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The fact that United States was unable to know the name of its new president for several days after the polls closed was like a sort of corporal punishment for a country being forced to atone in a painful way. Nov 14, 2020

By Prof Massimo FaggioliThe fact that United States was unable to know the name of its new president for several days after the polls closed was like a sort of corporal punishment for a country being forced to atone in a painful way.

Now we know that it will be up to Joseph R. Biden Jr, a Catholic, to begin the process of healing the moral and corporal wounds Donald J. Trump has inflicted on the country by the way hes handled the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing crisis of globalisation.

The American presidency is not just a political office. It is also an office with moral and religious aspects. And Joe Biden will assume that office at a time when political identities in his country have assumed theological and dogmatic intensity.

A realignment of the political relationship between Washington and the Vatican US Catholicism is not detached from the global world. On the contrary, it is at the centre of the convulsions in the body of the Church, one of the consequences of the crisis of globalisation and world order.

In a Biden presidency one can expect a realignment of relations between the United States, even if there are some important unknowns on certain international issues.

But this realignment will have to deal with a deeply divided Church on US soil, as well as a global Catholicism that is also divided.

One of the fruits of globalism has been an opposition to Pope Francis.

The Latin American Jesuit Pope expresses his message on the most relevant issues at the public level (such as women, homosexuality, environment) in ways and through channels different from those used by his predecessors. That message is received in contrasting ways in various parts of the world.

There has been unprecedented confrontation between the Trump administration and the current pontificate, beginning early on with the issue of immigration and on full view just last month when US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, publicly chastised the Holy See for its 2018 agreement with China (which has since been renewed).

Its not clear how much this open hostility impacted the results of the US presidential election, but it has had a very evident effect on the Church.

It has helped deepen the internal rift within American Catholicism, evidenced by the number of bishops and priests who continue to back Donald Trump till the bitter end some via the new ecosystem of independent Catholic media and social media.

Trumps attempt to divide and conquer US Catholics Over the past four years the White House (through officials like Bannon and Pompeo) has directed a political attempt to divide the Church in two for and against Pope Francis.

A handful of American bishops and a number of high-profile lay Catholics have given their blessing to this attempt. But the effort at division has failed.

Nonetheless, the ecclesial attempt remains, in a Church in the United States that is divided like never before. The culture wars have taken the form of intra-ecclesial theological wars and have exposed American Catholicism to the risk of a soft schism.

The Trump presidency and the 2020 elections have shown the extent to which the two Catholic ecclesial parties have identified with the platform of the opposing political parties.

While there is some of this among that group of Catholics that support Biden, it is much more obvious among the Catholic faction backing Trump. It has blended a proclaimed theological orthodoxy with a political orthodoxy, thus leaving very little room for argued dissent.

The moral failure of institutional Catholicism in the United States can be seen in the desperate attempts to stop the LGBTQ agenda and in the inability of the Church here to speak with a unified voice on the issue of racism.

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The end of the Trumpian captivity of the American Church - Malaysian Christian News

[Heres what you need to know about Pfizers Covid-19 Vaccine.]

On Nov. 17-18, DealBook is holding our first Online Summit. Join us as we welcome the most consequential newsmakers in business, policy and culture to explore the pivotal questions of the moment and the future. Watch for free from anywhere in the world. Register now.

The pandemic is still raging, but it would be hard to tell from the ecstatic stock market, which flirted with record highs thanks to promising clinical trial data on a coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech. Futures today suggest that yesterdays rally could be extended.

Hopes that the pandemic will come under control scrambled the usual pattern, with shares soaring for the sectors most linked to growth in the broad economy, like energy and banks, and the companies most affected by lockdowns, like AMC (up 51 percent), United Airlines (up 19 percent) and Macys (up 17 percent). Tech-heavy stars of the pandemic were the days biggest losers, like Peloton (down 20 percent), Zoom (down 17 percent) and Netflix (down 9 percent).

