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- Executive Producers:
- Sir Greybeard of the Moon Valley
- Sir Vegas Ray, Knight of Naked City
- The DiLoreto Sisters' Mom
- Swarthy, from the Desert.
- SIr Puhfunk of the Trolls
- Dude named Jay of the Portage Lakes
- Associate Executive Producers:
- Sir Charles of the Coin Operated Laundromat and Dame Courtney of the Impor-Unt Moun-Un
- Sir Bates Knight of the 19th hole
- Become a member of the 1366 Club, support the show here
- Title Changes
- Sir Robert Smiley -> Baron
- Knights & Dames
- James Meyer -> Dude named Jay of the Portage Lakes
- Mike Bruer - 35 on the 12th
- Raymond Berry -> Sir Vegas Ray, Knight of Naked City
- Mac Johnston -> Sir Greybeard of the Moon Valley
- Arne Carlsson -> Sir LionMediumRare of Possumtown
- Mrs Muellner-> Dame Zepher
- End of Show Mixes: Archimedes Johnson
- Engineering, Stream Management & Wizardry
- Mark van Dijk - Systems Master
- Ryan Bemrose - Program Director
- Clip Custodian: Neal Jones
- Pandemic of the Unvaccinated
- Supply Chains
- Supply Chain by the numbers
- Yantian port has created 765,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) backlog and 100% of capacity is booked. This means if you need to ship something, you have to pay to displace another shipper. Even if you have a firm shipping contract, continued disruptions make actual shipment schedule difficult to predict.
- Vessel rates have reached a level that smaller vessels (formerly $5,000 per day and now $60,000 per day) used in the Australia/India/China/ME routes are being transferred to China/Europe and China/US routes and vessel owners are demanding and getting 3-5 year charters. Cost per container up from $11-12,000 to $20-25,000 making low value bulk items (his example was cheap refrigerators) prohibitively expensive while low bulk, high value products such as fashion clothing can absorb higher rates.
- Lars noted some large retailers indicated they would absorb the higher costs, even at a loss, for competitive reasons and that shippers had serious credit concerns over smaller retailers due to the cost of inventory tie-up and higher shipping costs.
- Exports from US, especially low-value foodstuffs, have a more difficult time getting containers because the value of shipping from China is not worth tying it up to unload so containers are returning empty. US to China container rates are normally 25% of the rate from China to US but now only 5-7%.
- Container “shortage” is driven by slow supply chain issues. Normal Shanghai to Chicago container use is 35 days and now is 73 days causing a doubling of tied up containers and inventory for their customer. New manufactured containers (normally 200,000 per month but now 500,000 per month) compares to 40 million containers so it is not having a material impact and he expects a surplus of containers as things return to normal in 2022.
- Page 16 – expects earliest normalization is Q4 2021 but lists caveats including this is peak season that could complicate already stressed ports, more slowdowns for whatever reason, the normal Chinese New Year slowdown in January and 2022 US West Coast labor contract.
- South Africa
- South Africa and WWF
- To understand what's going on in South Africa –and why it's different from the CRT nonsense in America– you need to look at the history of intelligence networks and covert operations in Africa. A good point of entry to this clandestine world is this exposé on the the World Wildlife Fund. It explores the founding of the WWF, the people involved and how they use this NGO to support paramilitary operations that run destabilization campaigns all over Africa —to fight against groups who are trying to end the exploitation of their people and their nation's natural resources by powerful interest groups:
- "In 2019, BuzzFeed News broke several stories detailing human rights violations by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). The publication found that, since 2009, as part of its 'anti-poaching' efforts, the WWF has armed, trained, and funded paramilitary units, located in six different countries, that committed various abuses — torture, sexual assaults, and murder of local villagers. The non-government organization (NGO) was also found to have evicted tens of thousands of indigenous residents to make room for Chitwan National Park in Nepal.
- BuzzFeed portrayed these abuses as a dangerous — but fairly recent — side effect of the conservation movement’s increasingly militant war against well-armed poachers.
- The truth — barely touched upon by mainstream media — is much more insidious than that. The WWF serves a larger purpose: for powerful interests to cordon off land for the exploitation of natural resources. It may even serve as a cover for covert military operations.
- To unpack these loaded claims, the story of WWF’s militancy will be broken into two parts: the history of the organization’s founder and his involvement in clandestine activities, followed by its more recent alliance with corporate and military partners." ...
- Boots on the Ground- South Africa Riots
- My brother-in-law is from the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, the same province of former SA president, Jacob Zuma. His brother, mom, and grandmother still live in this province, along with extended family. I'm reporting this because it has not seemed to be widely covered by the M5M. And if they have covered it, they've covered the injustices of apartheid and inequality rather than focusing on the reason why Zuma got arrested.
- His family has been stuck in their house for 6 days. They live in a gated community, but don't have security surrounding the residential area. Neighbors have volunteered to watch the gate with guns to keep rioters out.
- People are not going to work because of the riots and killings, and they're afraid the water will soon turn off/run out. They have been keeping buckets of water in their house just in case. The grocery stores have either been looted or closed, and his family is running low food, as they go shopping for groceries frequently and do not stash food for long. Today, they waited in line at the one grocery store for 9 hours. This store was open for limited hours but only selling bread and milk because of limited supply and emergency shipments. His brother and mom didn't even get to the front of the line in time before the store closed. They will try again tomorrow and get there even earlier in hopes they can get food.
- My sister called me crying after talking with her brother-in-law. Their Uncle's auto shop was looted and destroyed. He said that he's scared for their safety and he feels like he's in the movie The Purge. I've attached a video below from CBS which does a decent job of what's going on, but lacks testimony from people that are terrified the gangs and rioters will enter their neighborhoods.
- Please send South Africa good karma/prayers at this time if you can, it would be much appreciated! ❤️
- Thailand
- Thailand starving
- Spoke to a friend who want to remain anonymous
- Thailand. You won’t see this anywhere, but there are mile long lines of people hitting up the temples for food and charity. Apparently massive food shortages in regions of Thailand. A lot of poverty since the tourism has turned to shit.
- Moreover, the delta, or as they call it, the “Indian virus” is reeking havoc with a 100 people a day dying with this version of the Chinese Bat AIDS. Last year, they were relatively unscathed, but this year it’s not been good.
- It’s really put a dent in things over there but it’s not being reported and my buddy could be jailed for passing the information on.
- The Purge
- Defense Attorney on 500 arrested and held
- Please keep my name anonymous but feel free to share the rest of this “boots on the ground” report on the show if you wish.
- I’m a criminal defense attorney in Northern Virginia and I’m representing a couple of the Capitol protestors, and also in communication with other defense attorneys who have Capitol protest clients. You mentioned the atrocity of these delayed trials, and I wanted to give you some context for how awful it really is.
- By statute (18 USC 3161), federal trials must commence within 100 days of arrest (30 days after arrest to indict, and 70 days after indictment to trial). We are WELL past this deadline. Some attorneys with clients who are not detained have agreed to short delays in their clients’ best interest, hoping for a better plea offer. Attorneys with detained clients objected, but the court still gave the government extensions of 30-60 days for them to produce discovery and make plea offers, before even thinking of setting a trial date. And now, trials are set for the end of this year and beginning of 2022.
- The government has consistently justified their delay by relying on 1) the massive amount of discovery they have to comb through and produce, which includes people’s Facebook accounts and surveillance video of everybody in the Capitol, 2) trying to figure out internally how they’re going to handle the cases, and 3) the sheer number of the cases. Over 500 people have been arrested so far just for these protest cases. In an average year, the DC Federal Court handles less than 300 cases, so they’ll have nearly triple that amount this year (500 protestors + 300 regular cases).
- Here’s an idea, why don’t they choose to NOT prosecute some of these cases?? The government continues to act like their hands are tied by the number of cases, as if they have no power to do anything about it. Which, of course, is false. They could decline to prosecute the lower-level trespassers (I’ve heard them called MAGA tourists), or offer them deferred prosecution agreements (dismissing the case after a period of probation). Yet, we’ve been told that NOBODY is getting offered a DPA, even though DPA’s were offered to rioters in Portland who actually tried to burn down a federal courthouse.
- This, of course, stinks to high heaven of political retaliation by the new administration against supporters of the old. Unfortunately, that is not a sufficient basis in the law for getting a case dismissed.
- Sorry for the long note, but I’m really passionate about my job, fighting against government overreach and fighting for individual liberty, so this situation really touches a nerve for me!
- Also, the clip from 1363 about the lego Capitol, where the reporter says “prosecutors rarely include unimportant info in charging documents” — thats bullshit. They do it all the time.
- Thank you for your courage,
- VIDEOS
- VIDEO - (42) Establishment Panics Over 'Freedom Phone', Media Creates Incredible Smear Pieces Against Its Creator - YouTube
- VIDEO - Facebook fact-checker suffers meltdown'... '' CITIZEN FREE PRESS
- The fact is they have people literally looking for this kind of stuff. Like a team of douchebags, combing the Internet looking for any little thing to try and stop the truth.
- Biden did say it, it's less important when.
- If someone threatened to murder someone, then did it, nobody would be worried about the exact date when the threat occurred, just that it preceeded murder.
- Christine Ford could claim Kavanagh was a cereal rapist, but couldn't remember anything else. Not one single detail, did they fact check her?
- This is grasping at straws. Kind of like burying the Hunter Biden laptop story.
- But as Duke said, ''This isn't a court of law!'' No, it's much better for leftists than a court of law, because they can lie without consequence. Court can be a dangerous place for liars'...
- VIDEO - VIDEO: Obama Regime's HHS Secretary: "If you don't choose to get vaccinated...you may not come to work" [VIDEO]
- ''If you don't choose to get vaccinated, you may not come to work'...'' '' Kathleen Sebelius, Obama crony
- Kathleen Sebelius, former Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Obama administration, has made some stunning remarks in regards to those who refuse to get the (authorized for emergency use only) Covid vaccines.
- Ms. Sebelius thinks that the time has come to let the unvaccinated know, that they're no longer allowed to work. That they dare not jeopardize her grandchildren, (surely they've all been vaccinated(?)) by exposing them and making them carriers.
- Talking to CNN, Sebelius said,
- ''We're in a situation where we have a wildly effective vaccine, multiple choices, lots available, free of charge, and we have folks who are just saying I won't do it. I think that it's time to say to those folks, it's fine if you don't choose to get vaccinated. You may not come to work. You may not have access to a situation where you're going to put my grandchildren in jeopardy. Where you might kill them, or you might put them in a situation where they're going to carry the virus to someone in a high-risk position.''
- If you are skeptical about their effectiveness, too bad!
- If you are fearful of their many dangerous side effects including death, get over it!
- If knowing you can still get Covid after getting the dangerous jab has turned you off, suck it up!
- Trending: Jet Blue Has Crossed The Line Allowing Male Flight Attendants To Wear Nylons, Heels, And Dresses
- Kooky Tik Tok commentary aside, watch as Kathleen Sebelius assumes command over Americans' lives, livelihood, and bodily autonomy. Basically saying, get in line, get the jab or exit society:
- I didn't. I won't. pic.twitter.com/iqdqcGDbQV
- '-- THOR the Deplorable ðºð¸ðºð¸ðºð¸ (@ThorDeplorable) July 16, 2021
- Breitbart has the 3-minute CNN segment.
- VIDEO - MSNBC's Ruhle Calls on Airlines to 'Pay the Government Back' by Mandating COVID Vaccines
- MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle said Wednesday on her show ''Stephanie Ruhle Reports'' that airline companies could ''pay the government back'' by mandating coronavirus vaccines.
- Ruhle said, ''COVID cases are back on the rise in 48 states, and this morning there's growing questions about the role businesses should be playing in enforcing rules about mask mandates and vaccinations. Remember, the U.S. government spent trillions of dollars in the last year supporting businesses, supporting individuals in our time of need. The question now is, where are these businesses now that the government needs their help?''
- CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin said, ''The only way to change the dynamic, especially in places where there is a hesitancy, is to have a requirement. If you can't walk into a Walmart or work at a Walmart without a vaccination, especially in states where there is a hesitancy, that's going to actually change the dynamic. If you can't get on an airplane without a vaccination, that is going to change the dynamic. The airlines took an enormous amount of taxpayer money, an enormous amount of taxpayers' money. We have all supported them, and there has been very little support on the other side.''
- Ruhle said, ''Thank you for saying it. It is important to say out loud.''
- Former Biden administration senior COVID adviser Andy Slavitt said, ''United Airlines wanted to do that, and they faced a ton of opposition, and they were alone, and they had to ultimately back off. So they are dealing with the same forces that everyone else is dealing with, customers, employers, et cetera. We've got to get everybody in the country. We've got to continue to make the case because employers are running into the same wall, too.''
- Ruhle said, ''They have to deal with customers. They have to deal with employees. They wouldn't have either one if the government hadn't given them billions and billions of dollars last year. So maybe they could pay the government back and say, yes, we're going to help try to get people vaccinated. For those who are vaccine-hesitant, don't just talk to your doctor, call Donald Trump's doctor, call Rupert Murdoch's doctor. You don't need to watch their news organizations. You know what their doctors will tell you? Those men got vaccinated.''
- Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
- VIDEO - White House doubles down on its harsh criticism of Facebook following Biden's 'killing' remarks | Fox News
- Biden on Friday accused Facebook of 'killing people' by way of coronavirus misinformationThe White House isn't backing down from its harsh criticism of Facebook after President Biden on Friday accused the social media giant of "killing people" with misinformation about coronavirus vaccinations.
- A Biden administration source revealed to Fox News on Saturday that the very public callout of Facebook followed months of frustration with the platform for failing to stamp out "dangerous" information about the vaccinations that have spread online.
- The White House has been seeking help from Facebook and other social media sites since February on stopping misinformation from going viral, such as the myth that getting the shot will cause infertility.
- FACEBOOK ISSUES HARSH RESPONSE TO BIDEN ACCUSATION THAT PLATFORM IS 'KILLING PEOPLE'
- While Facebook has made positive public statements on how they've partnered with the government and taken aggressive action to curb vaccine misinformation, the White House believes that the Big Tech company has fallen short.
- "They've been withholding information on what the rules are, what they have put in place to prevent dangerous misinformation from spreading [and] how they measure whether it's working," a Biden administration official told Fox News.
- The tensions reached a boiling point amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, vaccine hesitancy among young people and polls showing the majority of unvaccinated people believe myths about the vaccine.
- HOUSE LAWMAKERS FORM NEW CAUCUS TO REIN IN BIG TECH
- As coronavirus cases are on the rise and vaccination rates have slowed in the United States, the White House launched this week an effort to crack down on misinformation, starting with a warning from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Thursday that bogus information about coronavirus is an "urgent threat" to public health.
- The Surgeon General's office issued a new report titled, "Confronting Health Misinformation," that makes recommendations for social media platforms to "impose clear consequences for accounts that repeatedly violate platform policies."
- White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also announced Thursday that the Biden administration has been "flagging" content for Facebook to remove.
- CRITICS SLAM BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S REPORTED PLAN TO MONITOR VACCINE MISINFORMATION IN TEXT MESSAGES
- "We're flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. We're working with doctors and medical experts'...who are popular with their audience with accurate information," she said. "So, we're helping get trusted content out there."
- Biden took the effort one step further Friday by claiming inaction by Facebook and other platforms to take down false information is costing people their lives to a preventable illness.
- "The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they're killing people," Biden said.
- The White House comments drew a quick rebuke from Facebook.
- "The White House is looking for scapegoats for missing their vaccine goals," a Facebook spokesperson told NBC's Dylan Beyers.
- And while the White House is having a public spat with the Big Tech giant, some Republicans and critics are accusing the White House of being too cozy with Facebook in their efforts to take down posts they deem as problematic.
- "Democrats are all about the First Amendment except when they don't like what's being said," Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, told Fox News Saturday. Gooden just recently formed a House caucus aimed at reining in Big Tech.
- CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
- "Normalizing government collusion with Big Tech to censor anything they deem to be misinformation actually puts our First Amendment rights in jeopardy," said Gooden.
- Fox News' Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
- VIDEO - Gideon van Meijeren (FvD) betrapt Mark Rutte op leugen over boek Klaus Schwab 'The Great Reset' - YouTube
- VIDEO - French protests call for 'freedom' amid government vaccine push | Reuters
- PARIS, July 17 (Reuters) - More than a hundred thousand people marched across France on Saturday to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to force vaccination of health workers and require a COVID-19 free certificate to enter places such as restaurants and cinemas.
- Macron this week announced sweeping measures to fight a rapid surge in coronavirus infections, which protesters say infringe the freedom of choice of those who do not want the vaccination.
- The interior ministry said 137 marches took place across the country, gathering nearly 114,000 people, of which 18,000 were in Paris.
- The measures had already prompted smaller demonstrations earlier this week, forcing police to use tear gas to disperse protesters.
- "Everyone is sovereign in his own body. In no way does a president of the Republic have the right to decide on my individual health," said one protester in Paris who identified herself as Chrystelle.
- Marches also included "yellow vest" protesters seeking to revive the anti-government movement curbed by coronavirus lockdowns.
- Visiting a centre in Anglet in southwestern France, Prime Minister Jean Castex said vaccination, which is not mandatory for the general public for now, is the only way to fight the virus.
- Florian Philippot, President of French political party Les Patriotes, and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, head of French political party Debout La France (DLF) attend a protest against the new measures announced by French President Emmanuel Macron to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Paris, France, July 17, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
- "I hear the reluctance that arises but I think that we must at all costs convince all our fellow citizens to be vaccinated, it is the best way to cope to this health crisis," Castex said.
- Despite the strength of the protests, an Ipsos-Sopra Steria poll released on Friday found more than 60% of French people agree with mandatory vaccination for health workers, as well as a requirement for a health pass in some public places.
- Fast-spreading variants of the virus risk undermining economic recovery if allowed to spiral out of control, forcing some governments to rethink their COVID-19 strategies just as citizens start their summer holidays.
- Earlier on Saturday Castex's office said France would reinforce restrictions on unvaccinated travellers from a series of countries to counter a rebound in COVID-19 infections, while opening its doors to those who have received all their shots.
- "The Delta variant is here, we must not hide the truth, it is more contagious than the previous ones. We must adapt and face it", Castex told reporters in southwestern France, referring to the variant first identified in India.
- After falling from more than 42,000 per day in mid-April to less than 2,000 per day in late June, the average number of new infections in France has rebounded to reach nearly 11,000 per day.
- Some 55.5% of the French had had a single dose of a vaccine as of Saturday and 44.8% were fully inoculated.
- Reporting by Antone Paone, Sybille de La Hamaide and Gwenaelle Barzic, Editing by David Holmes and Louise Heavens
- Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
- VIDEO - Better than Crypto? Why central banks are racing to launch digital currencies | Business Beyond - YouTube
- VIDEO - What's really happening in South Africa? - YouTube
- VIDEO - IN FULL: NSW records 97 new cases of COVID-19 | ABC News - YouTube
- VIDEO - Coronavirus: Concerns after severe allergic reactions from vaccine | 9 News Australia - YouTube
- VIDEO - AstraZeneca vaccine cancellations soar | Coronavirus | 9 News Australia - YouTube
- VIDEO - (38) COVID-19: The real side effects of coronavirus vaccines | 7NEWS - YouTube
- VIDEO - (38) Latest research on vaccine side effects, immune reaction and thrombosis risks | COVID-19 Special - YouTube
- VIDEO - UT-Austin releases new report on February winter storm blackouts, as death toll rises over 200 - YouTube
- VIDEO - (37) WATCH CLIP: "Let them die!" says Fairfax NAACP, PTA official about people with opposing views - YouTube
- VIDEO - 2 Bay Area men charged with conspiracy to attack Sacramento's Democratic Headquarters | KRON4
- NAPA, Calif. (KRON) '-- Two Bay Area men have been charged with conspiracy to attack the Democratic Headquarters in Sacramento, according to a release from the Department of Justice.
- The federal court in San Francisco on Thursday charged the men with conspiracy to destroy a building affecting interstate commerce and related crimes.
- According to court documents, Ian Rogers, 45, of Napa, and Jarrod Copeland, 37, of Vallejo, began planning to attack Democrats after the 2020 presidential election. They also sought support from an anti-government militia group.
- Rogers and Copeland planned to use incendiary devices to attack their targets, according to the indictment and hoped their attacks would prompt a movement.
- ''Firebombing your perceived political opponents is illegal and does not nurture the sort of open and vigorous debate that created and supports our constitutional democracy,'' said U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds. ''The allegations in the indictment describe despicable conduct. Investigation and prosecution of those who choose violence over discussion is as important as anything else we do to protect our free society.''
- ''The FBI's highest priority has remained preventing terrorist attacks before they occur, including homegrown plots from domestic violent extremists,'' said Special Agent in Charge Craig Fair. ''As described in the indictment, Ian Rogers and Jarrod Copeland planned an attack using incendiary devices. The FBI and the Napa County Sheriff's Office have worked hand-in-hand to uncover this conspiracy and to prevent any loss of life.''
- Copeland and Rogers used multiple messaging applications and discussed the attacks several times, the indictment describes.
- In January of 2021, Rogers told Copeland ''I want to blow up a democratic building bad'', and Copeland responded ''I agree'' and ''plan attack''.
- The two agreed to start with the Democratic Headquarters in Sacramento and to ''see what happens''. In one exchange, Rogers wrote to Copeland, ''after the 20th we go to war,'' referring to after the inauguration on January 20, 2021.
- Four days later, on Jan. 15, law enforcement officers searched Roger's home and business and seized a cache of weapons from Roger's home, including 45 to 50 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and five pipe bombs.
- Copeland allegedly also tried to destroy evidence of their big plan after Roger's arrest, and a leader of a militia group told him to switch to a new communications platform and delete everything he had.
- In November of 2020, Rogers allegedly used encrypted messaging applications to tell Copeland that he would ''hit the enemy in the mouth'' by using Molotov cocktails and gasoline to attack targets associated with Democrats, including the governor's mansion and the Democratic Headquarters building in Sacramento.
- Rogers and Copeland are both charged with conspiracy to destroy by fire or explosive a building used or in affecting interstate commerce.
- Rogers is charged with additional weapons violations, including one count of possession of unregistered destructive devices, and three counts of possession of machine guns.
- Copeland is charged with an additional count of destruction of records.
- If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, a three-year term of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy charge.
- In addition, Rogers faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for the weapons charge and Copeland faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the destruction of evidence charge.
- A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
- Rogers also faces numerous state charges arising out of his possession of the pipe bombs and machine guns, and his possession of assault rifles prohibited under California law, and is being prosecuted for those offenses by the Napa County District Attorney's Office.
- Rogers has remained in state custody since his arrest on January 15, 2021. Copeland was arrested Wednesday morning and made an initial federal court appearance this morning in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
- Copeland will appear next on July 20, 2021, for a detention hearing. Rogers will appear next on July 30, 2021, for a status conference.
- VIDEO - DR DAVID MARTIN: "WHO WROTE THE SCRIPT?"
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- First published at 02:17 UTC on July 15th, 2021.
- Dr. David Martin Interviewed by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich
- Dr. David Martin Interviewed by Dr. Reiner Fuellmich
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- VIDEO - Anti-Christian Hysteria Is Causing Church Burning. People Might Be Next
- St. Ann's Catholic Church was a small church built to serve a small town, but that humble building was a mighty testament to the people who built and nourished it.
- The people of Chuchuwayha Indian Reserve Number Two traveled more than 40 miles, each way, by horse and wagon, to pick up the lumber they used to build their small church, by hand, outside the town of Hedley, British Columbia. That church stood for more than a century, providing spiritual nourishment to its small congregation at the far-flung edge of the world.
- But now, St. Ann's is gone. On June 26, it burned until nothing was left but a smoldering pile of ash. It wasn't lightning or a tragic accident. It was arson '-- and it wasn't an isolated incident.
- All over Canada, churches are going up in flames. On the same day 25 miles south, Our Lady of Lourdes parish was burned to the ground as well. The week before that, St. Gregory's Church near Osoyoos was destroyed. So was Sacred Heart near Penticton.
- All three were also more than a century old, historic, beautiful houses of worship, destroyed in a day out of hatred. Sacred Heart parishioners gathered to watch their doomed church burn. When the church bell finally fell to the ground with a single gong, some of them sobbed.
- St. Jean Baptiste in Morinville, Alberta was burned to the ground. Another arson. At Holy Rosary church in Edmonton, a statue of St. John Paul II was vandalized with red paint.
- All these are Catholic, but they aren't the only ones being targeted. In Calgary, 10 churches of various denominations were vandalized in a single night. A few days later, a Vietnamese church was set on fire '-- just hours after it held its first full service in more than a year.
- Overall more than two dozen churches in Canada have been targeted over the past few weeks '-- and people are cheering it on. Not just anonymous people, either: On June 30, Harsha Walia, the executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, responded to a story of another church arson, saying ''Burn it all down.''
- Others rallied to her defense. Naomi Sayers, a lawyer and blue Twitter checkmark, said ''I would help her burn it all down '... and also, I would help anyone charged with arson if they actually did burn things.''
- What's going on? You might have heard a little bit about it. From the 1870s up through the 1990s, the Canadian government funded institutions called residential schools. We had similar institutions here in the United States. These were boarding schools created to educate American Indian children, and the explicit goal was to assimilate them to European ways.
- Today, we can understand where these schools went astray. They took children away from their parents and communities. Without family to look out for them, some children were exposed to physical or sexual abuse. Thanks to insufficient government funding, schools were often overcrowded and students were underfed, making the schools unhealthy.
- But an honest discussion of that tragedy is not what some people want: What they want to see is genocide, because then they can hate '-- and feel justified for doing so.
- ''Let's call this for what it is,'' Chief Jason Louie, a tribal chief of the Lower Kootenay Band, told the Canadian Broadcasting Channel. ''It's a mass murder of indigenous people. The Nazis were held accountable for their war crimes. I see no difference in locating the priests and nuns and the brothers who are responsible for this mass murder to be held accountable for their part in this attempt of genocide of an indigenous people.''
- The vast majority of the priests, nuns, and ministers who built these schools and ran them for a century did so with noble and self-sacrificing intent. Now, they are smeared like they were running death camp experiments, and this ridiculous narrative has been deliberately egged on by the press and even the government.
- ''Officers are investigating vandalism at 10 churches,'' the Calgary Police tweeted. ''We must never forget residential schools are a part of our legacy that destroyed the lives of so many Indigenous families. But vandalism like this only creates further division, fear and destruction.''
- If you've never heard the Ku Klux Klan's heinous church-burning campaign described as ''vandalism,'' that's because it would be heartless to do so. In Canada, it seems, neither honesty nor decency extends to Christians. And don't forget '-- the Christians brought this on themselves.
- While Alberta Premier Jason Kenney decried the arsons as ''as attack on Canadian values'' and ''cowardly,'' and pledged money to protect Christians, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a different tack.
- ''I can't help but think,'' Trudeau mused, ''that burning down churches is actually depriving people who are in need of grieving and healing and mourning from places where they can grieve and reflect and look for support.''
- ''I can't help but think,'' he might well have said instead, ''that burning down churches is bad. Sorry guys, the problem isn't you '-- it's me.''
- Even as churches burn down around him, Trudeau is singling out not the arsonists, but Pope Francis. He's demanding that the pope travel to Canada to deliver an apology for the residential school system.
- It didn't matter to Trudeau that it was a school system created not by the church, but by Canada's government '-- and that he had promised to take care of the cemeteries five years ago. Nor did it matter that Pope Benedict XVI had hosted a delegation of First Nations Indians at the Vatican seven years before that, where he apologized for the church's role in the government's plan. Or that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had apologized 10 months before then, nor even that the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate had beat them all to it by nearly 20 years.
