Anti-inflammatory drug may shorten Covid-19 recovery time . . . A drug company says that adding an anti-inflammatory medicine to a drug already widely used for hospitalized Covid-19 patients shortens their time to recovery by an additional day.

Eli Lilly announced the results Monday from a 1,000-person study. The study tested baricitinib, a pill that Indianapolis-based Lilly already sells as Olumiant to treat rheumatoid arthritis, the less common form of arthritis that occurs when a mistaken or overreacting immune system attacks joints, causing inflammation. An overactive immune system also can lead to serious problems in coronavirus patients. Associated Press

 

Chinese virologist says Covid made in Wuhan lab . . . A Chinese virologist who has alleged that COVID-19 was human-made in a lab in China released a report on Monday that she says backs up her explosive claim. Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a former researcher at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, posted a paper on the the open-access repository website Zenote, that she claims shows how SARS-CoV-2 could be “conveniently created” in a laboratory setting in six months. New York Post

 

The Chinese created this virus and then covered it up, which allowed it to spread. And they have slave labor camps. But let's treat them as a normal government.

 

Meat plants sought federal protection from local health departments . . . Even as thousands of their employees fell ill with COVID-19, meatpacking executives pressured federal regulators to help keep their plants open, according to a trove of emails obtained by USA TODAY. The emails show how a major meatpacking trade group, the North American Meat Institute, provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a draft version of an executive order that would allow plants to remain open. A week later, President Donald Trump signed an order with similar language, which caused confusion over whether local health authorities could close plants due to COVID-19 outbreaks. USA Today

 

US halts Covid screenings from high-risk countries . . . The feds on Monday ended COVID-19 screenings for international travelers coming into New York and other designated airports around the country. The new CDC policy ends the eight-month-old rule requiring travelers from pandemic hotspots to enter the United State through one of 15 airports and undergo mandatory health checks. The agency said it found checking for symptoms was ultimately ineffective — and a spokesman said only 15 of the nearly 700,00 people who went through the “enhanced” screenings were found to have COVID-19. New York Post

 

"The Harris administration": Kamala's Freudian slip . . . Kamala Harris, Joe Biden's running mate in the 2020 election, raised eyebrows on Monday evening after she accidentally touted economic plans under a "Harris administration." Speaking during a virtual roundtable with small business owners in Arizona, Harris vowed that they will have an ally in the White House with the campaign's "Build Back Better" initiative. However, the California senator appeared to briefly suggest that she was at the top of the Democratic ticket. "A Harris administration, together with Joe Biden as the president of the United States," she said. She quickly clarified, "The Biden-Harris administration will provide access to $100 billion in low-interest loans and investments from minority business owners." Fox News

 

 

 

Biden campaign sets up legal war room with hundreds of lawyers . . . Democrat Joe Biden is assembling a team of top lawyers in anticipation of court challenges to the election process that could ultimately determine who wins the race for the White House. Biden's presidential campaign says the legal war room will work to ensure that elections are properly administered and votes correctly counted.  It will also seek to combat voter suppression at the polls, identify foreign interference and misinformation, and educate voters on the different methods available for casting ballots.  Attorney General Eric Holder will serve as a liaison between the Biden campaign and outside groups working on similar issues. Daily Mail

 

 

 

We will have to wait for results on Election Night in three key states . . . The most important states in the 2016 election are among the least likely states to count their votes and declare a winner on election night this year. Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are expecting huge surges in ballots cast by mail in 2020, like most states preparing to vote during the coronavirus pandemic. But all three Midwestern battlegrounds, which President Donald Trump flipped in 2016 to win the White House after years of Democratic presidential victories there, are among the states where local election officials are not allowed to start processing mail ballots until Election Day. Politico

 

 

Biden lags Trump with Latinos in Florida . . . Biden is underperforming with Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade, the largest county in the state, as well as with Latino voters across Florida, according to recent polling. The lack of support from Latino voters could cost Biden a win in Florida, which has backed the national winner in every election except one since 1964. Trump narrowly won the state four years ago by a little more than 1%, a margin of fewer than 113,000 votes out of more than 9.5 million cast. USA Today

 

 

HHS spokesman Caputo warned of armed insurrection after the election . . . The top communications official at the powerful cabinet department in charge of combating the coronavirus made outlandish and false accusations on Sunday that career government scientists were engaging in “sedition” in their handling of the pandemic and that left-wing hit squads were preparing for armed insurrection after the election. Michael R. Caputo, the assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, accused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of harboring a “resistance unit” determined to undermine President Trump, even if that opposition bolsters the Covid-19 death toll. New York Times

 

 

Biden calls Trump a "climate arsonist" . . . Well, it’s a good line. But these fires are due to poor forest management by the Democratic leadership of California. “If you give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised that more of America is ablaze?” Biden wanted to know Monday. “We have to act as a nation,” Biden said. “It shouldn’t be so bad that millions of Americans live in the shadow of an orange sky and are left asking, ‘Is doomsday here?'” They may, on January 20, be asking if doomsday is here, but not for the reason Biden thinks. It might be because he is in charge. White House Dossier

 

