immigrant church of about 100 followers in Phoenix. His job as a pastor, he says, gets complicated come election season.

Laguna’s church, Casa de Adoracion, is in Arizona — one of seven closely-watched swing states that could possibly decide the next president. It is also a microcosm of the larger Latino evangelical Christian community in the U.S.

The soft-spoken Laguna says, for the members of his congregation, voting is “not an intellectual issue.”

“It’s a matter of faith and spirituality,” he said. “We’re in a complicated moment because, on the one hand, we are against abortion, and on the other, we are concerned about the sharp rhetoric around immigration and lack of reform. It’s a difficult choice.”

This is not a new dilemma for Latino evangelicals, who are growing in numbers even as mainline white Protestant denominations have steadily declined. Latino evangelicals are an influential voting bloc. Both parties have tried to appeal to them over the past two election cycles — neither with remarkable success — according to faith and community leaders.

A 2022 Pew Research Center survey showed 15% of Latinos in the U.S identify as evangelical Protestants. Among all American evangelicals, they are the fastest-growing group. About half of Latino evangelicals identified as Republicans or as independents who lean right, while 44% identified as Democrats or as independents leaning left.

While U.S. Latinos generally favor Democratic candidates, a majority of Latino evangelicals backed Donald Trump in 2020. According to AP Votecast, about six in 10 Latino evangelical voters supported Trump in 2020, while four in 10 supported Biden.

A Pew survey released last month showed that about two-thirds of Latino Protestants planned to back Trump this year, while about two-thirds of Hispanic Catholics and religiously unaffiliated Hispanics said they were supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

Agustin Quiles, president and founder of Mission Talk, a Florida-based Latino Christian social justice organization, says conflicting priorities leave some Latino evangelicals feeling politically homeless. Some are torn between their conservative views on social issues such as abortion and their desire to see immigration and criminal justice reform, he said.

While many are offended by Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, Quiles added, Democrats still haven’t figured out how to have conversations with the community about issues such as abortion.

“So there is a lot of silence among Latino evangelicals right now,” he said. “That does not mean they are not going to vote. There is just a lot of discontent.”

To understand Latino evangelicals, it is important to understand their origins, said Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, a scholar of the Association of Hispanic Theological Association. The word “evangelico” pertains to Protestants or those who are not Catholic, which includes a wide swath of churches, cultures and traditions, she said.

“When immigrants come here and have to reestablish themselves, the Protestant, Pentecostal and mainline churches become spaces where people create a new sense of community and family,” Conde-Frazier said. “People are trying to understand what life is supposed to be in this country.”

With white Protestantism in decline and different mainline denominations vying for the loyalty of these communities, second-generation Latino Christians became more a part of the dominant culture and often embraced the fervor of the white evangelical church, she said.

“Latino churches, in order to gain a sense of power and acceptance, began to align with (white conservative) evangelical churches in the U.S., moving away from their ‘evangelico’ roots,” Conde-Frazier said. Now, she added, some Latino evangelicals find themselves increasingly at odds with their white counterparts because they are pro-immigration.

Quiles says in white evangelical churches where Latinos, including undocumented immigrants, are growing in numbers, there is palpable dissonance between what is said in the pulpit and how those in the pews perceive it.

“Just because a pastor pushes anti-immigrant agenda, that does not mean members are receiving it,” he said. “They selectively take what they want from the teaching.”

The Rev. Juan Garcia, who leads a 100-strong Hispanic ministry at the First Baptist Church in Newport News, Virginia, said the word “evangelico” represents the Gospel to him. He says the “evangelical” label feels tainted because of its affiliation with one political party.

“Jesus is not Democrat or Republican,” he said. “Some see their Christian values being represented by the Republican party and others see some of their values represented by the Democrats. But neither party is Christian in essence.”

Garcia feels that sense of political homelessness, too.

“I have a candidate I may vote for, but no political party I’d like to belong to,” he said. “The most important value we as Christians must live by is love — love our neighbors, the poor, those fleeing persecution.”

Garcia said he has his “opinions and inclinations” but doesn’t view the candidate he favors as flawless. He warns his flock: “If one is the anti-Christ, the other is not Christ.”

