Category Archives: Yahoo

Tiger Woods has triumphed over the greatest challenges possible on a golf course. But he has never faced a test like the one thats before him now.

Woods suffered severe injuries to his legs in a one-car rollover on a Los Angeles area street Tuesday morning. He was driving on a winding residential road when his SUV hit a sign, a curb, crossed over two lanes of oncoming traffic, traveled down into a gully and ended up drivers-side down. The fact that Woods survived that initial impact was the first good sign.

Woods was conscious when first responders arrived on the scene, and awake and responsive, according to his team, late Tuesday evening. Between those times, though, he underwent hours of extensive surgery, the first steps in what will be a long and arduous recovery.

Two questions face Woods, one immediate and crucial, the other long-term and aspirational. First, can Woods have a normal life, with typical mobility and freedom from pain? Second, can one of the worlds best-known athletes ever return to competitive golf?

Yahoo Sports spoke to several surgeons with extensive experience in treating injuries similar to those Woods suffered. Without having reviewed Woods specific case file and with the caveat that there may be undisclosed elements of Woods case that could impact any prognosis all agreed that a return to a normal life is highly likely, and a return to elite-level golf isnt out of the question.

Tiger has a very, very, very long road to recovery ahead, said Dr. Kirk Campbell, an orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone Health, and based on the information we have, returning to being an elite golfer would be very challenging. But I would not root against him.

A vehicle rests on its side after a rollover accident involving golfer Tiger Woods along a road in the Rancho Palos Verdes section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. Woods suffered leg injuries in the one-car accident and was undergoing surgery, authorities and his manager said. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

The simple fact that Woods is in treatment at all, given the way his SUV left the road and came to rest, is good news.

Any time there is a rollover accident where the car gets off four wheels, you can die, said Dr. Brian Polsky, an orthopedic surgeon at the Centers for Advanced Orthopedics in Washington, D.C. The trauma involved in that is very unpredictable, even with seatbelts and airbags. From that standpoint alone, hes fortunate.

Story continues

Late Tuesday evening, Woods team released a statement documenting the extent of his injuries. Dr. Anish Mahajan, CMO and interim CEO at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, indicated that Woods suffered significant orthopaedic injuries to his right lower extremity. In detail, those known injuries and treatments included:

Comminuted open fractures on both the tibia and fibula. Comminuted means Woods bones broke into more than two pieces. Open means the bones broke through the skin. The bone saw the outside world, which is very bad, Polsky said. That means theres a significant increase of infection.

Insertion of a rod to stabilize the tibia. Doctors inserted an intramedullary nail in Woods tibia, running it from his knee toward his ankle. The nail is 12 to 16 inches long, depending on the length of the patients tibia, and will remain in place. This is a standard procedure in cases of this type, and long bones typically heal well.

Insertion of screws and pins to stabilize the foot and ankle. This may be the bigger issue, said Dr. James Gladstone, chief of sports medicine at The Mount Sinai Health System in New York. If its a simple ankle fracture, those can get fixed, and people do very well. If its complex or severe, the risk is that the ankle gets stiff during the course of the healing process.

Surgical release of the covering of muscles of the leg. Any muscle has a covering over it like skin, Gladstone said. If youve had trauma, the muscle swells, and you may have to do a fasciotomy, where you cut that covering to keep the muscle from being strangled. Fasciotomies often require the wound to be left open in order to let the muscle subside, which in turn increases the risk of infection.

All of these procedures will require a minimum of several days in the hospital, and possibly much more once the trauma team sees how Woods responds to initial treatment. Antibiotics will be a necessity, and likely additional surgical treatments.

Open fractures can require multiple debridements, which is a fancy word for cleanups," Polsky said. Thats not uncommon. He could potentially require additional procedures for skin coverages, skin grafts and muscle grafts, depending on how bad it is.

Then Woods will leave the hospital, and the real work will begin.

This wont be the first rehab session for Woods or the second, third, fourth or fifth. Woods has undergone multiple surgical procedures all over his body, most recently his fifth back surgery just before last Christmas. Each time, Woods rebounded, sometimes slowly, sometimes triumphantly.

Unfortunately, its very possible that he may not physically be back to 100 percent, ever, Polsky said. But the person youre dealing with, someone of that athletic level, that amount of mental strength, that focus he has, definitely adds to the potential of him returning.

The mental aspect of Woods recovery will be a crucial one, but given his well-established tenacity, that aspect of his treatment isnt as much of a concern. Take it from the people whove seen that up close: the players he has competed against, and beaten, for the past two decades.

We all know he's a strong cookie physically, mentally, Tony Finau said Tuesday while practicing for the WGC-Workday Classic in Florida, so if someone's going to get through this, he will, and be back for the better, I'm sure.

Thats a hopeful diagnosis, not a medical one. Before Woods walks up another fairway, hell need to walk out his front door. That alone will require months of physical therapy.

I would imagine that when all is said and done, hes in very good hands, so he has a very good chance of having a basically normal life, Polsky said, being able to walk, be a father, maybe even to some extent be athletic, depending on recovery.

What about his day job? Thats another matter entirely.

Tiger Woods was at the Genesis Invitational golf tournament Sunday, but not as a player. A recent back surgery kept him from playing. (AP)

Golf fans with an eye toward history have noted the similarities between Woods accident and that of Ben Hogan, who lived through a devastating wreck in 1949, suffering a fractured pelvis, blood clots and a range of other injuries. Hogan recovered and went on to win six more majors. Could Woods enjoy a similar resurgence?

Again, thats probably more optimistic than realistic. Woods, 45, is 12 years older than Hogan was at the time of his accident. Even before Tuesday, Woods career was on a slow decline. Since his landmark Masters win in 2019, he has missed the cut in three majors and hasnt cracked the top 20 in any of the others. Hes slipped out of the world top 50 for the first time since 2018. On Sunday at the Genesis Invitational in which he did not play because of his back he was tentative, at best, about his prospects for the Masters. Now? Who knows?

Thats the $10 million question, Polsky said. There are fairly simple compound fractures that are open that are treated effectively with one procedure, and that individual can return to whatever their pre-injury status was. He cites the example of one of his patients, an Olympic athlete who suffered a similar open compound fracture and later returned to the Olympics.

Campbell pointed to Alex Smith, the Washington Football Team quarterback who suffered a similar injury to Woods broken tibia and fibula, along with nerve damage but still returned to the field two seasons later and kept Washington in the playoff hunt.

It all depends on concomitant [associated] injuries, Campbell said. Right now we dont know the details of his foot and ankle injury. And were not even speaking about his lower back. Hes still rehabbing from the recent surgery on that.

Worth noting: Woods team focused on trauma to the right leg, although initial reports indicated that he had broken bones in both legs. Whether that means his left leg was not as severely damaged, or whether Woods team is keeping that information private, remains unknown. But if the primary injury is to Woods right leg, that carries some small glimmer of hope for his golf game.

For a right-handed golfer, a lot of the power and torque goes through the left leg at the hip, the knee, the ankle, Polsky said. If the right leg got to 90 percent, he probably could be playing potentially competitive golf. If the worst of [the trauma] was to the right leg, thats mildly positive.

