newyorkpost--2020-11-08--Mets about to get first look at Steve Cohen as owner

Sandy Alderson ’ s return to the Mets as team president officially ...

An introduction of the Mets’ new regime to the fan base will come Tuesday afternoon with a Zoom press conference.
Mets owner Steve Cohen and team president Sandy Alderson are scheduled on the call, which is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. and will be streamed on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Mets.com. It’s also likely SNY will carry the press conference, but as of Sunday night that had not been finalized.
The 64-year-old Cohen, a hedge-fund billionaire and lifelong Mets fan, completed his $2.4 billion purchase of the club from Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz on Friday. That same afternoon Alderson gutted the front office, announcing that general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, assistant GMs Allard Baird and Adam Guttridge, director of player development Jared Banner and special assistant Omar Minaya had departed the organization.
Cohen has been active on Twitter, where he announced the deal had closed. On Sunday, he indicated the statue honoring Tom Seaver that has been in the works for the past 18 months will likely be ready and unveiled for the start of next season. In previous tweets, Cohen has indicated he’s in favor of reinstituting Old Timers’ Day.
From a baseball perspective, Cohen has questions to answer about how involved he will be in the club’s daily operations. Alderson, who turns 73 on Nov. 22, was hired to oversee the entire organization, essentially filling the role of former team COO Jeff Wilpon.
Alderson, who served as Mets GM for 7 ½ seasons, is expected to hire a president of baseball operations, in addition to a general manager. Potential names for the top spot include Chris Antonetti, David Stearns, Mike Chernoff, Jon Daniels, Billy Owens and former Alderson lieutenants John Ricco and J.P. Ricciardi.
In addition to providing an update on his search for a new front office, Alderson will likely be asked to assess the status of manager Luis Rojas, who survived Friday’s purge. Rojas managed in the Mets minor league system during Alderson’s previous tenure, but was initially hired by Minaya during his reign as GM.
The Mets’ appetite for spending on free agents this offseason will almost certainly be broached. J.T. Realmuto, George Springer and Trevor Bauer highlight the free-agent class, and the Mets have a need at all three positions (catcher, center field and starting pitcher).


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--Woman knocks camera from detective’s hand during anti-cop protest

A woman was arrested for allegedly knocking a camera out of the hand of an NYPD detective during an anti-police @ @ @ @ @ , authorities said .
The NYPD released footage of the 4:40 p.m. confrontation near the @ @ @ @ @ 10th Avenue in Hell ’ s Kitchen that resulted in the arrest of 25-year-old Nelae @ @ @ @ @ White can be seen in the footage stopping to say something to the detective carrying @ @ @ @ @ chant , “ No cops , no KKK , no facist USA.
” Moments later @ @ @ @ @ recording device away from the detective and tries to calmly walk away before she ’ @ @ @ @ @ by police , the video shows .
Several other protesters on bikes were knocked down @ @ @ @ @ nobody else was arrested during the episode , according to police .
As officers detained @ @ @ @ @ up and formed a line to keep the other protesters at a distance , according @ @ @ @

A woman was arrested for allegedly knocking a camera out of the hand of an NYPD detective during an anti-police protest in Manhattan on Sunday, authorities said.
The NYPD released footage of the 4:40 p.m. confrontation near the intersection of 38th Street and 10th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen that resulted in the arrest of 25-year-old Nelae White.
At first, White can be seen in the footage stopping to say something to the detective carrying the camera as nearby protests chant, “No cops, no KKK, no facist USA.”
Moments later, White allegedly smacks the recording device away from the detective and tries to calmly walk away before she’s tackled to the ground by police, the video shows.
Several other protesters on bikes were knocked down during the scuffle, but nobody else was arrested during the episode, according to police.
As officers detained White, other cops showed up and formed a line to keep the other protesters at a distance, according to the video.
White, a Bushwick, Brooklyn resident, was charged with criminal mischief.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--We finally have proof Notre Dame is for real

Notre Dame ’ s double-overtime upset over No .
1-ranked Clemson ended on ...

Go ahead and poke holes in Notre Dame’s seismic victory if you must. Point to the absence of Trevor Lawrence. The three missing defensive starters, James Skalski, Mike Jones Jr. and Tyler Davis. The fact the game was in South Bend, Ind.
It’s fair. It’s true. Clemson was not at its best on Saturday, as its 36-game regular-season winning streak was snapped. It was not at full strength. But, guess what: Notre Dame didn’t play its ‘A’ game either. It left plenty of points on the board, managing just nine points on its first four drives into the red zone. There were dropped passes. A costly Ian Book fumble at the goal-line.
And the undefeated Irish still prevailed. They still were able to get off the mat after blowing a 13-point lead. They rallied in the final minute to force overtime. They had more gas in the tank in the second overtime, the defense producing two sacks after Kyren Williams’ 3-yard rushing touchdown, clinching their first win over the No. 1 team in the country in 27 years.
Lawrence missed his second straight after his positive COVID-19 test, but his replacement, five-star freshman D.J. Uiagalelei, was brilliant. He threw for 439 yards and two touchdowns, ran for another score and played mistake-free football. How much better could Lawrence have performed? Clemson missed their three defensive starters more, especially Davis, the All-ACC preseason first-team selection at defensive tackle, as Notre Dame ran for 209 yards, controlling both sides of the line of scrimmage, limiting the Tigers to 34 rushing yards.
I’m not saying Clemson won’t beat them if there is a rematch in the ACC championship game, a likely scenario. Lawrence is expected to practice Monday, so he should be back. Clemson hopes to have Jones, Davis and Skalski back by then, too. The Tigers will be a heavy favorite.
But Saturday was no accident. It wasn’t the result of Notre Dame facing an undermanned team. It was one very good team beating another very good team. The Irish were better up front. They have a wide array of playmakers, from Williams to tight end Michael Mayer to receivers Avery Davis and Jacon McKinley. And their questioned quarterback, Book, made winning plays in crunch time, using both his right arm and his legs.
This was a team capable of beating anyone in the country, and that includes Alabama, Ohio State and a full-strength Clemson. Saturday proved it. Notre Dame absolutely belongs among the nation’s elite.
Doth my IU deceive me?
I had to do a double take when I saw the Indiana-Michigan betting line. The Wolverines were 3.5-point favorites on the road. Rarely do the experts get it wrong. As the saying goes, Vegas knows.
Not with this game. Indiana predictably rolled, 38-21, continuing to prove this isn’t the Indiana we’ve grown accustomed to for most of its existence, a program that has never previously won double-digit games and owns just two Big Ten titles.
This is a team that will challenge Ohio State on Nov. 21, that can absolutely win the Big Ten. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is a star who will play on Sundays, the secondary is very good and the Hoosiers are gaining confidence every week, riding the momentum from the Week 1 overtime upset of Penn State.
Indiana is for real. Pay attention, Vegas.
Whole lotta nothing
The remainder of the college football regular season has a problem. Barring some mammoth upsets, there are very few games that will alter the landscape of the playoff.
There is Ohio State against Indiana on Nov. 21, a game that will likely determine the Big Ten East crown. There will be the ACC and SEC championship games, which should feature Notre Dame-Clemson and Florida-Alabama, respectively.
Otherwise, there really isn’t a lot to zero in on. We’ve already had all the big games, whether it’s Clemson-Notre Dame, Florida-Georgia, Alabama-Georgia and Alabama Texas A&M. If you want chaos, a few Davids will need to slay their Goliaths.
Top 10
1. Alabama (6-0) (Last week: 1)
The Iron Bowl against Auburn can be unpredictable and a trip to improved Arkansas won’t be easy, but Alabama is unlikely to play a single-possession game the entire regular season.
2. Ohio State (3-0) (3)
The game of the year in the Big Ten won’t be Ohio State-Michigan or Ohio State-Penn State. It will be Ohio State-Indiana in two weeks in Columbus, a showdown of undefeated teams few expected to matter so much even a few weeks ago.
3. Notre Dame (7-0) (5)
Ian Book answered his critics — yours truly included — in Saturday’s dramatic double-overtime victory over Clemson, making winning plays all evening to key the Irish’s first win over the No. 1 team in the country in 27 years.
4. Clemson (7-1) (2)
Yes, Clemson missed Trevor Lawrence, but the absence of key injured defensive starters James Skalski, Mike Jones Jr. and Tyler Davis was just as significant in the Tigers’ double-overtime loss to Notre Dame.
5. Florida (4-1) (6)
The SEC East has a new king. Florida can lose once and still claim the division, courtesy of their commanding win over Georgia.
6. Cincinnati (6-0) (7)
Cincinnati hasn’t just beaten three of the better teams in the AAC in recent weeks, it has annihilated Memphis, SMU and Houston by a combined 129-33.
7. Texas A&M (5-1) (8)
This has been the exact season Jimbo Fisher needed, a significant step in the desired direction, the Aggies looking like arguably the second best team in the SEC after Alabama.
8. Indiana (3-0) (NR)
The oddsmakers installed the Hoosiers as a 3.5-point home underdog to Michigan, an obvious mistake in a one-sided Indiana victory. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and Co. are legit Big Ten East contenders.
9. Oregon (1-0) (9)
This was the start Oregon and the Pac-12 needed, a comfortable victory over Stanford that grabs the playoff committee’s attention.
10. BYU (8-0) (10)
BYU left little doubt against its best opponent, thrashing Boise State 51-17, but now just two games remain, against North Alabama and San Diego State, giving the Cougars little shot to make a statement that it deserves a spot in the playoff.
Dropped out: Georgia (4-2)
Heisman Watch
(in alphabetical order)
QB Justin Fields, Ohio State
Fields has thrown as many touchdown passes as incompletions — 11 apiece — in his immaculate start to the season.
QB Mac Jones, Alabama
It will be stat-padding Saturday in Baton Rouge for Jones, facing LSU’s woeful defense as Alabama seeks revenge for last year’s loss.
QB Trevor Lawrence, Clemson
Lawrence returns to practice on Monday after missing the last two games following his positive COVID-19 test. He can’t afford to ease himself back in — he has to hit the accelerator immediately.
QB Kyle Trask, Florida
It’s time to take Trask very seriously for the Heisman. He decimated Georgia’s high-caliber defense, throwing four touchdown passes and completing 30 of 43 attempts for 474 yards.
QB Zach Wilson, BYU
The dual-threat junior has produced at least two touchdowns every week and has accounted for 29 scores for undefeated BYU.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--NY’s positive-test rate for COVID-19 hits highest level in five months