The Rev. Jacqueline Tavarez, pastor of the Pentecostal Church of God in Raleigh, North Carolina, says her diverse congregation cares more about the values a political party represents rather than the face or the voice of the party.

“Our community doesn’t care about the politics,” she said. “They care about laws that affect our communities in terms of jobs, opportunities, education. And they view abortion and transgender laws as an attack on family values. When they see the ballot, they don’t see Trump or (Harris). They see what the party supports and how the community is going to fare under a candidate.”

The Rev. Lori Tapia, the Arizona-based national pastor and president of the Obra Hispana, Disciples of Christ, said politics is not typically integrated into the life of the Latino evangelical church. Unlike white evangelical congregations, political engagement happens more organically, she said.

“Here, the compassion piece is always stronger and there is a desire to see leaders who will prioritize compassionate politics,” Tapia said. “There is also frustration at how slow progress is on critical issues. Anyone can pitch a story or a political campaign. But where is it being manifested in the lives of people who are struggling?”

Bishop Angel Marcial, who leads the Church of God that oversees more than 15,000 churches, says some of the main issues for his congregants are healthcare education, public safety and housing.

“Voting gives you respect in this country and it brings opportunities for marginalized communities,” he said. “As pastors, we don’t tell people whom to vote for, but we do tell them about the platforms that best align with the values of the church and needs of our communities.”

John P. Tuman, professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, observes that in Las Vegas, Latino evangelicals who join larger evangelical churches that have English and Spanish services tend to skew conservative. However, in communities that form their own congregations and conduct services in Spanish and Otomi, an Indigenous language in Mexico, are likely to have more diverse political views.

“They tend to be historically in favor of immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, along with other elements of a social justice message that resonates more with Democratic candidates,” he said.

Nevada is also a key swing state.

Pastor Willie Pagan, who leads the 700-strong Iglesia de Dios in North Las Vegas that falls under the Church of God, said the economy is a top issue for his congregants.

“Yes, people are worried about immigration, but those who are here already, they want the economy to be stable,” he said. “They see homelessness and crime growing in Las Vegas. Our church was in a rough neighborhood that has gotten rougher recently.”

Pagan says some in his congregation believe they were better off financially and safer during the Trump administration, and wish to vote Republican to uphold their conservative religious values. But there are also those who fear they or their loved ones could get deported, he said.

“The struggle is real.”
___



Janett Laguna prays prior to services at Casa de Adoracion, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Chris Coduto)


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Pastor Arturo Laguna speaks during services at Casa de Adoracion, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Chris Coduto)



Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

DEEPA BHARATH
Bharath is a reporter with AP’s Global Religion team. She is based in Los Angeles.
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'Wild week': Analysis finds Trump Media stock plummeting amid NYC rally fallout

Kathleen Culliton

RAW STORY
October 30, 2024 

(Shutterstock.com)

Former President Donald Trump's eponymous media company saw stock prices plummet Wednesday amid blowback from the racist rhetoric at his New York City rally, a new analysis found

Trump Media stocks are on track for their largest daily decrease since April — when news broke its main asset Truth Social had lost about $58 million in 2023, Barron's reported.

"The stock may keep oscillating in what has already been a wild week," Barrons reported.

Trump Media trading was halted repeatedly Tuesday after shares swung from 14 percent gains to 3 percent declines, Barron's reported.

The stock, which trades under the ticker DJT, fell 21 percent to $40.84 on Wednesday, according to the Barron's analysis of Dow Jones Market Data.

"The price swings have little to do with the company’s fundamentals–its sales are minuscule for a company of its market value," wrote Brian Swint. "But traders can make money from its volatility."

Barron's noted Trump Media stock prices are often seen as a measure of the Republican presidential nominee's chances of winning the upcoming election.

"It’s unclear what might happen to DJT if Trump loses the election," Swint wrote. "He said he’s not ready to pare his stake yet, but if his political career ends next week, it’s hard to see how the company could be sustained."

Trump this week has faced condemnation for his rally in Madison Square Garden where a comedian called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage", spurred public outcry and potentially lost him a key swing state.