- But we're in the midst of a full-blown moral frenzy. Even before reading long publicly available apologies and reports, an ounce of sense or credulity should have cast doubt on the sudden hysteria based on the notion that Catholic priests moved to the far-flung wilderness, fed, taught, clothed, and catechized Indian children, and then, for no reason, took the children aside and murdered them.
- Consider, for instance, the ''discovery'' of 182 unmarked graves near St. Eugene's Mission School outside Cranbrook. These unmarked graves aren't hidden '-- they're literally in a cemetery '-- and they're not a mass grave, but individualized. They haven't even found out if the graves contain children or adults; the cemetery was simply used by the entire community. The reason the graves are ''unmarked'' is that the wooden crosses used to mark them and the fence that kept them safe decayed. In other words, people have found that an old cemetery contained bodies.
- It's the same story at the Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, where 751 graves were found. According to Chief Cadmus Delorme, these were all individual graves, they probably once had markers, and the cemetery almost certainly includes adults who lived in the area as well. But for those who would hate the church regardless, small-town cemeteries in impoverished rural areas are warped into mass graves.
- All of this was carefully detailed in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report released six years ago. So what's the real story of the residential schools? No matter what, it's not a fun one. Canadian government policy at the time was clear: The goal was to assimilate the First Nations into the rest of Canadian society. That meant training them in agriculture and Western trades. It meant dressing them in Western clothing and teaching them English.
- When European settlers arrived in modern British Columbia, the tribes who lived there still practiced chattel slavery '-- something their woke champions might be surprised to learn. Sometimes, at their potlatch gatherings, great chiefs murdered slaves to show their wealth. In at least a handful of places, ritual cannibalism was an occasional practice.
- The above does not justify what the Canadian government did, but it explains their thinking. They were faced with primitive and alien societies, some of which still followed horrifying practices. More than once, European settlers of the Americas handled tribes by practically exterminating them. In Canada, their solution was to assimilate them.
- Once in place, the churches agreed to take the children for the government and educate them. That was a common role of clergy, especially on the frontiers. According to the Truth and Reconciliation report, the government refused to pay for children who died to be transported back to their parents, despite requests from the churches, and so they were buried there.
- The government also refused to pay for headstones, so with limited resources, the churches erected wooden markers and fencing. Those, as those above, eventually rotted, or in some cases were lost in fires.
- When the schools closed, the departing clergy asked the government to please care for the cemeteries so they didn't fall victim to the weather and the cattle and everything else that degrades cemeteries, but while acknowledging the need, they didn't do it. Nor did Trudeau ever make good on the promise he made to care for them after the report's release.
- Everything about that is horrible, even if it seems bungling-if-well-intentioned stupidity and negligence are more to blame than darkest evil. Overall, an estimated 150,000 First Nations children passed through residential schools. About 3,200 of them died, a little more than 2 percent.
- That's ''died,'' not ''were murdered'': The first of these schools opened in 1867 and they peaked prior to the Second World War, a time before antibiotics, and according to the report the main cause of death was tuberculosis. Behind that, there was influenza, yellow fever, and typhoid '-- the same diseases that were plaguing and killing children all across Canada.
- But because of poor medical care and poor and crowded living conditions '-- all caused by extremely limited church resources and a government unwilling to help them in the job they'd assigned '-- First Nations children died at a rate of two to four times that of their peers who weren't in these schools.
- There's no getting around that sad history, but history is not what this is about. The terrorists don't care about it, and the government doesn't want to talk about it either. They have literally found a cemetery, said there are bodies in it, and decided ''genocide.'' There were no Nazi death camps '-- these are once-marked victims of a government education system and the harsh realities of disease.
- And where is the government anyways? Where are the ''Hug A Catholic'' posters or the ''Hate Is Not Welcome Here'' stickers? Where are the TV ads and the speeches calling out and condemning these barbarous attacks on the innocent faithful?
- Anti-Christian terrorists have turned their rage on poor First Nation and Canadian communities, accused us all of blood debt, and decided that they will burn our sacred buildings to the ground. It's explicit, and the government responsible for both the program then, and defense of its citizens now, largely watches on.
- Over the past few years, across the West anti-Christian rhetoric has been tolerated, spread, and spoken in the highest stations of power. Emboldened, anti-Christian hate crimes rose across Europe and the United States, from Boston to San Francisco, and from Youngstown to El Paso. Now, even when a widespread campaign burns churches to the ground in Canada over conspiracies, exaggerations, and slanders, too many of our leaders stand idly by murmuring awkward nothings.
- Can there be any doubt people will come next? If you don't believe in the devil, you should.
- Editor's Note: An earlier version of this post misidentified Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.
- Copyright (C) 2021 The Federalist, a wholly independent division of FDRLST Media, All Rights Reserved.
- VIDEO - (37) Why Is Nobody Talking About This? - YouTube
- VIDEO - Covid-19 pandemic 'is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,' CDC director says - CNN
- (CNN)With Covid-19 cases rising in all 50 states, health officials say it's clear that unvaccinated people are both driving the increase in cases and are most at risk.
- "This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated," US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during Friday's White House Covid-19 briefing.
- "We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk," Walensky said. Meantime, "communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well."
- According to White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients, just four states made up 40% of Covid-19 cases in the past week, "with one in five cases occurring in Florida alone."
- But cases are rising in all 50 states and Washington, DC, with the average of new cases at least 10% higher than a week ago -- and 38 states are seeing at least a 50% increase, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.
- The US recorded an average of 26,448 new cases per day over the last week -- up 67% from the week before -- and case rates are highest in states with lower vaccination rates: Among those states that have fully vaccinated less than half its residents, the average Covid-19 case rate was 11 new cases per 100,000 people last week, compared to 4 per 100,000 among states that have fully vaccinated more than half its residents.
- Many experts have attributed the rise to slowing vaccination rates with just 48.4% of the US population fully vaccinated,
- "Our biggest concern is that we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations and, sadly, deaths among the unvaccinated," Walensky said.
- The danger is fueled by the growing prevalence of the Delta variant, first identified in India. Pointing to an "extraordinary surge" of the variant worldwide, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Delta variant now has more than 50% dominance in the US. In some areas, it's greater than 70%, he said, calling this "sobering news."
- "The bottom line is we are dealing with a formidable opponent in the Delta variant," Fauci said, adding people who are not vaccinated face "extreme vulnerability."
- In Arkansas, where only 35.1% of the population is fully vaccinated, the Delta variant has had a big impact, Chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Cam Patterson said, adding hospitals are "full right now and cases are doubling every 10 days." And emergency response services in the state say there are receiving a record number of calls due to the rise in the virus, according to
- CNN affiliate KATV."The good news is that if you are fully vaccinated, you are protected against severe Covid, hospitalization and death," Walensky said Friday, "and are even protected against the known variants, including the Delta variant."
- "If you are not vaccinated," she added, "you remain at risk."
- Experts underscore importance of being fully vaccinated
- In response to climbing case numbers, some jurisdictions are opting to reinstate mask guidelines.
- Los Angeles County -- the nation's largest county with a population of 10 million people -- has responded to a surge in cases and hospitalizations by reinstating a mask mandate beginning Saturday. Health officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are similarly recommending people wear face coverings in indoor public places, regardless of vaccination status.
- The Southern Nevada Health District, which serves Las Vegas, is also recommending masks for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, saying masks have been proven effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. But vaccinations remain the "most important and effective step people can take to protect themselves and others from Coivd-19," the health district said.
- Echoing Walensky's comments, Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccinologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said this was also a "pandemic of the partially vaccinated."
- "If these trends continue ... anyone who is unvaccinated -- or possibly even just gotten a single dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine -- there's a good likelihood they're going to get infected," Hotez said.
- Health officials recommend that people who get their first dose of a vaccine get their second dose three or four weeks later, depending on whether they received the vaccine by Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna. Johnson & Johnson's vaccine requires just a single dose.
- But falling behind schedule shouldn't stop people from getting their second dose, Walensky said Friday.
- "If you are beyond that window, I want to reiterate: There is no bad time to get your second shot," Walensky said Friday.
- Both vaccines exceed 90% effectiveness against severe disease, hospitalization and deaths in real-world studies, she said. But those who are only partially vaccinated still face a risk of illness.
- "Do it for yourself, your family and for your community," Walensky said. "And please, do it for your young children who right now can't get vaccinated themselves."
- Vaccine misinformation costing lives
- Meanwhile, key reasons for the hesitancy around Covid-19 vaccines are mistrust and misinformation, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey.
- Nearly half of people who said they will "definitely" or "probably" not get a Covid-19 vaccine cited mistrust in the vaccines as a reason for not getting vaccinated, according to the latest data, published Wednesday and based on survey responses from June 23 to July 5. That's an increase from about a month ago, when 46% of people who said they did not plan to be vaccinated gave the same reason.
- "Millions of people don't have access to accurate information right now, because on social media platforms and other tech platforms we're seeing the rampant spread of misinformation, and it's costing people their lives," US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Jake Tapper.
- Much of that information frequently comes out of people with good intent, he added, saying that they think they are spreading helpful information, but that often misinformation spreads more quickly than accurate information.
- US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra agreed, telling CNN's Poppy Harlow, "People are being told things that aren't true, and they're becoming more hesitant."
- "But fortunately, there are people who are seeing the facts," he said. "They're seeing a loved one, unfortunately, get hospitalized, maybe die. And they're changing their minds."
- One of the best ways to combat the misinformation, Murthy said, is to have conversations with your friends and family.
- "It's about peers talking to peers," Murthy said during a Stanford University panel event on Thursday. "Remember, all of these conversations first start with listening... so try to understand where somebody is coming from, why they may be worried. It may not always be what you think."
- Colleges and universities requiring vaccinations
- Some businesses and hospitals have already required their employees to be vaccinated, and now some universities are implementing requirements as well.
- Rhode Island has become the first state where all public and private colleges and universities require their students to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus this fall, Governor Dan McKee announced this week.
- Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, Rhode Island's director of health, said in a news release vaccinations are "key" to having a successful academic year, and the Delta variant was "circulating in parts of the country where many of our students live."
- The University of California, the nation's largest public university system, plans to mandate all students, faculty and staff be fully vaccinated before returning to campuses in the fall. Those who are not exempt from receiving the vaccine will be barred from in-person classes, activities and housing, UC officials announced Thursday.
- The Association of American Medical Colleges Friday also urged its member institutions to require vaccinations for employees to protect patients and health care personnel. President Dr. David Sorkin acknowledged the "sensitive nature" of the recommendation, saying AAMC understood such requirements would be subject to state laws.
- Such mandates for employees could become easier for private companies as the vaccine approval process move further along. Each vaccine available in the US has been authorized for emergency use. But the companies are still working toward full US Food and Drug Administration approval.
- Pfizer and BioNTech said Friday their application for full approval of their vaccine was
- granted priority review by the FDA, and an FDA official told CNN a decision on full approval is likely to come within two months.
- Full approval will "clear up any legal questions that private employers may have," former US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday. Employers, schools and universities, she said, should "get more serious" about telling people that choosing to not get vaccinated could mean losing access to places that could put others at risk.
- "I think that it's time to say to those folks, 'It's fine if you don't choose to get vaccinated, (but) you may not come to work.'"
- CNN's Gregory Lemos, Carma Hassan, Naomi Thomas, Lauren Mascarenhas, Jacqueline Howard, Deidre McPhillips, Virginia Langmaid and Sarah Braner contributed to this report.
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- VIDEO - (15) Jackie on Twitter: "They are in full panic mode! You know where this is going! https://t.co/sOsGJs2uwk" / Twitter
- Jackie : They are in full panic mode! You know where this is going! https://t.co/sOsGJs2uwk
- Fri Jul 16 16:17:40 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - (37) The Currency of Currency - Directed by Spike Lee - YouTube
- VIDEO - CDC Director starts Pandemic of the Unvaccinated
- by: Rodney Overton , Nexstar Media Wire
- Jul 16, 2021 / 05:01 PM EDT / Updated:
- Jul 16, 2021 / 05:01 PM EDT***In the video above the head of the CDC talks about the uptick in cases of COVID in the United States***
- ATLANTA (WNCN) '' Texas and federal officials have confirmed a case of ''human monkeypox'' in a U.S. resident who recently traveled from Nigeria to the United States, the CDC said in a news release Friday.
- The case was confirmed Thursday and the infected person is in a hospital in Dallas, the news release said.
- ''Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that typically begins with flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes and progresses to a widespread rash on the face and body,'' the news release said.
- Federal officials, along with the airline, are trying to contact passengers who were on two flights with the infected person '' from Lagos to Atlanta on July 8, with arrival on July 9, and from Atlanta to Dallas on July 9, the news release said.
- ''Travelers on these flights were required to wear masks as well as in the U.S. airports due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it's believed the risk of spread of monkeypox via respiratory droplets to others on the planes and in the airports is low,'' the news release said.
- Monkeypox, an infection that lasts two to four weeks, is in the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes a milder infection, the CDC's news release said.
- In this case, laboratory testing at CDC showed the patient is infected with a strain of monkeypox most commonly seen in parts of West Africa, including Nigeria.
- VIDEO - (12) Tony on Twitter: "A vaccinated Foo Fighter tests positive for covid, the concert that unvaxxed were banned from gets cancelled https://t.co/Tl95p3Uhd3" / Twitter
- Tony : A vaccinated Foo Fighter tests positive for covid, the concert that unvaxxed were banned from gets cancelled https://t.co/Tl95p3Uhd3
- Sat Jul 17 05:57:53 +0000 2021
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- VIDEO - Canadese arts slaat alarm: 62% gevaccineerde patinten heeft bloedstolsels, het ergste moet nog komen
- Er is de afgelopen maanden al veel geschreven over mensen die na hun coronavaccinatie last krijgen van bloedstolsels. Volgens de media en de toezichthouders zijn dit 'zeer zeldzame bijwerkingen'.
- In de meeste gevallen gaat het om stolsels die te zien zijn op een CT-scan. Er zijn echter ook microscopische bloedstolsels die niet op een CT-scan verschijnen, waarschuwde de Canadese arts Charles Hoffe in gesprek met Laura Lynn Thompson.
- Hij heeft zijn patinten aan een zogeheten D-dimeertest onderworpen, een test die laat zien of ze onlangs bloedstolsels hebben gehad. Hoffe test alleen mensen die minder dan een week daarvoor een coronavaccin hebben gekregen.
- Dit betekent dat bloedproppen niet zeldzaam zijnBij 62 procent van zijn patinten ontdekte hij bewijzen voor stolselvorming. ''Dit betekent dat bloedproppen niet zeldzaam zijn,'' benadrukte Hoffe. ''Het betekent dat de meerderheid van de mensen bloedproppen krijgt.''
- ''Het meest verontrustende is dat sommige delen van je lichaam '' zoals je hart, je brein, je ruggenmerg en je longen '' permanent beschadigd raken als ze worden beschadigd door verstopte bloedvaten,'' waarschuwde de arts.
- Binnen drie jaar overledenHij heeft zes patinten die als gevolg van bloedstolsels in de longen veel sneller buiten adem zijn dan normaal. Het gevolg is dat het hart meer moeite moet doen om het bloed door de longen te pompen omdat een deel van de bloedvaten verstopt is. Dat leidt tot een aandoening die bekendstaat als pulmonale arterile hypertensie, waarbij de kleine longslagaders vernauwd zijn.
- ''Het angstaanjagende is dat mensen met pulmonale arterile hypertensie meestal binnen drie jaar overlijden aan rechtszijdig hartfalen,'' zei arts Hoffe.
- ''De [coronavaccins] veroorzaken permanente schade en het ergste moet nog komen.''
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- VIDEO - British health secretary Javid tests positive for Covid-19, says he's glad he was vaccinated '-- RT UK News
- UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid is self-isolating at home with his family after a lateral flow test for Covid-19 came back positive. He said he was grateful he had received two jabs of the vaccine and that his symptoms were mild.
- The news came from the health secretary himself in a video statement which he tweeted out on Saturday. Javid, who took office three weeks ago after the ignominious resignation of Matt Hancock over a scandal involving his female aide, said he decided to take a test after feeling ''groggy'' on Friday. He is now waiting for a PCR test result to confirm his suspected infection.
- This morning I tested positive for Covid. I'm waiting for my PCR result, but thankfully I have had my jabs and symptoms are mild.Please make sure you come forward for your vaccine if you haven't already. pic.twitter.com/NJYMg2VGzT
- '-- Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) July 17, 2021''I am grateful that I've had two jabs of the vaccine, and so far symptoms are very mild,'' the secretary said, adding that he wanted to use the opportunity to hail Britain's national vaccination campaign.
- Javid was vaccinated in May, when he was a backbencher MP, using the domestically developed Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, he reported at the time.
- The UK has vaccinated two-thirds of its adult population, but it has not yet authorized the vaccination of children.
- No vaccines against Covid-19 claim 100% efficacy. However, manufacturers, together with medical experts, suggest that getting a jab significantly reduces one's chances of hospitalisation or a lethal outcome from the virus.
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- VIDEO - Australians told to rename shark attacks as 'negative encounters' - YouTube
- VIDEO - Lara Logan: South Africa's unrest 'eerily similar' to racial tensions in US | Fox News
- As mass chaos, looting, resource shortages and mounting racial tensions grip South Africa, but go largely uncovered in United States media, Fox Nation host Lara Logan '' a native of South Africa '' explained the dangerous conditions terrorizing the people of that country, and how the undertones of the strife have several parallels to what is happening in the United States under its current far-left shift.
- On "The Ingraham Angle", host Laura Ingraham played clips of destructive rioting, looting and general unrest in places like Pietermaritzburg, KZN, as political factions clash. The unrest stems from the incarceration of former President Jacob Zuma on charges of contempt, along with backlash to the devastating economic recession caused by draconian lockdowns during the pandemic.
- CHAOS SPREADS IN SOUTH AFRICA AS AUTHORITIES STRUGGLE TO CONTAIN LOOTING, VIOLENCE
- "Zuma's supporters believe he is a victim of a political witch hunt and saw him as a man of the people -- a populist -- particularly in rural communities. Does that sound like anyone you know, minus the prison sentence?" Ingraham asked, in an apparent reference to Donald Trump and his supporters.
- Zuma '' who resigned in 2018 and was succeeded by incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa '' was recently sentenced to 15 months in prison.
- Logan told Ingraham that people she knows in South Africa have been shocked by how fast tensions and unrest escalated following Zuma's imprisonment.
- She said a major epicenter of the violence and shortages is in KwaZulu-Natal -- which is both Zuma's and Logan's home state '' particularly in the city of Durban.
- "I have been speaking to people there: food is running low, this has been going on for five days, and the stores are burning down, there is no milk, no bread, and people are not allowed to have any fuel for their cars, so this is a particularly distressing situation for many, many people," she continued.
- "With so many killed at this point, people are asking, where is the police, where is the Army?"
- Logan added that as the government deploys more troops throughout the country, civilians are collectively concerned about a racial element being introduced into the strife.
- "What you start to see is some of the echoes of critical race theory and the woke agenda that have proliferated all over the world," she said.
- "We are paying the price now for Big Tech and Facebook and all these people who are able to really set the agenda in any country that they want, and where people can spread this message and spread this divisive politics. And South Africa is no exception."
- Logan said President Obama's ambassador to South Africa, Patrick Gaspard, allegedly fanned such tensions. Gaspard later became the president of left-wing billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundation, Logan said.
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- "But when he was in South Africa, he was very vocal about reparations," she said. "He was one of the people who was pushing and encouraging publicly for the South African government to take land away from White people, particularly White farmers."
- She said that the attacks on White farmers have in one respect left a hole in the food and commodity supply chain, which some have blamed for the reported shortages.
- "People saw that in neighboring Zimbabwe, so there is a radical element at play here and nobody can tell, at this point'... but South African media has very quickly turned to looking at who is driving this, and whether there is -- there are other forces, and you know, there are eerily similar echoes here," she said.
- "There is a whole ideology that goes along with 'open society' and all of these groups about turning a moment into a mass movement or revolution and that is what many people I speak to are looking for," Logan concluded.
- VIDEO - Daily Caller on Twitter: "Peter Doocy challenges @PressSec on the White House flagging "misinformation" to Facebook: "Our biggest concern here -- is the number of people dying around the country because they are getting misinformation that is lead
- Daily Caller : Peter Doocy challenges @PressSec on the White House flagging "misinformation" to Facebook:"Our biggest concern he'... https://t.co/LmDEAPsxSK
- Fri Jul 16 17:49:36 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - Fox News Reporter Clashes With Jen Psaki Over 'Big Brother' Facebook 'Spying' Concerns - YouTube
- VIDEO - The White House on Twitter: "Concerts, vaccines, bobbleheads, and even #ManCrushMonday: watch Olivia Rodrigo and Dr. Fauci read fan tweets. https://t.co/NnwKwrkNWW" / Twitter
- The White House : Concerts, vaccines, bobbleheads, and even #ManCrushMonday: watch Olivia Rodrigo and Dr. Fauci read fan tweets. https://t.co/NnwKwrkNWW
- Fri Jul 16 12:26:17 +0000 2021
- å±±ä¸èå¾=å¾"å·'èå¾ : @WhiteHouse https://t.co/JPAMQwR4eS
- Fri Jul 16 20:35:25 +0000 2021
- å±±ä¸èå¾=å¾"å·'èå¾ : @WhiteHouse https://t.co/NBvhpRafy8
- Fri Jul 16 20:35:05 +0000 2021
- å±±ä¸èå¾=å¾"å·'èå¾ : @WhiteHouse https://t.co/dzjLbxKE5G
- Fri Jul 16 20:34:49 +0000 2021
- å±±ä¸èå¾=å¾"å·'èå¾ : @WhiteHouse https://t.co/KmFwgYndJj
- Fri Jul 16 20:34:21 +0000 2021
- å±±ä¸èå¾=å¾"å·'èå¾ : @WhiteHouse https://t.co/kb88enL8Ol
- Fri Jul 16 20:33:53 +0000 2021
- å±±ä¸èå¾=å¾"å·'èå¾ : @WhiteHouse https://t.co/wvuvzNro36
- Fri Jul 16 20:32:29 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - Razorback1111 on Twitter: "AMA president says Sydney is looking at the lockdown continuing Indefinitely. He also doesn't want people talking to one another ! https://t.co/14IHPqZfVF" / Twitter
- Razorback1111 : AMA president says Sydney is looking at the lockdown continuing Indefinitely. He also doesn't want people talking t'... https://t.co/hULH8hKsGW
- Fri Jul 16 06:47:41 +0000 2021
- Jeff Antonelli : @razorback11111 The best way to stop an uprising is cutting commmunication.
- Fri Jul 16 20:30:13 +0000 2021
- Lsaf : @razorback11111 Yikes! Sorry Sydney
- Fri Jul 16 20:30:01 +0000 2021
- NotARussianBotðð·ðº : @razorback11111 Do they believe the absolute shit they spew or is it simply a script?
- Fri Jul 16 20:29:30 +0000 2021
- TruthCounts : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp China in play
- Fri Jul 16 20:29:22 +0000 2021
- RaveyDavey ð¬ð§ð...ð´ó §ó ó ¥ó ®ó §ó ðºð² : @razorback11111 https://t.co/R9IHGQgJ9I
- Fri Jul 16 20:23:54 +0000 2021
- cml ''¨unmaskourchildren''¨ : @razorback11111 Jaw dropping. Why aren't the people there in full revolt?
- Fri Jul 16 20:18:34 +0000 2021
- joek : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp Tell you what, the Australians I've met always have smiles from ear to ear and are'... https://t.co/GXDUPozpl0
- Fri Jul 16 20:09:44 +0000 2021
- Knownote : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp It takes a true psychopath to be able to stare unblinking at the interviewer and lie with such ease.
- Fri Jul 16 20:08:57 +0000 2021
- Sezzle : @razorback11111 Stuttering & not convincing at all .. seems Oz is having it really bad with restrictions
- Fri Jul 16 20:07:47 +0000 2021
- Psyoptical illusion ð£ðºð¸ : @razorback11111 Anyone else weirded out by the fact that he only blinked once during that entire video?
- Fri Jul 16 20:07:15 +0000 2021
- Old Normal : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp Don't ever give your guns to the government
- Fri Jul 16 20:04:20 +0000 2021
- V : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp Should be charged with Crimes against humanity! I hope the people rise
- Fri Jul 16 20:00:47 +0000 2021
- SalaciousSkunkð¸ : @razorback11111 @j_consilio Same shit different country, does anyone else's blood boil just listening to this shit?
- Fri Jul 16 19:59:17 +0000 2021
- Naveed Ahmed : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp Why are the following countries with the hardest lockdowns? Australia, New Zealand,'... https://t.co/rM548egeHV
- Fri Jul 16 19:59:08 +0000 2021
- Bilbo : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp What is the point of living in these type of bullshit conditions. People are pathet'... https://t.co/JO06zhoef5
- Fri Jul 16 19:58:46 +0000 2021
- Slackbladder : @razorback11111 Jeepers he's worse than Jacinda
- Fri Jul 16 19:58:32 +0000 2021
- Heather Kite : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp Lord have mercy...you can't stop people from interacting completely. How absurd!
- Fri Jul 16 19:58:21 +0000 2021
- God wins always : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp This god damn fascists man, this makes me mad
- Fri Jul 16 19:58:03 +0000 2021
- ''Donald Gazump '' : @razorback11111 @USBornNRaised What a gag
- Fri Jul 16 19:55:30 +0000 2021
- Alaskagirl : @razorback11111 @Johnheretohelp That's what you get when you surrender your right to bear arms.
- Fri Jul 16 19:55:19 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - White House slams Facebook as conduit for COVID-19 misinformation | Reuters
- WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - Facebook is not doing enough to stop the spread of false claims about COVID-19 and vaccines, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday, part of a new administration pushback on misinformation in the United States.
- Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, needs to work harder to remove inaccurate vaccine information from its platform, Psaki said.
- She said 12 people were responsible for almost 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms. The finding was reported in May by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, but Facebook has disputed the methodology.
- "All of them remain active on Facebook," Psaki said. Facebook also "needs to move more quickly to remove harmful violative posts," she said.
- U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also raised the alarm over the growing wave of misinformation about COVID-19 and related vaccines, saying it is making it harder to fight the pandemic and save lives.
- "American lives are at risk," he said in a statement.
- In his first advisory as the nation's top doctor under President Joe Biden, Murthy called on tech companies to tweak their algorithms to further demote false information and share more data with researchers and the government to help teachers, healthcare workers and the media fight misinformation.
- "Health misinformation is a serious threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people's health, and undermine public health efforts. Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative," he said in the advisory, first reported by National Public Radio.
- False information feeds hesitancy to get vaccinated, leading to preventable deaths, Murthy said, noting misinformation can affect other health conditions and is a worldwide problem.
- Vivek Murthy speaks during his confirmation hearing to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and to be Surgeon General of the Public Health Service before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee in Washington, U.S. February 25, 2021. Caroline Brehman/Pool via REUTERS
- A Facebook spokesperson said the company has partnered with government experts, health authorities and researchers to take "aggressive action against misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines to protect public health".
- "So far we've removed more than 18 million pieces of COVID misinformation, removed accounts that repeatedly break these rules, and connected more than 2 billion people to reliable information about COVID-19 and COVID vaccines across our apps," the spokesperson added.
- Facebook has introduced rules against making certain false claims about COVID-19 and its vaccines. Still, researchers and lawmakers have long complained about lax policing of content on its site.
- Murthy said at a White House press briefing that COVID-19 misinformation comes mostly from individuals who may not know they are spreading false claims, but also a few "bad actors".
- His advisory also urges people not to spread questionable information online. The head of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a group that tracks COVID-19 misinformation online, said it was inadequate.
- "On tobacco packets they say that tobacco kills," the group's chief executive Imran Ahmed told NPR. "On social media we need a 'Surgeon General's Warning: Misinformation Kills.'"
