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https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/44205832/progressive-group-launches-7-million-effort-to-elect-democratic-secretaries-of-state-and-attorneys-general
Progressive group launches $7 million effort to elect Democratic secretaries of state and attorneys general
End Citizens United/Let America Vote on Tuesday will endorse six Democratic incumbents as part of its new "democracy defender" program, shared first with CNN. The group is backing Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.
>new "democracy defender" program, shared first with CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/29/politics/democrats-2022-ag-sos-end-citizens-united-let-america-vote/index.html
Progressive group launches $7 million effort to elect Democratic secretaries of state and attorneys general
A left-leaning group plans to spend $7 million to help elect Democratic secretaries of state and attorneys general in key battlegrounds – a big investment in down-ballot races that loom large in voting rights battles around the country.
End Citizens United/Let America Vote on Tuesday will endorse six Democratic incumbents as part of its new "democracy defender" program, shared first with CNN. The group is backing Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.
It also intends to engage in races in Florida, Texas, Georgia and Arizona – states where Republican-controlled legislatures also have passed or advanced bills that reduce access to the ballot or seek to seize power from election officials and put it in the hands of lawmakers or administrators of their choice.
The GOP's legislative moves mean voting rights advocates "must more vociferously fight to protect every American's voice and vote," Tiffany Muller, the president of End Citizens United and Let America Vote, said in a statement. She said the incumbents her group is endorsing "consistently stood up to corruption, protected voting rights, and are holding the line to ensure our elections are safe, fair and accessible."
The organization has not disclosed how it intends to spend the $7 million, but it typically uses a mix of mailers, digital and traditional advertising and grassroots outreach in its campaigns.
Attorneys general and secretaries of state are on the ballot in more than two dozen states next year.
State election chiefs from both parties have faced verbal abuse and threats, following the 2020 election – as former President Donald Trump spread falsehoods of a "rigged" election. Although there's no evidence of widespread wrongdoing that could have changed the election's results, Republicans lawmakers in key swing states have raced ahead with laws they say will shore up election integrity.
Democrats and voting rights groups say the measures are aimed at suppressing votes in 2022. Additionally, they argue that bills seeking to curb the power of secretaries of state and other election officials could lead to partisan meddling when it's time to count votes and certify results.
The States United Democracy Center, a bipartisan group founded to advance fair elections, has tallied at least 216 bills in 41 states that would criminalize the actions of election officials, give legislators more power over the running of elections or otherwise interfere. Two dozen have become law to date.
Last week, GOP lawmakers who control Arizona's Legislature voted to strip Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs of her authority to oversee election-related lawsuits and gave that power to the state's Republican attorney general.
The ban would expire on January 2, 2023, when the offices of secretary of state and attorney general could switch party control after the 2022 election. Hobbs is running for governor; Attorney General Mark Brnovich is running for the US Senate.
Hobbs has sharply criticized a GOP-ordered and problem-ridden "audit" of the 2.1 million votes cast in Maricopa County, Arizona.
In Michigan, meanwhile, a Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill that calls for an audit of 2020 results in the state – despite the secretary of state concluding that no fraud or foul play occurred in last year's election. Last week, the Republican-led state Senate Oversight Committee affirmed there was "no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud" in that election.
In a statement about the endorsement, Benson pledged to "continue fighting so every American knows the truth: The 2020 election was the safest and most secure in our state and nation's history."
CNN's Eric Bradner contributed to this story.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/biden-tells-israel-iran-will-never-get-nuclear-weapon-my-n1272591
Biden tells Israel that Iran 'will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch'
Biden said that Washington's "commitment to Israel" is "iron-clad."
President Joe Biden told outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Monday that his commitment to Israel was "iron-clad" and vowed that Iran would never build a nuclear bomb during his administration.
The Biden administration is trying to revive the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, which was designed to put limits on Tehran's ability to build a nuclear weapon but was abandoned by then-President Donald Trump in 2018.