The probability of an L-shaped recovery has been significantly reduced, said Johanna Kyrklund, Schroders chief investment officer. We may finally have found the catalyst to spark a move away from the stay-at-home stocks that have benefited from lockdown, towards recovery stocks.

There are reasons to be wary. Experts cautioned that even if Pfizer wins approval for its vaccine and itll need much more data doses will be initially available to only a small sliver of the population. As our colleagues at The Morning newsletter note, there are two very different coronavirus stories happening now: While the markets are rejoicing, records for coronavirus infections are being set daily.

The key question: Are investors getting ahead of themselves? These are the types of moves that tend to run out of gas if the underlying data doesnt quickly confirm the enthusiasm, Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, told The Times. The sharp turns call into question the efficiency of supposedly all-knowing markets, as the Deal Professor notes below.

Europe charges Amazon with antitrust violations. The E.U.s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, accused the e-commerce giant of exploiting data it collects from third-party merchants to boost its own sales. We must ensure that dual-role platforms with market power, such as Amazon, do not distort competition, she said.

Most Republicans back President Trumps refusal to concede. Officials like Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, declined to rebut Mr. Trumps false claims of illegal votes and a stolen election. Separately, lawyers at Jones Day and Porter Wright, two big law firms working on Mr. Trumps legal challenges, have voiced concerns about their work.

Top SoftBank executives resign as directors. Three senior managers including Rajeev Misra, the head of the Vision Fund, and Marcelo Claure, the companys C.O.O. are stepping down from the board, amid pressure to improve SoftBanks corporate governance. (Theyll stay as executives.)

The E.U. imposes new tariffs on American goods. The $4 billion in levies, on products like aircraft and chocolate, follow a W.T.O. ruling allowing the bloc to retaliate against the U.S. over illegal subsidies to Boeing. The U.S. imposed tariffs on European goods last year after a similar ruling about Airbus.

Bill Grosss property fight with his neighbor heads to court. A trial over competing harassment claims by the famed bond investor and the entrepreneur Mark Towfiq began yesterday. Mr. Gross reportedly said he would stop blaring the Gilligans Island theme song if the neighbor dropped his complaint; a lawyer for Mr. Gross accused Mr. Towfiq of being a peeping Tom.

Steven Davidoff Solomon, a.k.a. the Deal Professor, is a professor at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law and the faculty co-director at the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy.

Recent weeks havent been good for the efficient markets hypothesis. First, the pollsters got the election wrong, failing to forecast the results for many of last weeks contests. Then, yesterday, investors got the markets wrong.

The burst upward in stocks was aided by the thesis that the calmness of a post-Trump era and divided government would be a boon to business. But make no mistake: Most of the rise was related to Pfizers vaccine news.

Whats so surprising about the rise is that it shouldnt have happened. This vaccine announcement was completely expected. Pfizer and other companies developing vaccines have been signaling a November announcement for weeks. And, in fact, some market observers have been factoring this into their advice on positioning.

Marko Kolanovic, the head of macro quantitative and derivatives strategy at JPMorgan Chase, has been right all year. He called the market bottom, then called the Nasdaq high as well as the turn to consumer cyclicals. He also put out a series of reports leading up to the election noting that evidence beyond the polls suggested President Trump would do better than expected.

Mr. Kolanovics forecasts show what were missing, despite being able to access more information than ever. People are driven by fear, live in the moment and get distracted by a deluge of extreme views on social media. This has been compounded by political bias which infects everything, including assessments of the markets. Trading is consumed by momentum plays and the Robinhood crowd. People have too much information and take longer to process meaningful signals.

All of this is to say that markets may still be efficient in the long term, but these days it takes even longer for this to become clear.

Rich Handler, the C.E.O. of Jefferies, in 20 Things I Wish Someone Told Me The Day I Started My Career As An Analyst On Wall Street

The Affordable Care Act is up for debate at the Supreme Court today. If the law is invalidated, some investors have prepared for refunds on past investment income. Indeed, the litigation has generated a flurry of queries and I.R.S. protective refund claims, tax experts say.

