(NEW YORK) — Silenced by many major platforms, former President Donald Trump is launching his own social media app.
Trump Media and Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Group, which is already listed on the Nasdaq, have entered into a merger to form a new company, chaired by the former president, according to a press release.
Trump says the group will form “a rival to the liberal media consortium.”
Its first step will be launching a new social media platform called TRUTH Social. A beta version will be available to invited guests in November, according to the release.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced,” Trump said in the statement.
According to the release, the company was formed using a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, which the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website says is a “popular vehicle for various transactions, including transitioning a company from a private company to a publicly traded company.” The SEC says these companies are often referred to as “blank check companies.”
Patrick F. Orlando, who according to the release is the chairman and CEO of the Digital World Acquisition Group that is merging with the former president’s new media company, is also CEO of Yunhong International, which itself is an international blank check company incorporated in the Cayman Islands with headquarters in Wuhan, China, according to Bloomberg.
It’s currently unclear who else is behind the SPAC that is launching Trump’s new platform.
The former president and his advisers have hinted since he left office that he was considering creating a rival platform to Facebook and Twitter, after the social media giants suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Trump, who throughout his presidency used Twitter to attack his enemies and often break his own news, has been emailing out statements almost has frequently as he previously tweeted.
Trump’s announcement comes only months after his longtime aide Jason Miller launched his own social media company called GETTR in July. The former president quickly pushed back on rumors that he would be joining Miller’s platform shortly after it launched, writing in a statement, “I am not on any social media platform in any way, shape, or form, including Parler, GETTR, Gab, etc. When I decide to choose a platform, or build or complete my own, it will be announced. Thank you!”
(ATLANTA) — An independent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee on Thursday is set to discuss and vote on booster shots for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, along with the potential for people to mix and match their booster doses.
On Wednesday, the FDA authorized Moderna and J&J boosters for some, and allowed for mix and matching booster doses with a different vaccine.
The next step in the process is for the CDC panel to deliberate and ultimately vote on whether to recommend those boosters, and whether and how to mix and match them.
The panel’s vote is non-binding, and CDC is not required to follow the panel’s recommendations, though they generally do so.
Once the panel votes, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to make her own final signoff shortly after — typically within a day.
Boosting for eligible Moderna and J&J recipients would be able to start once Walensky gives the greenlight — potentially meaning those populations could begin receiving their boosters as soon as the end of this week.
The FDA has made clear there is no preferred booster vaccine for the mixed dosage, but the CDC panel is likely to discuss available data on what booster blend might offer the strongest immunity.
Dr. Peter Marks, a top FDA official, said allowing people to mix boosters makes sense, particularly when people might not remember what brand they initially received.
“Most people don’t know what brand flu vaccine they received. And although they’re somewhat more standardized, perhaps, this is something that is probably a good next step for us to be able to have the flexibility that people can get vaccinated easily,” he told reporters.
Under the new rules, if the CDC signs off, Moderna recipients would qualify for a booster shot of their choice if they are 65 or older — or younger with medical conditions or a high-risk job. The FDA and CDC had already cleared Pfizer recipients to get a third shot, and now they too can choose which brand booster they want. J&J recipients 18 and older would be eligible for a booster of their choice.
Director Nia DaCosta, who is set to helm The Marvels, the sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, is no stranger to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That said, she has her own thoughts on who’s to blame for Thanos’ snap in Avengers: Infinity War that wiped out half the universe.
Ever since Infinity War‘s release in 2018, fans have blamed Star-Lord’s inability to control his feelings, Thor’s overconfidence, and the decisions made by characters like Dr. Strange and Wanda Maximoff as the reasons Thanos succeeded. However, speaking to Inverse, DaCosta argues that Captain America’s decision to not sacrifice Vision places him squarely at fault for Thanos’ victory.
“Something I like to say a bit flippantly about Captain America is that the Snap is all his fault because he was trying to do his best, trying to do the right thing. There is a world in which he’s a villain because, at the end of the day, he should have just sacrificed Vision,” she says.