- U.S. COVID-19 infections last week rose about 11% from the previous week, with the highest increases in areas with vaccination rates of less than 40%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and continued to tick up on Wednesday. read more
- Cases plummeted in the spring as the vaccine rolled out following a winter spike in infections, but shots have slowed and just about 51% of the country has been vaccinated, Reuters data show.
- "It's been hard to get people to move" from not wanting the COVID-19 vaccine "to recognizing that the risk is still there," Dr. Richard Besser, a former CDC chief who now heads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told MSNBC.
- Representatives for the nation's largest tech companies could not be immediately reached for comment on the advisory.
- Reporting by Susan Heavey, Elizabeth Culliford and Diane Bartz; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, Doyinsola Oladipo, and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Heather Timmons and David Gregorio
- Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
- STORIES
- Texas patient becomes U.S.' first monkeypox case since 2003 - CBS News
- A Dallas, Texas, resident who recently returned from Nigeria has tested positive for monkeypox, a rare virus similar to smallpox, local officials said Friday. Though this is the first confirmed case of the virus in the U.S. since 2003, officials said the public should not be concerned.
- "While rare, this case is not a reason for alarm and we do not expect any threat to the general public," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a statement from Dallas County's health department. Because passengers were wearing masks on the flight and in the airport, the health department said, "It's believed the risk of spread of monkeypox via respiratory droplets to others on the planes and in the airports is low."
- Monkeypox, which is in the same family of viruses as smallpox, is a rare but potentially deadly viral infection that begins with flu-like symptoms and progresses to a rash on the face and body, according to the CDC. It tends to last two to four weeks. People who do not have symptoms are not capable of transmitting the virus, the health department said.
- Laboratory testing confirmed the patient is infected with a strain of the virus that is mainly seen in West Africa, which includes Nigeria. Monkeypox infections of that strain are fatal in about 1 in 100 people, affecting those with weakened immune systems more strongly, according to the CDC.
- Prior to this case, there have been six other cases of monkeypox in travelers returning from Nigeria. The CDC said this case is not believed to be related to any of the prior cases.
- This is the first reported case of monkeypox in Dallas County, according to the health department's statement. The person is currently in isolation at a hospital in Dallas and is in stable condition. The CDC said it is working with local health officials to contact airline passengers and others who were in contact with the infected traveller during their flights from Lagos, Nigeria, to Atlanta on July 8, and Atlanta to Dallas on July 9.
- The last time monkeypox was seen in the U.S. was in 2003. Nearly 50 people fell ill after imported African rodents infected prarie dogs, which subsequently infected humans, the CDC said. This launched a government search across 15 states for infected prairie dogs.
- Despite past incidences of the virus, Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Phillip Huang said there's no reason to worry. "We have determined that there is very little risk to the general public," he said in the health department's statement. "This is another demonstration of the importance of maintaining a strong public health infrastructure, as we are only a plane ride away from any global infectious disease."
- Ruinous Olympics economics get even worse with Tokyo Games - Axios
- The Olympics haven't made financial sense in decades. Host cities spend billions preparing for the games, inevitably suffering massive cost overruns and going deep into debt, with a lasting legacy of little more than a group of buildings ill-suited to any other use.
- Why it matters: This year, the games' physical location is more of a liability and less of an asset than ever. The Tokyo competition risks spreading COVID-19 in a country with a very low vaccination rate, while bringing no glory (or tourists) to a city that has banned spectators from all events.
- The big picture: Pandemic aside, Olympic ideals '-- amateurism, fair play, noble competition '-- have failed to stand the test of time and countless corruption scandals.
- What remains is an increasingly lopsided spectacle, the medal table dominated by whichever countries happen to be willing to shell out for state-of-the-art training and youth development facilities.By the numbers: The Beijing Olympics cost $45 billion; its revenues were $3.6 billion, most of which went to the International Olympic Committee. The Sochi winter Olympics came in closer to $50 billion, with much lower revenues.
- The Tokyo Olympics will cost about $28 billion, according to an estimate put together by financial newspapers Nikkei and Asahi.The decision to ban spectators means foregoing another $1 billion in ticket sales, not to mention whatever amorphous boost Tokyo might have received to its reputation as a tourist destination.Broadcast rights constitute the lion's share of Olympic revenues, and the IOC has sensibly locked in a multi-billion-dollar revenue stream from Comcast through 2032, the year in which Australia will host the games because there were no other bidders.
- U.S. television rights are more valuable than those of every other country in the world combined. But five years ago, the Rio Olympics '-- in pretty much a perfect time zone for the U.S. market '-- had very disappointing ratings.The Tokyo Olympics, without a live audience and in a terrible time zone for American viewing, will struggle to do any better.Sponsorships also risk being less valuable to brands now and in the future.
- The absence of spectators in Tokyo means local sponsors have significantly fewer opportunities to get their products in front of people '-- and therefore fewer chances to see their collective $3 billion investment paying off.There are also reputational risks to brands that sponsor games held in politically sensitive cities like Beijing, which is hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics.The bottom line: An Olympic gold medal remains the pinnacle of athletic achievement in most sports. But the edifice supporting that podium is crumbling.
- In U-turn, UK's Johnson to quarantine after COVID-19 contact
- LONDON (AP) '-- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will spend 10 days self-isolating after contact with a confirmed coronavirus case, his office said Sunday '-- reversing an earlier announcement that he would not have to quarantine.
- Johnson's 10 Downing St. office said Sunday that the prime minister and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak were both alerted overnight by England's test-and-trace phone app. He had a meeting on Friday with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. Javid, who has been fully vaccinated, says he is experiencing mild symptoms.
- People who are notified through the app are supposed to self-isolate, though it is not a legal requirement. Contacts of positive cases usually are advised to self-isolate for 10 days.
- But Johnson's office initially said the prime minister and Sunak would instead take a daily coronavirus test as part of an alternative system being piloted in some workplaces, including government offices.
- That plan was reversed less than three hours later after an outcry over apparent special treatment for politicians. Downing St. said Johnson would self-isolate at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence, and ''will not be taking part in the testing pilot.'' It said Sunak also would self-isolate.
- Britain is experiencing rising coronavirus cases, and an associated ''pingdemic'' of hundreds of thousands of people being told to quarantine because they have been near someone who tested positive. Businesses including restaurants, car manufacturers and the London subway say they are facing staff shortages because of the self-isolation rules.
- Jonathan Ashworth, health spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, said earlier that many people would be angry that there is a special ''VIP'' lane to avoid self-isolation.
- ''Waking up this morning to hear that there is a special rule, an exclusive rule, for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, they will be saying that this looks like one rule for them and something else for the rest of us,'' he told Sky News.
- Johnson was seriously ill with the coronavirus in April 2020, spending three nights hospitalized in intensive care.
- In a touch of irony, his spell in isolation comes as his government prepares to lift remaining lockdown measures on Monday. Nightclubs can reopen in England for the first time since March 2020, sports and entertainment venues can admits capacity crowds and face masks are no longer mandatory indoors.
- But the government is urging people to be cautious, as cases surge because of the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus first identified in India. More than 54,000 new infections were confirmed on Saturday, the highest daily total since January. Hospitalizations and deaths are also rising, but remain far lower than at previous infection peaks thanks to vaccination. More than two-thirds of British adults have had both shots of a vaccine.
- British officials are looking nervously at Israel and the Netherlands, both of which opened up society after vaccinating most of the population. Both countries have recently reimposed some restrictions after new infection surges.
- Follow AP's pandemic coverage at:
- https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
- https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
- https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
- Angela Merkel to visit flood-ravaged areas in Germany | Germany | The Guardian
- Show caption Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, pauses during a statement on the floods at the German ambassador's residence in Washington last Thursday. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
- GermanyChancellor to survey damage and meet survivors as German death toll passes 150 with dozens missing
- Agence France-Presse in Schuld
- Sun 18 Jul 2021 04.36 EDT
- Angela Merkel is to visit flood-ravaged areas in Germany to survey the damage and meet survivors, after days of extreme downpours in western Europe left at least 183 people dead and dozens missing.
- The chancellor is scheduled to travel on Sunday to the village of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate state, one of the two hardest-hit regions in western Germany, where the swollen Ahr river swept away houses and left debris piled high in the streets.
- At least 156 people have died since Wednesday in Germany's worst flooding in living memory, police said.
- Wrecked vehicles on the B265 federal highway in Erftstadt, Germany. Photograph: Sascha Steinbach/EPA In Rhineland-Palatinate state alone, police reported 110 dead and 670 injured. At least 27 people have also lost their lives in neighbouring Belgium.
- Rescue crews in both countries were sifting through rubble to find victims and survivors, often in dangerous conditions.
- The historic downpours also battered Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
- As the waters began to recede in Rhineland-Palatinate and neighbouring North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), concern shifted south to Germany's Upper Bavaria region, where heavy rains inundated basements and led rivers and creeks late on Saturday to burst their banks.
- One person died in Berchtesgadener Land, a spokeswoman for the Bavarian district said. In the eastern state of Saxony, authorities reported a ''significant risk situation'' in several villages near the Czech border.
- In Austria, emergency workers in the Salzburg and Tyrol regions were on high alert for flooding. The historic town centre of Hallein, near the German frontier, was under water.
- Merkel has called the floods a ''tragedy'' and pledged support from the federal government for Germany's stricken municipalities.
- Rescue workers in Schuld, Germany, search among the rubble of buildings. Photograph: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images The disaster has taken on political overtones in Germany, which heads to the polls on 26 September for a general election that will mark the end of Merkel's 16 years in power.
- Candidates vying to succeed her have called for more climate action with experts saying climate change is making extreme weather events more likely.
- Armin Laschet, the premier of hard-hit North-Rhine Westphalia state and frontrunner in the race for the chancellery, said efforts to tackle global warming should be ''speeded up''.
- But Laschet scored an own goal Saturday when he was filmed laughing in the devastated town of Erftstadt in NRW, where a landslide was triggered by the floods.
- In the footage, Laschet could be seen chatting and joking in the background as the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, gave a statement expressing his sympathies to grieving families.
- ''Laschet laughs while the country cries,'' wrote the top-selling Bild daily. Laschet later apologised on Twitter for the ''inappropriate'' moment.
- Flood damage in Liege, Belgium, following heavy rains. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images The scale of the devastation was gradually becoming clear in Germany, with damaged buildings being assessed, some of which will have to be demolished, and efforts under way to restore gas, electricity and telephone services.
- In some areas, soldiers used armoured vehicles to clear the debris clogging streets. In NRW, divers were sent in to search submerged homes and vehicles.
- Local authorities in NRW and Rhineland-Palatinate said dozens of people remain unaccounted for across both states. They have stressed, however, that disruption to communication networks made a precise assessment difficult, and the real number of missing could be lower.
- Roger Lewentz, the interior minister for Rhineland-Palatinate, said more than 670 people were injured.
- ''I've lived here my whole life, I was born here, and I've never seen anything like it,'' said Gregor Degen, a baker in the devastated spa town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, near Schuld.
- Across the border in Belgium, the death toll rose to 27 with many people still missing.
- The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the prime minister, Alexander de Croo, visited the flooded areas of Rochefort and Pepinster together on Saturday.
- ''Europe is with you,'' Von der Leyen tweeted afterwards. ''We are with you in mourning and we will be with you in rebuilding.''
- Belgium has declared Tuesday a day of official mourning.
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- Huge study supporting ivermectin as Covid treatment withdrawn over ethical concerns | Medical research | The Guardian
- Show caption Ivermectin is a common drug used for treating parasites. A study saying it was an effective Covid treatment has now been retracted. Photograph: Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
- Medical researchThe preprint endorsing ivermectin as a coronavirus therapy has been widely cited, but independent researchers find glaring discrepancies in the data
- The efficacy of a drug being promoted by rightwing figures worldwide for treating Covid-19 is in serious doubt after a major study suggesting the treatment is effective against the virus was withdrawn due to ''ethical concerns''.
- The preprint study on the efficacy and safety of ivermectin '' a drug used against parasites such as worms and headlice '' in treating Covid-19, led by Dr Ahmed Elgazzar from Benha University in Egypt, was published on the Research Square website in November.
- It claimed to be a randomised control trial, a type of study crucial in medicine because it is considered to provide the most reliable evidence on the effectiveness of interventions due to the minimal risk of confounding factors influencing the results. Elgazzar is listed as chief editor of the Benha Medical Journal, and is an editorial board member.
- Unreliable data: how doubt snowballed over Covid-19 drug research that swept the world The study found that patients with Covid-19 treated in hospital who ''received ivermectin early reported substantial recovery'' and that there was ''a substantial improvement and reduction in mortality rate in ivermectin treated groups'' by 90%.
- But the drug's promise as a treatment for the virus is in serious doubt after the Elgazzar study was pulled from the Research Square website on Thursday ''due to ethical concerns''. Research Square did not outline what those concerns were.
- A medical student in London, Jack Lawrence, was among the first to identify serious concerns about the paper, leading to the retraction. He first became aware of the Elgazzar preprint when it was assigned to him by one of his lecturers for an assignment that formed part of his master's degree. He found the introduction section of the paper appeared to have been almost entirely plagiarised.
- It appeared that the authors had run entire paragraphs from press releases and websites about ivermectin and Covid-19 through a thesaurus to change key words. ''Humorously, this led to them changing 'severe acute respiratory syndrome' to 'extreme intense respiratory syndrome' on one occasion,'' Lawrence said.
- The data also looked suspicious to Lawrence, with the raw data apparently contradicting the study protocol on several occasions.
- ''The authors claimed to have done the study only on 18-80 year olds, but at least three patients in the dataset were under 18,'' Lawrence said.
- ''The authors claimed they conducted the study between the 8th of June and 20th of September 2020, however most of the patients who died were admitted into hospital and died before the 8th of June according to the raw data. The data was also terribly formatted, and includes one patient who left hospital on the non-existent date of 31/06/2020.''
- There were other concerns.
- ''In their paper, the authors claim that four out of 100 patients died in their standard treatment group for mild and moderate Covid-19,'' Lawrence said. ''According to the original data, the number was 0, the same as the ivermectin treatment group. In their ivermectin treatment group for severe Covid-19, the authors claim two patients died, but the number in their raw data is four.''
- Lawrence and the Guardian sent Elgazzar a comprehensive list of questions about the data, but did not receive a reply. The university's press office also did not respond.
- Lawrence contacted an Australian chronic disease epidemiologist from the University of Wollongong, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, and a data analyst affiliated with Linnaeus University in Sweden who reviews scientific papers for errors, Nick Brown, for help analysing the data and study results more thoroughly.
- Brown created a comprehensive document uncovering numerous data errors, discrepancies and concerns, which he provided to the Guardian. According to his findings the authors had clearly repeated data between patients.
- ''The main error is that at least 79 of the patient records are obvious clones of other records,'' Brown told the Guardian. ''It's certainly the hardest to explain away as innocent error, especially since the clones aren't even pure copies. There are signs that they have tried to change one or two fields to make them look more natural.''
- Other studies on ivermectin are still under way. In the UK, the University of Oxford is testing whether giving people with Covid-19 ivermectin prevents them ending up in hospital.
- The Elgazzar study was one of the the largest and most promising showing the drug may help Covid patients, and has often been cited by proponents of the drug as evidence of its effectiveness. This is despite a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases in June finding ivermectin is ''not a viable option to treat COVID-19 patients''.
- Meyerowitz-Katz told the Guardian that ''this is one of the biggest ivermectin studies out there'', and it appeared to him the data was ''just totally faked''. This was concerning because two meta-analyses of ivermectin for treating Covid-19 had included the Elgazzar study in the results. A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies to determine what the overall scientific literature has found about a treatment or intervention.
- ''Because the Elgazzar study is so large, and so massively positive '' showing a 90% reduction in mortality '' it hugely skews the evidence in favour of ivermectin,'' Meyerowitz-Katz said.
- ''If you remove this one study from the scientific literature, suddenly there are very few positive randomised control trials of ivermectin for Covid-19. Indeed, if you get rid of just this research, most meta-analyses that have found positive results would have their conclusions entirely reversed.''
- Kyle Sheldrick, a Sydney doctor and researcher, also independently raised concerns about the paper. He found numbers the authors provided for several standard deviations '' a measure of variation in a group of data points '' mentioned in tables in the paper were ''mathematically impossible'' given the range of numbers provided in the same table.
- Flu jab may reduce severe effects of Covid, suggests study Sheldrick said the completeness of data was further evidence suggesting possible fabrication, noting that in real-world conditions, this was almost impossible. He also identified the duplication of patient deaths and data.
- Ivermectin has gained momentum throughout Latin America and India, largely based on evidence from preprint studies. In March, the World Health Organization warned against the use of ivermectin outside well designed clinical trials.
- The conservative Australian MP Craig Kelly, who has also promoted the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 '' despite there being no evidence that it works '' has been among those promoting ivermectin. Several Indian media outlets ran stories on Kelly in the past week after he asked Uttar Pradesh to loan the state's chief minister, Adityanath, to Australia to release ivermectin. After this story was initially published, Kelly contacted the Guardian to say he disagreed with the statement that there was no evidence that hydroxychloroquine worked, and that he stood by his views.
- Lawrence said what started out as a simple university assignment had led to a comprehensive investigation into an apparent scientific fraud at a time when ''there is a whole ivermectin hype '... dominated by a mix of right-wing figures, anti-vaxxers and outright conspiracists''.
- ''Although science trends towards self-correction, something is clearly broken in a system that can allow a study as full of problems as the Elgazzar paper to run unchallenged for seven months,'' he said.
- ''Thousands of highly educated scientists, doctors, pharmacists, and at least four major medicines regulators missed a fraud so apparent that it might as well have come with a flashing neon sign. That this all happened amid an ongoing global health crisis of epic proportions is all the more terrifying.''
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- U.S. FDA to temporarily allow distribution of anti-smoking pill with some impurities
- July 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. drug regulator said on Friday it will temporarily allow manufacturers to distribute versions of Pfizer Inc's anti-smoking drug Chantix with elevated levels of an impurity that may cause cancer, in order to maintain supplies.
- Drugmaker Pfizer in June halted distribution of Chantix, or varenicline, and recalled a number of lots after finding elevated levels of cancer-causing agents called nitrosamines in the pills. (https://reut.rs/3Bd8SJh)
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will temporarily allow some manufacturers to distribute varenicline containing impurities above its acceptable intake limit of 37 nanograms (ng) per day, but below an interim acceptable intake limit of 185 ng per day, until the impurity can be eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels.
- The regulator said the health benefits of stopping smoking outweigh the cancer risk from the nitrosamine impurity in varenicline.
- Canadian generic drugmaker Apotex will be temporarily allowed to distribute Apo-Varenicline tablets in the United States to help maintain adequate varenicline supply in the country for the near term, the FDA said.
- The nitrosamine impurity, called N-nitroso-varenicline, may be associated with a potential increased cancer risk in humans, but there is no immediate risk to patients taking this medication, the FDA said.
- Risk of exposure to the carcinogen at interim acceptable intake levels up to 185 ng per day presents minimal additional cancer risk, compared with a lifetime exposure at the 37 ng per day level, the agency said.
- The FDA determined that Pfizer's recalled varenicline poses an unnecessary risk to patients, and recommended healthcare professionals to consider other available treatment options. (Reporting by Trisha Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
- U-turn as Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to self-isolate after criticism | Boris Johnson | The Guardian
- Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have been forced into a U-turn and will self-isolate after coming into contact with the health secretary, who has contracted Covid-19.
- The UK prime minister and chancellor had initially tried to avoid isolation by saying they were part of a pilot testing scheme, prompting an outcry from members of the public and backbench Conservative MPs.
- Their U-turn came after only three hours amid chaos at No 10 over plans to drop many Covid restrictions for ''freedom day'' on Monday, and minutes after the communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, had defended their plans to continue working from Downing Street.
- It means the prime minister, chancellor and health secretary will all be isolating, along with hundreds of thousands of others due to exposure to coronavirus, when restrictions are dropped across England from Monday.
- A Downing Street spokesperson said: ''The prime minister has been contacted by NHS test and trace to say he is a contact of someone with Covid. He was at Chequers when contacted by test and trace and will remain there to isolate. He will not be taking part in the testing pilot.
- ''He will continue to conduct meetings with ministers remotely. The chancellor has also been contacted and will also isolate as required and will not be taking part in the pilot.''
- Sunak tweeted: ''Whilst the test and trace pilot is fairly restrictive, allowing only essential government business, I recognise that even the sense that the rules aren't the same for everyone is wrong. To that end I'll be self-isolating as normal and not taking part in the pilot.''
- Javid tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday. The prime minister is reported to have had a lengthy meeting with him at No 10 on Friday.
- Downing Street earlier confirmed Johnson and Sunak were part of a pilot scheme that allows certain people to have daily rapid flow tests instead of having to self-isolate. ''They will be conducting only essential government business during this period,'' said a spokesperson.
- Reaction to the news was rapid and furious, with instances on social media of people reporting they were going to delete the NHS Covid-19 app from their phones.
- The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said many people across the UK would be dismayed by the ''special, exclusive rule'' for Johnson and Sunak.
- ''There will be parents across the country who have struggled this year when their children have been sent home because they were in a bubble and had to self-isolate,'' he told Sky News.
- ''There will be workers across the country that have to isolate because they've been pinged, including in public services, including the NHS. For many of them, waking up this morning to hear that there is a special rule, an exclusive rule, for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, they will be saying that this looks like one rule for them and something else for the rest of us.''
- Kate Nicholls, the CEO of UK Hospitality, which represents bars, hotels and others in the sector, said: ''It cannot be right that only those on pilot projects are exempt from the need to self-isolate. We need a workable and pragmatic self-isolation policy which keeps people safe but also keeps the economy moving.''
- Jonathan Bartley, the co-leader of the Green party, said: ''Hundreds of thousands of young people, including my children, had their education and lives repeatedly turned upside down again and again after dutifully and responsibly isolating. And now this. Anger doesn't begin to cover it.''
- Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former director of communications at Downing Street, described it as the ''Johnson-Sunak test pilot scandal'' and predicted it would ''cut through'' to the public even more directly than the controversy surrounding the lockdown journeys undertaken to Durham by Dominic Cummings, Johnson's former chief adviser.
- Downing Street is one of 20 organisations, including other government departments, Transport for London and Network Rail, which are part of a workplace testing study in which participants can test daily at work rather than stay at home.
- Organisations taking part have to have an asymptomatic testing site set up. Individuals who have been ''pinged'' after being in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid can go to work on the basis that they are using lateral flow tests, but must self-isolate when not at work.
- The organisations known to be part of the trial have given their consent to be identified, according to No 10, which added that a full list would be published after the results have been recorded.
- A spokesperson said the study was separate from a better known pilot scheme, outlined online by the Department of Health and Social Care, which splits participants at random into two groups. In that study, those in a control group will be given a PCR test and must self-isolate as normal for 10 days, while participants in another group benefit from having a 24-hour release from self-isolation if daily lateral flow tests return negative results.
- Javid was self-isolating on Saturday after testing positive for Covid, as senior public health leaders from across the UK accused Boris Johnson on Sunday of ''letting Covid rip'' by relaxing legal restrictions.
- The health secretary, who is double-vaccinated, said he had mild symptoms and confirmed the result of a lateral flow test with a positive PCR test.
- ''I will continue to isolate and work from home,'' Javid tweeted.
- White House press secretary Psaki to leave post next year - MarketWatch
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki has revealed she intends to leave the post "in a year from now or about a year from now." In a podcast interview with former Obama campaign and White House colleague David Axelrod, Psaki said she doesn't "want to miss moments" with her young children and indicated that she had agreed with President Joe Biden's transition team that she would serve in the role, in which she helms the White House daily press briefing, for about one year.
- Facebook suggests it's more effective than Biden on vaccinations
- U.S. news The social media giant said in a statement Saturday, "'We have been doing our part."
- July 17, 2021, 8:57 PM EDT
- Facebook on Saturday pushed back at President Joe Biden for the second time in as many days, suggesting the company has been more effective than the government in promoting Covid-19 vaccination after Biden said the social media behemoth is "killing people" with misinformation.
- Asked Friday for his message to social media platforms regarding vaccinations, Biden said, "They're killing people."
- "The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and that's '-- they're killing people," he continued.
- Facebook refuted the criticism Friday, saying 2 billion people have viewed the science that vaccination works on the platform, and that more than 3.3 million Americans used its vaccination finder tool.
- On Saturday, it doubled down, saying its data, collected with the help of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland, adds up to the platform appearing to outperform the Biden administration on fostering "vaccine acceptance."
- "The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19," said Guy Rosen, the company's vice president of integrity. "President Biden's goal was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed."
- Facebook has encouraged Americans to get inoculated through tools that include its vaccination finder and optional "profile frames" that show when friends have been vaccinated.
- RecommendedRosen said "vaccine hesitancy" on the platform has declined 50 percent, ostensibly since the rollout of vaccines in January.
- "We have been doing our part," he said as part of a presentation-style statement Facebook published Saturday afternoon.
- The Biden administration admitted it missed its goal of having 70 percent of Americans at least partially vaccinated by July 4, posting a 67 percent rate.
- But actual vaccination and people expressing that they're less hesitant or more likely to become inoculated are different things.
- Critics have noted that conservative and far-right outlets and figures often associated with vaccine hesitancy dominate the daily list of top 10 Facebook posts culled from the platform's own data by New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose.
- Fox News posts have consistently been top performers on Facebook, taking the top spot Friday. An analysis by Media Matters For America on Friday concluded that a majority of Fox News on-air content in most of June and part of July "relentlessly undermined" vaccination efforts.
- "Fox's weekday evening opinion shows '-- Fox News Primetime, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle '-- promoted claims undermining and downplaying immunization in all of their coronavirus vaccine segments," the report said.
- As the Delta variant of the coronavirus is now responsible for more than half of new infections in the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week that more than 99 percent of people who died from Covid-19 in June were unvaccinated.
- With the rate of U.S. infections doubling in recent days, a spike largely attributed to the Delta variant, and vaccinations slowing, Biden administration officials have lashed out at misinformation they blame for hesitancy.
- "We've got to recognize sometimes the most trusted voices are not the ones that have the most followers on social media or the ones that have the most name recognition,'' Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Thursday.
- Dennis Romero Dennis Romero writes for NBC News and is based in Los Angeles.
- Dylan Byers and Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner contributed.
- Bankrupt Zimbabwe Will Begin Paying Reparations To White Farmers ' AfricanGlobe.Net
- Foreigners have no claim to African land
- AFRICANGLOBE '' Zimbabwe is to start paying reparations this year to thousands of white farmers who lost land under former president Robert Mugabe's land reform nearly two decades ago, the government said, as it seeks to bring closure to a highly divisive issue.
- Two decades ago Mugabe's government carried out evictions of 4,500 white farmers and redistributed the land to around 300,000 Black families, arguing it was redressing imbalances from the colonial era.
- But land reform still divides public opinion as opponents see it as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself.
- President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government sees the paying of compensation to white farmers as key to appease the West (white countries), and set aside $17.5 million in this year's budget to that end. The initial payments will target those in financial distress, while full compensation will be paid later.
- ''The registration process and list of farmers should be completed by the end of April 2019, after which the interim advance payments will be paid directly to former farm owners,'' Zimbabwe's ministries of finance and agriculture said in a joint statement on Monday.
- They said the process to identify and register farmers for compensation was being undertaken the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) and a committee representing the farmers.
- A committee comprising government officials and former farm owners is currently valuing improvements made on the farms. That process should end next month and will determine the full amount due to the farmers.
- The government, which maintains it will only pay compensation for infrastructure and improvements on farms and not for the land, is talking to international financial institutions on options to borrow the full amount to pay farmers.
- Colonialists seized some of the best agricultural land and much of it remained in the hands of white farmers after independence in 1980, while many native Africans were landless.