New York ’ s positive-test rate for COVID-19 hit 2.35 percent Saturday — the state ’ s highest level in @ @ @ @ @ There were 145,642 tests reported performed in New York for the day , and out @ @ @ @ @ back positive , or 2.35 percent , Gov .
Andrew Cuomo tweeted .
He added @ @ @ @ @ were 18 COVID fatalities.
’ ’ The last time the state went past 2.35 percent @ @ @ @ @ its number of positive tests hit 2.5 percent .

Sign up for our special edition newsletter to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.
New York’s positive test rate for COVID-19 hit 2.35 percent Saturday — the state’s highest level in more than five months.
There were 145,642 tests reported performed in New York for the day, and out of them, 3,428 came back positive, or 2.35 percent, Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted.
He added that “sadly, there were 18 COVID fatalities.’’
Saturday’s positivity rate follows Friday’s 2.2 percent level and Thursday’s 2.0 percent.
The last time the state went past 2.35 percent was June 1, when its number of positive tests hit 2.5 percent.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--Rent to sublease office space on Park Avenue unbelievably low

For companies looking for impossibly cheap Midtown sublease space , now ’ s the time to pounce .
How cheap ?
Would you believe $ 25 per square foot on a prime stretch of Park Avenue ?
That mind-boggling low rent is what high-profile public-relations firm 5W is paying at 299 Park Ave. under a sublease from MarketAxess Holdings , which moved to 55 Hudson Yards .
The annual rent is $ 708,400 for the entire 10th floor , 28,336 square feet .
The 299 Park tower ’ s 1.2 million square feet are more than 90 percent leased at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bank .
The Post reported last week on the building ’ s capital-improvements program and Park Avenue ’ s overall strong metrics despite offices remaining mostly empty .
We said that the subdistrict ’ s asking rents were more than $ 110 per square foot .
But the sublease market — which accounts for 23 percent of all availability in East Midtown — is a different story .
And some Midtown tenants are unloading for peanuts the space they no longer need .
The balls all fell into the right holes at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s 5W , which moved from a larger space at 230 Park Ave. nearby .
Its sublease at 299 Park Ave. is for a mere 18-month term that ends in February 2022 .
( The Post obtained a copy of the lease from independent sources — not from 5W , deal brokers at CBRE and Norman Bobrow & Co. , MarketAxess or building owner Fisher Brothers . )
For Nasdaq-listed electronic-trading firm MarketAxess , which boasted revenues of more than $ 500 million last year , the lowball price it gave to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — we couldn ’ t determine how much MarketAxess was paying on its Park Avenue lease .
Even so , it ’ s a sobering reminder of the sublease market ’ s struggles .
Sublease asking rents in the Park Avenue area are as low as $ 30 psf .
Real-estate firm Keller Williams is said by brokerage sources to be paying less than $ 20 psf — a figure we couldn ’ t confirm — at 99 Park Ave. , where the asking rent was reported by the Real Deal in July @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s availability rate is a reasonably low 12 percent .
Most direct-lease tenants are paying rents on time .
But the avenue ’ s “ going to look like a shadow of itself until people start going back to their desks , ” an executive of a longtime tenant said .
“ There are only about 50 people going to work at 299 Park every day , which is the same at lots of buildings , and not just on Park Avenue.
” Torossian declined to comment on the lease .
Fisher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ave ’ s sublease availability or rents .
The muted financial-services leasing market still has a heartbeat .
No , there are not any 300,000 square-foot expansions .
But sometimes , even modest new leases can be meaningful for the type of tenant involved and the location .
Two financial firms just signed leases at landmark locations , shrugging off paranoid fears of hollowed-out future Manhattan business districts and everyone working from home .
The Empire State Building ’ s 2.7 million square feet , which are 94.2 percent rented , landed Stockholm-based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ square feet on the iconic tower ’ s 45th floor doesn ’ t sound like much , but it reflects the enduring confidence that many firms still have in the city — and in a future when office employees will be back at their desks .
The asking rent on the 10-year , 10-month lease was $ 69 psf .
Savills ’ Zev Holzman and Paul Revson repped Swedbank .
Empire State Realty Trust ’ s Shanae Ursini repped the landlord in-house along with a JLL team led by Paul Glickman .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ LinkedIn , Coty and Shutterstock .
ESRT pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the tower over the past 10 years to burnish its public spaces , restore neglected portions and to bring its formerly antiquated infrastructure up to 21st-century standards .
Downtown , Investors Bank — a subsidiary of Investors Bancorp — is taking more than 14,000 square feet at 111-115 Broadway .
The Short Hills , NJ-based firm is consolidating its regional offices .
CBRE ’ s Adam Foster and Mike Rizzo repped landlord Capital Properties along with their firm ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The asking rent was $ 59 psf .
The sister Broadway buildings are known as Trinity Centre .
Capital Properties recently completed $ 45 million in capital work that included facade restoration and LED exterior lighting .
The proposal to develop a Special Flushing Waterfront District sailed through the City Planning Commission last week by an 11-2 vote .
Next stop is the City Council , which is to begin hearings on Monday .
The council has 50 days to decide whether to approve the project .
As we reported two weeks ago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ developed by three companies , will have more than 1,700 apartments , as well as office space , retail stores and a public park on a currently vacant , 29-acre site on Flushing Creek .

For companies looking for impossibly cheap Midtown sublease space, now’s the time to pounce.
How cheap? Would you believe $25 per square foot on a prime stretch of Park Avenue?
That mind-boggling low rent is what high-profile public-relations firm 5W is paying at 299 Park Ave. under a sublease from MarketAxess Holdings, which moved to 55 Hudson Yards. The annual rent is $708,400 for the entire 10th floor, 28,336 square feet.
The 299 Park tower’s 1.2 million square feet are more than 90 percent leased at solid market rents, mostly to CapitalOne bank. The Post reported last week on the building’s capital-improvements program and Park Avenue’s overall strong metrics despite offices remaining mostly empty. We said that the subdistrict’s asking rents were more than $110 per square foot.
But the sublease market — which accounts for 23 percent of all availability in East Midtown — is a different story. And some Midtown tenants are unloading for peanuts the space they no longer need.
The balls all fell into the right holes at the right moment for power publicist Ronn Torossian’s 5W, which moved from a larger space at 230 Park Ave. nearby.
Its sublease at 299 Park Ave. is for a mere 18-month term that ends in February 2022. (The Post obtained a copy of the lease from independent sources — not from 5W, deal brokers at CBRE and Norman Bobrow & Co., MarketAxess or building owner Fisher Brothers.)
For Nasdaq-listed electronic-trading firm MarketAxess, which boasted revenues of more than $500 million last year, the lowball price it gave to 5W might be scarcely a rounding error — we couldn’t determine how much MarketAxess was paying on its Park Avenue lease.
Even so, it’s a sobering reminder of the sublease market’s struggles. Sublease asking rents in the Park Avenue area are as low as $30 psf.
Real-estate firm Keller Williams is said by brokerage sources to be paying less than $20 psf — a figure we couldn’t confirm — at 99 Park Ave., where the asking rent was reported by the Real Deal in July as $52 psf.
The avenue’s availability rate is a reasonably low 12 percent. Most direct-lease tenants are paying rents on time.
But the avenue’s “going to look like a shadow of itself until people start going back to their desks,” an executive of a longtime tenant said.
“There are only about 50 people going to work at 299 Park every day, which is the same at lots of buildings, and not just on Park Avenue.”
Torossian declined to comment on the lease. Fisher Brothers declined to comment on 299 Park Ave’s sublease availability or rents.
Empire State Building lures bank as tenant
The muted financial-services leasing market still has a heartbeat. No, there are not any 300,000 square-foot expansions. But sometimes, even modest new leases can be meaningful for the type of tenant involved and the location.
Two financial firms just signed leases at landmark locations, shrugging off paranoid fears of hollowed-out future Manhattan business districts and everyone working from home.
The Empire State Building’s 2.7 million square feet, which are 94.2 percent rented, landed Stockholm-based Swedbank AB. Its lease for 7,905 square feet on the iconic tower’s 45th floor doesn’t sound like much, but it reflects the enduring confidence that many firms still have in the city — and in a future when office employees will be back at their desks.
The asking rent on the 10-year, 10-month lease was $69 psf. Savills’ Zev Holzman and Paul Revson repped Swedbank. Empire State Realty Trust’s Shanae Ursini repped the landlord in-house along with a JLL team led by Paul Glickman.
The beloved skyscraper’s larger tenants include LinkedIn, Coty and Shutterstock. ESRT pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the tower over the past 10 years to burnish its public spaces, restore neglected portions and to bring its formerly antiquated infrastructure up to 21st-century standards.
Downtown, Investors Bank — a subsidiary of Investors Bancorp — is taking more than 14,000 square feet at 111-115 Broadway. The Short Hills, NJ-based firm is consolidating its regional offices. CBRE’s Adam Foster and Mike Rizzo repped landlord Capital Properties along with their firm’s Brad Gerla and Adam Leshowitz. The asking rent was $59 psf.
The sister Broadway buildings are known as Trinity Centre. Capital Properties recently completed $45 million in capital work that included facade restoration and LED exterior lighting.
Flushing waterfront plan faces City Council vote
The proposal to develop a Special Flushing Waterfront District sailed through the City Planning Commission last week by an 11-2 vote. Next stop is the City Council, which is to begin hearings on Monday. The council has 50 days to decide whether to approve the project.
As we reported two weeks ago, the Queens complex, to be developed by three companies, will have more than 1,700 apartments, as well as office space, retail stores and a public park on a currently vacant, 29-acre site on Flushing Creek.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--Daniel Jones avoids disaster with rare turnover-free win