“[Captain America] chose one robot’s life, albeit a sentient one, over literally the entire universe,” she explains. “There’s a sort of anti-hero in that if you want to look at it through that lens. People would say I’m crazy for thinking that way, but there’s something connected to the journey of the anti-hero and the hero.”
Explaining the difference between the two, DaCosta says, “The hero’s pain is something that spurs them to martyr themselves,” she adds, “and an anti-hero’s pain is a thing that kind of starts their journey as opposed to ending it.”
The Marvels is slated to hit theaters on November 11, 2022.
Blake Lively defended her three young daughters’ privacy on Wednesday after an Instagram user shared photos a member of the paparazzi took of them.
The Gossip Girl alum did not mince words when shaming the Hollywood Star Kids Instagram account and insinuated that they had gone back on their word not to post such images.
“This is so disturbing,” Lively commented in the now-deleted post, but has since shared her remarks to her Instagram story. “I’ve personally shared with you that these men stalk and harass my children. And you are still posting. You said you would stop. You personally promised me.”
She continued, “This is not casual appreciation. This is YOU also exploiting very young children. Please. Delete. Please. Some parents are ok with this. We. Are. NOT.”
Lively, who is married to Free Guy‘s Ryan Reynolds, also shouted out those who unfollowed the account by expressing, “YOU make ALL the difference. Thank you for your integrity.”
In July, Lively detailed a “frightening” experience where a man would not stop “stalking” her children, as she put it, and kept taking photographs of them.
The actress said she would “calmly approach the photographer… in order to speak to him” but he would “run away. And jump out again at the next block.”
Lively issued a demand to media outlets, asking them to stop paying photographers to “hide and hunt children.” She also requested they run background checks on photographers and remarked, “Do you simply not care about the safety of children?”
She also called upon her followers to “stop following and block any publications or handles who publish kid’s pictures.” The actress suggested more outlets may cease sharing “photos of children obtained by men frightening and stalking them” if enough readers take a stand.
Lil Nas X has even more to celebrate after releasing his successful debut album, Montero. On Wednesday, Atlanta revealed that October 20 will henceforth be known as Lil Nas X Day.
The “Industry Baby” artist shared the news to his Instagram story, along with a snapshot of the official plaque awarded to him by the Atlanta City Council.
Council member Antonio Brown, who is the city’s first openly gay city councilman, signed the proclamation that certified the new holiday.
The council highlighted why the Grammy winner was deserving of the honor, declaring “his tremendous success and ability to break barriers in music and popular culture” in tandem with his “artistic influence and transformative music” has made a positive and lasting impact on the city.
Other reasons given were LNX’s “considerable impact on the LGBTQ community” by challenging how queer artists are treated in the music industry and “empowering others to break barriers and be more open, expressive, and personal through music and art.”
The city council also commended the success of his debut album, how “Old Town Road” shattered the Billboard Hot 100 record for most consecutive weeks at number one, the recognition he’s received at various music award shows and the seismic impact he’s had on streaming services.
Lil Nas X was born Montero Lamar Hill and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.
(NEW YORK) — As companies in the U.S. look to vaccinate staff en masse, some employers have achieved high rates of vaccination without major mandates — professional sports leagues.
Several high-profile players have made headlines in recent weeks for not getting the shot, but by and large, the vast majority of their peers have — at greater rates than the general public.
Around 67% of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, leagues such as the NBA, NFL and MLS have rates greater than 90%, with the NHL and WNBA at over 99%.
Some leagues resorted to financial pressure to encourage vaccine uptake. But they also often deployed vaccination campaigns early that relied heavily on education and opportunities for players to connect with trusted medical experts, those involved in the efforts told ABC News.
“As far as the NHL is concerned, this is a very simple and very direct story — you need to educate everybody as to what good public health practices are when you have a pandemic like this, and where someone who is ill can spread that disease to others at the workplace,” Don Fehr, executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association, told ABC News.
Meaningful ‘fireside chats’
Back in January, months before the recent season started and COVID-19 vaccines were widely available, the WNBA’s players’ union, WNBPA, started hosting panels with medical experts over Zoom to address players’ questions about the pandemic.