Assuming Woods recovers at a projected rate, he wont be able to return to a golf course for months. Given that his focus now is on winning majors, its likely hell miss the entire 2021 major season, which runs from mid-April to mid-July. That could mean we wont see Woods tee it up in any tournament until 2022.

It can really cover the spectrum, Gladstone said. It can be he returns without any problem, or he cant return at all. Without knowing more about his specific injury and how hes responding, we just dont know yet.

We all know Tiger is such a tremendous athlete, and hes proven time and time again that hes super-dedicated in terms of rehab, Campbell said. But the injury that he had will need several months before hell be back to functioning at a reasonable level.

Whenever hes ready, the game will be waiting for him.

I have no doubt in my mind he'll be back, Bryson DeChambeau said. Take him a little longer, I'm sure, but from my perspective he's one of the most impressive human beings I've ever met and I think that he'll come back just fine.

Rory McIlroy, one of Woods heirs in the game, offered a more philosophical perspective. Hes not Superman, McIlroy said Wednesday. Hes a human being at the end of the day. And hes already been through so much. At this stage, I think everyone should just be grateful that hes here, that hes alive, that his kids havent lost their dad. Thats the most important thing. Golf is so far from the equation right now, its not even on the map at this point.

_____

Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com.

More from Yahoo Sports:

Read the original here:

Surgeons: Tiger Woods return to elite golf will be very challenging - Yahoo Sports

Each week during the 2020-21 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into three of the leagues biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether the trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.

[Last week: Draymond Green's double standard, the struggling Celtics and NBA Top Shot]

The Lakers have lost four of their last five games and five of their last six, falling from a game behind the Western Conference-leading Utah Jazz to a game up on the fourth-place Phoenix Suns. Three of those losses have come by double digits. The stretch coincides with Anthony Davis' re-aggravation of his right Achilles strain in the first of them.

So, we shouldn't really be worried about the Lakers, right? As long as Davis returns to health by the playoffs, when he and LeBron James are the NBA's most dominant pairing, L.A. should still be the favorite to repeat as champions.

But ...

Achilles strains are no joke. We know what became of Kevin Durant's Achilles strain in the 2019 playoffs, which gives the Lakers every reason not to rush Davis back before he is fully healthy. The variance for Achilles injuries is wide. Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon missed two games last season with Achilles soreness, returned for four and rested one more before rejoining the lineup on a regular basis. Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has yet to play this season with a more serious Achilles strain in the preseason. Davis is closer to Love on that spectrum.

Meanwhile, his injury lays bare the issues his dominance masked and places a greater burden on his running mates.

The Lakers tweaked their center rotation, swapping out Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee for Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell. On paper, it was an upgrade. In practice, it has made the Lakers less of a vertical threat. With almost 40% of their shots coming at the rim, the Lakers ranked second last season, per Cleaning the Glass. They are eighth this season, closer to 36%. Likewise, they have seen their ranking in opponents' field-goal percentage at the rim drop from fifth last season (61%) to 17th this season (63.4%). Their margin for error has been winnowed.

Story continues

The next few weeks could make or break LeBron James' MVP case. (Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

Their defense as a whole still ranks atop the league, which is another positive sign for the playoffs, but their offense has slipped from 11th last season to 17th this year. That should change when games are more meaningful, as it did last season, when their offense ranked first among the final eight teams, because James and Davis are just a lethal combination, and the Lakers have the rest of this regular season to maximize Gasol's floor spacing around them.

It could just be that the Lakers are finally running into the same problems that have plagued so many other teams this season. They have lost fewer games to injury and health protocols than the majority of the league, but starting point guard Dennis Schroder has also missed the past four games after his reported potential exposure to COVID-19. The Lakers have nobody else on the roster besides James who consistently creates for others. This week's release of beloved teammate Quinn Cook indicates they are gearing up to address one of their depth concerns.

All of this has placed an inordinate amount of pressure on James, who at 36 years old has played every game and exceeded 40 minutes in four of his last 10. The second half of the season is going to be more of a grind, especially if Davis' absence stretches beyond the weeks-long timeline the Lakers initially offered. James may be superhuman, and he is chasing his fifth MVP award, but is it really worth taxing him to improve the team's standing in the West?

With the Jazz stretching their lead atop the conference and facing one of the easiest remaining schedules, it might actually be better for the Lakers to finish fourth or fifth in the West. From a matchup standpoint, the second-place Clippers still pose a bigger threat to their repeat. (Who on the Jazz defends James and Davis?) Avoiding a second-round L.A. rivalry in hopes another team takes them out, as they did last year, is probably a more sound strategy.

All of this said, none of it may make a difference in the end. Barring any limitation of James and Davis, the Lakers will be favored to win every series they enter in the playoffs, concerns about slimmer margins and depth be damned.

Determination: Fiction

No team has been hit harder by injuries this season than the Magic, and it is not close. Two of their most important building blocks Markelle Fultz and Jonathan Isaac are out for the season with torn ACLs. Rookie Cole Anthony (rib) is sidelined through the All-Star break, and Aaron Gordon (ankle) is in the middle of a four-to-six-week recovery.

All of this leads to the March 25 trade deadline.

Orlando has somehow won four of their last seven games, starting the likes of Dwayne Bacon, Gary Clark, James Ennis and Michael Carter-Williams around All-Star center Nikola Vucevic. They are just two wins back from a spot in the play-in tournament and a shot at a third straight playoff appearance. It is smoke and mirrors. Orlando is being outscored by 6.4 points per 100 possessions, essentially operating like the third-worst team in the entire league.

Which is what they should want to be. This is a stacked draft, featuring three or four potential franchise-altering prospects. The Magic know too well what it is like to pick beyond a draft's drop-off point. They missed Joel Embiid, Kristaps Porzingis, De'Aaron Fox and Trae Young by single picks from 2014-18. The one time they have had a top-three pick in the past decade, they got Victor Oladipo. (And gave up on him too early a story for another day.)

Orlando is a lost cause. Even when healthy, the Magic have been nothing more than first-round fodder since the 2010 Eastern Conference finals, when a No. 1 overall pick (Dwight Howard) made his last stand for them. How many of the roster's current players are going to be around when the team threatens to advance to the third round again?

The list goes no further than Fultz, Isaac, Anthony and maybe Chuma Okeke, their first-round pick from 2019 who missed all of last season with an ACL injury. Of course they should hold a fire sale. Evan Fournier's deal is expiring. Get what you can, while you can. Gordon is in his seventh season on the Magic. Time to cut bait. Terrence Ross is signed through 2023. Take what you can get. Mo Bamba, the sixth overall pick from 2018, is playing less than 10 minutes per game. Give him a chance, or extract some value before it is painfully obvious you have given up on him.

The biggest fish is Vucevic. The 30-year-old is enjoying a career statistical year (24.1 points on 48/40/84 shooting splits, 11.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game) in the void left by a depleted roster. He has two years left on his deal after this one. Nobody wants to trade their best player, but what is the Magic's ceiling with him in that role? Where will he be by the time they develop or sign someone better? He may never hold more value than he does right now. If it takes waiting until the summer to get the best haul for him, so be it, but it is beyond time to blow up the Magic.