It ’ s a funny thing about fairy tales .
Sometimes they ’ re so ...

The touchdown strike was nice, but the most important play Daniel Jones made Sunday was taking a sack.
What sounds like a negative is actually a sign of growth from the Giants’ second-year quarterback because Jones didn’t fumble when he was drilled in the back — and he didn’t force a throw into tight coverage to avoid the hit and lose yardage, either.
Jones played turnover-free for just the second time in 21 career starts and the result was a 23-20 win against a Washington Football Team that committed five turnovers. Six days earlier, Jones’ refusal to take a sack or throw the ball away led to two interceptions in a 25-23 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“That’s been a focus of mine. I obviously know the importance of holding onto the ball,” Jones said. “The defense did a great job coming up with five turnovers and on offense we were able to protect it, so that was a big advantage for us.”
It wasn’t a perfect game from Jones, who fumbled twice. One landed out of bounds and one he easily covered up. He has fumbled or thrown an interception in all 22 of his career games and his only two games without a turnover are wins at Washington.
But disaster would’ve struck if he lost the ball on third-and-10 from midfield with 2:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Safety Kamren Curl came untouched around rookie Andrew Thomas’ edge just as Jones cocked his arm. Jones didn’t sense the pressure, but tucked the ball as he went to the turf with a grimace. The Giants survived to punt and the defense made one final stop in an example of coach Joe Judge’s beloved “complementary football.”
“To be able to flip the field and make their offensive drive down the field, and for D.J. to hold onto the ball,” tight end Evan Engram said, “that was an important moment in the game.”
Jones finished 23 of 34 for 212 yards with a touchdown to Engram. He is 4-0 in his career against Washington and 1-16 against the rest of the NFL, including an active streak of 16 straight losses.
“I think Daniel played a really good game,” Judge said. “I thought he distributed the ball across the board. I saw him make a lot of really good decisions when he was in tight conflict in the pocket, throwing the ball away at different times. Daniel really managed the game and controlled the game and was able to make some plays for us down the stretch.”
In the unpredictable NFC East, the Giants swept the season series from Washington but are 0-2 thus far against the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. Washington is 2-0 against Philadelphia and Dallas.
So, why does Washington bring out the best in Jones?
“I don’t know if it’s specific to one team,” Jones said. “Each game is separate from the other. It’s just happened that we’ve come ready to play against Washington these last four times. We’ll look to build off it next week.”


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--Two children among four people wounded in Virginia Beach shooting

Four people — including two children — were wounded in a Virginia Beach shooting on Sunday night , police said @ @ @ @ @ Whitney Court and left all the victims with non-life threatening injuries , the Virginia Beach @ @ @ @ @ .
The department described the shooting scene as “ very active.
” Additional information was @ @ @ @ @ .

Four people — including two children — were wounded in a Virginia Beach shooting on Sunday night, police said.
The shooting occurred on Whitney Court and left all the victims with non-life threatening injuries, the Virginia Beach Police Department wrote on Twitter.
The department described the shooting scene as “very active.”
Additional information was not immediately provided by police.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--How WHO is still letting China block a real investigation of how COVID-19 started

It ’ s been clear from the pandemic ’ s start that China staged a shameful coverup that cost lives across the world .
Now , newly uncovered details show that the World Health Organization didn ’ t just kowtow to the Communists — the UN agency actively helped Beijing whitewash its deadly deeds .
The New York Times summed up its blockbuster report , which covered internal documents and interviews with more than 50 officials and scientists , this way : “ As it praised Beijing , the World Health Organization concealed concessions to China and may have sacrificed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s origins.
” In other words , WHO did China ’ s bidding , at the cost of more than a million lives .
Back in February , WHO ’ s emergency director , Michael Ryan , said it was critical to understand the virus ’ s source .
But the agency ignored the advice of its emergency committee in dealing with China , and “ negotiated terms that sidelined its own experts , ” the Times reports .
“ They would not question China ’ s initial response or even visit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wuhan where the outbreak seemed to have originated.
” Indeed , nearly a year “ and more than 1.1 million deaths later , there is still no transparent , independent investigation into the source of the virus.
” Heck , when Australia called for such an investigation back in April , Beijing barred Aussie imports into the country — and still does .
But WHO has been heaping praise on China all year and claimed it was investigating the virus ’ origins — despite knowing the Communists made any real investigation impossible .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ have largely ceded control ” of the “ investigation ” to China but the agency “ has refused to disclose details of its negotiations with Beijing.
” “ It was an absolute whitewash , ” Lawrence O. Gostin , a professor of global health law at Georgetown University , told the Times .
The Times report follows one the June probe by the Associated Press that found WHO officials privately complained in January that “ China was not sharing enough data to assess how effectively the virus spread between people or what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world , costing valuable time.
” WHO praised China throughout January , thanking the country for sharing the virus ’ genetic map “ immediately ” and saying its work and transparency were “ very impressive and beyond words.
” In reality , “ Chinese government labs only released the genome after another lab published it ahead of authorities on a virologist website , ” the AP reported — more than a week after it had the genetic map .
“ The delay in the release of the genome stalled the recognition of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the global development of tests , drugs and vaccines , ” the AP noted .
AP investigators uncovered an internal notice in which Chinese officials in early January found the coronavirus was “ contagious through respiratory passages.
” But WHO was saying that same day that information from China indicated “ no evidence of significant transmission between humans.
” As January ended , WHO ’ s director general utterrf unalloyed praise for the regime that had cost the world crucial time .
“ We should have actually expressed our respect and gratitude @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing , ” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said .
“ It has already done incredible things to limit the transmission of the virus to other countries.
” As Ali Mokdad , a professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington , told the AP , “ It ’ s obvious that we could have saved more lives and avoided many , many deaths if China and the WHO had acted faster.
” Even now , nearly a year later , WHO continues its coverup .
Withdrawing funding from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a million COVID deaths on its hands was one of the wisest parts of President Trump ’ s coronavirus response .