- Why They Hate Robert Mugabe
- Boeing's 737 Max aircraft under scrutiny again - BBC News
- By Theo LeggettBusiness correspondent, BBC News
- image copyright Getty Images
- image caption More than 100 Boeing 737 Max aircraft were grounded in April following discovery of a potential electrical problemLittle more than six months after Boeing's 737 Max was cleared to fly again by US regulators, the aircraft finds itself under intense scrutiny once again.
- The discovery of a potential electrical problem last month led to the renewed grounding of more than 100 aeroplanes, belonging to 24 airlines around the world.
- Deliveries of many more new aircraft have been suspended. Boeing and the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration say they are working closely to address the issue.
- But the affair has given new energy to critics who claim the 737 Max was allowed back into service prematurely - and that issues which could have contributed to two fatal crashes have not been fully analysed or addressed.
- Those critics include a high profile whistle-blower, Ed Pierson, who has already sought to link allegedly poor production standards at the 737 factory with electrical defects on the crashed planes, which he claims may have been implicated in both accidents.
- image caption Half of Boeing's sales come from the 737 MaxAccording to Boeing and the FAA, the problem first became apparent during testing of a newly manufactured 737 Max 8, which had yet to be delivered to its owner. It was found that electrical power systems on the aircraft were not working correctly.
- The fault was traced to poor electrical bonding, where panel assemblies that were also intended to conduct electricity and form part of a connection with the frame of the aircraft were not doing so effectively.
- This meant that some components on the plane, including the pilots' main instrument panel and a standby power control unit, were improperly grounded, or earthed.
- According to the FAA, this could potentially "affect the operation of certain systems, including engine ice protection, and result in loss of critical functions and/or multiple simultaneous flight deck effects, which may prevent continued safe flight and landing".
- The flaw, then, was a dangerous one. The FAA was worried that over time other aircraft, which were already in service, could develop the same condition. It issued an Airworthiness Directive on 30 April stipulating that affected aircraft should be modified before being permitted to fly again.
- image caption The FAA says affected aircraft must be modified before being permitted to fly againOn the face of it, there is nothing to link these flaws with the errant flight control software - known as MCAS - that triggered the loss of two planes, in Indonesia and Ethiopia, claiming the lives of 346 people.
- In each of those accidents, flawed data from a faulty sensor prompted MCAS to force the nose of the aircraft down repeatedly, when the pilots were trying to gain height, ultimately pushing it into a catastrophic dive.
- According to Chris Brady, a pilot who runs a website and a video channel devoted to technical aspects of the 737, "the problem is unrelated to MCAS or any other previous Max problem".
- It occurred, he says, because in early 2019, Boeing changed the way panels were attached on parts of the plane. It was seen as a very minor change, so it was not notified to regulators.
- "There was nothing, let's say, unethical about that", he explains. "Prima facie, this appears to be an honest mistake, the implications of which have just been unearthed".
- But for Mr Pierson, a former senior manager on the 737 production line, the new electrical issues are a symptom of something more serious.
- image copyright Getty Images
- image caption Ed Pierson at a House Transportation Committee Hearing on 11 December 2019During congressional hearings into the crashes involving the Max, he claimed that in 2018 the factory in Renton, near Seattle had become "dysfunctional" and "chaotic", as pressure increased to produce new aircraft as quickly as possible.
- Earlier this year, he published a report that explicitly linked alleged production pressures with electrical anomalies and flight control system problems that occurred on both crashed aircraft prior to the accidents.
- He suggested that defects in the wiring of both aircraft could have contributed to the erroneous deployment of the MCAS software, alongside sensor failures already implicated in the crashes.
- He now says the disclosure of new problems reinforces his case.
- "Yes, MCAS caused the airplanes to pitch down and crash", he explains. "But it was an electrical system malfunction that likely caused the angle of attack sensor to send faulty data to MCAS".
- Mr Pierson believes that the 20-month recertification process which cleared the 737 Max to fly again focused on software design and pilot training, but failed to address the impact of production standards at the factory.
- As a result, he says, it is "no surprise that new discoveries linked to 737 Max production defects continue to come to light" on an aircraft described by the FAA's Administrator Steve Dickson as "the most scrutinised transport aircraft in history".
- Mr Pierson says he has written to the US Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, requesting a meeting to outline his concerns, but has not heard back.
- Boeing emphatically denies any connection between production standards in the 737 factory and the two accidents involving the 737 Max.
- It says: "The Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents have been reviewed by numerous governmental and regulatory entities, and none of those reviews has found that production conditions in the factory contributed to the accidents."
- image copyright Getty Images
- image caption Boeing insiders dismiss the latest allegationDai Whittingham is chief executive of the UK Flight Safety Committee, a group of organisations, including airlines and regulators, which promotes safety in commercial aviation.
- He says that a direct link between the two accidents and the recently-discovered electrical flaws is "a hard connection to make".
- But on one key point he appears to agree with Mr Pierson. "These issues are separate in how they've arisen", he explains, "but they may well have stemmed from the same corporate culture, with a focus on saving time and keeping costs down over maintaining quality".
- The allegation that Boeing prioritised profit over safety in the run up to the two accidents is not new - and indeed was made by prosecutors when announcing a $2.5bn settlement with the aerospace giant earlier this year.
- The company says it has learned many lessons as a result of the Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 and Lion Air 610 accidents. It says it has "made fundamental changes" and continues "to look for ways to improve".
- "Boeing is committed to restore trust, and we'll do it one airplane at a time," it said.
- People within the company insist the changes which led to the current problems were not motivated by time or cost savings.
- It's not clear how long the affected aircraft will remain grounded. The actual modifications required are expected to be relatively simple and are only expected to cost about $2,250 (£1,600) per aircraft. But the FAA is understood to be asking for detailed analysis to be sure all potential concerns have been dealt with.
- With the scrutiny the 737 Max is under, neither Boeing, nor the FAA, can afford to make a mistake.
- E40: A Bestie gets COVID, Delta breakthrough, Billionaire Space Race & more '-- All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg '-- Overcast
- The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from
- allinchamathjason.libsyn.com, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Overcast. Overcast is (C) 2014''2021 Overcast Radio, LLC
- White Privilege Card '' Hodgetwins LLC
- I actually bought it for my brother in laws birthday and haven't given it to him yet. I think it's amazing though.
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- Vaccinated people now make up almost 47% of all new Covid cases, symptom-tracking app claims | Daily Mail Online
- Vaccinated Britons now make up almost half of Covid cases in the country, a symptom-tracking study suggested today '-- but there are signs the third wave may have already peaked.
- King's College London scientists estimated 33,118 people were catching the virus daily in the week ending July 10, compared to 33,723 in the previous seven-day spell.
- But 47 per cent of cases are among those who have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, surging upwards from around a quarter at the start of June.
- This does not mean the jabs do not work. Scientists have always been honest that they are not perfect and millions will still be vulnerable to infection even after getting both doses.
- Infections are rising fastest among young Britons '-- many of whom have only received one dose. But the ZOE app counts these people as 'vaccinated' even though they are not yet fully protected by two doses. A second dose of all vaccines has been shown to be much more effective than a first dose against the Indian 'Delta' variant.
- Professor Tim Spector, who leads the study run with health-technology firm ZOE, said the shift in trend was likely because the virus was 'running out' of non-jabbed Britons to infect, with nearly 90 per cent of adults having now received at least one dose.
- Studies show a single dose is less effective at preventing infection, although it still drastically slashes the risk of hospitalisation and death. Jabs are also slightly weaker against the Indian variant, which triggered the third wave.
- It comes after a study last night suggested elderly Brits given AstraZeneca's vaccine are less likely to have Covid antibodies than those who had Pfizer's. Rigorous trials also showed the British-made jab was slightly weaker.
- Coronavirus cases were rising rapidly throughout June, with the easing of restrictions blamed for sparking a third wave '-- although some scientists believe Euro 2020 led to a surge in infections.
- Infections in Scotland have halved in the past fortnight, according to estimates by the King's app. The fall, which coincided with the national team being knocked out of the major football tournament early, has fuelled hope that England's outbreak will eventually fall, too.
- Professor Spector said they were seeing infections 'plateau' across the country but the rate of decline was slower than during the second wave. Earlier this week, he predicted they may have already peaked.
- Despite the claims that cases have hit peaked, official figures show the UK is on the brink of breaching the 50,000 case mark, meaning infections are closing in on levels seen during the darkest days of the second wave.
- Some 48,533 positive tests were registered today, up by 49.2 per cent on last week and the highest figure since January 14 (48,682). Deaths have risen by 80 per cent in a week, with today's count (63) the most since 70 were posted on March 26.
- Surveillance data shows almost half of cases are now being spotted among Britons who have received at least one dose of the vaccine (orange line), while they are dropping among the un-vaccinated (blue line). Professor Spector suggested this may be the case because the virus is 'running out' of un-vaccinated people to infect
- This graph shows the percentage of Covid swabs that detected the virus among Britons depending on whether they were un-vaccinated (red line), had one dose (blue line) or two doses (orange line). Almost half of all Britons who had Covid had been vaccinated in the week to July 10 (week 27 on the graph). Cases in un-vaccinated Britons did not appear to be falling here because the graph considers the percentage of people tested who had the virus
- Test and Trace data published today showed cases surged by 43 per cent last week. They said there were 194,000 positive tests in the week to July 7, the highest since late January when the second wave was starting to run out of steam
- People given AstraZeneca's Covid jab 'are LESS likely to develop antibodies'Elderly Britons given AstraZeneca's vaccine are less likely to have Covid antibodies than those who had Pfizer's, a study has suggested.
- Imperial College London researchers found fewer than 85 per cent of over-80s had detectable levels of the virus-fighting proteins two weeks after their second AZ jab.
- By contrast, the proportion of over-80s with antibodies after getting the second Pfizer vaccine was almost 98 per cent.
- The findings came from Britain's largest surveillance study, known as REACT-2, which randomly tests blood samples from hundreds of thousands of Britons.
- Although antibodies are just one part of the overall immune response to Covid, experts said the study results were not totally surprising.
- Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at Reading University, told MailOnline the British jab was less likely to spark immunity because it relied on a weakened cold virus.
- In some cases the body may attack this virus instead of the Covid proteins on its surface, which results in the jab failing to spark Covid immunity, he said. But Pfizer's jab does not have this problem because it uses a completely different technology.
- In trials of the jabs, AstraZeneca's vaccine was also found to be slightly weaker at preventing symptomatic Covid infection.
- But real-world analysis of Britain's vaccine rollout has shown that both vaccines are extremely effective at stopping severe illness and death.
- Even against the Indian variant, they were both shown to reduce the risk of being hospitalised with the virus by more than 90 per cent.
- A record half-a-million Britons were sentenced to 'pingdemic' lockdown last week, figures revealed, amid concerns NHS Covid contact-tracing app could force millions off work; Britons were forced to cancel holiday plans in droves as Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca are set to be scrubbed from the 'green list'; Face mask shambles continued as police were told they must keep wearing them while on the beat; Study revealed people given AstraZeneca's Covid jab were less likely to develop antibodies than those who received Pfizer's; Vaccines Tsar Kate Bingham was revealed as one of 40,000 double-jabbed Britons forced to put holiday plans on hold after taking part in Novavax trial that is still not recognised by NHS or EU; Pub in Norwich becomes the first in the country to ban punters who can't prove they've been jabbed; However, scientists have raised concerns the Covid symptom study '-- which relies on daily reports from more than a million Britons '-- is no longer a 'reliable enough guide'.
- No other survey has yet to point to a downturn in cases for Britain as a whole, although official Department of Health statistics do back up the claims that Scotland's outbreak is shrinking.
- Britain yesterday recorded more than 42,000 cases for the first time since mid-January, when the second wave was beginning to die down. Ministers fear this could hit the 100,000 figure before August.
- It came as Test and Trace figures published today found cases had surged by 43 per cent in the week to July 7, with 194,000 new infections recorded over the seven-day period.
- A breakdown of the latest ZOE/King's figures revealed cases were up by two fifths among those who have received at least one dose, but down by a fifth in people who have not got the vaccine.
- As many as 15,537 infections are occurring every day among people who have got at least one jab, the app suggested.
- This was up 40 per cent from 11,084 daily infections a fortnight ago.
- Among Britons who had not been jabbed there were estimated to be 17,581 daily infections, a fall of 20 per cent on the previous period.
- Professor Spector said: 'In the UK, new cases in vaccinated people are still going up and soon will outpace un-vaccinated cases.
- 'This is probably because we're running out of un-vaccinated susceptible people to infect as more and more people get the vaccine.
- 'While the figures look worrying, it is important to highlight that vaccines have massively reduced severe infections and post-vaccination Covid is a much milder disease for most people.
- 'The main concern is now the risk of long Covid.'
- More than 46million Britons '-- or 87.4 per cent of adults '-- have got at least one dose of the Covid vaccine. And 35.1million '-- or 66.7 per cent '-- have received both doses.
- Ministers trumpeted the drive yesterday for being ahead of schedule, after two thirds of Britons received both doses of the vaccine five days before tNo10's target of 'Freedom Day' on July 19.
- The latest King's/ZOE data also estimated cases have dropped by one per cent across the country.
- It marks the first fall since May 22 at the end of the second wave, when they dipped by seven per cent to 2,550 new infections a day.
- Scotland was a key driver of this week's fall, with daily infections projected to have nearly halved from 4,780 to 2,760.
- It comes just three weeks after their national team crashed out of the Euro 2020 tournament, which has been repeatedly linked to surging infections.
- Professor Spector added: 'We are seeing the overall incidence rates plateau in the UK with an R value of 1.0, which is good news.
- 'But the rate of decline may be slower this time, as many of the restrictions in place previously will end. The numbers are still high with around 1 in 142 people with Covid, so we'll keep a close eye on numbers and the effect of the Euro Football Championship in the coming days and weeks.'
- Oxford University scientist Professor James Naismith warned yesterday the King's study may be becoming less reliable.
- Responding to the daily cases figures, he said: 'It would suggest that ZOE is not providing a reliable guide to this wave since it had noted a peak of 33,000 cases.
- 'Of course, no measure is perfect and ZOE has proven informative in the past, it may be changes in symptoms and/or behaviour are confounding it.'
- In response to his claim, King's scientists said they now had very few contributors who had not been vaccinated. They added that they were more confident in their figures for those who have received at least one dose.
- NHS England data showed a record 520,000 alerts were sent by the app last week, telling people they had been in close contact with someone who tested positive
- Up to 10 per cent of staff working at Nissan's car plant in Sunderland (pictured) have been told to self-isolate by the app
- People given AstraZeneca's Covid jab are less likely to develop antibodies than those who receive Pfizer's Elderly Britons given AstraZeneca's vaccine are less likely to have Covid antibodies than those who had Pfizer's, a study has suggested.
- Imperial College London researchers found fewer than 85 per cent of over-80s had detectable levels of the virus-fighting proteins two weeks after their second AZ jab.
- By contrast, the proportion of over-80s with antibodies after getting the second Pfizer vaccine was almost 98 per cent.
- The findings came from Britain's largest surveillance study, known as REACT-2, which randomly tests blood samples from hundreds of thousands of Britons.
- Although antibodies are just one part of the overall immune response to Covid, experts said the study results were not totally surprising.
- Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at Reading University, told MailOnline the British jab was less likely to spark immunity because it relied on a weakened cold virus.
- In some cases the body may attack this virus instead of the Covid proteins on its surface, which results in the jab failing to spark Covid immunity, he said. But Pfizer's jab does not have this problem because it uses a completely different technology.
- In trials of the jabs, AstraZeneca's vaccine was also found to be slightly weaker at preventing symptomatic Covid infection.
- But real-world analysis of Britain's vaccine rollout has shown that both vaccines are extremely effective at stopping severe illness and death.
- Even against the Indian variant, they were both shown to reduce the risk of being hospitalised with the virus by more than 90 per cent.
- It comes as official figures revealed today a record half-a-million Britons were told to self-isolate by NHS Covid app last week, amid mounting concerns over chaos triggered by the 'pingdemic'.
- Unions warned the country is on the verge of shutting down, with thousands of factory workers forced to stay at home by the app.
- And reports up to 900 staff at Nissan's car factory in Sunderland had been forced to self-isolate by the app.
- Up to 10 per cent of staff working at the Japanese car company's manufacturing plant in Sunderland were pinged by the app.
- And official figures released today show the contact-tracing app sent out a record 520,000 self-isolation alerts last week.
- The number of 'pings' dished out by the software in the week ending July 7 was the highest since the data was first published in January, and was up 46 per cent on the previous seven-day spell.
- Fears have been raised that the software could cripple the nation's already fragile economy this summer when restrictions are completely lifted.
- Businesses demanding a re-think of the rules have warned supermarket shelves may be left empty if tens of thousands of workers are told they must self-isolate in the coming weeks, while there are fears piles of rubbish may pile up in the street.
- People told to isolate by the app are under no legal requirement to do so because their identity is not tracked by the software.
- Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick today admitted No10 was 'concerned' about the number of people who may have to self-isolate because of the app.
- Despite fears the chaos will only get worse over the next few weeks with infections expected to continue spiralling, it was claimed that the contact-tracing app may not be watered down after all.
- Government officials have been tasked with tweaking the software so fewer people are 'pinged' and told to self-isolate.
- But sources told The Times that it was possible no changes will be made, and that if they are, they won't happen until August 16 '-- the same day quarantine rules end for the fully-vaccinated.
- NHS England data showed a record number of positive cases were linked to the app last week, as the third wave gathers steam.
- Infections have soared over the past weeks, with some experts attributing the sharp rise to England's progress to the final of Euro 2020.
- There were 86,000 positive cases logged with the software, up 40 per cent on the 61,000 in the previous week.
- And the number of alerts sent linked to venues more than doubled to 1,247 places.
- These are sent when someone has visited a location, like a pub or restaurant, on the same day as another person who later tested positive for the virus.
- Ministers are understood to have been spooked out of tweaking the app by the soaring infection rates.
- Britain yesterday recorded 42,000 cases in the highest figure since mid-January, as the second wave was beginning to die down. Ministers fear they could spiral to 100,000 a day by mid-August.
- Thinktanks have claimed the rise in cases could see up to 2million people told to quarantine at home every week by the app, unless it is watered down.
- Mr Jenrick called on Britons to keep using the app today but hinted ministers were still mulling over how to update it.
- Deaths directly caused by alcohol reached record levels last year after Covid lockdowns drove binge drinking at home, a study by Public Health England has suggested. Graph shows: The number of alcohol-specific deaths per 100,000 in England each month in 2021, 2020 and the baseline average taken from 2018 and 2019
- Despite pubs, clubs and restaurants during the national lockdowns, the total amount of alcohol released for sale during the pandemic was still similar to the pre-pandemic years, suggesting people were drinking more at home, PHE said
- Long-serving headteacher who blamed Bangladeshi families for Covid cases retires early A headteacher who appeared to blame 'a number of' Bangladeshi families for increasing the risk of Covid-19 infections at her primary school will take an early retirement - after parents campaigned to oust her.
- Karen Todd said she felt 'totally let down' by those in the 'Bangladeshi community' in a letter sent to parents at Richard Avenue Primary School, Sunderland, in November last year.
- The headteacher - who has been at the school for 23 years - suggested adults could have been working as taxi drivers or in restaurants while awaiting Covid-19 test results.
- She claimed others were attending wedding ceremonies at home and hosting Mehndi nights 'against the law' in the letter - which sparked outrage from community leaders who launched a petition for her to be investigated.
- Mrs Todd was absent from the school for five months before returning to her headteacher post in May.
- Now - just two months later - Mrs Todd confirmed in a heartbreaking letter that she will be stepping down after taking an early retirement.
- She said she spent her life 'trying to make a difference to improve the life chances of our young people' - and told how she will 'truly miss' the children she worked with.
- School governors have now begun the process of appointing her replacement.
- Separate figures revealed today showed Covid lockdowns helped to fuel a 20 per cent spike in alcohol-related deaths in 2020 with restrictions swaying people into drinking more at home.
- Public Health England chiefs say the endless cycle of lockdowns swayed people into binge-drinking at home.
- Data shows there were 6,893 deaths blamed on alcohol in 2020, compared to 5,819 in 2019 before the virus reached Britain.
- The North East was hit hardest, with fatalities spiking by almost 80 per cent. Drinking too much alcohol can kill by causing liver damage, as well as cancer.
- Deaths caused by alcohol have been increasing for a decade but ministers called the jump during the pandemic 'deeply concerning'.
- They pledged to increase treatment options for alcohol dependence, with £3.3billion in place for public health services over the next year.
- But Labour hit out at No10 for slashing addiction services and 'doing nothing to give people who need help with addiction the support they need'.
- Charities urged No10 to address mounting alcohol abuse following the pandemic to prevent a 'liver disease epidemic' after 'Freedom Day' on Monday.
- PHE data showed the number of alcoholic liver deaths '-- caused by a build-up of fat on the organ caused by excessive drinking '-- jumped 21 per cent from 2019 to 2020.
- The biggest increase in drinking during lockdown was seen in the North East, which peaked at 28.4 deaths per 100,000 population in July.
- This was 79.7 per cent higher than the the average figure for the same time in 2018 and 2019.
- Despite pubs, bars and restaurants being shut for several months during lockdowns, the total amount of alcohol sold last year was still similar to the pre-pandemic years, PHE said.
- An extra 12.6million litres of alcohol were sold in shops and supermarkets in 2020/21 compared to 2019/20, the report also claimed.
- And the number of men and women drinking at a 'high risk level' increased by 58.6 per cent during the lockdown in March this year compared to the year before.
- The amount of people drinking at high risk levels '-- 50 units for men, 35 for women '-- was also highest in March this year, having risen in the first lockdown and stayed at high levels throughout the pandemic.
- Pfizer suspends distribution of anti-smoking drug after cancer-causing agents found in the pills
- On Thursday, June 24, Pfizer announced it is temporarily halting the distribution of its anti-smoking pill, Chantix. The company is doing this after it found heightened levels of a cancer-causing compound in the drug.
- Chantix was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2006 as a prescription medication that is supposed to help adults quit smoking. It is meant to be used regularly for 12 to 24 weeks.
- Pfizer said that it was recalling certain lots of Chantix from distribution, but refused to divulge how many lots. The company added that it was pausing the distribution of Chantix out of an abundance of caution, pending further testing of the drug.
- Canadian health regulators have also announced a recall of the anti-smoking drug, known as Champix outside the U.S.
- ''We have worked hand-in-hand with regulatory authorities around the world,'' said Pfizer in a statement.
- Cancer-causing compound found in Chantix and many other drugsThe cancer-causing agents found in Chantix are known as nitrosamines. Pfizer found the substance after the FDA and other drug regulatory authorities around the world asked pharmaceutical companies to assess their products for nitrosamines. These bodies did this after one nitrosamine, N-Nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, was found in blood pressure medication three years ago.
- Nitrosamines are common in water and certain foods, such as grilled and cured meats, dairy products and vegetables. The FDA claims that ingesting very low levels of nitrosamines should not cause harm.
- The FDA added that nitrosamines may increase the risk of cancer if people are exposed to high levels of it over long periods of time. Levels in drugs are not currently supposed to exceed a theoretical excess cancer risk of one in 100,000.
- Pharmaceutical companies have since found nitrosamines in a variety of their drugs.
- The heartburn drug Zantac, sold by Sanofi SA, and its generic form, ranitidine, were pulled from the market in 2019 after it was found with compounds that had the potential to form NDMA over time and in high temperatures. NDMA was also found in Zantac after a solvent used during the drug's manufacturing process created a side reaction that formed the nitrosamines.
- The diabetes drug metformin was also pulled later that year after it was discovered to contain nitrosamines.
- Pfizer still supports Chantix as anti-smoking medicationEamonn Nolan, a spokesman for Pfizer, said in an email that the benefits of Chantix ''outweigh the very low potential risks, if any, posed by nitrosamine exposure from varenicline on top of other common sources over a lifetime.'' Varenicline is the generic name of Chantix. (Related: Dead is dead: Drug for helping smokers quit found to increase risk of heart attack AND self-harm.)
- The spokesman added that Pfizer has not detected any cancer-related safety issues in testing of Chantix or in individuals taking the drug who are trying to stop smoking. He argued that smokers are up to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer than non-smokers.
- Despite Pfizer's insistence, there are many problems with Chantix. Concerns about the drug were first raised soon after it received FDA approval in 2006. Reports immediately came in of psychiatric side effects. In 2009, the FDA ordered Pfizer to put a warning label on Chantix's box. The company protested this for years and in 2016 the FDA stopped requiring the warning label.
- In 2020, Chantix sales earned Pfizer $919 million, around 17 percent lower than in 2019. One of Pfizer's main patents on Chantix expired in Nov. 2020. In a quarterly report in May, the company warned that although ''generic competition for Chantix has not yet begun, it could commence at any time.''
- Learn more about different dangerous medicines like Chantix by reading the latest articles at DangerousMedicine.com.
- Paramilitary Panda: WWF Land Grabs Rooted in Covert Apartheid History - The Reality' Institute
- In 2019, BuzzFeed News broke several stories detailing human rights violations by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). The publication found that, since 2009, as part of its ''anti-poaching'' efforts, the WWF has armed, trained, and funded paramilitary units, located in six different countries, that committed various abuses '-- torture, sexual assaults, and murder of local villagers. The non-government organization (NGO) was also found to have evicted tens of thousands of indigenous residents to make room for Chitwan National Park in Nepal.
- BuzzFeed portrayed these abuses as a dangerous '-- but fairly recent '-- side effect of the conservation movement's increasingly militant war against well-armed poachers.
- The truth '-- barely touched upon by mainstream media '-- is much more insidious than that. The WWF serves a larger purpose: for powerful interests to cordon off land for the exploitation of natural resources. It may even serve as a cover for covert military operations.
- To unpack these loaded claims, the story of WWF's militancy will be broken into two parts: the history of the organization's founder and his involvement in clandestine activities, followed by its more recent alliance with corporate and military partners.
- WWF's Origins in the Shadow WorldThe WWF was founded in 1961 by Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, the German husband to Holland's Princess Juliana. As the Prince sought a long-term funding source for the WWF, one of South Africa's wealthiest businessmen, Anton Rupert, joined the organization as the president of its South African chapter. Rupert helped to establish what became The 1001: A Nature Trust, a secretive group (the word ''cabal'' instantly comes to mind) made up of the Prince and one thousand other members contributing $10,000 to the WWF.
- Though the list of members is hidden even to the WWF board, names that were leaked to the public in the 1980s include powerful people both renowned and reviled. A long list of industrialists and politicians in the group included: Henry Ford; Anheuser-Busch's August A. Busch; IBM's Tom Watson; Stephen Bechtel of the Bechtel Corporation; Harry Oppenheimer of South African-British mining giant Anglo American Corporation; Muslim spiritual leader and billionaire Karim Aga Khan; Chase Manhattan Bank's David Rockefeller; the U.K.'s Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and future WWF president; British Petroleum General Director Sir Eric Drake; Shell CEO and future WWF president John H. Loudon; Phillip Morris CEO Joseph Cullman III; and former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
- Sitting alongside them were U.S.-supported dictator of Zaire Mobutu Seko Seko; arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi; the older brother of Osama bin Laden, Sheikh Salim Bin Laden; Franco's Minister of Information, Manuel Fraga-Iribarne; rainforest-destroying billionaire Daniel K. Ludwig; embezzler and drug and arms trafficker Robert Vesco; Swiss embezzler Tibor Rosenbaum; and Agha Hasan Abedi, the founder of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), a bank used by drug traffickers and the CIA alike to launder funds. BCCI was involved in the CIA's scheme to funnel money to the mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan, eventually leading to the rise of Osama bin Laden.
- The Prince seemed to be fond of secretive clubs, as he also founded'--get this'--the Bilderberg Group! The organization sees industrialists, politicians and other members of the world's power elite meet regularly to ''foster dialogue between Europe and North America.'' In the public mind, the Bilderberg meetings are associated with not-completely-unfounded conspiracy theories about the richest people on the planet making decisions that influence the workings of the world.