Bradley Beal's belief in the Wizards is being rewarded. (Will Newton/Getty Images)

At season's start, I had the Wizards securing one of the East's eighth playoff spots. Two weeks ago, they were 6-17, owners of the fewest wins in the NBA and their conference's worst record. All-Star guard Bradley Beal was "damn tired" from carrying them even that far. He was also fresh off publicly committing to righting the ship in Washington.

Since then, they are 6-1, better than anybody but the surging Brooklyn Nets. This is not a soft 6-1. Their lone loss came agains the Clippers. They have beaten the Nuggets twice, along with the Lakers (albeit without Davis), Celtics, Blazers and Rockets. Washington has leapfrogged three teams in the standings, sitting two games back from a play-in spot with only one more loss than the fifth-place Toronto Raptors. A playoff berth is still very much on the table.

Beal's 32.8 points per game continue to lead the league in scoring. Russell Westbrook has more assists than anyone in the NBA over Washington's recent stretch, averaging a 19-11-11 despite abominable shooting (44/8/50 splits, thankfully on just two 3-point attempts per game). They are trying on defense. It is at least some semblance of the partnership we imagined, because how could two All-NBA-caliber talents not lead a team to the playoffs in the East?

And there is room to grow. The improvement has coincided with a starting lineup shift. A season-ending injury to Thomas Bryant and failed experiments with Robin Lopez and Alex Len afforded Moe Wagner a chance to start at center. The threat of his shooting opens a half step here or there for Beal and Westbrook to attack the basket. Same goes for undrafted second-year guard Garrison Matthews, who is shooting 43.8% on four 3's a night in the first eight starts of his career. Neither has been a disaster on defense, and the Wizards are no longer digging early holes.

Davis Bertans catching fire from distance has only further opened the floor for everyone. Rui Hachimura's mid-range game has benefited from spacing previously crunched by sharing the court with multiple non-shooting threats. Lopez has shifted to a reserve defensive specialist role, especially when they need stops and veteran stewardship in crunch time. One way or another, Wizards coach Scott Brooks has finally found a rotation that at least make sense.

None of it is great, but as far as the playoffs are concerned, the Wizards have a path they can believe in now.

Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach

More from Yahoo Sports:

More:

NBA Fact or Fiction: Trouble with the Lakers, a Magic fire sale and the surging Wizards - Yahoo Sports

Bitcoins (BTC) price tumbled along with U.S. stocks, bringing the cryptocurrencys decline since Sunday to 17%, the most for a two-day period since the coronavirus-fueled crash in March 2020. The decline has wiped out more than $100 billion of bitcoins market value, which last week climbed past $1 trillion for the first time.

And while many traders are still bullish on bitcoin in the long term, analysts said the largest cryptocurrency, now changing hands around $47,000, may have further to fall in the coming days, traders and analysts said.

The current market is extremely overheated, Flex Yang, founder and chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based crypto lender Babel Finance, told CoinDesk. Prices could fall as low as $40,000, he said.

Related: Opera Adds In-Browser Crypto Options With Simplex Integration

Bitcoin staged a mini-rebound Tuesday after the New York state attorney generals office announced a settlement of a dispute involving the stablecoin tether (USDT). But the rally proved short-lived and appeared to peter out as prices approached $50,000.

Market sentiment remains largely bullish, and there are signs some investors are buying the dip.

In China, demand for tether has gone up, as evidenced by the stablecoins premium over the Chinese yuan on over-the-counter trading desks, when prevailing foreign-exchange rates are taken into account.

For example, earlier on Tuesday, a screenshot of Huobi OTC, the similarly named exchanges fiat-to-crypto trading platform, showed a 2% premium between USDTs price, expressed in yuan, and the going exchange rate for the Chinese currency in U.S. dollar terms, per Bloomberg data.

Related: MicroStrategy Bets Another $1B on Bitcoin

Guy Hirsch, managing director for U.S. at eToro, told CoinDesk he saw 26% more new bitcoin positions opened than closed on the trading platform, which would help drive markets higher in the longer-term.

Story continues

We dont believe any of the weakness should be construed as being symptomatic of structural weakness or a lack of confidence in crypto assets, Joel Kruger, cryptocurrency strategist at institutional crypto exchange LMAX Digital, said. There will once again be tremendous opportunity for existing players to increase exposure and new participants to take on fresh exposure into the dip.

View original post here:

Bitcoin Poised for Further Losses After Two-Day Plunge Wipes Out More Than $100B - Yahoo Finance

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving thinks the NBA's logo needs an update. Irving posted a picture on Instagram on Wednesday suggesting the league alter its logo to honor Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.

What would that look like? Irving has an idea.

Irving added his reasoning to the post, saying "Gotta Happen, idc what anyone says. BLACK KINGS BUILT THE LEAGUE."

Bryant's widow, Vanessa Bryant, is on board with the idea. She shared Irving's picture of the logo, saying "love this. @KyrieIring."

The current NBA logo is modeled after Jerry West a Hall of Fame guard who spent all 14 seasons of his career with the Lakers. West who is white joined the Los Angeles Clippers as an executive board member in 2017.

West has discussed changing the logo in the past, and is receptive to the idea.

Changing the NBA logo to a silhouette of Bryant isn't a new idea. In the days following Bryant's death in a helicopter crash, a number of people suggested the league honor Bryant with a new logo.

That said, it's probably not going to happen. Following Bryant's death, the NBA reportedly did not want to highlight an individual player in its logo. Despite Alan Siegel, who designed the league's current logo, admitting he modeled the logo after West, the NBA has never acknowledged the logo is designed to be a specific player. The league reportedly doesn't want to highlight a specific player in its logo because it would be impossible to choose one person.

A case could be made for Bryant but it could also be made for Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and many others. That was the league's stance following Bryant's death. It's unlikely to change now, even if Irving isn't the only current player who would support the idea.

Story continues

More from Yahoo Sports:

See the rest here:

Kyrie Irving wants NBA to honor Kobe Bryant with new logo and Vanessa Bryant is on board - Yahoo Sports

Yahoo Sports may receive compensation from BetMGM in connection with the wagers you make on the BetMGM platforms.

BetMGM is offering a special promotion for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim fight Saturday night. New customers in CO, IN, IA, MI, NJ, TN, VA or WV who place a $1 bet on the fight will win $100 in free bets if Canelo wins.*

Click the link, sign up for your new BetMGM account, deposit at least $10 via your preferred method and then bet $1 on the fight. You dont need to win the bet to be eligible for the bonus.

Alvarez, who is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, seems a good bet to knock out Yildirim. He's a -5000 favorite.

At BetMGM, there are round ranges you can bet on that make the odds more favorable. It offers bets asking the question, Over how many rounds will the bout go? It provides odds at less than three rounds or more than three; less than five rounds or more than five; less than seven rounds or more than seven; less than nine rounds or more than nine; and less than 11 rounds or more than 11.

