Arizona GOP rebukes governor, ex-senator, John McCain’s widow
Arizona Republicans issued rebukes to three of the party’s most prominent figures, approving resolutions to censure Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, the widow of former Sen. John McCain.
Though largely symbolic, Saturday’s political scolding during a meeting of the state GOP underscored a widening rift in Arizona between party officials who have made clear that their loyalty lies with former President Donald Trump and those in the party who refused to support him or his effort to overturn the election results in Arizona, which President Joe Biden won.
The party cited McCain’s and Flake’s criticisms of Trump and Ducey’s use of emergency orders related to the pandemic, which gave him broad control to enact policies without the Legislature’s approval such as closing “nonessential” businesses in the spring.
Both Flake and Cindy McCain endorsed Biden leading up to the November election. Though Ducey continually made it clear that he backed Trump, he drew ire from some Republicans by defending the state’s election process, rather than supporting efforts to challenge the November results in court.
John McCain was censured by the state party in 2015 over his voting record, which some Republican officials there perceived as not sufficiently conservative. He died in August 2018.
US support for Taiwan:
The U.S. has reaffirmed its support for Taiwan following China’s dispatch of warplanes near the island in an apparent attempt to intimidate its democratic government and test the resolve of the new American presidential administration.
The U.S. State Department on Saturday said it was concerned by China’s “pattern of ongoing attempts to intimidate its neighbors, including Taiwan.”
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said China on Saturday sent eight bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons and four fighter jets into its air defense identification zone just southwest of the island. The ministry said China on Sunday sent another 16 military aircraft of various types into the same area.
The ministry said Taiwan responded by scrambling fighters, broadcasting warnings by radio and “deploying air defense missile systems to monitor the activity.”
There was no immediate Chinese comment Sunday
Voice of America:
The Biden administration Sunday installed new heads of three federally funded international broadcasters after abruptly firing Donald Trump-appointees at the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
Acting CEO Kelu Chao made the announcement after dismissing the previous directors of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks late Friday, just a month after they had been named to the posts.
Daisy Sindelar will be acting head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, replacing Ted Lipien until a permanent president is named. Bay Fang will return to her post as Radio Free Asia president, replacing Stephen Yates. Kelley Sullivan will become acting Middle East Broadcasting Networks president, replacing Victoria Coates.
The moves follow the forced resignation of Trump’s hand-picked agency head, Michael Pack, only two hours after Joe Biden took office as president Wednesday. Pack had been accused by Democrats and others of trying to turn VOA and the other networks into pro-Trump propaganda machines.
China mine rescue:
Eleven workers trapped for two weeks inside a Chinese gold mine were brought safely to the surface Sunday, a landmark achievement for an industry long-blighted by disasters and high death tolls.
State broadcaster CCTV showed workers being hauled up one-by-one in baskets Sunday, their eyes shielded to protect them after so many days in darkness.
Some brought their hands together in gratitude and many appeared almost too weak to stand. They were swiftly covered in coats amid freezing temperatures and loaded into ambulances.
Hundreds of rescue workers and officials stood at attention and applauded as the workers were brought up from the mine in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai in the eastern coastal province of Shandong.
Sentence in Green Beret death:
A Navy SEAL convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the hazing death of an Army Green Beret in Africa was sentenced this weekend to 10 years in prison.
SEAL Team 6 member Tony DeDolph also was demoted from chief petty officer to seaman and will be dishonorably discharged. He must forfeit pay.
DeDolph pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter this month after admitting he applied the chokehold that killed Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar during a hazing incident in 2017 in Mali. DeDolph intends to appeal the sentence, according to his attorney, Philip Stackhouse.
Brazil protests:
Thousands of Brazilians took the streets for a second day Sunday to call for the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under fire for his government’s response to rampant cases of COVID-19, which has claimed more than 216,000 lives in the country.
Horn-honking cars paraded through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and a dozen or more other cities as other protesters marched on foot, some calling, “Get out Bolsonaro!”
Sunday’s protests were called by conservative groups that had once backed the president, while those on Saturday had come from the left.
Bolsonaro, who is midway through his four-year term, has faced renewed criticism in recent weeks. The president has long resisted lockdown measures, arguing economic damage would be worse than the disease.