He also went after the Trump Administration over their vaccination efforts, warning that the project, dubbed Operation Warp Speed, is moving at a slower pace than needed.
“As I long feared and warned the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should, he said.
Earlier this month, Trump administration officials said they planned to have 20 million doses of the vaccine distributed by the end of the year. But according to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control, just over 11.4 million doses have been distributed and only 2.1 million people have received their first dose.
At the current pace, Biden said “it’s gonna take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people.”
To Balance China, Joe Biden Should Build Upon Trump’s India Strategy
For the United States to counterbalance an increasingly assertive China, President Biden has to push the India policy envelope conceived by the Trump administration while championing America’s founding values of freedom and democracy.
President Donald Trump’s “America First” ethos has permanently aligned India within the United States’ overarching Indo-Pacific strategy. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unique personal chemistry with Trump has resulted in a pivotal geostrategic calculus to challenge the rise of restless China.
It is no coincidence that President-elect Joe Biden selected Senator Kamala Harris a descendant of Indian heritage as his running mate. But, even with Vice President-elect Harris, the Biden White House will still face great challenges to overcome Modi’s Hindu nationalist politics and Trump’s white evangelical-Christian nativism when confronting China.
Demonstrators in Salem, Ore., hold signs Nov. 28, 2020, during a rally for religious freedom. More than 400 attended. (CNS photo/Catholic Sentinel/Ed Langlois)
West Palm Beach, Fla. History may show that religious liberties under the Donald Trump administration enjoyed an elevated level of support not seen perhaps since the administration of President George W. Bush.
How far and how quickly the religious liberties landscape will change in the coming four years under an expected Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration remains to be seen. But religious liberty watchers say they are worried.
Daniel P. Dalton, a religious property attorney and co-founder of Michigan-based Dalton + Tomich, which represented a California-based private Catholic school in a contentious campus expansion and renovation effort, sees several key indicators that religious entities will continue to be in the legal and cultural spotlight in 2021.
Gov. Newsom Appoints Sec. Padilla to Replace Sen. Harris
Published December 24, 2020
Alex Padilla (Twitter)
Despite intense pressure from Black women political groups across the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to be California’s next United States Senator, replacing Sen. Kamala Harris.
Padilla will complete Vice President-elect Harris’s term, which began in 2017 ends in 2023. He will be the first Latino to serve as United States Senator representing California.
“The son of Mexican immigrants a cook and house cleaner Alex Padilla worked his way from humble beginnings to the halls of MIT, the Los Angeles City Council and the State Senate, and has become a national defender of voting rights as California’s Secretary of State. Now, he will serve in the halls of our nation’s Capitol as California’s next United States Senator, the first Latino to hold this office,” Gov. Newsom said.
Calls to nominate a Black woman to replace Sen. Kamala Harris fell on deaf ears, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom picked Alex Padilla as the state’s next U.S. senator. Black elected officials Associated Press reported that Vice President-elect Harris is slated to step down in January ahead of the inauguration.
While news outlets have reported Padilla as a front runner, advocates had called on the governor to replace Harris with either Reps. Karen Bass or Barbara Lee, both Black women. Others wanted a general promise to appoint a woman of color. Harris was only the second Black woman elected to the senate. Carol Moseley Brown broke the initial barrier with her 1992 election. She represented Illinois for only one term.