- Direct [link] to the mp3 file
- Experimental IPFS RSS Feed
- Executive Producers:
- Sir Onymous of Dogpatch and Lower Slobbovia
- james SCHNEEBERGER, Sir Jimbabwe
- Dame Mandy Healer in the Green Mountain State
- Dave Fugazzotto Duke of America's Heartland and the Arabian Peninsula
- Steve, Sir BNAdstra, Knight of the Nashville Aerodromes
- Sir Anthonyseven, Viscount of Hamilton
- Black Knight bigloaf of the BLAZ
- Associate Executive Producers:
- Dame Astrid Duchess of Japan and all the Disputed Islands in the Japan Sea
- Sir Don, Baron of New Hampshire
- Become a member of the 1406 Club, support the show here
- Title Changes
- Sir Anthonyseven, Baron of Hamilton -> Viscount
- Knights & Dames
- Mandy Bates -> Dame Mandy, Healer in the Green Mountain State
- End of Show Mixes: Tidewater Architect
- Engineering, Stream Management & Wizardry
- Mark van Dijk - Systems Master
- Ryan Bemrose - Program Director
- Clip Custodian: Neal Jones
- BLM LGBBTQQIAAPK+ Noodle Boy
- Finally figured out 'Equity' in justice
- The top loots so much that they feel bad when the bottom loots and gets in trouble, so they made it fairer, everyone gets out of jail free!
- Supply Chains
- Pfizer shipping supply chain BOTG
- Purple cap Pfizer is going to be retired this month. Will be transferring to gray cap COMIRNATY
- Yes. They have requested we use as much of the Pfizer (purple caps) as possible before requesting the Comirnaty (gray caps).
- The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is going away. The Comirnaty will be replacing it. No more EUA protection for adults. However the pediatric will continue to be the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
- There would be no way of telling. "Pfizer Comirnaty" and "Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine" are biologically and chemically the same thing.
- If I had to guess, with the soon to come therapeutic Paxlovid, Pfizer needs to move off of the EUA vaccine and into the licensed vaccine. It’s time to start clearing out inventory to reduce dead stock.
- Also, If Pfizer moved into the licensed vaccine and therapeutic, it would be a death blow to Moderna and Janssen. Neither would be able to distribute their EUA vaccine. Anecdotally, the availability of Janssen and Moderna has become constrained at the federal level and is dwindling. We can order both still but we don’t get nearly as much as we ask for. For example, I ordered 2000 doses of Moderna this week and will only be receiving 900.
- China Africa Gambit
- US in Africa to thwart them taking money from China - Trust US only!! Need to make China look bad to get World Bank etc in
- The Africa Gambit: Cut them off, impoverish, swoop in AHEAD of China
- The great game in the Horn of Africa | Horn Affairs
- In a recent policy briefing at the Heritage Foundation, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said:
- “And soon, Djibouti may hand over control of the Doraleh Container Terminal, a strategically located shipping port on the Red Sea, to Chinese state-owned enterprises. Should this occur, the balance of power in the Horn of Africa —astride major arteries of maritime trade between Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia — would shift in favour of China. And, our US military personnel at Camp Lemonnier, could face even further challenges in their efforts to protect the American people.”
- US: 'Nascent' progress in Ethiopia talks could be outpaced - ABC News
- NAIROBI, Kenya -- A United States envoy said Tuesday he sees “nascent progress” in talks with Ethiopia’s warring sides toward a cease-fire, but he fears it will be outpaced by “alarming” military developments in the yearlong war in Africa's second-most populous country.
- Jeffrey Feltman spoke to reporters after his latest visit to Ethiopia, where rival Tigray forces continue pushing toward the capital, Addis Ababa, and a growing number of countries tell their citizens to leave immediately. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday announced he will lead “from the battlefield” in a war that is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people.
- Feltman said the warring sides are now talking about elements they expect to see on the table in talks, but “the tragedy is” that while the elements are similar, views differ on which to tackle first.
- “Unfortunately, each side is trying to achieve its goals by military force and believe they are on the cusp of winning,” he said.
- In a sign of the Tigray forces' defiant position, a statement issued Tuesday by the Tigray external affairs office said that “first, any peace initiative whose principal objective is to save Abiy Ahmed from imminent demise is dead on arrival.”
- Who Gains From Ethiopia Tigray War?
- If you want to know who is likely to be at war, just look at who is given the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian (NATO) Parliament. Obama got it just days into office before he escalated the war in Afghanistan. Henry Kissinger got it in the 1970’S. And two years ago the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed got the prize for making “peace” with Eritrea. Within a year, the much-praised peace deal between Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea’s dictator, President Isaias Afwerki, the two had united to wage war against the Ethiopian Tigray people in the province bordering Eritrea. The alliance of the two was clearly about eliminating the powerful formerly-ruling Tigray minority. Who now stands to gain in the growing debacle ?
- Today the reality is that Abiy Ahmed and his demoralized soldiers are in dire straits as the better-trained Tigray guerilla forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), approach Addis Ababa. There is good reason to believe that Biden’s Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, is manipulating events behind the scenes and not for peaceful resolution.
- Nominally, the war was launched by Abiy because the Tigray state disobeyed the new government’s covid ban on scheduled elections. Clearly the Tigray, who ruled Ethiopia as a minority ethnic group for almost three decades until 2018–when it was forced by popular protests to yield rule to Abiy– were at a severe disadvantage, as Abiy gave a green light to Eritrea’s brutal dictator, Isaias, to invade the Ethiopian Tigray state from the north while Abiy’s military attacked from the south. Isaias’s soldiers carried out murder of thousands of Tigray civilians and carried out war crimes including rape and pillage in what has been called ethnic cleansing. The Eritrean forces, estimated at some 80,000 occupied a third of the region of Tigray. All communications were cut by the invaders.
- Isaias and Nobel Peace Prize awardee Abiy Ahmed launched what can only be called a war of annihilation against the Tigray TPLF. They have imposed a siege of food supplies in the region and some 900,000 are reportedly on verge of starvation. Villages, cities and farms have been destroyed as the Eritrean forces reportedly used drones supplied by the UAE to bomb the land. The Tigray leadership and their trained military, the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front, TPLF, fled to the hills to wage guerilla warfare, as Abiy openly called the Tigray TPLF, a “cancer” on Ethiopian society, and to the TPLF as “weeds.”
- Ethiopia China
- In all this geopolitical spaghetti bowl there is also the case of the growing presence of China in the Horn of Africa where it has welcomed Eritrea into its Belt and Road Initiative and established a military naval base in Djibouti alongside a critical US base Camp Lemonnier, and gained a major share ownership of Djibouti’s container port, Port of Doraleh, via its state-owned China Merchants Group. Djibouti is also a participant in China’s BRI. Djibouti controls access to both the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and links Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Horn of Africa, and the Persian Gulf. It lies directly across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Yemen and is Ethiopia’s only sea trade link.
- China has kept a low profile during the Tigray War but it suggests the potential of a New Great Game for domination of the region from the Horn of Africa to Egypt along the Red Sea. US covert backing for the Tigray TPLF and the role of Feltman in the region suggests that Washington once more is determined to wreak maximum chaos as it did with help of Feltman in Syria and the Arab Spring color revolutions.
- Barbados BOTG
- We went to Antigua this past summer for vacation . We went to an
- all-inclusive adults only resort. The temperature is pretty much the same
- all year around and your sex drive goes through the roof. It's definitely a
- fantastic place to escape. Lots of Brits who don't tip that well.
- Beautiful warm water. Not too humid. upper 70's - mid-80's. didn't rain too
- On one of our party boat/snorkle excursions, we went by the new massive
- Chinese embassy that's begin built. From what I recall , the boat tour
- China also built them a $30MM+ cricket stadium for "free".
- I guess US influence pulled back in 2008ish? and government officials are
- apparently "open to donations".
- Other fact I found interesting is that the island is really run by the taxi
- drivers in that they have the most voting power.
- The native Antiguans are 100% dependent on tourism and are live a pretty
- I asked about hurricanes and their devastation and recovery and the guy said
- that Barbuda is still a mess. They have some land
- ownership/government/independence thing which I guess is "not with the
- Violence Mandates
- Central Wisconsin meat shop [Nolochek's] sues Biden administration over employee mask requirement
- Just want to say thank you again for all of the support from you and John and of course all the karma we’ve been receiving throughout our ordeal here at
- Nolecheks. I think I the simple act of sending a note and couple hundred bucks to become a producer has been some of the best value for value advertisement
- Nolechek’s Meats has ever encountered due to the amazing community you two youths have constructed. Thank you sincerely from the bottoms of our hearts from the
- whole crew here at nolecheks.
- Many protests this weekend
- Vax pass for essentials BOTG
- I live in New Brunswick Canada. A province of approximately 600,000
- We have some of the strictest Covid restrictions in North America
- As of midnight tonight we will need to show our vax pass to buy essentials at retail stores. To my knowledge we are the trendsetters in North America for this.
- It’s a same we are not getting any media time as we may be one of the most restricted places on the planet 🤪
- Thanks for reading my email .
- I am a unvaccinated RN recovered from Covid with 20 years ICU experience put on unpaid leave on November 19.
- I should add as far as my job goes
- Not able to use vacation or banked time
- Leave of absence without pay
- May come back once proof of vax is provided
- Not able to retire early or collect employment insurance benefits
- Staff Shortages gig economy Chef James
- I’ll be brief. 45 year restaurateur. Been consulting and doing private Chef dinner primarily since I sold my place in 2007
- Been slow lately so I decided to drive for Doordash for awhile until my December Catering hits later this month.
- After two days, I can confirm that ALL restaurants in general are woefully understaffed. Got me wondering. Where did all those people go? Before Covid there
- wasn’t an issue. Then it hit me after watching the video 11 Side Hustles to Make Money with Your Phone.
- These people aren’t just sitting at home collecting government checks like many of us assumed. They’re working in the Gig economy! Think about it; you set your
- own hours. No payroll taxes are withheld, no HR bullshit, you’re your own boss. And the money can be as good as you want!
- I know sometimes you two find things like this interesting.
- And I haven’t seen anyone else talking about it.
- Chicago Police Vaccination Policy Update
- The labor relations board issued a ruling on The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7’s unfair labor practice grievance yesterday. I have attached 2 sub minute clips
- of our union president, one of which where he gets fired up about going after high ranking supervisors pockets for going along with Lightfoots bidding to issue
- illegal orders to officers to disclose their vaccination status if you’d like to play them in a future show.
- The city of Chicago (Lightfoot) has been forcing officers to disclose their vaccination status on a 3rd party database and to be fully vaccinated by January 1
- 2022. The union asked for this to be a collective bargaining issue and tried to get a policy in place to say N/A instead of yes or no and if you said N/A tot
- would submit to weekly testing and to have a long term plan for those not wanting to be vaccinated. Obviously the mayor made this her hill to die on and
- threatened officers salary and jobs over this vaccine nonsense.
- Here’s how the labor board ruled.
- 1. The labor board ruled in the officers and unions favor saying this policy has to be collectively bargained, not force fed without any recourse.
- 1. The city’s vaccination policy implemented on October 8 without first bargaining failed to maintain the existing terms and conditions of employment. The city
- has also violated multiple state labor laws regarding this vaccine policy making all these direct orders to disclose vaccination status to the employer illegal
- without first bargaining with the union.
- This house of cards seems to be ready to fold at any minute. The courts keep saying this is illegal and can’t be done and its like being held at gunpoint by
- someone that has no bullets in the chamber and we are all starting to find that out. Keep on fighting everyone we are winning.
- Thank you for all you do-Anonymous obviously
- War on Guns
- Shootings and Legislation
- I don’t have any proof of this, other than circumstantial evidence, but really, these large shootings overwhelmingly coincide with 2nd Amendment legislation. The Las Vegas Shooter happened the day before a vote to take suppressors off of the NFA list. No surprise, that vote didn’t happen. This shooting in Michigan corresponds with HB 38, national concealed carry reciprocity. This is a trend that I have noticed over the last 5 years of these shootings. It seems every time a bill, either increasing or decreasing gun rights, is gaining momentum, one of these shooters pops off and that bill disappears.
- VAERS
- Medidata / de Vries (+ Olivier Dassault)
- Nurses use the term De-Pop for the covid-19 vaccine
- STORIES
- Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand (And Three Ways To Fix It)
- New Line Cinema By Ben Pearson / Nov. 30, 2021 1:16 pm EST / Updated: Dec. 3, 2021 2:49 pm ESTI used to be able to understand 99% of the dialogue in Hollywood films. But over the past 10 years or so, I've noticed that percentage has dropped significantly '-- and it's not due to hearing loss on my end. It's gotten to the point where I find myself occasionally not being able to parse entire lines of dialogue when I see a movie in a theater, and when I watch things at home, I've defaulted to turning the subtitles on to make sure I don't miss anything crucial to the plot.
- Knowing I'm not alone in having these experiences, I reached out to several professional sound editors, designers, and mixers, many of whom have won Oscars for their work on some of Hollywood's biggest films, to get to the bottom of what's going on. One person refused to talk to me, saying it would be "professional suicide" to address this topic on the record. Another agreed to talk, but only under the condition that they remain anonymous. But several others spoke openly about the topic, and it quickly became apparent that this is a familiar subject among the folks in the sound community, since they're the ones who often bear the brunt of complaints about dialogue intelligibility.
- "It's not easy to mix a movie," says Jaime Baksht, who took home an Oscar for his work on last year's excellent "Sound of Metal" and previously worked on Alfonso Cuar"n's "Roma." "Everybody thinks you're just moving levers, but it's not like that."
- This problem indeed goes far beyond simply flipping a switch or two on a mixing board. It's much more complex than I anticipated, and it turns out there isn't one simple element that can be singled out and blamed as the primary culprit.
- "There are a number of root causes," says Mark Mangini, the Academy Award-winning sound designer behind films like "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Blade Runner 2049." "It's really a gumbo, an accumulation of problems that have been exacerbated over the last 10 years ... that's kind of this time span where all of us in the filmmaking community are noticing that dialogue is harder and harder to understand."
- Join me and these industry experts as we sort through that "gumbo" and identify some of the most prominent reasons it has become more difficult to, in the paraphrased words of Chris Tucker's Detective Carter in "Rush Hour," understand the words that are coming out of characters' mouths.
- It's A Purposeful Choice Warner Bros.When it comes to dialogue unintelligibility, one name looms above all others: Christopher Nolan. The director of "Tenet," "Interstellar," and "The Dark Knight Rises" is one of the most successful filmmakers of his generation, and he uses his power to make sure his films push the boundaries of sound design, often resulting in scenes in which audiences literally cannot understand what his characters say. And it's not just audiences who have trouble with some Nolan films: the director has even revealed that other filmmakers have reached out to him to complain about this issue in his movies.
- Donald Sylvester, who took home an Oscar for his work on "Ford v Ferrari" and is currently serving as the supervising sound editor of "Indiana Jones 5," says Nolan is a singular figure in this regard. "I think Christopher Nolan wears it as a badge of honor," Sylvester declares. "I don't think he cares. I think he wants people to give him bad publicity because then he can explain his methods to everybody and we can all learn. But I don't think other people actually understand it."
- Baksht thinks the complaints about Nolan's work, specifically the hubbub about unintelligibility surrounding last year's twisty action thriller "Tenet," are overblown. "I think in the case of Mr. Nolan, with ["Tenet"], the characters have a mask, and he wants to keep the original sound because I think for him it's more real," he says. Presumably, that mentality also extends to "The Dark Knight Rises," in which Bane's mask muffled a significant percentage of that character's lines.
- Thomas Curley, who won an Oscar as a production sound mixer on "Whiplash" and previously worked on "The Spectacular Now," has also seen this type of mentality at work. "Not everything really has a very crisp, cinematic sound to it in real life, and I think some of these people are trying to replicate that," he tells me.
- Baksht says that type of creative aesthetic does not need to permeate an entire movie '-- it can sometimes change from scene to scene depending on the director's goals in telling the story. Although, as this anecdote illustrates, its effectiveness remains debatable:
- "In the case of Alejandro Gonzlez I±rritu, he did a movie ['Biutiful'] where all the dialogue was really dirty. They were in Spanish, but you weren't able to understand much. When I asked his sound designer about this issue, he told me the reason they wanted to keep the dirty dialogue was because the situation was so awful in the life of the character that it helped the feeling of depression. I told him, 'Yes, I think the audience got depressed because they couldn't understand anything!' But when [I±rritu] did 'The Revenant,' the dialogue was pristine and perfect."
- I understand his point, although I take issue with using "The Revenant" as an example of pristine dialogue because that film features Tom Hardy in a supporting role, and Hardy is one of the most notoriously difficult-to-understand actors working today.
- It's in the Acting Warner Bros.Hardy occupies a unique position in film acting these days, having developed a delivery style that's frequently so indecipherable it's as if he's purposefully challenging audiences to lean in and understand what he's saying. But what about actors who aren't quite on that level of unintelligibility?
- "It seems to be a little bit of a fad with some actors to do the sort of soft delivery or under your breath delivery of some lines," Curley says. "That's a personal choice for them. Our job is to record it as well as we can regardless."
- Mangini says that in the old days, "you could count on an actor's theatricality to deliver a line to the back seats." But acting styles have changed so dramatically over the years that it has become much more difficult to capture great sound on the set. When actors adopt that more naturalistic style, "it's even harder for the production sound mixer to capture really quality sound. Now we get those compromised microphone positions here in post-production, reaching for a dialogue line that is barely intelligible or maybe even mumbled because it's an acting style, and already, we're behind the 8-ball in trying to figure out a way to make all of those words intelligible."
- Karen Baker Landers, whose credits include "Gladiator," "Skyfall," and "Heat," among many others, has her own term for it. "Mumbling, breathy, I call it self-conscious type of acting, is so frustrating," she says. "I would say a lot of the younger actors have adopted that style. I think the onus also falls on the directors to say, 'I can't understand a word you're saying. I'm listening to dailies, and I can't understand.' No amount of volume is going to fix that."
- That naturalistic performance style might feel right for actors in the moment on set, but it can be hell for the sound professionals who have to clean it up afterward. "We're very careful to make sure there's clarity," Baker Landers says. "You go in and you volume-graph up a vowel, or one letter. You go in and you surgically '' maybe if it's not right on camera, you slow it down. There's all kinds of things we spend hours trying to do that may help a performance. We really strive for that."
- But they can only do so much.
- Sound Isn't Respected Enough On Sets Kzenon/ShutterstockAnother ingredient in this complicated gumbo is how the sound team is treated during the process of filming.
- "What we see from our brothers and sisters in production is a never-ending [complaint] that they don't get the respect they need to get the microphone where it needs to be to capture the sound clearly," Mangini says. "That's because as movies have matured in the last 15 years, movies have become more visually exciting. And because of that, it is less likely that you're going to be allowed to put that boom mic right where the actor is, because it's probably going to drop a shadow because it's in front of a light that the camera team insists has to exist to get the perfect look of the shot. So [the visuals have] taken precedence over what we hear."
- Sylvester agrees with that sentiment. "If the sound guy goes, 'Can you get one more take for me?' they go, 'Nope, we're wrapping. We've gotta move on to another setup.' It's because pictures are the most important thing, and we do a good job fixing sound at the end of the day. So they go, 'We'll fix it in post.' That's literally their go-to answer. 'I just need to get this.' 'Yeah, we'll fix it later.' And we do, unfortunately. But it's not because we want to. It's because we have to."
- Another "Whiplash" Oscar winner, Craig Mann, acknowledges that less time on set can have a negative effect on the sound crews. "There's more demand on crews to do many setups a day, and that could be a contributing factor," he says. "The production sound guy is the tip of the spear in terms of our first line of defense, and oftentimes if there are problems, the good ones will approach the director or the AD or the DP and say, 'Hey, this isn't working, you're going to miss this.' Oftentimes it gets handled. But on the other side, sometimes there are a lot of production sound guys that do not feel empowered or have had a bad experience about speaking up in the past, or whatever the reason is, and the material gets back to the cutting room and it's a mess, and [they say], 'Well, we thought everything was fine!'"
- "I would blame it more on schedule and budget and maybe trying to rush," Baker Landers says when this topic arises. "It's an art form to be a dialogue editor. It's an art form to be a great production recordist. Then to be able to get the clarity of dialogue in a mix with everything else going on and have the dialogue feel natural and not forced is another art form, all of which take time. Budgets and schedules are crunched on a lot of projects, and some of these are amazing films."
- Technology (AKA The Jurassic Park Problem) UniversalOne high-profile Hollywood sound professional who wishes to remain anonymous points to the evolution of technology as an ingredient. "The reason people don't remember having these same audio issues with older films is that [now] we have more: more tracks to play with, more options, therefore more expected and asked for from the sound editors," they say. "If you listen to, say, 'Four Weddings and a Funeral,' you'll hear every word ... the sound was cut on film back then, and with limited time, track count, and budget, these are the results you got."
- Thomas Curley concurs with that assessment:
- "A lot of it has probably happened more recently because of the almost ubiquitous use of digital audio and digital cinema now. Part of the reason with that is because when everything was shot on film and edited with tape, it was a much more laborious process and it was much more technically challenging to do a whole lot with sound design. Everything had to be a very conscious choice and a very intentional soundscape that they create. Since it was so cost-intensive and labor-intensive, they wanted to make sure that the story got across first and emotion gets sort of directed with music, and that's about it. And every pass that you do with an analogue system depletes the quality as well: it's like making a photocopy of a photocopy. But now, they have much faster turnarounds and much more capabilities as far as what they can do with the sound design, including playing around with ambience and sound effects. To put a concrete reason on it is hard, but a lot of it comes down to 'I have this toy, so I'm going to play with it.'"
- The anonymous sound pro also pointed to what they view as an increase in the amount of music in modern movies compared to older films, bemoaning directors' over-reliance on music as "pushing emotion" on audiences and the way music and dialogue are forced to jostle for prominence in the mix. "The technology we have today is so vastly improved that there is no limit to what can be added: whatever the director wants, for months on end. We literally have hundreds of tracks at our disposal ... in a final mix, we therefore have a lot to deal with. Unending score smashed up against hundreds of tracks, with the client asking to hear every nuance above every other nuance."
- Curley sums it up beautifully. "It might fall into the realm of the 'Jurassic Park' thing: they spend so much time realizing that they can do all these things, but not thinking about if they should do all these things."
- Familiarity/Passive Listening Filmways PicturesAll four of those contributing factors to dialogue unintelligibility are the result of decisions made on sets. But by the time a film makes it to post-production, editors can be afflicted by something Karen Baker Landers calls "passive listening." Donald Sylvester has another name for it '' "familiarity" '-- and it's exactly what you think it is.
- "What I mean by familiarity is, when we're making a movie, it takes a long time," says Sylvester. "It takes weeks and months. If there's something that's unclear at first and you turn to the guy next to you and go, 'What did he say?' and he's like, 'Bring the car around the garage.' The next time you hear it, you go, 'Oh, OK, got it. Bring the car around the garage.' But they get familiar with the bad sound to the point where they no longer find it to be a problem."
- Mark Mangini puts it like this:
- "The director is sick of talking to the writer and giving them rewrites, sick of talking to the actors and giving them line reads, and by the time you get to post, every single syllable is known by heart. So imagine what that creates in a sound mix where we're supposed to correct the dialogue. We're no longer critically listening like we should be. Because we're in fact zoning out on whether or not the audience is actually getting the critical information they need. We know what the critical information is: we've been dealing with it for months. So in a sense, we have to challenge ourselves daily '' and we certainly do this in sound '' to try to remove ourselves from that equation and re-inject ourselves with a fresh perspective to see if we're actually making clear dialogue such that the audience understands it."
- In Craig Mann's experience, though, the idea of familiarity is not a widespread issue. "As someone that does this on a daily basis, I think dialogue clarity is the number one priority on the mixing stage," he tells me. "Dialogue, music, and effects, in that order, is usually the chain of priority. If you can't hear the dialogue, we're going to find a way to hear it. Just speaking of the couple things that we've done even this past year, I can say Joe Carnahan, writer/director, wants to hear every word. Tyler Perry, we just did something with him, wants to hear every word. Sean Penn wants to hear every word. So I don't necessarily agree with getting numb to it. I think it's incumbent upon us to have that fresh ear every time we show up."
- Sylvester also points out that unfamiliarity may be an issue in some instances. "What I'm wondering is if, sometimes, some of these films that we see, people are saying words that we don't know what they mean, such as 'Dune,' where they start talking about characters and places that sound unfamiliar. They do it in such a way, offhandedly, where it's like, 'What did he say?' Some of it is the content."
- Mixing For Cinemas Summit EntertainmentOne of the most fascinating things I learned when speaking with these folks is the gulf in quality that can sometimes occur between what a film sounds like in the mixing stages and what it can sound like when it plays in a multiplex. Mann says this isn't a new problem '-- it's actually been happening for decades:
- "You mix it at your level in the mixing room, and theoretically, that is supposed to be the same level that is represented in the movie theaters on the Dolby Cinema processors, therefore giving you an exact translation, more or less, of what you've done on the mixing stage. But what's happened is, particularly in the '90s, because that felt like the time when they were doing the loudest mixes '' I didn't mix in those times, but the stories were that mixers and maybe directors would want stuff mixed at a level that was just ear-bleeding. And what would happen is, that would get to the theater, there would be complaints from the patrons, and the theater would be compelled to turn down the mix. And when the next feature came in the next week, the level was never reset, and now that level is playing way low for the regularly mixed movie. That's a problem that vendors have been dealing with for many years. I know [it's still happening]. For example, the Landmark Theater chain does not play their theaters above 5.5 on the cinema processor, where the set standard is supposed to be 7 on that processor."
- The idea that a significant theater chain would purposefully ignore industry standards for something as crucial as sound is genuinely shocking. I reached out to Landmark's customer service and asked them directly about this issue, but they did not respond in time for publication.
- Thankfully, I have not heard any similar stories about AMC Theaters, the largest theater chain in the United States. However, I was curious about the configurations that occur when a new sound system is installed in an AMC cinema, how frequently their systems are upgraded or replaced, and how the company maintains quality sound conditions across its vast empire of theaters. I reached out to AMC, and they responded with this statement:
- In general, our guest feedback, both recently and stretching back the last several years, does not match your assessment about dialogue becoming more difficult to understand. Among guest feedback, which is tracked through survey results and through incoming contacts from guests, there has not been an increase in complaints as a result of the audio, regardless of the type of movie. Regarding your questions about our sound equipment, our speakers and sound systems are calibrated upon installation. They are routinely checked, and recalibrated whenever necessary to ensure the best possible sound quality.
- Additionally, for guests who would like to follow the dialogue on screen, AMC now offers Open Caption showtimes at 240 of our locations, and in every major market in the United States with at least two AMC theatres.
- Meanwhile, Baker Landers thinks part of the trouble may have begun when theaters shifted away from projecting movies on film. In that transition, union projectionists '-- the people who knew the ins and outs of how to properly present a movie with care '-- were largely kicked to the curb in favor of inexperienced employees who essentially pressed play on a digital system and could then busy themselves doing other tasks. She tells me a story about how she went to see one of her own movies at a big multiplex and the auditory experience was so bad, she was compelled to point it out to the manager.
- "I did a film that was [played] at a 4 [out of 7 on the processor scale]," she says, still appalled by the memory. "I was at a matinee with a lot of elderly people because I took my mom, and I'm like, 'None of these people can hear what's happening.' The manager, who was probably all of 22 years old, said, 'Well, that's how the film was done.' And I said, 'No, I did the sound on the film. That's not how it was done.'"
- When sound pros encounter those dumbfounding levels of separation between the mixing stages and theaters, Mann says there can be a schism about the best way to move forward:
- "You're going to have some people on the mixing stage who want to turn [up that volume higher than the standard of 7] to compensate for the fact that theaters are playing it low. But [if you do that,] when you go to those theaters that are calibrated correctly, you're going to blow the doors off that theater because it's going to be ripping loud. So one thing we always try to tell our people is that you have to be happy with the mix in the properly calibrated environment, and when you go down to your local movieplex, the speaker could be blown, the level could be low, God knows what's going to happen when you're out in the wild, and we can't control all of that."
- Baker Landers knows on which side of that divide she falls. "We mix and release the film for the best case scenario, saying, 'This is how it should be.' A lot of times, we'll hear people say, 'They're not going to be able to hear this in certain theaters in the Midwest, so should we do this louder?' But then you don't have a standard any longer. You have to say, 'This is the standard. We're doing it for the optimum viewing experience.' And hopefully theaters and everyone else rise to that."
- Mixing For Streaming Top_CNX/ShutterstockMixing sound for theaters can be tough, but mixing sound specifically for streaming has its own set of challenges. "We, in fact, do a separate mix for streaming," Mangini says (although I later learned this isn't true for every single movie across the board). But since nothing is ever easy, another problem arises when streaming enters the picture: compression. In layman's terms, think of compression as audio files basically being shrunk down in order to be efficiently transported across the Internet to your viewing device. That process sounds almost magical, doesn't it? It is '-- until you realize that those shrunken files are of significantly lower quality than what you'd get if you watched that same movie on a Blu-ray. (If you're keeping score at home, this is yet another point in favor of preserving physical media at all costs.)
- "Very often, the streamed audio is a compressed version that you wouldn't get on a Blu-ray," Mangini explains:
- "On Blu-ray, if you select 7.1, that is our full fidelity, 48 kilohertz, 24-bit master audio, just as it came from the mixing studio. You can get that on a Blu-ray, and you can get that on certain premium platforms. I think you have to pay extra money for that. But otherwise, it's most common that when you stream, you get a degraded version of what you mix that even we didn't approve. It's done after the fact, after we ship the masters. The only way [streamers] can get the bandwidth they need for you to see image and sound in sync is to compress everything."
- Compression is inescapable when streaming is involved, but it turns out not all streaming platforms are created equal. Craig Mann tells me something he says "is not well-known" outside the sound community: different streamers have different specifications when it comes to their audio mixes. "Netflix has excellent specs in terms of dialogue norm and overall levels," he reveals. "They need a particular level in order to pass quality control, and the level is essentially based on the dialogue level throughout the length of the program."
- But since there's no industry standard in how to measure audio for streaming, other platforms base their levels on other parts of the sound mix. Case in point: Mann recently worked on Joe Carnahan's "Boss Level," which was originally meant to be a theatrical release. "For a variety of reasons, it ended up at Hulu, and when we got a look at that spec, they require it to be based on the overall [volume] of the film, not on the dialogue level of the film. Consequently, that's a big action movie with shooting and cars and big music, and the result of that is that you have a much more squashed up, un-impactful mix ... there are only a couple different ways of measuring these things these days, and I can only imagine that it's somebody just not understanding the reason why it should be this and not that."
- Home Theater Woes Searchlight PicturesThere is yet another important variable in this sprawling equation, and it might be the most important one of all: the home theater experience. "Ultimately, the historical record of the film will not be seen in theaters, it will be what you see in your home theater," Karen Baker Landers says. "That's how most people see certain products. So you want it to be great."
- For audio mixers, the theatrical mix comes first, followed by a streaming mix. Then, a stereo mix will often be created, funneling the full scope of the sound mix through just two simple speakers in a process Donald Sylvester likens to "taking a beautiful steak and dragging it through the dirt."
- "A lot of people watch it on their flatscreen with their sound bar and they think it's going to be an improved sound situation, but it may not translate," says Sylvester:
- "Some TVs take the 5.1 [surround sound mix] and they turn it into a stereo. They have algorithms inside the TV. It's not even our mix. We don't even know what it sounds like. I think a lot of tuners do that, if you have a receiver '-- I know they have algorithms, and they also put coloring on it, like 'cinema approach' that adds reflection and noise and stuff that you don't want in the mix. That's another problem. You don't know how it's being presented in the home."