It’s been clear from the pandemic’s start that China staged a shameful coverup that cost lives across the world. Now, newly uncovered details show that the World Health Organization didn’t just kowtow to the Communists — the UN agency actively helped Beijing whitewash its deadly deeds.
The New York Times summed up its blockbuster report, which covered internal documents and interviews with more than 50 officials and scientists, this way: “As it praised Beijing, the World Health Organization concealed concessions to China and may have sacrificed the best chance to unravel the virus’s origins.”
In other words, WHO did China’s bidding, at the cost of more than a million lives.
Back in February, WHO’s emergency director, Michael Ryan, said it was critical to understand the virus’s source. But the agency ignored the advice of its emergency committee in dealing with China, and “negotiated terms that sidelined its own experts,” the Times reports. “They would not question China’s initial response or even visit the live-animal market in the city of Wuhan where the outbreak seemed to have originated.”
Indeed, nearly a year “and more than 1.1 million deaths later, there is still no transparent, independent investigation into the source of the virus.”
Heck, when Australia called for such an investigation back in April, Beijing barred Aussie imports into the country — and still does.
But WHO has been heaping praise on China all year and claimed it was investigating the virus’ origins — despite knowing the Communists made any real investigation impossible. WHO leaders, the Times says, “have largely ceded control” of the “investigation” to China but the agency “has refused to disclose details of its negotiations with Beijing.”
“It was an absolute whitewash,” Lawrence O. Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, told the Times.
The Times report follows one the June probe by the Associated Press that found WHO officials privately complained in January that “China was not sharing enough data to assess how effectively the virus spread between people or what risk it posed to the rest of the world, costing valuable time.”
WHO praised China throughout January, thanking the country for sharing the virus’ genetic map “immediately” and saying its work and transparency were “very impressive and beyond words.”
In reality, “Chinese government labs only released the genome after another lab published it ahead of authorities on a virologist website,” the AP reported — more than a week after it had the genetic map. “The delay in the release of the genome stalled the recognition of its spread to other countries, along with the global development of tests, drugs and vaccines,” the AP noted.
AP investigators uncovered an internal notice in which Chinese officials in early January found the coronavirus was “contagious through respiratory passages.” But WHO was saying that same day that information from China indicated “no evidence of significant transmission between humans.”
As January ended, WHO’s director general utterrf unalloyed praise for the regime that had cost the world crucial time. “We should have actually expressed our respect and gratitude to China for what it’s doing,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “It has already done incredible things to limit the transmission of the virus to other countries.”
As Ali Mokdad, a professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, told the AP, “It’s obvious that we could have saved more lives and avoided many, many deaths if China and the WHO had acted faster.”
Even now, nearly a year later, WHO continues its coverup. Withdrawing funding from this corrupt organization that has the blood of a million COVID deaths on its hands was one of the wisest parts of President Trump’s coronavirus response.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--AOC admits, ‘I don’t even know if I want to be in politics’

The blows keeping coming for New York City school kids ...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she doesn’t know whether she wants to stay in politics, much less run for higher office.
“It’s the stress. … It’s the lack of support from your own party. It’s your own party thinking you’re the enemy,’’ the Bronx congresswoman told the New York Times in an interview published over the weekend.
“I’m serious when I tell people the odds of me running for higher office and the odds of me just going off trying to start a homestead somewhere — they’re probably the same,” said the pol, who just won re-election.
“I don’t even know if I want to be in politics,” AOC said. “You know, for real, in the first six months of my term, I didn’t even know if I was going to run for re-election this year.’’
The self-described Democratic socialist and her “Squad” of congressional cronies have taken heat over their party’s unexpectedly poor showing in some races, with critics saying the progressive female group’s attempt to push the Dems to the far left killed colleagues at the polls.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) on Sunday accused liberals who pushed the “Defund the police” battle cry amid the Black Lives Matter movement of costing some Democrats their seats. AOC has been among those calling for “defunding.”
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The congresswoman acknowledged to CNN on Sunday that the Republicans “levied very effective rhetorical attacks against our party” over such issues.
But that’s not the real problem, she said — it’s that the Dems are so far behind the times when it comes to getting out their message.
“Our party isn’t even online, not in a real way that exhibits competence. And so, yeah, [some Democratic candidates] were vulnerable to these messages because they weren’t even on the mediums where these messages were so potent,’’ she told the Times. “They were sitting ducks.”
Ocasio-Cortez insisted that Americans not only like the progressives’ stances, they vote for them.
“Before the election, I offered to help every single swing-district Democrat with their operation,” she said. “And every single one of them but five refused my help.
“And all five of the vulnerable or swing-district people that I helped secured victory or are on a path to secure victory,” she said. “And every single one that rejected my help is losing.
“So I need my colleagues to understand that we are not the enemy. And that their base is not the enemy. That the movement for black lives is not the enemy, that Medicare for all is not the enemy.
“If [Democrats] keep going after the wrong thing, I mean, they’re just setting up their own obsolescence,” she told the paper.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--NY’s education bureaucrats keep showing us that they put kids’ interests last

The blows keeping coming for New York City school kids — with some of them specifically meant to hide just how disastrous this school year has become .
The latest ?
The State Education Department last week canceled Regents exams for January .
“ We determined the January Regents exams could not be safely , equitably and fairly administered across the state , given where the pandemic currently stands , ” muttered Interim New York State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa .
How convenient .
This comes on the heels of news of the city ’ s new grading system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Elementary-school students will receive grades of an “ N ” ( needs improvement ) and middle- and high-school kids an “ NX ” ( course in progress ) in place of failing grades .
Which means no one — not school staff , teachers or kids — has much reason to put in much effort .
Think about it : How hard will kids work if they know they can ’ t fail ?
Why would teachers spend much time trying to get a child up to speed if they can slap an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on their report card and make it someone else ’ s problem ?
All this fits a trend : Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has long wanted to cancel state tests .
In August , he openly hoped a Joe Biden administration would let him do just that .
Why end testing ?
Because doing away with tests and failing grades means no one can tell just how horrifically the schools are doing .
City and state educrats would love that to be the permanent state of affairs , but at least for now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excuse to push exams off .
And that ’ s particularly fortunate for them , because the quality of education during this pandemic has plummeted so far , folks might take to the streets with pitchforks if they knew just how little their kids were learning .
Carranza and Mayor de Blasio are also looking to use the virus to make another long sought-after shift : eliminating the Specialized High School Admissions Test , which is used to determine who gets into the city ’ s top high schools .
The most recent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no new date .
Who knows if there ’ ll ever be one , and if not , how kids will be selected for these top schools .
“ We ’ re working that out , ” fudged the mayor .
New Yorkers mustn ’ t let them slide .
There ’ s got to be some kind of accountability .
With no grades , no tests and limited parental interaction with teachers because of remote learning , we ’ ll have little idea of how big an impact the pandemic has had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Other schools around the country don ’ t have this problem , particularly in the suburbs .
Those schools are open .
They ’ re functioning like it ’ s any other school year , except for the masks .
And the inequities are sometimes hard to miss : A child living in , say , Rockaway , Queens , might go to school twice a week under the city ’ s ridiculous “ blended ” model , while a child two miles away in Nassau County will go full-time .
For people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ equity , ” there sure seems little concern about the gulf between those two .
How can a city that prides itself on its excellence OK this ?
There ’ s a reason they say , “ If you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere ” : Making it in New York is hard .
It means being the best , and that takes work .
To get to Carnegie Hall , practice , practice , practice .
To be a top New York doctor , lawyer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your all .
No , we can ’ t afford to let New York kids or school officials take shortcuts and hand them participation trophies .
We can ’ t cover up failure with an “ N ” or “ NX.
” Yet that ’ s the message we ’ re sending kids : Not only is school unimportant ; working hard is for suckers .
For all the talk of New York bouncing back , it begins and ends with our schools .
If our schools remain closed indefinitely , the city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we ’ ll raise a generation of kids who won ’ t be able to compete .
During this COVID crisis , we need more metrics , more transparency in our schools , not less .
We can ’ t let bureaucrats hide their failures .
Let ’ s make them provide evidence of their accomplishments and hold them accountable .
It ’ s the least we can do for our kids .

The blows keeping coming for New York City school kids — with some of them specifically meant to hide just how disastrous this school year has become.
The latest? The State Education Department last week canceled Regents exams for January.
“We determined the January Regents exams could not be safely, equitably and fairly administered across the state, given where the pandemic currently stands,” muttered Interim New York State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa. How convenient.
This comes on the heels of news of the city’s new grading system for this year: Everyone passes. Elementary-school students will receive grades of an “N” (needs improvement) and middle- and high-school kids an “NX” (course in progress) in place of failing grades.
Which means no one — not school staff, teachers or kids — has much reason to put in much effort.
Think about it: How hard will kids work if they know they can’t fail? Why would teachers spend much time trying to get a child up to speed if they can slap an “N” or “NX” on their report card and make it someone else’s problem?
All this fits a trend: Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza has long wanted to cancel state tests. In August, he openly hoped a Joe Biden administration would let him do just that.
Why end testing? Because doing away with tests and failing grades means no one can tell just how horrifically the schools are doing.
City and state educrats would love that to be the permanent state of affairs, but at least for now, they can use COVID as an excuse to push exams off. And that’s particularly fortunate for them, because the quality of education during this pandemic has plummeted so far, folks might take to the streets with pitchforks if they knew just how little their kids were learning.
Carranza and Mayor de Blasio are also looking to use the virus to make another long sought-after shift: eliminating the Specialized High School Admissions Test, which is used to determine who gets into the city’s top high schools. The most recent SHSAT test was just canceled, with no new date. Who knows if there’ll ever be one, and if not, how kids will be selected for these top schools. “We’re working that out,” fudged the mayor.
New Yorkers mustn’t let them slide. There’s got to be some kind of accountability. With no grades, no tests and limited parental interaction with teachers because of remote learning, we’ll have little idea of how big an impact the pandemic has had on our children’s education.
Other schools around the country don’t have this problem, particularly in the suburbs. Those schools are open. They’re functioning like it’s any other school year, except for the masks.
And the inequities are sometimes hard to miss: A child living in, say, Rockaway, Queens, might go to school twice a week under the city’s ridiculous “blended” model, while a child two miles away in Nassau County will go full-time. For people who pretend to be so concerned with “equity,” there sure seems little concern about the gulf between those two.
How can a city that prides itself on its excellence OK this? There’s a reason they say, “If you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere”: Making it in New York is hard. It means being the best, and that takes work. To get to Carnegie Hall, practice, practice, practice. To be a top New York doctor, lawyer or CEO, you better give it your all.
No, we can’t afford to let New York kids or school officials take shortcuts and hand them participation trophies. We can’t cover up failure with an “N” or “NX.”
Yet that’s the message we’re sending kids: Not only is school unimportant; working hard is for suckers.
For all the talk of New York bouncing back, it begins and ends with our schools. If our schools remain closed indefinitely, the city won’t ever recover, and we’ll raise a generation of kids who won’t be able to compete.
During this COVID crisis, we need more metrics, more transparency in our schools, not less. We can’t let bureaucrats hide their failures. Let’s make them provide evidence of their accomplishments and hold them accountable. It’s the least we can do for our kids.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--Logan Ryan’s fairy-tale Giants ending came at expense of Alex Smith

Grading the Giants after their 23-20 win over the Washington ...