"If you shift just 10 or 15,000 votes of Puerto Ricans away from Donald Trump and back to Kamala Harris, you put her in a very strong position to win," former Republican strategist Mike Madrid said this week.

"Can Bad Bunny and Jennifer Lopez and Geraldo Rivera and Ricky Martin do that? I think they probably can."

Trump Media stock plummets 22% after five-week surge

Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, suffered a 22.3% drop in share price Wednesday, costing majority shareholder former President Donald Trump $1.3 billion in net worth. DJT stock fell from $51.51 a share Tuesday to $40.03 at Wednesday's close. File Photo by Will Oliver/EPA-EFE

Oct. 30 (UPI) -- After a weeks-long stock surge put Truth Social's value at more than Elon Musk's platform X, formerly known as Twitter, former President Donald Trump lost $1.3 billion of net worth Wednesday after the stock plummeted.

Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group's share price dropped 22.3% Wednesday in its worst one-day loss since going public in March.

Trump -- the Republican presidential nominee -- owns nearly 57% of Trump Media, which trades as DJT on the Nasdaq. DJT stock fell from $51.51 a share on Tuesday to $40.03 by the end of trading Wednesday.

Before Wednesday's drop, Trump Media stock had quadrupled in value in the last five weeks since Sept. 23.

On Monday, traders attributed the stock surge to bets that Trump will win the White House in next week's election.

By Wednesday's close, traders blamed the selloff on a loss of momentum for the meme stock, which has gained viral popularity.

Meme stocks are defined as securities that do not trade on fundamentals, but rather hype and expectations. Trump Media had not released any news or numbers that would have caused the stock to nosedive.

In April, Trump Media stock plummeted after the Truth Social app revealed it recorded a net loss of more than $52 million last year on scant revenues of $4 million.

Despite the volatile nature of the stock, Trump has vowed not to sell his shares.

'Weird and desperate': Critics laugh as Trump rides in MAGA-branded garbage truck

PUERTO RICO IS NOT A GARBAGE DUMP!!

Matthew Chapman
October 30, 2024 

RAW STORY

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, U.S. October 11, 2024. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

Former President Donald Trump engaged in a bizarre stunt ahead of his rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday: riding around in a garbage truck with his campaign logo printed on the side of it.

The truck was meant to draw attention to the campaign's grievance over President Joe Biden supposedly referring to Trump's supporters as "garbage" on a campaign call Tuesday evening. There is some dispute over what he said, and the White House has sought to clarify the "garbage" he referred to was the rhetoric of right-wing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage" at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally. The joke outraged many and sent the GOP into panic mode.

Trump delighted in his exhibition, speaking to reporters as he played with the truck while dressed in an orange safety vest.

“250 million people are not garbage,” he said. It's unclear where he got that number, which is more than three times the number of people who voted for him in 2020.

MAGA commentators on social media loved the stunt, proclaiming Trump a genius — but commenters on the left laughed at Trump and wondered why he insisted on dragging out a controversy that appeared to be hurting him.


"Hold the f--- on… did Donald Trump actually cosplay as a garbage man, in an actual f---ing garbage truck, while taking questions from the press about the speaker at HIS rally, who said Puerto Rico was garbage?" wrote political commentator "JoJoFromJerz."

"As Americans are outraged by someone at his rally who compared Puerto Rico to garbage, Trump thought it would be cute to take questions from a gigantic garbage truck," wrote progressive reporter Aaron Rupar.

"It takes some real 'let’s just do it and be legends' thinking to stick Trump in a damn garbage truck," wrote national security attorney Bradley Moss. He added, "I’m sorry, everyone else saw him straight up miss the door handle and nearly fall over, right?"


"Donald Trump, in an orange vest sitting in a garbage truck (?), says he doesn't know anything about Tony Hinchcliffe, the comedian who told horribly racist jokes at his disastrous rally at Madison Square Garden. All of this is super weird & desperate," wrote commentator Art Candee.

"Trump, shortly before calling Kamala Harris unwell, nearly busted his ass while trying to get in a garbage truck," wrote "Right Wing Cope," an account dedicated to compiling embarrassing moments for the GOP. "The stable genius is stable geniusing again."

Watch a video of the rally below or at this link.