“They were curious about everything related to their public health risk, their public health understanding of the pandemic and then specifically about the vaccines,” one of the experts on the panel, Jessica Malaty Rivera, an infectious disease epidemiologist and research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital, told ABC News. “They just very earnestly wanted to understand and learn about the stuff that we were sharing.”
Malaty Rivera said she has done these virtual “fireside chat sessions” with several companies and teams, from Patagonia to the MLB’s Washington Nationals, and finds them to be very effective. In talking with the WNBA players, she and the other medical experts crafted a conversation that touched on how the vaccine approval process works and concerns around pregnancy and fertility.
“They applied what they understood and it shows by the vaccination rates,” she said. “We know that it didn’t fall on deaf ears.”
Leagues including MLS and the NHL provided similar opportunities for players to connect with medical experts and ask questions.
For the NBA, an educational campaign was the “crux of our program,” Dr. Leroy Sims, senior vice president of medical affairs for the league, told ABC News.
Starting in February, all 30 teams watched a 20-minute PowerPoint on vaccinations, and the NBA and its players’ association made doctors and scientists available to talk with players as a team and one-on-one if desired. Sims often fielded questions on how the vaccines were developed and approved, the impact on performance and side effects.
“It was a really big effort, but it was the most appropriate thing to do — for us to take that time with our players and our coaches,” said Sims, who noted they did similar sessions with players’ families, the National Retired Players Association and the league’s referees. “No question was out of bounds.”
Who was delivering that message was also important, Sims and Malaty Rivera said.
“The thing that allowed us to achieve the numbers that we have achieved, in part, is the relationship. The doctor-patient relationship is dynamic, it’s engaging, it’s a two-way street,” said Sims, who is a former team physician and was with the players in last season’s “bubble.” “It’s built on trust.”
The panels for WNBA players featured female scientists who are women of color — which Malaty Rivera said was also “meaningful” for the league’s athletes, who are predominantly women of color.
“When you talk about science communication you have to think about the message, the messenger and who’s receiving the message,” she said.
No mandates, but pressure
Some leagues have required staff in close contact with players to be vaccinated. The athletes have yet to face similar mandates, though there have oftentimes been strong incentives to get the shot.
In the NFL, for instance, teams could face potential forfeits and lost paychecks for outbreaks among unvaccinated players. As of July 22, when the policy was announced, 75% of players were partially vaccinated. As of Oct. 7, a month into the regular season, 93.3% of NFL players were vaccinated, the league said.
Unvaccinated players in the NHL and NBA, which both kicked off their seasons this month, could also face docked pay if they are unable to play due to local COVID-19 regulations. Around 96% of NBA players have been vaccinated, with that number expected to climb, league Commissioner Adam Silver said this week. Still, a vocal minority has made headlines for not getting the shot, notably Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving. The decision makes him ineligible to play any home games at the Barclays Center, which under New York City regulations requires proof of vaccination for entry, and could potentially cost him millions of dollars.
The Nets decided to bench him entirely unless he gets vaccinated. He has not been allowed to practice with the team and did not play in the team’s season opener Tuesday night in Milwaukee.
Beyond the threat of financial losses, unvaccinated players may have to follow stricter COVID-19 protocols, such as more frequent testing and stricter masking and social distancing measures.
MLB relaxed some protocols for teams with at least 85% of players and coaches vaccinated; just a handful of the league’s 30 teams failed to reach that threshold by the end of the regular season earlier this month.
Unvaccinated MLS players have a different set of COVID-19 protocols, including more frequent testing, and are not allowed to engage in any “high-risk behaviors,” such as attending concerts indoors, Johnny Andris, deputy general counsel for the MLS Players Association, told ABC News. Over 95% of players are vaccinated.
“There were enough carrots involved such that the sticks weren’t really needed,” Andris said.
Recognizing ‘outsized influence’
Other factors may have also helped boost vaccination rates among professional athletes.
MLS players were “very eager to get vaccinated,” particularly after the pandemic disrupted the previous season, Andris said.
“MLS was just two or three weeks into the season before things shut down,” he said. “The players went right into the ‘bubble’ tournament down in Orlando, played the rest of the season after that under these really strict protocols. … I think that whole experience made guys want to get back to normal as soon as possible.”