Appeals court ruling would let Trump send 400,000 immigrants home . . . A panel of judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a ruling Monday uphold the Trump administration's drawdown of temporary protected status (TPS) designations for a handful of countries, which allow more than 400,000 foreign nationals to live and work in the United States. The panel lifted an injunction in a case filed by citizens of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan and their U.S. citizen children against the Trump administration's management of TPS. The resolution could also affect TPS holders from Honduras and Nepal, who sued in a separate case that's tied to the main case. The Hill

 

Some Trump aides uneasy about indoor rally . . . President Trump and his campaign are defending his right to rally indoors, despite the private unease of aides who called it a game of political Russian roulette and growing concern that such gatherings could prolong the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of his supporters gathered on Sunday night inside a manufacturing plant in a Las Vegas suburb, flouting a state directive limiting indoor gatherings to fewer than 50 people. The president did not address health concerns about the rally attendees, a vast majority of whom did not wear masks or practice any social distancing. When it came to his own safety, he said, “I’m not at all concerned.” The decision to hold a rally indoors, officials said, was something of a last resort for a campaign that had tried to procure five different outdoor locations. A Trump campaign official said they all faced pressure from state officials not to host the rally. New York Times

 

South Dakota AG who reported hitting a deer actually killed a man . . . South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg said he's cooperating with an investigation after he reported hitting a deer with his car on Saturday night but actually struck and killed a pedestrian whose body was not found until Sunday. Ravnsborg, whose office said he had not been drinking before the crash and that he called 911, said he's providing a blood sample to investigators. He also said he agreed to allow a search of his cell phones and will submit to interviews with law enforcement agents. The victim, who was identified as 55-year-old Joseph Boever, was not found until Sunday morning. Daily Mail

 

 

Trump warns Iran of huge retaliation if it kills a US ambassador . . . President Trump took to Twitter late Monday to issue a stern warning to Iran that an assassination attempt or attack against the U.S. in retaliation of the airstrike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani earlier this year will be met with a counterattack that “will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude.” Trump cited recent reports that claim Tehran is considering an assassination attempt on Lana Marks, the United States’ ambassador to South Africa. Fox News

 

Navalny plans to return to Russia . . . Alexey Navalny returned to social media Tuesday for the first time since he was poisoned last month, as allies said he plans to return to Russia once he’s recovered.

“No other option was ever considered,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said by text message. “We haven’t discussed concrete plans yet.” Navalny’s health has continued to improve after he collapsed on a plane bound for Moscow from a campaign trip in Siberia. Germany said he was poisoned by what European laboratories have identified as Novichok, a weapons-grade nerve agent developed in Russia, and has demanded an explanation from the Russian government. Bloomberg

 

Apple to unveil Watch and iPad, with iPhone coming later . . . Apple is expected to show off its latest smartwatch and iPad Tuesday amid an uptick of interest in such devices by weary, homebound users looking for help tracking exercise and logging hours of remote work and learning. The Cupertino, Calif., tech company will hold its first virtual-only product reveal at 1 p.m. New York time from its headquarters. The newest smartphone is expected to be revealed next month after Covid-19 related delays pushed back production. Wall Street Journal

 

Hero LA deputy shot in ambush saved parter . . . The hero Los Angeles County deputy who survived an ambush attack and saved the life of her partner is reportedly a 31-year-old former librarian who just graduated the academy last year. Claudia Apolinar, who was struck in the jaw during Saturday’s shooting, was in stable condition at a Los Angeles County hospital. The deputy and her partner were both shot at close range while sitting inside their patrol car in a chilling caught-on-video ambush. Apolinar made a tourniquet for her 24-year-old partner before medics arrived. New York Post

 

Hurricane Sally rumbles into Gulf Coast; historic flooding possible . . . Hurricane Sally drew closer to the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center said, with more than two feet of rain expected in some areas. The second strong storm in less than a month to threaten the region, Sally’s winds decreased to 85 miles per hour and early Tuesday was 60 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the NHC said, moving at a glacial pace of two miles per hour. It could wallop the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida coasts on Tuesday with massive flash flooding and storm surges of up to 9 feet. Reuters

 

JK Rowling accused of transphobia again . . . JK Rowling is embroiled in yet another trans row after it was revealed that the villain in her latest book is a male serial killer who dresses as a woman to slay his victims. Troubled Blood - written under Rowling's pseudonym Robert Galbraith - is set to be released on September 15 and will see detective Cormoran Strike work out what happened to missing GP Margot Bamborough. He fears she fell victim to Dennis Creed, who has been dubbed a 'transvestite serial killer' for murdering his victims while wearing female clothing. Daily Mail

 

Biden campaign goes to insane lengths to keep him from the virus . . .  Joe Biden’s chartered airplanes and SUVs are meticulously sprayed with disinfectant and scrubbed. The microphones, lecterns and folders he uses are wiped down in the moments before his arrival. News reporters covering the campaign have their temperature taken. People he meets are scanned in advance with thermometer wands and guests at his events are cordoned off in precise locations mapped out with a tape measure. The former vice president is seldom without a mask when in public or around anyone other than his wife, Jill Biden. Access to their home is limited to only a few staffers — and when they’re inside, each wears a mask, including Biden. The level of discipline is such that at times when someone stops to take a drink of water, that person will turn their head away from the others to reduce the chances of scattering droplets, according to campaign aides. Politico