It’s a funny thing about fairy tales. Sometimes they’re so corny you can see the ending from a football field away, without binoculars. That was Alex Smith Sunday afternoon, as the clock motored toward 4 o’clock.
Smith has spent the last two years recuperating from one of the most gruesome, grotesque injuries we’ve ever seen in pro sports. Smith broke both the tibia and the fibula of his right leg Nov. 18, 2018, at FedEx Field against the Houston Texans. It was an injury so traumatic it made Joe Theismann’s break 35 years ago look like a bruised shin.
Somehow, he’d returned to Washington this year. Somehow, he’d played a portion of a game against the Rams a few weeks ago, and just by stepping on the field that day in Washington he’d completed one of the most inspiring stories of the year.
Now, somehow, he was about to finish off a miracle comeback against the Giants. The WFT had trailed 20-3. They’d been outplayed all day. Smith was only in the game because the Washington starter, Kyle Allen, suffered an ankle injury that looked only slightly less haunting and nauseating as Smith’s 10 days shy of two years ago.
“We know Alex Smith,” Giants coach Joe Judge would say later. “We know what he’s capable of.”
Washington had the ball. It had momentum. It had the fairy tale. And then a strange thing happened:
The fairy tale flipped.
And what emerged in its place was another one, this one tinted blue instead of burgundy, this one co-authored by Jabrill Peppers (whose inadvertent leg whip injured Allen and set up the Smith storybook) and Logan Ryan, culminating a week for Ryan that could have been its own Lifetime Network special.
“Winning is a mentality,” Ryan would say when this heart-thumping 23-20 win was in the books for good. “We played like winners there. It wasn’t perfect.”
It was perfect enough. First there was Peppers, with Washington sitting maybe 5 yards outside the range to try a game-tying field goal just before the two-minute warning. He’d picked off a bad Smith pass that ticked off the fingertips of J.D. McKissic, snuffing a drive that, to that moment, had been 10 plays and 49 yards of impending doom.
“It shouldn’t have been that close to begin with,” Peppers would say, shaking his head. “We had a lot of bonehead plays to put them in position.”
Peppers had also been blocked into Allen earlier in the game, and as he watched the WFT quarterback wheeled off the field he felt sick to his core.
“We all have a pact in this league,” Peppers said. “Guys come from different circumstances and you never want to see a guy go down like that. I prayed for him and apologized to him. You never want that to happen.”
But Smith got a mulligan when the Giants quickly went three-and-out. Honestly, the key moment of the game may have come with 2 minutes and 10 seconds left, the Giants facing third-and-6, Daniel Jones clobbered on his blind side by Washington’s Kamren Curl.
To Giants fans who’ve witnessed Jones’ two-year love/hate relationship with ball possession, the play must have felt like super-slo-mo, must have seemed like they were all conjoined in channeling Apollo Creed’s manager, Duke Evers at peak volume:
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
But Jones held onto the ball. The Giants punted. Smith got the ball back, his pen freshly refilled with enough ink to write a proper ending — or at least force overtime. On second-and-6 he looked shallow, then saw something a few yards farther upfield.
What he didn’t see was Ryan.
Ryan was there in one sense because Giants’ defensive coordinator Patrick Graham installed a new look during the team’s Saturday walk-through. He was there in a more ethereal sense because Giants’ trainer Justin Maher had urged his wife to go to the hospital after suffering acute stomach pain. There, she had emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy.
Logan played the game with Ashley’s name on his cleats and a desire to bring her back a ball. So he got a ball. He plucked Smith’s pass out of the air with 1:15 to go. Ballgame over.
Revised fairy tale complete.
“We were done coming up short,” Ryan said.
Not this time. Not this week. There were a lot of Giants who soaked in the reward of a second victory in nine games. Judge kept Golden Tate home, further punishment for his selfish behavior Monday night; in his place rookie Auston Mack caught four balls for 72 yards, improving his career totals to five and 73. Justice served by Judge.
“For us,” the coach said, “the whole message was this: finish.”
This time, they would do just that. With a feel-good ending to boot.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--To make his ‘unifier’ vow work, Joe Biden needs to go moderate

Joe Biden 's deputy campaign manager said Sunday the president-elect ran ...

Joe Biden isn’t officially president-elect yet, but it seems clear he will prevail.
We applaud the sentiments of his Saturday-night victory speech. “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but to unify,” Biden vowed. And: “I’m a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American.”
More lines we liked: Those in the opposition “are not our enemies. They are Americans.” Indeed, “Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end here and now.” And: “It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again.”
Veep-to-be Kamala Harris hit the same point as she introduced him, saying he’ll be a leader “for all people.”
We hope this means that he will govern as the moderate, and pull back from the positions he took to keep the AOC-Bernie wing on board through Election Day.
And that he’ll set a tone that encourages his supporters to drop the venom and conspiracy-theorizing that’s grown dominant on the left, especially these last four years.
The electorate spoke. They may have elected Biden, but they rejected radical ideas such as the Green New Deal. Republicans added seats in the House, and so far lost only one GOP senator.
Pending the runoff voting in Georgia, Mitch McConnell may well remain the Senate majority leader. Even if Chuck Schumer’s dreams of that job come true, Democrats will lack the mandate for all the pack-the-Supreme-Court visions they presented during the campaign — visions that help explain why they fell so short of that “blue wave” they expected.
Yes, one Biden campaign official, Kate Bedingfield, insisted Sunday that he’ll stick with the “progressive and aggressive agenda” reflected in his platform.
But we suspect he may listen more to the likes of Rep. Jim Clyburn, who brought him vital support at a key moment in the primaries: Clyburn revealed how much he and the late Rep. John Lewis worried that all that “defund the police” thinking would derail the Black Lives Matter movement into a radicalism that won’t fly with the American people.
We also hope Biden will think carefully before abandoning Trump’s foreign policy wholesale. He’s already said he won’t move the US Embassy back out of Jerusalem; he’d be wise to more broadly embrace the new Middle East that Team Trump wrought — rather than reviving President Barack Obama’s appeasement of the regime in Iran.
Notably, Biden backed off his extreme anti-fracking vows in recent months, realizing the US economy can’t afford to sacrifice its prospects for growth post-pandemic. He should apply that logic to his entire climate-change plan, and avoid crucifying the American working class on a cross of anti-carbon.
As for his No. 2: We suspect he tapped Kamala Harris because he saw an underlying streak of pragmatism in a woman who, after all, used to be a tough-on-crime prosecutor. She’s no longer playing only to far-left-leaning California voters, but to an essentially moderate national electorate.
Harris deserves congratulations, too, for breaking three glass ceilings in a single victory. She was surely right Saturday evening to say, “Every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a county of possibilities.”
It’s now up to Biden and Harris to unite a bitterly divided nation, pull it through the end of the pandemic and revive a suffering economy. The voters were pretty clear: They want a calm, steady ship, a return to normalcy after the coronavirus horrors and four rocky Trump years.
“Let’s give each other a chance,” Biden said Saturday. We’re up for that. He has his work cut out for him. We wish him well — as all Americans should.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--De Blasio’s ‘layoffs’ charade: He warns of job cuts, but instead gives unions favors