This year’s season, which began in April, has seen breakthrough cases, as was expected, though teams haven’t had to cancel or postpone games due to an outbreak, Andris said.
The realities of the job — from frequent travel to close contact with other players while maskless — may have also helped spur vaccination, NHLPA head Fehr said.
“In normal workplaces, you can engage in a number of practices. You can work remotely. You can wear masks. You can socially distance at the office, etc., etc.,” he said. “You can’t do that on the ice.”
Athletes may have also embraced their standing as role models in getting the vaccine. The WNBA, which wrapped its postseason earlier this week, did a COVID-19 vaccine public service announcement with four players in April, partnered with the Black Women’s Health Imperative to support their vaccination efforts and, like other leagues, held community vaccination sites ahead of the 2021 season.
“We saw our role together with the WNBPA as providing players with the best possible information about the vaccine, and I’m proud of and commend the players for their leadership in getting the vaccine while also serving as role models,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement to ABC News.
Silver, the NBA commissioner, told reporters this week he would like to see all players vaccinated in part because they have an “outsized influence on the rest of the public.”
“I think it’s a public service of sorts,” he said, “particularly to young people who might not see the value of getting vaccinated.”
(AL-TANF, Syria) — There were no U.S. military injuries or deaths resulting from a coordinated attack Wednesday on a small remote U.S. military base at al Tanf, Syria, according to two U.S. officials.
The attack “at a minimum” involved drones and “indirect fire,” the military term for mortar or rocket fire, according to a U.S. official.
Iraqi security sources said the attack involved five booby-trapped drones and was carried out from inside Syria.
There is no indication yet as to who may have been responsible for the attack, but similar drone attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq have been a tactic used by Iranian-backed militias, most notably Kataib Hezbollah.
Drone attacks attributed to those militias have at times resulted in American retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq and Syria targeting their facilities.
The remote base at al Tanf is located along a key highway in southern Syria on the border with Jordan and is surrounded by a 35-mile buffer zone to prevent potential conflicts with Russian and Syrian government troops located nearby.
The small outpost is the only American military base in Syria not located in Syrian Kurdish-held areas in eastern Syria where most of the 1,000 American troops in Syria are based.
U.S. troops remain in Syria as part of an ongoing effort to prevent ISIS from regaining territory inside that country.
(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.
More than 730,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.9 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 66.8% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 21, 1:01 am
US delivers 200M vaccine doses globally: White House
The U.S. has now donated and delivered 200 million COVID-19 vaccines globally, according to a White House official.
The figure is part of 1.1 billion doses President Joe Biden has pledged to more than 100 countries around the world.
“These 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have helped bring health and hope to millions of people, but our work is far from over,” Samantha Power, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is assisting in the global vaccine effort, said in a statement. “To end the pandemic, and prevent the emergence of new variants, as well as future outbreaks within our nation’s borders, we must continue to do our part to help vaccinate the world.”
The Biden administration has received criticism for getting Americans booster shots while many around the world have yet to get one. Though the White House has insisted the U.S. can provide boosters to its citizens while funneling doses overseas — and working to increase vaccine production abroad.
Oct 20, 10:09 pm
US deaths estimated to continue to fall in weeks ahead, though thousands more lost
Forecast models used by the CDC are predicting that weekly COVID-19 death totals in the U.S. will likely continue to drop in the weeks to come, though thousands of Americans are still expected to lose their lives to the virus.
The model expects approximately 18,000 deaths to occur in the next two weeks, with a total of around 757,000 deaths recorded in the U.S. by Nov. 13.
The ensemble model estimates that 19 states and territories of the U.S. have a greater than 50% chance of having more deaths in the next two weeks compared to the past two weeks, and that four states and territories (Alaska, Nebraska, Ohio and American Samoa) have a greater than 75% chance of an increase over the next two weeks.
Oct 20, 5:21 pm
FDA authorizes booster shots for Moderna, J&J vaccines
The FDA authorized booster shots for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines for some populations Wednesday.