- As if some of the most powerful people meeting in secret weren't enough, to recruit U.S. involvement in the group, Bernhard turned to Eisenhower's CIA director at the time, Walter Bedell Smith. Not incidentally, the first meeting of the Bilderberg Group was funded by the CIA.
- As fate or political machinations would have it, the Prince was well-connected to the shadowy intelligence agency. A 1976 New York Times article described Bernhard as being close friends with infamous former CIA director Allen Dulles, associated with some of the U.S.'s favorite coup d'etats.
- In one CIA report, Bernhard offered the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) a Dutch intelligence officer to act as an agent for the spy organization.
- The relationship with U.S. and European intelligence seems to have gone back to the Dutch resistance to the Nazis.
- Here it's worth expanding on Bernhard's ties to Nazi intelligence. Before he rose to royal heights, Bernhard was part of the mounted SS troops, the ''Reiter-SS'', and later a member of the paramilitary National Socialist Motor Corps. In 1934, he joined IG Farben, which later became known for supplying Zyklon B to the Nazi gas chambers, and worked as an operative for its Berlin N.W. 7 office, the chemical giant's industrial espionage division.
- A 1973 telegram demonstrates that Bernhard had duplicitous intentions for his charity from very early on. In the note, from U.S. diplomat Kingdon Gould, Jr. to U.S. Secretary of State and notorious war fiend Henry Kissinger, Gould writes that Bernhard discussed the possibility of establishing a nature park in the Sinai desert that could also be used as a demilitarized zone at the expense of the WWF.
- Gould suggested that ''OBVIOUS ADVANTAGES WOULD FLOW FROM HAVING A GENUINE AND ENORMOUSLY IMPORTANT NON-HUMAN REASON FOR MINIMIZING HUMAN ACTIVITY IN THE AREA, AND FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF AN ECOLOGICALLY-ORIENTED INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION SUCH AS THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND. IT WOULD ALSO SERVE AS A FACE-SAVING DEVICE FOR ANY COUNTRY WHICH MUST YIELD SOVEREIGNTY TO A DEMILITARIZED AREA.''
- In a follow-up telegram, Gould said he discussed the idea with an Israeli ambassador and that the Israelis were open to the idea.
- From this background, we come to know that the founder of the WWF was a Western intelligence asset and nearly lifelong spy firmly entrenched in secret networks of powerful world players representing both the underworld and huge corporate and national interests. We also learn that Prince Bernhard offered the WWF up as a cover to national militaries. Next, we'll see the WWF actually deployed as such a cover.
- Operation Lock: Anti-Poaching as Cover StoryWithin WWF, Bernhard would have the opportunity to launch his own CIA-style covert operations. In 1987, the NGO launched a project known as ''Operation Lock,'' ostensibly created to infiltrate and dismantle the African rhino horn and ivory trade. To execute the project, WWF hired KAS Enterprises, a private military firm that was also used to wage war on the enemies of apartheid South Africa.
- In 1987, the Prince and WWF-South Africa functionary John Hanks paid a firm called KAS Enterprises to train anti-poaching units and penetrate illegal trading networks to arrest poachers throughout Africa. To fund Operation Lock, Bernhard sold two valuable paintings from the royal Dutch art collection and used the WWF to direct the funds to KAS Enterprises.
- KAS was created by Sir David Stirling, who established the Special Air Service (SAS), a commando unit of the British Army'--sort of like the Green Berets, but with British accents. After World War Two, Stirling worked as a private mercenary and spy, setting up fake businesses, including a film distribution firm, that ran cover for the activities of British intelligence agency MI6 around the globe.
- He was no James Bond, preventing the end of the world with wit and cunning. Working with MI6, the right-wing Stirling helped facilitate arms deals to Saudi Arabia and other parties in the Middle East, attempted to overthrow the Yemeni and Libyan governments in the early 1960s and 70s, and provided paramilitary security for African and Middle Eastern leaders (it is believed that he obtained arms for the Yemen raid through 1001 Club member Adnan Khashoggi). In 1974, he also established elaborate counterinsurgency plans for use within the U.K. in the event that the British government might break down due to civil unrest. After that, he worked to infiltrate and undermine trade unions in the U.K., as well.
- The KAS team was as militant and secretive as its SAS membership would suggest, according to the South African police with whom they worked. The squad even considered getting around sanctions placed on the apartheid regime'--a practice that could have involved illegal maneuvering'--to obtain high-tech gadgets for its mission.
- In one leaked report from KAS, the group says that the ''US Department of the Interior (US Fish and Wildlife Service) are keen'' to provide the mercenaries with technical assistance for tracking rhino horns using transmitters, ''[h]owever sanctions prevent the passage of technical assistance to the [Republic of South Africa].'' The report then suggests that it is possible to circumvent sanctions against the apartheid regime ''by sending the technical equipment to KAS in London.''
- Stephen Ellis, who broke a story on Operation Lock for the Independent in 1991, describes in his research how South African Military Intelligence exploited the trade of wildlife products throughout Africa for the larger effort of destabilizing the enemies of apartheid.
- ''All of these trades tended to implicate senior government officials throughout [Africa], either because of their value, or their illegal or semi-legal nature required traders to buy political protection at a high level,'' Ellis writes. ''Hence, the infiltration of these networks by South African Military Intelligence was not only a means of making money but also a useful tool for South Africa's secret servants to penetrate state machineries in pursuit of their strategy of destabilization.''
- In 1995, the post-apartheid South African government under Nelson Mandela investigated Operation Lock. In addition to uncovering evidence that KAS was involved in trafficking illegal wildlife products themselves, the inquiry learned that the project's leader, former SAS Commander Ian Cooke, offered to deliberately undermine the struggle against apartheid. Documents obtained during the inquiry discuss Cooke's aims to use the ivory trade network to gain intelligence on ''anti-South African countries'' and ''monitor anti-South African bodies.'' Evidence has also been uncovered that KAS had a list of people it intended to assassinate.
- In an interview with South African secret service members, documentary filmmaker Kevin Dowling learned that KAS actually fought Nelson Mandela's African National Congress (ANC), the leading anti-apartheid group in the nation, using the UNESCO heritage site of Kruger National Park to do so.
- ''The KAS mercenaries used the Kruger National Park as a training grounds to train paramilitary units such as the Koevoet Squad from Namibia,'' Dowling relayed in an interview for the book PandaLeaks. ''They were then deployed against the ANC as part of the so-called 'third force'. This officially non-existent execution squad murdered around 6,000 opponents of the apartheid regime in South Africa.''
- KAS also partnered with the Rhino and Elephant Foundation, whose president, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, led a movement that was paid in secret by South African police to oppose the ANC. Buthelezi's Inkatha movement additionally created hit squads trained by South African Military Intelligence at secret bases in Namibia and South Africa.
- South Africa wasn't alone in its support of the Inkatha Freedom Party. The group received $2.6 million from the U.S. Congress in 1991 through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy (U.S. agencies known for their efforts to destabilize foreign governments), despite the recent revelations that the Inkatha group had been working with the apartheid regime.
- KAS had its own ties to apartheid. According to Julian Rademeyer, author of Killing for Profit, ''One senior KAS employee had assisted the Angolan rebel movement UNITA with a propaganda campaign and had close ties with the South African military attach(C) in London.'' UNITA was the South African government and the CIA's favored armed force during the civil war in Angola.
- The Mandela government's inquiry suggested that, though Operation Lock was not an official WWF project, the WWF ''cannot contend that it had no knowledge of Lock or was totally divorced from it'' because it was discussed in internal organization documents. Though the organization as a whole may not have been aware of the specific exploits of the KAS team, we have evidence that WWF's founder and at least one employee hired a team of British soldiers, led by an MI6 agent, that used a national park to train ''anti-poaching'' squads to kill enemies of apartheid. The fact that Bernhard funneled the money through WWF is key, as it provides cover for KAS activities as environmentally related.
- WWF Fronts for ApartheidThat the non-profit was involved in fighting enemies of the South African apartheid state is not entirely surprising, if you know the background of billionaire WWF-South Africa president Anton Rupert. Rupert was closely connected to the Afrikaner Broederbond, the secret fascist group responsible for the implementation and maintenance of apartheid. Every prime minister and state president of the country was a member of the club from 1948 to 1994, when apartheid was ended.
- Rupert also created or participated in numerous methods for obscuring financial transactions, including shell companies and legal loopholes, in order to do international business under the UN's apartheid embargoes. This, combined with the way he internationalized the boards of his businesses to include influential people from Europe and North America, make Rupert's establishment of The 1001: A Nature Trust particularly interesting.
- The 1001: A Nature Trust was said to have an outsized influence from South Africans during apartheid, representing 60 of the 1001 members at the time. This included members of the Afrikaner Broederbond, such as the chairman of Volkskas, at one point the country's largest Afrikaner bank; the chairman of the Federale mining and industrial group; and the former managing director of the Sanlam financial group, closely affiliated with the apartheid National Party. Other prominent members included the director of Mercabank, members of the country's Defence Advisory Council, and several people implicated in the Muldergate scandal that involved the South African government using secret service funds to purchase control of local newspapers in other countries.
- Because businesses in South Africa, including those of the WWF's Anton Rupert, were accustomed to finding clever ways for circumventing international embargoes, it's possible to imagine that Bernhard, Rupert, and other South African co-conspirators benefiting from the apartheid regime would understand how the WWF could be ued to launder money for Operation Lock, which is what Bernhard did when selling his paintings for the project. Moreover, the makeup of the 1001 club suggests that there were parties involved with WWF that could use the conservation organization to their advantage.
- WWF Rangers Kill 57 People with GunshipAt the same time as KAS spread across the continent, the WWF gave Zimbabwe's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management the money to purchase a helicopter purportedly to help protect the local black rhino population against poaching. Between February 1987 and April 1988, the helicopter was used to shoot and kill at least 57 poachers, according to journalist Paul Brown, who broke the story for The Guardian.
- Former New York Times and New Yorker journalist Raymond Bonner, in his book on conservation, said of the WWF's complicity: ''The truth is the organisation knew that the helicopter would be used in operations in which poachers would be killed. Indeed, there had been a long and fierce debate within WWF about the project, and many on the staff were opposed because Zimbabwe's policy was 'Shoot first, ask questions later,' as one of those involved in the debate puts it. Providing the helicopter 'made the policy more effective,' he said. As for WWF's statement that it did not provide funds for arms or ammunition, the organisation's internal documents show that it was doing precisely that for at least one project in Tanzania in 1987.''
- According to Independent reporter Stephen Ellis, Zimbabwe's helicopter purchase was directly tied to KAS Enterprises: ''KAS succeeded in working with Zimbabwean game wardens and funding a helicopter for anti-poaching operations in the Zambezi Valley.''
- It's important to note that Operation Lock saw the KAS team infiltrating governments and illegal trading networks throughout the continent. Commander Cooke's squad also operated in Mozambique, the Central African Republic, Togo, Zambia, Swaziland, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, Cooke made connections with members of the government's Central Intelligence Organisation, as well as Glenn Tatham, the chief warden of Zimbabwe's national parks responsible for the country's ''shoot-to-kill'' policy toward poachers. In other words, there may have been other motives related to Operation Lock that we are unaware of that could account for the use of this gunship.
- From South Africa to the U.S.Prince Bernhard and KAS were clearly not conducting Operation Lock without the support of Western powers. Across the pond, WWF-US was involved in its own covert project, via former WWF-US President Curtis ''Buff'' Bohlen.
- Before he joined the WWF-US as a director of government affairs in 1981, Bohlen worked for the State Department. Bohlen told journalist Elaine Dewar, for her book Cloak of Green, that, while with State, ''he helped occasionally, did occasional assignments for'' the CIA.
- According to journalist Raymond Bonner, by 1989, WWF, neither International nor the U.S. branch, had come to a decision about whether or not to support a ban against ivory trading. The NGO wanted to respect the input of African client nations, some of whom were against banning the trade of ivory. However, to maintain a positive image with Westerners'--who were generally against the murder of all animals'--there was good reason to support a ban.
- For reasons unclear to the WWF, Bohlen rallied the support of African countries whose economies depended on the ivory trade, all while making regular reports to the State Department. Bohlen then pushed WWF-US to announce a strong endorsement in favor of an international ban on June 1, 1989, forcing WWF-International to fall in line to avoid embarrassment.
- Several days later, on June 5, 1989, then-President George H.W. Bush made his own announcement enacting a ban on ivory imports into the U.S., with WWF-US providing its seal of approval by gifting the president a stuffed elephant. This was proceeded by Margaret Thatcher's news that the U.K. was following suit by instituting its own ivory ban.
- Bohlen left his post at WWF just over six months later, in February 1990, to work for the State Department again as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs under Bush Sr.
- ''It was Buff's CIA days coming back to haunt us,'' one senior WWF-US official told Bonner. ''He really manipulated the system.''
- Bonner also quotes a WWF staff member as saying they couldn't wrap their head around Bohlen's operation, asking, ''Did he want to destabilize Africa?''
- Such a question was not an entirely unreasonable one, given the activities associated with Operation Lock across the continent.
- Economic WarfareBuff Bohlen's future boss, George Bush, had orchestrated his fair share of destabilization efforts. This included the Iran-Contra scandal, wherein the U.S. sold arms to Iran to fund the Contras to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua; and Operation Cyclone, in which Islamist extremists were armed and trained to overthrow the socialist government in Afghanistan.
- (Perhaps key side notes: both of the aforementioned operations involved members of the 1001 Club. Adnan Khashoggi was the arms dealer involved in Iran-Contra and Agha Hasan Abedi's BCCI bank was used by the CIA to funnel money to the mujahideen in Operation Cyclone. Also adding to the connections is the fact that WWF-South Africa president and billionaire Anton Rupert sat on the board of Harken Energy, associated with influence peddling of the Bush family.)
- More relatedly, under the Reagan administration (while Bush was Vice President), the U.S. supported apartheid intelligence activities via the CIA. In a March 1983 intelligence memo from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to the U.S. Department of Defense, obtained by author Hennie van Vuuren, there is a reference to the CIA training South African troops. Van Vuuren discovered numerous pieces of intelligence exchanged between the CIA and the South African Defense Force, including ''the type of surface-to-air missiles held by the Angolan government.''
- In 1988 to 1989, a covert intelligence unit within the South African military budgeted four intelligence visits from the U.S. and three visits to the U.S., meaning that the sharing of intelligence between the countries went both ways.
- Van Vuuren goes on to describe the possible involvement of the South African government in the Iran-Contra scandal, including the possibility that the government transported arms to the Contras through a South African airline. The author also confirms that the CIA tipped off South African officials to the whereabouts of Nelson Mandela in 1962, leading to his arrest.
- Bush Sr. was also known for ramping up the drug war, approving the 1033 program (formerly the 1208 program), which provided local and state police with military-grade equipment to enforce drug laws. As drug enforcement increased, so did the value of drugs, leading to more violence over the profits and more profits to the suppliers of law enforcement equipment. In some ways, the illegal wildlife trade mirrors that of the drug trade, in that prohibition has increased the value of goods on the black market and these markets provide off-the-books conduits for funds to covert operations. For instance, cocaine was used to further fuel the efforts of the Contras in Nicaragua. In Africa, thef South African Military Intelligence Directorate paid Rhodesian special forces, the Selous Scouts, in ivory.
- Drawing on this background, along with the aforementioned CIA support for the apartheid government, it's possible to infer the use by Western powers of a global ivory ban to destabilize the economies of African nations.
- Raymond Bonner recounts that, at the time of the ivory ban debate, a group of researchers was charged with determining the impact of the ivory trade on elephant populations. One member, David Pearce, sent the team's coordinator a memorandum representing the views of the group's economists. Pearce explained that ''by depriving countries of ivory sales, the ban was the equivalent of a $50 million tax on African governments; in addition, domestic carving industries in African countries would be severely hurt. Therefore, Pearce said, if there was going to be a ban, affected African countries should be compensated by the West with $100 million a year.'' This information was never included in the group's final report.
- Tying these pieces together, it could be possible that the ban was put into place to destabilize African economies, increase the jurisdiction of U.S. military forces, and ensure the steady flow of arms and funding to paramilitary programs abroad, with the added benefit of using the ivory trade as a cover for whatever covert operations might be necessary. However, at this point, it has been difficult for this author to determine if the ivory ban really did have such an economic impact on African countries.
- A Sinister BeginningWhile the organization's leadership may have been aware of the anti-poaching campaign, it may not have known about ulterior motives for that campaign. Bernhard, an asset for the CIA, along with MI6's David Stirling, may have launched Operation Lock on behalf of partners within the South African regime, including Anton Rupert and other members of the WWF's 1001 Club.
- Any strange activities conducted by KAS, then, could be attributed to its cover story. When discovered by the public, training and arming death squads, killing anti-apartheid activists, spying on neighboring countries, and getting cash through off-the-books methods, could be and actually have been described as unconventional and heavy-handed methods to take on poachers.
- Given links between the apartheid regime, the WWF, and western intelligence, Lock may have been just one among many covert attempts to maintain the apartheid government. One other project associated with the nature conservation organization could have involved the destabilization of African economies through the international ban of ivory trading.
- If such a hypothesis were confirmed, Operation Lock would be just one instance of the use of the WWF as a front for nefarious actions by international power brokers. However, details about the WWF's more recent history suggests that the green cover provided by WWF continues today.
- The War on PoachingWhile Operation Lock may have been controversial enough to hide from the public at the time, countless publications have written completely uncritical articles about what has become standard practice in conservation: heavily arming and training anti-poaching units in third world countries.
- Groups ranging from WildlifeDirect, the Wildlife Conservation Fund and the African Wildlife Foundation to the WWF and Save the Elephants have been turning park rangers into paramilitary forces in an effort to combat poachers who are well-equipped. York University associate professor Elizabeth Lunstrum points out that national parks worldwide are becoming increasingly militarized, with former military forces found on both sides of the poaching war.
- In government press communications and the mainstream media, one of the biggest motivators for the militarization of wildlife conservation is to take on terrorist groups, like Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram, who are said to receive substantial funding from the trade of illegal wildlife products.
- For instance, in 2016, U.S. ambassador to the UN Samantha Power told officials and journalists that it was necessary to train and arm park rangers to take on Boko Haram, saying that ''the criminal networks that profit from trafficking fuel corruption and generate funds that can be used to fuel other dangerous activities that pose a serious security threat, including terrorism.'' At a 2013 meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), Hillary Clinton said that al Shabab was also funding their operations with ivory trafficking.
- News outlets too refer to a strong link between poaching and terrorism, including a post from CNN titled ''How poaching fuels terrorism funding,'' a story from the Washington Post dubbed ''Break the link between terrorism funding and poaching,'' and an Independent article headlined ''British troops tackling elephant poachers selling ivory to fund terror.'' ''Zero Dark Thirty'' director Kathryn Bigelow even created a short film called ''Last Days'' about ivory-funded terrorism.
- However, numerous academic and institutional studies have determined that the link between terrorism and poaching is tenuous. A 2018 National Science Foundation-funded paper found that, in Cameroon, Boko Haram was more interested in stealing the cattle of pastoralists than elephant tusks to fund its operations. A report from a British think tank, the Royal United Services Institute, determined that poaching was linked to organized crime, rather than terrorism.
- Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, concluded: ''[A]nalyses of the wildlife-trafficking-militancy-nexus are often shrouded in unproven assumptions and myths. Crucially, they divert attention from several uncomfortable truths with profound policy implications: First is that the nexus of militancy in wildlife trafficking constitutes only a sliver of the global wildlife trade and countering it will not resolve the global poaching crisis. Second, counterterrorism and counterinsurgency forces, even recipients of international assistance, also poach and smuggle wildlife and use anti-poaching and counterterrorism efforts as covers for displacement of local populations and land grabbing. Third, corruption among government officials, agencies, and rangers has far more profound effects on the extent of poaching and wildlife trafficking. And finally, local communities are often willing participants in the global illegal wildlife trade.''
- Despite the lack of evidence regarding the ties between poaching and terrorism, both military and non-government organizations have been using the conceit as a means of blending the two for the sake of conservation. A WWF report summarizing a ''wildlife crime workshop'' in 2012 gives the impression that invoking military action in the anti-poaching field is a desired outcome by participants and that establishing links between wildlife crime and terrorism or other illegal activities are necessary to achieve it.
- Crawford Allan, Senior Director of Wildlife Crime for TRAFFIC, a joint wildlife trade program between WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is noted to have said: ''As nomenclature is an issue, one effective strategy may be 'bundling' this issue. We may be more successful in marketing the issue if we bundle the concepts of 'wildlife' and 'crime' with 'military security', 'food security', 'wildlife decimation', 'trans-boundary security' and other related issues such as illegal logging/timber trafficking and IUU fishing.''
- Other suggestions made to further entwine wildlife policing and larger military efforts include ''link[ing] revenues from the illegal wildlife trade to terrorist groups and/or international drug cartels, thereby triggering government military responses, such as the U.S. Department of Defense involvement under existing authorities.''
- One comment states that ''NGOs need to be able to collate [information] and pass it on in such a way that it can be disseminated to the intelligence community to achieve a higher profile.'' Another describes the ''necessary steps for engaging DOD'', saying, ''The NGO community, ranger forces, and others must make a more convincing case if they want strong Military involvement. Many ranger forces in central Africa are para-military and DOD should be able to work with them on a military-to-military basis (understanding that precedents exist). For this to occur, this issue must meet the threshold for prioritization. Unless the USG raises the priority of this issue by making a clear connection founded in intelligence that wildlife crime is linked to drug trafficking and/or other illegal chains, this will not happen.''
- For the WWF, the militarization of conservation has meant working closely with a variety of armed forces worldwide, including: the Indian Army, Nepal Army, the Thai military, the French military, the Cameroon Army, and more. The most powerful, of course, is the U.S. military. This is a result of the fact that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided over $120 million to the WWF over time.
- A May 5, 2011 presentation on projects in Tanzania, for instance, describes how AFRICOM, USAID, WWF and the African Wildlife Foundation were involved in the training of the Tanzania People's Defense Forces to fight poaching in the Masai Steppe.
- In a 2012 congressional hearing that included the WWF and its frequent partner Save the Elephants, wildlife conservancies praised the work of AFRICOM in the fight against poaching. Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton said, '' If we could have much more help with training maybe from the U.S. forces and, indeed, intelligence and surveillance and any of the resources that they could marshal, it would be a great help. ''
- Elizabeth Lunstrum explains that the military technology deployed in parks is becoming more advanced as well. Google provided WWF with a $5 million grant for the purchase of surveillance drones to be used at parks globally. This is just one drone program among many pieces of military tech now being used, according to Lunstrum.
- ''One (rather secretive) partnership is with the Denel Group, a state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate that has loaned an unmanned aerial vehicle, Seeker 2, a drone, to SANParks to assist its anti-poaching efforts. 'Details of the intervention,' we are told, 'cannot be released for security considerations and other key operational sensitivities.' At a minimum, this 'intervention' brings military drone technology into Kruger'--technology that can potentially lessen the problems of distance and invisibility posed by the park's expanse and dense topography,'' Lunstrum writes. ''In a far more well-publicized partnership, SANParks has received additional military aerial surveillance technology from the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, which is the charitable arm of the Paramount Group, itself the continent's largest privately owned defense and aerospace company. Their donation consists of a Seeker Seabird specialist reconnaissance aircraft equipped with a 'FLIR Ball infrared detector [that] will deliver more enhanced and powerful observation capability to [Kruger's] rangers, making it very difficult for poachers to hide.,''
- Other advanced technologies include: artificial intelligence, RFID, thermal imaging, gunshot detectors, snare detectors, and vehicle trackers. Douglas-Hamilton highlights the direction national parks are headed in during the congressional hearing, as he makes multiple requests for cooperation with DARPA for the application of advanced military technology on elephant collars:
- ''I think that DARPA have the intellectual resources, quite extraordinary ones. I know some of the people there, and we have discussed ideas for making the dream elephant collar or for putting up gunshot detectors in all the hills and integrating this into a system that is a sort of command and control system but at a local level where it is very easy to get the information fed back to a quick reaction force. In a way, antipoaching is like a minor guerilla war.''
- In a 2017 congressional hearing, Carter Roberts, President and CEO of WWF, similarly requests ''continued commitment and additional investment from the public and private sectors, there are a range of priority conservation challenges we might tackle via technology and innovation, including: Leverage U.S. technology experts and experts at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to help solve the problem of 'the needle in the haystack' when it comes to technology solutions used in the field and illegal wildlife being trafficked in shipping containers.''
- 2017 actually saw the realization of the Save the Elephants gunshot tracking technology. Though not a collar, the device DARPA developed can determine the coordinates of gunshots based on ballistics soundwaves, even if a gunshot is fired from a weapon with a silencer on it.
- There isn't much empirical evidence that terrorist ground receive significant funding via illegal trading of wildlife products, yet the media and politicians continue to suggest the opposite. Given the fact that conservation NGOs like WWF desire support from the U.S. military, we might assume that this messaging is exactly what the NGOs are hoping to communicate.
- Conservation as Guerilla WarfareDouglas-Hamilton's comparison to a guerilla war is an apt one, in that the distinction between poaching and warfare is often lost on the forces embedded within national park zones.
- In one widely-publicized incident, a group of poachers from Chad and Sudan entered WWF-supported Bouba N'Djida National Park in Cameroon and killed 200 elephants, which resulted in the involvement of both the Cameroonian military and U.S. military and an in-person meeting between the President of Cameroon and U.S. General Carter F. Ham, Commander of U.S. AFRICOM.
- Due to that incident, the Cameroon government's Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) was brought in to collaborate with park guards. According to the aforementioned National Science Foundation report, the use of such military force could lead to abuse and repression of local indigenous groups without oversight.
- ''In light of the poacher-as-terrorist narrative, conservation interests can be trumped by national security concerns.'' The report continues, ''As the Warden of the park remembered, rather than engaging with conservation-trained staff there, the BIR had 'taken over the park,' often excluding the warden and trained eco-guards from their operations. These park officials' concerns converge with those of scholars like Duffy and Humphreys and Smith'--that wars waged in the name of biodiversity can be used by state governments to justify repressive and coercive policies within their borders.''
- That, however, may be exactly the point of intertwining military and park ranger forces, allowing the former to blend into the latter in order to perform covert operations.
- Covert ConservationGiven the WWF's history with Operation Lock, we might suspect continued military exploitation of the NGO as a cover for clandestine activities. Paramilitary forces that are free to roam in conservation parks, which have been the sites of battles with anti-state forces and often stretch across national borders, would be useful after all. And the U.S. government has a long history of funding paramilitary forces to exert control in foreign countries, most notably through Operation Condor in Latin America.
- Exploring that train of thought, it's worth understanding the work that USAID has sometimes been involved in. On its surface, USAID is an arm of the State Department used to provide money and resources to NGOs for development in third world countries. However, the division has been continuously linked to destabilization efforts by the U.S. government in nations around the world.
- One of the most recent and famous examples was a USAID-backed social media network in Cuba called ZunZuneo, meant to encourage young Cubans to revolt against the government. Other examples include attempts to undermine and divide the Hugo Chavez government in Venezuela, stir up anti-Yanukovych protests in Ukraine, and facilitate the ouster of Fernando Lugo in Paraguay.
- There is some evidence that USAID-funded programs and high-tech conservation tools could serve ulterior purposes. Keith Harmon Snow, an award winning journalist, and Georgianne Nienaber published an investigative series (previously available on the now-defunct COA News site) on the link between the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund-International (DFGFI) and business and government interests in Africa, based on extensive documentation and on-the-ground experience in the Great Lakes region of Africa.
- The pair reported that, after the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund-International (DFGFI) could not account for over about $4.7 million in USAID funds with a standard A-133 form, the NGO was audited by a Department of Defense contractor, the Defense Contracts Audit Agency. The agency did not publish the outcome of its audit due to the ''proprietary nature'' of the audit.
