- NFL Distances Itself From Kansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker’s Controversial Graduation Speech Hollywood Reporter
- Backlash over NFL player Harrison Butker’s commencement speech has reached a new level CNN
- ‘The View’ hosts unload on Chiefs kicker for ‘cult-like’ Catholic faith, say he needs therapy Fox News
- NFL Says They Do Not Agree with Harrison Butker’s ‘Views’ in Graduation Speech, Are Committed to ‘Inclusion’ PEOPLE
- Bombshell Accusation Claims Harrison Butker Hooked Up With Male Cheerleader In College Yahoo Entertainment
Tag Archives: Distances
White House distances itself from CAIR, condemns director’s ‘antisemitic statements’ – Jewish Insider
- White House distances itself from CAIR, condemns director’s ‘antisemitic statements’ Jewish Insider
- White House scrambles to distance itself from Islamic group after leader’s praise for Hamas’ Oct 7th slaughter Fox News
- White House slams US Muslim leader’s ‘shocking, antisemitic’ remarks on Oct. 7 Hamas attacks The Times of Israel
- White House cuts ties with CAIR on antisemitism strategy after director says Hamas attacks made him ‘happy’ New York Post
- CAIR director says he was ‘happy’ to witness Oct. 7 attacks, Israel ‘does not have right to self-defense’ Fox News
German government distances itself from navy chief’s comments on Putin
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government on Saturday distanced itself from comments made by its navy chief after video footage emerged in which the vice-admiral said Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved respect and that Kyiv would never win back annexed Crimea from Moscow.
German Navy Chief Kay-Achim Schoenbach apologized for his “rash” comments, published on YouTube and widely circulated on German media, and called them a mistake.
In a Twitter post, Schoenbach said his remarks at a thinktank discussion in India expressed a personal opinion and not the official position of the defence ministry.
The remarks come at a sensitive time as Russia has amassed tens of thousand of troops on Ukraine’s borders and diplomatic efforts are ongoing to prevent the situation from escalating into war. Russia denies it is planning to invade Ukraine.
A spokesperson for the Defence Ministry in Berlin said the remarks did not reflect Germany’s position in either content or wording.
“Admiral Schoenbach will get the opportunity to express his views to the chief of defence,” the spokesperson added.
In the video, Schoenbach, speaking in English, says Putin seeks to be treated at eye level by the West.
“What he (Putin) really wants is respect,” Schoenbach says.
“And my God, giving someone respect is low cost, even no cost… It is easy to give him the respect he really demands – and probably also deserves,” Schoenbach said, calling Russia an old and important country.
Schoenbach concedes Russia’s actions in Ukraine needed to be addressed, but adds that “the Crimea peninsula is gone, it will never come back, this is a fact”, thereby contradicting the joint Western position that Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 cannot be accepted and must be reversed.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on Germany to publicly reject the navy chief’s comments.
Schoenbach’s comments that Crimea would never return to Ukraine and that Russia’s president deserved respect could impair Western efforts to de-escalate the situation, it said in a statement.
“Ukraine is grateful to Germany for the support it has already provided since 2014, as well as for the diplomatic efforts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict. But Germany’s current statements are disappointing and run counter to that support and effort,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said separately in tweet.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold and Natalia Zinets; Editing by Christina Fincher)
US military official distances himself from Iraq event urging ties with Israel
NEW YORK — A spokesman for the US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State on Sunday distanced himself from a recent event in Iraq where some 300 prominent local officials issued statements backing normalization with Israel.
“[The International Coalition for Operation Inherent Resolve] has just been made aware of announcements by both the GoI & the KRG relating to the recent conference held in Erbil to discuss the normalization of ties with Israel. [The Global Coalition] had no prior knowledge of the event, nor do we have any affiliation with its participants,” tweeted Col. Wayne Marotto.
“[The Coalition] remains committed to supporting the [government of Iraq’s] enduring defeat daesh mission through advising, assisting and enabling the [Iraqi Security Forces’s] at the operational level,” he added, referring to the Islamic State.
The tweets were the first public comment by a US official regarding the meeting and appeared to be an attempt to assuage anger in the Iraqi government, which quickly condemned the Erbil confab as not representative of Baghdad’s views on the matter.
The Iraqi government is a key ally of the coalition to defeat IS.