Like Trump, Israel opposes the deal and sees it as too lax, even after Benjamin Netanyahu, a key Trump ally, was recently replaced as prime minister by a fragile coalition government.
In Iran, hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi has been elected president, replacing the more moderate Hassan Rouhani, which could have an impact on talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the nuclear deal.
"Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch," Biden told reporters at the White House before going into the meeting with his Israeli counterpart Monday. He said Washington's "commitment to Israel" is "iron-clad."
He spoke alongside Rivlin, who is at the end of his seven-year term and will be succeeded as president July 7 by Isaac Herzog, currently chairman of the Jewish Agency, a nongovernmental organization that links Israel with the Jewish diaspora around the world.
At the White House, Rivlin stressed that the U.S. and Israel are "best friends" and that their relationship would always be founded on "the values of democracy and values of liberalism." But he also hinted at recent tensions: "We may, from time to time, hold discussions on issues on which we do not agree."
The U.S. and Israel say they want the same thing: to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. But they disagree on how to get there. Iran has always denied it wants such an arsenal.
In an attempt to revive the 2015 deal, its parties — the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Germany, China and Russia — have been meeting in Vienna since April.
During indirect talks, U.S. and Iranian negotiators have discussed the lifting of sanctions on Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a former U.S. official and two people familiar with the matter told NBC News last week.
Now that Trump and Netanyahu are out of the picture, the Biden administration and the new Israeli coalition government have been focused on a far quieter type of diplomatic negotiations. But core differences remain.
"Israel has some serious reservations about the Iran nuclear deal that is being put together in Vienna," Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in Rome on Sunday during a first meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. But he added that "we believe the way to discuss those disagreements is through direct and professional conversation, not a press conference."
It's not just the nuclear deal. Last month, Israel's recent conflict with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, caused dismay internationally including among congressional Democrats.
The 11-day fighting killed more than 250 Palestinians, including dozens of children, and 12 Israelis, including two children. The U.S. provides $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel annually.
At the White House, Biden "emphasized the importance of Israel taking steps to ensure calm, stability, and to support greater economic opportunities for the Palestinian people" and said that "a negotiated two-state solution remains the best avenue to achieving a lasting peace."
On Sunday, the U.S. launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran-backed militia groups, which it said were behind drone attacks on American personnel.
Biden "reassured" Rivlin that the U.S. "remains determined to counter Iran's malign activity and support for terrorist proxies, which have destabilizing consequences for the region."
>https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.19.435959v1.full.pdf
On 11th March 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, was declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). To date, there are rapidly spreading new “variants of concern“ of SARS-CoV-2, the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7), the South African (B.1.351) or Brasilian (P.1) variant. All of them contain multiple mutations in the ACE2 receptor recognition site of the spike protein, compared to the original Wuhan sequence, which is of great concern, because of their potential for immune escape. Here we report on the efficacy of common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) to block protein-protein interaction of spike S1 to the human ACE2 cell surface receptor. This could be shown for the original spike D614, but also for its mutant forms (D614G, N501Y, and mix of K417N, E484K, N501Y) in human HEK293-hACE2 kidney and A549-hACE2-TMPRSS2 lung cells. High molecular weight compounds in the water-based extract account for this effect. Infection of the lung cells using SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudotyped lentivirus particles was efficiently prevented by the extract and so was virus-triggered pro-inflammatory interleukin 6 secretion. Modern herbal monographs consider the usage of this medicinal plant as safe. Thus, the in vitro results reported here should encourage further research on the clinical relevance and applicability of the extract as prevention strategy for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
>Here we report on the efficacy of common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) to block protein-protein interaction of spike S1 to the human ACE2 cell surface receptor.
>With the More Contagious Delta Variant, Some Officials Are Issuing New Mask Guidance
>Fauci-Funded Researcher Describes Search for Virus That ‘Infects Human Cells’
>https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1409962019797733379
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