Todays arguments are about Obamacares individual mandate, a penalty for not taking out health insurance. Challengers say that when Congress set the penalty at zero in 2017, they broke the justification given for the entire law in a previous Supreme Court ruling, which depended on treating the mandate as a tax. Theoretically, if Texas and other Republican-leaning states backed by the federal government succeed in striking down the law, refunds could be available on other taxes associated with the A.C.A.

The I.R.S. cited the case in guidance on protective refund claims earlier this year. These claims are placeholders, reserving the right to file after deadline, depending on a future event like litigation. Some filers hope that other taxes will be invalidated if the A.C.A. is struck down, including a 3.8 percent hike on net income investment passed in a 2010 companion law.

Its a long shot. Even if the individual mandate falls, the court may preserve the health care law, and even the whole law falling wouldnt guarantee some of these refunds. Because arguments for unconstitutionality of the mandate depend on a change in law that was enacted in 2017 and did not take effect until 2019, it seems very unlikely that the court will hold that the A.C.A. was invalid as far back as 2016, Jonathan Gifford, a tax attorney at Cleary Gottlieb, told DealBook. But people filing protective refund claims presumably are thinking that anything can happen, and in 2020 that certainly seems truer than ever.

The Timess Brooks Barnes writes from Los Angeles: Months after his blink-and-you-missed it tenure as TikToks C.E.O., Kevin Mayer has taken on a new role: senior adviser to Len Blavatniks Access Industries.

He will bring invaluable knowledge and insight to Access, which owns media businesses like Warner Music and the sports streaming service DAZN, Mr. Blavatnik said. Before joining TikTok, Mr. Mayer led Disney+ and had been a contender to succeed Bob Iger as Disneys C.E.O. President Trumps pressure on TikToks Chinese owners curtailed the networks global ambitions, prompting Mr. Mayer to leave after just three months.

Mr. Mayer called the Access role a key component of my future endeavors. He has also held talks to join Redbird Capital, the sports and entertainment investment firm that recently launched a SPAC.

Travel is down, but when it returns it will be a little easier to get to the airport, a meeting or anywhere else at a set time. Later today, Uber will announce a feature that the business community has long wanted: reservations.

How it works. Through Uber Reserve, riders can schedule trips up to 30 days in advance in more than 20 U.S. cities. The program, which launches next week, will present its fare upfront, as usual. If a pickup doesnt arrive on time, riders get a $50 credit.

Its a swipe at legacy car services. The new program challenges the biggest advantage that car and limo services had over on-demand ride-hailing. But it may take some time to see any impact, given how little people are moving around these days.

Deals

NextEra Energy reportedly offered to buy a rival power utility, Evergy, for $15 billion in stock, months after being rebuffed by Duke Energy. (Reuters)

VF Corporation, which owns Vans and Timberland, will buy the buzzy streetwear brand Supreme for $2.1 billion. (NYT)

Politics and policy

Renewing the Feds emergency loan programs, which are set to expire at the end of the year, has become a bitter political fight. (NYT)

Britain will require big companies to report on climate risks. (Guardian)

Tech

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to continue the Justice Departments antitrust lawsuit against Google and may file competition cases against Facebook, Amazon and Apple. (NYT)

Zoom agreed to third-party audits of its security protocols as part of a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. (Protocol)

Best of the rest

Since President Trump took office, corporate America has been thrust into the culture wars like never before. (NYT)

Four Seasons the landscaping company, not the hotel is capitalizing on its unexpected role in the Trump campaigns legal challenges, selling shirts with slogans like Lawn and Order! (NYT)

Wed like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com.

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Are Markets Overexcited About Pfizer's Covid-19 Vaccine News? - The New York Times

Joe Biden won Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and the Democrats saw an increased share of votes from white working-class voters in 2020. What did he do to win this crucial support in the heartland? Three things. He went there frequently, which Hillary Clinton did not. Biden talked about jobs, with the message that we can revitalize our industrial base at the heart of the American middle class. Most importantly, Biden treated working-class whites with respect.