Alvarez has made a commitment in recent bouts to working the body, and Yildirim is vulnerable to the body, so that would suggest it would go closer to four rounds than seven.

At Bet MGM, less than five rounds is -110 and over five full rounds is -125.

*New users only. Must be 21+. CO, IA, IN, MI, NJ, TN, VA or WV only. Paid in free bets. Minimum deposit required. Visit BetMGM.com/YahooSpecial for restrictions on free bets and full terms and conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ & WV), 1-800-522-4700 (CO & VA), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-270-7117 (MI), or 1-800-889-9789 (TN).

If you don't feel like betting on the fight, new users who create a BetMGM account can get a $25 registration bonus (no deposit required) and a 100% deposit match up to $1,000 with their first deposit.

New users only. Must be 21+. CO, IA, IN, MI, NJ, TN, VA or WV only. Deposit match and registration bonus paid in bonus dollars. Visit BetMGM.com/YAHOO for restrictions on bonus dollars and full terms and conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ & WV), 1-800-522-4700 (CO & VA), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-270-7117 (MI), or 1-800-889-9789 (TN).

See the original post:

Bet $1 on Canelo vs. Yildirim and win $100 in free bets if Canelo wins* - Yahoo Sports

Workers whose states denied them unemployment aid during the COVID-19 pandemic may be able to retroactively access benefits back to Feb. 2, 2020, according to a new Labor Department rule issued Thursday.

The Department of Labor (DOL) broadened access to the federal pandemic unemployment assistance (PUA) established under the CARES Act, and comes in response to a Jan. 22 executive order seeking clarification on who qualifies for it.

The DOL rule expands eligibility to certain workers who refused to show up based on unsafe conditions, education workers who lost work due to volatile work schedules, and employees whose hours were reduced or who were permanently laid off. The department also clarified that primary caretakers for children whose schools have closed have a valid, pandemic-related reason for not working.

Todays guidance from DOL is a huge relief and welcomed news to all those who were essentially forced by their state to choose your money or your health when they were called back to work, Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow with The Century Foundation, a progressive, independent think tank, wrote in an email to Yahoo Finance.

For workers who are primary caregivers to children, the DOL is requiring that states allow the circumstances where a child is not permitted to attend in-person school as a qualifying, pandemic-related reason (under PUA) to certify that an applicant is unable to work. Alexa Tapia, a coordinator for National Employment Law Project, told Yahoo Finance on Friday that this provision could particularly aid female workers.

Glen Newswanger and Dwight Newswanger prepare beef orders at Newswanger Meats in Shiloh, Ohio, U.S., May 13, 2020 as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues. Picture taken May 13, 2020. REUTERS/Dane Rhys

We've seen throughout this crisis that, for one, women have borne the brunt of it. They've taken on the caregiving, they've consistently shown the biggest proportion of job losses, with Black and Latina women having the highest losses in the December jobs filings, Tapia said. This empowers workers to not be fearful of leaving their employment and pursuing unemployment."

Story continues

For workers who refused to show up to a job based on unsafe conditions, the DOL said that an employers failed safety precautions such as those related to wearing facial masks, physical distancing measures, and personal protective equipment (PPE) consistent with public health guidelines can also justify refusing work. Roughly 40,000 Americans have been turned down for unemployment because of refusal to work over unsafe conditions, according to Andrew Stettner of the Century Foundation.

The job refusal piece is so important because we've seen a lot of the workers on the frontlines...being forced to work in unsafe working conditions, Tapia said, citing Kansas meatpacking employees who were exposed to COVID-19 and told to report to work. Still, Tapia cautioned that employers retain the right to contest and defend an employee's claim of an unsafe environment.

Another group of workers now eligible for federal benefits are full-time and part-time employees who were denied state unemployment benefits because their employers declined to participate in work sharing, an elective unemployment program.

Yet another previously ineligible group that can now apply for assistance includes school and school services workers, such as bus drivers and school cafeteria workers, who were denied benefits over the summer, or told that they would need to repay benefits if their work resumed in the fall. With many schools experiencing volatile schedules, the DOL said, workers whose hours have been decreased can apply.

Newly eligible workers based on Thursdays guidance must file for the federal benefit through their state unemployment division. However, they must be careful to specify their claim is under the PUA program, rather than their state's program. The maximum number of weeks of eligibility will also be based on the state maximum where the applicant applies, according to Tapia.

Prior guidance opened the federal unemployment benefit to those who did not qualify for regular unemployment compensation and were unable to continue working as a result of COVID-19, such as self-employed workers, independent contractors, and gig workers.

The DOL did not respond to a request asking for an estimate of the number of Americans it expected to become eligible for federal unemployment insurance, based on its updated guidance.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance and former litigation attorney.

Follow Alexis Keenan on Twitter @alexiskweed.

READ MORE:

Twitter's Jack Dorsey sued by shareholder over his dual role as Square CEO

Crypto price surge invites a torrent of crypto crime

Citadel CEO: 'We had no role in Robinhoods decision to limit trading in GameStop'

See original here:

Labor Department expands jobless aid for those forced to choose 'your money or your health' - Yahoo Finance

The U.S. government needs to invest in infrastructure both domestically and internationally to keep pace with China, a former Clinton administration official told Yahoo Finance.

The Chinese are all over the world in Latin America and Africa and other parts of Asia, building everything from dams and rail systems and communication systems," Henry Cisneros, who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 1993 to 1997 in the Clinton administration, told Yahoo Finance. "So infrastructure is becoming one of the currencies for international economic competition.

China has invested heavily both domestically through modernization and overseas through the massive Belt and Road Initiative (known as the New Silk Road).

China's Silk Road project involves billions of dollars. (Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance)

The Chinese not only have invested in their own infrastructure within the country everything from high-speed rail, modernized communications, new city developments, in effect new town planning, water supply questions, power supply issues, materials, but theyve also engaged in a strategy of helping other nations with whom they work have exclusive trading relationships in their development of infrastructure, Cisneros said.

The U.S. created the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to counter that global influence, but the relative lack of investment compared to Beijing means that Washington is playing catch up on 21st century developmental finance.

There are nations that have made all-out commitments to growth... they have geared their foreign policy, their economic policy, their trade policy, even their military strategies around economic dominance, Cisneros noted.

President Clinton listens to Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros in the Old Executive Building in Washington Dec. 19, 1994. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Researchers at Boston Universitys Global Development Center, which closely monitors Chinese overseas investments, noted that the country provided billions of dollars in loan commitments to Latin American and Caribbean countries since 2005. These include countries like Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, and others.

Story continues

Chinas development finance tends to be concentrated in the infrastructure [and] given the lack of major new incomes and capital and the lack of attention to infrastructure Chinese development finance has been very welcomed in the world, Kevin Gallagher, a professor of global development policy at Boston University, said during a webinar on Feb. 24.

Energy projects are part of that portfolio, which includes coal, oil, gas, hydropower, and other types of energy, the group detailed in a dataset. And while China's investments abroad slowed in 2020, Beijing provided more than $200 million in COVID-19 aid to the Latin American region.