- Complicating matters even further is the unfortunate fact that "not every filmmaker knows that you have to rebalance your film so it plays differently on a home theater," Baker Landers explains. "That's a big problem. Because if you've mixed this for spread in a theater and you just do a simple transfer with some kid at night who doesn't know what they're doing, who didn't [work on] the movie [originally], there's a huge problem with that. I think that problem needs to be addressed. People who aren't in the industry complain to me all the time: 'Why can't I understand the dialogue? Why am I always riding the levels? The music comes in huge.'"
- Craig Mann tells me most modern movies are required to create a separate mix for home video, but there is still the occasional film which decides to skip that step in the process. "Those mixes often have less dynamic range than the theater mix," Mann says. "If you're really having to ride the volume around a lot, chances are they didn't have a home theater mix on that."
- So, How Do We Fix This? Touchstone PicturesNow that we know the key issues that are contributing to this lack of intelligibility, what can be done to make things more intelligible? From the sound of it, this problem is going to require a multi-pronged approach.
- One prong involves educating people about the importance of sound, from studio execs to the filmmakers themselves. "There's a lot of people who don't prioritize sound," says Thomas Curley. "They know that they need to have it, but they don't necessarily think about it in a very creative way and don't really like to bother with it much."
- "Sound is still a mystery to a lot of people," Karen Baker Landers asserts. "It's intangible. With picture, you see it. You understand." Ironically, that lack of understanding of how sound works trickles down to audiences literally not being able to understand what characters are saying on screen. Perhaps if the processes of capturing, creating, and shaping great sound were better understood throughout the industry, substantial steps to improving those processes could be implemented.
- Another prong involves sound professionals consistently finding ways to up their game to meet the changing circumstances of the moment. "We can do better in post in terms of how we manage those mixes that are designed specifically for a non-pristine sound environment," Mark Mangini admits. "I would argue that we're probably not doing a good enough job with those mixes, and part of it might be that the individuals who are working in those mixes probably have a really super duper sound system at home and they're not fully aware of how compromised the home environment can be."
- That involves thinking outside the box and staying vigilant about the ways the average person is watching a movie. "What can we do technically? I think it's our brain that's the technical solution to this," Donald Sylvester explains. "Because all these gadgets and tools that we use to plug into this are just tools to make the storytelling clearer or better or more exciting. They're just components. At the end of the day, you still have to have a brain telling you what needs to be heard, and when and how ... I think the solution is brain power and being aware of what we're losing in these new presentation environments that people are watching these films in."
- The third and final prong involves having tough conversations on the set which establish priorities and make sure everyone is on the same page. Here's a story from Mangini illustrating how having a potentially awkward conversation can result in a change that has a notable improvement on the final product:
- "There's a director I've worked with five times, and for four films, we have not had great sound. And this director only makes talky movies. Yet, we still have dialogue intelligibility problems. Mostly because the crew, unbeknownst to him, hasn't respected the sound team on set enough to give them the tools and access they need to get a great recording. It took four films with this director for me to finally get up the gumption to say, 'Dude, you keep telling me dialogue is king in your movies, but you don't put your money where your mouth is. This film, here's what you're going to do: you're going to call a department heads meeting, introduce your sound mixer, and you're going to say, 'See this individual? You have to listen to what he asks you to do, or you're going to answer to me.' And you know what? We got the best track we've ever got. All it took was a little bit of collaboration and communication, and all of a sudden, grip and electric are moving generators a hundred yards away instead of having them right around the corner from the set. It takes an infinitesimal amount of extra effort to get us close to what we need, but it takes somebody with authority to make it happen. Me as the sound designer, I'm not a loud enough voice. But a director is."
- Sylvester offers an optimistic closing thought which underlines that point. "There's a lot of people who are moviemakers who aren't technicians, so they don't really understand a lot of this. They just like to make movies. But if we explain to them how we're not getting the message out properly and people aren't getting the message, maybe the artists themselves will take steps to fix it."
- How bad is the omicron variant? | MIT Technology Review
- The discovery of the omicron variant of covid-19 in southern Africa shows how sequencing the genes of a virus can give an early alert to dangerous-looking changes in its genome.
- Omicron has more than 30 mutations in the important "spike" gene, some of which have previously been seen in other variants and are thought to make viral transmission faster. Others are alarming because researchers have no idea what they mean. The worry is that omicron might contain a dream team of nasty adaptations. That's why several countries threw up travel barriers this week to prevent planes from bringing passengers from Africa.
- Despite such steps, it's going to take time before researchers can say whether omicron is a genuine problem. ''A really important thing we have to keep in mind right now is that for most of the things we are trying to figure out, we don't yet have a lot of data,'' says Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist in Bern who helps run a database of genetic information called Nextstrain.
- Here's what scientists want to know and how soon they'll have answers. Given the way things played out with past variants, like alpha and delta, we expect it to take about a month for omicron to reveal its properties.
- Research perspectives in this article were shared on Tuesday, November 30, during a Twitter Spaces discussion featuring experts from the University of Bern, Switzerland.
- Will the vaccines still work?The worry: The head of Moderna, St(C)phane Bancel, sent tremors through the stock market when he told the Financial Times that vaccines would take a hit from the variant. He anticipates a ''material drop'' in their effectiveness, adding that scientists were telling him: ''This is not good.''
- The experiment: To actually find out how well current vaccines will work, researchers around the world are already racing to isolate omicron from the bodies of infected travelers. They will grow the germ in laboratory cells and then expose it to blood plasma from vaccinated people. They can then measure how well that person's antibodies block the virus. Other labs will use genetic information about omicron to create ''pseudoviruses'' that harbor just the variant's spike gene, to carry out similar tests.
- ''This is important to find the answer we need: Do the antibodies still neutralize [the virus]?'' says Volker Thiel, a virologist at the University of Bern. ''Depending on the degree of blocking, you can say this is still working, or not as well.''
- How soon: These types of tests usually take a couple of weeks to perform. For past variants, like alpha, companies like Moderna and BioNTech published answers from their laboratory tests within the month.
- What's next: If omicron evades vaccines, it could mean that companies like Moderna and BioNTech will need to re-engineer their messenger RNA products for the first time to reflect the changed genetic makeup of the new variant. That could be a common occurrence as the years go by. In the future, expect to get an annual booster before winter sets in, just as you do for the flu.
- Is omicron being transmitted more easily?The worry: The new variant has spread widely in South Africa's Gauteng province, where Johannesburg is located, and has by now popped up in more than 20 countries. Researchers wonder if it is able to transmit faster or is succeeding because it avoids pre-existing immunity, either from vaccines or prior infection.
- The experiment: It's hard to test transmission in a lab, so this is an experiment that happens in the real world. Researchers will use sequencing tests to track what fraction of the actual covid-19 cases they see are due to omicron. If that percentage starts growing, and if similar growth is seen in different countries, it will be a sign that omicron is transmitted faster.
- That's what happened with the alpha variant, which appeared in the United Kingdom in 2020. By December of that year, it accounted for a rising share of British cases, and within a few months it also came to dominate case loads in the rest of Europe and in the US. Later, alpha was displaced by delta. With both of these strains, alpha and delta, it took about two to four months from the time they were introduced for them to account for most cases. If omicron follows suit, it will be the dominant strain in early 2022.
- ''When we see replacement, it's strongly suggestive of a transmission advantage,'' says Thiel. ''But if it only happens in one place, it could be due to chance.'' He says the rise of omicron in South Africa, on its own, doesn't prove whether the variant is more transmissible.
- How soon: Firm evidence for higher transmissibility could take a month or more to acquire. That's because it takes about five to six days for a newly infected person to grow enough virus to infect others. And to get a grasp on whether omicron is being transmitted faster, researchers will need to observe multiple rounds of infection and spread.
- Such research can be accelerated if researchers extend the timeline backward by sequencing old samples. Already, doctors in Nigeria have said they've found omicron in a banked covid-19 sample in that country. Dutch authorities also found omicron cases there from mid-November. These could offer earlier data points.
- What's next: It's not only the SARS-CoV-2 virus that's changing; so has the human stage where the pandemic is playing out. Omicron will face more diverse conditions than any variant yet, including countries where nearly everyone is vaccinated, countries using different vaccines, locales where most people have had covid-19 already, and ''zero-covid'' nations like China and New Zealand. That means omicron might take hold in some areas but fizzle out in others.
- Does omicron cause more severe disease?The worry: Initially, some South African doctors said the symptoms caused by the new variant seemed milder, but then came reports of more hospital beds filling up. Right now, no one knows whether omicron causes worse symptoms or not.
- The issue is that omicron is so new that most cases are only a week or two old, while it often takes several weeks for covid-19 to cause severe problems or death. ''It's too early to say something about disease severity. So far, we can't really say anything,'' says Christian Althaus, an epidemiologist in Bern.
- The experiment: To measure disease severity, researchers can expose lab animals like mice or monkeys to omicron, but the final answers will come from real-world data on people, including doctor's observations, hospital records, and death counts.
- How soon: Whether omicron causes worse disease, or different symptoms, is probably the question that will take longest to answer'--likely a couple of months.
- With all the uncertainty around omicron, and the possibility that vaccines won't work so well, researchers are reminding the public about tactics they say will stunt the spread of any variant, like isolation, social distancing, and wearing masks. ''There is no variant against which these interventions won't work,'' says Thiel.
- He also says omicron is a sign of things to come. ''In the next months or years, it will be rough. There will be new variants; we should expect that,'' he says. ''But stock markets should not respond to all variants in a scared way. That is the future, and we will have to cope with that.''
- German euthanasia clinics refusing unvaccinated customers | The Spectator
- Irony has been declared many times in this pandemic but now, from Covid-riddled Germany comes the final proof: you can't kill yourself now unless you've been vaccinated. As European countries battle to limit the spread of the virus, Verein Sterbehilfe '' the German Euthanasia Association '' has issued a new directive, declaring it will now only help those who have been vaccinated or recovered from the disease. In a statement, the association said:
- '' Euthanasia and the preparatory examination of the voluntary responsibility of our members willing to die require human closeness. Human closeness, however, is a prerequisite and breeding ground for coronavirus transmission. As of today, the 2G rule applies in our association, supplemented by situation-related measures, such as quick tests before encounters in closed rooms.
- 'Close encounters in closed rooms' '' what a fabulous German euphemism for assisted suicide. The term '2G' meanwhile refers to a system which only allows free movement for leisure activities for the geimpft oder genese'-- 'vaccinated or recovered.' God forbid that a person without the jab should try to end it all '' talk about a vaccine passport to the afterlife...
- Covid News: Pfizer to Seek Approval for Boosters for 16- and 17-Year-Olds - The New York Times
- Image Keidy Ventura, 17, received her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in West New York, N.J., in April. Credit... Seth Wenig/Associated Press Pfizer and BioNTech are expected this week to apply for regulatory approval for a booster shot of their coronavirus vaccine for 16- and 17-year-olds, according to people familiar with the company's plans. If approved, the shot would be the first booster available to people under 18.
- The Food and Drug Administration could authorize extra shots within roughly a week, the people said.
- The move would come as President Biden seeks to reassure the nation about Omicron, a new variant of the coronavirus. On Monday, he called the variant ''a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.''
- ''I'm sparing no effort, removing all roadblocks to keep the American people safe,'' Mr. Biden said at the White House.
- The news of Pfizer's plans was first reported by The Washington Post.
- The new variant has yet to be detected in the United States, and scientists have not determined how much of a threat it will pose. Vaccine manufacturers are racing to figure out whether their existing products will work against it or whether modified vaccines will be required.
- About 10 days ago, federal health agencies authorized booster shots of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for everyone 18 and older. That opened up eligibility for extra injections to tens of millions more fully vaccinated adults. All adults who were vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a single shot, were already eligible for a booster.
- Last month's regulatory moves simplified eligibility and formally allowed a practice already in place in numerous states. Multiple governors had already offered boosters to everyone 18 and older ahead of the holidays.
- Asked about the plan to request broader access, a Pfizer spokeswoman said the company would provide an update when available.
- Image The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine and booster shots were administered in Rosemead, Calif., on Sunday. Credit... Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse '-- Getty Images Prompted by growing concerns about the Omicron variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said that all American adults ''should'' get booster doses of the available coronavirus vaccines.
- Adults aged 18 and older should get a booster shot when they are six months past the initial immunization with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or two months after the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the agency said.
- The C.D.C. had previously said that Americans over age 50, as well as those ages 18 and older living in long-term care facilities, ''should'' get booster shots while all other adults ''may'' decide to do so based on their individual risk.The shift in language signals a growing concern about Omicron, despite the limited information available about the variant.
- Scientists do not yet know whether vaccines will continue to protect people from Omicron. The variant contains many mutations that suggest the shots may be less effective against Omicron than against other variants, though evidence to support those fears has yet to be established.
- Dozens of labs worldwide are now trying to assess exactly how much less effective the vaccines might be. They are not expected to have results for at least two weeks.
- ''Early data from South Africa suggest increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant, and scientists in the United States and around the world are urgently examining vaccine effectiveness related to this variant,'' Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the C.D.C., said in a statement.
- ''I strongly encourage the 47 million adults who are not yet vaccinated to get vaccinated as soon as possible and to vaccinate the children and teens in their families as well.''
- Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna plan to test whether booster shots of their vaccines will bolster the immune system enough to fend off the new variant. The boosters have been shown to raise antibody levels significantly. Those antibodies may not be able to neutralize Omicron entirely, but having more antibodies is generally beneficial, experts have said.
- Dr. Walensky also urged Americans to get tested for the virus if they develop symptoms, and to practice prevention strategies known to limit transmission of the virus.
- In just the week after it was first detected, the Omicron variant has been spotted in at least 16 countries. The variant has about 50 mutations, including more than 30 in the spike, a viral protein on its surface that the vaccines train the body to recognize and attack.
- Biden Urges Vaccinations Amid Omicron Variant ConcernsPresident Biden called the new Omicron coronavirus variant ''a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,'' and urged Americans to get vaccinations and booster shots. The variant has not yet been detected in the United States.The very day the World Health Organization identified the new variant, I took immediate steps to restrict travel from countries in Southern Africa. But while we have that travel restrictions can slow the speed of Omicron, it cannot prevent it. But here's what it does. It gives us time, gives us time to take more actions, to move quicker, to make sure people understand you have to get your vaccine. You have to get the shot. You have to get the booster. The '-- sooner or later, we're going to see cases of this new variant here in the United States. We'll have to face this new threat just as we faced those that come before it. This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic. We have the best vaccine in the world, the best medicines, the best scientists, and we're learning more every single day. And we'll fight this variant with scientific and knowledgeable actions and speed, not chaos and confusion. In the event '-- hopefully unlikely '-- that updated vaccinations or boosters are needed to respond to this new variant, we will accelerate their development and deployment with every available tool. I want to reiterate: Dr. Fauci believes that the current vaccines provide at least some protection against the new variant and the boosters strengthen that protection, significantly. We do not yet believe that additional measures will be needed, but so that we are prepared if needed, my team is already working with officials at Pfizer and Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to develop contingency plans for vaccines or boosters if needed.
- President Biden called the new Omicron coronavirus variant ''a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,'' and urged Americans to get vaccinations and booster shots. The variant has not yet been detected in the United States. Credit Credit... Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times President Biden sought to reassure the nation on Monday about the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus as crucial questions about it remain, telling Americans that the variant is ''a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,'' and that his administration was working with vaccine manufacturers to modify vaccines and booster shots should that prove necessary.
- ''We're throwing everything we have at this virus, tracking it from every angle,'' Mr. Biden said at the White House, adding, ''I'm sparing no effort, removing all roadblocks to keep the American people safe.''
- The president is expected to visit the National Institutes of Health on Thursday, and said he would outline ''a strategy for how we are going to fight Covid this winter, not with shutdowns or with lockdowns, but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing and more.'' The variant has yet to be detected in the United States.
- Mr. Biden has already restricted travel from eight nations, including South Africa, a move that experts said would buy the United States time in determining how to respond. But it will likely be a week, possibly two weeks, before experts know more about the new variant. It has mutations that scientists fear could make it more infectious and less susceptible to vaccines, though evidence to support those fears has yet to be established.
- Despite significant questions about the variant itself '-- including whether it causes mild or severe disease '-- countries around the world have rushed to defend against its spread, with a cascade of border closures and travel restrictions that recalled the earliest days of the pandemic.
- Mr. Biden was elected on a promise to bring the pandemic under control '-- a task that is proving easier said than done. Viruses are dedicated to ensuring their own survival, and that is especially true of the virus that causes Covid-19. Just as Mr. Biden was about to declare ''independence from the virus'' on the July 4 holiday, the Delta variant swept across the United States, causing another wave of hospitalizations and deaths.
- Now there is Omicron, discovered in southern Africa and designated by the World Health Organization on Friday as a ''variant of concern,'' popping up just as the holiday travel season gets underway.
- Mr. Biden is trying to project calm and keep the country from panicking while also ensuring that Americans get vaccinated and take other precautions, including masking and social distancing. He was joined at the White House by Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, who said that current P.C.R. tests were able to detect the new variant.
- The emergence of the new variant is also increasing pressure on Mr. Biden and his administration to do more to share vaccines with the rest of the world.
- South Africa, whose scientists detected the variant, has fully vaccinated only 24 percent of its population, according to the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford. It has a better vaccination rate than most countries on the continent, but has asked vaccine makers to stop sending doses: It is having trouble getting shots into arms, in part because of distribution bottlenecks and in part because many people are hesitant to take them.
- Elsewhere in Africa, the vaccination rate is much lower, and in some countries, even health care workers have had trouble getting their shots. The W.H.O. reported last week that just 27 percent of health workers in Africa had been fully vaccinated.
- The Biden administration has pledged to donate more than a billion vaccine doses to other nations, and so far it has shipped 275 million doses to 110 countries. The president said, as he has in the past, that the United States has donated more doses than any other nation. He implored other foreign leaders to increase their donations.
- ''Now we need the rest of the world to step as well,'' he said.
- But activists and some global health experts said the administration needed to move faster, arguing that vaccine inequities were the reason for the emergence of the variant.
- ''This is precisely what experts have been predicting was going to happen '-- that the extraordinary inequities and gaps between low-income countries and high-income countries creates this massive vulnerability, and it's going to continue to generate these dangerous variants,'' said J. Stephen Morrison, a global health expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. ''That point is glaringly obvious, and it's painful.''
- Mr. Biden's top health advisers, including Dr. Fauci, spent much of the holiday weekend consulting with their South African counterparts.
- Dr. Fauci told the president that it would take approximately two weeks to learn more about the variant's transmissibility and severity, but that ''he continues to believe that existing vaccines are likely to provide a degree of protection against severe cases'' of Covid, according to a statement from the White House.
- Alexandra E. Petri contributed reporting.
- Image A registered nurse led a rally outside MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center in August to protest coronavirus vaccine mandates. Credit... Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register, via Associated Press A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Biden administration's coronavirus vaccine mandate for health care workers in the 10 states that had filed a lawsuit against the government this month.
- The mandate requires all 17 million health care workers in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified medical facilities, which receive government funding, to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Jan. 4.
- The injunction, issued by Judge Matthew Schelp of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, prevents the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from enforcing the mandate while the case is in court.
- The judge said in his ruling that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of the case in part because Congress had not granted the agency authority to issue a vaccine mandate.
- ''C.M.S. seeks to overtake an area of traditional state authority by imposing an unprecedented demand to federally dictate the private medical decisions of millions of Americans,'' wrote Judge Schelp, who was nominated by President Donald J. Trump. ''Such action challenges traditional notions of federalism.''
- The lawsuit was filed by the states of Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. It said that by prompting health care workers to leave their jobs if they did not want to get vaccinated, the mandate could ''exacerbate an alarming shortage of health care workers, particularly in rural communities, that has already reached a boiling point.''
- Judge Schelp's ruling is the second setback this month for the Biden administration's vaccine mandates.
- A three-judge panel in New Orleans affirmed a federal appeals court's decision to temporarily block a requirement that companies with at least 100 employees test their unvaccinated workers weekly beginning in January. The judges said the mere existence of the regulation had resulted in ''untold economic upheaval in recent months.''
- ''The public interest is also served by maintaining our constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals to make intensely personal decisions according to their own convictions,'' wrote Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt, a Trump appointee.
- Omicron Demonstrates Need for Global Covid Response, W.H.O. SaysDr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said the new Omicron coronavirus variant underlined a need for better global pandemic cooperation, and that the current system ''disincentives'' countries from alerting new threats.If there is one thing we have learned, it's that no region, no country, no community and no individual is safe until we are all safe. The emergence of the highly mutated Omicron variant underlines just how perilous and precarious our situation is. South Africa and Botswana should be thanked for detecting, sequencing and reporting this variant, not penalized. Indeed, Omicron demonstrates just why the world needs a new accord on pandemics. Our current system disincentives countries from alerting others to threats that will inevitably land on their shores. We don't yet know whether Omicron is associated with more transmission, more severe disease, more risk of reinfections or more risk of evading vaccines. Scientists at W.H.O. and around the world are working urgently to answer these questions.
- Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said the new Omicron coronavirus variant underlined a need for better global pandemic cooperation, and that the current system ''disincentives'' countries from alerting new threats. Credit Credit... James Gourley/EPA, via Shutterstock The World Health Organization warned on Monday that the global risk posed by the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus was ''very high.'' And despite significant questions about the variant's possible effects, countries around the world rushed to defend against its spread, with a cascade of border closures and travel restrictions that recalled the earliest days of the pandemic.
- Scotland, Portugal and Spain identified new cases of the highly mutated variant with officials in eastern Germany reporting an Omicron infection in a 39-year-old infected man who had not been to South Africa or anywhere outside of Germany.
- More countries responded by restricting travel, with Japan joining Israel and Morocco in banning all foreign visitors, even as scientists cautioned that the extent of the threat posed by Omicron remained unknown '-- and as the patchwork of travel measures were so far proving unable to stop its spread.
- In a technical briefing note to member countries, the W.H.O. urged national authorities to step up surveillance, testing and vaccinations, reinforcing the key findings that led its technical advisers on Friday to label Omicron a ''variant of concern.''
- The agency warned that the variant's ''high number of mutations'' '-- including up to 32 variations in the spike protein '-- meant that ''there could be future surges of Covid-19, which could have severe consequences.''
- Experts including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a top adviser to President Biden, have said that it could be two weeks or longer before more information about the variant's transmissibility, and the severity of illness it causes, is available. So far, scientists believe that Omicron's mutations could allow it to spread more easily than prior versions of the virus, but that existing vaccines are likely to offer protection from severe illness and death.
- Still, the makers of the two most effective vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, were preparing to reformulate their shots if necessary. And some countries, including Britain, were preparing to expand booster programs to protect more people.
- The W.H.O. stressed the need for countries to accelerate vaccinations as rapidly as possible, particularly for vulnerable populations and for those who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated. It also called on health authorities to strengthen surveillance and field investigations, including community testing, to better determine Omicron's characteristics.
- The recommendation underscored that the steps taken by some countries to wind down testing and tracing capacity in recent months '-- as the pandemic appeared to be receding thanks to rising vaccination rates '-- are moving in the wrong direction.
- ''Testing and tracing remains fundamental to managing this pandemic and really understanding what you're dealing with,'' said Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for the agency. ''We're asking all countries to really look for this variant, to look if people who have got it are ending up in hospital and if people who are fully vaccinated are ending up in hospital.''
- The briefing note adds that P.C.R. tests are an efficient tool for detecting the new variant because they do not require as long a wait for an outcome as genetic sequencing tests that require laboratory capacity not available in all countries.
- ''It's very good news,'' Ms. Harris said. ''You can much more quickly spot who's got it.''
- But while the agency had previously cautioned against imposing travel bans, the briefing note took a more flexible line, calling for a ''risk-based approach'' to travel restrictions that could include modified testing and quarantine requirements. The agency said it would issue more detailed travel advice in the coming days.
- At the same time, W.H.O. member states were beginning a three-day meeting of the World Health Assembly to discuss a global agreement on how to deal with pandemics, a deal long pushed by the agency to address weaknesses in the response to Covid-19. The European Union has argued for a treaty that would require greater information sharing and vaccine equity, but the United States has sought to keep open the option of an agreement that would not be legally binding.
- Image Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma in February. Earlier this month Mr. Stitt asked that guardsmen in the state not be required to get vaccinated. Credit... Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press The Defense Department has rejected an attempt by the governor of Oklahoma to exclude the state's National Guard from a federal vaccine mandate.
- On Monday Lloyd J. Austin III, the secretary of Defense, sent a letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt that said the troops must comply with the requirement for all service branches.
- The letter, which was widely expected, sets the stage for Guardmembers in the state to lose their jobs should they refuse.
- ''One could elect not to take the vaccine, of course,'' John Kirby, a spokesman for Mr. Austin, said on Monday, ''but then you would be putting at jeopardy your ability to stay in the National Guard.''
- Earlier this month, the newly appointed head of the National Guard in Oklahoma said that troops would not be required to get vaccinated. The policy defies a Pentagon directive that makes vaccination mandatory for all troops, including the National Guard, by deadlines set by each service branch.
- Mr. Kirby said that Guardmembers who refuse to get the shots will be ''denied training opportunities,'' and potentially ''that would then lead to no longer being able to serve in the National Guard.'' Guard troops are under the authority of the governor unless federally deployed, but Pentagon officials insist that does not obviate the federal vaccine requirement.
- In Oklahoma, 89 percent of airmen in the Guard have been vaccinated, while only 40 percent of Army guardsmen have had shots.
- Roughly 97 percent of the 1.3 million active-duty service members in the United States have had at least one dose of the vaccine.
- ''The secretary reiterated that he wants them to keep that press up to get as many people vaccinated as possible,'' Mr. Kirby said, describing a meeting Mr. Austin had with all the service secretaries.
- Image A technician works in a laboratory at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, South Africa. Credit... Joao Silva/The New York Times The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has alarmed many scientists because of the sheer number of genetic mutations it carries '-- about 50 in all, including at least 26 that are unique to it. But more does not necessarily mean worse: Mutations sometimes work together to make a virus more fearsome, but they may also cancel one another out.
- ''In principle, mutations can also work against each other,'' said Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. ''However, in this case evolutionary selection is more likely to lead to the spread of a new variant with favorable than unfavorable combinations of mutations.''
- Still, this phenomenon, called epistasis, is why scientists are reluctant to speculate on Omicron's attributes, even though individual mutations in the variant are associated with greater transmissibility or with an ability to dodge the body's immune defenses.
- ''It is important to get a sense of the full virus,'' said Penny Moore, a virologist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa.
- Dr. Moore's team is among dozens worldwide trying to understand whether current vaccines will work against Omicron. The researchers are creating artificial versions of the virus that contain all of Omicron's mutations, rather than making judgments based on a subset of mutations.
- It's a lesson researchers learned last year, when the Beta variant emerged in South Africa. They estimated that variant's ability to evade immunity based on one particular mutation, E484K. But Beta also had two other mutations that turned out to affect sensitivity to vaccines.
- ''The combination of those three mutations was more resistance than a virus that contained only E484K,'' Dr. Moore said. Studying the single mutation ''turned out to be misleading.''
- Omicron carries a mutation called N501Y, which is thought to allow the virus to bind to human cells more tightly. This mutation was also present in the Alpha variant and was linked to its contagiousness.
- ''Nonetheless, it ended up being Delta, which doesn't have that particular mutation, that was more even more transmissible than Alpha,'' Dr. Bloom said. ''That's because Delta had other mutations that enhance transmissibility.''
- A variant's contagiousness depends on how well the virus binds to receptors on human cells, but also on the stability of the virus, where in the airways it replicates and how much of it is exhaled.
- Omicron has a cluster of mutations that are all linked to tighter binding to human cells. ''But acting together, they might have a somewhat different effect,'' Dr. Bloom said. For that reason, he added, he cannot predict how the variant will act in the body.
- That will require laboratory studies, which are underway across the globe.
- South African Scientists Advise Against Panic Over Omicron VariantSouth African health officials said that while they need more data to be sure, existing precautions and treatments seem to be effective against the new coronavirus variant.''There is just no basis for some of the leaders of countries which have imposed these restrictions on traveling for us in South Africa, and other countries in southern Africa. There is no basis for South Africans to panic. We've been here before. We still have to understand, led by our scientists, such as the transmissibility of this virus, those that matter which our scientists and epidemiologists are working on, whether there's any age differentiation in terms of its transmissibility and illness, whether there is increased reinfection for those who have already been infected before, and including also breakthrough infections for those who are those of us who are already vaccinated.'' ''In terms of clinical presentation, there's not enough data yet. We've seen some anecdotal information. We've seen clinicians commenting, but you have to understand that patients coming into a clinical setting are biased in terms of their severity, and what we are seeing. What we are seeing is anecdotal information suggest similar presenting illnesses, mainly in younger people for obvious reasons, and that younger people are less vaccinated. So you will see more cases there. But we simply do not have, you know, sound reliable data on the clinical presentation, but we have no red flags that have been raised, so far.''
- South African health officials said that while they need more data to be sure, existing precautions and treatments seem to be effective against the new coronavirus variant. Credit Credit... Jerome Delay/Associated Press South African health officials urged the public on Monday not to panic over the emergence of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which appears to be driving a new wave of cases in the country.
- It is still too soon, they said, to make solid assessments of whether Omicron has a higher rate of transmission or will cause more hospitalizations or severe illness.
- ''We simply do not have sound, reliable data on the clinical presentation,'' said Salim Abdool Karim, a leading epidemiologist and H.I.V./AIDS researcher who is part of the country's public health response to the coronavirus pandemic. ''But we have no red flags that have been raised so far.''
- Scientists are racing to understand the effect of the cluster of mutations seen in the Omicron variant. Still, comparing its mutations with those of other ''variants of concern'' identified by the World Health Organization suggests that Omicron can be expected to have enhanced transmissibility and some level of immune escape, Mr. Karim said.
- Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days.
- The concern in South Africa was prompted in part by a sudden increase in the country's test positivity rate, which rose to nearly 10 percent from 1 percent, according to data released by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
- The increase largely stems from cases in Gauteng Province, a densely populated economic hub that is home to Johannesburg, said Michelle Groome, head of public health surveillance and response at the institute. But based on the data, the number of new recorded cases is still lower in South Africa, relative to its population, than in many European countries.
- The country's administrative capital, Pretoria, where 219 people are hospitalized with Covid, is at the center of the new wave, according to data from the institute. But scientists do not yet know how many of these hospitalizations were a direct result of Omicron.
- While new hospital admissions are still relatively low, there has been a ''steep rise'' over the past two weeks, said Waasila Jassat, a public health specialist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
- The rate of fatalities has not increased, Ms. Jassat said. While new cases were highest among people under 35, hospitalizations were more common among people over 65 and very young children.
- Existing coronavirus treatments seemed to be effective against Omicron, Mr. Karim said, though there was not enough data yet on the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies, which are rarely used to treat Covid-19 in South Africa.
- It is also still too early to know whether the potency of the variant warrants tightened precautions like travel bans, scientists said.
- In a separate briefing on Sunday, Botswana's health minister, Edwin Dikoloti, said that most of the 19 Omicron cases that have been detected in his country were ''imported,'' and that the first four were diplomats who had already left the country.
- He criticized early references to Omicron as the ''Botswana variant,'' saying that ''detection was treated as origination.''
- Mr. Dikoloti said that new coronavirus cases had been declining in Botswana, and that ''the emergence of this variant'' threatened ''to reverse all gains that we have made over the months.''
- Image Justice Stephen G. Breyer did not refer the case to the full Supreme Court. Credit... Erin Schaff/The New York Times Justice Stephen G. Breyer turned away an emergency application on Monday from workers at a hospital chain in Massachusetts who objected to its requirement that they be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
- Justice Breyer did not ask for a response to the application or refer it to the full Supreme Court, and he gave no reasons for his ruling. Those were all signs that he viewed the legal question in the case as insubstantial.
- The plaintiffs, employees of Mass General Brigham, objected to the hospital chain's decision not to grant them religious or medical exemptions to the vaccine mandate, saying that the decision violated federal anti-discrimination laws. They sought an injunction that would allow them to continue to work.
