- [Announcer] This is CBN Newswatch.
- Thank you for joiningus, it is Thursday,
February 27th, I'm Efrem Graham.
We begin this half hourwith the coronavirus now
on nearly every continent,and President Donald Trump
talking about it and possiblypreparing for a pandemic.
More than 80,000 cases globally,
and the number in Americais expected to grow.
CBN's Jenna Browder has thestory now from Washington.
- [Jenna] Health officialssay it's not a matter of if,
but when the coronavirusstarts to seriously spread
in the United States.
- And the number one priorityfrom our standpoint is
the health and safetyof the American people.
- [Jenna] President Trumpassembling his team behind him
to project calm and tellthe American people he's
in charge and on the case.
- We're very, very readyfor this, for anything,
whether it's going to be abreakout of larger proportions
or whether or not we'reat that very low level.
- [Jenna] And in asurprise move announcing
Vice President Mike Pence tothe lead the U.S. response
to the outbreak.
- I look forward, Mr. President,to serving in this role
and bringing together all the members
of the corona task force.
- [Jenna] On Capitol Hill,the Secretary of Health
and Human Services with this warning.
- America's risk is low at the moment.
That could change quickly.
- [Jenna] The NationalInstitutes of Health says that
while a vaccine is in the works,
it won't be available anytime soon.
- We can't rely on a vaccine
over the next several months to a year.
- Areas that were hidden.
- [Jenna] Trump saysCongress wants to give
more than $2.5 billion he's asking for,
and at last night's news conference
also criticized democratsfor making it political.
- What he's doing islate, too late, anemic.
Hopefully we can makeup for the loss of time.
- [Jenna] In California, the latest case
could be the first notconnected to travel abroad.
Meanwhile, 80 people in New York are
under self-quarantineafter possible exposure.
The virus has now spreadto at least 47 countries
and is on every continentexcept Antarctica.
And for the first timethe number of new cases
is higher outside of China than within.
Jenna Browder, CBN News.
- Our Wendy Griffithspoke with health reporter
Lorie Johnson aboutprevention and in preparation
of dealing with the coronavirus threat.
- Lorie, what should people do?
- Well, first of all,people should not panic.
Because the fear of the unknown is
what is driving so many people,
and that's a very powerful fear.
And there's so much about this coronavirus
that we don't know, andbecause of that this country,
the CDC, has to prepare for the worst.
That's a good thing,but the only down side
of preparing for the worstis it makes people afraid.
So the CDC is sayingget ready for the worst,
might not happen, probablywon't even in many cases,
but just in case we wanna be ready for it.
That's a good thing to be overly prepared.
So what should people do?
They should be prepared for shutdowns,
for quarantines, if outbreaks occur.
So the grocery store, your kid's school,
even where you work, that might be closed.
So we need to stock up onfood, stock up on medicines,
in case there are somelocalized quarantines.
Also people should be prepared as far as
the way they interact withother people hygienically.
This particular virusspreads through droplets
when you cough or sneeze.
So you need to try to makesure that your hands are
always very well washed.
If you are coughing or sneezing,
do it into the crook ofyour arm or into a tissue.
But keeping your hands clean,
that's the most important thing.
And remember that thisis spread usually within
about a six foot radius.
And with these droplets,they often go on surfaces,
and we can touch the surfaces.
So we need to try to get into the habit
of not touching our face,putting our fingers in our eyes
or our mouth, and of coursewhen we touch food that we eat.
- Lorie, we've seen lotsof images around the world,
especially in China, people wearing masks.
Is this a precaution thatAmericans should take right now?
- The CDC says that's not necessary.
And keep in mind that thesesurgical masks protect people
against the infections fromthe person wearing the mask.
So if you're sick, you should wear one,
because that means that yourgerms are not getting out
to other people, but these masks are not
tightly knit enough tokeep germs from coming in.
So it doesn't protect youfrom breathing in germs,
it protects your germs frombeing spread to other people.
- So if you're wearing one,people might think you have it.
- But you know, if youwanna wear a surgical mask,
the government is stocking up on them.
The Trump Administration isprocuring a half a billion.
That's more than the populationof the United States.
So they will be available,and we need to remember,
we need to boost our immunesystem to fight off this virus.
98% of the people whoget it recover from it,
and that's attributed toa strong immune system.
And we know that stressweakens our immune system,
so if that makes you feel more comfortable
and less stressed, wear the mask.
- All right, can youput this in perspective
to past outbreaks like SARS and Ebola,
how does this compare?
- Really interesting,SARS is a coronavirus,
a coronavirus it's a family of viruses,
and there are seven ofthem in human beings.
SARS is the most like this coronavirus
that's 80% the same genomically.
SARS, which was here in 2002,
it infected only 8,000 people,so not that many so far.
This coronavirus hasinfected 80,000 people.