Workers from China Railway No.2 Engineering Group screw the welded seamless rails of the China-Laos railway in the northern suburb of Vientiane, Laos, on June 18, 2020. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/ via Getty Images)

Margaret Myers, director of the Asia and Latin America Program at Inter-American Dialogue, noted that China has pumped a lot of funds into the Latin America region previously, that activity has slowed more recently, according to

Instead, Chinese government banks were addressing pandemic-induced delays in other projects, and the reluctance to lend could also possibly be due to concerns over debt sustainability, Myers added.

Beyond policy bank lending, two more Latin American countries Brazil and Uruguay have also joined the China-led AIIB, Rebecca Ray, also at Boston University, said.

U.S. agencies are aware of the problem and have been ramping up investments abroad.

President Joe Biden also unveiled his $2-trillion Build Back Better Recovery Plan, a domestic infrastructure plan that Biden described as a new foundation for sustainable growth, compete in the global economy, withstand the impacts of climate change, and improve public health.

Cisneros noted that the investments at home and abroad are connected in that the U.S. must improve airports and other travel hubs to compete with ambitious economies like China.

The other way in which infrastructures playing a role in economic competition is the sheer reality that you have to have upgraded systems to function, which means ports that can handle the larger ships, trains that can move people efficiently, Cisneros said. We dont have one single line in the United States that you could call true high-speed rail. The Chinese have 6,000 miles. The Japanese have 1,600 miles. Countries like France and Germany and Spain all have long systems of high-speed rail. We do not.

The new, next generation Acela train arrives June 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Cisneros noted that the fastest rail in the U.S. is the Northeast Corridor, which runs at approximately 70 miles an hour through Amtraks Acela service, which operates between Washington, D.C. and Boston. In comparison, other countries he mentioned can safely run between 150-200 miles an hour through their rails.

In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the U.S. infrastructure a D+ grade and predicted that it would cost approximately $4.6 trillion over the next decade to improve roads, bridges, schools, and ports across the country. The report called for infrastructure investment to increase to 3.5% of U.S. GDP by 2025, and increase from the current level of roughly 2.5%.

And while transportation might not seem like an important asset to compete with China for, the former HUD secretary stressed that moving people and information today is as important as moving cargo was in the past.

My point is all of these are underpinnings of economic competitiveness of the future, where we have slower broadband communications than, say, European countries and Japan and Korea, he said. Were at a disadvantage when our airports are not at the quality of many of the new airports in the Middle East and Europe and Asia. Again, were at a disadvantage.

Aarthi is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. She can be reached at aarthi@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.

Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at adriana@yahoofinance.com.

Read more:

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.

Visit link:

Infrastructure is increasingly becoming 'one of the currencies for international economic competition' - Yahoo Finance

Activists wearing masks of the IOC President Thomas Bach and Chinese president Xi Jinping pose in front of the Olympic Rings during a street protest against the holding of 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in Dharmsala, India, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Five effigies represent Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong, Inner Mongolia and the region ethnic Uyghurs call 'East Turkestan', under Chinese control. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

In October, after decades of dismissal, and amid crescendoing opposition to the Genocide Games, the International Olympic Committee finally sat down and listened. Sixteen months before Beijing 2022, officials opened their ears. And they heard voices that represented the oppressed. Voices that spoke for millions unheard. Voices of Uyghurs; Hong Kongers; Tibetans; democratically-inclined Chinese. Victims of Beijings authoritarianism.

Activists had long sought the meeting. Five of them huddled on that October day to tell the IOC why the 2022 Winter Olympics could be so damaging. They shared first-hand testimony and widely reported facts: That the Chinese government has arbitrarily detained millions of Xinjiang Muslims, and cracked down on freedoms throughout the region. Years earlier, Olympic officials had promised that the 2008 Beijing Olympics would enhance human rights. Instead, the Chinese government has gotten exponentially more repressive, says Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch. The kinds of abuses that we are writing about now even we would have found them unthinkable back then.

The IOC heard evidence of all of this in October. Unfortunately, that dialogue didn't lead to anything, says Zumretay Arkin of the World Uyghur Congress. They were quite dismissive, she says of IOC officials. Theyve done nothing to assuage concerns of activists and politicians alike that the Games will legitimize and fortify a government which the U.S. and Canada have since accused of genocide.

We left the meeting, Arkin says, with an impression that the IOC just didn't really care.

So with 12 months to go, opposition to the Beijing Olympics is beginning to take other forms. A variety of politicians and leaders have called on the IOC to relocate the Games, but relocation, at this point, is near-impossible. Those calls, experts say, have become futile and even counterproductive. Which is why activists and politicians and even some Olympic stakeholders are devising alternative plans. The most explosive ones invoke a word that represents the IOCs biggest fears: Boycott.

Story continues

Its been four decades since the last Olympic boycott. Ahead of 2022, some organizations, politicians and opinionists have been calling for another. To attend a Beijing Olympics can be seen as an endorsement of genocide and crimes against humanity, says Teng Biao, a Chinese lawyer and activist. A refusal to attend, experts say, would send a strong message to the Chinese government that abuses must cease.

Most activists, however, are not advocating for a 1980-style boycott, because often boycotts can harm innocent bystanders, Richardson says. And in this case, that would be athletes. Athletes whove toiled for years with a singular goal in mind. A government-enforced boycott, says Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete, puts athletes as pawns. Most activists understand that and respect it. They say ripping the Games away would be cruel.

But there is nuance within the term boycott. Advocates and allies are on board with the strategy if individuals and governments are making decisions for themselves, rather than imposing boycotts on athletes. A coalition of 180 human rights groups has called for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games, to ensure they are not used to embolden the Chinese governments appalling rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent. And experts believe a diplomatic boycott of some scale seems likely to materialize.

I have trouble imagining various governments sending high level people at the moment, says Richardson, the Human Rights Watch director. The key here is to not give the Chinese government any particular legitimacy around this event.

There is the separate possibility that individual athletes or groups of athletes could independently threaten to boycott, if they see competing in Beijing as complicity in genocide. Any boycott, Biao says, would be welcome and impactful and the more far-reaching, the more impactful.

Biao accepts, though, that most athletes will choose to compete. He and others would rather discuss more realistic options.

If they want to come and attend the Games, and publicly boycott the opening ceremony and closing ceremony, that would be good, Biao says of athletes. Simply a Tweet would be helpful. That's the way. That's an easy way to not be the accomplice.

President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach opens the envelope announcing that Beijing has won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in 2015, 2015. (AP)

Except its not easy. Thats the problem for athletes wishing to take a human rights stand in Beijing. The IOC has strict rules governing demonstrations and advocacy during the Games. According to its latest Rule 50 guidelines, athletes have the opportunity to express their opinions, including during press conferences and interviews or on social media. But if an athlete did criticize Chinas many abuses, would experts fear reprisal from Chinese authorities?

Yes, Richardson says matter-of-factly.

Absolutely I'd be concerned, Koehler says.

Multiple European athletes who have spoken out against Chinas treatment of Uyghurs, such as soccer star Mesut Ozil, have received intense backlash. NBA GM Daryl Moreys 2019 tweet in support of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong incited a multi-hundred-million-dollar firestorm. Chinese authorities have a long history of retribution against those who dissent domestically. And at the moment, Richardson says, the Chinese government is arbitrarily detaining a number of foreign citizens.