- A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, unanimously rejected the workers' request, saying that an injunction was not the proper remedy. If the workers were right, the court said, they would receive compensation at the conclusion of their lawsuit.
- ''Money damages would adequately resolve all of the alleged harms,'' Judge Sandra L. Lynch wrote for the panel. ''Moreover, as the deadline for being vaccinated has passed, the appellants cannot point to an 'impossible choice' as a special factor here; they have already made their choices.''
- The Supreme Court has previously rejected challenges to vaccination requirements from health care workers in Maine, students at Indiana University and personnel in New York City's school system. Two challenges from health care workers in New York are pending.
- Image Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, in September. Credit... Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, told lawmakers on Tuesday that inflation is likely to last well into next year and that the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus creates more uncertainty around the economic outlook.
- The remarks by Mr. Powell, who is testifying before the Senate Banking Committee alongside Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, conveyed a sense of wariness at a time when price increases are running at their fastest pace in three decades.
- ''It is difficult to predict the persistence and effects of supply constraints, but it now appears that factors pushing inflation upward will linger well into next year,'' Mr. Powell said. ''In addition, with the rapid improvement in the labor market, slack is diminishing, and wages are rising at a brisk pace.''
- ''I think the risk of higher inflation has increased,'' he said.
- Mr. Powell also addressed the new variant, which governments and scientists are racing to assess and contain.
- ''The recent rise in Covid-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation,'' Mr. Powell said. ''Greater concerns about the virus could reduce people's willingness to work in person, which would slow progress in the labor market and intensify supply-chain disruptions.''
- Ms. Yellen said she expected the economy to continue to strengthen but noted that the path of the recovery depends on the pandemic.
- ''Of course, the progress of our economic recovery can't be separated from our progress against the pandemic, and I know that we're all following the news about the Omicron variant,'' Ms. Yellen said, adding that vaccines continue to be a crucial tool. ''We're still waiting for more data, but what remains true is that our best protection against the virus is the vaccine.''
- The Treasury secretary also urged lawmakers to raise or suspend the nation's borrowing cap next month. Ms. Yellen has said that the United States could be unable to pay its bills sometime after Dec. 15. At that point, Social Security checks and military paychecks could be delayed and the country would face a deep recession.
- ''I cannot overstate how critical it is that Congress address this issue,'' Ms. Yellen said. ''America must pay its bills on time and in full. If we do not, we will eviscerate our current recovery.''
- Much is unknown about the new variant of the coronavirus, but it represents something Fed officials worry about: The possibility that the pandemic will continue to flare up, shutting down factories, roiling supply lines and keeping the economy out of balance. If that happens, as it did with the Delta variant earlier this summer and fall, it could perpetuate high prices.
- Inflation has surged in 2021 as strong consumer demand has crashed into the barrier of limited supply. Production line closures, port pileups and parts shortages have kept goods from getting onto shelves and to customers, prompting companies to charge more. At the same time, a dearth of labor in certain industries caused by virus wariness and pandemic-related child-care shortages has been pushing up wages and prices for some services.
- It's too early to know if the new virus strain will contribute to those trends, making inflation last longer than it otherwise would. But the new variant strikes at a delicate moment for monetary policy.
- Central bankers are slowing their bond-purchase program, a move that should give them more flexibility to raise interest rates '-- their more traditional and powerful tool for stoking the economy '-- if doing so should prove necessary next year.
- Several Fed officials have signaled that they may speed up their so-called bond-buying ''taper'' given how high and how stubborn inflation is proving. Many economists think officials could announce a plan to do so at their meeting in December.
- But if the coronavirus again hits the economy, it could make such a decision '-- and the timing and pace of eventual rate increases '-- more challenging.
- That's because the Fed balances two goals, controlling inflation and stoking employment, when it sets its policy. A faster and fuller removal of help for the economy might slow down price gains by weighing down demand, but it would likely slow business expansions and hiring in the process.
- Mr. Powell, whom President Biden plans to reappoint for a second term as Fed chair, told lawmakers that the Fed is ''committed to our price-stability goal.''
- ''We will use our tools both to support the economy and a strong labor market and to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched,'' Mr. Powell said, after once again acknowledging that the Fed realizes ''high inflation imposes significant burdens, especially on those less able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing, and transportation.''
- On Monday, Mr. Biden called Omicron ''a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,'' and his press secretary, Jen Psaki, told reporters that she was not aware of any projections by the administration's economic team for how the variant might affect hiring, growth and inflation. ''It is something obviously we will continue to assess,'' she said.
- '-- Jeanna Smialek and Alan Rappeport
- Image Commuters in London on Monday. The government will mandate masks on public transportation and in stores. Credit... Andy Rain/EPA, via Shutterstock Britain expanded its vaccine booster program to all adults on Monday, stepping up its response to the newly discovered Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
- The government also announced two new cases of the variant in England, just hours after Scotland said that six cases had been detected there and that contact tracing was being conducted. Nationally, Britain has identified 11 cases.
- Scottish officials said that some of the six people infected had not traveled recently '-- suggesting community transmission in the country '-- but that there was no evidence of ''sustained or widespread'' transmission. All of the infected individuals are in isolation, and none have been hospitalized, said Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
- Over the weekend, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new mask mandates and testing requirements for travelers to Britain. While the government has not ordered people to work from home where possible, or mandated the use of vaccine passports or masks in English restaurants, officials have not ruled out the possibility.
- Jonathan Van-Tam, Britain's deputy chief medical officer, said that while there was still a high level of uncertainty about the variant, the country would expand the vaccine program right away.
- ''We don't know what's going to happen next,'' Mr. Van-Tam said, noting that it could take scientists weeks to better understand the variant. ''But whilst we wait for the mist to clear on what this concerning variant actually means, there is no time to delay. It's our opportunity to get ahead, and vaccine boosting is the thing we can do most effectively while we wait for that mist to clear.''
- Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days.
- The British government was widely criticized for a sluggish response to the Delta variant earlier this year, and its reaction to the Omicron variant came markedly quicker.
- Britain's vaccine advisory board, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, advised everyone ages 18 to 39 to get a booster shot; previously, people 40 and over were eligible. It reduced the required waiting period between the initial vaccine series and the booster from five months to three.
- The board also said children ages 12 to 15 could receive a booster shot and recommended that those who are severely immunocompromised receive a fourth dose.
- The Education Department has advised students in England ages 11 and up to wear face masks in communal areas beginning Monday.
- Ms. Sturgeon said she and the leader of Wales, Mark Drakeford, had written to Mr. Johnson to demand that all travelers to Britain be required to take a coronavirus test on the second and eighth day after their arrival, and that they be required to isolate for that whole period. Under the most recent guidance, arrivals will only have to take a test on the second day.
- Ms. Sturgeon and Mr. Drakeford have also called for a joint meeting of the British government's top emergency committee, Cobra, to better coordinate the response to the new variant.
- There are no plans for further restrictions on regional travel, Ms. Sturgeon said, but that could change.
- ''I still hope, really fervently hope, to be having a normal Christmas with my family,'' she said. ''Can I say that with 100 percent certainty? No, but that's what I hope, and that's what I think we should all be hopeful for.''
- Unlike many countries in Europe, Britain has had relatively few restrictions in place since the summer, and the government has repeatedly said there are no plans for another lockdown.
- Speaking in front of Parliament on Monday, the British health secretary, Sajid Javid, reinforced that philosophy. If Omicron proved to be ''no more dangerous'' than the Delta variant currently dominant in Britain, he said, then ''we wouldn't keep measures in place for a day longer than necessary.''
- '-- Megan Specia and Cora Engelbrecht
- Global markets steadied on Monday, with stocks on Wall Street and oil prices gaining, as investors contemplated more carefully the knowns and unknowns of a new Covid-19 variant.
- The S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent, rebounding from a 2.3 percent drop on Friday. That was its worst day since February and came after initial news of the discovery in southern Africa of the new variant, called Omicron. The World Health Organization labeled it a ''variant of concern,'' its most serious category.
- Shares of companies in industries that had been bouncing back in recent months, like airlines and other travel firms, took big hits as governments reintroduced limits on movement across borders. Oil prices plunged on concerns about the economic toll of potential restrictions, while government bond yields fell amid an investor flight to the relative safety of sovereign debt.
- On Monday, with quick answers about the threat from Omicron hard to come by, investors seemed less focused on potential disaster, and some of Friday's moves were undone. While the new variant might turn out to be more contagious and vaccine resistant, it could also prove to be less dangerous to the health of the vaccinated or previously infected. Scientists haven't come to firm conclusions, and it could take up to two weeks before the tests of current vaccines on the new variant have results. And Covid-related stock market drops are getting milder and shorter.
- When the virus first emerged in early 2020, the S&P 500 fell for a month and a half before recovering. In October 2020, a resurgence of cases led to a drop of 5.6 percent over a few days, but markets had rebounded within a week. In July of this year, the emergence of the Delta variant triggered a one-day slide of 1.6 percent that was recouped within a few days.
- ''We don't know how dangerous it is to health, though early reports that it isn't very dangerous, while downplayed by the cautious experts, are very seductive,'' Kit Juckes, a strategist at Soci(C)t(C) G(C)n(C)rale, wrote in a note to clients. ''Against that backdrop, some of Friday's madness has been reversed, but only part of it.''
- Stocks in Europe also rose on Monday, with the Stoxx Europe 600 closing 0.7 percent higher. The FTSE 100 in Britain rose 0.9 percent, while stock indexes in France and Spain were also higher.
- Futures of the two major oil benchmarks, Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate, gained 1 percent and 2.6 percent. With crude oil rebounding, shares of energy companies also climbed. Enphase Energy was up 3.8 percent, while Diamondback Energy gained about 2.3 percent.
- Government bond yields also climbed. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose 4 basis points, or 0.04 percentage points, to 1.52 percent. On Friday, the yield had dropped 16 basis points, the steepest one-day fall since late March 2020. Concerns over newly imposed travel restrictions mostly eased on Monday, with travel and leisure stocks trading higher as President Biden said on Monday that the administration's plan to combat Covid in the winter did not does not include ''shutdowns or lockdowns,'' and would instead rely on more testing, vaccinations and boosters.Royal Caribbean Group rose 2.8 percent on Monday, while Norwegian Cruise Line was up 0.8 percent. Shares of United Airlines also rose. Moderna, the vaccine maker, rallied more than 10 percent.
- Not every market rebounded, however. With Japan sealing its borders just days after reopening to short-term business travelers and international students, shares in Asia tumbled. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.6 percent, while stocks in Hong Kong fell 1 percent.
- Carlos Tejada and Stephen Gandel contributed reporting.
- '-- Eshe Nelson and Coral Murphy Marcos
- Image A passenger whose flight to Dubai was cancelled spoke to staff at O.R. Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday. Credit... Joao Silva/The New York Times United Nations Secretary-General Ant"nio Guterres and a top South African health official on Monday accused the United States and other rich countries of contributing to the neglect and isolation of Africa by imposing travel bans intended to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.
- Many of the steps taken to contain Omicron, which was first identified last week by researchers in South Africa, have been aimed at travelers from that region, drawing accusations that Western countries were discriminating against an area that has already been beset by vaccine shortages caused by the hoarding of doses by wealthy nations.
- Over the weekend, a handful of countries including the United States and the European Union imposed restrictions. On Monday, several others joined in, including Japan, Israel and Morocco, even as scientists cautioned that the threat posed by Omicron remained unknown and experts debated the effectiveness of such actions in the past.
- ''I am now deeply concerned about the isolation of southern African countries due to new COVID-19 travel restrictions,'' Mr. Guterres said in a statement on Monday during an emergency meeting to coordinate the international response.
- Mr. Guterres said he has ''long warned'' that low vaccinations rates, caused, in part, by the failure of rich countries to subsidize an effective mass vaccination campaign in Africa, made the continent a ''breeding ground'' for the spread of virus mutations that would, in turn, afflict wealthier nations in Europe and North America.
- ''The people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available in Africa '-- and they should not be penalized for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world,'' he added.
- South Africa's health minister, Joe Phaahla, told reporters on Monday that he delivered a blunt message to the U.S. health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra, when the two men spoke ahead of the special session of the World Health Assembly on Monday.
- ''What you can do is to say to your president and your government that the travel bans are not helping us, they're just making things more difficult,'' Mr. Phaahla said.
- South Africa's number of daily infections '-- 2,828 on Friday '-- was a fraction of case counts in other countries.
- Yet just over 10 percent of people across the continent of Africa have received one dose of a vaccine, compared with 64 percent in North America and 62 percent in Europe.
- On Monday, President Biden and his aides pushed back against the claim that the U.S. ban was intended to punish or marginalize the country, or the continent.
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki, speaking to reporters on Monday, said that South Africa had rejected offers from the United States to increase vaccine shipments because the country's health officials were struggling to overcome the reluctance of its citizens.
- When pressed on the travel ban, Ms. Psaki said administration officials had determined that the ''hundreds, if not thousands of cases'' in South Africa warranted such restrictions, while the smaller number of cases in Europe did not warrant similar steps. At least not yet.
- ''The objective here is not to punish, it is to protect the American people,'' said Ms. Psaki.
- When a reporter reminded her that Mr. Biden had accused former President Donald J. Trump of xenophobia for imposing similar restrictions in early 2020, she replied that Mr. Biden was responding to a ''xenophobic tweet'' by Mr. Trump and not the use of such restrictions when appropriate.
- '-- Glenn Thrush and Nick Cumming-Bruce
- N.Y.C. Officials Reinforce Indoor Mask GuidanceMayor Bill de Blasio of New York said the city was ''doubling down'' on its current advice that all residents wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status. He also extended the city's vaccine mandate to all child care workers.''There are no Omicron cases here in New York City at this moment. It is very likely there will be, but there are no cases at this moment. But nonetheless we are preparing to take action, and our entire focus, once again, is going to be on vaccination.'' ''I am also issuing a commissioner's advisory strongly recommending that all New Yorkers wear a mask at all times when indoors and in a public setting, like at your grocery or in building lobbies, offices and retail stores. This includes those that are vaccinated and those who've had Covid-19. Higher quality masks like KN-95s or KF-94s can offer an additional layer of protection, and masks are still required for everyone in public transit, health care settings, schools and congregate settings.'' ''We're doubling down on it, basically. We had given that advice a long time ago. Obviously, things had gotten a lot better, and it's not surprising if people had started to change their habits. It's time to re-up that advisory and make it very, very clear this is a smart thing to do at this point. Today, we're announcing an additional vaccine mandate related to child care programs. This is for child care and early intervention programs citywide, a total impact reaching 102,000 employees of these programs. These are all over the five boroughs. There are 90,000 employees who are in child care programs; 12,000 in early intervention programs. So again, 102,000 total. We're putting this mandate in place with a deadline of Dec. 20 for all those employees to get vaccinated.''
- Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said the city was ''doubling down'' on its current advice that all residents wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status. He also extended the city's vaccine mandate to all child care workers. Credit Credit... Jason Szenes/EPA, via Shutterstock With the Omicron variant of the coronavirus appearing likely to be detected in New York City any day now, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday that he was strengthening the city health department's standing advice that New Yorkers '-- both vaccinated and unvaccinated '-- wear masks in indoor public settings.
- ''We're doubling down on it, basically,'' Mr. de Blasio said. ''It's time to re-up that advisory and make it very, very clear this is a smart thing to do at this point.''
- Masks are already required aboard mass transit and in hospitals and schools, but Mr. de Blasio stopped short of making them mandatory in all indoor public spaces. He said that indoor dining would continue as before, with vaccinations required for guests, and that the city's plans for a New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square would still move forward.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone wear masks in public indoor settings wherever there are high rates of community transmission. All of New York City and its suburbs are in that category.
- Separately, Mr. de Blasio said on Monday that he would expand New York City's vaccine mandate to encompass all workers in child care settings and in the city's early intervention program, which serves children who are lagging developmentally. The mandate will affect 102,000 workers, who will need to have received at least one dose of a vaccine by Dec. 20. Mr. de Blasio said the mandate extension had been in the works before the discovery of the new variant.
- Broadly, the mayor and his advisers struck a vigilant but non-alarmist tone as officials worldwide awaited data showing how readily the Omicron variant spreads, whether it causes more severe illness and how well vaccines protect against it. Evidence to support fears over its possible threat has yet to be established.
- No Omicron cases have been identified anywhere in the United States, where the Delta variant remains dominant. Genetic sequencing is required to confirm which variant of the virus a patient has; New York City sequences samples from hundreds of cases a week for that purpose.
- ''I fully expect it to arrive,'' Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said Monday, adding that the state was monitoring the situation and that the Omicron variant had already been detected in Ontario, which she said could see from her home. ''We have some ways to defend against this. We are not defenseless like we were one year ago.''
- She noted that a recent executive order goes into effect on Friday, allowing hospitals with limited capacity to pause nonessential and non-urgent procedures. She also encouraged New Yorkers to get vaccinated, to get boosters, to get tested and to wear masks.
- There is no statewide mask mandate for the general public, but masks are required in certain areas, regardless of vaccination status, such as inside child care facilities. Ms. Hochul voiced support for county officials who have reinstated mask mandates indoors, regardless of vaccination status, such as in Erie County.
- ''I encourage other leaders to do the same,'' Ms. Hochul said. ''That is something that takes courage, it's not always the most popular thing to do in certain areas of the state.''
- State health officials requested that labs across the state immediately notify the health department if they detect the Omicron variant.
- ''Covid is going to be with us for the rest of our lives,'' said Dr. Mitchell Katz, the chief executive of New York City Health and Hospitals. ''It's not going anywhere, and it's all about how we learn to live with this virus. And so far, the data do not suggest that this variant is more harmful in terms of hospitalization or in terms of serious illness.''
- '-- Dana Rubinstein and Lola Fadulu
- Image A soccer game in Portugal between Belenenses and Benfica over the weekend was abandoned after a virus outbreak. It was later revealed that some of those cases were of the Omicron variant. Credit... Antonio Cotrim/EPA, via Shutterstock Portugal on Monday said it had identified 13 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, all tied to Belenenses, a soccer club that was forced to take part in a top-flight game over the weekend that was abandoned while in progress.
- The country's national health institute said that the 13 people were isolating and that they were all players or staff members of Belenenses, which fielded a depleted team of only nine players against Benfica on Saturday after reporting a coronavirus outbreak.
- The institute also confirmed that one of the 13 people was a player who had recently returned to Portugal from South Africa, whose scientists helped identify Omicron. Benfica's players will be tested for the virus, the country's general health director, Gra§a Freitas, told the local TSF radio station.
- Later in the day, Spain announced its first case of the Omicron variant, contracted by a person who traveled over the weekend from South Africa. The patient, a 51-year-old man, has been quarantined at the Gregorio Mara±"n hospital in Madrid since Sunday following a trip from South Africa with a stopover in Amsterdam, according to the regional government in the capital. Officials said in statement that the man is showing only mild symptoms of the illness.
- Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days.
- Before the game on Saturday, as many as 17 players and staff members of the Belenenses club tested positive for the virus, although it was unclear at the time whether those cases involved the new variant. The Belenenses players sought to have the game canceled, but officials reportedly told them that it had to go on.
- Separately, Portugal's health authorities said they were tracing more than 200 passengers who had arrived in Portugal on Saturday from Maputo, Mozambique. At least two people on the flight had tested positive for the virus, but the authorities said it was too early to confirm whether these were Omicron cases.
- Portugal on Monday began suspending all flights to and from Mozambique, which is a former Portuguese colony and shares a border with South Africa, over concerns about the new variant.
- Image Wearing masks at a mall entrance in Beijing on Monday. Credit... Thomas Peter/Reuters Even before concerns about the new Omicron variant arose, China had refused calls to loosen its border restrictions, which are among the strictest in the world.
- Now Chinese researchers are offering data to support the government's decision to maintain its extreme ''zero Covid'' strategy.
- A recent study published on the country's Center for Disease Control and Prevention website found that China could face more than 630,000 coronavirus cases a day if it dropped its zero-tolerance prevention measures and lifted curbs on travel, in the way that some Western countries have.
- That would be more than five times as many as the total number of cases reported in China, which has a population of 1.4 billion, in the years since the virus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, according to a New York Times database. Such an outbreak would put a huge strain on the country's resources, including its hospital system, said the report, which was published before the World Health Organization labeled Omicron a ''variant of concern.''
- The authors of the report, who are scholars at Peking University in Beijing, wrote that the findings ''raised a clear warning'' that the country was not ready to open up.
- ''More efficient vaccinations or more specific treatment, preferably the combination of both, are needed before entry-exit quarantine measures and other Covid-19 response strategies in China can be safely lifted,'' they wrote.
- While China has vaccinated more than 75 percent of its population, questions have been raised about the efficacy of the country's homegrown vaccines.
- The Beijing government has staked much of its political legitimacy on controlling the virus better than other countries. The strategy, so far, has worked: China has reported fewer than 5,000 deaths since the pandemic began and has managed to quickly tame sporadic outbreaks through severe, and sometimes impractical, measures. On Monday, China reported just 21 locally transmitted cases, most of which were reported in the northern region of Inner Mongolia.
- Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The daily average is calculated with data that was reported in the last seven days.
- While some critics have warned that China's approach could be unsustainable and counterproductive, growing concerns about the new Omicron variant now make it even more unlikely that Beijing will ease its restrictions, which include at least two weeks of mandatory quarantine for visitors as well as snap lockdowns and mass testing campaigns in areas where the virus is detected.
- Dr. Zhang Wenhong, one of China's top infectious disease experts, said on Sunday that the country's comprehensive approach to fighting the virus made it well placed to confront the evolving threat.
- ''If we can cope with the Delta variant, we can also cope with Omicron,'' Dr. Zhang wrote on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform.
- '-- Amy Chang Chien and Amy Qin
- Image A laboratory at the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in Durban, South Africa. Credit... Joao Silva/The New York Times As nations severed air links from southern Africa amid fears of another global surge of the coronavirus, scientists scrambled on Sunday to gather data on the new Omicron variant, its capabilities and '-- perhaps most important '-- how effectively the current vaccines will protect against it.
- The early findings are a mixed picture. The variant may be more transmissible and better able to evade the body's immune responses, both to vaccination and to natural infection, than prior versions of the virus, experts said in interviews.
- The vaccines may well continue to ward off severe illness and death, although booster doses may be needed to protect most people. Still, the makers of the two most effective vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, are preparing to reformulate their shots if necessary.
- ''We really need to be vigilant about this new variant and preparing for it,'' said Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
- Even as scientists began vigorous scrutiny of the new variant, countries around the world curtailed travel to and from nations in southern Africa, where Omicron was first identified. Despite the restrictions, the virus has been found in a half-dozen European countries, including the United Kingdom, as well as Australia, Israel and Hong Kong.
- Already, Omicron accounts for most of the 2,300 new daily cases in the province of Gauteng, South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday. Nationally, new infections have more than tripled in the past week, and test positivity has increased to 9 percent from 2 percent.
- Some experts are pointing hopefully to early signs that the Omicron variant may cause only mild illness, without some of the trademark symptoms of Covid.
- Dr. Angelique Coetzee, who chairs the South African Medical Association, noted Saturday that the nation's hospitals were not overrun by patients infected with the new variant and that most were not fully immunized. Moreover, most patients she had seen did not lose their sense of taste and smell, and had only a slight cough, she told reporters.
- But it is far too early to assume that the variant will not cause severe illness, too, warned Dr. Richard Lessells, who coordinates clinical and epidemiological data for the South African Covid Variant Research Consortium.
- Many of the early infections in South Africa were spotted among younger people more likely to experience mild illness, he said.
- Scientists have reacted more quickly to Omicron than to any other variant. In just 36 hours from the first signs of trouble in South Africa on Tuesday, researchers analyzed samples from 100 infected patients, collated the data and alerted the world, said Tulio de Oliveira, a geneticist at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine in Durban.
- Within an hour of the first alarm, scientists in South Africa also rushed to test Covid vaccines against the new variant. Now, dozens of teams worldwide '-- including researchers at Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna '-- have joined the chase.
- They won't know the results for two weeks, at the earliest. But the mutations that Omicron carries suggest that the vaccines most likely will be less effective, to some unknown degree, than they were against any previous variant.
- Image Ayano Hirose has not been able to see her fianc(C) in person for the past 19 months, since he left Japan for his native Indonesia. Credit... Shiho Fukada for The New York Times In announcing on Monday that its borders would be closed to travelers from everywhere, Japan adopted a familiar tactic. The country has barred tourists since early in the coronavirus pandemic, even as most of the rest of the world started to travel again.
- And it had only tentatively opened this month to business travelers and students, despite recording the highest vaccination rate among the world's large wealthy democracies and after seeing its coronavirus caseloads plunge by 99 percent since August.
- Now, as the doors slam shut again, Japan provides a sobering case study of the human and economic cost of those closed borders. Over the many months that Japan has been isolated, thousands of life plans have been suspended, leaving couples, students, academic researchers and workers in limbo.
- Video ''It's best to be extra cautious when dealing with the risk of a mysterious virus,'' Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan said as he reversed a recent move to reopen the country's borders to short-term business travelers and international students. Credit Credit... Philip Fong/Agence France-Presse '-- Getty Images Ayano Hirose has not been able to see her fianc(C), Dery Nanda Prayoga, in person for the past 19 months, since he left Japan for his native Indonesia, just two weeks after her parents blessed their marriage plans. The couple has made do with multiple daily video calls. When they run out of things to talk about, they play billiards on Facebook Messenger or watch Japanese variety shows together online.
- ''We don't want to suffer in pain at the thought of not being able to reunite in the near future,'' said Ms. Hirose, 21, who has written letters to the foreign and justice ministries asking for an exemption to allow Mr. Dery to come to Japan. ''So we will think positively and continue to hold out hope.''
- '-- Motoko Rich and Hikari Hida
- Image Czech President Milos Zeman, right, separated with a transparent wall after testing positive for the coronavirus, appoints Petr Fiala as Czech Prime Minister at the Lany Manor house, near Prague, Czech Republic on Sunday. Credit... Pool photo by Vondrous Roman President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic, who tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, appointed the country's new prime minister on Sunday while sitting inside a transparent cube.
- Mr. Zeman, 77, was discharged from a hospital in Prague on Saturday and is currently required to isolate. He rolled in a wheelchair into the clear box, pushed by a worker wearing a full protective suit, in order to appoint Petr Fiala as prime minister. He was originally scheduled to take that step on Friday but the event was delayed after he tested positive.
- If it had happened two years ago, the sight of a world leader confined to a cube might have been considerable cause for alarm, but on Sunday the event proceeded as normal, with the other participants masked and moving freely around the room. Mr. Fiala and the other speakers stood at a microphone and spoke toward the cube, while Mr. Zeman spoke from inside using another microphone.
- Mr. Zeman's health has been a source of concern and speculation inside the country; he has diabetes and neuropathy in his legs, which caused him to begin using a wheelchair in April. He was hospitalized in October, but the government offered little information on his specific health issues.
- He was discharged on Thursday after being treated there for six weeks, only to be readmitted to the hospital hours later after testing positive for the coronavirus.
- Like much of Europe, the Czech Republic is dealing with a surge of the virus, setting a record on Friday with nearly 28,000 new cases reported. About 59 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, according to Our World In Data.
- Over the last two years, several other world leaders, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and former President Donald J. Trump of the United States, have contracted the coronavirus and recovered after hospital stays.
- Image Over the weekend, Israel banned international arrivals of nonresidents for two weeks because of the Omicron virus variant. Passengers disembarked on Sunday at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv. Credit... Abir Sultan/EPA, via Shutterstock The Israeli domestic intelligence agency has been granted temporary permission to access the phone data of people with confirmed cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in order to trace who those people met recently. The agency was given similar powers during earlier waves of the pandemic.
- Using emergency legislation, the Israeli cabinet voted on Sunday to permit the spy agency, the Shin Bet, to track Omicron patients' phones until the end of the day on Thursday '-- but not to access the phone records of people infected with other forms of the coronavirus.
- The Israeli Parliament is expected to vote this week on new legislation that would extend the permission by another two weeks, and allow it to be renewed every two weeks thereafter, according to a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
- The government and its supporters said the decision was necessary to quickly identify potential virus carriers who need to be tested and quarantined, in order to curb the spread of the new variant.
- ''We have indeed reached a point at which we do need a 'Big Brother' keeping track of where we go,'' Limor Yehuda, a criminology professor, wrote on Monday in Maariv, a centrist newspaper.
- Critics said the move infringed civil liberties and contravened a Supreme Court decision last March. The court ruled then that the agency could use phone data in this way only to track people who had refused to comply with contact-tracing procedures.
- ''No other democratic country has chosen to use its security service to track people,'' Gil Gan-Mor, a rights lawyer, wrote in Maariv on Monday. The renewal of Shin Bet tracking was ''a terrible, illegal decision,'' he added.
- Critics of the step pointed to government data showing that, during an earlier wave of the pandemic, the overwhelming majority of coronavirus patients were located by human trackers, rather than through the Shin Bet monitoring program.
- Israel's swift response to the discovery of the new virus variant was influenced in part by a government-wide ''war game'' held earlier in November. In that exercise, senior officials simulated how they would respond to a fictional scenario that bore striking similarities to what is actually happening now.
- In a daylong drill on Nov. 11, Israeli officials had to respond to a hypothetical new ''Omega'' virus strain that would be more resistant to vaccines and would spread to Israel from two foreign countries during the second of half of November.
- In the simulation, officials including Mr. Bennett decided to keep Israel's borders open to tourists into December, only to find that by the later stages of the exercise, the country's hospitals were overwhelmed with patients. The correct decision, the participants concluded afterward, would have been to close Israel's borders to most foreigners immediately, according to Yaacov Ayish, a retired general who helped plan the drill.
- ''It was one of the lessons,'' Mr. Ayish said. ''Suddenly, all the government agencies and the military had to analyze it as an option.''
- Image The hotel in the Netherlands where some passengers who arrived on flights from South Africa are in quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus. Credit... Peter Dejong/Associated Press The Dutch military police arrested a couple on Sunday who were about to fly out of the Netherlands when they were supposed to be in quarantine. One of the pair had tested positive for the coronavirus two days earlier after arriving from South Africa, the police said.
- The married couple '-- the husband is Spanish, the wife Portuguese '-- had left a quarantine hotel and boarded a plane at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport when they were arrested, according to Dutch news media. The plane was bound for Spain.
- Marianne Schuurmans, a local mayor and chair of the safety region that includes the airport, told Dutch morning television on Monday that the couple was in isolation at a hospital.
- Ms. Schuurmans said that the authorities didn't anticipate that someone might break quarantine after testing positive. ''We were really taken by surprise that people don't take this seriously,'' she said.
- Of the roughly 600 passengers on two flights from South Africa that landed in the Netherlands on Friday morning, 61 people tested positive for the coronavirus. Those people were told by officials to quarantine in a designated hotel or at home.
- After sequencing the positive tests, scientists found that at least 13 of those people had the Omicron variant, Dutch public health officials said, adding that they expected that number to grow.
- Passengers from those flights '-- negative and positive '-- spent about 30 hours together on the plane and in poorly ventilated rooms at the airport, according to Stephanie Nolen, a reporter for The New York Times who was on one of the planes. While the infected passengers were told to isolate, those who tested negative were allowed to fly onward or go home, despite their exposure.
- Image Rising ticket and concession prices are among the trends keeping audiences away, along with the run-down state of shopping malls, home to many cinemas. Credit... Philip Cheung for The New York Times LOS ANGELES '-- About 49 percent of prepandemic moviegoers are no longer buying tickets. Some of them, roughly 8 percent, have likely been lost forever. To win back the rest, multiplex owners must ''urgently'' rethink pricing and customer perks in addition to focusing on coronavirus safety.
- Those were some of the takeaways from a new study on the state of the American movie theater business, which was troubled before the pandemic '-- attendance declining, streaming services proliferating '-- and has struggled to rebound from coronavirus-forced closings in 2020. Over the weekend, ticket sales in the United States and Canada stood at roughly $96 million, compared to $181 million over the same period in 2019.