But, of those 8,000people who were infected,
10% died, 800 people died, sothat was a high death rate.
This only has a death rate of about 2%.
Even less than that outside of China.
One thing that's interestingabout SARS is that
they developed a vaccine after it came,
they developed a vaccineand they were expecting it
to come back and it never came back.
It just disappeared andscientists don't know why.
- [Wendy] And what about Ebola?
- Ebola was something thatwe saw really confined
to three countries in WesternAfrica, 11,000 people died.
In the United States,everybody freaked out,
you may remember.- [Wendy] Oh yeah.
- And this was in 2014, andwhat ended up happening is
only two people in the United States died
and 11 people were infected.
So sometimes we see that overreaction
and that fear really taking hold.
- Well, Dr. Pat Robertsonmentioned a scripture
on The 700 Club from Psalm 91 in relation
to the fear that I think weall could gain comfort from.
It says, "You will notfear the terror of night,
"nor the arrow that flies by day,
"nor the pestilence thatstalks in the darkness,
"nor the plague that destroys at midday.
"A thousand may fall at your side,
"10,000 at your right hand,but it will not come near you."
Lorie, how can God's Wordhelp us in times like this?
- Well, Jesus told us not to worry.
So we need to rememberthat's not a suggestion,
that's a command, and there'snothing to worry about
if we know the Lord.
He's got this, He knowswhat's gonna happen.
And as I said before, really so much of
what's driving the fearin this country is fear
of the unknown, andeverything's gonna be fine.
We've weathered stormslike this in the past.
- But, of course, still agood idea to take precautions,
but do not fear, trust the Lord.
- And another thing istry to be careful about
who you're listening to.
There are all kinds of crazythings on the internet,
and that can make people afraid.
And also, Wendy, this hasbecome a political issue too.
We see people unfortunately wanting
to make the Trump Administration look bad
or maybe drive down the economy,
because fear sometimesnegatively affects the economy.
There are a lot of things to keep in mind
where that's concerned.
- All right, fear not and prepare.
Thank you so much, LorieJohnson, we appreciate that.
- My pleasure.
- [Wendy] And stay with us for the latest
on the coronavirus as we continue
to provide updates righthere on the CBN News Channel
and on CBNNews.com.
- The official U.S. mottois "In God We Trust,"
but a Texas company is under fire
for printing scriptureon a military dog tag.
CBN News National SecurityCorrespondent Eric Philips
shows us what's at stake.
- Soldiers and Marineslove having God's Word
around their necks, it encourages them,
it strengthens them for their fight.
- [Eric] Emotion overtakes Kenny Vaughn
when he talks about hiscompany and its mission.
- I made a dog tag with a scripture on it
because my girlfriend had written them
on my equipment as an athlete,
and that changed my life forever.
I wore it under my shirtfor my own reminder,
and I gave it to a soldier andit encouraged him in battle.
And that's why we're in business.
- [Eric] Vaughn has madehundreds of thousands
of these dog tags for U.S.military men and women,
many of them he says, for free.
- This is believing thatyou're going to live.
And even if you die, you'regonna be holding hands
with God for eternity.
That's what it means to me.
And every veteran that Iknow it means the same thing.
- [Eric] Then an organization called
the Military Religious Freedom Foundation
complained to the Pentagon.
- We are not anti-faith,we are pro-Constitution.
- [Eric] Its leader, MikeyWeinstein, calls the dog tags
a violation of DefenseDepartment regulations
and the Constitution bycombining the scripture
with official military emblems,
even though Vaughn gotlicensing permission
from three of the fivebranches of service.
- The letter of the law states exactly
that you cannot do this, becausethat would be essentially,
in this case, breaching theseparation of church and state
and applying an endorsement, in this case
our Department of Defenseand military branches,
on a clearly proselytizing message.
- [Eric] After reviewingWeinstein's complaint,
the Marines and the Army sent Vaughn cease
and desist letters, one saying in part
it could not "Toleratemerchandise that had
"(A) Marine Corp trademarksand (B) a religious theme.
"This is in directviolation of the Department
"of Defense instruction.
"Further, please refrainfrom submitting items
"for approval that areclearly of a religious nature
"and which bear USMC trademarks."
- This is an outrage.
- [Eric] Attorney MikeBerry represents Shields
of Strength and saysseparation of church and state
is not in the Constitution.
Plus, Mikey Weinstein has an agenda.
- His agenda is to eradicate any form
of religious expression from our military.
A positive and uplifting bibleverse such as Joshua 1:9,
"I will not be afraid, I willbe strong and courageous."
- The fact that someone couldfind a way to be offended
by a Marine wearing thatunderneath his uniform
for himself when it's totally voluntary.
- Approximately 70% ofpeople who join our military
identify as being of theJudeo-Christian faith,
and that drives Mikey Weinstein crazy
and he wants to try to put a stop to it.