Koehler says hes spoken to athletes who have been encouraged not to publicly talk about the human rights abuse happening in China. And he suspects athletes will be appropriately warned before going to Beijing for the Olympics. The IOC could support athletes freedom of expression by offering protection to any attending the Games. But when asked on Wednesday whether the IOC would offer that protection to an athlete who criticized Chinas human rights record, IOC president Thomas Bach did not directly answer the question. In response to follow-ups via email if that athlete faced consequences from Chinese authorities, would the IOC protect the athlete? an IOC spokesperson again did not directly answer the question.

We have received from the organizing committee and the Chinese partner all the assurances contained in the host city contract, Bach said.

The 2015 contract signed by Olympic organizers guarantees the freedom of the media to provide independent news coverage of the Games, and the editorial independence of the material broadcasted or published. But it does not include a single mention of human rights. Advocacy groups have described that as an astonishing" omission. In 2017, the IOC added a human rights clause to its host city contracts, but it has not said that Beijing must comply with the new standards.

Public statements or demonstrations would indeed aid the activists causes, and allow athletes to fulfill both sporting and moral duties. But without guarantees from Olympic organizers, Richardson believes, national governments might have to step up and negotiate protections.

It's both that governments are going to have to do a lot more work in a consular sense before people go to these Games, she says. But also to be on deck to help people if they do run into trouble.

People walk by a police station is seen by the front gate of the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center in Artux in western China's Xinjiang region. (AP)

The IOC has not publicly addressed the accusations of genocide, nor has it addressed any of Chinas abuses with any specificity. And no activist expects that the IOC will. The IOC just seems to have closed its eyes and wished this had gone away, Richardson says.

In doing so, its forced athletes to consider whether their pursuit of Olympic dreams is implicitly harmful. The IOC, Koehler says, is first and foremost to blame for putting athletes in this position.

Everybody interviewed for this story, activists included, clarified that athletes arent obliged to speak up. Many will go to the Games and enjoy them without a single thought of genocide. Doing so is their choice, and their right.

Activists do, however, want to make sure athletes are informed. Arkin, the World Uyghur Congress leader, says theyve asked for dialogue with national Olympic committees, and spoke with Germanys last month. They also have to know what is happening on the ground, and they have this responsibility to give that information to athletes, she says in case the athletes do want to send a message.

A governments role, then, is twofold: Secure protections for its athletes who do speak up, and geopolitic without weaponizing unwilling athletes, in conjunction with the rest of the free world.

And Koehler believes the focus should stretch beyond Beijing 2022. Governments, he explains, could push Olympic organizations to codify human rights in everything they do, to ensure that a Beijing-like dilemma never arises again.

And maybe that's a condition for engagement in 2022, he says. Instead of just saying, 'We're gonna boycott,' say, 'We'll go, but here's the conditions of engagement. He mentions rescinding the IOCs Rule 50, which constrains protest; and introducing human rights score thresholds as prerequisites for hosting the Olympics.

These things must be done, and we will go to the Games, Koehler continues, paraphrasing the message governments could send. But we're doing this because we want to see it improved. We want to see our athletes' rights respected.

More from Yahoo Sports:

Excerpt from:

China will host the 2022 Winter Olympics while accused of genocide. Should the world boycott? - Yahoo Sports

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

This article was first featured in Yahoo Finance Tech, a weekly newsletter highlighting our original content on the industry. Get it sent directly to your inbox every Wednesday by 4 p.m. ET. Subscribe

Tesla (TSLA) is synonymous with electric vehicles, but a new generation of EV automakers inspired by CEO Elon Musks electrified empire may be coming after its crown.

Lucid Motors, which is headed by former Tesla engineer Peter Rawlinson and promises better performance than Tesla, announced on Monday its plans to go public. Meanwhile, Amazon (AMZN)-backed Rivian, which is also planning an IPO this year, is taking on Tesla in the truck space. Traditional automakers like Ford (F) and Volkswagen also pose a threat to the world leader in EV sales. And then theres potentially Teslas biggest eventual rival: Apple and its own EV ambitions.

Tesla clawed its way to the top of the EV market through the sheer will of outspoken, and often mercurial, CEO Elon Musk. And while, as of Tuesday, Teslas stock price dropped as much as 18% in the last month following its $1.5 billion bitcoin bet, the company is still up 319% in the last 12 months.

But its going to need much more than a charismatic leader and rabid fan base to maintain its lead in the coming years. According to Deloitte Insights, EVs will make up 32% of new car sales by 2030, up from just over 2.5% in 2020 meaning theres plenty of space for competitors.

An unsold 2021 Model X sports-utility vehicle sits at a Tesla dealership Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, in Littleton, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Tesla has lots...of competition, Craig Irwin of Roth Capital Partners told Yahoo Finance. There are companies that have superior technology in autonomous, there are companies that have superior technology in batteries, there are companies that have superior technology in electric vehicles. Tesla has great cars, don't get me wrong, but you're going to see a number of very exciting developments over the course of the next year.

So how can Tesla hold onto its lead? By continuing to press its global expansion into India, and ensuring its secret sauce its technical prowess stays ahead of its rivals. But the increasingly crowded market for EV vehicles could throw some obstacles in Teslas path.

Story continues

For Tesla, global expansion is the easiest way to keep pace with the new crop of competitors, and its made progress on that front. The company has already rolled out its vehicles and built a plant in China, and is in the midst of constructing its first European plant in Germany.

Tesla also has the advantage of understanding the difficulties of bringing its own manufacturing capabilities online. The company went through what Musk called production Hell when getting its Model 3 assembly line up and running in 2018. The firm was just weeks from going under during the build up, and in a recent tweet Musk revealed that during the buildout he tried getting in touch with Apple CEO Tim Cook to sell the automaker.

While Teslas move into China was crucial because the country has the worlds largest car market, its next move into India, also one of the worlds largest markets, will be nearly as important for the companys continued growth.

The key development this year is the start of sales into India, Irwin noted, adding that hes heard chatter that Tesla has already selected a site for the Indian factory.

Lucid's Air Dream is the automaker's top-of-the-line vehicle, and, according to the company, outclasses Tesla's Model S in terms of range. (Image: Lucid)

Tesla, which was down just over 2% as of market close Tuesday, also needs to ensure it doesnt get caught up in its recent move into bitcoin (BTC-USD). The company put $1.5 billion of its cash into the cryptocurrency, helping to send bitcoin soaring even higher. And while it saw roughly $1 billion in profits on paper, Musks subsequent statements on the cryptocurrency may have helped send its price down.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, however, warns that Teslas crypto play shouldnt distract investors from the companys overall efforts.

This is a golden age of EVs and we forecast that $5 trillion will be spent over the next decade, Ives told Yahoo Finance. EV, led by Tesla, is changing the way investors value these companies going forward. Its not your grandfathers auto industry anymore, as Detroit is showing on EVs.