After 2016, Democrats worried whether they could appeal to enough white working-class Trump voters to win in 2020 without alienating and disrespecting a key Democratic constituency: voters of color.

They just did. Biden won because he won back Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The percentage of white working class men voting Democratic increased from 23% in 2016 to 28% in 2020, while among white working class women, support for Democrats increased from 34% to 36%. These voters played a key role in delivering victories for Biden in the Rust Belt states where Clinton lost the presidency in 2016.

But white working-class voters were not the whole story by any means. Biden also won the election this year because he flipped Arizona and probably Georgia, which had not voted Democratic in a presidential election since the 1990s, and by holding on to Nevada. Large Latinx turnout played an outsized role in both Arizona and Nevada. Black voters played a central role in Georgia, thanks to the voter-turnout efforts led by Stacey Abrams. Not to mention that Congressman Jim Clyburn and Black voters saved Bidens candidacy when it was faltering, by delivering a win in the South Carolina primary.

Bidens winning coalition was a race-class coalition. This election shows that Democrats can simultaneously appeal to voters of color and to enough (though hardly all) working class whites. The election also severely undermines the demography is destiny thesis that people of color will rote-vote Democratic. Trump won 45% of the Latinx vote in Florida, fueled by Cuban and Venezuelan Americans whom he courted for years through relentless messaging that Democrats would bring socialism. More shockingly, Democrats also lost Texas in part because Latinos in South Texas swung to Trump, cancelling out Democrats gains in urban areas. Mexican Americans within spitting distance of Trumps wall swung strongly for him. How does this make sense?

There are plenty of reasons. Many Latinos have a strong religious orientation, traditionalist views of gender and family, and a strong commitment to small business. All politics is about identity, for sure George W. Bushs as much as Kamala Harriss but demography is not identity. After all, we arent confused that all white people dont vote the same way.

What did Biden do to win crucial support in the heartland? Three things. He went there frequently, which Hillary Clinton did not. Biden talked about jobs, with the message that we can revitalize our industrial base at the heart of the American middle class. Most importantly, Biden treated working-class whites with respect, which had been sorely lacking when Clinton decried Trump supporters as deplorables and Barack Obama condescendingly described Midwestern working-class voters as bitter people clinging to guns and religion. Biden instead pointed out that Trump was a fake while signaling his own respect for working class folks: Ive dealt with guys like Donald Trump my whole life, who would look down on us because we didnt have a lot of money or your parents didnt go to college. Guys who think theyre better than you. Guys who inherit everything theyve ever gotten in their life and squander it.

In all the election coverage, theres surprisingly little discussion about that ocean of red voters in rural middle-America. These left-behind Americans are being treated as irrelevant, which is precisely what caused them to see red in the first place. Its time to reread Katherine J. Cramers The Politics of Resentment, which depicts Wisconsins veer to the right with the 2010 election of Scott Walker as governor. The class resentments Cramer found in Wisconsin reflected not culture wars about abortion and gay marriage but a sense of having been belittled and left behind. There are huge swaths of the rural U.S. with no hospitals and no grocery stores that have left many Americans with limited access to essential health care and fresh food. Cramer describes a rural consciousness: the sense that the government must be mishandling my hard-earned dollars, because my taxes keep going up and clearly they are not coming back to benefit people like me. So why would I want an expansion of government? She found opposition to Obamacare even by people in obvious need of medical care. Obamacare was too expensive to fit their families budgets; with all the focus on covering the poor, these folks in the fragile and former middle class felt left out again.

If there is any silver lining to the Electoral College (a stretch, I admit), it is that it makes it essential for Democrats to signal to the heartland not just the Rust Belt but also rural America that government will work for them. This is all the more pressing because rural votes are also overweighted in the Senate, which may well retain a Republican majority despite the flood of blue-state campaign contributions to senatorial campaigns. Until Democrats find a way to appeal to rural voters, Bidens ability to deliver, for anyone, may well be hamstrung by Mitch McConnell.