- The journalists claim that an anonymous source told them, ''USAID is covering up for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.'' The authors go on to say that remote sensing data created by DFGFI partner and geographic information systems company Esri was, ''According to two independent inside sources'... delivered directly by the DFGFI's CEO Clare Richardson into the hands of Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Minister of Defense.''
- The authors cite a ''remote sensing expert'', who visited Esri operations, as saying, ''These guys aren't looking for habitat. They are looking for oil, which is what they do, and they probably got funding for habitat assessment from USAID and are using the data to provide their owners with oil, minerals and uranium info. I'm not aware of any natural resource vegetative project that they have done in the past. It strictly sounds like taking the taxpayer dollar to fatten some oil guys pockets.''
- An Esri press release quoted by the journalists explains that the remote sensing data can be used for other applications, including mineral explorations: ''Beyond gorilla habitat analysis, GIS and remote sensing technology can also help the government update its maps, manage its agricultural lands, relocate refugees, and analyze the impact of their (refugee) camps (areas known to suffer from deforestation due to trees being used for firewood and temporary shelters), as well as explore for minerals.''
- Harmon Snow and Nienaber also cite an anonymous source as saying, ''The theory is that Rwanda lets the U.S. fly over their airspace to get oil and uranium information, and in return Rwanda gets defense maps.''
- The investigation focuses on DFGFI, but WWF is a partner of DFGFI, is involved in some of the same conservation projects, and is a part of the same nexus of conservation groups that operate with USAID funding. In fact, WWF is also a partner of Esri, working with the company to create maps of data collected by WWF throughout the various territories in which it works.
- Direct evidence of conservation agencies as covert operations, however, would be nearly impossible to come by outside of insider info or an Edward Snowden-type leak. Moreover, to understand the WWF as a tool of Western state and corporate power doesn't necessarily require a narrative of spy agencies and covert ops.
- Scramble for AfricaWhile WWF's stated purpose is the conservation of wildlife in the countries where it operates, U.S. power may wish to utilize that conservation for specific purposes. Vice-Admiral Robert Moeller, military deputy to former commander of AFRICOM General William 'Kip' Ward, told a 2008 AFRICOM conference that the unit's goal was ''protecting the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market.'' Moeller later wrote in 2010, ''Let there be no mistake. AFRICOM's job is to protect American lives and promote American interests.''
- In fact, the blend of military and conservation in regions with vast natural resources serves a crucial purpose: the securitization of those resources for multinational corporations. WWF and other conservation non-profits are able to cordon off large swaths of land for multiple potential uses. The process begins by evicting indigenous communities from ancestral lands, preventing them from hunting for bushmeat or animal horns for cultural or survival purposes. To enforce authority over the land, these ''poachers'' may face waterboarding, sexual assault, whippings, beatings, and murder. Some areas are then conserved to raise money for the NGO and private interests through ecotourism and trophy hunting; others can be reserved for extraction by WWF partners.
- Non-governmental organization Survival International (SI) has documented this process with regards to protected areas in Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. According to members of indigenous Baka and Bayaka tribes in the Congo Basin region that spans these countries, the tribespeople have been labelled as ''poachers'' and forced off of their ancestral lands by WWF-funded and trained park rangers to make way for various nature parks.
- While these tribes can no longer access the land for food and medicine, WWF's corporate partners are able to enter the region to access its natural resources. SI reports that, ''WWF was partnering with seven companies logging nearly 4 million hectares of forests belonging to the Baka and Bayaka.''
- Timber removed by these companies is sometimes dubbed ''sustainable'' through questionable methods by WWF, who is paid a fee for the certification. According to a report by Global Witness, WWF's Global Forest and Trade Network has few standards for member companies that allows them to obtain wood from illegal sources or practice such destructive practices as clearcutting natural forests and replacing them with plantations.
- In the rainforests of Sumatra, residents and their small rubber fields were evicted to create Tesso Nilo National Park. This allowed for the protection of the last 500 Sumatran tigers, while also enabling for the destruction of rainforest by firms such as Asia Pacific Resources International to make way for palm oil monocrop plantations for agribusiness giant Wilmar International, who then sold the product to such mega conglomerates as Unilever.
- Despite the destruction of vital habitats and rainforest land, as well as the use of dangerous pesticides, these products can still be labelled as sustainable under the standards of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), whose board includes the WWF.
- Meanwhile, agro-giants like Monsanto and Cargill participated in the WWF-led Round Table on Responsible Soy Association (RTRS) to greenwash the production of GMO soy. Der Spiegel details how RTRS soybeans are not guaranteed to be derived from non-GMO crops nor are they necessarily free from pesticides.
- WWF also partners with mining companies, portioning off a section of nature for protection and leaving the rest for ''sustainable'' resource extraction. In Borneo, more than 23 million hectares of forest were to be managed by the WWF and three national governments. In 2012, 58 percent of the area covered with industrial operations: 9 percent for timber and palm oil plantations, 18 percent for mining and almost a third for logging concessions.
- The WWF uses the same strategy of cordoning off land with hydroelectric dams: determining what land should be conserved and what is safe to sacrifice in favor of industry. Though the NGO participated in a campaign to prevent British oil company SOCO from drilling in Virunga National Park in the DRC, it subsequently participated in a survey with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation about the impact of four hydroelectric dams in the park.
- Wilfred Huismann explains in his book, PandaLeaks, what the WWF gets in return for greenwashing these efforts: ''The WWF is a willing service provider to the giants of the food and energy sectors, supplying industry with a green, progressive image. But ecological indulgences under the banner of the panda have their price: companies pay sizable license fees for using the WWF panda in their advertising and packaging. Big business presumably pays even higher sums to the WWF for studies conducted and consultation services rendered. Then there are the enormous individual donations from companies that collaborate with the WWF, in the RSPO or other capacities.''
- These activities are in the process of coalescing under a new campaign, announced at the 2019 World Economic Forum, pinned to the urgency of climate change and ecological collapse. The WWF is part of a growing movement on the part of many of the world's most powerful companies and business interests to sell off what remains of the planet with the claim that ''Globalization 4.0 is an opportunity to save the planet and drive economic growth.''
- The companies and business interests involved in this movement include such notables as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble (via Global Shapers), IKEA, Salesforce, Alcoa, Cargill, Citibank, Shell, the World Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation (via the World Resources Institute). The method of profiting features investing in carbon capture technology, carbon credits, electric vehicle infrastructure, and new financing methods similar to microloans.
- With this context, the abuse allegations of WWF paramilitary units present a different picture. Much of the staff on the ground likely believes it's doing meaningful work in the over 100 countries in which WWF operates and the NGO has been a prominent voice in such important environmental issues as global warming and nuclear energy.
- As potentially beneficial as this work may be, it also provides a cover for more nefarious activity. In the least cohesive, piecemeal image of the details laid out here, you have the world's largest conservation group associated with secrecy, corruption and the arming and training of violent paramilitary forces since at least the 1980s. A coherent narrative of the WWF's history, however, is one in which the world's power elite'--world leaders, CEOs, and intelligence agents'--leverage the WWF brand to remove indigenous groups from large sections of natural land, which is then used for eco-tourism, wildlife hunting, and staging military activities. This leaves the remaining land open for development by the world's most powerful companies to build hydroelectric dams, cultivate palm oil plantations, sell carbon credits or cultivate genetically modified soy monocrops that receive a WWF mark of sustainability.
- Not only is this important in the context of holding WWF accountable, but in addressing the world to come as business and governments adapt to climate change and social movements. If the Panda logo is taking advantage of concern for the environment in order to exploit it, chances are that there are other interests deploying a similar strategy for similar reasons.
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish with attribution to the author and share widely.
- US Drug Regulators Set January Target to Decide on Approval of Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine
- A review of Pfizer's request for approval of its COVID-19 vaccine will likely be completed by January 2022, U.S. drug regulators announced Friday.
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to make the request a priority.
- FDA officials in December 2020 granted emergency use authorization to COVID-19 jabs from Pfizer and Moderna. The only other shot that has since been authorized for use in the United States is one from Johnson & Johnson.
- All three companies have asked for or intend to ask for full approval, which requires more data and a more thorough review.
- Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of food and drugs for the FDA, said regulators are targeting January 2022 to be done with the review, but the target ''does not mean approval will not happen before that time.''
- ''Quite to the contrary, the review of this BLA has been ongoing, is among the highest priorities of the agency, and the agency intends to complete the review far in advance'' of that target date, she said in a statement.
- Pfizer finished submitting the request for approval, formally known as the Biologics License Application (BLA), in May. It includes clinical data from a phase 3 clinical trial that Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, said showed the jab was 91.3 percent effective against COVID-19 and 100 percent effective against severe disease.
- COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
- A 13-year-old watches a nurse injects him with a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Freeport, N.Y., on May 14, 2021. (Mary Altaffer/AP Photo)Pfizer is the most commonly used COVID-19 shot in the nation. Nearly 187 million doses have been administered as of Friday, versus 136 million Moderna doses and just 12.9 million Johnson & Johnson doses.
- Pfizer's jab is the only one authorized for use in children between the ages of 12 and 17. Moderna last month asked the FDA for authorization for that age group, after a trial showed it was 100 percent effective in the population.
- Moderna in June also requested full approval for the jab.
- Nearly half of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated against the CCP virus, but U.S. officials have continued aggressively pushing the vaccines, alleging they're the only way to guarantee protection against the disease.
- Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters in a virtual briefing earlier Thursday that data show ''this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated.''
- ''We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk. And communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well,'' she said.
- The CDC has not responded to a request for data backing up the narrative, which Walensky has promoted in multiple recent appearances.
- Critics note that people who contract COVID-19 and recover enjoy lasting immunity, a fact downplayed by the FDA and the CDC.
- The development on Pfizer's request came about a week after the company announced it would ask the FDA to authorize a booster dose of its vaccine, alleging that people face a risk of reinfection six months after receiving the original two-dose regimen. However, both the FDA and the health centers said such a booster is not needed at this time.
- After a meeting this week involving U.S. officials and Pfizer employees, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said it's ''very possible'' a booster will be needed, even as a health official said boosters could increase the risk of serious side effects.
- SARS CoV2 NAT - NSW Health Pathology - Website
- The diagnostic test of choice for acute symptomatic COVID-19 disease is nucleic acid testing (NAT) performed on an appropriately collected upper or lower respiratory tract sample.
- It is performed using either in-house real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing which is used across the world to diagnose COVID 19 infection.
- The assays used are extremely accurate with a high sensitivity to detect the virus and a high specificity for the virus. The different assays and platforms used across NSWHP have specific indicators of sensitivity and specificity and these are validated by NSW Health Pathology as required by the Australian Standards of NPAAC (National Pathology Accreditation Advisory Council).
- PCR testing is regarded as the current standard for diagnosis of COVID-19 infection (see the Australian Government Department of Health's Therapeutic Goods Administration website) and Public Health Laboratory Network (PHLN) data.
- Generally, the number of cycles run by the PCR systems is 45, however this can vary depending on the machine or assay used. Generally the cut-off or threshold is set at a Ct of 40. However as mentioned above this is set by the manufacturer's instructions as well as the validation processes required by all Australian laboratories.
- NSW Covid: Sydney TikTok star predicts daily cases for third day
- Aussie comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz has correctly predicted NSW Covid case numbers for a third day running.
- The Sydney-based former Home And Away extra pulled off a trifecta of accurate ''calculations'' on Friday with his prediction of 97 new cases for the state.
- Kairouz claimed ''simple maths'' allowed him to calculate Wednesday's 97 new cases and Thursday's 65 cases before they were officially announced by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
- In traditional style, he uploaded his prediction to TikTok Thursday evening, and shortly after 11am on Friday, Ms Berejiklian confirmed he was once again right.
- In the clip, he pondered over a whiteboard covered in bogus calculations and the words ''diameter of Fairfield'' written across the top '' the Sydney suburb that has had a huge spike in case numbers.
- After joining two shapes together with a straight line and adding a number to one of the ''equations'', he drew the number 91 on the board.
- A brief moment later he edited the number to 97.
- ''No, 97. There'll be 97 new cases tomorrow. Stitch this if I'm right,'' he told his audience.
- Kairouz's followers seem to have developed a level of confidence in his predictions in recent days, with those questioning his accuracy few and far between.
- ''It's the fact this guy is actually right. Thanks for telling us in advance,'' one wrote in a comment.
- He was so confident in his prediction that he told one viewer he would ''quit'' if he turned out to be wrong.
- Others argued he should also be able to calculate when the lockdown would be over, but it seemed he was not quite up to that level of challenge.
- He has remained tight-lipped on how he actually knows the case numbers ahead of time, however it has been widely speculated someone at NSW Health has been leaking them to him.
- In an appeareance on Studio 10 Friday morning, he insisted his correct guesses were the result of him crunching ever-changing data issued by health officials.
- ''It's just cold, hard maths. You know, I show my working-out on the board for everyone to see, and it's as simple as that,'' he claimed.
- ''Me and my brothers work hard and we take everything into account. The data is changing every day. And as I said, it's just the Kairouz probability theorem.''
- He accused people who doubted his claims of being drivers of a ''conspiracy campaign'' against him.
- ''A lot of people are saying, 'Oh, he's related to Gladys, he must be her nephew or related to her new Lebanese boyfriend'. That's the furthest thing from the truth. People lie and numbers don't,'' he said.
- Of the 97 new cases, 29 people were in the community while infectious, Ms Berejiklian told reporters.
- Premier quizzed over potential leak
- Ms Berejiklian was asked about the bizarre accuracy of Kairouz's TikTok videos in Friday's press conference but couldn't give any further insight about his connections.
- ''All we can do is focus on it job at hand, and at the moment, a lot of people have alleged to have various bits of information and advice, and is welcome,'' she responded.
- ''We are in a democracy. What is important to us as a team is a focus on what is necessary and that is to let a stake in the most challenging at times and I cannot stress that enough.''
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- U.S. Mercenaries Arrested in Haiti Were Part of a Half-Baked Scheme to Move $80 Million for Embattled President
- Most of the Americans arrived in Port-au-Prince from the U.S. by private jet early on the morning of February 16. They'd packed the eight-passenger charter plane with a stockpile of semiautomatic rifles, handguns, Kevlar bulletproof vests, and knives. Most had been paid already: $10,000 each up front, with another $20,000 promised to each man after they finished the job.
- A trio of politically connected Haitians greeted the Americans when their plane landed around 5 a.m. An aide to embattled Haitian President Jovenel Mo¯se and two other regime-friendly Haitians whisked them through the country's biggest airport, avoiding customs and immigration agents, who had not yet reported for work.
- The American team included two former Navy SEALs, a former Blackwater-trained contractor, and two Serbian mercenaries who lived in the U.S. Their leader, a 52-year-old former Marine C-130 pilot named Kent Kroeker, had told his men that this secret operation had been requested and approved by Mo¯se himself. The Haitian president's emissaries had told Kroeker that the mission would involve escorting the presidential aide, Fritz Jean-Louis, to the Haitian central bank, where he'd electronically transfer $80 million from a government oil fund to a second account controlled solely by the president. In the process, the Haitians told the Americans, they'd be preserving democracy in Haiti.
- It was too good a deal for the band of semi-employed military veterans and security contractors to turn down.
- But a day after the Americans landed in Haiti, they would find themselves in jail and at the center of a political uproar, with Haitians asking what a group of foreign mercenaries was doing at the central bank and who they were working for. Within three days, Kroeker and his team would be released and sent back to the U.S., having somehow managed to escape criminal charges in Haiti.
- Many details of the operation remain murky, but based on interviews with Haitian law enforcement and government officials, as well as a person with direct knowledge of the plan, a picture of the clumsy effort emerges. What at first resembled a comedic plot about a group of ex-soldiers looking for a quick and easy mercenary score was in fact a poorly executed but serious effort by Mo¯se to consolidate his political power with American muscle.
- Neither Mo¯se nor the Haitian Embassy in Washington, D.C., responded to requests for comment.
- None of the Americans spoke directly with Mo¯se or received official paperwork from the Haitian government authorizing them to undertake the mission, according to the person with direct knowledge of the operation. Yet Jean-Louis and the plot's other key organizer, Josu(C) Leconte, a Haitian-American from Brooklyn and close friend of Mo¯se, do not appear to have been rogue operators.
- The Americans arrived at a tumultuous political and economic moment in a country with a history of unrest. Since last July, when Mo¯se tried to raise fuel prices by as much as 50 percent, intermittent protests have paralyzed Haiti.
- Thousands of demonstrators march in the street during a protest to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Mo¯se on Feb. 7, 2019.
- Photo: Dieu Nalio Chery/AP
- From 2008 to 2017, Venezuela provided Haiti with about $4.3 billion in cheap oil under the Petrocaribe Accord, which
- Venezuela signed with Haiti and 16 other Caribbean and Central American countries. Haiti had a particularly favorable deal: Forty percent of the money owed to Venezuela was repayable over 25 years at an annual interest rate of 1 percent. In the meantime, Haiti was free to pump its revenue from that oil into the Petrocaribe fund. The fund was supposed to support hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and other social projects, and helped prop up the Haitian government after the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
- But Trump administration sanctions on Venezuela and financial mismanagement by the Haitian government led the Haitian central bank to halt payments to Venezuela, and the Petrocaribe agreement effectively ended in early 2018. A Haitian Senate investigation found that the fund's nearly $2 billion had been largely misappropriated, embezzled, and stolen, primarily under Haitian President Michel Martelly's leadership between 2011 and 2016.
- Mo¯se came to power in 2017, after the Port-au-Prince district attorney accused him of money laundering. The corruption allegations, combined with the end of cheap Venezuelan oil and credit, created a perfect storm of popular outrage. In recent months, Mo¯se and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Henry C(C)ant have been vying for power, and Mo¯se's decision to back the Trump administration's recent efforts to undermine Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro set off a new round of popular street protests in Haiti, with protesters calling for Mo¯se to step down. Under the Haitian constitution, that would have made C(C)ant the country's leader.
- The Americans were told that the Petrocaribe fund is controlled by Mo¯se, C(C)ant, and the central bank's president, Jean Baden Dubois. Because of the widening political rift between the president and the prime minister, that arrangement left the $80 million effectively frozen, according to the person with direct knowledge of the operation.
- Leconte and Jean-Louis told the Americans that by moving the money into an account C(C)ant and Dubois could not access, Mo¯se could more effectively lead the country, hence the promise that they would be supporting Haiti's democracy. The fund was the government's only significant economic instrument, and the move would secure Mo¯se's position and freeze out his prime minister. It is unclear what Mo¯se intended to do with the money once he gained control of it.
- Leconte paid the Americans for the operation, according to the source with direct knowledge. Leconte and his business partner, Gesner Champagne, who also met the Americans at the airport in Port-au-Prince, were acting as cutouts, giving Mo¯se plausible deniability, the Americans were told.
- In return for helping Mo¯se, the president promised Leconte and Champagne that he would give a nationwide telecom contract to Preble-Rish Haiti, the engineering and construction company Leconte and Champagne run together, Jean-Louis and Leconte told the Americans.
- The Banque de la R(C)publique d'Ha¯ti in downtown Port-au-Prince on March 8, 2019.
- Photo: Kim Ives/Ha¯ti Libert(C)
- Jean-Louis, Kroeker, and his five teammates arrived at the Banque de la R(C)publique d'Ha¯ti in downtown Port-au-Prince around 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 17, roughly 36 hours after the Americans had landed. In addition to being a presidential aide, Jean-Louis was the former director of the national lottery, which is run out of the central bank. It is unclear if his previous job was related to his having been selected to transfer the money.
- The Americans pulled up in three cars and got out. They were heavily armed and stood protectively around Jean-Louis. The bank was closed, but Jean-Louis told a security guard at the door that they were there on bank business, according to the source with direct knowledge. Suspicious of their intent, the security guard refused to let them in. Instead, someone alerted the police.
- A two-hour standoff ensued on Rue des Miracles. Penned in by the police, Kroeker called a seventh member of his team to help negotiate their release. Dustin Porte, an electrical services contractor and former member of the Louisiana National Guard who spoke French, showed up and spoke to the police on his team members' behalf. The contractors eventually surrendered, telling the police that it was all a big misunderstanding '-- and that they were there on a government mission, according to the Miami Herald.
- The police asked the Americans why, if their mission was legitimate, they hadn't gone through official channels, a senior Haitian law enforcement source told The Intercept.
- ''Because the president doesn't trust you guys,'' one of the contractors replied, according to the Haitian law enforcement official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly about what happened.
- Haitian police arrested Kroeker, the team leader; former Navy SEALs Christopher McKinley, 49, and Christopher Osman, 44; former Blackwater contractor Talon Burton, 51; and Porte, 43. They also detained the two Serbians, Danilo Bajagic, 36, and Vlade Jankovic, 40. Photos of their weapons and tactical gear, which included six semiautomatic assault rifles, six handguns, knives, and at least three satellite phones, soon surfaced on social media.
- Haitian police sources say that some if not all of the mercenaries brought their arms with them and that the makes, models, and serial numbers of the weapons have been provided to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. U.S. authorities have so far failed to bring charges against the contractors for illegally traveling out of the United States with their weapons, which requires a license.
- Jean-Louis had apparently managed to flee during the lengthy standoff. But after the Americans were booked into the jail, Michel-Ange G(C)d(C)on, the director general of Haiti's National Police, fielded calls from Jean-Louis, senior presidential aide Ardouin Z(C)phirin, and Haitian Justice Minister Jean Roudy Aly, who claimed variously that the Americans were conducting ''state business'' and there doing ''work for the bank,'' according to a well-placed police source. In each case, the callers conveyed that Mo¯se had authorized the Americans and that they should be released. G(C)d(C)on refused.
- C(C)ant did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Shortly after the Americans were arrested, he took to the airwaves to call the team ''terrorists'' and ''mercenaries'' who had been trying to get to the bank's roof so they could assassinate him and unspecified parliamentarians. He later walked back the statements, saying that they were a ''hypothesis.''
- On Monday, Haiti's parliament voted to oust C(C)ant as prime minister, but C(C)ant has remained defiant. ''There are MPs who have decided to do something illegal and unconstitutional and that goes against principles, republican traditions, and parliamentary traditions,'' he told the Haitian daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste. ''I am still in office as prime minister.''
- The caper might have been successful had any of the American participants had previous experience conducting a clandestine mercenary mission in a sovereign country. Instead, they were a mixed bag of mostly military veterans, including one former SEAL who had recently been charged with assault for a road rage incident in southern California and another who was a body builder with a sideline as a country music singer. There was Kroeker, who among other ventures ran a truck suspension business; Burton, a former Army military police officer and State Department security contractor; and Porte, the owner of a small electrical contractor that won a one-time $16,000 contract with the Department of Homeland Security.
- Kroeker, according to a person with direct knowledge, had assured his colleagues that the mission would be easy. But while the Americans were well-armed, they lacked other basic provisions of a secret security operation for hire: insurance coverage, a medical evacuation plan, legal authority to bring their weapons into Haiti, or an escape plan if things went bad.
- ''They had no idea what they were doing,'' said the person with direct knowledge, who requested anonymity to speak publicly about the clandestine mission.
- A list, created by Haitian police and acquired by Ha¯ti Libert(C), of the serial numbers of weapons the mercenaries had.
- After the State Department secured the Americans' release, everyone involved in the operation scattered. By the time the Americans were freed, Jean-Louis and Leconte had fled Haiti. Leconte flew back to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, according to the person with knowledge of the operation; a day after he landed in New York, his Facebook profile was taken down. On February 24, Leconte ran away from a reporter who asked for comment outside his Brooklyn home and hid in a parking garage.
- Chris Osman, one of the ex-Navy SEALs and the only member of the team to publicly discuss the Haiti operation so far, wrote on Instagram that he was in Haiti doing security work for ''people who are directly connected to the current president.'' Osman hinted at the Haitian political intrigue behind the scheme, posting that he and his colleagues ''were being used as pawns in a public fight between [Mo¯se] and the current Prime Minister of Haiti.'' Osman has since deleted his post.
- Leconte and Champagne had discussed a possible follow-up contract with Kroeker if the money transfer was successful, according to the person with direct knowledge of the mission. It is unclear what that assignment might have been.
- South Africa - The First Country Built on ''Critical Race Theory'' - Officially Implodes - Revolver
- South Africa '-- The First Country Built on ''Critical Race Theory'' '-- Officially Implodes
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- South Africa is disintegrating.
- After the jailing of Jacob Zuma, supporters of the former president took to the streets, ostensibly to protest but actually to simply plunder at will. The official death toll already runs into the dozens, but in a country as violent as South Africa (57 murders a day) the real toll will likely never be known for certain.
- JUST IN '' At least 72 people have been killed, hundreds arrested, and countless properties looted so far in spiraling unrest in South Africa triggered by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma.pic.twitter.com/9HNgZBotCz
- '-- Disclose.tv ð¨ (@disclosetv) July 14, 2021
- Rioters have plundered shops and entire shopping malls. When they run out out of normal goods, they steal livestock. When it's too heavy to carry by hand, they bring a forklift.
- ð" pic.twitter.com/LHrLpbnMRX
- '-- K U L A N I (@kulanicool) July 12, 2021
- The meltdown in South Africa isn't a natural disaster or a random fluke. It's a choice. South Africa was the first modern nation to be refounded on the anti-white principles of critical race theory, and now it is reaping the whirlwind of that choice.
- South Africa did everything that is being done in America right now. As a hyperdiverse multiethnic, multilingual society, South Africa has followed almost every prescription embraced by the globalist ruling class.
- This is about more than riots. This wave of violence will eventually peter out. But there is no reason to be optimistic when that happens. There will be no sense of having survived a calamity, and having a chance to rebuild. When this wave of burning and looting and killing are over, there is nothing to look forward to but the next wave.
- The specter of doom hangs over South Africa. The optimism that peaked when the country hosted the 2010 World Cup is now gone. Despite being warned for years about failing water infrastructure, local governments ignored the problem and now the country has routine, severe water crises. South Africa began experiencing rolling blackouts in 2007, and has battled them ever since. Even the government says the blackouts will likely continue for at least five more years. Hint: Bet your money that they last even longer.
- Despite being the ''economic superpower'' of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa's brain drain is significant and accelerating. Those who have options are abandoning the country. More than four percent of all deaths are murders, and the murder rate is somehow still rising; last year it rose by 8.4 percent. But it's not just about day-to-day violence. It's the expectation for what is to come.
- South Africa's dominant African National Congress party is corrupt and ineffective, but its most dangerous rival is one of the most radical political parties to enjoy representation on Earth. The Economic Freedom Fighters vow to seize white-owned land (without payment), nationalize the banking and mining sectors, and double welfare payments.
- But EFF isn't a radical outlier in South African politics. It's the natural endgame for the country's post-apartheid ideology. For decades, the South African economy has been shaped by a policy known as Broad Based Black Economic Employment. Despite its name, there is nothing ''based'' about BBBEE. Instead, the policy uses the same tactics to achieve ''equity'' that activists in the United States are demanding.
- BBBEE relies openly and explicitly on injecting racial preferences throughout the economy. Companies receive a BBBEE scorecard based on hiring black workers, elevating black management, and giving black South Africans a share of ownership. Companies with high BBBEE scores are given favorable tax treatment and preferences in government contracts. Corporate actors are strongly incentivized to give contracts to high BBBEE scorers as well.