In the spring of 2020 , as New York City faced a massive decline in revenue and a $ 10 billion deficit , Mayor Bill de Blasio began warning that budget cuts were imminent and that municipal workers might face layoffs , unless he could get help from the federal government .
For months , he demanded a bailout from Washington that would “ make us whole.
” In April , at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City , de Blasio said , “ The one thing that I ’ ve asked the president for lately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the equation , is to help New York City through this crisis — give us the financial support to make us whole , to actually balance our budget , pay our first responders and our public servants who are doing this work.
” In August , looking ahead to the election , he said , “ I think that election could lead to a very different reality in Washington and a very different investment in New York City in the country as early as January or February.
” But , the mayor warned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work , we ’ re moving forward layoffs on Oct. 1 .
I don ’ t want to — it ’ s 22,000 employees .
I don ’ t want to do that .
“ It would be horrible for them and their families , but that ’ s what we will do to get through if that ’ s our only choice.
” As Oct. 1 loomed , de Blasio continued to fret about taking out the ax if the federal money didn ’ t come through .
“ What would really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be “ a federal stimulus , and it is shocking that it still hasn ’ t happened.
” Five weeks after the deadline , no federal bailout has materialized , and given the apparent results of the national election , there is no reason to expect one , either .
In lieu of layoffs , de Blasio briefly furloughed his own office , which consists of more than 1,000 employees , many considered “ special assistants ” and making six-figure salaries .
He touts close to $ 1 billion in “ labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just deferred payments to the municipal unions in exchange for promises not to impose layoffs .
Gotham ’ s fiscal crisis is massive .
This fiscal year and next could see a combined $ 20 billion shortfall in revenue .
That money will have to come from somewhere , and budget cuts are unavoidable .
The city ’ s private economy is in tatters , with an unemployment rate of 13.9 percent — more than double the rate of upstate economic basket cases like Watertown , Utica or Buffalo .
More than 800,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ total number of municipal workers — are looking for work .
And it ’ s not as though the city is running a lean-and-mean operation .
De Blasio has expanded the municipal workforce by roughly 12 percent since he took over in 2014 .
He added more than 1,000 new administrators to the schools , and radically expanded the number of people working for Homeless Services .
Have we seen great improvements in either education or homelessness ?
Most cities are just now getting back to their pre-2009 staffing levels ; New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There ’ s plenty of fat to pare away from the workforce before anyone would even notice a decline in service — if they ever did .
Given these realities , it ’ s odd that de Blasio consistently frames the emergency around the possibility that municipal employees might face layoffs — as though a job with the city should be guaranteed for life , no matter what .
The mayor ’ s constant focus on the impending layoffs of city workers reflects his blindness about New York ’ s private economy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government-employee salaries in the first place .
To listen to de Blasio , you can almost imagine that the 330,000 employees of the city of New York are his true constituency .
His myopia about the city ’ s broader economic and employment picture demonstrates how deeply local politics has been captured by public-sector unions .
Seth Barron is associate editor of City Journal , from which this column was adapted .
His book , “ The Last Days of New York , ” will be published in May 2021 .

In the spring of 2020, as New York City faced a massive decline in revenue and a $10 billion deficit, Mayor Bill de Blasio began warning that budget cuts were imminent and that municipal workers might face layoffs, unless he could get help from the federal government.
For months, he demanded a bailout from Washington that would “make us whole.”
In April, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, de Blasio said, “The one thing that I’ve asked the president for lately that should be the easiest part of the equation, is to help New York City through this crisis — give us the financial support to make us whole, to actually balance our budget, pay our first responders and our public servants who are doing this work.”
In August, looking ahead to the election, he said, “I think that election could lead to a very different reality in Washington and a very different investment in New York City in the country as early as January or February.”
But, the mayor warned, if “that doesn’t work, we’re moving forward layoffs on Oct. 1. I don’t want to — it’s 22,000 employees. I don’t want to do that.
“It would be horrible for them and their families, but that’s what we will do to get through if that’s our only choice.”
As Oct. 1 loomed, de Blasio continued to fret about taking out the ax if the federal money didn’t come through.
“What would really solve this,” he said, would be “a federal stimulus, and it is shocking that it still hasn’t happened.”
Five weeks after the deadline, no federal bailout has materialized, and given the apparent results of the national election, there is no reason to expect one, either.
In lieu of layoffs, de Blasio briefly furloughed his own office, which consists of more than 1,000 employees, many considered “special assistants” and making six-figure salaries.
He touts close to $1 billion in “labor savings,” but these are really just deferred payments to the municipal unions in exchange for promises not to impose layoffs.
Gotham’s fiscal crisis is massive. This fiscal year and next could see a combined $20 billion shortfall in revenue.
That money will have to come from somewhere, and budget cuts are unavoidable.
The city’s private economy is in tatters, with an unemployment rate of 13.9 percent — more than double the rate of upstate economic basket cases like Watertown, Utica or Buffalo.
More than 800,000 New Yorkers — almost three times the total number of municipal workers — are looking for work.
And it’s not as though the city is running a lean-and-mean operation. De Blasio has expanded the municipal workforce by roughly 12 percent since he took over in 2014.
He added more than 1,000 new administrators to the schools, and radically expanded the number of people working for Homeless Services. Have we seen great improvements in either education or homelessness?
Most cities are just now getting back to their pre-2009 staffing levels; New York has long blown past those numbers. There’s plenty of fat to pare away from the workforce before anyone would even notice a decline in service — if they ever did.
Given these realities, it’s odd that de Blasio consistently frames the emergency around the possibility that municipal employees might face layoffs — as though a job with the city should be guaranteed for life, no matter what.
The mayor’s constant focus on the impending layoffs of city workers reflects his blindness about New York’s private economy, which generates the revenue that pays those government-employee salaries in the first place.
To listen to de Blasio, you can almost imagine that the 330,000 employees of the city of New York are his true constituency.
His myopia about the city’s broader economic and employment picture demonstrates how deeply local politics has been captured by public-sector unions.
Seth Barron is associate editor of City Journal, from which this column was adapted. His book, “The Last Days of New York,” will be published in May 2021.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--France, England making huge, anti-science mistake going back to total lockdown

SUNY announced Sunday that it is canceling its spring break ...

As Americans were busy awaiting the vote count last week, Europe was going back into lockdown. For all of the justified criticism over how President Trump has handled COVID-19, the grim fact is that Europe — with its supposedly more technocratic, data-based governance — isn’t doing better. A new round of enforced hibernation is the latest failure.
Yes, preventing COVID deaths requires extraordinary measures. COVID is not the flu. The highest US flu-death figure in the past decade was 61,000 — one-fourth of the pandemic’s toll over eight months, and that’s with social distancing.
Nor is COVID a car crash. It’s killed six times as many people as die in crashes each year, and we know how to reduce the crash death rate: Wear your seat belt, don’t speed and don’t drink and drive.
But as we enter COVID’s second winter, the reason for full lockdowns no longer holds. In March, governments justified them by saying that they didn’t know how COVID was spreading, and so didn’t know how to reduce the infection rate enough to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed.
This all-or-nothing strategy doesn’t make sense now, when we know something about the spread.
Consider what the United Kingdom is doing — telling everyone in England to “stay at home” except to buy food or medicine, exercise outdoors or go to school. The government is forcing book, clothing and other retail stores to close — though there’s no evidence that a few masked, distanced people in a bookstore are spreading COVID.
There is evidence that eating indoors in close quarters with strangers spreads COVID — and that’s exactly what England has been merrily doing all summer and fall. New restrictions on indoor dining, then, and leaving small stores alone would have made a lot more sense.
It doesn’t say much for politicians’ ability to parse still-uncertain science that eight months into this, Prime Minister Boris Johnson can’t differentiate between 50 unmasked people screaming at each other in a dark pub (probably bad) and people walking the London Zoo’s ample outdoor grounds in small, distanced families (probably fine).
Weirdest of all: The UK gave everyone a week’s notice before lockdown. Predictably, people flocked to the pub for one last party, and spread out all over the country before travel restrictions took hold. To stop exponential spread, it would have been better to impose more targeted restrictions on risky activities, immediately.
What about France? President Emmanuel Macron, in contrast to Johnson, is the supposedly bloodless leader who follows the facts, not any passion — but he, too, is re-closing his country, rather than targeting activities. Supermarkets may stay open, but small “non-essential” retailers must close.
Book and clothing stores have cited the unfairness, especially as, just as in Britain, Christmas shopping is underway. Walmart-style markets that sell everything from cuts of steak to winter coats are common even in dense cities and thus are considered “essential.”
The government has told big stores to rope off “non-essential” goods. But it would be far more obvious to let all stores serve a few customers at a time, especially since small French book and clothing stores already have a tradition of peddling wares on the sidewalk.
As in Britain, France gave people plenty of notice — which caused people to line up to panic-borrow books at libraries, likely crowding people closer together than if the libraries could just stay open.
A month ago, too, France closed bars and cafes, but not restaurants — another inexplicable distinction that likely contributed to rapid virus spread.
Europe’s new measures don’t inspire confidence, partly because pandemic management there, so far, hasn’t fared much better than it has here. The per-capita death rate in the UK, at 73 per 100,000, is slightly above that in the US, at 72. France, at 58, isn’t far behind.
Germany, by contrast, has a death rate of 13 — and is taking a common-sense approach to a new spike, closing restaurants and bars, not retail stores.
By now, national leaders should have enough data to act early to deploy targeted new restrictions, with equally targeted aid to industries that must cease or curtail business again.
The long-beleaguered citizenry can’t be blamed for being skeptical of public-health policies that pile people into a crowded bar one night — but stop them from buying a book at an outdoor table the next.
Nicole Gelinas is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.


newyorkpost--2020-11-08--Republican women roar with unprecedented wave of victories in the House

With President Trump ’ s chances of staying in the White House ...