Moderna’s vaccine can be administered at least six months after the second dose for people ages 65 and up and those ages 18 through 64 who either are at high risk of severe COVID-19 infection or have occupational exposure to the virus, the FDA said.
The J&J booster can be administered at least two months after the single-dose shot to those ages 18 and up, the agency said.
The FDA, which authorized Pfizer’s booster dose last month, also said it will allow people to mix booster doses.
(NEW YORK) — The country’s largest nurses’ union praised the federal government on Wednesday after officials said three states tasked with implementing their own safety measures for health care workers would lose that right unless they adhered to agreed-upon guidelines.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration had announced Tuesday it was considering stripping Arizona, Utah and South Carolina of their abilities to oversee workplace safety enforcement because they’re not in compliance with an emergency standard order passed over the summer that guarantees certain protections.
OSHA had allowed 22 states to oversee work conditions for health care workers — measures including the wearing of personal protective equipment, or PPE, enforcing social distancing, providing paid sick leave — so long as local workplaces adopted requirements at least as strong as those agreed to at the federal level.
Deborah Burger, president of National Nurses United, which represents over 175,000 nurses, said in a statement on Wednesday that health care workers from coast to coast have been pushing for better protections as they put themselves at risk working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We urge federal OSHA to act expeditiously to put in place the necessary elements for federal OSHA to resume enforcement in Arizona, Utah, South Carolina and any other states which fail to enforce the [emergency standard] to ensure protections for health care workers,” Burger said in a statement. “We will never emerge from this pandemic if we don’t make sure nurses and health care workers are safe at work.”
The Republican governors of Arizona, Utah and South Carolina defended their states’ action and accused OSHA of overreach.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey contended that the Industrial Commission of Arizona’s OSHA, or ICA, the state’s workplace overseer, intends to comply with the emergency standards but is seeking public input on the mandate. Ducey accused the federal government of not justifying its threat to revoke oversight powers.
“The federal government’s threat to strip the ICA of its OSHA authority is nothing short of a political stunt and desperate power grab,” Ducey said in a statement.
Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox said in a statement that he had concerns over the emergency standard, saying it “would place an unfair burden on the health care industry” and his state didn’t “have regulatory authority to require employers to pay their employees sick leave.”
“We reject the assertion that Utah’s State Plan is less effective than the federal plan,” Cox said.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said his office is preparing for “a vigorous and lengthy legal fight” and that OSHA’s announcement Tuesday was “clearly a preemptive strike by the federal government.”
Burger stressed that all three states needed to prioritize the safety of health care workers and come together to make sure they’re protected as hospitalizations keep increasing.
“Arizona, South Carolina, and Utah had the duty — legally and morally — to come into compliance and protect workers,” Burger said. “They did not, and we could not be more proud that OSHA is standing up to hold them accountable today.”
On Friday, Lady A‘s eighth studio album, What a Song Can Do, arrives, completing the cycle started by June’s seven-song Chapter One.
Recorded “around the same time” as the EP, the seven new tracks were chosen from “up to sixty songs” Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood wrote during the pandemic.
“Obviously, we finished [2019’s] Ocean, we were preparing for that tour, and had to cancel it because of the pandemic,” Dave recalls. “So we just put our heads down and started writing for an indefinite amount of time. We didn’t know how long the pandemic was gonna last, and so we just wrote and wrote and wrote, kind of like we did for our very first album.”
The album’s bouncy lead single, “Like a Lady,” doesn’t begin to hint at the deeper messages on What a Song Can Do, as Charles explains.
“I feel like I had kind of my midlife crisis this past couple years of just, ‘What’s our purpose going through all the stuff we went through?'” he says, “and feeling like some of your intentions got twisted and misinterpreted, obviously, with our name change and all these things.”
“And it was like it only brought us stronger in our conviction of what we want to represent as a band,” he adds.
Charles affirms there’s no doubt what that is, as Hillary agrees.
“Nothing is going to deter us from trying to leave our mark in a positive way,” he proclaims. “[There’s] a little bit more determination — not just survival, and trying to make sure we stay on the radio, making sure we can maintain this certain level of success — but actually going like, ‘What are we leaving behind?'”