With their coalition of people of color, the white working class, and college-educated liberals, Democrats won a close election in the midst of worldwide death and the worst unemployment since the Great Depression. They need to reach out to rural voters, too, if they are to end the Gilded-age-level inequality, and help Americans of all races gain access to stable middle-class lives. For centuries, rural people in China were of shorter stature than city folk because elites kept the wealth in the cities. If we do the same, it will fuel support for future Trumps. Americans do not accept stunting as their due nor should they.

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How Biden Won Back (Enough of) the White Working Class - Harvard Business Review

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - Afghanistan and India Sunday refuted allegations they are the source of terrorist attacks in Pakistan and instead questioned counterterrorism credentials of their South Asian neighbor.The strong rebuttal comes a day after Islamabad accused New Delhi of running some 66 militant training camps on Afghan soil to plot terrorism to destabilize Pakistan and hurt its economic partnership with China.

Pakistan Claims 'Irrefutable Evidence' of Indian Links to Terrorism on Pakistani Soil

Islamabad accuses New Delhi of running dozens of training camps in Afghanistan for multiple globally outlawed militant groups to plot terrorism on Pakistani soil to destabilize the country

The Pakistani government, in a nationally televised news conference, presented what it said was irrefutable evidence to substantiate the charges.The so-called claims of proof against India enjoy no credibility, are fabricated and represent figments of imagination, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement issued Sunday.We call upon Pakistan to end its support to cross-border terrorism. Concocting documents and peddling false narratives will not absolve Pakistan of such actions, Srivastava said.He reiterated long-running Indian allegations that Pakistan trains Islamist militants and helps them infiltrate into Indian-administered Kashmir to foment separatist violence in the Muslim-majority region.The incessant infiltration of terrorists and induction of weapons to fuel terror activities continues unabated, alleged Srivastava.

Pakistani-Indian Military Clashes Kill 13 in Kashmir

At least 13 people, including soldiers and civilians, are killed on both sides

Pakistan, which administers one-third of Kashmir, denies the accusations, saying they are an attempt by the neighboring country to cover up alleged human rights abuses being inflicted on Kashmiris.The two nuclear-armed rival nations have fought several wars and low-intensity conflicts over Kashmir since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. India and Pakistan claim the region in its entirety and it remains the primary source of bilateral military tension and acrimony.Afghan denialOfficials in Afghanistan also rejected allegations that its territory or citizens were being used for carrying out subversive activities against Pakistan.In a statement Sunday, the foreign ministry said that Afghanistan itself is a major victim of terrorism. Kabul, it said, is committed to a policy of combating all forms of terrorismand will never allow Afghan territory to be used for destructive activities against other countries.The statement noted that as the Afghan government is preparing for this weeks maiden visit to Kabul by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, it is expected Islamabad will raise issues of bilateral interest and debate through existing cooperation mechanisms between the two countries.Pakistan and Afghanistan share a nearly 2,600-kilometer border but mutual ties are marred by mistrust and suspicion. Kabul accuses Islamabad of supporting the Afghan Talibans violent campaign aimed at dislodging the Afghan government.For its part, Pakistan maintains that militant groups fleeing years of counterterrorism security operations have taken shelter in Afghan border areas and orchestrating cross-border attacks.Pakistani army spokesman Major-General Iftikhar Babar on Saturday displayed what he said were documents, banking transactions worth millions of dollars, audio clips and details of contacts between Indian intelligence operatives and diplomats with fugitive Pakistani militants operating out of Afghanistan.Uncontrivable evidence reveals that Indian embassies and consulates operating along Pakistans borders have become hub of terror sponsorship against PakistanWe have verifiable evidence of terrorists funding by India. Indian ambassadors in Afghanistan have been regularly supervising various terrorist activities, Babar said.

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India, Afghanistan Reject Terror-Related Charges by Pakistan - Voice of America

A new report reveals Afghanistan has been pushed deeper into an already dire food security crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather events, ongoing conflict and high food prices, with 13.15 million people, up from 11.15 million people just months ago, now facing acute hunger.