Courtesy of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Committee via AP
With several races still unresolved, Republicans are on track to make major gains in the House of Representatives — with women definitely leading the way.
Female candidates account for most of the seats that the GOP has wrested from the Democrats so far, and this year is likely to set a new record for the number of Republican women elected to the House (beating 2004’s 25). Two dozen have won already, and another seven may yet be declared the victors.
“The story of the night is the success of Republican women at the ballot box,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who led the drive to recruit and elect more female candidates. “For all these naysayers, we have proven that strong, Republican women are the best candidates to put on the ballot.”
Several were sure things, running in safe red seats: Kat Cammack (Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Mary Miller (Ill.-15), Lisa McClain (Mich.) and Diana Harshbarger (Tenn.).
But others beat longer odds, including (so far) New York’s own Nicole Malliotakis as well as Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.), Victoria Spartz (Ind.), Ashley Hinson (Iowa), Michelle Fischbach (Minn.), Yvette Herrell (NM), Kendra Horn (Ind.), Nancy Mace (SC) and Beth Van Duyne (Texas). Nearly all of them unseated Democratic incumbents.
The 2019-20 House had just 13 Republican women; Stefanik’s leadership may well see that figure triple.
All this, when Democrats had been smugly predicting they’d gain House seats, with women leading the way. Speaker Nancy Pelosi boasted on Election Day, “Tonight, House Democrats are poised to further strengthen our majority — the biggest, most diverse, most dynamic, women-led House majority in history.”
To be fair, it was a team GOP effort that went far beyond Stefanik’s work: “The Republican Party vowed to make gains among GOP women, and it did because it prioritized the problem,” Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokeswoman for WFW Action Fund, a super PAC to elect conservative women, told The New York Times. “We’re seeing that Republican women will win.”
Consider it all a surprising-to-some spin on Bey-oncé’s anthem: “Who run the world? (Girls).”


newyorkpost--2020-11-09--Stocks surge amid COVID-19 vaccine hopes, Joe Biden victory

US stocks headed for a huge Monday rally as Wall Street cheered progress toward a coronavirus vaccine and Joe Biden sealing his win over President Trump .
Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones industrial average surged 1,474 points , or about 5.2 percent , to 29,678 after Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their experimental COVID-19 shot is more than 90 percent effective .
S & P 500 futures hit a record high after the drugmakers ’ milestone announcement and were recently up roughly 3.8 percent , while futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell about 0.4 percent .
Pfizer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to cheer about after months of waiting for definitive signs that any of the COVID-19 vaccines in development around the world would work in large , late-stage clinical trials .
The news added to the buoyant mood on Wall Street ahead of the first trading session following Biden ’ s Saturday declaration of victory in the contentious presidential election .
Major news outlets calling the race for the former vice president gave investors a stronger degree of certainty about where the nation ’ s political winds are blowing , though the early results @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up 1,821 points last week .
“ The drama is not over yet , and with Trump still sitting in the White House for another two months , wild price swings should not be ruled out , ” said Milan Cutkovic , market analyst at Axi .
“ However , for market participants , there is little doubt that Biden will be sitting in the Oval Office in January.
” Wall Street is broadly betting on a Democratic White House and a Republican-controlled Senate , a combination that should ensure another stimulus bill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the chances of Biden passing any tax hikes or major changes to business regulations .
However , two runoff races for Georgia ‘ s Senate seats will give Democrats a shot at taking both houses of Congress in January even though they face an uphill battle in the Southern battleground state .

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There’s light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel — and Wall Street is running toward it.
US stocks climbed to all-time highs Monday as investors celebrated a major step toward a COVID-19 vaccine on the heels of a post-election rally.
The Dow Jones industrial average surged as much as 1,610.4 points, or about 5.7 percent, to an intraday record of 29,933.80 after Pfizer and BioNTech revealed that their experimental COVID-19 shot is more than 90 percent effective. The blue-chip index gave back about half of that surge to close up 834.57 points, or 3 percent, at 29,157.97 — its biggest single-day gain since June 5.
The benchmark S&P 500 also soared as much as 3.9 percent to a record of 3,645.99 after the drugmakers’ milestone announcement, which offered the clearest sign yet that one of the many inoculations in development can effectively ward off the deadly virus. It closed the session up 1.2 percent.
Even the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed about 1.8 percent to a record peak of 12,108.07, but closed down 1.5 percent amid big drops in tech stocks that have benefited from the pandemic lockdowns, such as Zoom and Netflix.
“It’s clearly a step towards having the economy move to the other side of the pandemic — with the caveat that it will take time to deliver the vaccines, to store the vaccines and then set up a regimen by which the country is vaccinated,” Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial, told The Post.
The announcement was a cure for many stocks that have suffered during the pandemic. Forward-looking investors plowed back into travel and entertainment companies with the hope that customers will be getting back on planes and into movie theaters once the vaccine is approved and distributed.
Shares in JPMorgan Chase surged nearly 14 percent. JetBlue was up nearly 22 percent while stock in theater chain AMC Entertainment surged 50 percent.
“The strong results from the Pfizer vaccine were better than most expected and means we could be opening back up sooner than expected,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial. “Coupled with an economy that continues to surprise to the upside … the stock market is now pricing in the prospects of a much better economy” next year.
Pfizer’s announcement added to the buoyant mood on Wall Street following Biden’s Saturday declaration of victory in the contentious presidential election.
Major news outlets calling the race for the former veep gave investors a stronger degree of certainty about where the nation’s political winds are blowing, though the early results were convincing enough to drive the Dow up 1,821 points last week.
When asked how market insiders felt early Monday, one hedge fund trader cited the party scene from the movie “Animal House,” texting back, “Toga! Toga! Toga!”
“I’m not saying we’ll know exactly what will come out of the new administration but it’s likely we won’t have policy made via Twitter that catches us all off guard,” Baird market strategist Michael Antonelli told The Post.
Wall Street is betting on a Democratic White House and a Republican-controlled Senate, a combination that should ensure another stimulus bill to address the pandemic but reduce the chances of Biden passing tax hikes or major changes to regulations.
The Federal Reserve has also made clear it will do what it can to support the economy while awaiting action from Congress — but that could change with the advent of an effective vaccine, according to James McDonald, CEO and chief investment officer at Hercules Investments.
“If the vaccine works as planned, the dominant risks to the economy seen by the Fed will abate and this will require the Fed to phase out its emergency support measures, which has kept the market rising since March,” McDonald said.


newyorkpost--2020-11-09--DMX claims his mentor tricked him into smoking crack as a teen

Rapper DMX says his problems with addiction began when he was tricked into smoking crack at 14 — by his mentor .
“ I was in Yonkers .
This guy , ‘ Ready Ron , ’ he was like an older brother to me , ” DMX told fellow hip-hop star Talib Kweli on his “ People ’ s Party ” podcast .
“ He would rap , and I would do the beatbox , ” DMX said .
“ I loved this guy like an older brother.
” One night after the duo “ did a robbery one night… @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back and split the money .
I said , ‘ Here you go , go get something nice for your birthday.
’ So he came back with a blunt rolled up , and I ’ m counting the money , he pass [ ed ] the blunt.
” DMX , who subsequently battled substance-abuse issues for years , held back tears as he further related , “ I hit the blunt and … I was no longer focused on the money .
I ’ ve never felt like this , it just f–ked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he laced the blunt with crack .
Why would you do that to a child ?
He knew I looked up to him .
Why would you do that to somebody who looks up to you ?
A monster was born .
I wouldn ’ t do that to my worst enemy .
Especially to someone that you supposedly love.
” He learned on that fateful night , “ The person that I loved was a snake .
”

Rapper DMX says his problems with addiction began when he was tricked into smoking crack at 14 — by his mentor.
“I was in Yonkers. This guy, ‘Ready Ron,’ he was like an older brother to me,” DMX told fellow hip-hop star Talib Kweli on his “People’s Party” podcast.
“He would rap, and I would do the beatbox,” DMX said. “I loved this guy like an older brother.”
One night after the duo “did a robbery one night… it was his birthday and we came back and split the money. I said, ‘Here you go, go get something nice for your birthday.’ So he came back with a blunt rolled up, and I’m counting the money, he pass[ed] the blunt.”
DMX, who subsequently battled substance-abuse issues for years, held back tears as he further related, “I hit the blunt and … I was no longer focused on the money. I’ve never felt like this, it just f–ked me up. I later found out that he laced the blunt with crack. Why would you do that to a child? He knew I looked up to him. Why would you do that to somebody who looks up to you? A monster was born. I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy. Especially to someone that you supposedly love.”
He learned on that fateful night, “The person that I loved was a snake.”


newyorkpost--2020-11-09--Dale Moss said to have pursued TV fame before ‘The Bachelorette’