The Biden administration has been accused by Republicans of not building off the progress initiated by the Trump administration, which brokered normalization agreements between Israel and four Arab countries.
The White House has insisted that strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords are indeed a priority and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken even hosted an event earlier this month marking the one-year anniversary of the normalization agreements’ signing with counterparts from Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.
.@CJTFOIR has just been made aware of announcements by both the GoI & the KRG relating to the recent conference held in Erbil to discuss the normalization of ties with Israel. @Coalition had no prior knowledge of the event, nor do we have any affiliation with its participants. pic.twitter.com/mMVY13Lh0r
— OIR Spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto (@OIRSpox) September 26, 2021
The State Department did not immediately respond to a query as to whether Marotto’s statement represented the official view of the Biden administration on the Erbil event.
At Friday’s conference in the Kurdistan region, Iraqi participants called on their country’s leaders to end the state of war with Israel and join the Abraham Accords.
The gathering included Sunni and Shiite Muslim tribal leaders, social activists and former military commanders, and was organized by the Center for Peace Communications, a New York-based nonprofit that seeks to advance closer ties between Israelis and the Arab world.
Friday’s conference ignited a media firestorm in Iraq. Iraqi President Barham Salih denounced the conference as “illegal” and accused the attendees of seeking to stir up unrest.
Iraqi authorities announced on Sunday that they had issued warrants for the arrest of two citizens who addressed the conference, adding that they would arrest all 300-plus participants once they establish who they are.
The gathering was held in Iraqi Kurdistan, which enjoys a degree of autonomy under Iraq’s federal system. Kurdish officials have occasionally traveled to Israel, while Israelis have quietly visited Kurdish areas as well.
But Kurdistan’s government also distanced itself from the event following the controversy, pleading for other Iraqi factions to deal with the matter “more calmly.”
Aaron Boxerman and Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
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SAVA Stock Dives As Quanterix Distances Itself From ‘Data Manipulation’ Allegations
The laboratory that tested samples for Cassava Sciences‘ (SAVA) Alzheimer’s study distanced itself from the biotech company on Friday, and SAVA stock plunged for a third straight day.
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Cassava tapped Quanterix‘s (QTRX) Accelerator laboratory to test blinded samples provided by Cassava for an Alzheimer’s treatment study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference last month. Earlier this week, shareholder firm Labaton Sucharow called into question Cassava’s test results, alleging the biotech company manipulated the data.
And Quanterix wants nothing to do with the allegations.
“Quanterix or its employees did not interpret the test results or prepare the data charts presented by Cassava at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in July 2021 or otherwise,” the lab said in a written statement on Friday.
In response, SAVA stock toppled 14.9% near in afternoon trading on today’s stock market. That came on top of double-digit drops on Wednesday and Thursday.
SAVA Stock Continues Its Dive
Cassava is working on an Alzheimer’s drug that aims to stabilize filamin A, a scaffolding protein. At a nine-month interim analysis, Cassava said the treatment called simufilam improved cognition in Alzheimer’s patients.
To put that in perspective, even Biogen‘s (BIIB) Aduhelm only slows cognitive decline. Aduhelm is the only Alzheimer’s treatment that aims to correct an underlying pathology of the disease, rather than just treating the symptoms.
But shareholder firm Labaton Sucharow doubted Cassava’s results in a report Wednesday. The firm questioned the validity of Cassava’s biomarker data, an analysis method called Western Blot and the company’s analyses of human brain tissue. SAVA stock tumbled 31.4% that day.
On Wednesday, Cassava said it stood behind its science and the company provided a point-by-point opposition to Labaton Sucharow’s allegations. Still, SAVA stock fell again on Thursday, diving another 12.4% in high volume, according to MarketSmith.com.
Meanwhile, Quanterix stock toppled 9.2% on Thursday, but rose 9.4% midday Friday.
Cassava Responds To Lab Statement
Cassava doesn’t disagree with Quanterix’s assessment of the job. In its own written statement released Friday, the company says Cassava was charged with measuring the levels of p-tau — a key protein in Alzheimer’s research — in samples collected from study subjects.
It’s standard practice is to separate “the people who generate the data from the people who analyze the data,” Cassava Chief Executive Remi Barbier said in a written statement. To suggest anything else “is a distortion of the facts,” he added.
Quanterix’s sampling was conducted entirely by its employees, Cassava said. The lab workers didn’t know which samples came from placebo recipients or those who received simufilam. After conducting its sample testing, Quanterix sent the results to Cassava for treatment effect analysis.