Besides, there are plenty of other companies taking aim at Tesla in the meantime.

Lucid Motors revealed Monday it was going public via a reverse merger with special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, Churchill Capital IV (CCIV). The deal values Lucid at a whopping $24 billion and will provide the upstart automaker with $4.4 billion to expand its Arizona-based plant.

Lucid aims to get its high-end luxury sedan, the Lucid Air, on the road this year, and eventually have the Arizona plant pumping out as many as 365,000 units a year. The company is also working on production of its luxury SUV, the Lucid Gravity, which is set to launch in 2023.

The Lucid Air Dream is Lucids top-of-the-line model priced at $161,500, well above the $119,900 Tesla Model S Plaid. Our first product is unashamedly a luxury car that will compete with the Mercedes Benz S-Class at the top table, CEO Peter Rawlinson told Yahoo Finance Live Monday. And currently there isnt an EV offering in the true luxury arena.

What makes Lucid so impressive is that, according to its own number, it already outclasses Tesla in terms of battery performance. With an estimated range of 503 miles per charge, the Dreams battery can also be charged to 300 miles in just 20 minutes. Teslas long-range Model S, meanwhile, gets just 412 miles on a charge, and can be charged with up to only 200 miles of power in 15 minutes.

R.J. Scaringe, Rivian's 35-year-old CEO, introduces his company's R1T all-electric pickup truck and all-electric R1S SUV at Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S. November 27, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Lucid is not the only competitor coming after Tesla, of course. Rivian is also set to launch its long-awaited electric truck this year, with backing from heavyweights including Amazon, which is preparing a fleet of Rivian-based electric delivery vehicles. Rivian also has the backing of Ford, which will use Rivian technology in its own offerings. The company promises more than 300 miles of range in its R1T truck with a starting price of $67,500.

Rivian is also expected to IPO this year at an estimated valuation of $50 billion, according to Bloomberg. That company is powering out of the gate with an electric truck, setting up stiff competition for Teslas upcoming Cybertruck, which is also launching this year.

Tesla has even managed to inspire an electric truck company fittingly called Nikola (NKLA) Tesla is named after the inventor Nikola Tesla though that firm was blasted in a report from short seller Hindenburg accusing it of being a fraud. (Nikola denied the report and called it a hit job.)

Traditional automakers entering the space include Ford, which will launch its highly anticipated Mustang Mach-E crossover in the coming months at a starting price of $42,895 and upwards of 250 miles per charge. Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategies says that Volkswagen could become a Tesla rival, too, noting that a large automaker could, in a few years, become the No. 2 EV automaker after Musks company.

Then theres Apple, which is rumored to be teaming up with an established automaker like Hyundai, on an electric vehicle of its own. Still, details on how Apple will actually manufacture the car are scant, and it isnt expected to hit the market until 2024.

But Apple is just one part of the bigger picture, which is this: The EV field is becoming crowded. Tesla may have the best-selling EV of all time, by a wide margin, as my colleague Rick Newman pointed out, but the flurry of new competitors may expose its weak points.

Those flaws include an unpredictable CEO who was sued by the SEC over a tweet saying he had funding to take Tesla private, as well as fatal car crashes that have invited scrutiny into its autopilot system. Tesla may still be the EV leader despite these flaws but now is not the time for Elon Musk to take his empire for granted.

By Daniel Howley, tech editor. Follow him at @DanielHowley

See more here:

How Tesla and Elon Musk can fight the new EV rivals - Yahoo Finance

The Daily Beast

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos via Facebook/GettyWhen serial pedophile and former doctor for the U.S. womens gymnastics team Larry Nassar was sentenced to a maximum of 175 years in prison, more than 150 women of all ages came forward to share their horrific stories of abuse.They bravely told of how they endured years of trauma and how they had been silenced. For Olympian McKayla Maroney, unfortunately, it had been no different.The now 25-year-old went dark on Instagram in September of 2017; the next month, she shared her harrowing story about Nassars abuse, starting from age 13 and even up until she was competing in the Olympics in 2012.It happened in London before my team and I won the gold medal, and it happened before I won my silver, she said in a Twitter statement, before detailing a night in Tokyo where she thought shed die. Maroney continued to speak out against the former doctor who abused her hundreds of times and labelled him a monster. He would work on me for like an hour and a half, she told NBC News in April of 2018. And just like full abuse And Id be crying.The Trials of Simone Biles: Im Still Stuck in My Thoughts All the TimeThen in January 2019, Maroneys father Mike suddenly died while trying to detox from opioid painkillers. He went to a hotel randomly one day and was like Im going to quit... His best friend took him, and he died trying to detox, quit from pain pills, Maroney said, explaining she was completely unaware of his addiction. He could have just gone to a rehab place and done it right. He didnt and he passed away.Maroney finally reemerged and returned to Instagram in September 2019, citing Nassars trial and her fathers death. Ill definitely talk about it more, but for now Ill just say that even on the worst days, I knew I had so much to be thankful for, she wrote. I have the most supportive family, and friends, and u guys are part of that. blessed to have u, and happy to be back.Nothing about the accompanying selfie looked unusual save a peculiar accessory: a large silver pendant necklace from the Church of the Master Angels (CMA). View this post on Instagram A post shared by McKayla Maroney (@mckaylamaroney) The church is mysterious in nature and is relatively new, only officially formed in 2017. Its clunky and outdated website is filled with mumbo-jumbo phrases, making it difficult to understand exactly what CMA is.It describes itself as a unitary, non-denominational, faith-based community Church that welcomes all seekers of truth, cosmic awareness and soul-realization, regardless of belief, tradition, creed, or religious affiliation that promotes the selfless worship of God through the teaching of Gods Masters, Angels, and Holy Saints.On the website, members can receive free blessings and remote healings, plus they have access to video workshops. It hawks various supplements, such as phytoplankton droplets, and sells vague audio repair prayers for $200. The geometric pendants that Maroney wears can cost up to $2,000. YouTube Similar to Scientology, the church offers coursesthe most advanced being the elite course. Participants pay around $10,000 to attend a gathering held at the church headquarters, a few miles outside of Boone, North Carolina. CMA also has a hub in Los Angeles, where Maroney lives.The four-day developmental training includes preparation and installation of the apparatus for beginning remote scanning ability of matter and energies and preparation and installation of the apparatus and angelic assistance. Its advised that for two months before the course, one should reduce ones meat intake, avoid alcohol, and completely cut out eating pork and shellfish and taking recreational drugs.The shining star of the church is Master John Douglas, an elusive figure who is praised as a prophetic minister, spiritual healer and extraordinary teacher.Douglas is from Australia and details about him are scant, but he claims to have had a clairvoyant awakening at 9 years old that enabled him to be able to see the frequencies of thoughts, emotions, desires, weaknesses, beliefs, [and] karmic governance.It has allowed me to analyze and discover and experiment and find the real causes of disease in the body, he previously said.A handful of books have been dedicated to his Angelic Reformation healings and people claim hes cured them of Morgellons and Lyme disease, anxiety, and even cancer. Douglas did not respond to request for comment.Maroneys ties with the church are murky. In fact, if it wasnt for Maroney wearing the churchs pendant, which claims to reduce the negative effects of electromagnetic radiation, negative thoughts, and negative emotions, her involvement would be hard to spot.But she follows the churchs Twitter page and was once pictured attending an event hosted by Douglas, smiling and wearing a floral lei necklace while surrounded by four other attendees in a photo posted in January 2019. Aw, my angel friends, she commented. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @themillenialmonk Maroney reportedly put a link to CMAs YouTube channel in her Twitter bio in August 2019, according to an internet sleuth who runs a blog dedicated to investigating the church. He also claims he stumbled upon a Twitter fan page called WeLuvMasterJohnDouglas that was allegedly run by Maroney. Maroney also appeared to go on fellow CMA member Renata Maniacis podcast in February of 2020 to talk about how she had met Douglas four years prior. In episode 40 around the 7:30-minute mark, a woman who identified herself as McKayla said, I used to be a gymnast, trained 8 hours a day all the time, was in the Olympics.It didnt make sense for me go from being a high-energy, hard-working person to thinking I was crazy, the woman continued. Who am I now? Am I lazy? Whats wrong? You go to doctors and they tell you youre making it up. A big part of being sick was the mental toll it took on me. I didnt know who I was anymore.I also knew there was something missing in my life spiritually, she added. Ever since I was young, I wanted to meet some sort of guru. It was crazy that I ended up meeting a friend in Long Beach and she told me, I think this Master John guy can maybe help you, he works with angels. And I was like I love angels! There is also a statement reportedly signed by Maroney in March 2020 where she praised Douglas work and credits him for giving her life back.I dont know if I can put into words what Master John has done for me, the post reads. My life only gets better because of Master John Thank you never seems like enough. So I listen to all the tools, (his CDs) to try and be the best person I can be. To honor him, and make him proud. We love you Master John. Thank you!While Maroney did not reply to requests for comment, Dr. Christopher Hartnett, chairman of CMA International Foundation, confirmed Maroney was a member of the church when contacted by The Daily Beast.Inside Will and Jada Pinkett Smiths Scientology School for KidsDuring a 10-minute tirade, he said raising questions about CMA was imposing on a church and claimed an article could ruin members lives, pushing for the story to be dropped.We protect our people, he said. The church has not done one negative thing to anybody. Is there any person in the church complaining? Its people outside the church.We help people, we pray for people, Hartnett said at another point in the conversation. Nobody heals anybody except for God the angels heal. We pray for people, thats all. Show me one person that says they were prayed on and wasnt healed. Well, then they didnt deserve to be healed by God, but I cant even find one. Most of them get healed.Hartnett was adamant that CMA is free and that nobody has to come here and pay money. When it was pointed out that the elite course costs $10,000, Hartnett described it as a donation, saying its nobody elses business.Elite courses are for people who have been healed They dont have to take the elite course, its a free choice, he said. Its a donation that goes to help perpetuate this around the world."They do it because they want to help the cause. Theres nothing wrong about paying money to come to something that the money is going to be used to perpetuate goodness, why is that bad?Hartnett became defensive when asked about the pendant Maroney wears, saying that necklace, just so you know, is a Metatron and Metatron is the angel that protected Christ while he was on Earth. So now you are going to talk about it? Jeez, talk about devils.At one point, Hartnett raised his voice and asked, Do you consider yourself a woman? Do you consider yourself a good woman?While Maroney might be the churchs most prominent member, CMA has never publicly recognized her membership. The only other notable member linked to the church is the inventor of the sex toy Fleshlight, Steve Shubin. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Church of the Master Angels (@churchofthemasterangels) A former employee posted a review of Shubins company on Glassdoor, writing that while a perk of working there was getting an amazing discount on fantastic products, the main con was that Shubin was allegedly part of the cult. Shubins wife confirmed to The Daily Beast that they are members of CMA, but denied it was a cult.Hartnett maintained the church doesnt like to promote itself and likes to be private. In fact, a section of the website that is dedicated to those who have graduated from its elite training course must have a password to access it.CMAs website and social media pages rarely include photos of members, with a majority of the posts being informational messages about services and quotes from Douglas.The only way to spot members is on its YouTube channel, which includes about a dozen testimonial videos from followers who claim to have been healed from various pains, conditions, and diseases after meeting with Douglas.Member Allen McEuen claimed that Douglas had cured him of HIV after the leader went into my body with his Godly vision and he saw things about HIV that modern medicine didnt know.So, with that vision, and his ability to kill viruses, he was able to go into my body and kill the HIV virus and everything that was associated with it and completely cleanse my body from HIV, McEuen claimed. From that day forward, I stopped taking the meds. Its been over three years now and I have a perfect bill of health. Chapel of the Master Angels in North Carolina Facebook Another member, Jan Casebolt, said she was diagnosed with Cardiac sarcoidosis, a rare cardiovascular disease where white blood cells form in heart tissue, which left her reliant on a wheelchair.Describing her constant pain, she said she decided to meet with Douglas before a scheduled surgery. He closes his eyes, and you know really homes in on me, she said. Within a matter of moments, he says, Ah, I see what the problem is. Theres two bacteria hiding in your white blood cells and they are causing your illness. He just performed a blessing over me. And within two minutes, I felt the pain leaving me.But while CMA prides itself on healing through prayer and sells products that are supposed to help cure members from various ailments, the website is plastered with medical disclaimers that the churchs products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or illness.For leading cult expert and former Sun Myung Moon follower Steven Hassan, PhD, CMA has all the warning signs of an emerging cult.The director of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center said he hadnt come across CMA before, which he found odd considering Douglas spectacular claims of healing.He makes these extraordinary claims, and alarm bells go off, Hassan said. Hes a renowned theologian, by whom? Hes a noted practitioner of Angelic Reformation, what is that?Upon listening to some of CMAs free workshop videos, he said Douglas talks in an authoritative, hypnotic manner, making assumptions and claims that are very alarming to me, but are very representative of authoritarian cult leaders.In my line of work, when someone is claiming extraordinary things, they need extraordinary proof, Hassan said. Wheres the scientific study? Its all self-referential. As someone who has studied hypnosis, I know the power of suggestion, especially if you accept the authority figure, its more likely youll be hypnotized. Thats how the mind works. A lot of people want to believe, so its known as the placebo effect that kicks in. I have no problem using mind power, but when they claim to be master healers and have zero credentials, alarm bells go off.Hassan said these types of leaders often go after vulnerable people, those who have dealt with abuse, trauma, or the death of a loved one. In the wake of a worldwide pandemic, economic hardship, and deep political divides, Hassan said these have the potential to make even more people vulnerable to exploitation.The price of a $2,000 pendant and $10,000 training courses also made Hassan suspicious. Im reminded of so many other cults that would sell jewelry that was blessed by the master, he said.One thing about psychology is that when people do a behavior thats a big deal, whether its more money they spend, the more they start justifying how great it is. If you are a cult leader, you want your followers to do bigger and dramatic things to keep them involved.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Go here to see the original:

Charlie Munger says Costco 'has one thing that Amazon does not' - Yahoo Finance