Click to email this to a friend ( Opens in new window ) Click to share on Twitter ( Opens @ @ @ @ @ to share on Facebook ( Opens in new window ) Could he have been there @ @ @ @ @ !
A media insider claims the “ The Bachelorette ’ s ” Dale Moss was @ @ @ @ @ TV personality long before he went on the show , where he proposed to now-fiancée @ @ @ @ @ in record time .
Delaina Dixon , former co-host of VH1 ’ s “ The @ @ @ @ @ Rob Shuter ’ s “ Naughty But Nice ” podcast that she met 32-year-old Moss @ @ @ @ @ he found out about her TV gig , he contacted her several times to ask @ @ @ @ @ industry .
But Dixon admitted , “ Chatting with him and hanging out with him @ @ @ @ @ to understand why Clare would fall for him so fast .
”

Could he have been there for the wrong reasons?!
A media insider claims the “The Bachelorette’s” Dale Moss was aggressively pursuing fame as a TV personality long before he went on the show, where he proposed to now-fiancée Clare Crawley, 39, in record time.
Delaina Dixon, former co-host of VH1’s “The Gossip Table,” told Rob Shuter’s “Naughty But Nice” podcast that she met 32-year-old Moss in 2016, and when he found out about her TV gig, he contacted her several times to ask for help getting into the industry.
But Dixon admitted, “Chatting with him and hanging out with him, it’s easy to understand why Clare would fall for him so fast.”


newyorkpost--2020-11-09--Creep ‘who forced girl to have sex with dog’ jailed for animal cruelty

A Texas man who allegedly committed bestiality by forcing a little girl to copulate with a dog and who boasts a lengthy roster of crimes has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty , Texomas reports .
This was the result of a plea bargain after the Texas man who allegedly forced the girl into bestiality also killed a small dog , a mini Australian shepherd , in a Wichita Falls park .
The dog had apparently bit him .
Matthew Misner , 23 , was sentenced to four years in prison .
The man who is believed to have committed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ girl as his pawn , is now in a Texas jail .
In July , Texas cops arrested the man on charges of indecency with a child — the little girl — and bestiality .
They went to find Misner at a home on the 3100 block of 10th Street in Wichita Falls .
When the man who allegedly forced the girl to commit bestiality answered the door , he tried to lie to the cops and insist that he was not in fact Misner , Times Record News reports .
“ That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , and then turned around and attempted to flee out the backdoor .
In June 2019 , Texas cops interviewed an eight-year-old girl who told them a shocking and sordid story involving a creepy man , a dog and bestiality .
The girl told the Texas police that the man with bestiality on the brain sexually assaulted her at a home in Clay County .
Then he allegedly forced the poor little girl to engage in sex with a dog .
After his arrest for the abusive machinations , Miser got tossed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 201,000 bail , Metro reported in July .
The Texas man ’ s apparently sticky fingers have stolen more than just the innocence of the little girl and the dog he subjected to bestiality .
Meaww reports that Miser was also arrested in July for assaulting his girlfriend .
On Sunday , July 12 , Miser had been arrested for assault after he had an altercation with a woman , believed to be his girlfriend , at 3.00 am .
According to The Sun , Miser allegedly grabbed his girlfriend by the throat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demanded her car keys .
Pedophile who molested 8-year-old girl and forced her into sexual activity with a dog faces bestiality charges

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A Texas man who allegedly committed bestiality by forcing a little girl to copulate with a dog and who boasts a lengthy roster of crimes has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty, Texomas reports.
This was the result of a plea bargain after the Texas man who allegedly forced the girl into bestiality also killed a small dog, a mini Australian shepherd, in a Wichita Falls park. The dog had apparently bit him.
Matthew Misner, 23, was sentenced to four years in prison.
The man who is believed to have committed the horrifying acts of bestiality, using little girl as his pawn, is now in a Texas jail.
A man who killed a small dog in Iowa Park is back in Wichita County Jail awaiting transfer to prison after pleading guilty. Man accused of indecency with a child and bestiality pleads guilty to killing small dog KFDX Wichita Falls
In July, Texas cops arrested the man on charges of indecency with a child -- the little girl -- and bestiality.
They went to find Misner at a home on the 3100 block of 10th Street in Wichita Falls.
When the man who allegedly forced the girl to commit bestiality answered the door, he tried to lie to the cops and insist that he was not in fact Misner, Times Record News reports.
“That’s not me,” he said, and then turned around and attempted to flee out the backdoor.
The officers caught him. Police: Man with violent history charged with indecency of child, bestiality USA Today
In June 2019, Texas cops interviewed an eight-year-old girl who told them a shocking and sordid story involving a creepy man, a dog and bestiality.
The girl told the Texas police that the man with bestiality on the brain sexually assaulted her at a home in Clay County.
Then he allegedly forced the poor little girl to engage in sex with a dog.
After his arrest for the abusive machinations, Miser got tossed in jail and slapped with a $201,000 bail, Metro reported in July.
The serial offender has been arrested 16 times in the last four years. Serial criminal ‘molested girl, 8, then forced her into sexual activity with dog Metro
The Texas man’s apparently sticky fingers have stolen more than just the innocence of the little girl and the dog he subjected to bestiality.
He’s also stolen from Walmart.
Plus he’s violated a protective order.
Meaww reports that Miser was also arrested in July for assaulting his girlfriend.


newyorkpost--2020-11-09--Motorcyclist, passenger seriously injured after car strikes them in Harlem

The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is more ...

A motorcyclist and his passenger were left with serious injuries after a suspected drunk driver slammed into them in Harlem late Sunday, cops said.
The driver and his passenger, both 23, were riding north on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard near West 116th Street around 10 p.m. when a Volkswagen sedan driver — heading south on the same avenue — turned onto West 116th Street, police said.
In the process, the Volkswagen driver struck the motorcycle, cops said.
The motorcyclist was taken to Harlem Hospital and the woman to Mount Sinai Morningside, both in serious condition, police said.
The Volkswagen driver, also 23, was taken into custody on suspicion of drunk driving.
Charges were pending Monday morning.


newyorkpost--2020-11-09--COVID-19 vaccine distribution will start within 24 hours of approval: general

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The Army general in charge of Operation Warp Speed says the federal government will begin to distribute a coronavirus vaccine within 24 hours once one is approved , but he is concerned about anti-vaxxers who would refuse to be inoculated .
Gus Perna was asked during an interview on CBS News ’ “ 60 Minutes ” on Sunday how quickly a vaccine would begin to be delivered to 300 million Americans .
The veteran Army supply officer put in charge of the distribution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ start rolling once he issues an “ execute ” order .
He also said the government has doses of a vaccine stockpiled but wouldn ’ t go into more detail .
“ I ’ m holding on to that number right now because I want to not create anxiety and we need to work through the details .
A month from now , I ’ ll have more , ” he said .
Pfizer , one of a number of pharmaceutical companies working on a vaccine , announced Monday that trials show its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in preventing the disease that has killed more than 237,000 Americans .
“ With today ’ s news , we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis , ” Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement .
Perna also echoed the concerns of Judith Persichilli , New Jersey ’ s health commissioner , that many people may shun the vaccine .
“ We surveyed 2,000 health care individuals , physicians and nurses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the physicians said that they would get the vaccine .
We know that about 40 percent of the nurses said that they would line up to get the vaccines , ” Persichilli told CBS in the interview , adding “ there is a lot of vaccine hesitancy.
” Perna said that would be his worst nightmare .
“ We get vaccines to the American people and they don ’ t take them .
Shame on us .
‘ Hey , I was already sick , I don ’ t need it.
’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I don ’ t believe in vaccines.
’ Shame on us .
Just shame on us and it does keep me up at night , ” Perna said .

Sign up for our special edition newsletter to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.
The Army general in charge of Operation Warp Speed says the federal government will begin to distribute a coronavirus vaccine within 24 hours once one is approved, but he is concerned about anti-vaxxers who would refuse to be inoculated.
Gus Perna was asked during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday how quickly a vaccine would begin to be delivered to 300 million Americans.
“Within 24 hours,” Perna said.
The veteran Army supply officer put in charge of the distribution effort by President Trump said everything would start rolling once he issues an “execute” order.
He also said the government has doses of a vaccine stockpiled but wouldn’t go into more detail.
“I’m holding on to that number right now because I want to not create anxiety and we need to work through the details. A month from now, I’ll have more,” he said.
Pfizer, one of a number of pharmaceutical companies working on a vaccine, announced Monday that trials show its vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing the disease that has killed more than 237,000 Americans.
“With today’s news, we are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis,” Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.
Perna also echoed the concerns of Judith Persichilli, New Jersey’s health commissioner, that many people may shun the vaccine.
“We surveyed 2,000 health care individuals, physicians and nurses and we know that over 60 percent of the physicians said that they would get the vaccine. We know that about 40 percent of the nurses said that they would line up to get the vaccines,” Persichilli told CBS in the interview, adding that “there is a lot of vaccine hesitancy.”
Perna said that would be his worst nightmare.
“We get vaccines to the American people and they don’t take them. Shame on us. ‘Hey, I was already sick, I don’t need it.’ Shame on us. ‘Hey, I don’t believe in vaccines.’ Shame on us. Just shame on us and it does keep me up at night,” Perna said.