- The study, published online on Monday, was self-commissioned by the Quorum, a film research company led by David Herrin, the former head of research for United Talent Agency; Cultique, a consultancy run by the longtime brand strategist Linda Ong; and Fanthropology, which describes itself as a research, strategy and creative agency. They intend to run the survey once a quarter.
- ''The research clearly shows that theaters are suffering because the pandemic intensified, accelerated, amplified all of the nascent trends that were already underway,'' Ms. Ong said. ''That is the definition of a perfect storm '-- not that various problems exist at the same time, but that they have an intensifying effect on each other.''
- The nascent trends? Rising ticket and concession prices. Decreasing ''experiential value,'' including the perception that moviegoing has become a hassle. The run-down state of shopping malls, which house many theaters. A generational shift toward streaming, gaming and other smartphone-based entertainment. ''Before, maybe you went every now and again '-- overlooking the drawbacks,'' Mr. Herrin said. ''Now you add safety concerns to that mix, and you suddenly become a former filmgoer.''
- The research companies surveyed 2,528 people who visited a movie theater in 2019. (Some bought a ticket once a week, while others went once a month. Others went ''several'' times a year.) About 51 percent of respondents said they had bought tickets in recent months, with some drawn by cinema-chain rewards programs. They are largely white men ages 25 to 45 who live in cities, according to Mr. Herrin. ''Once you get outside of that demographic, you're really starting to lose people,'' he said.
- The 49 percent no longer buying tickets were more likely to be in favor of a vaccine mandate for attendees. This group, predominantly female, was also more likely to be concerned about price and value, Mr. Herrin said. Still, he noted that roughly a third were ''hopeful'' about returning to theaters at some point. Among the changes most likely to bring them back: lower prices for classic concessions, newer seats, policing the usage of phones during films.
- ''There needs to be a sense of urgency,'' Mr. Herrin said. ''I don't know how large a window there is for exhibition to win these people back,'' he added, using Hollywood jargon for the multiplex business.
- The ''likely losts,'' as the study identifies 8 percent of respondents who said they have not bought a ticket during the pandemic and can't see themselves returning, are lower-income consumers. The group has a large proportion of Hispanic, Black and Asian women, the researchers noted.
- Biosecurity Surveillance Regime: Employment Edition
- In my last post I described the pandemic as an accelerant to what I called the ''Rise of Our Technocratic Biosecurity Surveillance Regime''. In this post I want to examine just one example of how a regime like this manifests in the workplace, using the example of one of the world's largest employers. If it seems like I am picking on Amazon here, I'll mention that this example is simply the canary in the coal mine'--a harbinger and innovator of trends being taken up by other firms. These developments will continue to spread unless the regime meets significant resistance. Employee dissatisfaction and talks of unionization at Amazon are perhaps one early sign of resistance, though it's far from clear that the workers will prevail there.
- The Amazon example is also useful to demonstrate that the biosecurity surveillance regime is not just a prediction about what is coming or a kind of prophetic conjecture about the future. While the full manifestation of this regime is not yet here, many of its central features are already with us. Some of them, such as a willingness to hand over massive amounts of personal data for the sake of convenience or easier access to the market, are features that most of us are accustomed to: these no longer give us much pause, if they ever did.
- I posted a recent Twitter thread on the biosecurity surveillance regime that included themes from my last post here. Commenting on the thread, professor of philosophy Joshua Hochschild, astutely noted:
- Professor Hochschild is correct: in fact, we can empirically test my claims now without waiting for some future development. Amazon is a good test case, not because it's the only example of the biosecurity surveillance regime at work, but because the working conditions there have been well-documented in recent months.
- The Washington Post published a useful piece today with the title, ''Amazon's employee surveillance fuels unionization efforts: 'It's not prison, it's work'.'' Here are a few relevant excerpts, which perfectly illustrate the features of the biosecurity surveillance regime applied to a workplace environment. The article opens:
- Courtenay Brown works in a giant refrigerated section of the Avenel, N.J., Amazon Fresh warehouse, sometimes 10 hours a day, making sure groceries find their way to the right delivery truck. Brown, 31, said she is measured by a metric that calculates the amount of items her team loads to trucks along with the number of people working that shift. Amazon, which keeps tabs on workers through the handheld scanners they use to track inventory, regularly presses her to move more items with fewer people, she said. There are cameras everywhere.
- ''They basically can see everything you do, and it's all to their benefit,'' Brown said. ''They don't value you as a human being. It's demeaning.''
- That sentiment, that Amazon's culture of surveillance constitutes inhuman working conditions, has become fuel for unionization efforts to organize hundreds of thousands of workers at the country's second-largest private employer.
- Now, notice that the following response to these criticisms from Amazon is framed in terms of the workers' own safety and security. ''It's all for your benefit,'' the technocrats reply:
- Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said employee monitoring, via data collected by scanning devices as well as cameras situated through its warehouses, are prudent business measures.
- ''Like any business, we use technology to maintain a level of security within our operations to help keep our employees, buildings, and inventory safe '-- it would be irresponsible if we didn't do so,'' Nantel said in an emailed statement. ''It's also important to note that while the technology helps keep our employees safe, it also allows them to be more efficient in their jobs.''
- The nod at the end toward efficiency as the goal might mark the moment when the truth slipped out. Here is how Amazon plugs its employees into the efficiency algorithm while on the job:
- When workers scan items into warehouses, they trigger an algorithm-driven employee performance system, which tracks where products are located along with the speed that workers are doing their jobs. Managers have visibility into the software '-- dubbed the Associate Development and Performance Tracker, or Adapt '-- to review employee performance, Nantel said. Amazon also has systems that measure workers' ''time off task,'' those moments when employees log off their devices '-- turning off their scanners or stepping away from their computers '-- to take a bathroom break or grab lunch.
- As I explained in my previous post, by the word ''regime'' I do not necessarily mean a particular government or party in power, but rather the network of public and private institutions, whether at home or abroad, that work in concert to advance the biosecurity model. Those governing and directing this novel paradigm are mostly an elite class of unelected but credentialed experts and managers'--hence the regime is ''technocratic''. For many of our corporate technocrats, Amazon's surveillance and control system is truly a marvel:
- While many warehouses monitor employees with cameras and require them to hit certain productivity rates, Amazon differs because its sophisticated algorithms, fed by data collected from scanners and computers at workstations, track in real-time how many orders a worker packs, for example, according to a former Amazon executive and industry experts. Some workers say the devices can also notify employees when they are falling below performance expectations, though Nantel disputed that.
- The development of those algorithms is a competitive advantage that Amazon is loath to scale back as the result of union negotiations, said the former executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about internal policy. The company's surveillance of workers through the devices they use has given it scads of data to figure out the pace of work it believes is both attainable and efficient, said the executive, who marvels at the innovation of the system.
- ''Nothing like this has been done before. There is no playbook,'' the executive said.
- Negative incentives, like reprimands for poor performance metrics, e.g., logging off the system too long during bathroom breaks, are not the only method of behavioral conditioning and control. Amazon also uses the addictive quality of gaming competition to drive a faster pace of work and squeeze more efficiency out of the system:
- Amazon was among the earliest companies to use robots in its facilities, acquiring Kiva Systems, a maker of robotic systems that move goods throughout warehouses, for $775 million in 2012. It has developed software to efficiently staff facilities with the precise number of workers it needs at any given time. The company has come up with a way to ''gamify'' warehouse work, rolling out video games that run on warehouse computers and pit individuals, teams or entire floors against one another in a race to pick or stow products on its shelves.
- As I said previously, on this social paradigm, citizens are no longer viewed as persons with inherent dignity, but as fungible elements of an undifferentiated ''mass'' to be shaped by supposedly benevolent health and safety experts. One employee commented on how this system does not operate on a human scale or take account of human beings as distinct individuals or free personalities:
- ''The system doesn't recognize the human part of people, like, 'I'm having a bad day,' or 'I'm having a tough time at home,' '' said Hamilton, who has worked at Amazon's Shakopee, Minn., warehouse for four years.
- And because it's not operating on a human scale but is treating human beings like robots, or like an undifferentiated mass, the system can start to break down'--or rather, the human beings caught in the system can break down'--under these constraints:
- Critics have said that Amazon's use of data it gleans from monitoring has led to an injury rate at Amazon facilities that's higher than industry norms. A Post analysis of Occupational Safety and Health Administration data this spring showed Amazon's serious injury rates are nearly double those at warehouses run by other companies.
- In May, Washington state's Department of Labor and Industries cited Amazon for the hazardous conditions at its warehouse in DuPont, Wash., calling out the company's employee surveillance. ''There is a direct connection between Amazon's employee monitoring and discipline systems and workplace MSDs [musculoskeletal disorders],'' according to the citation.
- This is just one glimpse into the biosecurity surveillance regime as manifested in the workplace. Keep your eyes open and you will begin to notice many other examples.
- Almost eighty years ago, the author C.S. Lewis foresaw these developments in a short and deceptively simple book called, The Abolition of Man, which I consider to be one of the most important books of the 20th Century. In the last chapter Lewis makes the following prediction and poses the following question:
- The final stage is come when Man by eugenics, by pre-natal conditioning, and by an education and propaganda based on a perfect applied psychology, has obtained full control over himself. Human nature will be the last part of Nature to surrender to Man. The battle will then be won. We shall'... be henceforth free to make our species whatever we wish it to be. The battle will indeed be won. But who, precisely, will have won it?
- On the Rise of Our Technocratic Biosecurity Surveillance Regime
- I published this post yesterday for subscribers but many are asking to share it so I'm republishing it today without the paywall (apologies to subscribers for the repeat email). Readers of this newsletter may recall, if they glanced at the ''About Human Flourishing'' page, that I included the following descriptor when I launched:
- The real division today is no longer left/right, liberal/conservative, or even Democrat/Republican. It is between those who will accept a technocratic biosecurity surveillance regime and those who will resist.
- My posts so far have focused mostly on my legal efforts to oppose coercive vaccine mandates, to advocate for transparency from public health agencies, and to promote fair and just Covid policies. So what is the technocratic biosecurity surveillance regime mentioned here'--besides being a mouthful of jargon?
- I could begin by defining each of these terms, but let's instead start simply with a headline from today's New York Times, ''Israel's spy agency will track Omicron patients' phones.'' The article reported:
- The Israeli domestic intelligence agency has been granted temporary permission to access the phone data of people with confirmed cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in order to trace who those people met recently'... Using emergency legislation, the Israeli cabinet voted on Sunday to permit the spy agency, the Shin Bet, to track Omicron patients' phones'....
- The government and its supporters said the decision was necessary to quickly identify potential virus carriers who need to be tested and quarantined, in order to curb the spread of the new variant. ''We have indeed reached a point at which we do need a 'Big Brother' keeping track of where we go,'' Limor Yehuda, a criminology professor, wrote on Monday in Maariv, a centrist newspaper.
- This is the equivalent of the CIA tracking American citizens'--not those suspected of being traitors or terrorists but those suspected of having a viral infection. This is not an isolated development. The Covid pandemic has proven a very useful opportunity for elites with global economic and political interests, in collaboration with the intelligence community, to accelerate the acceptance of a powerful and invasive digital infrastructure. This system is already used for tracking and ''surveilling'' ordinary citizens, with the eventual goal of more directly monitoring and controlling our behavior.
- Public health and safety during a declared state of emergency has been the ideal opportunity to accelerate these rapid social changes. In the past two years we collectively enrolled as willing participants in massive social experiments'--in the name of public health and safety'--that we would never have accepted under ordinary conditions. Hence, ''biosecurity''.
- In this novel paradigm, the real sovereign or locus of political authority resides with the person authorized to declare the ''state of exception,'' i.e., the state of emergency. That person at the federal level is now Xavier Becerra, the Secretary of HHS, a lawyer with no medical knowledge and zero public health experience. In the state of exception/emergency, which Becerra recently renewed again to almost no public notice or media attention, ordinary constitutional rules are suspended and emergency powers are delegated (e.g., to governors, public health officials, administrative state bureaucrats, committees, CEOs, etc.)
- From this it should be clear that by the word ''regime'' I do not necessarily mean a particular government or party in power, but rather the network of public and private institutions, whether at home or abroad, that have worked in concert to advance the biosecurity model during this state of emergency. Those governing and directing this novel paradigm are mostly an elite class of unelected but credentialed experts and managers'--hence the regime is ''technocratic''.
- I predict that if the rising biosecurity surveillance regime does not meet more robust resistance in 2022, it will increasingly demand increasingly intrusive and burdensome interventions into the lives, and bodies, of individuals. On this social paradigm, citizens are no longer viewed as persons with inherent dignity, but as fungible elements of an undifferentiated ''mass,'' to be shaped by supposedly benevolent health and safety experts.
- The marriage of global public health with novel digital technologies of surveillance, personal data extraction, information flow, and social control now makes possible novel forms of domination unimaginable in the totalitarian regimes of the past. Whether we agree or disagree with this or that public policy, this broader development should concern each of us.
- In our present circumstances, resisting the technocratic biosecurity surveillance regime will require critiquing and rejecting some of the most disastrous Covid policies of the past two years, including widespread lockdowns (the first time in history we have quarantined healthy populations during a pandemic) as well as coercive vaccine mandates and passports. Resistance efforts are necessary to slow the rapid acceptance of the new paradigm. Free people, acting together, must clearly demonstrate that there are strict limits to what citizens will accept under the rubric of a public health emergency. So far over the past two years citizens have delineated virtually no limits to these powers. We have yet to collectively say ''no''. Whether a widespread refusal will happen with vaccine mandates remains an open question.
- American universities serve as ready incubators to run these social experiments before they are rolled out on a mass scale. Consider, for example, the system implemented earlier this year at my own institution, the University of California Irvine, before there was any hint of vaccine passports at other venues in the U.S.:
- Measures of this kind serve to get us used to things that two years ago would have sounded insane. Could we have imagined in 2019 having to show a QR code testifying that we had obeyed a public health order to inject a novel vaccine into our body'--with the concomitant release of protected private health information to a complete stranger'--just to board a plane or a train, or to enter a restaurant or other public venue? The ''ZotPass'' implemented at UCI, or the vaccine cards we currently flash on our way in the venue door, are crude and rudimentary tools of the new regime. The mechanisms of surveillance and control will become ever more refined, with QR codes giving way to retinal scans, and climate change or other social issues overtaking Covid as the latest public health ''crisis''.
- The urgent task today is to begin to see, and help those around us see, why we should and how we can (1) recognize, (2) understand, (3) reject and (4) resist this growing despotism. Things are moving astonishingly fast, so the time to begin is now.
- Stay tuned for more on this theme in the new year.
- BARR: Biden's 'Infrastructure' Bill Contains Backdoor 'Kill Switch' For Cars | The Daily Caller
- Buried deep within the massive infrastructure legislation recently signed by President Joe Biden is a little-noticed ''safety'' measure that will take effect in five years. Marketed to Congress as a benign tool to help prevent drunk driving, the measure will mandate that automobile manufacturers build into every car what amounts to a ''vehicle kill switch.''
- As has become standard for legislative mandates passed by Congress, this measure is disturbingly short on details. What we do know is that the ''safety'' device must ''passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.''
- Everything about this mandatory measure should set off red flares.
- First, use of the word ''passively'' suggests the system will always be on and constantly monitoring the vehicle. Secondly, the system must connect to the vehicle's operational controls, so as to disable the vehicle either before driving or during, when impairment is detected. Thirdly, it will be an ''open'' system, or at least one with a backdoor, meaning authorized (or unauthorized) third-parties can remotely access the system's data at any time.
- This is a privacy disaster in the making, and the fact that the provision made it through the Congress reveals '-- yet again '-- how little its members care about the privacy of their constituents.
- The lack of ultimate control over one's vehicle presents numerous and extremely serious safety issues; issues that should have been obvious to Members of Congress before they voted on the measure.
- For example, what if a driver is not drunk, but sleepy, and the car forces itself to the side of the road before the driver can find a safe place to pull over and rest? Considering that there are no realistic mechanisms to immediately challenge or stop the car from being disabled, drivers will be forced into dangerous situations without their consent or control.
- The choice as to whether a vehicle can or cannot be driven '-- for vehicles built after 2026 '-- will rest in the hands of an algorithm over which the car's owner or driver have neither knowledge nor control.
- If that is not reason enough for concern, there are serious legal issues with this mandate. Other vehicle-related enforcement methods used by the Nanny State, such as traffic cameras and license plate readers, have long presented constitutional problems; notably with the 5th Amendment's right to not self-incriminate, and the 6th Amendment's right to face one's accuser.
- The same constitutional issues abound with this new technology, but with the added confusion surrounding what Congress even means by ''impaired driving.'' Does it mean legally drunk, or perhaps under the limit but still ''impaired'' to a degree? Would police be summoned automatically by the system in order to make that determination? These are questions that should have been addressed openly and thoroughly during the legislative process, not left to later, back-room negotiations between interested parties other than individual car buyers '' manufacturers, regulators, insurance companies and law enforcement.
- Ironically, or perhaps intentionally, there also is no detail in the legislation about who would have access to the data collected and stored by the system. Could it be used by police, and could they access this information without a warrant? What about insurance companies, eager to know with what frequency their customers drove after drinking alcohol, even if it was below the legal limit? Such a trove of data presents a lucrative prize to all manner of public and private entities (including hackers), none of which have our best interests at heart.
- Adding what amounts to a mandatory, backdoor government ''kill switch'' to cars is not only a violation of our constitutional rights, but an affront to what is '-- or used to be '-- an essential element of our national character. Unless this regulatory mandate is not quickly removed or defanged by way of an appropriations rider preventing its implementation, the freedom of the open road that individual car ownership brought to the American Dream, will be but another vague memory of an era no longer to be enjoyed by future generations.
- Bob Barr represented Georgia's Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He served as the United States Attorney in Atlanta from 1986 to 1990 and was an official with the CIA in the 1970s. He now practices law in Atlanta, Georgia and serves as head of Liberty Guard.
- Italian man tries to dodge Covid vaccine wearing fake arm | Italy | The Guardian
- An Italian man is facing charges of fraud after turning up for his Covid-19 vaccine wearing a fake arm.
- So determined was he to dodge the jab but still obtain a health pass, the anti-vaxxer may have paid hundreds of euros for the silicone prosthetic.
- The bizarre episode at a vaccine hub in Biella, a town close to Turin in the northern Piedmont region, came a week after Italy announced measures barring unvaccinated people from a host of social, cultural and sporting activities.
- After completing the bureaucratic formalities, including signing a consent form in front of a doctor, the man, aged 50, sat down and lifted up the sleeve of his shirt as he prepared for a health worker to administer the jab.
- Initially, the health worker did not notice anything odd, as the silicone looked similar to skin. But after taking a closer look and touching the arm, the medic asked the man to take off his shirt. His plan foiled, the man, who has not been named, then tried to persuade the health worker to turn a blind eye.
- ''I felt offended as a professional,'' Filippa Bua told La Repubblica. ''The colour of the arm made me suspicious and so I asked the man to uncover the rest of his left arm. It was well made but it wasn't the same colour.'' The man said to her: ''Would you have imagined that I'd have such a physique?''
- She told La Stampa she could not see the man's veins: ''At first I thought I made a mistake, that it was a patient with an artificial arm.''
- chartIt is not clear whether he was wearing a whole fake arm or some kind of silicone layer over his skin.
- ''The promptness and skill of the health worker ruined the plans of this person, who will now have to respond to the judiciary,'' Alberto Cirio, the president of Piedmont, said in a joint statement with Luigi Icardi, the regional health councillor.
- La Repubblica suggested that the incident might not have been a one-off, citing a recent message on social media that might have been written by the man in Biella.
- The Twitter post featured a silicone male chest half-body suit, complete with fake arms and neck, that was on sale on Amazon for '¬488 (£416). Alongside the image was the message: ''If I go with this, will they notice? Maybe beneath the silicone I'll even put on some extra clothes to avoid the needle reaching my real arm.''
- Cirio and Icardi said the case would ''border on the ridiculous'' were it not ''for the fact that we are talking about a gesture of enormous gravity''.
- ''It is unacceptable in the face of the sacrifice that the pandemic is making the whole community pay for,'' they added.
- Italy has reported a significant rise in the number of bookings for first-time jabs since announcing plans for the ''super green pass'', which takes effect nationally from 6 December and requires people to prove they are vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 to access cinemas, theatres, gyms, nightclubs, ski-lifts and stadiums, as well as to be served indoors at bars and restaurants.
- EXCLUSIVE... Lawrence Sellin: Evidence Indicates COVID-19 is a Designed Bioweapon with a Toxic Structure that MAY BE REPLICATED IN VACCINES
- Guest post by Lawrence Sellin
- Evidence indicating COVID-19 is a designed bioweapon with a toxic structure that may be replicated in vaccinesA previous Gateway Pundit article identified two ''smoking guns'' supporting the conclusion that COVID-19 was created in a laboratory.
- First, a de facto scientific recipe for the laboratory creation of COVID-19 was described in the 2018 research grant application to the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) submitted by scientists who directly collaborated with the ''bat woman'' Zheng-Li Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
- TRENDING: Breaking: CNN Fires Chris Cuomo "Effective Immediately"
- The research proposal explicitly states that bat coronaviruses, collected in southern China by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, would be isolated and genetically sequenced, particularly the spike proteins, which are the binding elements initiating infection.
- It was further proposed that spike proteins demonstrating ''high risk'' for human infection would be artificially combined with other bat coronavirus ''backbones,'' creating entirely new and potentially dangerous coronaviruses.
- The second smoking gun in the DARPA grant application was the artificial insertion of furin polybasic cleavage sites, short sequences of amino acids e.g. proline-arginine-arginine-alanine or PRRA, long-known to increase infectivity and lethality of coronaviruses.
- The enzyme furin is ubiquitous in the human body, found in multiple organ systems including lungs, heart, kidneys, brain and blood vessels.
- The PRRA sequence found in COVID-19, does not exist in any of hundreds of close bat coronaviruses relatives from which COVID-19 could have evolved.
- The 2018 DARPA research application proposed to artificially insert furin polybasic cleavage sites, like PRRA, into low-risk bat coronaviruses and then testing the ability of those laboratory-created viruses to infect human cells.
- That application was ultimately rejected by DARPA because it involved dangerous ''gain of function'' experiments creating new human-infecting viruses, which also have the potential for dual use as bioweapons.
- It is important to note that the section of the COVID-19 genetic code (CGG-CGG) that produces the ''RR'' segment of the PRRA sequence is extremely rare.
- The two tandem CGG codons do not appear anywhere else in the COVID-19 genetic code, nor does it exist in that context in any close bat coronavirus relative of COVID-19.
- Thus, CGG-CGG is a unique marker both as an indicator of its laboratory origin and its potential role as a designed feature of the disease process.
- According to a 2020 scientific article, the COVID-19 furin polybasic cleavage site (PRRA) and its surrounding structures may be far more toxic than first realized.
- The approximately 20 amino acids surrounding COVID-19's furin polybasic cleavage site possess sequence and structural elements comparable to those of Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB).
- SEB acts as a ''superantigen'' and immune system activator stimulating the release large amounts of cytokines, often called ''cytokine storm'' and capable of producing multi-organ hyperinflammation similar to toxic shock syndrome.
- The authors also state that COVID-19 mutations strengthen its ''superantigen'' character.
- As a confirmation of those observations, the same authors demonstrated that monoclonal antibodies directed against Staphylococcal enterotoxin B ''superantigen'' inhibit the entry of the COVID-19 virus into cultured cells.
- It may be no accident that China's People's Liberation Army's Third Military Medical University has done extensive research on SEB and ''superantigens,'' because that center has been implicated in the creation of COVID-19 and is associated with the recent monoclonal antibody ''cure'' announced for COVID-19.
- Caution, therefore, is warranted regarding mandating COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, which initiate the synthesis of spike protein inside the human body and may replicate the toxic structures introduced into COVID-19, potentially becoming a causative factor in organ inflammation.A scientific abstract published on November 8, 2021 concludes that the mRNA vaccines:
- ''dramatically increase inflammation on the endothelium and T cell infiltration of cardiac muscle and may account for the observations of increased thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and other vascular events following vaccination.''
- Finally, it may be purely coincidental that Moderna, a biotechnology company that produces a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, holds a patent (US 10,501,513 B2), filed on February 7, 2017, describing ''protein cleavage'' sites and including a complementary genetic sequence matching that for the furin polybasic cleavage site found in COVID-19.
- Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. He had a civilian career in international business and medical research. His email address is [email protected]
- DA blames assistant for Waukesha rampage suspect's 'inappropriately low' bail
- The man accused of driving his SUV into the Waukesha Christmas parade had been released earlier on ''inappropriately low'' bail as a result of ''human error'' by a young prosecutor, the Milwaukee County district attorney said Thursday.
- Darrell Brooks, 39, who is charged with six counts of intentional homicide over the deadly crash in Waukesha, Wis., that also left 48 injured, should have been behind bars following an arrest earlier in November, officials have acknowledged.
- Brooks was out on $1,000 cash bail at the time of the Nov. 21 parade rampage after he allegedly punched the mother of his child and purposefully ran her ''over with his vehicle'' in a Milwaukee gas station parking lot on Nov. 2, according to court documents.
- Suspect Darrell Brooks appears in court on Nov. 23. Brooks was out on $1,000 cash bail at the time of the deadly rampage that killed six and wounded almost 50 others. ZUMAPRESS.comHe ended up being charged with recklessly endangering safety, bail jumping, battery and disorderly conduct in the incident but was given an ''inappropriately low'' bail of $1,000, Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm later said, leaving him free to wreak havoc on the Christmas parade.
- Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm characterized Brooks' bail as ''inappropriately low.'' Milwaukee County DA OfficeOn Thursday, Chisholm blamed the low bail on an early-career assistant DA who was overloaded with cases and did not have access to a critical risk assessment for Brooks because it had not yet been uploaded to the office's case management system, CNN reported.
- The DA said a public safety assessment characterized Brooks' case as a high-risk situation.
- Brooks' SUV plows through a crowd during a Christmas parade in Waukesha. The DA's office acknowledged that Brooks' low cash bail ''set in motion'' the events of the tragedy.He said a higher cash bail should have been recommended for Brooks and that the error ''set in motion a chain of events that resulted in a tragedy,'' adding that his office will use a process called sentinel event review to learn from such errors.
- Chisholm then told Fox 6 Now he takes responsibility for the error '-- before blaming the young staffer again.''I'm not here to make excuses. I own any decision that's made by any member of my office. When I first ran in 2007, l made a promise to the community to identify people by risk,'' Chisholm told the outlet.
- Despite attributing Brooks' low bail to an early-career attorney, Chisholm said he owns ''any decision that's made by any member of my office.'' YouTube / John ChisholmBut, he added: ''You had a young ADA trying to do the very best she could under difficult circumstances, and she made a mistake.''
- The DA also brushed aside calls for his resignation.''When things get tough, when tough things occur, the response shouldn't be to quit, to run away from the problem,'' he said, according to Fox 6 Now. ''The obligation I have is to lead my people so they can continuing doing the work they do every single day, which is trying to keep people safe.''
- Darrell Brooks appears wild-eyed in his booking photo from Nov. 23. In addition to the charges related to the parade rampage, Brooks has another pending case from July 2020. See bottom of caption / MEGAMeanwhile, Brooks also has another pending case in Milwaukee from July 2020 in which he is charged with reckless endangering and illegal possession of a firearm, court documents show.
- Police said they were called to his home after he allegedly fired his gun during a dispute with his nephew on July 24. His cash bail in that case was initially set at $10,000 before being reduced to $7,500, the DA's office has said.
- The bail was reduced again to just $500, which he posted, after the case was adjourned because his demand for a speedy jury trial could not be met.
- People rush to aid those injured moments after Brooks' SUV plowed through the parade in downtown Waukesha. Jordan Woynilko/TwitterChisholm, who has been the DA for the past 14 years, has been a longtime advocate of efforts to reduce mass incarceration by using prosecutorial discretion, according to CNN.
- Brooks is being held on $5 million bail in a Wisconsin jail and faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted.
- Prinses Beatrix besmet met coronavirus | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl
- Prinses Beatrix is positief getest op het coronavirus, laat de Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst zaterdagavond weten. Ze had zich laten testen nadat ze milde verkoudheidsklachten had.
- Volg dit onderwerp Volgen Ontvang meldingen bij het nieuws over het koningshuis
- De 83-jarige prinses zit in thuisisolatie.
- Prinses Beatrix kwam maandagochtend na een vierdaags werkbezoek terug uit Cura§ao. Daar vertelde ze dat ze tweemaal gevaccineerd is tegen het coronavirus en al een boosterprik heeft ontvangen.
- Prinses Beatrix begon haar werkbezoek met het streng handhaven van de twee meter afstand, zoals dat op het eiland verplicht is, omdat ze zoveel mogelijk in haar 'bubbel' wilde blijven. Ook droeg ze aan het begin van het bezoek een mondkapje. Coronaregels als afstand houden en mondkapje dragen werden in de loop van haar bezoek niet altijd meer opgevolgd.
- Ze vloog zondagavond laat, Nederlandse tijd, terug op een lijnvlucht van KLM.
- De moeder van koning Willem-Alexander lag afgelopen juni in het ziekenhuis in Leiden vanwege een middenoorontsteking.
- Russia planning massive military offensive against Ukraine involving 175,000 troops, U.S. intelligence warns - The Washington Post
- As tensions mount between Washington and Moscow over a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. intelligence has found the Kremlin is planning a multi-front offensive as soon as early next year involving up to 175,000 troops, according to U.S. officials and an intelligence document obtained by The Washington Post.
- The Kremlin has been moving troops toward the border with Ukraine while demanding Washington guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO and that the alliance will refrain from certain military activities in and around Ukrainian territory. The crisis has provoked fears of a renewed war on European soil and comes ahead of a planned virtual meeting next week between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- ''The Russian plans call for a military offensive against Ukraine as soon as early 2022 with a scale of forces twice what we saw this past spring during Russia's snap exercise near Ukraine's borders,'' said an administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. ''The plans involve extensive movement of 100 battalion tactical groups with an estimated 175,000 personnel, along with armor, artillery and equipment.''
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- The unclassified U.S. intelligence document obtained by The Post, which includes satellite photos, shows Russian forces massing in four locations. Currently, 50 battlefield tactical groups are deployed, along with ''newly arrived'' tanks and artillery, according to the document.
- Threat of Russian invasion of Ukraine tests Biden administration
- While Ukrainian assessments have said Russia has approximately 94,000 troops near the border, the U.S. map puts the number at 70,000 '-- but it predicts a buildup to as many as 175,000 and describes extensive movement of battalion tactical groups to and from the border ''to obfuscate intentions and to create uncertainty.''
- The U.S. analysis of Russia's plans is based in part on satellite images that ''show newly arrived units at various locations along the Ukrainian border over the last month,'' the official said.
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- Biden said he is preparing measures to raise the cost of any new invasion for Putin, who has dismissed the U.S. warnings as rumors and said Russia is not threatening anyone.
- ''What I am doing is putting together what I believe to be, will be the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he may do,'' Biden said Friday.
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- The Russian military moves come as Moscow has raised eyebrows in Washington with a sudden mobilization of reservists this year and a dramatic escalation of its rhetoric regarding Ukraine.
- Russian officials have defended the reserve mobilization as a necessary measure to help modernize the Russian armed forces. But the administration official raised concerns about the ''sudden and rapid program to establish a ready reserve of contract reservists,'' which the official said is expected to add an additional 100,000 troops to the approximately 70,000 deployed now.
- The intelligence about a potential surge in forces bolsters a warning earlier this week from Blinken that Putin could quickly order an invasion of Ukraine and helps explain why Biden administration officials have been sounding alarms about the threat of imminent invasion for weeks.