Government of Afghanistan lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, between mid-March and the end of May, worsened an already desperate food security situation. Small-scale income-generating activities were mostly shut down, leading to diminished savings, impacting the ability to buy food.

Marianne OGrady, CARE Afghanistans Deputy Country Director, said, People are back at work after the lockdown, but the fallout from not saving for months is huge. Many people also accumulated debt during lockdown that they are now struggling to pay back, so day-to-day expenses were, and still are, affected. Putting food on the table is getting harder and harder and with winter coming, we are very worried for the people of Afghanistan. And for women, the situation is even more difficult. In Afghanistan, generally men eat first due to cultural norms, so when theres not enough food to go around, its the women who miss out.

Women often act as shock absorbers in times of crisis, when they have to take on greater economic responsibility for their households. CAREs programs, including community-based savings groups, have enabled women to better withstand the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CARE conducted a Rapid Gender Analysis in Afghanistan in mid-2020. Sixty-two per cent of respondents said food is their highest need. A female respondent from Balkh Province said, The community is affected by a flood, I lost my house, but most people are now jobless and need assistance due to the lockdown.

There are currently over 40,000 reported COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan, but testing is extremely limited, so those numbers are feared to be much higher. The health system in Afghanistan was critically weak even before the pandemic hit, with only around 300 ventilators in the entire country. The health implications are huge and responsibility for caring for family members falls primarily on women, even if they are sick themselves.

In rural areas, accessing health facilities can be incredibly challenging. Often clinics are far from peoples homes and there are transportation costs to reach the clinics. If there are limited funds available for transportation, families must make tough decisions around who goes to the clinic, and men and working sons are usually given priority, said Ms OGrady.

Climate change is another factor driving food insecurity. Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change and one of the least equipped to manage the impact. Ive lived in Afghanistan for many years and during that time, weve seen less and less snow falling in the north of the country. Snow is a key source of water for agricultural production. Less snow means less crops and higher prices. Its another blow for the Afghan people and another factor driving the hunger crisis, explained Ms OGrady.

Man-made climate change has been projected to significantly reduce precipitation in Afghanistan during spring, an important season for food production. As 2020 marks the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement on climate change, we are still not seeing sufficient climate action by major emitting countries, nor adequate support for vulnerable countries like Afghanistan, to protect food production from the harmful impacts of the climate crisis. With the current global lack of ambition to slow global warming, Afghanistan is facing the risk of a 7 Celsius (44 Fahrenheit) average temperature increase by the end of this century, which would render catastrophic impacts. CARE calls on the G20 countries to deliver more ambitious climate plans in 2020 to put the world on track with the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5 Celsius (34 Fahrenheit) of warming, said Sven Harmeling, CAREs Global Policy Lead for Climate Change and Resilience.

Afghanistan also faces one of the most acute protracted internal displacement crises in the world. When conflict approaches, many families pack up their belongs and carry what they can to reach safety, and it is not unusual for their assets to be looted while they are gone. Ms OGrady explained, Many rural Afghans have agriculture-based livelihood skills but in urban areas, there is little demand for them. Earning an income becomes even harder when you are not living on your own land and can no longer rely on the skills that normally put food on the table.

The resilience of the Afghan people is incredible. Extra support from the international community to fund livelihood, emergency food and cash-for-work programs will enable them to recover and move their country forward.

Founded in 1945, CARE is one of the largest and oldest humanitarian aid organisations fighting global poverty. CARE has a special focus on empowering and meeting the needs of women and girls and promoting gender equality and works in 100 countries around the world.

CARE has a long history in Afghanistan, establishing its first mission there in 1961.CAREs programs in Afghanistan focus on womens social and economic empowerment, education, rural development and emergency response.

ENDS

For media enquiries contact:Suzy Sainovski (based in Melbourne, Australia)Asia Pacific Regional Communications & Media Advisor, CARE InternationalEmail: suzy.sainovski@care.orgSkype: suzy.sainovskiMobile: + 61 3 429 418 353

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Food crisis deepens in Afghanistan with 42% of the population now facing acute hunger - Afghanistan - ReliefWeb