Fortunately for him andunfortunately for America,
he's found some people in the Pentagon
who are basically scaredof their own shadow
and are willing to cave into his demands.
- What we're saying is youcan't violate the laws.
You can imagine if there was a satanic
for profit company or anatheist one or an Islamic one
that wanted to do the same thing
there'd be blood in the streets.
Please understand that we don't,
this is not the United States of Jesus,
it's the United States of America.
Christianity deserves nospecial place of honor
above any other faith or lack of faith.
This is what makes us great.
- Mr. Weinstein is flat out wrong.
- [Eric] First Liberty hasasked the Defense Department
to resend the letters.
If not, Berry says alawsuit could be an option.
Kenny Vaughn sees this as carrying forth
His god-given mission.
- That's why we do what we do.
And I'll do anything Ican to keep doing it.
- A U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld
the Trump Administration rules
that prevent taxpayer moneyfrom being used for abortions.
The rules forbid clinicsthat receive federal funds
through the Title 10 programfrom making abortion referrals
and from sharing spacewith abortion providers
like Planned Parenthood.
In other words, the Title10 money is only supposed
to be used for healthcareneeds, not to promote abortion.
In the seven to four rulingthe Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals dismissed arguments the rules
forces doctors to violate medical morals
by withholding information from patients.
Title 10 funds are designed tohelp pay for family planning,
cancer screenings, testing forsexually transmitted diseases
and other services, particularlyfor low income patients.
Planned Parenthood isAmerica's top abortion provider
announced last summerthat it was pulling out
of the federal family planningprogram rather than abiding
by the Trump Administrationrules that prevent participants
from referring patients for abortions.
An ABC News anchor has been suspended
after an undercover video showed him
criticizing the network.
The conservative group ProjectVeritas released the video
of ABC correspondent DavidWright seemingly complaining
about their politicalcoverage, take a look.
- I feel terrible, I feellike the truth suffers,
the voters are poorly informed,
and people also have theopportunity to tune into
whatever they wanna hear.
And so there's no upside in,
our bosses don't see anupside in doing the job
that we're supposed to do,which is to speak truth to power
and hold people to account.
- [Efrem] ABC News respondedwith a statement saying,
"Any action that damagesour reputation for fairness
"and impartiality or gives the appearance
"of compromising it harms ABC News
"and the individuals involved.
"David Wright has been suspended,
"and to avoid any possibleappearance of bias,
"he will be reassigned awayfrom political coverage
"when he does return."
Coming up, what happenedin one West Virginia town
when city leaders werechallenged about a prayer.
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board certified neurologist and number one
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- If you wanna improvethe quality of your life,
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- A West Virginia town hada long-standing tradition
to open city council meetings with prayer,
but leaders stopped it after athreat from an atheist group.
Our Mark Martin spoke withconservative radio host
Todd Starnes about what happened.
- Todd, tell us what happened
in a West Virginia town regarding prayer.
- Yeah, this is inWheeling, West Virginia,
where for a very long time now
they've been leading thecity council meetings,
starting the city councilmeetings with a moment of prayer.
In many cases a city council member
would actually offer this prayer.
Well, a group fromWisconsin called the Freedom
from Religion Foundationfound out about this prayer
and they fired off a prettynasty letter to city leaders
telling them that thisprayer was unconstitutional
and they urged them, orquite frankly demanded,
that they cease anddesist with the prayer.
And that's exactly what the city did,
but there's a little catch here.
Instead of offering a prayer,the city council decided
they were gonna offer a secular prayer.
And we're really notquite sure what that is,
because if you're notpraying to the Almighty,
who exactly are the citycouncil members now praying to?
- Interesting, the Freedomfrom Religion Foundation
just lost another casein the City of Pensacola
regarding a cross.
Why didn't city leadersin Wheeling stand up?
Any word on that?
- Well, in a lot of thesecases it's one of two things.
Number one, it could be a financial issue.
They don't have the money tofight this kind of a lawsuit.
Or number two, it couldjust be the sheer ignorance
of the law, because public prayer
at city council gatheringsis in fact a legal matter,
it is not unconstitutional.
And a lot of these local organizations,
or local city councilsrather, they may not be aware
of their rights under the law.
- Do you think theymight change their minds
and bring back the real prayer?
What are you thinking here?
- Well, I certainlyhope so, because again,
the law is on their side andthey really should consider
reaching out to groups likeAlliance Defending Freedom
or the American Centerfor Law and Justice.
These organizations existfor cases just like this.
Because let's be honest,if the invocation is going
to be secular, they don't have a prayer.
- (chuckling) Well, what should residents
and leaders do in cases like these?
Aren't there a lot of Christianconservative legal groups,
you mentioned a couple, who can help them?
What are some steps that people can take?
- That is the most importantthing is to understand
your rights under theUnited States Constitution.