- The results are predictable. Remember those rolling blackouts Revolver mentioned above? Eskom, South Africa's public electric utility company, is one of the most aggressive adopters of BBBEE. South African National Assemblywoman Gwen Ngwenya described the outcome of this approach in a 2019 column:
- Why is Eskom in trouble? Because it has high operating costs and it cannot meet its debt obligations. Why? It's ambitious programme to build two big power stations has incurred substantial cost overruns and technical faults. Why? In part it was flawed from the beginning with a small bidding pool, meaning it was likely not cost competitive from the start. Why? There was political meddling. Why? Chancellor House. Why? Contractors needed to have a black partner in order to secure contracts. Why? BEE. [PoliticsWeb.za]
- In her column, Ngwenya explains how BBBEE has fueled the decay of South Africa's power utility at every step of the process. The country has two expensive, botched power plants because Hitachi's African subsidiary secured contracts based on black empowerment criteria rather than actual expertise. Eskom has problems with coal supply because it gave favoritism to black-owned mining companies, and even pushed foreign firms to divest from the country. In one case, the CEO of Wescoal resigned his position solely because having a white CEO hindered the company's ability to compete in South Africa.
- But most damaging of all, BBBEE has driven a catastrophic dilution of Eskom's core human capital.
- Eskom has experienced a skills carnage for many years, and the long spectre of race-based policies has never been far from the crime scene.
- A decade after the skills shortages plaguing Eskom at the time of the 2008 financial crisis, it still cites 'people issues' as one of its major concerns. This is startling for a company where the staff complement has increased by almost 50% in the last 10 years. As recently as 2015 Eskom was talking about reducing the number of white engineers by 1,081 and white artisans by 2,179 in professional and mid-management positions in order that the utility could more accurately resemble the demographics of the country.
- Estimates vary but Eskom has lost thousands of skilled personnel since 1994, and often paid a premium for it via costly severance packages. Many were taken up by individuals who could smell the blood in the water and for whom retirement or employment abroad presented a more attractive offer than sticking around for the looming apocalypse. [PoliticsWeb.za]
- As time passes, the situation only gets bleaker for Eskom. The company's infrastructure is aged and failing. Its workforce is unskilled or outright incompetent. Thanks to racially-motivated contracting, its logistics are breaking down.
- But there is more going on than skills decay rooted in racial discrimination. Just like in the United States, rampant affirmative action is an invitation to naked cronyism, insider dealing, and corruption. Burdensome racial quota laws fall heaviest on small and up-and-coming businesses, while the largest mega-corporations have the easiest time complying. If a company is to be politically rewarded for handing out ownership based on race, why not gain even more security and let the politically connected into the ownership caste? If you have to hire unqualified hacks for senior management, why not give the jobs to politicians' children? Corrupt behavior like this happens even in the best systems. But as one South African observer notes, in that country it's by design:
- Across state in-house institutions like the South African Revenue Service, the National Prosecuting Authority and the National Intelligence Agency, black-first narratives were used to effect 'state capture' which meant shielding those corrupt rent-seekers (black and white) who used BEE deals, slush-funds and tax dodging to fizz their champagne while flattening the rest of us.
- In the private sector, BEE is one of many onerous costs of business that the biggest, well-established firms can bear while their up-and-coming competition is hounded off the grid or else simply bankrupted. This creates a winner-take-all economy while the sum of it all shrinks. The Small Business Project's (SBP) landmark new analysis finds that contrary to former expectations there are not millions of formal Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) but only about 250 000. It also notes that formal SMEs 'only account for 28% of the jobs' while, 'based on international trends, this should be about 60% or 70%'. [South African Institute of Race Relations]
- South Africa's unemployment rate is at a record 32.6 percent. That's not simply a quirk of coronavirus. The country's unemployment was 32.5 percent in early 2020, before a single lockdown hit. The country's GDP per capita peaked in 2011 and has fallen by 25 percent since.
- As the country has broken down, race hate against white people isn't used to reduce inequality but to increase it '-- much like in America. One of South Africa's richest families is the Gupta family; Indian immigrants who arrived in 1993 to profit off the end of apartheid. The Guptas soon built a close relationship with the now-jailed Jacob Zuma. When Zuma became president, his actions benefited the Guptas to such a degree that it constituted state capture.
- The Guptas owned a portfolio of companies that enjoyed lucrative contracts with South African government departments and state-owned conglomerates. They also employed several Zuma family members '-- including the president's son, Duduzane '-- in senior positions.
- According to testimony heard at the inquiry, the Guptas went to great lengths to influence their most important client, the South African state.
- Public officials responsible for various state bodies say they were directly instructed by the Guptas to take decisions that would advance the brothers' business interests.
- It is alleged that compliance was rewarded with money and promotion, while disobedience was punished with dismissal.
- The public bodies that are said to have been ''captured'' in this fashion included the ministries of finance, natural resources and public enterprise, as well as the government agencies responsible for tax collection and communications, the state broadcaster SABC, the national carrier, South African Airways, the state-owned rail-freight operator Transnet and the energy giant Eskom, one of the world's largest utility companies. [BBC]
- Crucially, when political heat was directed toward the Gupta family, they knew exactly how to fight back: Point the finger at society's most acceptable target, white people. The Guptas employed a British PR firm to argue that South Africa's problem wasn't a corrupt family dynasty, but the white race hoarding resources from everyone else:
- According to an investigation by the Sunday Times last month, Bell Pottinger took on the Gupta family as clients in 2016 to try to improve their image, and the chosen strategy was to target white business leaders as a distraction from serious allegations of state capture.
- One of the strategies was apparently to drive a predominantly social media narrative that ''white monopoly capital'', the SA Communist Party and National Treasury have been standing in the way of transforming the South African economy.
- The phrase ''white monopoly capital'' has, over past months, become a major feature of mainstream political discourse, with even President Jacob Zuma using it.
- The paper said it had seen evidence of the PR plan (presumably including the document above) involving Andile Mngxitama and his Black First Land First Organisation, Mzwanele Manyi and his Decolonisation Foundation, and others.
- The Bell Pottinger plan reportedly involved using, among other things, Twitter bots involved in a fake news campaign to support messages critical of white monopoly capital and be defensive of the Guptas. [The Citizen]
- To get an idea of what ideologies the Guptas were enabling with their campaign, here is an interview with a member of Black First Land First, one of the radical organizations promoted by Bell Pottinger's scheme:
- Black First Land First remains a marginal political party, but one party that isn't marginal is the Economic Freedom Fighters, South Africa's third-largest party. Even after the exposure of the Gupta family's methods, the party's leader embraced the racial attack on South Africa's white minority.
- Addressing thousands of EFF supporters in red regalia and berets, [EFF leader Julius] Malema said Mbeki and former finance minister Trevor Manuel were wrong when they said there's no white monopoly capital in the country.
- ''I know president Mbeki, you're fighting your own factional battles. But when you fight your battles, don't distort the truth. Whites are monopolising our economy,'' he said.
- He said that's one reason why they don't want to invest their money into the country's economy through industrialisation ''because they don't trust South Africa's democracy''.
- ''There is white dominance and control of our economy. Today when you remove the ownership by pension fund from the stock exchange, the remaining 90% belongs to white families,'' he said, before asking ''who owns the land, factories and monopoly industries in the country''? [News24]
- Malema has also infamously declared that his party is not calling for the murder of white people, ''at least for now,'' a comment that was declared to not be hate speech by South Africa's human rights commission.
- In South Africa's 2019 elections, the EFF received almost 11 percent of the vote. The party's rise has driven the ANC to contain it by gradually moving toward a constitutional amendment that would allow the state to confiscate land from white farmers without any compensation. For a preview of how that works, just look at neighboring Zimbabwe:
- But as South Africa's CRT-driven economic policies break down, the country is likely to only get more radical. Much of South Africa has fully embraced the ideology of American critical race theory darling Ibram X. Kendi, which holds that if outcomes differ between two racial groups, the only possible cause is racism, and the only possible remedy is direct intervention to correct the ''injustice.'' The disastrous example of Zimbabwe barely matters.
- As South African society frays apart, the always-dangerous country is returning to the levels of violence seen at the end of apartheid, when onlookers feared full-blown genocide was imminent. It's not from lack of police. South Africa has one police officer for every four hundred people, a substantially higher figure than the United States. But the police are borderline useless at actually protecting the nation's law-abiding citizens, who are forced to rely on private security or their own devices in order to keep themselves safe.
- From the late 90s onwards, in the name of hitting diversity quotas, South Africa's police adopted a ''fast-track'' promotion strategy while also gutting training requirements for new recruits. Senior police leadership became political appointees selected for loyalty rather than competence. The end result is a shoddy police force that kills people with hammers for violating COVID-19 lockdowns but abandons the population in the face of lethal riots.
- Despite being the most consistently violent country on Earth, South Africa is unwilling to use real force to stand up for civilization. The death penalty was abolished in 1995 and hasn't been in use since 1990.
- But just like how American elites are increasingly obsessed with century-old riots while ignoring the anarchy they unleashed in 2020, in South Africa rising crime rates have been coupled with a growing obsession with the ever-more-distant legacy of apartheid. Just days before the riots began, South African law enforcment announced a new effort to investigate and prosecute decades-old crimes during the apartheid era.
- The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Hawks [a police organization that targets organized crime, economic crime, corruption, and other serious crime] are bolstering resources to go after those responsible for apartheid-era atrocity crimes in the 1960s.
- In a joint statement on Sunday, the crime fighting bodies said the NPA was in the process of setting up a specialist unit to investigate and prosecute these crimes.
- The Hawks, meanwhile, had created a dedicated detective team of 34 ''competent and highly skilled'' former police officials to assign to such cases. [News24]
- Nobody wanted South Africa to fail. It would have been nice if the hamhanded affirmative action and redistribution policies of the ''Rainbow Nation'' had quickly created a successful, wealthy, safe multiracial democracy. But they did not, because those policies are fundamentally not based in reality. A nation cannot raise up the weak by tearing down and ruining the strong. It does not become prosperous by despoiling the rich to simply hand their wealth to the poor (or by extorting them to give politicians a cut). It cannot achieve peace by letting the mob rampage, loot, burn, and kill at will.
- For three decades, South Africa has avoided the calamitous implosion suffered by Zimbabwe. But because it has accepted the same basic assumptions about reality, it will soon suffer the same fate. And if America continues down the same path, the path demanded by anti-white doctrines such as Critical Race Theory and other identity politics hustlers, it too will collapse in turn.
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- Soros Wants U.S. To Take Millions of 'Climate Change' Refugees '' Reclaiming America
- Will Joe Biden accept the findings of this report by a George Soros-funded group '' Refugees International '' and use it as an excuse to bring millions of ''climate change refugees'' into the United States?
- For those who find this an incredible possibility, please read the report rather than take our word for it. Instead of cherry-picking a few quotes, we're providing the link to the entire report to judge for yourself what's being planned.
- The report is titled Task Force Report to the President on the Climate Crisis and Global Migration '' A Pathway to Protection for People on the Move and can be read by clicking >>> HERE.
- Please share your opinion by emailing [email protected] . Should the United States take in millions of ''climate change refugees'' from across the globe? Why or why not?
- '-- Disclose.tv ð¨ (@disclosetv) July 14, 2021
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- Sydney lockdown shock as Gladys Berejiklian admits NSW has failed to 'quash' Covid outbreak | New South Wales | The Guardian
- Show caption Coronavirus testing at Fairfield showground. NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian announced residents from Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury Bankstown LGAs would be prevented from leaving the area for work, unless they are health or emergency services workers. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
- New South WalesSat 17 Jul 2021 02.28 EDT
- Lockdown restrictions in Greater Sydney will be drastically tightened after the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, conceded measures introduced three weeks ago were failing to stop an outbreak of more than 1,000 cases.
- Berejiklian made the changes after repeatedly denying in the past week that there was any need to harden restrictions, saying people could use their ''common sense'' to decide whether they were an essential workplace that had to stay open.
- But as the state recorded 111 Covid-19 cases '' including 29 who had been in the community while infectious '' Berejiklian said there was no choice but to pull the trigger on the toughest restrictions implemented in NSW during the pandemic. She insisted the government had not received health advice at any other time during the outbreak that had justified the measures announced on Saturday.
- Covid Australia live news update: NSW announces 111 new cases and new Sydney lockdown restrictions; 19 cases in Victoria The entire construction industry will be closed, essential businesses have been defined for the first time, meaning hundreds of others will have to close, and the residents of three local government areas in Sydney's south-west will be unable to leave unless they are health or emergency services workers.
- A man in his 80s from south-western Sydney has died, the second death of the outbreak, while 75 people remain in hospital, 18 in intensive care, six requiring a ventilator.
- ''We want to make sure we have a no regrets policy,'' Berejiklian said. ''We want to make sure we get out of this lockdown as soon as we can.''
- Berejiklian repeatedly made reference to wanting to ''quash'' the outbreak, and to the fact there was ''no perfection during a pandemic''.
- ''We have certainly prevented thousands and thousands of cases but we haven't managed to quash the curve and that is why the New South Wales government is taking further action from today.
- ''I know that many people will be very angry and upset with me, with the government, but please know that we're making these decisions for no other reason than because they are the right decisions.
- ''We want to get out of this as quickly as possible. This Delta variant has been a challenge for every single nation on the planet. We are no different from that.''
- New Sydney Covid lockdown restrictions: latest update to NSW coronavirus rules explained The decision to prevent residents from Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury Bankstown local government areas leaving for work, unless they are health or emergency services workers, was taken after a significant proportion of the state's positive cases were recorded there (80 of 111 on Saturday, 60 of which were in Fairfield).
- John Gilmore, the chief executive of Community First Step, a not-for-profit organisation based in Fairfield, said that while the decision was not unexpected, it still came as a shock.
- He has grave concerns about the well-being of residents in the area, many of whom come from culturally and linguistically diverse and low socio-economic backgrounds.
- Food insecurity was an increasing problem and there remained concerns about the ability for some school children to learn remotely, with Gilmore hearing stories about multiple children in the same household only being able to access a single smartphone to do their schoolwork. He said communities who may have already felt isolated because of their ethnic backgrounds or language barriers were feeling more alone than ever.
- ''I am absolutely in favour of lockdown and advocating that it should go ahead, but the longer it goes on the more it impacts on our communities,'' Gilmore said.
- The Unions NSW secretary, Mark Morey, said that the decision to shut down construction and non-essential work meant the federal government's jobkeeper wage subsidy had to be revived.
- The shutdown of the construction sector is expected to cost $800m to $1bn per week.
- ''The combined effect of closing retail, construction, hospitality, events and other industries is a mammoth hit to household incomes,'' he said. ''While lockdown is now the only option, the onus is on the state and federal governments to provide economic security.''
- The Business NSW chief executive, Daniel Hunter, said he supported the need for a tougher health response but said the economic fallout would be immense.
- ''There's no sugar coating that it will have a huge impact on all businesses right across NSW,'' he said.
- Scott Morrison urges Apec leaders to ramp up mRNA vaccine production and boasts of Australian economy The NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said on Saturday that the 81,928 tests received was a record.
- She urged people throughout the state to be vigilant, as there had been sewage detections of the virus in suburbs without a positive case, and a group of workers from Sydney who later tested positive had been permitted to work in regional areas in the state's west and north.
- In Victoria, the state recorded 19 new cases, all of which were linked to existing cases. The Victorian health minister, Martin Foley, said that on average each new case spent 1.5 days in the community.
- The state is in the second day of a five-day lockdown.
- ''Our public health team is responding quicker than they ever have before because this virus is moving quicker than it ever has before,'' Foley said. ''It shows the value of going hard, and going early to make sure that we get our arms around this as quickly as we possibly can.''
- Victoria's Covid-19 testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, said there were more than 10,000 primary close contacts who have been identified and 165 exposure sites, with significant outbreaks linked to the MCG, an apartment complex, and a school.
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- The Disinformation Dozen | Center for Countering Digital Hate
- The Disinformation Dozen Why platforms must act on twelve leading online anti-vaxxers '
- Just twelve anti-vaxxers are responsible for almost two-thirds of anti-vaccine content circulating on social media platforms. This new analysis of content posted or shared to social media over 812,000 times between February and March uncovers how a tiny group of determined anti-vaxxers is responsible for a tidal wave of disinformation - and shows how platforms can fix it by enforcing their standards.
- 12 people are behind most of the anti-vaxxer disinformation you see on social media
- The "Disinformation Dozen" are spreading anti-vaccination content throughout the internet.
- If you catch your old college roommate sharing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on Facebook, the odds are that these falsehoods are coming from one of twelve people.
- That's right. Just twelve individuals.
- A new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate and Anti-Vax Watch found that up to 65 percent of ''anti-vaccine content'' on Facebook and Twitter originated from twelve influencers within the anti-vaxxer movement.
- The report focused on these twelve accounts after an analysis of content that was shared and posted on Facebook and Twitter 812,000 times between Feb. 1 and March 16.
- On Facebook alone, the content from these individuals, which the reports dubs as the ''Disinformation Dozen,'' accounts for 73 percent of all anti-vaxxer content posted or shared on the platform in the last two months.
- The largest anti-vaxxer influencer on social media, according to the report, is Joseph Mercola. Mercola is an alternative medicine promoter who runs a multimillion dollar online business selling treatments and dietary supplements. The FDA recently sent Mercola a warning over his sham treatments for COVID-19.
- Another major culprit is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Kennedy, the nephew of John F. Kennedy, is perhaps one of the most high profile influencers in the anti-vaxxer community. Last month, Instagram banned him from the platform for violating the site's coronavirus vaccine misinformation policy.
- However, despite calls to deplatform him from Twitter and Instagram's parent company, Facebook, Kennedy's accounts remain on those social media services.
- The other social media users in the ''Disinformation Dozen'' include Ty and Charlene Bollinger, Sherri Tenpenny, Rizza Islam, Rashid Buttar, Erin Elizabeth, Sayer Ji, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, Ben Tapper, and Kevin Jenkins.
- While Facebook and Twitter have both committed to banning anti-vaccine content and the users who spread disinformation about vaccines, a majority of these twelve users have active accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. According to the report, all of them have an active account on at least one of these platforms.
- Health misinformation was a huge problem in 2020 amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, more than 59 million people were reached on social media platforms at the end of last year by the 425 anti-vaxxer accounts which the organization tracks.
- And, as the pandemic continues, the problem has not gone away. In fact, as coronavirus vaccines have begun to roll out over these past few months, anti-vaccination content has continued to surge.
- For example, a recent report from Media Matters For America found that beyond the 12 major influencers mentioned in this article, ''micro-influencers'' are having a moment on Instagram. Smaller accounts pushing misinformation are growing a following, violating Instagram's vaccine misinformation policies, and operating undetected on the platform.
- More in Facebook, Health, Social Media
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- Huge study supporting ivermectin as Covid treatment withdrawn over ethical concerns | Medical research | The Guardian
- Show caption Ivermectin is a common drug used for treating parasites. A study saying it was an effective Covid treatment has now been retracted. Photograph: Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
- Medical researchThe preprint endorsing ivermectin as a coronavirus therapy has been widely cited, but independent researchers find glaring discrepancies in the data
- The efficacy of a drug being promoted by rightwing figures worldwide for treating Covid-19 is in serious doubt after a major study suggesting the treatment is effective against the virus was withdrawn due to ''ethical concerns''.
- The preprint study on the efficacy and safety of ivermectin '' a drug used against parasites such as worms and headlice '' in treating Covid-19, led by Dr Ahmed Elgazzar from Benha University in Egypt, was published on the Research Square website in November.
- It claimed to be a randomised control trial, a type of study crucial in medicine because it is considered to provide the most reliable evidence on the effectiveness of interventions due to the minimal risk of confounding factors influencing the results. Elgazzar is listed as chief editor of the Benha Medical Journal, and is an editorial board member.
- Unreliable data: how doubt snowballed over Covid-19 drug research that swept the world The study found that patients with Covid-19 treated in hospital who ''received ivermectin early reported substantial recovery'' and that there was ''a substantial improvement and reduction in mortality rate in ivermectin treated groups'' by 90%.
- But the drug's promise as a treatment for the virus is in serious doubt after the Elgazzar study was pulled from the Research Square website on Thursday ''due to ethical concerns''. Research Square did not outline what those concerns were.
- A medical student in London, Jack Lawrence, was among the first to identify serious concerns about the paper, leading to the retraction. He first became aware of the Elgazzar preprint when it was assigned to him by one of his lecturers for an assignment that formed part of his master's degree. He found the introduction section of the paper appeared to have been almost entirely plagiarised.
- It appeared that the authors had run entire paragraphs from press releases and websites about ivermectin and Covid-19 through a thesaurus to change key words. ''Humorously, this led to them changing 'severe acute respiratory syndrome' to 'extreme intense respiratory syndrome' on one occasion,'' Lawrence said.
- The data also looked suspicious to Lawrence, with the raw data apparently contradicting the study protocol on several occasions.
- ''The authors claimed to have done the study only on 18-80 year olds, but at least three patients in the dataset were under 18,'' Lawrence said.
- ''The authors claimed they conducted the study between the 8th of June and 20th of September 2020, however most of the patients who died were admitted into hospital and died before the 8th of June according to the raw data. The data was also terribly formatted, and includes one patient who left hospital on the non-existent date of 31/06/2020.''
- There were other concerns.
- ''In their paper, the authors claim that four out of 100 patients died in their standard treatment group for mild and moderate Covid-19,'' Lawrence said. ''According to the original data, the number was 0, the same as the ivermectin treatment group. In their ivermectin treatment group for severe Covid-19, the authors claim two patients died, but the number in their raw data is four.''
- Lawrence and the Guardian sent Elgazzar a comprehensive list of questions about the data, but did not receive a reply. The university's press office also did not respond.
- Lawrence contacted an Australian chronic disease epidemiologist from the University of Wollongong, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, and a data analyst affiliated with Linnaeus University in Sweden who reviews scientific papers for errors, Nick Brown, for help analysing the data and study results more thoroughly.
- Brown created a comprehensive document uncovering numerous data errors, discrepancies and concerns, which he provided to the Guardian. According to his findings the authors had clearly repeated data between patients.
- ''The main error is that at least 79 of the patient records are obvious clones of other records,'' Brown told the Guardian. ''It's certainly the hardest to explain away as innocent error, especially since the clones aren't even pure copies. There are signs that they have tried to change one or two fields to make them look more natural.''
- Other studies on ivermectin are still under way. In the UK, the University of Oxford is testing whether giving people with Covid-19 ivermectin prevents them ending up in hospital.
- The Elgazzar study was one of the the largest and most promising showing the drug may help Covid patients, and has often been cited by proponents of the drug as evidence of its effectiveness. This is despite a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases in June finding ivermectin is ''not a viable option to treat COVID-19 patients''.
- Meyerowitz-Katz told the Guardian that ''this is one of the biggest ivermectin studies out there'', and it appeared to him the data was ''just totally faked''. This was concerning because two meta-analyses of ivermectin for treating Covid-19 had included the Elgazzar study in the results. A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies to determine what the overall scientific literature has found about a treatment or intervention.
- ''Because the Elgazzar study is so large, and so massively positive '' showing a 90% reduction in mortality '' it hugely skews the evidence in favour of ivermectin,'' Meyerowitz-Katz said.
- ''If you remove this one study from the scientific literature, suddenly there are very few positive randomised control trials of ivermectin for Covid-19. Indeed, if you get rid of just this research, most meta-analyses that have found positive results would have their conclusions entirely reversed.''
- Kyle Sheldrick, a Sydney doctor and researcher, also independently raised concerns about the paper. He found numbers the authors provided for several standard deviations '' a measure of variation in a group of data points '' mentioned in tables in the paper were ''mathematically impossible'' given the range of numbers provided in the same table.
- Flu jab may reduce severe effects of Covid, suggests study Sheldrick said the completeness of data was further evidence suggesting possible fabrication, noting that in real-world conditions, this was almost impossible. He also identified the duplication of patient deaths and data.
- Ivermectin has gained momentum throughout Latin America and India, largely based on evidence from preprint studies. In March, the World Health Organization warned against the use of ivermectin outside well designed clinical trials.
- The conservative Australian MP Craig Kelly, who has also promoted the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 '' despite there being no evidence that it works '' has been among those promoting ivermectin. Several Indian media outlets ran stories on Kelly in the past week after he asked Uttar Pradesh to loan the state's chief minister, Adityanath, to Australia to release ivermectin. After this story was initially published, Kelly contacted the Guardian to say he disagreed with the statement that there was no evidence that hydroxychloroquine worked, and that he stood by his views.
- Lawrence said what started out as a simple university assignment had led to a comprehensive investigation into an apparent scientific fraud at a time when ''there is a whole ivermectin hype '... dominated by a mix of right-wing figures, anti-vaxxers and outright conspiracists''.
- ''Although science trends towards self-correction, something is clearly broken in a system that can allow a study as full of problems as the Elgazzar paper to run unchallenged for seven months,'' he said.
- ''Thousands of highly educated scientists, doctors, pharmacists, and at least four major medicines regulators missed a fraud so apparent that it might as well have come with a flashing neon sign. That this all happened amid an ongoing global health crisis of epic proportions is all the more terrifying.''
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- BlueWallet Releases New Mobile Lightning Dev Kit Implementation | Bitcoin Magazine: Bitcoin News, Articles, Charts, and Guides
- BlueWallet's new mobile-focused Lightning implementation based on the Lightning Dev Kit brings convenient features to its users.
- BlueWallet, a bitcoin wallet focused on usability and user experience, has announced its new mobile Lightning Network implementation based on the Lightning Dev Kit (LDK).
- The rn-ldk implementation brings an open-source lightweight Lightning node to React Native, a popular programming language for developing mobile applications. It is powered by LDK, a flexible Lightning implementation written in the Rust programming language.
- One feature BlueWallet will provide its users with the new integration, which is demonstrated in the announcement, is the ability to open and fund a Lightning channel from their mobile phones directly from an offline, air-gapped hardware wallet '-- leveraging Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBTs).
- PSBTs are a standard defined in BIP174 that allows two or more people or devices to collaborate in creating, funding, signing and broadcasting a Bitcoin transaction. At its core, PSBTs make it possible for people to more freely pass around a transaction, update its details and sign it once it's ready to be sent. As a result, it allows for air-gapped devices to participate in signing the transaction, for instance, letting an online client such as BlueWallet broadcast it.
- Another feature relates to backing up Lightning channels managed by the wallet. The company shared that encrypted backups can be stored in the cloud, allowing the user to more quickly restore their Lightning wallet and all of its channels on another device through a mnemonic backup phrase.
- The go-to server infrastructure utilized by BlueWallet's new implementation is Electrum, which it uses to quickly synchronize with the Bitcoin blockchain. Although Electrum is a reasonably popular and established solution, this process leaks user addresses to the Electrum server bridging the user's mobile wallet with the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network. As a result, it effectively hurts user privacy and sovereignty as a third party would be in charge of validating transactions.
- However, BlueWallet does give the user the option to use their own server, a typical setup in which they configure their own Electrum Personal Server (EPS). This works by having a Bitcoin node running on the user's computer and a local EPS bridging it with a remote wallet such as BlueWallet. In such an arrangement, the user's own full node would validate and broadcast their transactions while preserving their privacy and ensuring adherence to Bitcoin consensus rules.
- Such an option is essential for Lightning in particular because the network is designed to scale the Bitcoin network as a second-layer protocol and increase privacy. By leveraging smart contracts to abstract small, frequent payments away from the Bitcoin base layer, Lightning is positioned to reduce fees and increase transactional confidentiality and speed. But although only channel opening and closing transactions are recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain, all Lightning transactions still make sure to adhere to the rules of the Bitcoin protocol.
- But part of these Lightning Network benefits can be compromised if the user opts to utilize a custodial wallet, where the company would be in charge of handling the user's funds, transactions and information. Only if the user chooses to use their own node to validate and broadcast transactions, such as using BlueWallet rn-ldk with an EPS, would they be better positioned to ensure individual sovereignty and privacy and adherence to Bitcoin consensus as an actual peer.
- Undeniable links between the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine & the British Eugenics Society '' Daily Expose
- Breaking NewsIt was mortifying, as the world watched, that our fellow countrymen gave Sarah Gilbert a standing ovation at Wimbledon. The only possible hope for redemption was Gilbert's reaction. The look on her face wasn't so much as one of pride but rather one of embarrassed guilt and shame, or so we'd like to think! Do people know who Gilbert, the person, is?