“We both had a job to do, we both did our respective jobs and we co-authorized the results in an abstract at a major scientific conference,” Barbier said in an email to Investor’s Business Daily.
Cassava believes Labaton Sucharow’s allegations are “false and misleading.” It claims Labaton Sucharow holds a short position in SAVA stock. Representatives of the shareholder firm didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Investor’s Business Daily.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
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Pokémon Go Changes Gym, Pokéstop Distances After Fan Uproar
Pokémon Go developers Niantic recently decided to dial back the social distancing requirements in the game for players in the USA and New Zealand, and it did not go down well with fans.
While Niantic’s reasoning was that “hey in these two countries the pandemic is mostly over, right?”, fans were quite correct to point out that the pandemic is most certainly not over, and that forcing players to congregate more closely around Gyms and Pokéstops was a shitty, reckless thing to do. The hashtag #BoycottNiantic was created for users to voice their displeasure.
The volume of threats spurred the developers into action, and in response, earlier this month Niantic moved to establish a “task force”:
…we have heard your input loud and clear and so to address the concerns you have raised, we are taking the following actions: We are assembling an internal cross-functional team to develop proposals designed to preserve our mission of inspiring people to explore the world together, while also addressing specific concerns that have been raised regarding interaction distance. We will share the findings of this task force by the next in game season change (September 1). As part of this process, we will also be reaching out to community leaders in the coming days to join us in this dialogue.
While that “task force” remains to share its “full findings”, they have already made one change, announcing on Twitter earlier today that having moved the Pokéstop and Gym range from 80m to 40m, they’re now reverting it back to 80m for everyone:
Trainers – we’re looking forward to sharing our plans as a result of the task force on September 1, but one thing does not have to wait! From now on, 80 meters will be the base interaction radius for PokéStops and Gyms globally.
Thank you to everyone who made your voices heard. We’ve heard you and understand that this has been a welcome benefit to many players. We’ll share more next week.
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It’s welcome news, especially given the context of what’s happened in the weeks since the distance was originally changed. Take New Zealand, for example: chosen as one of only two countries to see the distance changes, given the country’s excellent Covid track record, in the last week it has seen its largest outbreak since the pandemic began, causing nationwide lockdowns and making any play difficult, let alone gatherings at 40m.
Pokémon Go brings back 80-meter distances for Pokéstops and Gyms
Pokémon Go’s interaction radius — how close a player has to be to spin a Gym or Pokéstop — has been pushed back to 80 meters from 40 meters, a compromise/concession to players who were unhappy that gameplay bonuses instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic last year had been rolled back.
Niantic announced the change in two tweets on Wednesday afternoon. The developer said it will have more to share later about the findings of an internal study group, which Niantic set up following player pushback at the beginning of the month. Niantic pulled back its pandemic-related changes in the United States on Aug. 1; players responded with a forceful hashtag and social media campaign that week. Niantic set up the task force to reach out to players and make recommendations by a Sept. 1 deadline.
Trainers – we’re looking forward to sharing our plans as a result of the task force on September 1, but one thing does not have to wait! From now on, 80 meters will be the base interaction radius for PokéStops and Gyms globally. (1/2)
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) August 25, 2021
“Thank you to everyone who made your voices heard,” the company said on Pokémon Go’s official Twitter feed. “We’ve heard you and understand that this has been a welcome benefit to many players.”
Last year, Niantic increased the Pokéstop interaction distance to 80 meters to accommodate social distancing measures and safety recommendations. Although that distance did make the augmented reality game easier and more convenient to play, players argued that the longer activation distances were also better for the game; it helped include more players who needed accommodations for mobility or other conditions, and it built goodwill with non-players around the real-world sites where Pokéstops have been placed.
Niantic had announced the rollback of the Exploration Bonuses at the end of June, and held to its position that 40 meters was appropriate for a game predicated on exploration and discovery.
“Going outside and spinning PokéStops and Gyms is important to our mission because it encourages exploration of the world,” Niantic said Aug. 1. “These locations are local points of interest in a community and could be historical landmarks, art installations, local businesses, and more.”
Wednesday’s reversal is a concession to the biggest demand players had made in the #HearUsNiantic campaign. Niantic said it will have more to share about its findings next week.