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- ''We don't know whether President Putin has made the decision to invade. We do know that he is putting in place the capacity to do so on short order should he so decide,'' Blinken told reporters in Europe a day before meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. ''We must prepare for all contingencies.''
- What you need to know about tensions between Ukraine and Russia
- Lavrov, in public comments this week, echoed Putin's warnings about U.S. military equipment and activity encroaching on Russia's borders and said, ''The nightmare scenario of military confrontation is returning.''
- The intelligence document also suggests that Russian forces may be leaving equipment behind at training facilities to allow an attack on Ukraine to commence quickly.
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- ''Equipment may be left behind at different training ranges to enable a rapid, final buildup,'' the document adds.
- Separately, a Ukrainian government official said that Russian military exercises conducted earlier this year near Ukraine's borders helped Russian forces essentially rehearse an invasion.
- ''The Russian troops worked out the issues of creating strike groups near the borders of our state, mobilization measures, logistical support of groups, [and] transfer of significant military contingents, including by air,'' from Russia to the border with Ukraine, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive analysis.
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- While laying the groundwork for an invasion, the Russian government has also been waging a propaganda campaign, the U.S. administration official said.
- ''Additionally, in the past month, our information indicates Russian influence proxies and media outlets have started to increase content denigrating Ukraine and NATO, in part to pin the blame for a potential Russian military escalation on Ukraine,'' the official said.
- ''Recent information also indicates that Russian officials proposed adjusting Russia's information operations against Ukraine to emphasize the narrative that Ukrainian leaders had been installed by the West, harbored a hatred for the 'Russian world,' and were acting against the interests of the Ukrainian people.''
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- In his comments in Latvia, Blinken cautioned the Ukrainians not to give Russia a pretext for military action.
- ''We're also urging Ukraine to continue to exercise restraint because, again, the Russian playbook is to claim provocation for something that they were planning to do all along,'' he said.
- Putin has demanded the United States and its allies provide signed assurances excluding any expansion of NATO to include Ukraine and Georgia and limiting military activity near Russia's borders, most notably in and around Ukraine.
- The demands for a new European security pact come after Putin has suggested for months that U.S. and allied military activities in Ukraine and near Russia's borders are crossing a red line for the Kremlin.
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- Russia needs ''precise legal, judicial guarantees because our Western colleagues have failed to deliver on verbal commitments they made,'' Putin said in a speech at the Kremlin this week, suggesting the start of ''substantive talks on this topic.''
- Putin has long railed against NATO expansion into former Warsaw Pact states as a disrespectful encroachment on Moscow. He said a concrete agreement must ''rule out any further eastward expansion of NATO and the deployment of weapons systems posing a threat to us in close proximity to Russia's territory.''
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki rejected out of hand the idea that Washington would provide a guarantee that Ukraine will not enter NATO.
- ''NATO member countries decide who is a member of NATO, not Russia,'' Psaki told reporters during a White House briefing Friday. ''That is how the process has always worked and how it will proceed. I think it's important to remember where the provocative action is coming from. It's not the United States. It's not Ukraine.''
- U.S. and Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia would mount a far larger-scale invasion now than it did in 2014, when the country annexed Crimea and fueled a separatist uprising in Ukraine's east. The plan, the officials and analysts believe, could be to force Ukrainian troops to fight on multiple fronts, seeking not so much territory but rather a capitulation by Kyiv and its Western backers that results in the security guarantees Putin wants. Military analysts have compared that strategy to Moscow's 2008 invasion of Georgia.
- In comments this week, Putin said drills with U.S. nuclear-capable strategic bombers flying over the Black Sea posed a threat to Moscow, along with U.S. missile defense systems in Poland and Romania. He also expressed concern about NATO deploying missiles on Ukrainian territory that could have a flight time of seven to 10 minutes to Moscow '-- though no such plans have been announced.
- Microchip your cat or face fines, UK govt says '-- RT UK News
- The UK government has unveiled a compulsory microchipping plan for domestic cats, designed to make it easier to reunite lost pets with their owners. Those refusing to inject their feline with a chip will face fines of up to £500.
- The microchipping plan was unveiled by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs on Saturday. The measure is said to enjoy overwhelming public support, with ''99% of people'' backing the compulsory microchipping of pet cats, according to the government.
- ''Cats are much-loved parts of our families and making sure that they're microchipped is the best possible way of making sure that you are reunited with them if they are ever lost or stolen,'' Animal Welfare Minister Lord Goldsmith said in a statement.
- According to official statistics, the majority of Britain's felines are already fitted with tracking microchips, with some 2.8 million out of more than 10.8 million pet cats not having one. At the same time, eight out of ten stray cats ending up at shelters do not have a microchip installed.
- Under the new rules, all cats will have to be fitted with a microchip before they reach the age of 20 weeks, with contact details of their owners stored in a database. Those owners whose cats happen to be without such a device will have a grace period of 21 days to fit their pet with a chip, after which failure to do so will incur a fine of up to £500.
- The measure has been hailed by British cat charities: ''Microchipping is by far the most effective and quickest way of identifying lost cats and can help ease the pressure on rescue charities like Cats Protection. Without a microchip, a lost cat will most likely end up being rehomed to a new home as there is often no trace of their original owner,'' Jacqui Cuff, head of Cats Protection's Advocacy & Government Relations, said.
- European Climate Foundation
- 'Greenwashing is for me now the new climate denial', says Laurence Tubiana at COP26 10/11/2021
- Mary Robinson, ECF Advisory Council member, urges leaders ''This is on your watch, we are talking about saving the world''. 13/11/2021
- Paris is working. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, we have accelerated action, the COP has responded to the IPCC's call to close the gap towards 1.5, and coal is in the text. But there is a lot more to do. #COP26 1/6 04/11/2021
- Happy to participate at the launch of the Coal Asset Transition Accelerator #CATATo support best practices in coal transition & to ensure that the right steps are taken quickly. To respect the 1.5 target, phasing out coal is crucial. #COP26 1/3
- A climate summit with two very different tales 11/11/2021
- COP26 targets too weak to stop disaster, say Paris agreement architects 07/11/2021
- G20 nations will face a full-frontal tide of climate impacts 12/11/2021
- COP26: ''We are not at the level of ambition needed'', says Laurence Tubiana, Director of the European Climate Foundation 31/10/2021
- Laurence Tubiana: ''The Glasgow Summit will be neither a success like Paris nor a failure like Copenhagen''.
- Global CO2 emissions have been flat for a decade, new data reveals - Carbon Brief
- Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels and cement have rebounded by 4.9% this year, new estimates suggest, following a Covid-related dip of 5.4% in 2020.
- The Global Carbon Project (GCP) projects that fossil emissions in 2021 will reach 36.4bn tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2), only 0.8% below their pre-pandemic high of 36.7GtCO2 in 2019.
- The researchers say they ''were expecting some sort of rebound in 2021'' as the global economy bounced back from Covid-19, but that it was ''bigger than expected''.
- While fossil emissions are expected to return to near-record levels, the study also reassesses historical emissions from land-use change, revealing that global CO2 output overall may have been effectively flat over the past decade.
- The 2021 GCP almost halves the estimate of net emissions from land-use change over the past two years '' and by an average of 25% over the past decade.
- These changes come from an update to underlying land-use datasets that lower estimates of cropland expansion, particularly in tropical regions. Emissions from land-use change in the new GCP dataset have been decreasing by around 4% per year over the past decade, compared to an increase of 1.8% per year in the prior version.
- However, the GCP authors caution that uncertainties in land-use change emissions remain large and ''this trend remains to be confirmed''.
- The GCP study, which is not yet peer-reviewed, is the 16th annual ''global carbon budget''. The budget also reveals:
- China and India both surpassed their 2019 emission peaks in 2021. Chinese emissions grew by 5.5% between 2019 and 2021, while Indian emissions grew by 4.4%. Chinese coal use was a particularly large driver of the global rebound in emissions, with the power and industry sectors in China the main contributors. Coal, oil and gas all fell during the pandemic, but both coal and gas emissions have already surpassed their pre-pandemic levels, with a 2% increase in gas emissions and a 1% increase in coal emissions between 2019 and 2021. Oil emissions remain around 6% below 2019 levels and this persistent reduction is one of the main reasons 2021 emissions did not set a new record.The new updates to global CO2 emissions in the GCP substantially revise scientists' understanding of global emissions trajectories over the past decade. The new data shows that global CO2 emissions have been flat '' if not slightly declining '' over the past 10 years.
- However, falling land-use emissions have counterbalanced rising fossil CO2 emissions, and there is no guarantee these trends will continue in the future.
- Major changes due to revised land-use emissionsThe GCP has always reported on emissions from both fossil CO2 and from land-use change (LUC). Fossil CO2 emissions represent upwards of 90% of current global emissions and understandably tend to get most of the attention. However, the GCP researchers have long pointed out that the largest uncertainties in understanding of CO2 emissions comes from LUC, despite its relatively small contribution to the total.
- The figure below shows global CO2 emissions from both fossil and LUC. The dashed light blue line shows the prior GCP estimate of global CO2 emissions, while the solid dark blue shows the new estimate. The shaded area represents the combined uncertainty from land use and fossil CO2 emissions in the new GCP estimate.
- Annual total global CO2 emissions '' from fossil and land-use change '' between 2000 and 2021 for both the 2020 and 2021 versions of the Global Carbon Project's Global Carbon Budget. Shaded area shows the estimated one-sigma uncertainty for the 2021 budget. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- Previously, the GCP data showed global CO2 emissions increasing by an average of 1.4 GtCO2 per year between 2011 and 2019 '' prior to Covid-related emissions declines. The new revised dataset shows that global CO2 emissions were essentially flat '' increasing by only 0.1GtCO2 per year from 2011 and 2019. When 2020 and 2021 are included, the new GCP data actually shows slightly declining global emissions over the past decade, though this should be treated with caution due to the temporary nature of Covid-related declines.
- The new GCP dataset also puts historical (1750-2020) cumulative emissions around 19 GtCO2 lower than in the prior 2020 version, roughly equal to half a year of current global emissions.
- This would represent a slight (~4%, or half a year of current emissions) increase in the remaining ''carbon budget'' of around 460GtCO2 from the start of 2021 (which is 11.5 years of current emissions) to limit warming to 1.5C with a 50% likelihood.
- Historical global fossil emissions are largely unchanged from their prior values in the new GCP data. There are some minor upwards revisions of fossil CO2 emissions of around 0.3 GtCO2 for most years over the past decade '' and a somewhat larger upward revision of 0.7 GtCO2 for the year 2020.
- The revision in global CO2 emissions is almost entirely due to revised land-use emissions. The figure below shows land-use emissions in the prior 2020 GCP data (light blue dashed line) and in the new 2021 data (dark blue solid line), as well as reported uncertainties.
- Annual global CO2 emissions from land-use change between 1959 and 2021 for both the 2020 and 2021 versions of the Global Carbon Project's Global Carbon Budget. Shaded area shows the estimated one-sigma uncertainty for the 2021 budget. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- While some modest changes have been made to LUC emissions estimates between 1959 and 2000, much larger changes are evident over the past two decades. In the prior report, LUC emissions were increasing notably between 2000 and 2020, growing by around a third.
- The new dataset almost perfectly reverses this trend, suggesting that LUC emissions have actually declined by around a third since 2000. Over the past decade, LUC emissions went from increasing by 1.8% per year to decreasing by 4% per year in the latest version of the GCP data.
- GCP uses the average of three different observational-based land-use change datasets, known as ''H&N'', ''BLUE'' and ''OSCAR''. In the prior year's GCP report these three approaches showed notable disagreements over the past decade, with H&N showing emissions declines, while BLUE and OSCAR showed emissions increases. However, revisions to both BLUE and OSCAR datasets in the past year have brought them more in-line with recent H&N trends.
- All three datasets now show notable declines in emissions over the past decade '' though differences remain in the magnitude of estimates between H&N and the other two datasets, as shown in the figure below.
- Annual global CO2 emissions from land-use change between 1959 and 2021 for the three bookkeeping methods used by the Global Carbon Project ''
- OSCAR '' for both 2020 and 2021 versions. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- The fact that all three different datasets now agree on the declines in emissions is noteworthy. The GCP paper suggests that ''there is a decrease in net CO2 emissions from land-use change over the last decade, in contrast to earlier estimates of no clear trend across LUC estimates''.
- These revisions are primarily due to changes in underlying land-use data in the History database of the Global Environment (HYDE). HYDE now uses updated estimates of agricultural areas and land cover maps from satellites. This results in lower estimates of cropland expansion, particularly in tropical regions. The updated data also removes spurious interannual variability in forest cover that resulted in increased emissions due to assumed fast decay (e.g. clearing by fire) and slower regrowth.
- The authors caution, however, that their new estimates may not fully capture the rise in Brazilian deforestation in the past few years. It also does not include forest degradation '' deterioration of forest ecosystems that does not involve a reduction in forested area '' that may be contributing to some additional LUC emissions.
- As Prof Julia Pongratz '' the director of the Department of Geography at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and a member of the GCP team '' explains to Carbon Brief:
- ''It is too early to infer robust trends. More regional analysis is needed and accurate, high-resolution monitoring of land-use dynamics. Only then can we reduce the uncertainty around land-use emissions and their trends and their contributions to emissions reduction targets.''
- China and India lead rapid rise in fossil CO2 emissionsGlobal fossil CO2 emissions declined rapidly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. While there were hopes that a ''green recovery'' could help keep emissions down, the world has seen a rapid rebound in fossil CO2 emissions in 2021 as the global economy has recovered. The rebound in global emissions has been led by China and India, who have both already surpassed their previous 2019 record highs.
- Speaking at a media press briefing, Dr Glen Peters '' research director at the Center for International Climate Research (CICERO) '' said the researchers ''were expecting some sort of rebound in 2021'', but that it was ''bigger than expected''. He added:
- ''You could say the recovery packages have delivered more in emissions than we were hoping '' a little bit too dirty in the recovery packages and not enough low-carbon expenditure.''
- Prof Corinne Le Qu(C)r(C) '' Royal Society research professor of climate change science at the University of East Anglia '' noted that the decrease in emissions in 2020 was not a ''structural decrease''. She explained:
- ''It is the difference between parking your car for a year and changing to an electric car. [The decline in emissions] was not [because of] measures that were put in place to tackle climate change and [so] they were never going to last.''
- The figure below shows global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, divided into emissions from China (red shading), India (yellow), the US (bright blue), EU (dark blue) and the remainder of the world (grey).
- Annual fossil CO2 emissions by major country and rest of world from 1959-2021, in billions of tonnes of CO2 per year (GtCO2). Note that 2021 numbers are preliminary estimates. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- After a rapid increase in global fossil CO2 emissions of around 3% per year between 2001 and 2010, emissions only grew by around 1% per year between 2011 and 2019. The onset of Covid-19 '' and early predictions of a potential long global economic slowdown '' led to some discussion about global emissions potentially having peaked in 2019.
- However, the recovery in global emissions in 2021 has been notably faster and more emissions-intensive than forecasted last year. For example, the IEA's 2020 World Energy Outlook (WEO) projected that global emissions would not surpass 2019 levels until nearly 2030; by contrast, the recent 2021 WEO projects that global emissions will rebound past 2019 levels by 2022 or 2023.
- While global emissions '' and those of most countries '' will remain below 2019 levels in 2021, both China and India stand out among major emitters as having notably larger emissions despite the pandemic. The figure below shows the change in both global emissions and in major emitting countries and regions between 2019 and 2020 (blue bars), 2020 and 2021 (yellow bars), and between 2019 and 2021 (red bars).
- Percent change in CO2 between 2019 and 2020, 2021 and 2021, and between 2019 and 2021 for the world as a whole and for major emitting countries/regions. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- China stands out as the only major emitting country to increase its emissions in 2020, reflecting the relatively modest impact of Covid-19 on its economy. Chinese emissions increased by 1.4% between 2019 and 2020, and by 5.5% between 2019 and 2021, representing by far the largest contributor to the rebound in global emissions.
- As the GCP points out: ''The global growth in fossil CO2 emissions mainly arises from the growth in coal use in the power and industry sectors in China.''
- India's emissions fell by 7% in 2020, but grew by 13% in 2021 for an overall increase in emissions of 4.4% between 2019 and 2021. While the increase in Indian emissions between 2019 and 2021 is similar to that of China on a percentage basis, this masks the fact that the actual emissions increase in China was approximately five times larger.
- By contrast, emissions fall by around 11% in the US, 11% in the EU and 7% in the rest of the world between 2019 and 2020. They remain 3.7% below 2019 levels in the US in 2021, 4.2% below 2019 levels in the EU and 4.2% below in the rest of the world.
- The total emissions for each year between 2018 and 2021, as well as the countries that were responsible for the changes in emissions, are shown in the figure below. Annual emissions for 2018, 2019, 2020 and estimates for 2021 are shown by the black bars. The coloured bars show the change in emissions between each set of years, broken down by country. Negative values show reductions in emissions, while positive values reflect emission increases.
- Annual global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels (black bars) and drivers of changes between years by country (coloured bars). Negative values indicate reductions in emissions. Note that the y-axis does not start at zero. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- Overall, fossil CO2 emissions are expected to rise by around 4.9% in 2021 with many countries/regions contributing to the recovery in emissions from 2020 lows. Global emissions will almost fully rebound, remaining only around 0.8% below 2019's record levels, and putting the world on track to likely set a new record for fossil CO2 emissions in 2022.
- Although fossil CO2 emissions have continued to increase, global average per-capita fossil emissions have been flat for the past decade. Per-capita total global emissions have been flat for much longer '' since at least 1959 '' though these numbers obscure large variations between countries. The figure below shows global average emissions per-capita for each year from 1959 through 2021 for both fossil CO2 (orange) and total CO2 emissions (blue).
- Global per-capita CO2 emissions from fossil CO2 (orange) and total CO2 emissions (blue) from 1959-2021, in tonnes of CO2 per person. Note that 2021 numbers are preliminary estimates. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- Strong rebound in coal use and continued gas growthGlobal fossil fuel emissions primarily result from the combustion of coal, oil and natural gas. Coal is responsible for more emissions than any other fossil fuel, representing approximately 41% of global fossil CO2 emissions. Oil is the second largest contributor at 32% of fossil CO2, while gas rounds out the pack at 21%.
- These percentages reflect both the amount of each fossil fuel consumed globally, but also differences in CO2 intensities. Coal results in the most CO2 emitted per unit of heat or energy produced, followed by oil and natural gas.
- Last year saw declines in emissions from all three fuels, with the largest drops in oil emissions (down nearly 10%) as transportation use was significantly curtailed during the height of the pandemic. Coal use also fell heavily in 2020, down 4%, while gas use fell a more modest 2%. All three fuels have rebounded in 2021, with coal emissions up more than 5% and both gas and oil emissions up 4% compared to 2020 levels.
- Compared to pre-pandemic emissions in 2019, GCP projects that 2021 will see 2% higher gas emissions and 1% higher coal emissions. Oil emissions will likely remain nearly 6% below 2019 levels, reflecting lingering changes to transportation use.
- The total emissions for each year between 2018 and 2021, as well as the fuels that were responsible for the change in emissions, are shown in the figure below.
- Annual global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels (black bars) and drivers of changes between years by fuel (coloured bars). Negative values indicate reductions in emissions. Note that the y-axis does not start at zero. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- The GCP authors caution that there is a real risk of global coal use continuing to grow and exceeding its 2014 peak in the next few years given its current rapid growth. This is despite recent progress in restricting the financing of new coal plants, as most growth in coal capacity in the next few years is expected to be driven by domestic Indian and Chinese plants.
- The figure below shows global CO2 emissions from different fuels over time. While coal emissions increased rapidly in the mid-2000s, it has plateaued since 2013. By contrast, gas and oil emissions have steadily grown prior to the pandemic.
- Annual CO2 emissions by fossil fuel from 1959-2021, in billions of tonnes of CO2 per year (GtCO2). Note that 2021 numbers are preliminary estimates. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- Emissions in 2021 remain slightly below their pre-pandemic 2019 peak in large part due to persistent declines in oil use following the pandemic. However, the GCP authors warn that ''a further rise in emissions in 2022 cannot be ruled out if the road transport and aviation sectors return to their pre-pandemic activity and emissions levels and coal use is stable''.
- Changes to CO2 sources and sinksEvery year, the GCP provides an estimate of the global carbon budget. This is based on estimates of the release of CO2 through human activity and its uptake by the oceans and land, with the remainder adding to atmospheric concentrations of the gas.
- (This differs from the commonly used term ''carbon budget'', referring to the amount of CO2 that can be released while keeping warming below global limits of 1.5 or 2C.)
- The most recent budget, including estimated values for 2021, is shown in the figure below. Values above zero represent sources of CO2 '' from fossil fuels, cement and land use '' while values below zero represent ''carbon sinks'' that remove CO2 from the atmosphere. CO2 emissions either accumulate in the atmosphere, or are absorbed by the oceans or land vegetation.
- Annual global carbon budget of sources and sinks from 1959-2021. Note that the budget does not fully balance every year due to remaining uncertainties, particularly in sinks. 2021 numbers are preliminary estimates. Data from the
- Global Carbon Project; chart by Carbon Brief using
- Atmospheric CO2 concentration increased 2.4 parts per million (ppm) in 2020 and is projected to increase by around 2ppm in 2021, resulting in atmospheric concentrations of 415ppm on average for the year. Around 47% of total CO2 emissions have remained in the atmosphere each year over the past decade, with the remainder being taken up by ocean and land sinks.
- The GCP estimates that pandemic-related emissions reductions in 2020 resulted in an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations around 0.18ppm lower than what would have occurred in the absence of the pandemic. Lower atmospheric accumulation of CO2 in 2021 is being driven by La Ni±a conditions that help enhance the land carbon sink.
- Update: This article was updated on 04/11/2021 to amend the quoted rebound in fossil CO2 emissions in 2021 (4.9%, rather than 4.6%) and the dip in 2020 (5.4% rather than 5.2%), along with some of the country-specific numbers. The original figures, calculated by Carbon Brief, referred to annual emissions, while the GCP figures (which the article now quotes) is calculated based on average daily emissions. The two methods only differ because 2020 was a leap year and so has an extra day.
- Ten Months Later 'º American Greatness
- Several storylines related to the events of January 6 have crumbled under closer scrutiny over the past 10 months: the ''fire extinguisher'' murder of Officer Brian Sicknick; the notion it was an ''armed'' insurrection and a grand ''conspiracy'' concocted by right-wing militias; claims that the building sustained $30 million in damages, and so on.
- In the meantime, the Biden regime has attempted to cover up key aspects of that day, including the name of the officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, which was only recently revealed. Justice Department lawyers continue to resist the release of 14,000 hours of surveillance video and the U.S. Capitol Police refuse to publish an 800-page internal investigation on officer misconduct as well as internal communications before and after the Capitol breach.
- But a deep dive by the Washington Post , published last weekend, raises new questions about the alleged ''pipe bombs'' discovered just before Congress met on January 6 to certify the results of the 2020 Electoral College vote. Like so many supporting scenes, the veracity of the pipe bomb tale is in doubt after the Post revealed eyebrow-raising details about those involved.
- And starting with the justified premise that nothing about January 6, especially anything bolstered by official government agencies in the nation's capital, should be accepted at face value'--to wit, all claims should be met with deep skepticism'--the pipe bombs appear to be more stagecraft with no connection whatsoever to Trump or his supporters.
- On the eve of January 6, a shadowy figure caught on video allegedly planted two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee, both located close to the U.S. Capitol building.
- Security camera footage posted by the FBI shows a man in a gray hoodie, wearing a face mask and gloves, carrying a backpack in the same vicinity between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on January 5. (Video and photographs posted by the agency, however, do not show the suspect actually placing devices near the buildings.)
- The bombs were made of ''18-inch threaded galvanized pipes, a kitchen timer, and homemade black powder,'' according to an FBI bulletin.
- Karlin Younger, an emergency management specialist at the Department of Commerce working remotely that day, said she had noticed the device, wedged between a garbage can and a fence, on her way to do laundry that afternoon. ''It's just by chance I did laundry when I did. I don't think anyone else would have walked by unless they were taking out the garbage.'' Younger, a Wisconsin native, told a Madison magazine a few days later.
- Younger alerted security guards at the RNC, who concluded it indeed was a bomb. Police then located a similar device outside the DNC building, about a block away.
- Law enforcement immediately ordered the first round of several evacuations that day. In a statement issued on January 7, Capitol police reported that the ''the devices were disabled and turned over to the FBI for further investigation and analysis.
- In a separate interview with a Wisconsin television station on January 15, Younger said her ''gut instinct'' kicked in before she approached security guards. ''If you see something, say something.'' (Younger also has a background in counterterrorism and worked for a ''political risk consulting firm'' in London a few years ago.)
- The Post 's account of bomb-related activity prior to January 6 focused on Dr. Donell Harvin, described as the head of intelligence for D.C.'s Department of Homeland Security. Harvin said he worried for weeks about potential violence on January 6'--so much, in fact, Harvin called a major planning meeting with his intelligence team a week before.
- During the tabletop exercise, the Post revealed, a ''young analyst was ready to present a worst-case scenario: Someone could plant an improvised explosive device near the Capitol. With law enforcement distracted, extremists might then band together and attack government buildings, maybe even the Capitol.''
- And irony of ironies: That is precisely what happened. Capitol Police, according to the Post 's timeline, responded to the pipe bomb threat at around 12:45 p.m.:
- The activity proved a distraction for officers guarding the Capitol. A D.C. homeland security official assigned to keep eyes on the swelling crowd was sitting in a black SUV on the east side of the Capitol, by a row of Capitol Police bomb-squad trucks. Suddenly, officers jumped into several of the trucks near him. The official called Donell Harvin. The two flashed back to their tabletop exercise on Dec. 30, and how an analyst had imagined a scenario in which improvised explosive devices could be used to distract law enforcement before an attack on the Capitol. 'Is this really happening?' the official asked Harvin.
- Fascinating! So a fleet of bomb-squad trucks just happened to be on the east side of the Capitol complex, which happens to be the location of both the RNC and DNC headquarters, at exactly the same time a device is found?
- And what about Karlin Younger? She just happens to be an emergency management specialist working at the time with a network of first responders when she located the device?
- Donell Harvin's full title, by the way, is ''Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for the District of Columbia, Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.'' According to his Georgetown University profile , Harvin's ''primary focus is to integrate emergency preparedness, and intelligence information collection, analysis, and dissemination throughout the National Capital Region (NCR). In this role he assures that his team provides tactical and strategic intelligence (collection, analysis and dissemination) to support local and federal law enforcement agencies, first responders, homeland security, emergency management, public health and the private sector stakeholders.''
- And the person who discovered the mysterious pipe bomb is in the same government field .
- Another crazy coincidence!
- What's even crazier is, despite a $100,000 reward and the fact the FBI has used every invasive surveillance tool imaginable to locate Capitol trespassers including geofence warrants to track cell phone usage of January 6 protesters, the suspect has not been caught, or even identified.
- How can this be? More than 650 Americans have been rounded up and arrested for minor crimes but the premier law enforcement agency in the land can't find a guy who planted two bombs walking around Capitol Hill in plain sight?
- And where is a forensic report on the remains of the devices?
- Is it more likely that the December 30 tabletop exercise held by the D.C. Department of Homeland Security did not anticipate a bomb scare but rather planned for it?
- There is no such thing as coincidence when it comes to anything out of the Democratic Party's fiefdom of Washington, D.C. It's increasingly clear that the pipe bomb tale was just another stunt to fuel panic and outrage about January 6.
- Listen: Central Wisconsin meat shop sues Biden administration over employee mask requirement | Wisconsin Public Radio
- Friday, December 3, 2021, 1:50pm
- A central Wisconsin meat shop is suing the Biden administration after the shop was penalized for failing to require its employees to wear masks.
- What caused strange lights in Eastern Kentucky skies Friday evening?
- HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) - Many people were caught by surprise Friday night after strange lights lit up the sky.
- While the brightness and linear pattern of the lights looked strange, the culprit was Starlink satellites.
- SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites into orbit on Thursday, December 2. However, the satellites were seen by many in our area as they flew overhead Friday night.
- According to their website, Starlink provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the globe.
- The satellites will pass overhead again on Saturday evening around 6:22 p.m.
- If you want to track the Starlink satellites, click on this link.
- Copyright 2021 WYMT. All rights reserved.
- North Carolina Senate Passes 'Zuck Bucks' Bill to End Private Donations to Local Election Boards
- The North Carolina Senate passed a bill that proposes to ban private funding of state and county election boards.
- The push for Senate Bill 724, also known as ''Zuck Bucks,'' came from what some have described as a record amount of private funds flooding into the 2020 election.
- If the bill is not signed or vetoed after ten days of reaching Gov. Roy Cooper's desk it becomes law.
- Among those private organizations donating funds to local election boards was the Chicago nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL).
- Before the 2020 election, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, put $350 million into CTCL to fund local election boards throughout the United States for the stated purpose of creating a voting environment that reduced the spread of the coronavirus.
- According to the Capital Research Center, Martin Oakes, a former Lincoln County commissioner in North Carolina, traced up to $5.4 million of CTCL's ''Zuck Bucks'' to North Carolina, which included a $1 million grant to the state board of elections.
- The founders of CTCL, according to Influence Watch, were co-workers at the New Organization Institute (NOI), which was described by a Washington Post reporter as ''the Democratic Party's Hogwartz for digital wizardry.''
- According to Influence Watch, NOI was a ''major training center for left-of-center digital activists over the decade of its existence.''
- Appearance of ImproprietyRepublican state Sen. Paul Newton, a primary sponsor of the bill, told The Epoch Times that private funding, whether it be from the left or right, compromises the integrity of the election.
- ''As a policymaker, I believe legislatures have a responsibility to give North Carolinians confidence in the outcome of the election regardless of who wins,'' Newton said. ''But this notion of private funding coming in erodes confidence in the outcome.''
- When he began practicing law, Newton said there was a code of conduct to avoid the appearance of impropriety, which Newton said should apply to elections.
- However, he said, the people counting the votes were getting paid by a left-leaning organization.
- ''So, the question then becomes, for whom are they working?'' Newton asked. ''Are they working for the local election board, or are they working for the Zuckerberg foundation?''
- Election funding and administration is a governmental function, like public safety, he said, not to be interfered with by private interest groups.
- ''Elections should not be brought to you by Facebook,'' Newton said.
- Democrats have criticized the bill, saying it would prevent needed funding to local election boards.
- The Carolina Journal reported Democrat state Sen. Jay Chaudhuri to have asked his colleagues to vote against the bill because it ''continues to traffic the big lie pushing this idea that last year's election was somehow unduly influenced in 2020.''
- However, Newton said the need for private funding is an ''untrue premise.''
- ''We fully fund the election process through the state board of elections, and it gives money to the counties, and the counties raise their own money,'' Newton said. ''That's not new, but we actually put about $5.5 million additional dollars to the state board of elections in part just to take this issue off the table, so they are fully funded.''
- No county commissioners had come before the legislature asking for funds reflecting the amount CTCL had given in private donations, Newton added.
- Newton challenged that if the Koch family of Koch Industries, one of the largest privately-owned companies in the United States with right-leaning political activism, had donated to local elections, Democrats would be just as apprehensive.
- ''The fact that they are not supporting eliminating private funds to elections is a tell that they see a partisan advantage in these private dollars,'' Newton said.
- Whether Democrat or Republican, Newton said one should be concerned that less than half of voters polled in North Carolina believe the 2022 election will be ''free and fair.''
- ''Regardless of party, that should trouble everyone,'' Newton said.
- Partisan Intent and EffectAccording to Dr. Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity at the John Locke Foundation'--an independent research institute in North Carolina that examines issues of freedom, personal responsibility, and limited constitutional government'--partisan intent and effect in private election funding can't be ignored.
