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Masks don’t make a difference. Remember that? It was about two months ago. The consensus of scientific experts who must be obeyed unless one is a Trump-loving troglodyte assured us that there was no need to don a silly mask. Today, masks are the Holy Grail of stopping the virus. How did that happen? What do we know in July that we didn’t know in May? Why did other countries seem to know the supposed value of masks while we didn’t? I’ll give you another one. On February 29, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Lord High Guru Of All Science, went...

In veiled threat, Wendy Sherman says if Israeli gov't doesn't show commitment to two-state solution, US will have trouble backing it in UN. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman Reuters US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman had a harsh message for American Jewish leaders on Monday. Sherman warned them that if the new Israeli government does not demonstrate a strong commitment to the two-state solution, the US will have trouble assisting it in efforts to halt international initiatives at the United Nations. Speaking at a conference of the Reform Movement in the United States, Sherman insisted...

IDF Home Front Command chief Maj. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg says the 'Arab Spring' may bring an 'Islamic Winter' - and War. 'Arab Spring' revolutions have destabilized the region and raised the likelihood of war, top general says. "It looks like the Arab Spring, but it can also be a radical Islamic winter," IDF Home Front Command chief Major General Eyal Eisenberg said during a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Monday. "This leads us to the conclusion that through a long-term process, the likelihood of an all-out war is increasingly growing," Eisenberg said. "Iran...

Statesmen aren't supposed to make comments like this. But British Prime Minister William Hague has already shown he's not much of a statesman. Mr. Hague said the American intervention was "important because only the United States can really decisively deliver Israel into a peace agreement and give them the necessary assurances". He added: "It means that as [President Obama] comes to the United Kingdom this week, on the Middle East process and the wider subject of the future of North Africa and the Middle East the policies of the UK and US are as closely aligned as they have ever...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday unveiled a near $66 billion revised budget plan that does not raise taxes but instead relies on attrition and layoffs to cut about 7,000 city workers. Though the city is spending the majority of its reserves, "even that will not be enough to avoid layoffs of some city employees, including teachers," Bloomberg, a political independent, said at a webcast news conference. The school system, the nation's biggest with over a million pupils, stands to lose about 6,000 teachers. These are the first teacher layoffs in decades. Despite an...

HealthMarkets, the North Richland Hills-based seller of health insurance, laid off 70 employees this month and expects to trim 180 more positions by the end of the first quarter of 2011, according to a recent federal filing. In the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, HealthMarkets blamed the layoffs on "dropping enrollment levels experienced by the company's insurance subsidiaries," along with national healthcare reform and "related legislative developments." HealthMarkets provides insurance plans to the self-employed, individuals and small businesses. The filing did not disclose where the Aug. 10 layoffs occurred, and the company declined to comment further.

This is a man so out of touch with the national mood he has doubled down on a pair of deuces. By going for the comprehensive, trillion dollar health insurance reform plan, the president has thrown caution, common sense, and perhaps his congressional majorities to the wind so that, he believes, history will treat him kindly for making government run health care a reality. As this Ruth Marcus piece in the Washington Post points out, it's not Republicans that Obama's health care summit is targeting. It is members of his own party who don't like the idea of being cannon...

PASADENA, Calif. – NBC Universal says it expects to lose money on the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver. NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol says advertising sales for the games have picked up over the past few months. He said the loss is more due to the heavy rights fee NBC paid to show the games. NBC won the rights to broadcast the Vancouver Olympics and the 2012 Summer Games in London for $2.2 billion.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Friday he expected an $825 billion economic recovery plan to be approved by his target of mid-February and urged congressional leaders to work swiftly to pass it. "We are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with and dealt with rapidly," Obama told reporters as he met with lawmakers from both parties at the White House four days after being sworn in as president. Republicans, who have voiced concern over the shape of the stimulus package, left the meeting praising Obama for being open to suggestions on amending the...

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The noted Colorado State University forecast team expects an above average Atlantic hurricane season and may raise its prediction of 13 tropical storms and seven hurricanes when it updates its outlook next week, the team's founder Bill Gray said on Wednesday. La Nina cool-water conditions in the Pacific and higher sea surface temperatures in the eastern Atlantic are contributing to enhanced conditions for hurricane activity, Gray told Reuters at the U.S. National Hurricane Conference. "We're expecting an above average season," Gray said. "The big question we have is, are we going to raise the numbers from...

MINNEAPOLIS - Despite John McCain's building political momentum, Mitt Romney said Saturday he does not expect the Republican presidential nomination to be settled during the coming week and he is planning to continue campaigning beyond Super Tuesday. The former Massachusetts governor said the number of states up for grabs, his prospects of succeeding in some of the 20-plus GOP contests that day, as well as a growing concern within the Republican Party about conferring the nomination on McCain give him reason to fight on. Romney said he plans to speak Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference convention in Washington,...

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - A year after its worst holiday sales season ever, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may rebound to have a good season after finding the right mix of merchandise and marketing to complement its return to a focus on low prices. A whiff of this already showed up when the nation's largest retailer posted third-quarter earnings Tuesday of $2.86 billion, an 8 percent rise that beat Wall Street expectations. The company earned 70 cents per share, up from 62 cents per share in the same period a year ago. The 70 cents includes an after-tax gain equal to 1 cent...

VIENNA (AFP) - Iran expects the United Nations to hold off on new sanctions while Tehran pursues new talks with the UN atomic agency about its disputed nuclear work, a senior Iranian official said Friday. "Of course this is definitely the expectation because otherwise, as I've said, this positive, constructive environment will be in jeopardy and this whole peace might collapse," Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told AFP in an interview. The UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy director general for safeguards Olli Heinonen will visit Tehran next week to draw up a plan to resolve "outstanding issues" in...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2005 – The United States expects to reduce its troop numbers in Iraq by more than 17,000 following the Dec. 15 national elections, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Dec. 8. Rumsfeld, speaking on PBS' "News Hour With Jim Lehrer," said he expects to reduce the force, which surged to about 155,000 to ensure adequate security for the elections, to the previous baseline of 137,000 or 138,000. "I'm sure of that," he said, noting that violence is expected to drop following the upcoming election, as it did following the Oct. 15 referendum on the constitution and the...

Former adviser Berger expects another domestic terrorist attack BY KEN MCLAUGHLIN Knight Ridder Newspapers Posted on Wed, May. 11, 2005 SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - Two former national security leaders say they are perplexed that suicide bombers have not targeted Americans on U.S. soil. "The threshold of entry into this business of suicide bombs is not very high," said Sandy Berger, national security adviser in President Clinton's second term. "All you need to do is strap something to you and walk into some place where there are a lot of people. It's a little bit of a mystery to...

WASHINGTON - The FBI (news - web sites) anticipates violent protests at the upcoming Republican National Convention in New York but does not have enough evidence to move against any group or person, the bureau's top terrorism official said Wednesday. New York officials have said they expect hundreds of thousands of people to stage demonstrations around the convention, which begins Aug. 30. Concern over the convention comes amid heightened security across New York over fears that foreign terrorists might strike the city again. New York remains on a "high" terrorism alert level, while most of the country is on elevated...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - Expecting to reach the national debt ceiling of $5.6 trillion on Thursday, the government took steps Wednesday to allow federal borrowing to continue while Congress considers raising the debt limit.</p> <p>Treasury Secretary John Snow wrote congressional leaders urging quick action to raise the ceiling, though he did not recommend a new limit. Treasury officials saying they wanted to leave that decision up to lawmakers.</p>