  

Morning Joe laughs off Trump world's meltdown over 'garbage' comment

Tom Boggioni
October 30, 2024

RAW STORY

Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire (MSNBC screenshoit)

On Wednesday morning, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough laughed off the meltdown Donald Trump and his supporters are having over comments made by President Joe Biden that they believe labeled all of his followers as garbage.

The segment kicked off with "Morning Joe" regular Jonathan Lemire reporting on Trump and Fox News trying to make hay out of the comment which Biden asserted later was aimed solely at the Madison Square Garden rally comedian who smeared Puerto Rico and created a firestorm for the Trump campaign which has been in damage control ever since.

As Lemire explained, "The president said something and immediately tried to clarify it, Joe, but certainly a story on the right who are trying to paint this to be the next basket of deplorables."

A laughing Scarborough replied, "Well, of course. Donald Trump says shocking things every day on Fox News and all of his apologists in the Republican Party immediately go to it and brush it off and explain it away or just completely ignore it."

"Here, they are trying to make a firestorm out of something that, again, if you look at it, you see what he said immediately afterward, which Donald Trump didn't say, and he said I was talking about the comedian and people who support that kind of talk," he elaborated.

"Joe Biden obviously doesn't believe that," the MSNBC host insisted. "I forget what state it was in but it was during a hurricane –– after a hurricane I believe –– and Joe Biden went in and he went in and talked to the crowd. Went and talked to a big Trump supporter and joked with him and put the hat on him. And again, trying to bring people together and even saying, 'Hey, I'll wear your Trump cap. We are on the same team.' That is the type of leadership you want."

Watch the video below or at this link.

Trump rides in ‘big, beautiful’ MAGA garbage truck after Biden attack on his supporters

ByVictor Nava andAnna Young

NEW YORK POST

 A MURDOCH  PAPER ENDORSES TRUMP

Published Oct. 30, 2024

Former President Donald Trump was greeted at a Wisconsin airport Wednesday by a “big, beautiful MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Garbage Truck.”

“How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump, who was wearing an orange safety vest, asked reporters while sitting in the passenger seat of the MAGA-adorned garbage truck cruising around the tarmac.

“This truck is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”

The custom garbage truck was waiting for Trump on the tarmac as he landed in Wisconsin.AP

Trump speaks to the media at Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport.Getty Images

The stunt comes one day after President Biden, 81, referred to Trump supporters as “garbage” on a campaign call at the White House, denouncing comments made by comic Tony Hinchcliffe, in which he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at the Republican nominee’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,” Biden said during a call with Voto Latino Group, as Vice President Kamala Harris rallied at the nearby Ellipse in Washington, DC, pressing how the Democratic Party would unify the country.

Republicans blasted the insult and drew immediate comparisons to then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s remark in 2016 that half of Trump’s supporters should be “put into the basket of deplorables.”

Trump prepares to hold a press conference from inside garbage track.Getty Images

Biden and the White House tried to temper the comment by editing the official transcript to put an apostrophe in “supporters” — suggesting the president was referring solely to Hinchcliffe.

The commander in chief also tried to walk back the jab on X, writing, “his demonizations of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say.”

The Harris-Walz campaign also rushed out an ad tying Hinchliffe’s comment to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, in which Harris narrated: “I will never forget what Donald Trump did. He abandoned the island and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.”

Trump has since distanced himself from Hinchcliffe, who drew widespread, bipartisan backlash after his opening.

When asked if he owes Puerto Rico an apology, Trump, while sitting in the garbage truck, claimed he didn’t know “anything about a comedian” and then professed his “love” of the Caribbean Island.

Biden labeled Trump supporters as “garbage” at an event on Monday.  AP

“Nobody has done more for Puerto Rico than me. I took care of them when they had the big hurricanes. Nobody gets along better with Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican people than me. They love me and I love them,” he said.

“I don’t know anything about the comedian. I don’t know who he is. I heard he made a statement but it’s a statement that he made. He’s a comedian. What can I tell you? You put comedians up, and I guess he went on early in the show.”

Hinchcliffe has since defended his controversial remark, insisting it was a joke.

The garbage truck is following the motorcade enroute to Trump’s Green Bay rally, where the former president will speak later tonight.