- ''While CTCL gave both to Democratic-leaning and Republican-leaning counties in North Carolina, the 33 counties that CTCL funded backed Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham 52.7 percent to 47.3 percent, while the other 67 counties, which were not provided 'Zuck Bucks,' supported Republican U.S. Senate incumbent Thom Tillis 54.6 percent to 46.4 percent,'' Jackson told The Epoch Times.
- ''Regardless of whether the partisan bias in CTCL funding during the 2020 election in North Carolina was intentional, it existed.''
- Jackson said former California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's USC Schwarzenegger Institute had funded Republican-leaning counties in the 2020 election.
- According to The North State Journal report, the amount the institute donated to North Carolina election boards comes to $116,624.
- ''Because most Republican-leaning counties tend to be small, there wasn't a discernable partisan trend there,'' Jackson said.
- Jackson said he's not seen any evidence that shows counties that didn't get private funding performed worse than counties that did.
- No matter what an organization's intentions are, Jackson said it's ''bad practice'' for one side or the other ''basically making decisions about levels of funding in local elections.''
- ''That's an arms race we do not want North Carolina to get into,'' he said.
- Matt McGregor covers news from North and South Carolina for The Epoch Times. Send him your story ideas:matt.mcgregor@epochtimes.us
- Conor McGregor calls on Republic of Ireland to leave EU after Covid restrictions are tightened - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
- Irish UFC star Conor McGregor has weighed into the political ring saying the Republic of Ireland should ''talk leaving the European Union''.
- he Dublin-born fighter posted the tweet following the news coronavirus restrictions are to be tightened in the Republic in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19.
- McGregor posted a series of social media posts referencing the changing rules, which will see nightclubs shut and restrictions on indoor hospitality from December 7 until January 9.
- The fighter hit out at authorities in the Republic of Ireland and EU to his 9 million Twitter followers, before adding: ''It is time to talk Ireland leaving the European Union.''
- McGregor has recently returned to Ireland to recover from a broken leg sustained during his UFC 264 bout against Dustin Poirier.
- The tweet by the former UFC featherweight and lightweight double-champion has been liked more than 12,000 times on the social media platform so far.
- In an address on Friday evening Taoiseach Micheal Martin said Ireland will reintroduce some Covid-19 restrictions for the Christmas period, following ''very stark'' advice from health officials.
- In a national address on Friday, Mr Martin said: ''The risks associated with proceeding into the Christmas period without some restrictions to reduce the volume of social contacts is just too high.''
- Among the measures taking effect from next Tuesday are the closure of nightclubs and strict social distancing requirements for bars and restaurants.
- The rules will see the hospitality sector largely revert to the situation before October 22, with a maximum of six adults per table and no multiple table bookings.
- Earlier, the Government was warned that the number of Covid-19 cases could surge to 15,000 a day after Christmas if the Omicron variant becomes dominant.
- The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) said that the new variant could drive up cases during increased social activity over the Christmas period.
- In a letter to Government, Nphet said that greater socialising combined with the impact of Omicron could pose a ''very real but as yet unquantifiable risk'' to the management of Covid-19 over the coming weeks.
- Cutting tariffs on Chinese goods could ease U.S. inflationary pressures, says Yellen - Xinhua
- Anti-tariff posters are seen on a life vest outside the building of U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington D.C., the United States, June 17, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
- WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Lowering tariffs imposed by the former Trump administration on Chinese goods could help ease some inflationary pressures, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said.
- Yellen made the remarks Thursday at Reuters Next, a virtual global conference held from Wednesday to Friday, during which she said the tariffs of up to 25 percent on hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars worth of annual imports from China "do contribute to the higher prices in the United States."
- Some of the tariffs by Washington have "create problems without having any real strategic justification," she added. '
- Democrats' desperate 2-cent play to boost Biden with gas chart - Ð'иÑовÑе новоÑÑи '' ÐоÑÐ>>едние ÑобÑÑиÑ
- With President Joe Biden less popular than ever, his staff and the Democrats seem so desperate that they resorted to praising him for the drop in the price of gas by two whole cents. Even the friendly press thought it a bit much.
- ''Thanks Joe Biden,'' crowed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on Thursday afternoon, posting a chart showing a dramatic slide in the price of gas. That is, unless one took a look at the actual numbers on the left, which showed the drop going from $3.40 a gallon to'... $3.38. In other words, two cents '' the common price of a worthless opinion in US vernacular.
- The avalanche of replies pointed out that gas prices have gone up from $2.464 or so per gallon when Biden was sworn in. There were also comparisons with the White House cheering a purported $0.16 reduction in the cost of July 4 food earlier this year.
- The press secretary for Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), Abigail Marone, did some sleuthing on Twitter and suggested who might have been behind the DCCC stunt. Liberal blogger Matt Yglesias, a Vox co-founder who later moved to Substack, had tweeted out a version of the chart on Thursday morning.
- The tweet was then liked by Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klein, Marone's screenshots show. A few hours later, the DCCC posted their own version of the chart, with a different color scheme.
- a story in 3 parts pic.twitter.com/iEe3DQH98H
- '-- Abigail Marone ðºð¸ (@abigailmarone) December 2, 2021
- Klein is known for Twitter activism, liking and retweeting takes supportive of the administration. On Wednesday, he picked an argument with a Wall Street Journal commentator, insisting that tough Covid-19 measures produced ''stronger economic outcomes'' such as jobs and growth, which he said were up ''significantly'' over last year.
- Most Americans seem to disagree, with the latest Trafalgar Group survey showing Biden's approval rate 23 percentage points underwater. Only 36.3% of Americans approved of his job performance, and only half of that number ''strongly,'' while 59.1% disapproved.
- The US recorded the highest inflation rate since 1990 in October. Earlier this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told the Senate inflation would not be ''transitory'' as he initially predicted. Just before Thanksgiving, the St. Louis Federal Reserve was urging Americans to forego turkey and eat soy instead.
- Amid such grim news, the DCCC stunt '' which echoed the Yglesias tweet liked by Klein '' seems like a desperate effort to deny reality and claim everything is working out just fine, actually. Not to mention that, if Marone's sleuthing is true, the White House chief of staff is basically getting his talking points from bloggers.
- Even the Washington Post, normally a champion of Democrat policies, was unhappy with the DCCC chart. Political correspondent Philip Bump called it ''the worst defense of the Biden administration yet,'' pointing out that until recently, Democrats argued that Biden was not to blame for the rise in gas prices.
- ''Now, though, the DCCC wants to not only give Biden credit for a decline in the price of gas, they want to give him credit for a tiny decline in the price of gas,'' wrote Bump. For context, he included a chart showing the portion the DCCC chose to highlight on the overall gas price chart.
- Props to @washingtonpost, this is a pretty good graph to represent how terrible the @DCCC graph is: pic.twitter.com/jfp9Xn5hBP
- '-- Brent Scher (@BrentScher) December 2, 2021
- Bump advised the DCCC to wait until the drop is ''a little more substantial'' before boasting, or at least not ''try to prove their dubious point with a graph that makes obvious how modest the decrease has been.''
- It wasn't quite clear on Thursday why the Democrats were so desperate to hype a two-cent drop in gas prices, in such a transparently cringe-worthy way that even the Post was put off. Then on Friday, the monthly jobs report showed only 210,000 new nonfarm payrolls, far short of the 550,000 that had been expected.
- The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
- Vaccine Cult Exposed by Government's Own Data: More than 50% of ALL Vaccine Adverse Reactions Reported for Past 30+ Years Have Occurred in Past 11 Months Following COVID-19 Shots
- by Brian ShilhavyEditor, Health Impact News
- The latest data dump into the U.S. Government's Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) happened late yesterday afternoon (11/29/21) and covers data through 11/19/21.
- The VAERS database was mandated by Congress over 30 years ago, beginning in 1990, and is maintained by the U.S. CDC and FDA.
- As of yesterday's update, there are now a total of 1,765,262 cases of adverse events following all vaccines for the past 30+ years, including the experimental COVID-19 shots that have been issued emergency use authorization and are not yet approved by the FDA (source).
- (Note: The FDA did approve one of the Pfizer shots, but the one they approved is not in circulation within the U.S. at this time.)
- Of those 1,765,262 cases of adverse events following all vaccines for the past 30+ years, 913,268 of them (52%) have been reported during the past 11 months following COVID-19 shots (source).
- 68% of ALL Recorded Deaths Following Vaccines for the Past 30+ Years Have Followed COVID-19 Shots for the Past 11 MonthsFor the past 30+ years there have been 28,379 deaths recorded in VAERS following all vaccines, including the COVID-19 EUA shots.
- 68% of those deaths, 19,249, have followed COVID-19 shots in the past 11 months. (Same sources as above.)
- 61% of ALL Recorded Life Threatening Events Following Vaccines for the Past 30+ Years Have Followed COVID-19 Shots for the Past 11 MonthsFor the past 30+ years there have been 35,524 life threatening events recorded in VAERS following all vaccines, including the COVID-19 EUA shots.
- 61% of those life threatening events, 21,582, have followed COVID-19 shots in the past 11 months. (Same sources as above.)
- 60% of ALL Recorded Permanent Disabilities Following Vaccines for the Past 30+ Years Have Followed COVID-19 Shots for the Past 11 MonthsFor the past 30+ years there have been 51,231 permanent disabilities recorded in VAERS following all vaccines, including the COVID-19 EUA shots.
- 60% of those permanent disabilities, 30,967, have followed COVID-19 shots in the past 11 months. (Same sources as above.)
- 55% of ALL Recorded Hospitalizations Following Vaccines for the Past 30+ Years Have Followed COVID-19 Shots for the Past 11 MonthsFor the past 30+ years there have been 178,383 hospitalizations recorded in VAERS following all vaccines, including the COVID-19 EUA shots.
- 55% of those hospitalizations, 97,561, have followed COVID-19 shots in the past 11 months. (Same sources as above.)
- 20% of ALL Recorded ER Visits Following Vaccines for the Past 30+ Years Have Followed COVID-19 Shots for the Past 11 MonthsFor the past 30+ years there have been 507,064 ER visits recorded in VAERS following all vaccines, including the COVID-19 EUA shots.
- 20% of those ER visits, 101,373, have followed COVID-19 shots in the past 11 months. (Same sources as above.)
- (Note: It is well-reported that there have been a shortage of hospital workers this year, with some ERs even closing completely, so it is very likely that this percentage of ER visits following COVID-19 shots would be even higher if the nation's hospitals were working at full staffing as in past years.)
- Conclusion: The Government's own Data Show that COVID-19 Experimental Shots are NOT Safe!After reviewing this data supplied by the U.S. Government, how can anyone conclude that the experimental COVID-19 shots are safe?
- With all the boosters being rolled out now, one might be tempted to think that there have been exponentially more COVID-19 shots administered than in previous years to account for these large numbers.
- But we are talking about 11 months of data for ONE single class of ''vaccine'' compared to ALL vaccines for the past 30+ years!
- It would probably take considerable time to research how many doses of every kind of vaccine have been distributed for the past 30+ years since 1990, but we do have totals supplied by the CDC for one of the classes of vaccines, the annual flu shot.
- According to the CDC, from 1990 through 2021, there have been over 3 billion flu shots (3,104,500,000) distributed in the U.S. (Source.) The 2020-2021 flu season alone distributed about 194 million flu doses. (Source.)
- In comparison, according to the CDC, for the three currently authorized COVID-19 shots, there have been 459 million doses distributed in the U.S. through November 30, 2021. (Source.)
- So just for one vaccine, the flu shot, there have been 6X more shots given for the past 30+ years, and that does not include the many dozens of other vaccines given over the past 30+ years, mostly to children.
- These COVID-19 shots are not safe. They are deadly.
- And when we discuss children, this whole vaccination eugenics program turns very dark, and very evil.
- When we search for all the recorded deaths following FDA-approved vaccines for the past 30+ years, about 50% of those deaths have been recorded for children under the age of 3. (Source.)
- The COVID-19 EUA shots have not yet been approved for this age group, although Moderna and Pfizer are currently conducting trials on children between the ages of 6 months old and 4 years old, and Anthony Fauci has promised us that these shots will be authorized for this age group after the first of the year (2022).
- So while 68% of ALL deaths following injections have occurred in the past 11 months following COVID-19 shots, 19,249, only 4 of those deaths have been recorded so far in children under the age of 3. (Source.)
- One of those cases appears to be an error (death by suicide; 12/26/20, self inflicted gun shot wound), one was a ''5 month old breastfed infant,'' one was a fetal death in the first trimester, and the other one may be a death from the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trials for this age group, where the infant had a seizure.
- What are these numbers going to look like when they start injecting these fragile babies with these killer COVID-19 shots?
- Well, given how many unborn children are dying in the womb of their pregnant mother who received one of these shots, and the historical data that young children are the most susceptible to deaths following vaccination, we should literally expect a massacre.
- From the data released into VAERS yesterday, we have found 2,732 fetal deaths, which includes ectopic pregnancies, which is when a fertilized egg grows outside a woman's uterus, and then the fetus has to be surgically or chemically removed. (Source.)
- We have previously reported that ectopic pregnancies following COVID-19 shots have been reported at 50 X more than reported following ALL vaccines for the past 30+ years. See:
- VAERS Data Reveals 50 X More Ectopic Pregnancies Following COVID Shots than Following ALL Vaccines for Past 30 YearsUsing this same exact search in VAERS to determine fetal deaths following COVID-19 shots for the past 11 months, which found 2,732 fetal deaths, we applied it to ALL vaccines that are non-COVID for the past 30+ years, and it returned 2,163 deaths. (Source.)
- That's an average of about 72 fetal deaths per year following all FDA-approved vaccines for the past 30+ years, compared to what is on pace to be 2980 fetal deaths in 1 year following COVID-19 shots.
- FDA-approved vaccines: 72 fetal deaths per yearCOVID-19 EUA shots: 2980 fetal deaths per yearHere is a screen shot from a Social Media thread just recently posted.
- Here is a video we produced in October showing some of the effects of these shots on unborn children.
- This is Not About Science or Public Health '' This is a Religious-like Vaccine Cult
- Faced with this data that comes directly from the U.S. Government's own VAERS database, which is vastly under-reported as so many medical professionals have now come forward as whistleblowers to reveal how much pressure is being put on them NOT to report these deaths injuries to VAERS (Watch: COVID Vaccine Injuries & Deaths COVER-UP! Nurse Whistleblowers Speak Out on Pressure to NOT Report), why are people still lining up to get these killer shots, and even worse, allowing their children to be injected with them?
- We only covered the U.S. Government data in this article so far showing that these experimental shots are very clearly dangerous, but not only are they killer shots, they also don't work for the main purpose that people have been convinced to take them: to stop the spread of COVID-19 so we can all return to a ''normal life.''
- This is biggest lie that the pharma-owned corporate media has broadcast to the public, as we have a record of WHO director Tedros Adhanom recently telling Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro that the vaccines are not even designed to stop transmission, only to prevent serious illness and death. See:
- Brazilian President tells WHO Director ''People are Dying'' After COVID Shots '' Pleads with WHO to Publicly NOT Recommend it for ChildrenEven Bill Gates stated in a recent interview that ''we need a new way of doing the vaccines'' because they don't do a good job of stopping transmission. See:
- Bill Gates: mRNA Vaccines Don't Stop Transmission '' We Need a New Way of Doing VaccinesAnd according to official public data, COVID deaths in 2021 after almost a half billion doses of COVID-19 EUA shots are HIGHER than 2020 COVID deaths when there was no COVID-19 ''vaccine.''
- And yet, now that we are almost 1 year into the experimental ''vaccines,'' and we have all this data to show that they are neither safe nor effective, if you present this data to those who are still pro-COVID-19 ''vaccines,'' it will not convince most of them.
- It is a political and ideological issue to them, the facts be damned.
- This is the classic definition of a ''cult.''
- I prefer to use ''The Free Dictionary'' to look up definitions of English words as opposed to the Merriam Webster dictionary, which is owned by a Jewish Swiss financier, and has changed the definition of ''vaccine'' several times this year, and even recently named ''vaccine'' as ''Top Word of the Year.'' (Source.) See:
- The Evolving Definition of ''Vaccine'' in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for 2021The Free Dictionary website, which uses the more traditional ''American Heritage Dictionary,'' defines ''cult'' as:
- cult (kÅlt)n.1. a. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.b. The followers of such a religion or sect.2. A system or community of religious worship and ritual.3. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.4. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.5. a. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.b. The object of such devotion.6. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.
- Cult members are usually referred to as ''deceived'' and ''brain washed.''
- This is clearly what we are dealing with today, all in the name of ''science.''
- The Bible refers to it as a ''delusion.''
- The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.
- They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)
- Why I am Proud to Wear the ''Anti-Vaxx'' Label '' History and Science Show Vaccines Have NEVER Been Safe nor Effective
- BOMBSHELL: Video Emerges Where Fauci and Others Planned for a ''Universal mRNA Flu Vaccine'' Which Became the ''COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine'' Because People were not Afraid Enough of the Flu Virus COVID-19 ''Vaccine'' Casualties List 2,809 Dead Babies in VAERS Following COVID Shots as New Documents Prove Pfizer, the FDA, and the CDC Knew the Shots Were Not Safe for Pregnant Women
- 7-Year-Old Girl Has Stroke and Brain Hemorrhage 7 Days After Pfizer COVID-19 Shot
- Vaccine Cult Exposed by Government's Own Data: More than 50% of ALL Vaccine Adverse Reactions Reported for Past 30+ Years Have Occurred in Past 11 Months Following COVID-19 Shots
- 31,014 Deaths 2,890,600 Injuries Following COVID Shots in European Database of Adverse Reactions as Young, Previously Healthy People Continue to Die
- A List Of People Who Had Their Leg Amputated Shortly After Receiving a COVID-19 Shot
- Fully Vaccinated Pro-Vaccine Canadian Senator Dead at the Age of 56
- Bill Gates Charged with Murder for COVID-19 Vaccine Death in India's High Court '' Death Penalty Sought
- Pfizer's War on Children Invades Canada and Israel as COVID Shots Begin to be Injected Into 5 to 11 Year Olds
- Families of South Korea's COVID Vaccine Victims Mourn Loved Ones During Mass Memorial Service
- Vaccinated Doctors are Dying and Unvaccinated Doctors are Quitting or Being Fired: Who will Run the Hospitals?
- The Genocide of American Seniors Continues: 8 Dead in Fully-Vaccinated Connecticut Nursing Home
- Parents in NY Take to the Streets to Warn Ignorant Parents Injecting Their Children with Pfizer Shots as Injuries Among 5 to 11 Year Olds Now Being Reported
- Parents Sacrifice Hundreds of Thousands of Children Ages 5 to 11 to the COVID-19 Vaccine Gods This Weekend
- Cardiologist Medical Doctor who Wanted to Punch Anti-Vaxxers in the Face DEAD After COVID Booster Shot
- Texas Church Injects Young Children with COVID Shot in Halloween Celebration '' Christian Churches Now Working with the CDC to Abuse and Murder Children
- Grieving Mother Who Threatened Health Impact News for Publishing Daughter's Death following COVID-19 Shot Now Goes Public
- Do You Have Blood on Your Hands? Tens of Thousands of Children Age 5 to 11 Injected with Gene Therapy Shots
- 41 Year Old Florida Man Who Cursed Anti-Vaxxers Found Dead in His Home by Neighbors After Second COVID-19 Pfizer Shot
- 12-Year-Old In Germany Dies 2 Days After Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine '' 12-Year-Old in Thailand In ICU After Heart Problems Caused By The Pfizer Shot
- Whistleblower Reveals Fraud in Pfizer COVID Vaccine Trials as 5 to 11-Year-Olds Begin to be Injected '' Vaccine Deaths and Injuries to Follow
- Doctors and COVID-19 Vaccine Injured Testify in Washington D.C. to Crimes Against Humanity '' CDC, FDA, NIH, Fauci are No Shows
- UK Stats Show 82% of COVID-19 Deaths and 66% of Hospitalizations were Among Fully Vaccinated for Past Month
- Fully Vaccinated are Suffering Far Higher Rates of Infection than the Unvaccinated, and It is Getting Worse
- White House To ''Quickly'' Vaccinate 28 Million Children Age 5-11 as Deaths and Injuries Continue to Increase among 12 to 19-Year-Olds Who Received a COVID-19 Shot
- Evidence Clearly Shows Deaths are Increasing Worldwide After COVID-19 Shots '' Major Labor Shortages Loom
- As Deaths and Injuries to Teens Increase After COVID-19 Shots Pfizer Asks FDA for Emergency Authorization to Inject 5 to 11-Year-Olds
- Post COVID-19 Injections: The Dead Don't Speak, but Those with Crippling Injuries Issue Warnings
- Denver Policeman Crippled After Mandatory Pfizer Shot '' Are Law Enforcement the Key to Resisting Medical Tyranny?
- 1,969 Fetal Deaths Recorded Following COVID-19 Shots but Criminal CDC Recommends Pregnant Women Get the Shot
- Study: COVID-19 Vaccines INCREASE Deaths and Hospitalizations from COVID-19 Based on Analysis of Most-Vaccinated Countries
- Whistleblower Lawsuit! Government Medicare Data Shows 48,465 DEAD Following COVID Shots '' Remdesivir Drug has 25% Death Rate!
- Mockers of Anti-Vaxxers Continue to Die After Taking a COVID-19 Injection
- STUDY: Government's Own Data Reveals that at Least 150,000 Probably DEAD in U.S. Following COVID-19 Vaccines
- Local Detroit TV Asks for Stories of Unvaxxed Dying from COVID '' Gets over 180K Responses of Vaccine Injured and Dead Instead
- Teens 50X More Likely to Have Heart Disease After COVID Shots than All Other FDA Approved Vaccines in 2021 Combined '' CDC Admits True but Still Recommends It
- Besides Fetal Deaths, Breastfeeding Babies are Dying and becoming Sick following Mothers' COVID Shots
- Military Members are Dying and Suffering Crippling Effects from COVID Vaccinations
- CDC: Teens Injected with COVID Shots have 7.5 X More Deaths, 15 X More Disabilities, 44 X More Hospitalizations than All FDA Approved Vaccines in 2021
- COVID Shots Are Killing and Crippling Teens in Record Numbers '' Young Children Are Next
- Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through To ''Save'' America will the Foundation of the Corporate American Christian Church Need to be Destroyed?
- Identifying the Luciferian Globalists Implementing the New World Order '' Who are the ''Jews''?Insider Exposes Freemasonry as the World's Oldest Secret Religion and the Luciferian Plans for The New World Order
- The Most Important Truth about the Coming ''New World Order'' Almost Nobody is Discussing
- The Seal and Mark of God is Far More Important than the ''Mark of the Beast'' '' Are You Prepared for What's Coming?
- What Happens When a Holy and Righteous God Gets Angry? Lessons from History and the Prophet Jeremiah
- Healing without Drugs: Western Culture has Lost its Way
- The Satanic Roots to Modern Medicine '' The Mark of the Beast?
- Medicine: Idolatry in the Twenty First Century '' 6-Year-Old Article More Relevant Today than the Day it was Written
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- How to Beat Internet Censorship and Create Your Own NewsfeedWe Are Now on Minds.com, MeWe, and Telegram. Video channel at Bitchute.If our website is seized and shut down, find us on Minds.com, MeWe, and Telegram, as well as Bitchute for further instructions about where to find us.
- If you use the TOR Onion browser, here are the links and corresponding URLs to use in the TOR browser to find us on the Dark Web: Health Impact News, Vaccine Impact, Medical Kidnap, Created4Health, CoconutOil.com.
- Published on November 30, 2021
- SHOCKING: In the wake of Austria's drastic lockdown of unvaccinated people, EU chief calls for throwing out Nuremberg Code | The Post Millennial
- Ursula Van Der Leyen, the head of the EU commission, told the press on Wednesday that she is in favour of scrapping the long-standing Nuremburg Code and forcing people to get vaccinated against COVID.
- "Hey, it's just the Nuremberg code. Only what we learned from the Nazi atrocities, not least those that were medical," sarcastically notes esteemed professor, lecturer and podcaster Dr. Jordan Peterson:
- Hey, it's just the Nuremberg code. Only what we learned from the Nazi atrocities, not least those that were medical. https://t.co/ZR9T07k7pv
- '-- Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) December 1, 2021In Austria, people over 12 who are not vaccinated are currently almost completely locked down, only allowed outside for absolutely essential tasks like food or medical appointments.
- In an interview she gave to the BBC, the EU chief said that it was "understandable and appropriate" to consider vaccine mandates, especially due to the new Omicron variant of COVID 19, which has been now detected in 12 different member nations of the EU.
- "How we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination within the European Union? This needs discussion. This needs a common approach, but it is a discussion that I think has to be led," commented Van Der Leyen to the BBC.
- The WHO, however, has strongly encouraged countries not to enact travel bans because of Omicron, and further iterated that early data points to the fact that most Omicron cases are not severe. Most of the world's governments are not paying attention to the WHO's guidelines on this occasion, however.
- The Nuremberg Code was enacted in 1947, immediately after the Second World War to prevent many of the egregious human rights abuses enacted by the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese during the war.
- Especially were at issue the performance of medical procedures on subjects without their consent. These procedures, often performed under the command of people such as Dr. Josef Mengele or Hideki Tojo, often were akin to the worst kinds of torture. Since then, full and proactive ongoing consent has been required.
- Reproduced here below is the section of the Nuremberg Code which is in question.
- Prinses Beatrix positief getest op het coronavirus | NOS
- Prinses Beatrix is positief getest op het coronavirus, meldt de Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst. Ze heeft zich vanwege milde verkoudheidsklachten laten testen en de uitslag bleek positief.
- De 83-jarige prinses zit thuis in isolatie en houdt zich volgens de RVD aan de leefregels voor mensen die positief getest zijn. "Personen die in nauw contact zijn geweest met prinses Beatrix zijn ge¯nformeerd", aldus de RVD.
- Beatrix vertelde vorige week bij een werkbezoek op Cura§ao dat ze haar boosterprik al heeft gehad. De prinses sprak daar onder meer met vertegenwoordigers uit de medische sector die direct betrokken zijn bij het bestrijden van de coronacrisis.
- De prinses mist door de positieve testuitslag ook de verjaardag van prinses Amalia, die komende dinsdag achttien wordt. Een dag erna wordt Amalia aangesteld als lid van de Raad van State. Koning Willem-Alexander, die officieel voorzitter is van het adviesorgaan van de regering, zal haar begeleiden. Ook koningin Mxima is daarbij aanwezig. Amalia houdt zelf ook een toespraak.
- In juni is Beatrix geopereerd aan haar oor. Ze werd vanwege een chronische ontsteking in haar linkeroor behandeld in het LUMC in Leiden.
- 120 children hospitalized, province suspends Pfizer vaccine batch - VnExpress International
- A student receives a Covid-19 vaccine shot in Thanh Hoa, December 1, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Son
- Thanh Hoa has suspended the use of a Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine batch after over 120 students were hospitalized following their inoculation.Since November 30, the central province has been vaccinating children aged 15-17 with the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. However, over 120 of the children were admitted to hospitals after exhibiting symptoms like nausea, high fever or breathing difficulties, the provincial Center for Disease Control (CDC) said Thursday.
- Of these, 17 had severe reactions, but their health has stabilized and they continue to be monitored at the hospital, the center said. The cause of their symptoms has yet to be confirmed by Thanh Hoa authorities.
- Thanh Hoa CDC director Luong Ngoc Truong said the province has stopped using the current vaccine batch. "We still have other batches, also Pfizer vaccines, so we will continue vaccinating the children," he said.
- The suspended batch would be put into storage and could be used later for other groups like adults, Truong added.
- Vu Van Chinh, director of the Ha Trung District General Hospital, said side-effects following vaccination was normal, but are more likely to happen in children than adults.
- "Those who have reactions or faint need to be separated so no chain reaction occurs," said Chinh.
- The Thanh Hoa CDC has distributed around 117,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to 27 districts and towns. Over 56,700 doses have been administered.
- Over the past week, three children have died following their vaccination with the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in Bac Giang, Hanoi and Binh Phuoc. The cause of death has been determined as "overreaction to the vaccine."
- Last week, four workers in Thanh Hoa's Kim Viet Shoe factory died following their Vero Cell Covid-19 vaccination, also due to "overreaction."
- ';$(document).ready(function(){$('.box_sendhotmail').click(function(){Sexy.notice(box_sendhotmail);vnex.loadCaptcha();});});
- Bitcoin Price Tumbles After Wall Street Selloff - WSJ
- Cryptocurrency was down by as much as 20%, hitting its lowest point in months
- Updated Dec. 4, 2021 12:41 pm ETBitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell sharply Saturday, another sign that investors were pulling back from riskier bets after this week's stock-market selloff.
- Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, was trading at $48,125.67 around 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, down more than 12% in 24 hours, according to data from CoinDesk. Around midnight it had plunged to $42,000 before bouncing back. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, was down more than 7% on Saturday afternoon.
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- Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell sharply Saturday, another sign that investors were pulling back from riskier bets after this week's stock-market selloff.
- Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, was trading at $48,125.67 around 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, down more than 12% in 24 hours, according to data from CoinDesk. Around midnight it had plunged to $42,000 before bouncing back. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, was down more than 7% on Saturday afternoon.
- The declines were widespread across the cryptouniverse. Other widely traded cryptocurrencies including Solana, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu coin lost more than a fifth of their value.
- Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile and often plunge for mysterious reasons. Disquiet in the stock market over the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 and the Federal Reserve's response to inflation might have played a role.
- Another possible factor accelerating the bitcoin selloff was the unwinding of heavily leveraged crypto derivatives, said Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at cryptolender Genesis Global Trading. She pointed to a large sell order that might have triggered margin calls and liquidations for investors.
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- Leveraged trading of cryptocurrency derivatives has become a huge business for exchanges such as Binance, the world's largest. Traders use future contracts to bet on the rise or fall of a specific cryptocurrency. To make returns more attractive, they are allowed to make oversize bets with little money. When the price of cryptocurrencies falls precipitously, margin calls force investors to liquidate.
- The price of bitcoin seesawed later Saturday after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, whose country adopted bitcoin as a national currency in September, said in a Twitter post that the country had bought 150 coins for an average of $48,670 each. ''El Salvador just bought the dip!'' he said. He later wrote that the country had ''Missed the f***ing bottom by 7 minutes,'' followed by a laughing emoji.
- It isn't the first time El Salvador has jumped into the market after a big price fall. The interventions have turned the tiny impoverished nation into an informal central bank that props up the digital currency, similar to the way mainstream central banks intervene in foreign-exchange markets to keep currencies stable.
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- Cryptocurrencies move much more than stocks or government-issued currencies. The week was a roller-coaster ride for the stock market, with investors uncertain about the course of the pandemic and inflation. The Omicron variant has triggered new restrictions world-wide, just as travel was starting to bounce back. Scientists are trying to establish how effective current vaccines will be against Omicron.
- Fears of another economic slowdown mixed with heightened worry by the Federal Reserve over inflation. Earlier this week, Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank was prepared to pull back its easy-money policies quicker than previously expected, opening the door to raising interest rates in the first half of next year.
- Higher rates make holding speculative assets such as bitcoin less attractive. When the Federal Reserve raised rates in 2017 and 2018, bitcoin prices fell dramatically, referred to among crypto aficionados as a bitcoin winter. The coin took off again during the pandemic. Bitcoin hit an all-time high on Nov. 9 of $67,802.
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- '--Caitlin Ostroff contributed to this article.
- Write to Patricia Kowsmann at patricia.kowsmann@wsj.com
- The great game in the Horn of Africa | Horn Affairs
- The Horn of Africa appears to be gearing towards a new order set off by a global competition of strategic interest by great powers in Africa. In addition to internal political upheavals, the competition is precipitated by a struggle for influence in the region by the US and China.
- There is also a realignment taking place by European and Middle Eastern powers who have strategic economic, political and military interests in the region.
- The US has been a vocal critic of China's incursions in the Horn of Africa, especially in Djibouti, long perceived as an American zone of influence.