- On 2 July 2021, Dr. Reiner Feullmich and the Corona Ausschuss (or Corona Investigative Committee) interviewed Whitney Webb. Webb, a writer and journalist, has extensively researched the industry behind epigenetic medicine.
- Joining the interview was Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg who exposed and was instrumental in bringing to an end the 2009 Swine Flu Scandal. His actions resulted in an investigation by the European Parliament 'to look into the issue of ,,falsified pandemic'' that was declared by WHO in June 2009 on the advice of its group of academic experts, SAGE, many of whose members have been documented to have intense financial ties to the same pharmaceutical giants such as GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Novartis, who benefit from the production of drugs and untested H1N1 vaccines.'
- During Webb's interview Dr. Wodarg recalled a change in German legislation in 2009 which paved the way for today's use of gene therapy 'vaccines' '' a long-term goal of the eugenics movement.
- ''Evolutionary humanism has eugenic implications also '... Within a century we should have amassed adequate knowledge '.... When this has happened, the working out of an effective and acceptable eugenic policy will be seen as not only an urgent but an inspiring task, and its political or theological obstruction as immoral.'' '' Julian Huxley, New Bottles for New Wine, p306, 1957
- Webb's interview is packed full of rapid-fire facts about people and organisations and what links them. Watch the full interview HERE and read a summary of highlights HERE. Her article, 'Developers of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Tied to UK Eugenics Movement' is a must read.
- The image below shows some of the network behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca 'vaccine' according to Webb's article and the text below it is, in the main, extracted from the same article.
- Adrian Hill and his partner at the Jenner Institute, Sarah Gilbert, co-developed the Oxford Covid-19 'vaccine'. But the patent and royalties for the 'vaccine' is held by a private company: Vaccitech.
- Initially established in 1995, the Jenner Institute was a public-private partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (''GSK'') and the UK Government. GSK 'pulled out' and the institute was relaunched in 2005. Hill is the head of the Jenner Institute, the chief at the UK Vaccine Network and leads a research group at Wellcome. One of Hill's bosses, early on in his career, was the late David Weatherall a member of the British Eugenics Society.
- Gilbert also hails from the Wellcome Trust and is a student of Hill's. Together, Hill and Gilbert have worked to position the institute to be the center of all future vaccination efforts undertaken in response to global pandemics. Hill and Gilbert are both set to make significant profits from their shares in Vaccitech.
- Hill and Gilbert created Vaccitech in 2016. Vaccitech was spun out of the Jenner Institute via the University of Oxford's commercialisation arm: Oxford Science Innovations. Vaccitech's stakeholders are: Oxford Science Innovations (46%); Hill and Gilbert (10%); Wellcome Trust; Google; Sequoia Capital's Chinese branch; the Chinese pharmaceutical company Fosun Pharma; and the UK Government.
- Prior to Covid-19, Vaccitech's main focus was the development of a universal flu vaccine. To fully finance Hill and Gilbert's Vaccitech, Oxford Science Innovations sought ''outside investors,'' chief among them the Wellcome Trust and Google Ventures. So, Google is poised to profit from the Oxford/AstraZeneca 'vaccine' at a time when its video platform YouTube has moved to ban vaccine''related content that shines a negative light on Covid-19 'vaccines'.
- The Wellcome Trust is essentially the philanthropic arm of GSK. It regularly co-funds the research and development of vaccines and birth control methods with the Gates Foundation, a foundation that actively and admittedly engages in population and reproductive control in Africa and South Asia. The Wellcome Trust, which has arguably been second only to Bill Gates in its ability to influence events during the Covid-19 crisis and vaccination campaign, last year launched its own global equivalent of the Pentagon's DARPA, namely: Wellcome Leap.
- Both the Wellcome Trust and Hill share a close relationship with the most infamous eugenics society in Europe, the British Eugenics Society. The Eugenics Society was renamed the Galton Institute in 1989. The Wellcome Trust's library is the guardian of the Eugenics Society historical archives and several top governance positions at the Galton Institute include individuals who originally worked at the Wellcome Trust. Hill himself spoke at the Galton Institute at the celebration of their 100th anniversary in 2008.
- Andrew Pollard chairs the UK Department of Health's JCVI; chairs the EMA scientific advisory group on vaccines; is a member of WHO's SAGE; works for the Jenner Institute; and, heads the Oxford Vaccine Group. Due to a sole encounter in January 2020 '' where Pollard and a member of SAGE shared a taxi '' the Jenner Institute began to pour millions into the early development of a Covid-19 'vaccine'. Pollard is also enmeshed with the Gates Foundation. Pollard's employer, the University of Oxford, has received hundreds of millions of pounds in funding from the Gates Foundation over the past decade and Pollard's private laboratory is funded by the Gates Foundation. Bill Gates, a Rockefeller descendent was pushed forward with one goal in life '' to become the face of population control and depopulation within the framework of agendas set by the UN.
- GAVI is a public-private partnership founded and currently funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It plans to distribute the Oxford/AstraZeneca 'vaccine' to low-income, predominantly African and Asian countries. COVAX, the public-private partnership between GAVI, Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization aims to deliver 270 million Covid 'vaccines' '' with 269 million of them being the Oxford/AstraZeneca 'vaccine' '' to the world.
- In summary, known eugenicists in the Oxford/AstraZeneca 'vaccine' orb include: the lead developer '' Adrian Hill; the investor '' Wellcome Trust; the funder and promoter '' Bill Gates; and, let us not forget our Prime Minister Boris Johnson who, following in his father's footsteps, wrote in 2007 regarding global population growth: ''I simply cannot understand why no one discusses this impending calamity, and why no world statesmen have the guts to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves.''
- Eugenics never really disappeared. It was simply rebranded into more acceptable terms revolving around ''public health.''
- ''The alleged Covid-19 pandemic is the greatest fraud in history. It has been inspired, maintained and promoted, without mercy, by the most evil people the world has ever seen.'' '' Dr. Vernon Coleman
- Wimbledon got it entirely wrong '' applauding Gilbert was completely distasteful and, instead, they had a duty to the world to show Gilbert and her ilk their utter disgust. It is the likes of Dr. Wodarg, and his current day counterparts, who should be receiving the standing ovation.
- Categories: Breaking News, Did You Know?, Latest News, The Expose Blog, World News
- Google separates with Cloud VP after employees complain about manifesto
- Google Cloud headquarters sits in Sunnyvale, California.
- Google has parted ways with its VP of developer relations for Google Cloud after a contentious all-hands meeting.
- "I wanted to share that today is Amr Awadallah's last day at Google," wrote Vice President of Engineering & Product for Google Cloud Eyal Manor in an email to staff Thursday evening and viewed by CNBC. "Effective immediately, the Cloud DevRel organization will report into Ben Jackson, who will report into Pali Bhat."
- Manor goes on to praise the team for helping Cloud's "massive growth" while thanking them for reaching out about cultural issues. "I know it has been particularly challenging with a number of organizational changes and leadership transitions while we've all been navigating a global pandemic and don't have the benefit of connecting in person together like we used to."
- Vice President of Developer Relations for Google Cloud Amr Awadallah, who joined the company in 2019, wrote a 10,000-word manifesto about his previous anti-semitism on LinkedIn in June called "We Are One," which relies mostly on personal anecdotes. CNBC began speaking with several employees who described a contentious staff meeting on Wednesday, which touched on the manifesto. CNBC also viewed internal documentation of complaints. The meeting replay was sent to more than 100 employees from the team Thursday, employees said.
- "Thank you to those of you who reached out," Manor goes on to say in the departure announcement email. "It shows how much you care about this organization and building a maintaining a supportive culture."
- Google declined to comment.
- Awadallah, who is well-known in the cloud industry, also posted his manifesto on YouTube and Twitter in attempts to decry antisemitism by recounting how he became enlightened after he "hated all jews." In an awkward attempt to decry hate amid the Israel-Palestinian conflict, he listed all the Jews he knew that were good people. Employees said his public admission, which omitted major historic Jewish events, made it difficult for public-facing developer advocates who are tasked with being the face and bridge for Google developers internally and externally.
- Within the manifesto, Awadallah describes how he was "cautious" of VMware co-founder Mendel Rosenblum based on his last name but that he learned to appreciate them after getting to know him and spouse and other VMware co-founder (and former Google Cloud CEO) Diane Greene, who both invested in his company Cloudera.
- The contention and departure one month after the manifesto come as Google faces questions about how it handles diversity among its leaders and the doubled-standard rank and file employees feel with leadership. Employees said they often faced reprimand for far less offensive for social media posts.
- Employees who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said the frustration with Awadallah's leadership style had been building for months, leading up to an all-hands meeting this week, where employees confronted him about their discomfort with his manifesto, working with him and the leadership attrition of his reporting leaders. The meeting, employees said, required mediation from a human resources employee who had to step in several times.
- "On one hand, I'm grateful that you not longer hate my children," said one Director of Network Infrastructure and Tech Site Lead at Google in a LinkedIn comment. "On the other, this has made my job as one of your colleagues much harder. The previous situation has made being a Jewish leader at Google tough. This has made it almost untenable."
- "I hated the Jewish people. All the Jewish people," Awadallah opens with in his "Confession" in both text and on a YouTube video. Awadallah criticized Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a now-deleted tweet because he was denied a paid promoted post.
- While Awadallah in his manifesto acknowledged his prior prejudice in apparent pursuit of "peace," he uses anecdotes and personal stories to try and make a point about why his current assertions are correct. One way he does this is by sharing his 23andMe results, which showed he was 0.1% Ashkenazi Jewish, which he typed in boldface as a reason for why he's technically Jewish, too. Employees said Awadallah had previously used his 23andMe results to justify his opinions.
- Google Cloud Developer Relations VP Amr Awadallah tweeted at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey because the site determined his post was considered hate speech.
- "I admire many Jewish people as I shared earlier, but I will also tell you this with unwavering conviction: The Jewish people aren't any more special than the Christian, Black, Hispanic, White, Muslim, Asian, Arab peoples or any other group of people for that matter," his manifesto read.
- When employees expressed their discomfort at the all-hands meeting Wednesday, the executive doubled down on his manifesto and insisted employees misunderstood, they said.
- A Google Cloud VP tweeted a "confession" about antisemitism.
- Climate scientists shocked by scale of floods in Germany | Flooding | The Guardian
- 'Catastrophic' flooding hits western Germany leaving dozens dead '' video report
- FloodingDeluge raises fears human-caused disruption is making extreme weather even worse than predicted
- The intensity and scale of the floods in Germany this week have shocked climate scientists, who did not expect records to be broken this much, over such a wide area or this soon.
- After the deadly heatwave in the US and Canada, where temperatures rose above 49.6C two weeks ago, the deluge in central Europe has raised fears that human-caused climate disruption is making extreme weather even worse than predicted.
- Precipitation records were smashed across a wide area of the Rhine basin on Wednesday, with devastating consequences. At least 58 people have been killed, tens of thousands of homes flooded and power supplies disrupted.
- Parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia were inundated with 148 litres of rain per sq metre within 48 hours in a part of Germany that usually sees about 80 litres in the whole of July.
- The city of Hagen declared a state of emergency after the Volme burst its banks and its waters rose to levels not seen more than four times a century.
- 'It went so fast': villagers describe destruction as flooding hits western Germany '' video The most striking of more than a dozen records was set at the K¶ln-Stammheim station, which was deluged in 154mm of rain over 24 hours, obliterating the city's previous daily rainfall high of 95mm.
- Climate scientists have long predicted that human emissions would cause more floods, heatwaves, droughts, storms and other forms of extreme weather, but the latest spikes have surpassed many expectations.
- ''I am surprised by how far it is above the previous record,'' Dieter Gerten, professor of global change climatology and hydrology at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said. ''We seem to be not just above normal but in domains we didn't expect in terms of spatial extent and the speed it developed.''
- Gerten, who grew up in a village in the affected area, said it occasionally flooded, but not like this week. Previous summer downpours have been as heavy, but have hit a smaller area, and previous winter storms have not raised rivers to such dangerous levels. ''This week's event is totally untypical for that region. It lasted a long time and affected a wide area,'' he said.
- Germany floods: stranded residents rescued by helicopter from rooftops '' video Scientists will need more time to assess the extent to which human emissions made this storm more likely, but the record downpour is in keeping with broader global trends.
- ''With climate change we do expect all hydro-meteorological extremes to become more extreme. What we have seen in Germany is broadly consistent with this trend.'' said Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
- The seven hottest years in recorded history have occurred since 2014, largely as a result of global heating, which is caused by engine exhaust fumes, forest burning and other human activities. Computer models predict this will cause more extreme weather, which means records will be broken with more frequency in more places.
- The Americas have been the focus in recent weeks. The Canadian national daily heat record was exceeded by more than 5C two weeks ago, as were several local records in Oregon and Washington. Scientists said these extremes at such latitudes were virtually impossible without human-driven warming. Last weekend, the monitoring station at Death Valley in California registered 54.4C, which could prove to be the highest reliably recorded temperature on Earth.
- People watch the Ruhr in flood from the Brehminsel dam. Photograph: Action Press/Rex/Shutterstock Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California in Los Angeles, said so many records were being set in the US this summer that they no longer made the news: ''The extremes that would have been newsworthy a couple of years ago aren't, because they pale in comparison to the astonishing rises a few weeks ago.'' This was happening in other countries too, he said, though with less media attention. ''The US is often in the spotlight, but we have also seen extraordinary heat events in northern Europe and Siberia. This is not a localised freak event, it is definitely part of a coherent global pattern.''
- Lapland and parts of Siberia also sweltered in record-breaking June heat, and cities in India, Pakistan and Libya have endured unusually high temperatures in recent weeks. Suburbs of Tokyo have been drenched in the heaviest rainfall since measurements began and a usual month's worth of July rain fell on London in a day. Events that were once in 100 years are becoming commonplace. Freak weather is increasingly normal.
- Some experts fear the recent jolts indicate the climate system may have crossed a dangerous threshold. Instead of smoothly rising temperatures and steadily increasing extremes, they are examining whether the trend may be increasingly ''nonlinear'' or bumpy as a result of knock-on effects from drought or ice melt in the Arctic. This theory is contentious, but recent events have prompted more discussion about this possibility and the reliability of models based on past observations.
- ''We need to better model nonlinear events,'' said Gerten. ''We scientists in recent years have been surprised by some events that occurred earlier and were more frequent and more intense than expected.''
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- Debunking Ape Theory - by Jake Chupick - The Midpoint
- Before you read this article, I have grossly simplified a lot of information here for the sake of saving time. A lot of these processes are extremely complex, and I am actively trading as I write this, so if you notice an error or think these thoughts are all over the place just remember I was probably getting destroyed in a position. :)
- Since all of this has unfolded, I have read and commented on some hilariously horrible takes from people using hashtags like #ApeStrong #AMCARMY #AMCAPES, I watched Trey spewing false narratives to his YouTube audience and read some Redditor's half baked ''due diligence'''-- which is more akin to a conspiracy theory than actionable research.
- The tipping point for me was when I watched this viral clip from Joe Rogan's recent podcast episode, with his guest Adam Curry regurgitating some of the same ridiculous takes being touted by the apes.
- ''If you look at the DTCC, it's the clearing house, there's probably a thousand times more shares of every company that is traded than actually exist. It's all in the system, it's all fucking bullshit options.'' '-- Adam Curry, JRE #1679
- Short Selling: The BasicsTrader A is long 100 shares and lends them to me to short, I borrow the shares from Trader A and sell them to Trader B. While both Trader A and Trader B are long the same shares, Trade A has agreed to lend those shares with rights: voting right, right to dividends, and special payments from the company.
- Short positions can only be established when they trade with a buyer. The buyers are increasing long exposure at the same rate that short sellers are increasing exposure, if a stock is 100% short then there is an equal amount of additional long exposure on the other side. 1
- Market mechanics such as the Uptick Rule (SEC Rule 201) prevents short-sellers from accelerating downward momentum, by hitting the bid, in securities that are down more than 10% in a day and requires short positions to be filled on an uptick '-- which means a buyer has to be willing to pay for the price that the short seller is offering. As soon as a stock trades -10 percent on the day, the uptick rule is in effect for the remainder of the day and all of the following day.
- Ape Myth: Short selling can put a company into bankruptcy.
- Truth: The stock price has almost nothing to do with the underlying company's financials and ability to meet obligations. Short selling does not cause bankruptcy, it's just a way to profit from a security going down in price. Companies go public for access to capital or for investors to profit. As long as there is an appetite from investors, a publically traded company could issue new shares and raise capital to meet obligations, but at the cost of diluting the equity for existing shareholders.
- Securities LendingSecurities Lending is a complex process that facilitates asset redistribution within the financial markets. More precisely, securities lending is the market practice by which securities are transferred temporarily from one party, a securities lender, to another, a securities borrower, for a fee. This transfer is secured by collateral, which can be cash or another security. 2
- Securities lenders are often pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, and ETFs who are interested in earning incremental income on their idle assets.
- Borrowers are typically Hedge Funds, Mortgage REITs, and Broker-Dealers whose motivation is to facilitate their trading activity, typically various arbitrage strategies or market-making.
- A borrower is obligated to make equivalent payments of any dividend or distribution to the lender who would have received it had they not lend out the shares. Most agreements allow the lender the ability to recall shares on loan at any time '-- usually if they want to participate in a vote or close their position. If a short seller's borrowed shares get recalled and they wish to remain short, they would either have to secure a borrow for delivery'-- or get bought in.
- Counterfeit Shares are NEVER CreatedAny time a short position is taken a new long position is also created on the other side of the trade, the transaction nets out, and no new shares are created.
- The term securities lending is actually misleading. The transaction is technically a transfer of title that is fully collateralized by the borrower. It is essentially a sale where the seller can reclaim possession whenever the agreement allows. This obligation, or IOU, allows idle assets to be freely traded which improves liquidity and price discovery in the market. Although the lender technically no longer owns the shares, the exposure of those shares still exists on their books.
- Ape Myth: Hedge Funds engage in massive naked short selling to suppress stock prices
- Truth: Short-biased hedge funds consistently underperform other types of funds. Improvements to Reg SHO have made naked short-selling low-hanging fruit for FINRA to enforce. Most of these Reg SHO violations stem from inadvertent system failures rather than market manipulation.
- Trade SettlementSettlement occurs when the purchase is funded and the shares are delivered to the purchaser. The regular way settlement cycle for US equities is two business days after the trade date or T+2.
- The vast majority of customer stock is held in street name, which means securities are held in the name of the brokerage firm in the central depository trust (DTC). Because of this, corporations do not know the names and addresses of their shareholders. Under SEC Rule 14b-1, issuers may request investor information from Broker-dealers holding stock in street name. Customers may object to the release of such information and instead can opt for the broker-dealer to forward the information to them.
- What is the DTCC?The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, or DTCC, is the central clearinghouse for all the other clearing firms; they act as the intermediary between members. These members are either Prime Brokers or self-clearing Broker-dealers (BDs). The DTCC operates many subsidiaries, the DTC and NSCC are the main two regarding equities settlement. The DTCC operates three subsidiaries that are designated as Systemically Important Financial Market Utility (''SIFMU'') under Title VIII of Dodd-Frank, both the DTC and NSCC are designated SIFMUs and regulated by the SEC. The NSCC is also known as a Central Counterparty Clearinghouse or CCP.
- The NSSC operates two core systems:
- 1)Universal Trade Capture (UTC)
- This is the first step in the clearing and settlement process. Daily Receipts of trade data from over 50 venues, exchanges, ATS, and NSCC members are compared and validated. Over 94% of trade data is submitted ''locked-in'' meaning it has already been compared by the marketplace of execution.
- 2)Continuous Net Settlement (CNS)
- All eligible and compared transactions for a particular settlement date are netted into either a net debit or net credit position for each member. To reduce counterparty risk, the DTCC then becomes the central counterparty to these netted positions and guarantees that every trade will eventually settle, even if the original buyer/seller defaults.
- This multilateral netting process reduces the total dollar value of trades that will be settled by an average of 98 percent each settlement day. As the DTCC says in a blog post, ''To illustrate, over a 28-day sample in November and December 2018, the average gross settlement balance was $326 billion, and the net was $32 billion, 90% of the funding needs were eliminated via netting''.
- Fail-To-Deliver (FTDs) Reports are the best empirical evidence that naked short selling is not rampant.FTD data comes in a text file that contains a CUSIP number, ticker symbol, issuer name, price, and a total number of fails-to-deliver (i.e., the balance level outstanding) recorded in the Nation Securities Clearing Corporation's, or NSCC, Continuous Net Settlement (CNS) system aggregated over all NSCC members.
- A failure to deliver occurs when a broker-dealer fails to deliver securities to the party on the other side of the transaction on the settlement date. There are many justifiable reasons why broker-dealers do not or cannot deliver securities on the settlement date. A broker-dealer may experience a problem that is either unanticipated or is out of its control, such as
- delays in customers delivering their shares to a broker-dealer,
- the inability to obtain borrowed shares in time for settlement,
- issues related to the physical transfer of securities, or
- the failure of a broker-dealer to receive shares it had purchased to fulfill its delivery obligations. Failures to deliver can result from both long and short sales.3
- The SEC says failures to deliver on a given day are a cumulative number of all fails outstanding until that day, plus new fails that occur that day less fails that settle that day. The figure is not a daily amount of fails, but a combined figure that includes both new fails on the reporting day as well as existing fails. In other words, these numbers reflect aggregate fails as of a specific point in time and may have little or no relationship to yesterday's aggregate fails. 4
- FTD data for AMC 06/01/2021 - 06/14/2021The recent ape theory is that FTD data is the key for timing short squeezes based on Reg SHO closeout requirements. But that theory completely neglects that the daily quantity reported is an aggregate of existing and new fails. AMC was trading on average half a billion shares per day, even an aggregate of 5 million fails would not cause a short squeeze.
- Another theory I read is that traders can ''reset the clock'' on a firm's Reg SHO close-out requirement by using options. This trading practice is illegal and the takeaway from a previous ruling in 2016, is that broker-dealers have an obligation to monitor for, and prevent, this type of trading by their customers. Failure to do so will result in disgorgement and penalty fines for the BDs.
- Reg SHORegulation SHO creates rules and uniform standards regarding short sales. The regulation applies to equities and any security that is convertible into equities.
- Reg SHO provides market makers an exemption from pre-borrowing shares before shorting, market makers are NOT exempt from borrowing shares completely. The reason this exemption is in place is that market-makers have an obligation to maintain a two-sided market '-- failure to honor these quotes for the minimum quote size is known as ''backing away'' and is a violation of the Firm Quote Rule (SEC Rule 11Ac1-1). Special and even exclusive arrangements with securities lenders allow market makers the ability to secure borrows to facilitate an orderly market.
- Rule 204, also known as the closeout requirement, reduces the number of FTD positions by requiring broker-dealers that have a fail-to-deliver position to either; immediately purchase or borrow the security to close out the fail. No short sales on that security are permitted by the BD (or any BD that the firm clears for) unless it has arranged to borrow the securities. An exception exists for bona fide market-making activities and the broker-dealer gets an extra two settlement days.
- Options Trading VolumeThe rise of retail trading interest from work-from-home boredom coupled with free trading thanks to the rise in Payment For Order Flow (PFOF), and the ease of access to options trading has led to an insane increase in derivative trading volumes. According to the OCC, full-year cleared contract volume in 2020 was up a staggering 50.6 percent from 2019.5 So far in 2021, total equity options volume is up an additional 47.5 percent from 2020's elevated levels! Interestingly, both Index Options and Futures trading volume is down around -15% YoY.
- Retail traders are attracted to options because they provide a sort of synthetic leverage for their relatively small accounts and a safe harbor from the Pattern Day Trading (PDT) rule. This huge increase in options trading volume has created an interesting and almost perplexing level of trading in the respective underlying assets, adding a whole new dynamic to the markets.
- ConclusionLike every ''fun'' conspiracy theory, there is an ounce of truth. There is no doubt manipulation in the markets that exist today on every level '-- dilution scams, pump-and-dump schemes, bogus press releases, fake bids, layering, painting the tape, and so on do exist '-- after all, the people at FINRA and the SEC still have jobs.
- Joe McCraith on Twitter: "@Schuldensuehner @adamcurry Sunday showfodder." / Twitter
- Joe McCraith : @Schuldensuehner @adamcurry Sunday showfodder.
- Thu Jul 15 22:53:35 +0000 2021
- Austin police start enforcement of Phase 3 of the camping ban with warnings, not citations
- Austin police start enforcement of Phase 3 of the camping ban with warnings, not citations
- Austin police have shifted to Phase 3 of enforcing the ban on public camping. It allows officers to give citations and make arrests if people experiencing homelessness won't leave potentially dangerous areas of the city. (Photo: Bettie Cross){p}{/p}
- Austin police have shifted to Phase 3 of enforcing the ban on public camping. It allows officers to give citations and make arrests if people experiencing homelessness won't leave potentially dangerous areas of the city.
- The Austin news media was not invited to go with officers as they started implementing the stepped-up enforcement strategy. Instead, the City of Austin provided video of Phase 3 enforcement which, at this point, looks very similar to Phase 2.
- ''This is a citation phase. We did not write any citations during today, but we did write warnings and are kind of making sure people know what's going on,'' said Officer Justin Cummings with APD.
- APD says 21 written warnings and no citations were issued on Tuesday along the hike and bike trail in Central Austin. Officers say this is a final push to get people to find alternatives to camping along busy streets or in other dangerous areas that have a high risk of fire or flooding.
- ''We don't want to write citations and we don't want to take people to jail. But there's the will of the people. They voted for Prop B, so we do have to do some enforcement. But we're trying to do everything we can to get voluntary compliance,'' said Officer Cummings.
- Austin voters approved Proposition B in May, making it illegal to camp in public areas, to sit or lie down in the downtown or UT campus areas, or to solicit money or other things of value at specific hours and locations.
- ''Coordination during this effort has been productive through progressive enforcement, outreach and education,'' said Interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon. ''While officers may write citations for violations, we are hopeful for no punitive penalties and to connect individuals to services and resources through diversion efforts in partnership with Downtown Austin Community Court. Enforcing this ordinance is a challenge. Like many communities battling homelessness, there simply aren't enough places for people experiencing homelessness to go.''
- One encampment along Ben White Boulevard in South Austin was cleared on Wednesday. 45 people living under Highway 290 were offered rooms at the Southbridge Shelter on Interstate-35.
- ''We make an explicit offer of guaranteed shelter and a connection to a permanent housing resource,'' said Dianna Grey, Austin's Homeless Strategy Officer.
- Grey says shelter space in Austin is increasing, but it's still not enough. The City's Homeless Strategy Division has opened Southbridge, a 75-bed bridge shelter in south Austin and is working to open a second 55-room bridge shelter in central Austin by the middle of August.
- The latest tally estimates there are 2,500 people experiencing homelessness in Austin. Of those, about 1,500 are living outside in tents or cars. Of those, about 45 were living in the Ben White encampment. The City of Austin has found shelter for them, but that leaves many more who are now facing Phase 3 of enforcement.
- ''I feel like that we as a city have taken a really prudent approach to acknowledging the will of the people. We're implementing the ordinance, but we're doing it in a way that acknowledges what resources are available,'' said Grey. ''Most folks move along. There is voluntary compliance.''
- The city is already planning two more HEAL Initiative outreach efforts in coming months. One site is in downtown and the other in North Austin. They will create pathways to housing for people living at priority encampments.
- ''They just want a place where they can be. Where they can be alone and we won't have to mess with them and they don't have to worry about security. Where they don't have to worry about getting a citation or possibly getting arrested,'' said Officer Cummings. ''We are in law enforcement so we have to enforce the laws but that doesn't mean we have to take the compassion out of this process.''