And don't be bullied by organizations
like the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
They make a habit of targeting small towns
and communities simply because they know
in many of these cases these communities
do not have the financialresources to fight back.
And that's where a non-profit law firm
like the First LibertyInstitute, Liberty Council,
Alliance Defending Freedom,those organizations exist
for cases just like this.
My recommendation, whenreligious liberty comes
under attack in yourcommunity, get on the phone
and call one of those groups.
- All right, Todd Starnes, thanks so much
for bringing us this story.
- Thank you.
- [Efrem] Still ahead,what a new immigration ban
from the Trump Administrationmeans for people trying
to come to America legally.
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I'm Roberto Torres-Cedillo,
join me each week for Next Gen Voices
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But even better thanhaving to read all that,
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- The Trump Administrationhas just imposed
new immigration restrictionson six additional countries.
CBN's Gary Lane talked with a diplomat
with experience in embassiesin these difficult parts
about that decision.
- Dr. Farag served as a counselor officer
at several high-risk U.S. embassies.
He's author of the new book,"Pro-American Immigration,
"Common Ground in ourImmigration Strategy."
Dr. Farag, good to have youwith us all the way from Beirut.
So, why did the presidentadd more countries
to the so-called travel ban list?
- Well, Gary, it dependson who you talk to.
When you listen to the mainstream media,
it's simply a matter of racism, bigotry,
and separating families,but I don't believe that.
In my mind the travel ban is a tool used
by the United States governmentand other governments
for diplomatic purposes in order
to push political objectives.
Let's look at Syria, for example.
Syria has been ravagedby years of civil war
and different terrorist groups.
We find that the security posture in Syria
does not allow for theSyrians and the Americans
to have an exchange for securityor information purposes.
So it makes sense that there would be
a full travel ban in Syria.
If we look at Iran, situation'sa little bit different.
The relationship has also been quite shaky
for the past 40 years.
We've used different diplomatictools such as sanctions,
military strikes, but at the same time
the president has constantlyleft the door open
for a new Iran deal.
And I think it's not acoincidence that the doors opened
for students to getvisas to come to the U.S.
The last example is in Nigeria.
Nigeria is an ally of the United States.
It's one of our major trading partners.
But we also have an issue in Nigeria,
which is Boko Haram,another terrorist group.
There is a travel ban in Nigeria,
but it's only for immigrant visa.
- George, I've done a lotof international traveling
over the past 25 years, I'veoften heard from Christians
in places like Egypt,Pakistan, Syria, Iraq
that they have faced discrimination
in the visa application process,
that Muslims in thosecountries have been treated
much more favorably over the years
in gaining approval to enter the U.S.
Is that policy changing?
- Gary, I cannot say, it's a policy,
as a former counselorofficer, I can tell you
that the American counselor officer
does not discriminate based on religion.
So while folks may feel that way,
the reality in terms of theactual decision making process
by counselor officers at embassies,
we make decisions on casesbased on the merit of the case,
not based on the religionof the applicant.
- You can watch the fullinterview and much more
on this evening's GlobalLane at 9:30 Eastern,
and you can find that, ofcourse, on the CBN News Channel.
Coming up, it's your Thursdaythankful, stay with us.
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- Having sex before you'remarried is a bad idea.
- [Man] Don't tell me there'sno such thing as gun violence.
- That just depends on yourdefinition of when life begins.
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- [Announcer] Watch Dan andDale tackle trending topics
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♪ Where there's joy there's action ♪
♪ It's like a great attraction ♪
♪ That starts a chain reaction ♪
♪ But with almost satisfaction ♪
♪ I love the way this joy makes me move ♪
♪ I got the joy ♪
♪ I dance around because I know it ♪
♪ Joy ♪
♪ I move around because I got it ♪
♪ Joy ♪
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♪ Joy ♪
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♪ Joy ♪
♪ Joy's in the heart ♪
♪ Joy ♪
♪ Joy's in the heart ♪
♪ Joy ♪
- And welcome back to CBN Newswatch.
Time now for your Thursday thankful,
and I wanna leave you withthis prayer of gratitude.
Father, I thank you that thereis no mountain high enough
and no valley low enough to keep me
from your love, your grace and your mercy.
Your grace and mercy are, of course,
new every single morning.
With that prayer ofgratitude, I encourage you
to make today a thankful Thursday.
That will do it for thisedition of the CBN Newswatch.
You can find more of our news programs
on the CBN News Channel at any time.
You can also find themonline at CBNNews.com.
We'd love to know what you think
about the stories you've seen here today.
Feel free to email us, thataddress is there on your screen.
It's newswatch@cbn.com.
And, of course, you can always reach out
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We hope you'll join usagain right here next time.
Make it a great day, we'llsee you back here tomorrow.
Bye-bye, everybody.(dramatic music)