- In a recent policy briefing at the Heritage Foundation, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said:
- ''And soon, Djibouti may hand over control of the Doraleh Container Terminal, a strategically located shipping port on the Red Sea, to Chinese state-owned enterprises. Should this occur, the balance of power in the Horn of Africa '--astride major arteries of maritime trade between Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia '-- would shift in favour of China. And, our US military personnel at Camp Lemonnier, could face even further challenges in their efforts to protect the American people.''
- He announced that thwarting Chinese and Russian influence is the anchor on which the US would like to partner with Africa. He added, ''China and Russia are deliberately and aggressively targeting their investments in the region to gain a competitive advantage over the United States. In Africa, we are already seeing the disturbing effects of China's quest to obtain more political, economic and military power.''
- Supporting Bolton's position and echoing the current US administration's Africa policy, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, in his testimony to Congressional Committee offered a more precise way forward for America. He said, ''China is asserting itself on the continent economically, militarily and politically. We must remain a positive alternative and make clear that engaging with the United States will mean greater prosperity and security for Africa.''
- The undercurrent for these changes is mainly an outcome of what could be characterised as a shift of focus from the 'War on Terror' to strategic competition between global powers.
- Since the end of the Cold War, and particularly the rise of terrorism since 9/11, the 'War on Terror' has driven US alliances, including those in the Horn of Africa. But at present, the US is forging alliances with Middle Eastern players and African nations to support its antagonistic competition with China and Russia.
- The rush to control the Red Sea
- The Red Sea maritime domain is a preeminent theatre of this great power struggle and the rivalry of regional players include the European Union, Turkey, GCC countries, Israel and Iran.
- The US policy shift is compounded by other factors: the European migration crisis and its effort to stem migration from the countries of origin; the Yemeni proxy war between UAE-led bloc and Iran; and the competition within the GCC '-- all of which are in play.
- There are examples of the consequences of the change of US National Security priority. Djibouti, located in the vicinity of Somalia and Eritrea, has allowed China to build a military base on its territory. As AFRICOM Commanders did before, and Ambassador Bolton pointed out, China's military presence could threaten the Red Sea route.
- Furthermore, if China's plan to win a tender for control of a key port in Djibouti succeeds, supply routes to the US base and mobility of US Navy ships would be under China's control. As a consequence, US officials have called for the establishment of a US military camp in Eritrea as an alternate or in addition to the one in Djibouti.
- In an effort 'to bring Eritrea in from the cold', the Department of State successfully mobilised various actors, including the anti-Qatar GCC countries led by the UAE and the evangelicals with the full support of some senators. UAE is leading the competition between Middle Eastern countries to control the Red Sea maritime domain and ports.
- So far, the UAE has been able to secure contracts with Assab (Eritrea), Berbera (Somaliland), and Aden (Yemen). They have established a military base in Eritrea with the potential to be used by Egyptian forces.
- Ethiopia strongly opposed the move by the UAE until its change of government in April 2018. Eritrea is now America's new ally in the Red Sea and has signed a peace agreement with Ethiopia, and a cooperation agreement with Somalia.
- Rifts in the GCC and the ramifications for Red Sea countries
- The competition between Middle Eastern countries and the resulting rift within the GCC has to be seen in light of President Barack Obama's doctrine of 'leading from behind' that left the Middle East to fend for their own peace and security challenges.
- The strategy created a leadership vacuum, and to fill this vacuum, a power struggle emerged between the GCC countries. It led to the Yemeni war and a rift within the GCC.
- The theories about the rift within the GCC are all too familiar. For the UAE-bloc, Qatar is reportedly a state sponsor of terrorism and thus needs to be reprimanded and if necessary its leadership toppled.
- Saudi Arabia is not subject to similar accusations of having abetted terrorist organisations. But the more precise reasons for the GCC rift reside somewhere else. The first reason is the independent-minded Qatari leadership. Furthermore, elements in Qatar such as Al Jazeera, or the country's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood threaten the UAE-camp.
- The UAE, with the strong support of Egypt and Israel, is squeezing Qatar, which enjoys strong support from Turkey and tacit support from Iran.
- Oman and Kuwait remain neutral, with the latter trying to mediate. Other significant players include Israel, Egypt, Iran and Turkey, the latter two being major actors. Iran and Turkey are both key participants in any Middle Eastern geopolitical and geo-economic calculations.
- The UAE-bloc competes against Qatar's increasing global influence, particularly in Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Egypt among other areas. The UAE also aspires to serve as a manufacturing hub and dominate the maritime domain, particularly the ports in the Red Sea. It aims to purchase agricultural products from Africa and the rest of the world, then process, package and sell such products internationally.
- Qatar is a small country with a big diplomatic role in the Horn of Africa. Qatar has played an even more prominent mediating role in Darfur, Djibouti and Ethiopia, and has given direct support to state and non-state actors in Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
- Diplomatic relations between the GCC and the Horn of Africa have always been characterised by 'mutual distrust'. The establishment of the UAE naval and air force bases has exacerbated the distrust even more.
- The Red Sea and the Nile River play critical roles in the relations between the Arab world and the Horn of Africa. But above all, with President Trump's support towards the UAE-camp, they now have the upper hand.
- Suffocating the Horn of Africa
- During the GCC rift, Djibouti, Eritrea and Somaliland announced their unequivocal support for the Saudi-camp against Qatar right off the bat. Cordial relations between Eritrea and Qatar turned sour. The withdrawal of Qatar's observers from the Djibouti-Eritrea border then became inevitable.
- Facing internal upheaval and change, partly due to US support to the UAE-bloc, some countries that took a neutral stance have now joined the UAE camp.
- Inconsistent with its previous position of neutrality, Ethiopia seems to have changed its neutral stance in support of the UAE-bloc.
- In addition to the rift within the GCC, the so-called 'migrant crisis' in Europe brought accelerated changes to diplomatic alliances in the Horn of Africa. In a bid to stem the flow of refugees from the region, including from Eritrea, the EU, in crisis mode, embarked upon a policy of rapprochement with Eritrea and Sudan.
- In contrast, these changes have revived Egypt and its army's role in the Middle East and in the Horn of Africa. It dominates narratives and negotiations related to the Nile River, and the disputes accompanying it, and has now offered help to the current Sudanese government in the face of widespread protests.
- Ethiopia's rulers have now changed and if the ongoing political rumblings in Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, and Djibouti end up in regime changes, the Horn of Africa will be in the bloody delivery of a new order.
- * Originally published on TRT World on January 16, 2019.
- US: 'Nascent' progress in Ethiopia talks could be outpaced - ABC News
- A United States envoy says he sees ''nascent progress'' in talks with Ethiopia's warring sides toward a cease-fire, but he fears it will be outpaced by ''alarming'' military developments in the yearlong war in Africa's second-most populous country
- By CARA ANNA Associated Press
- November 23, 2021, 6:52 PM
- FILE - Ethiopian military parade with national flags attached to their rifles at a rally organized by local authorities to show support for the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), at Meskel square in downtown Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021. United States envoy Jeffrey Feltman said Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021 that he sees "massive progress" in talks with Ethiopia's warring sides, but he fears it will be outpaced by "alarming" military developments in the yearlong war in Africa's second-most populous country. (AP Photo, File)
- NAIROBI, Kenya -- A United States envoy said Tuesday he sees ''nascent progress'' in talks with Ethiopia's warring sides toward a cease-fire, but he fears it will be outpaced by ''alarming'' military developments in the yearlong war in Africa's second-most populous country.
- Jeffrey Feltman spoke to reporters after his latest visit to Ethiopia, where rival Tigray forces continue pushing toward the capital, Addis Ababa, and a growing number of countries tell their citizens to leave immediately. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday announced he will lead ''from the battlefield'' in a war that is estimated to have killed tens of thousands of people.
- Feltman said the warring sides are now talking about elements they expect to see on the table in talks, but ''the tragedy is'' that while the elements are similar, views differ on which to tackle first.
- ''Unfortunately, each side is trying to achieve its goals by military force and believe they are on the cusp of winning,'' he said.
- In a sign of the Tigray forces' defiant position, a statement issued Tuesday by the Tigray external affairs office said that ''first, any peace initiative whose principal objective is to save Abiy Ahmed from imminent demise is dead on arrival.''
- The U.S. envoy said the Tigray forces must halt their advance on the capital and warned that their demands might increase as they get closer. The Tigray forces long dominated the national government before Abiy took office in 2018, known for economic development but political repression. They ''would be met with unrelenting hostility if they entered Addis today," Feltman said.
- The envoy said Ethiopia's prime minister told him his priority is to get the Tigray forces out of the areas they now occupy in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, and ''we share that objective.'' Meanwhile, he said the Tigray leaders' priority is breaking the months-long government ''siege'' on their home region, which has blocked the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.
- Abiy also told the U.S. envoy he's confident he can push the Tigray forces back to their home region in the north of the country, but Feltman said that ''I question that confidence." He was encouraged, however, that Abiy was willing to speak in detail about what a diplomatic process to stop the fighting might look like.
- ''There's no sign there would be direct talks on the horizon between the two sides, nor is that necessary,'' Feltman added, saying there are ''a whole lot of ways to have political processes'' including proximity talks.
- Pressing issues include access to deliver humanitarian aid to Tigray and to a growing number of people in Amhara and Afar where fighting has blocked aid.
- The World Food Program on Tuesday said it had been granted access to aid warehouses in the city of Kombolcha, occupied last month by Tigray forces, and found ''substantial amounts'' of food had been looted. A WFP spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give out the details, told The Associated Press they believed the looting had been done by ''some elements of the Tigray forces and local population.''
- Diplomatic efforts in Ethiopia also are being led by African Union envoy Olesegun Obasanjo, who has not spoken publicly in recent days about his talks that have included trips to the Tigray capital to meet Tigray leaders.
- As France, Turkey and others issued calls for their citizens to leave Ethiopia, and the United Nations said it has decided to relocate the dependents of international staffers there, Addis Ababa authorities tried to reassure foreign diplomats that the city is ''in a state of reliable peace,'' the independent Addis Standard reported.
- Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed.
- This version corrects to say the U.S. envoy spoke of ''nascent'' progress, not ''massive.''
- Who Gains From Ethiopia Tigray War?
- Attribution: A man passes by a destroyed tank on the main street of Edaga Hamus, in the Tigray region, in Ethiopia, on June 5, 2021. (Yan Boechat/VOA)Image License: Public DomainLicense & Image Link: LINK By F. William Engdahl 29 November 2021 If you want to know who is likely to be at war, just look at who is given the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian (NATO) Parliament. Obama got it just days into office before he escalated the war in Afghanistan. Henry Kissinger got it in the 1970'S. And two years ago the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed got the prize for making ''peace'' with Eritrea. Within a year, the much-praised peace deal between Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea's dictator, President Isaias Afwerki, the two had united to wage war against the Ethiopian Tigray people in the province bordering Eritrea. The alliance of the two was clearly about eliminating the powerful formerly-ruling Tigray minority. Who now stands to gain in the growing debacle ?
- Today the reality is that Abiy Ahmed and his demoralized soldiers are in dire straits as the better-trained Tigray guerilla forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), approach Addis Ababa. There is good reason to believe that Biden's Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, is manipulating events behind the scenes and not for peaceful resolution.
- Nominally, the war was launched by Abiy because the Tigray state disobeyed the new government's covid ban on scheduled elections. Clearly the Tigray, who ruled Ethiopia as a minority ethnic group for almost three decades until 2018''when it was forced by popular protests to yield rule to Abiy'' were at a severe disadvantage, as Abiy gave a green light to Eritrea's brutal dictator, Isaias, to invade the Ethiopian Tigray state from the north while Abiy's military attacked from the south. Isaias's soldiers carried out murder of thousands of Tigray civilians and carried out war crimes including rape and pillage in what has been called ethnic cleansing. The Eritrean forces, estimated at some 80,000 occupied a third of the region of Tigray. All communications were cut by the invaders.
- Isaias and Nobel Peace Prize awardee Abiy Ahmed launched what can only be called a war of annihilation against the Tigray TPLF. They have imposed a siege of food supplies in the region and some 900,000 are reportedly on verge of starvation. Villages, cities and farms have been destroyed as the Eritrean forces reportedly used drones supplied by the UAE to bomb the land. The Tigray leadership and their trained military, the Tigray Peoples' Liberation Front, TPLF, fled to the hills to wage guerilla warfare, as Abiy openly called the Tigray TPLF, a ''cancer'' on Ethiopian society, and to the TPLF as ''weeds.''
- Now one year into the war to destroy the Tigray, the TPLF has managed to dramatically regain much of Tigray state occupied by Eritrean troops as well as unite with the anti-Abiy Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) to move on the capitol, Addis Ababa. Reportedly Abiy's army has been devastated by military losses and mass desertions.
- On June 28, 2021 seven months after the supposedly powerful Ethiopian National Defense Forces rolled through Tigray, the Tigrayan Defense Force (TDF), the rebranded military force of the TPLF, reconquered the Tigrayan provincial capital Mekelle, marching in with thousands of Ethiopian and Eritrean prisoners. By that point according to Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation of Boston, of 20 Ethiopian NDF federal army divisions, ''seven have been completely destroyed, three are in a shambles.''
- The situation is now so dire that in late November Abiy announced he was going to the front to lead his troops against the TPLF. And in early November he called on civilians to muster for the defense of the capital. That was not a sign of strength, but of desperation as his military is reportedly in total disarray. Abiy is from the ethnic Amhara group. The Amhara are the largest ethnic group with almost 35% of the 118 million population. Oromo have some 27% and Tigrayan, 6%. The military alliance of Tigray TDF forces with Oromo have reversed the odds in the ill-fated war. As of mid-November they were some 270 km from Addis Ababa.
- At this point the most likely outcome of Abiy's two-year Tigray War is the breakup of Ethiopia into ethnic civil war, and the descent of Eritrea into economic and political disarray. As analyst Gary Brecher described the likely outcome, ''What if the TDF/OLA forces go all the way to Addis and take control of 'what is now Ethiopia'? It's a pretty safe bet that their alliance would dissolve in a matter of months, and the country would descend to a multi-ethnic war between provinces, then between towns'...''
- Washington and several EU states are playing a covert role in fanning the war, while posing as ''neutral.'' The Biden Administration, guided on its Horn of Africa policies by Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, sanctioned Isaias and his Eritrean military for its role in the war on November 12, tilting the odds to advantage potentially of the TPLF.
- On November 21, a secret meeting via zoom took place moderated by Ephraim Isaac.
- Ephriam Isaac, now at Institute of Semitic Studies, Princeton, is chair of a murky outfit known as The Peace and Development Center based in Washington, which calls itself, ''an independent national not-for-profit and non-governmental organization working for conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peace building and development in Ethiopia and the horn of Africa.'' Its website lists as sponsors the US National Endowment for Democracy, a self-admitted CIA front which specializes in regime change color revolutions; USAID, which has often been involved in CIA covert operations, and the UN.
- Ephriam Isaac was close to the late TPLF Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and was instrumental in helping to bring the TPLF to power in 1991. Present at the recent zoom meet were also Ambassador Vicki Huddleston, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs during the Zenawi era, along with Donald Yamamoto, one of the US government's most senior Africa experts who just retired. And former and present senior diplomats from UK, France, and the EU. They all agreed that as Huddleston said, ''Abiy should step down, there should be an all-inclusive transition government.'' The secret video conference suggests that NATO countries, led by the US, are going out of their way to favor the TPLF.
- Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
- This Tigray war at some point will bring into question the fate of the controversial Blue Nile River dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a huge project about 45 km east of the border with Sudan and close to the Tigray province. Despite the repeated efforts of Egypt, and partially Sudan, to diplomatically get Ethiopia to halt the dam, the Abiy Ahmed regime has refused to cooperate in any way. In July, Abiy proceeded with the second phase of a multi-year filling of the dam ignoring the protests of Sudan and Egypt who are both dependent on water from the Blue Nile for their survival.
- The GERD, with a capacity of 6.5 gigawatts will be Africa's largest hydroelectric power plant and the world's seventh-largest dam. It can hold 74 billion cubic meters of water '' more than the volume of the entire Blue Nile, originating in the northern Ethiopia highlands, origin of 85% of the Nile's water flow. The temptation for Egypt to intervene, even covertly, on the side of the Tigray is huge and may in fact according to some reports, be ongoing. Were that intervention to sabotage the dam, the fuse would be lit for a war spanning from the Horn of Africa to Cairo. Among other things that would clearly impact shipping traffic through the Horn of Africa, the only link to the Indian Ocean via the Mediterranean. It is the entrance to the Red Sea which is the world's second largest shipping lane.
- Erdogan's Turkey is also involved in the Horn of Africa. On November 21, Somalia's Army Chief Gen. Odawaa Yusuf Rageh met Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar in Anakara, where they reportedly discussed political and military cooperation. Turkey has also been supplying military drone aircraft to Abiy Ahmed's army. Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed 'Farmaajo', joined the war on Tigray along with Eritrea and Ahmed. Somalia invaded Ethiopia in the 1977 Somali invasion of the Ogaden region of Ethiopia before being defeated by a Soviet-backed Ethiopian army. With Turkish backing, at some point Somalia could decide it opportune to again invade Ethiopia, especially if Tigrayans take Addis Ababa.
- With Ethiopia in internal civil war, Sudan's military could decide it might benefit from a war with Ethiopia as well. Already Ethiopia's Abiy has accused Sudan of taking advantage of the war by seizing territory in Ethiopia. US Envoy and Color Revolution specialist Jeffrey Feltman was in Khartoum in October meeting with the Sudan military just a day before the military ousted the civilian Prime Minister. Unclear is what role the Machiavellian Feltman played in the military move. Despite a subsequent reinstatement of the civilian Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, the Sudan military is clearly now in control. Tens of thousands of Tigray war refugees fled across the border to Sudan. Situation highly unstable.
- On November 23 US Envoy Jeffrey Feltman made a visit to Ethiopia and after, he commented that Abiy told him he was confident he can push the Tigray forces back to their home region in the north of the country. Feltman said, ''I question that confidence.'' That's a strange comment from a US Envoy who claims to demand the Tigray forces withdraw from the territories they have gained. Were the Biden Administration serious about supporting the elected Abiy Ahmed government and preventing disintegration of Ethiopia they would clearly do more to make that happen.
- In all this geopolitical spaghetti bowl there is also the case of the growing presence of China in the Horn of Africa where it has welcomed Eritrea into its Belt and Road Initiative and established a military naval base in Djibouti alongside a critical US base Camp Lemonnier, and gained a major share ownership of Djibouti's container port, Port of Doraleh, via its state-owned China Merchants Group. Djibouti is also a participant in China's BRI. Djibouti controls access to both the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and links Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Horn of Africa, and the Persian Gulf. It lies directly across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Yemen and is Ethiopia's only sea trade link.
- China has kept a low profile during the Tigray War but it suggests the potential of a New Great Game for domination of the region from the Horn of Africa to Egypt along the Red Sea. US covert backing for the Tigray TPLF and the role of Feltman in the region suggests that Washington once more is determined to wreak maximum chaos as it did with help of Feltman in Syria and the Arab Spring color revolutions.
- F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine''New Eastern Outlook''
- U.S. faces urgent anti-hacker crisis - Axios
- The Biden administration is accelerating efforts to fill nearly 600,000 vacant cybersecurity positions in the public and private sectors bogging down efforts to protect digital infrastructure.
- Why it matters: Following a deluge of ransomware attacks targeting critical government and corporate infrastructure this year, clogs in the talent pipeline are leaving federal, cash-strapped local governments and Big Business even more susceptible to hacking.
- The issue has emerged repeatedly in Senate and House hearings but received little public attention until recently.What we're watching: Private companies like GuidePoint Security are trying one way to fill the void: training veterans leaving the military for careers in cybersecurity.
- ''It takes way too long to bring people into the federal government,'' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Jen Easterly told the House Committee on Homeland Security this month.She said it's necessary to consider those who have the right technical skills and attitude but may lack a traditional educational background, or years of formal experience in the industry.Women hold only 20% of all cybersecurity jobs, and just 3% of the federal government's IT workforce is under the age of 30.Government, nonprofit and private entities also are partnering with community colleges and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to cast a wider net across a range of socioeconomic and academic backgrounds.
- Microsoft, for instance, has pitched in by providing free cybersecurity curriculum to every public community college.A nonprofit, Public Infrastructure Security Cyber Education Systems, provides university students hands-on experience: monitoring real-time data on local government networks."The only way that I was ever successful in finding and identifying talent has been to find someone who I thought had the raw talent and criteria, and to train them up on technical skills," said Simone Petrella, chief executive at workforce training and development company CyberVista.Driving the news: A job-tracking database funded by the Commerce Department shows there are nearly 600,000 U.S. cyber job openings nationwide.
- The Department of Homeland Security recently launched a federal recruiting tool aimed at courting young, diverse talent.DHS currently has about 1,500 cybersecurity-related vacancies, affecting the agency's efforts to protect the homeland.A Senate audit found key agencies across the federal government continue to fail to meet basic cybersecurity standards, with eight of them earning a C- in the report.Be smart: Historically, local and federal government entities have struggled to compete with private sector companies, where bidding wars for talent are commonplace.
- Government employees also can face special background, ethics and cooling-off periods posing additional challenges for recruiters."At the local level, it is challenging for a lot of these local agencies to hire because the salary requirements aren't there," said Sam Olyaei, a director at Gartner Research."People know that if they work for a local agency, they're going to have to do everything. 'I'm going to be the analyst. I'm going to be the engineer. I'm going to be the leader.' And, that is not always attractive."What they're saying: "We're playing a game of chicken," said Petrella, the CyberVista chief.
- She's sought out those with music and accounting backgrounds to help fill the void."You have people coming out of school, saying, 'No one will interview me because I don't have enough experience,'" Petrella said. "And [employers] are saying, 'I don't have any talent.'"
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- Canada should resist urge to drop the hammer on the unvaccinated '' at least for now - The Globe and Mail
- Alarmed by a spike in COVID-19 cases in Germany, incoming Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to introduce compulsory vaccination legislation. Canada should not copy this bad idea.
- Federal and provincial governments have done a good job of convincing Canadians of the need for vaccines. Forced vaccinations would stoke political polarization and would probably be overturned by the courts.
- What we are doing now we are doing well. Let's continue.
- The Germans are looking to make vaccinations compulsory because only 69 per cent of their population is fully vaccinated, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
- ''Mandatory vaccination will save us from having thousands of people fighting for their lives in intensive-care units again next winter,'' Stephan Weil, premier of Lower Saxony, told a public broadcaster.
- Germany would be joining Austria (68 per cent), which has already moved to implement compulsory vaccinations, and Greece (62 per cent), which is imposing monthly fines on people older than 60 who refuse the vaccine.
- But 77 per cent of Canadians are vaccinated, a higher level than any European country except Portugal (87 per cent) and Spain (80 per cent).
- Though lives were needlessly lost, especially those in long-term care facilities, in the early days of the pandemic, and the original rollout of vaccines was laggard, on the whole the federal and most provincial governments have worked co-operatively: making vaccines available to all, retaining mask mandates, requiring proof of vaccination for indoor gatherings and at most workplaces.
- ''Governments have adopted policies that have worked well,'' says Anindya Sen, an economist at University of Waterloo who has studied the behaviour of Canadians during the pandemic, ''which is why we're different from what you see in Europe.''
- Still, a small minority of Canadians refuse to take the vaccine. Some may require more information and education, but most are just being ornery. These refuseniks can become infected much more easily, can infect others, and may end up in intensive-care units, forcing people in need to forgo important procedures.
- So should we drop the hammer and follow our European cousins by compelling them to be inoculated? The answer, for now, is no.
- The federal government lacks the power to legislate compulsory vaccinations, short of invoking the Emergencies Act. And unless the situation seriously deteriorates, the courts would likely overturn any provincial law as an unjustifiable violation of individual rights.
- ''Based on what we know right now, if Nova Scotia or Ontario decided to impose a mandatory 'you have to be vaccinated or you are going to be fined' law, I think it would be challenged in court and I think it would be found unconstitutional,'' said Constance Macintosh, a professor of law at Dalhousie University who specializes in health law and policy.
- And compulsory vaccination could bring about the sort of political polarization that plagues the United States, where only 60 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated.
- While some commentators warn of growing polarization in Canadian society, there is little evidence it exists. The only national party that opposes existing measures to contain the pandemic, the People's Party, received 5 per cent of the vote in the recent federal election.
- A sure-fire way to increase support for populist protests would be to force people to receive the vaccine.
- ''The social reality is that we live in a multicultural, diverse, heterogeneous society,'' said Craig Janes, director of the School of Public Health Sciences at University of Waterloo. Compulsory vaccination, he says, ''would be seen as heavy-handed, and I worry it would create more division, more problems, than it would solve.''
- Tolerating anti-vaxxers, even at a certain risk to public health, is a necessary evil in a free society. That doesn't mean we should make life easy for them '' they shouldn't be allowed to work among us, to fly or take the train, to eat in restaurants, work out in gyms, or sit in theatres or arenas.
- But if they want to live in isolation and howl at each other and the moon, we should let them. It's worth the risk to keep the peace.
- For subscribers: Get exclusive political news and analysis by signing up for the Politics Briefing.
- AstraZeneca uncovers 'trigger' of blood clots after its jab | Daily Mail Online
- Scientists believe they have solved the mystery behind the extremely rare blood clots caused by the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
- A team of international experts, involving researchers from AstraZeneca, say that in a very small number of cases '-- about one in 100,000 in the UK '-- the vaccine can set off a chain reaction which leads to the body confusing its own blood platelets for fragments of virus.
- The British-made vaccine is thought to have saved about a million lives from Covid and was the backbone of the UK's initial rollout earlier in the year, helping it to become the most vaccinated country in the West.
- But concerns about clots saw its restriction in under-40s in the UK in spring and led Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines being favoured for young adults and as boosters. It was outright banned in many European countries and the US decided not to purchase a single dose.
- The UK Government gave an emergency grant to a team of scientists led by Cardiff University to investigate the clotting phenomenon.
- They found that the shell of the vector vaccine '-- the weakened cold virus used to teach cells how to neutralise Covid '-- sometimes acts like a magnet and attracts platelets, a protein found in the blood.
- For reasons the scientists are still probing, the body then mistakes these platelets as a threat and produces antibodies to fight them. The combination of the platelets and the antibodies clumping together leads to the formation of dangerous blood clots.
- But they stress this is extremely rare, with only 426 cases in the UK recorded the cases so far out of about 50million doses of the vaccine, equivalent to less than one in 100,000. The side effect has been linked to 73 deaths in the UK.
- Researchers are now doing further work to learn more about the process that causes these clots and if the vaccine can be tweaked to reduce this risk.
- In a very small number of cases '-- about one in 100,000 in the UK '-- the vaccine can set off a chain reaction which leads to the body confusing its own blood platelets for fragments of virus. The shell of the vector vaccine '-- the weakened cold virus used to teach cells how to neutralise Covid '-- sometimes acts like a magnet and attracts platelets, a protein found in the blood. For reasons the scientists are still probing, the body then mistakes these clumps as a threat and produces antibodies to fight them. The combination of the platelets and the antibodies clumping together leads to the formation of dangerous blood clots
- The left image shows a cloud of platelet factor 4 being pulled towards the surface of the adenovirus delivery system of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Scientists suspect this is the start of a rare chain-reaction that could trigger life threatening blood clots. On the right is a detailed image of the adenovirus used in the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab to deliver a snippet of the Covid virus to prepare the human body's immune system for a possible infection
- The Oxford University-AstraZeneca jab is a adenovirus vaccine, meaning it contains a genetically altered virus, in this case chimpanzee cold virus, modified to be incapable of infecting the human body.
- The vaccine works by using the chimpanzee cold virus to deliver a portion of the Covid virus's genetic code which the body then learns to recognise and prepare itself for a real infection from the virus.
- Adenovirus technology is also used in the single dose Johnson and Johnson Covid vaccine which as also been linked to a small number of life threatening blood clot cases. The UK has donated the 20million doses of the Johnson and Johnson it ordered to the COVAX scheme '-- the UN's vaccine sharing programme.
- 'Fit and healthy' mother-of-two, 51, died from blood clot 'likely' caused by AstraZeneca jab, inquest hears A 'fit and healthy' mother-of-two died from a blood clot 'likely' to have been caused by the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, an inquest has heard.
- Michelle Barlow, 51, began suffering headaches and nausea about a week after receiving her first dose of the jab in March.
- She was eventually admitted to hospital and then tragically died later that month.
- Senior coroner Timothy Brennand heard that Mrs Barlow, who worked as a civil servant for the Department of Work and Pensions for 34 years, had suffered blood clots likely to have been caused by the vaccine.
- An inquest at Bolton Coroners Court heard the condition was a 'very rare' side-effect to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
- Michelle, a mother-of two from Orrell in Wigan, received her first dose of the vaccine on March 7.
- Michelle's husband, Ian, told the hearing that in the days that followed, she began to experience 'flu-like symptoms', and later developed headaches, diarrhoea and nausea.
- By March 19, Mrs Barlow's symptoms had become 'overwhelming' so she sought help at Wigan Infirmary.
- Doctors carried out tests, which showed she had a 'very low' blood platelet count. She was discharged and told to return for a check-up the following week.
- However, Mrs Barlow's condition failed to improve and she was readmitted to hospital the next day.
- Doctors suspected she had a gastroenteritis infection, the inquest heard.
- Mr Barlow said the family was unable to be with her at the hospital due to Covid restrictions and on March 22 he got a phone call from a nurse telling him to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
- 'I knew something wasn't right,' he said. 'When I got that phone call, I expected to go and see my wife and she would survive.'
- While the AstraZeneca jab has been proven to have saved thousands of lives, the rollout was marred after it was revealed there was a rare chance of developing a life threatening blood-clot after it was administered and deaths were reported.
- The fallout out led to the jab being restricted to the over 40s in the UK and banned entirely in some countries, although it was later revealed the risk of developing a similar life threatening blood clot from Covid itself was higher.
- Now the scientists involved in the new study, who published their findings in the Science Advances, say they may have uncovered the trigger causing theses rare vaccine triggered blood clots.
- Essentially, after being delivered into the body adenovirus binds with a specific protein in the blood, known as platelet factor 4 (PF4), which is normally used by the body to promote coagulation in case of injury.
- Using incredibly detailed images of the adenovirus in the vaccine the scientists demonstrated the adenovirus in the Oxford-AstraZeneca is negatively charged, and could attract positively charged proteins like a magnet.
- The researchers believe that in a case of 'mistaken identity' the body's immune system considers this platelet cluster as threat and releases antibodies to attack it, clumping together to it and triggering potentially life threatening blood clots.
- This condition is called vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT).
- Professor Alan Parker, an expert in using adenoviruses in medicine from Cardiff University, and who was involved in the study, said: 'VITT only happens in extremely rare cases because a chain of complex events needs to take place to trigger this ultra-rare side effect.
- 'Our data confirms PF4 can bind to adenoviruses, an important step in unravelling the mechanism underlying VITT. Establishing a mechanism could help to prevent and treat this disorder.'
- Professor Parker said the team hopes their findings can be used to both better understand the rare side affects of the new Covid vaccines and design better jabs in the future.
- Researchers from Arizona State University were also involved in the study and used electro-microscope equipment to take incredible detailed images of the adenovirus used in the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. A spokeswoman for the company told the BBC: 'Although the research is not definitive, it offers interesting insights and AstraZeneca is exploring ways to leverage these findings as part of our efforts to remove this extremely rare side effect.'
- Other Covid vaccine that use the adenovirus technology include the Johnson and Johnson single dose jab.
- The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which body that examines safety of vaccines in the UK has identified 425 cases of major blood clots in Britons who have had the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab. A total of 73 of these were fatal.
- Of the 425 cases, 215 in women and 206 in men, 154 cases related to blood clots in the head and 271 in other parts of the body.
- Such blood clots are extremely rare however, with nearly 25 million people having received one dose and 24 million having received their second jab.
- Studies have showed the benefits of giving AstraZeneca's vaccine to 40-49 year-olds outweighed the potential risks, with the jab preventing 1.7 ICU admissions per 100,000 people, compared to the risk of 1.2 blood clots per 100,000 people.
- However this risk/benefit calculation swung the other way when it came to younger age groups.
- The AstraZeneca jab was pivotal to the UK's initial vaccine rollout in the closing weeks of 2020, helping it become the most vaccinated nation in the West at the time.
- Last week AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot suggested the UK's widespread adoption of the jab, compared to EU nations, could explain why the continent is starting to record higher intensive care rates despite having similar case numbers to Britain.
- Mr Soriot told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'When you look at the UK there was a big peak of infections but not so many hospitalisations relative to Europe. In the UK this vaccine was used to vaccinate older people whereas in Europe initially people thought the vaccine doesn't work in older people.
- 'T-cells do matter'...it matters to the durability of the response especially in older people, and this vaccine has been shown to stimulate T-cells to a higher degree in older people.
- 'We haven't seen many hospitalisations in the UK, a lot of infections for sure'...but what matters is are you severely ill or not.'
- What is the risk of getting blood clot after AstraZeneca's jab? Earlier this year, British health chiefs recommended all under-40s are offered an alternative to AstraZeneca's vaccine because of blood clot fears.
- According to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, as of September 1 there have been 425 cases of VITT and 73 deaths.
- But statisticians analysed the numbers and found rates were slightly higher among younger adults, with females appearing to be at most risk, too.
- Cambridge academics estimated around 1.9 in every 100,000 twenty-somethings given AstraZeneca's jab would suffer serious blood clots alongside abnormally low platelet levels (thrombocytopenia) '-- the specific disorder linked to the jab. For thirty-somethings the figure was 1.5.
- They compared that against the average number of Covid intensive care admissions that would be prevented by giving that cohort the jab. And they then analysed the risk/benefit ratio in different scenarios, based entirely on how widespread the disease was at the time.
- For example, only 0.2 ICU admissions would be prevented for every 100,000 twenty-somethings given the jab at prevalence levels seen in April (fewer than 30,000 infections per week). For adults in their thirties, the figure was around 0.8.
- It showed, however, the benefits of giving AstraZeneca's vaccine to 40-49 year olds outweighed the potential risk (1.7 prevented ICU admissions per 100,000 people compared to 1.2 blood clots).
- But the decision to recommend under-40s are offered Pfizer or Moderna's jab instead was basically only taken because the outbreak was squashed to extremely low levels, as well as the fact younger people are known to face tiny odds of falling seriously ill with coronavirus.
- For older adults, who the disease poses a much greater threat to, the benefits of vaccination are clear, regulators insist. Jabs have already saved around 13,000 lives in England, top scientists believe.
- However, because there were so few blood clots, it made it impossible for No10's vaccine advisory panel to give an exact age cut-off. Instead, they were only able to analyse figures by decade.
- The first clots to alarm people were ones appearing in veins near the brains of younger adults in a condition called CSVT (cerebral sinus venous thrombosis).
- Since that, however, people have developed clots in other parts of their bodies and they are usually linked to low numbers of platelets, which is unusual because platelets are usually used by the immune system to build the clots.
- In most cases people recover fully and the blockages are generally easy to treat if spotted early, but they can trigger strokes or heart or lung problems if unnoticed.
- Symptoms depend entirely on where the clot is, with brain blockages causing excruciating headaches. Clots in major arteries in the abdomen can cause persistent stomach pain, and ones in the leg can cause swelling of the limbs.
- Researchers in Germany believe the problem lies in the adenovirus vector '-- a common cold virus used so both vaccines can enter the body.
- Academics investigating the issue say the complication is 'completely absent' in mRNA vaccines like Pfizer's and Moderna's because they have a different delivery mechanism.
- Experts at Goethe-University of Frankfurt and Ulm University, in Helmholtz, say the AstraZeneca vaccine enters the nucleus of the cell '' a blob of DNA in the middle. For comparison, the Pfizer jab enters the fluid around it that acts as a protein factory.
- Bits of coronavirus proteins that get inside the nucleus can break up and the unusual fragments then get expelled out into the bloodstream, where they can trigger clotting in a tiny number of people, scientists claim.
- George Floyd's Nephew Arrested for Intimidation of Kyle Rittenhouse Jurors - Big League Politics
- A man who's been identified as both a relative, close friend, and nephew of the deceased George Floyd was arrested sometime on Thursday for alleged intimidation of jurors assigned to Kyle Rittenhouse's homicide trial, having previously threatened to publicly identify jurors and expose them to violence and harassment. Cortez Rice was reportedly arrested Monday in accordance with a warrant accusing him of communicating with jurors.
- Leftist militants immediately proceeded to raise money for Rice's bail.
- Cortez Rice, a relative of George Floyd who recorded a video saying he knew of people with cameras in the courtroom during #Rittenhouse trial, has been arrested for reportedly making contact with jurors. He's jailed in Waukesha County. The far-left trying to raise $50k for him. pic.twitter.com/Ni2CYosLFg
- '-- Andy Ng´ ð"¸'ð (@MrAndyNgo) December 3, 2021
- It's unclear at this time of Rice was arrested for the threats made in his video uploaded during the Rittenhouse trial, or subsequent jury intimidation following Rittenhouse's acquittal. Considering Rice's warrant alleged communication with jurors, it's possible Rice either encouraged or communicated with jurors themselves subsequent to the trial.
- Cortez Rice, who has variously been identified as a associate and relative of the armed robbery convict Floyd, previously threatened to identify Rittenhouse jurors during the trial in a social media video.
- ''I ain't even gonna name the people that I know that's up in the Kenosha trial. But it's cameras in there. It's definitely cameras up in there. There's definitely people taking pictures of the juries and everything like that,''
- ''We know what's going on, so we need the same results, man. We need the same results,'' said Rice in the video.Rice's threats were followed by a jury intimidation attempt on the part of MSNBC, which tasked an operative to follow a jury bus and photograph the license plates of jurors assigned to the case.
- Rice previously filmed himself bragging about entering a building where a Minneapolis-area judge lives, in an act of judicial intimidation in defiance of democracy and an independent judiciary.
- Floyd himself has been largely coronated as a God among progressive liberals, with New York City's government laying down the hammer on a man who dared to protest a Floyd statue in an act of defiance to authoritarian anarcho-tyranny.
- Support Big League Politics by making a donation today. You can also donate via PayPal, Venmo or donate crypto. Your support helps us take on the powerful and report the truth that the mainstream media wants to silence.
- BREAKING: Parents of Oxford School Shooter on the Run After Charges Filed - Big League Politics
- James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, (who is charged with the Oxford High School shooting which resulted in the deaths of four students) may be on the run from the law. Big League Politics previously reported on the deadly school shooting in which Crumbley utilized his father's 9mm Sig Sauer SP 2022 pistol when the identity of the shooter was still unknown. The weapon was apparently purchased just a few days prior to the shooting on Black Friday.
- A police BOLO (Be on the lookout) was issued for the shooter's parents. The BOLO can be read below:
- Oakland County: BOLO (Please Share)
- A Be On the Lookout (BOLO) alert has been issued for James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the accused Oxford High School Shooter.
- The Crumbley family owns a 2021 white Kia Seltos with the license plate DQG5203, according to Michigan Secretary of State records and the last possible known location was known released. Anyone who sees the Crumbleys, pictured below, is urged to call police.
- Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters at CNN that a fugitive warrant has now been issued for the Crumbley's and their attorney alerted authorities that the couple had stopped returning messages. Both parents are charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and are set to be arraigned at 4pm in Oakland County. Their son, 15 year old Ethan Crumbley, is currently in custody and facing 24 charges including four counts of 1st degree murder and a terrorism charge for the shooting.
- Big League Politics will continue to provide updates on the manhunt as details come in.
- Follow me on Twitter @ZoomerJordan
- Rembert Browne investigates his sudden change in health - Los Angeles Times
- (Domonique Brown/For The Times)
- This story is part of Image issue 7, ''Survival,'' a collective vision for the L.A. of our dreams. See the full package here.
- Day 1: I was just walking, but now I'm on my mom's carpet. I don't know how to describe it, but my right leg just gave out. Getting older is weird.
- Day 8: It happened again. Same as last time, a numbness for around 10 seconds in my right leg. It's probably time to go to the doctor.
- Day 9: Something's off. My brain feels foggy. I've never had vertigo, but it seems like that's happening too. And I think it's only noticeable to me, but I'm not sure. Also, something strange is happening with my speech; my words are slurring and I trail off before I'm done with whatever the hell I was saying.
- Day 10: I haven't had another episode, but I feel like it's always on the verge of happening. My anxiety is through the roof, especially when I'm driving and using my right leg. I might have to only be a passenger for a while.
- Day 11: After two hours of virtual work meetings, I go see a doctor. He thinks I may be having mini strokes, but he's just not sure. He also said it might just be stress. Asks me if I've ever gotten an MRI. I haven't. Forty-five minutes later, I'm back on a call about copywriting.
- Day 12: I won't lie, when it comes to tests, MRI is pretty high on my list of ''procedures to get.'' They gave me some headphones. Played me some jazz. And I fell asleep for what felt like an hour but was only seven minutes.
- Day 13: The scan results came back. They saw some things '... on my brain. The report was a few paragraphs long, with a variety of possibilities of potential culprits, but I only saw two words, which terrified me.
- Day 17: I visited the doctor again. He thinks this is above his pay grade. Suggests finding a neurologist.
- Day 19: The walk to the car from his office was tear-filled. The neurologist has me convinced: Something is wrong. And whatever it is requires urgent attention. I'm wired to trust authority figures who went to school for a long time, but he kind of seemed manic and insane, which was confusing. The piece of paper he handed me resembled a prescription. Had scribbles and other musings.
- Day 21: I'm in the hospital, 400 miles from home. The thing happened again, but this time it took over the entire right side of my body. It started in my arm, and then jutted down my leg, and then the right side of my face started to droop, which both felt and (as I've been told) looked terrifying. After a three-hour phone ordeal with our neurologist, it's clear we needed a new neurologist.
- Day 24: Whatever they are '-- strokes, seizures, who knows '-- I've had three of them in three days. It's terrifying. Just the idea of moving my body is stressful, because with each movement I worry it might happen again. And the speech thing has gotten bad.
- Day 25: Told my superiors that I need to go on medical leave; it's hard to do meetings when you're no longer reliably saying full sentences. Found out how to go on medical leave, which is a whole thing. So many papers. Government papers.
- Day 27: Talked to some friends and co-workers about what was going on. Struggled through two long video chats, one for my job and one for a project. On the third call, I started talking and then, suddenly, I was unable to spit my next word out. I did the first thing that came to mind: I turned my camera off. (How terrifying did my face look? Were my eyes doing a thing? Rolling back, hunting for the words in my head?) I kept trying to get the word out, but it still didn't come. I logged off and walked outside. Logged back in and returned to the call five minutes later. Told the room that my internet had gone out.
- Day 29: I'm definitely getting more forgetful. Gripping a pen and writing isn't always challenging, but sometimes it is. And this new, weird thing happened: I couldn't get the house key in the hole for like 45 seconds. Seriously. I'm kind of falling apart, which makes me more anxious, which makes me fall apart more. Which is rude.
- Day 35: On my fifth day of medical leave, I got an appointment with a specialty doctor in the neurology wing of a hospital. I was overwhelmed by the system but filled with gratitude for what could come next.
- Day 38: Met my doctor. I need this woman to save my life. The first step was of course more tests.
- Day 41: It's been more than a week since the last time the right side of my body went numb, which is great. Every now and then, my leg feels a little hesitant to do normal leg things, but it doesn't feel like my body will go into a full episode. I'm still unable to speak well, which has overshadowed the leg. The speech impediment has taken me to a dark space.
- Day 43: Someone at a store asked me for my phone number and I couldn't say it back. Rewards programs shouldn't be this hard. And y'all know my Black ass was here last week. Why not just give me the discount? I know my bodily mobility stuff came and went, but I don't know if this speech thing will follow suit. This feels more permanent. This might be it, soon, for a lot of things I love to do.
- Day 44: Bruh. I really can't believe this is happening to me. That's so crazy, how it just showed up one day. And might just stay.
- Day 45: You truly are wild for that, brain.
- Day 46: Medical leave is over. They would have let me take much more time, but while I'm waiting it's helpful to feel productive. Sometimes you just want to feel useful.
- Bruh. I really can't believe this is happening to me. That's so crazy, how it just showed up one day. And might just stay.
- Day 48: My wife and I saw a friend in town. The world is opening back up, and outdoor patio hangs are a thing. And it was nice to see him, but it was stressful to be around a person who knows you to be one type of person, and then you present as someone totally different '-- shy, mute. Each time my speech trailed off '-- most of the times I spoke '-- my wife effortlessly finished my sentence because she knew what I was going to say because she's been carrying the load for the both of us. Plus, we've spent 15 straight months together.
- Day 55: The main reason I came back from medical leave is because I'm interviewing for a new job. Considering everything that's happening to me, I probably shouldn't be doing this, but I am. Today was the last day of interviews. I asked my future boss to let everyone know that I was dealing with a speech thing, and each time something happened while answering a question, the person on the other side smiled patiently and let me spit it out. They were the best, but this is just the worst.
- Day 62: The tests are here. I've got three procedures in four days '-- feels like I'm on a baseball road trip.
- Day 63: I just got an EEG. They put discs all over my scalp, which was funny because my hair has never been longer. It was nice, harmless.
- Day 65: I just got another MRI. I take back every kind thing I said about these people '-- their line of work, while crucial to my survival, sucks. The days of 10-minute naps are over. Today, it was 45 awake minutes in a vibrating, pulsating casket.
- Day 66: I'm in the fetal position, being chatty with my doctor, as he cleans the sword he used to extract four test tubes of clear fluid from my spine. The technical term is ''lumbar puncture,'' but the streets call it a spinal tap. The pain is manageable but the anxiety around what that doctor is doing to you, because you're awake the entire time, is unbearable. I wish it on no one.
- Day 68: After lying on my back for two days, I sang a whole song. Top to bottom, no slur, no nothing. It was ''7'' by Prince, a song that I love, a song with lyrics that I will never understand. Maybe I'm over the hump?
- Day 69: Made it a whole day without a speech thing. MAYBE I'M OVER THE HUMP???
- Day 70: Happened once. But it was at the end of the day. Actually, it happened as I was waking up from a nap. I feel like it doesn't count.
- Day 73: My neurologist called. I told her I was feeling better, and my speech stuff seemed to be resolving itself, which she was happy about. The conversation ended with her telling me to pick up a prescription for anti-seizure medicine. Buzzkill.
- Day 77: Just exchanged some messages with my neurologist. I asked if I could hold off on taking the medicine. She said to wait for a few weeks, until all the test results came back.
- Day 84: Just made a speech at one of my best friends' bachelor party. It was fine. I'm only staying one night, so I had to get all of my emotional stuff out in one swing. This is the most social thing I've done since I've been sick and since the pandemic began. I knew most of the people there and let folks know what I was going through, and the result was a night that felt normal, for the first time in a long time.
- Day 85: I'm sitting in the corner of a wedding reception, shirt fully unbuttoned. In the past, this would be an attempt at sexy, but now it's purely because I can't stop sweating. I've been overheating, in a way that I've never experienced. I don't know if this is the next new thing, but it's definitely new.
- Day 86: The newest suddenly difficult task: wearing a mask. It's hot in there and it feels like there's no air to breathe. And don't introduce a staircase or a hill. But I'm still wearing one, what I look like, Kyrie? Nah son.
- Day 87: Just left the hospital. Today was the day we found out everything. We think we might know what's wrong. And we think we might know what treatment path we should take. But to be exactly sure, we need more tests. A second opinion. And, probably, a future of waiting and seeing.
- Day 93: Two friends came over and sat with me. I feel better, but I'm sad, because I don't know what's next. It's nice to find out it miiiiiiiiiiight not be the worst-case scenario, but it's cruel to live with every option seemingly still on the table.
- Day 98: Driving home from tennis. It was nice to give it a shot, my favorite activity, but my body's not ready. And that's hard, because even at my most out of shape, my body has always responded well to running around, swinging a racquet.
- Day 99: Sitting in the car, crying, after surviving 10 minutes of pickup basketball. Had to ask for a sub and spent the next hour watching. The gym felt like it was 800 degrees, and I reached a new level of overheating quickly. This isn't hitting me as hard as not being able to speak, but it's damn close. Even though it was nice to be able to hang out comfortably '-- something I'll never take for granted again '-- I'm not going to put myself in a position to be this sad for a while.
- Day 100: My body is struggling but my brain is working. Right now. And I'm not sure how long this good period will last. Experiencing both falter '-- brain and body '-- it feels crazy to prioritize one over the other. But right now, on a day when the only thing I'll ask my body to do is be still and relax (also: tomorrow), nothing feels more special than thinking of something and being able to say what I feel.
- Rembert Browne is a writer from Atlanta. He lives in Los Angeles.
- RECORD Numbers Of C.E.Os And C.F.Os Resigning
- Why are record numbers of C.E.O.'s resigning?
- We recently reported on the resignation of Twitter's Jack Dorsey for unknown reasons, and Leon Black's departure from Apollo Global Management for his alleged connections to Epstein.
- It's one thing if we were only seeing these two resign, but a quick search will yield a surprising plethora of names who have stepped down very recently.
- I think you all know what I am getting at'.....
- Is the Maxwell trial to blame for all of this?
- The mainstream media continues to claim that Maxwell's trial has nothing to do with the great resignation we are seeing in the top echelons of our corporations, but something tells me that isn't true.
- That something is the lengthy track record of lies and obfuscation by the mainstream media on a whole host of topics.
- Here are just some of the C level executives who have stepped down recently:
- Dunno that its accurate to associate the resignations directly to the Maxwell Trial'...*HOWEVER* the fact that so many CEOs & CFOs are exiting, all at once, is enough to raise eyebrows. Simultaneous #Corporate turnover is not sufficient to explain itCurious, indeed#CEO2021 pic.twitter.com/9E0pPssxAG
- '-- Gracie Nunyabiz (@GracieNunyabiz) December 2, 2021
- Feels too coincidental that this market crash is starting just as the #MaxwellTrial begins'...
- Along with all these CEO's resigning and a new variant of COVID. #AMC #GME pic.twitter.com/ofG4XR5FIH
- '-- Moon Ape ð... (@AMCMoonApe) December 1, 2021
- ZD Net offers this explanation for the tech sector:
- The CEOs/founders of giant US technology companies, like Amazon, Google, Twitter and Facebook, face pressures beyond those of the average CXO.
- Many have been called to testify before US politicians about everything from their roles in allowing nefarious organizations to meddle in US elections and to their inability to control hate speech and fake news.
- For these top CEOs, the hostile political and public scrutiny '-- after years of being adored in the public realm as geek gods '-- must be jarring.
- Walmart CFO resigningTwitter CEO resigningFacebook Crypto Exec resigning
- '-- George (@BehizyTweets) November 30, 2021
- The Chancellor of Austria and it's Finance Minister both abruptly resigned. Something deep is going on.
- What do you think is going on?
- '-- Phillip Jones NC ð...
ðºð¸ (@RealPhilJones1) December 3, 2021
- The Associated Press took to 'fact checking' claims about C-level resignations and the Maxwell trial, take that as you will:
- CLAIM: The CEOs of Twitter, Walmart and CNBC all resigned on the first day of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial.
- AP'S ASSESSMENT: Partly false. Twitter's CEO did step down on Monday. CNBC does not have a CEO and its chairman did not resign. Nor did the CEO of Walmart; although the company said its chief financial officer would be stepping down '-- but not leaving the company until 2023.
- Over 150 Michigan School Districts Closed After Receiving Threats - Big League Politics
- Over 150 Michigan School Districts did not hold classes on Friday, December 3rd after supposedly receiving threats from potential shooters. This is possibly one of, if not the biggest, non-weather related closings in history.
- For the first time in our nearly 10 years reporting school closings, we have never seen this many closings, due to online threats.We are now tracking 150+ closings for Friday, December 3, 2021.
- '-- Michigan School Closings (@SchoolClosingMI) December 3, 2021While the vast majority of these threats were supposedly made in private with nothing provided by the school districts, it is widely believed by both the schools and the media that these are attempts to copy the threats made prior to the Oxford High School shooting which claimed the lives of four students. Big League Politics has previously reported on both the shooting shortly after it happened and also the details on the fugitive warrant issued for the shooter's parents.
- One notable threat in Flint involved a 17 year old student recording her own rap song where she threatened to shoot up her school ''like Oxford'' before uploading the rap video to social media. The unidentified student of Flint Southwestern Classical Academy is charged with one count of false threat of terrorism and one count of using a computer to commit a crime.
- Our thoughts go out to the families and friends of the Oxford High School victims. We continue to think of the students and staff that were impacted by this devastating incident.Tate Myre: 16
- Hana St. Juliana: 14Madisyn Baldwin: 17Justin Shilling: 17ð'¸ _gabbysalas (IG) pic.twitter.com/MPvlwhml2Z
- '-- Michigan School Closings (@SchoolClosingMI) December 3, 2021We at Big League Politics mourn the losses of those who died and pray for all of those affected, but something very strange is going on. It's clear there is some sort of cult of obsession with this school shooting. On one hand, you seemingly have hundreds if not thousands of students attempting to replicate Ethan Crumbley's disgusting threats for their own gain or personal gratification. On the other hand, you have the left-wing media, anti-gun politicians, and the teacher's union lobbies absolutely bombarding us in an attempt at martyrdom. This strategy is not only deceitful, but completely disrespectful to the children who died to use their deaths to further their political careers.
- This morning, a woman in my district who teaches at Oxford messaged me saying she and her colleagues who survived the shooting "need to do something more tangible than cry." Because if we continue to do nothing, this will keep happening, again and again and again and again. pic.twitter.com/bbyTTabrIc
- '-- Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) December 2, 2021Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who threatened to prosecute whistleblowers for noticing obscurities in the 2020 election, insinuated that due to the tragedy, you should not be able to purchase a gun at the age of 18. Nessel failed to mention that Oxford shooter Ethan Crumbley is 15 years old and did not purchase the weapon that he used in the attack. Crumbley used a weapon purchased by his father, James, who is 45. So how exactly would raising the gun age have changed anything? Are you going to raise it to 50?
- While the shooting is tragic, and changes should be implemented to stop this, it is clear that the Democrats and their allies are going to abuse this to disarm the general population and institute more draconian changes to schools across the state. Gun control wouldn't have prevented this, real changes for the benefits of safety and school districts could have though.
- We would like to take a moment to recognize Tate Myre, who selflessly sacrificed himself for the safety of his brothers and sisters in the Oxford High School shooting by rushing the attacker. The Bible tells us there is no greater love than one who lays down his own life for his friends. May he Rest in Peace.
- This young man is Tate Myre & he died a hero when he rushed the school shooter in Michigan. God bless you, sir. I wanna be like you when I grow up. pic.twitter.com/3G9QnQuYsA
- '-- Honest Abe (@honestbroham) December 1, 2021Follow me on Twitter @ZoomerJordan
- New York isn't ready for bitcoin mining, says state lawmaker proposing a three-year moratorium
- Quick TakeA recent bill to temporarily halt crypto mining centers operating in New York has drawn the ire of the industry. The bill's author sat down with The Block to explain her side of the argument. Critics of the new mining centers point to their use of outdated power plants and creative corporate structuring, as well as a 2019 law that mandates New York to undertake a significant reduction in emissions and energy use in coming decades. Can Bitcoin mining coexist with New York's stringent environmental laws?
- Subscribe to The Block News+ to Unlock this Feature
- Questions?If you want to know more about what you get with a Membership, or you need help convincing your manager, we got you covered. You can find the details and learn more about the benefits by clicking the link below.
- U.S. white supremacists blamed in Australia for covid vaccine misinformation among Aboriginals - The Washington Post
- The leader of Western Australia has blamed white supremacists in the United States for spreading online misinformation about coronavirus vaccines among Aboriginal people in his state.
- Premier Mark McGowan, whose state is home to the city of Perth, told reporters Thursday that the groups did not have the best interests of Australia's First Nations people at heart and ''wouldn't be unhappy if bad outcomes occurred'' to them. He urged Indigenous people to listen to medical experts about vaccines instead.
- McGowan said he was made aware of the misinformation by local leaders. A senior Aboriginal affairs official in Western Australia, Wanita Bartholomeusz, said some misinformation was coming from Facebook groups, including one that had a cover image of former U.S. president Donald Trump. She also said inaccurate information is being relayed to Aboriginal communities and that the material was linked back to groups in the United States, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC).
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- Nearly 88 percent of Australians age 16 and older have been fully immunized as of Thursday, government data shows. Western Australia has largely kept the coronavirus at bay, but it has the lowest two-dose immunization rate in the country, with just over 77 percent of those 16 and above fully vaccinated.
- But the vaccination rate for Indigenous people is much lower, at roughly 63 percent for those over 16. (Leonora, a town in Western Australia, has immunized just 13 percent of Aboriginal residents, according to the ABC.)
- Some remote communities lack access to certain health-care facilities. In one notable instance, Walgett, which has a sizable Indigenous population and is about 400 miles northwest of Sydney, was forced into lockdown just two days after it detected its first case in August. The town's hospital has no intensive care unit, and seriously ill patients have to be flown three hours by helicopter to another city for treatment.
- 'There is panic': Outback outbreak rings covid alarm for Australia's Indigenous people
- Experts have warned since the early days of the pandemic that the coronavirus could overrun the country's Indigenous communities, which suffer from higher rates of chronic health issues and a lower life expectancy than non-Indigenous Australians, particularly in remote areas. Like many other First Nations people around the globe, Indigenous Australians have a painful history with infectious diseases.
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- Though the United States and Australia are thousands of miles apart, numerous comparisons have been made between the two countries during the coronavirus pandemic. The latter's onetime ''zero covid'' policies and vaccine mandates have been attacked by conservatives, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in October lamenting ''covid tyranny'' in Australia's Northern Territory.
- But the policies have largely managed to keep Indigenous communities safe during the pandemic, even though the delta variant infected relatively large numbers of Aboriginal people living in some remote but overcrowded places.
- Special Counsel Durham found the e-mails Fusion GPS tried to hide
- Back in May, we reported on the fight brewing in a DC federal court, where Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson were trying to keep secret their internal correspondence and records relating to their role in pushing the Alfa Bank/Trump hoax. New court filings indicate Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson improperly failed to disclose some of their most damning e-mails.
- For background, the fight arises out of a lawsuit '' Fridman, et al. (Alfa Bank) v. Bean LLC a/k/a Fusion GPS, and Glenn Simpson, where the owners of Alfa Bank have sued Fusion GPS and Simpson for falsely accusing ''the Plaintiffs'--and Alfa (''Alfa''), a consortium in which the Plaintiffs are investors'--of criminal conduct and alleged cooperation with the 'Kremlin' to influence the 2016 presidential election.''
- The case was filed in October 2017. Litigation has been ongoing for over four years '' with Alfa Bank still fighting to obtain written discovery from Fusion GPS that is material to its case. Our previous report had to do with that very discovery dispute. Back in May, Alfa Bank ''filed a motion to compel, asking the Court to require Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson to produce nearly 500 critically important documents improperly withheld as privileged.'' (More background here.)
- These documents included e-mail correspondence within Fusion GPS regarding the ''Alfa Playbook'' and showed the early development of the Fusion GPS/Simpson work on Trump/Russia. One would assume this entails the early or emerging thought process of the ''intelligence'' group as they sought to falsely accuse the Trump campaign of colluding with Russia.
- In a later post from July 2021, we observed that records indicated Fusion GPS had been in contact with Michael Sussmann of Perkins Coie regarding Alfa Bank. More communications Fusion GPS is trying to keep secret.
- What nobody realized at the time, however, was the importance of these communications. Michael Sussmann '' the DNC/Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer '' would later face false statement charges and be basically accused of being part of a conspiracy to defraud the federal government with respect to the Trump/Alfa Bank allegations.
- Today, the attorneys for Alfa Bank filed this their ''Supplement to Plaintiffs' Second Motion to Compel Defendants to Produce Documents Improperly Withheld as Privileged.'' The motion was filed to inform the court that Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson (and/or their attorneys) ''possess numerous documents responsive to Plaintiffs' RFPs [requests for production] that [Fusion/Simpson] neither produced nor included in their privilege log.''
- [Brief interlude: generally, the parties request and exchange documents in a federal civil case like this. A party can avoid producing documents where they claim a privilege '' they just need to typically submit a ''privilege log'' to the other side. This doesn't mean the privilege will ultimately prevail.]
- What does the latest filing by Alfa Bank reveal?
- Fusion GPS/Glenn Simpson (or their attorneys) failed to submit in the privilege log certain communications ultimately uncovered by Special Counsel John Durham. I'll let the Alfa Bank motion explain:
- In other words, Fusion GPS/Simpson deliberately withheld the disclosure of these e-mails in their privilege log. The very e-mails that very likely point to a conspiracy to push the Alfa Bank/Trump hoax by Perkins Coie, Glenn Simpson, and Rodney Joffe (''Tech Executive-1'' listed in the Sussmann complaint), et al.
- Once Alfa Bank discovered their misconduct, Fusion GPS/Simpson were quick to list these e-mails in their latest privilege log. An example:
- This is a serious non-disclosure by Fusion and Simpson (or their attorneys). The consequences could include sanctions (such as reimbursing Alfa Bank for having to file various motions to compel). Or the court could determine this to be an abuse of the discovery process and outright force Fusion GPS/Simpson to produce all e-mails they are currently withholding relating to Alfa Bank and Perkins Coie.
- From the outset of this dispute, we believed Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson would be forced to produce to Alfa Bank nearly all e-mails it possesses relating to the Alfa Bank hoax. These latest developments reinforce that belief - and the belief that they're fighting to keep secret e-mails that are extremely important to understand their role in deceiving the public in the Trump/Russia hoax.
- Hospital Calls Police to Stop Sheriff Deputy Getting Ivermectin: 'The Medicine Will Kill Him'
- Erin Jones is desperately trying to save her 48-year-old husband from dying of COVID.
- Jason Jones, a Tarrant County Sheriff's Deputy, has been on a ventilator since Oct. 7. Erin asked Jason's doctor at Texas Health Huguley Hospital for multiple treatments she's researched, but he refused.
- The Jones familyTo get caught up on the Jones case, read my first story in which I kept their names private. Erin decided to let me make their family's story public in the hopes she can get more public support to treat her husband.
- Erin hired a lawyer, found a new doctor and and got a court order for other treatments, including Ivermectin. But when she and a nurse got to the ICU door to administer the first dose on Wednesday, the hospital called the police to stop her.
- On Friday, the hospital wrapped a towel around the feeding tube to block Erin from administering the Ivermectin herself. She took the photo of it below.
- Erin Jones took this photo of her husband on Friday when she saw the towel around his feeding tube.Hospital calls the cops
- Erin checked in at the hospital desk on Wednesday evening. She told the guard that she had a court order which would allow the nurse with her to be a second visitor to Jason's room.
- When she got to the ICU, she called on the security phone outside to have the doors opened, as she does every day. Erin told me that the head of the ICU, a man named Jason Cain, ''showed up with hospital security and wouldn't let us in.'' The security guard told her that he was calling the police.
- Erin said she welcomed the police because she had a signed court order -- which she showed him in hard copy. (Read the court order at the end of this story.)
- Erin and the nurse also had the prescription that Dr. Mary Talley Bowden had written for Jason weeks ago. ''Dr. Bowden wrote the prescription for Ivermectin to see if it will help,'' she told me. ''I've heard -- even now -- it could be able to help.''
- By the time the police arrived, it was a scene outside the ICU. Three hospital administrators came to fight. One of them told the police officer that Dr. Bowden's nurse had to be stopped because of the Ivermectin pills.
- '''The medicine will kill him.' That's what they said to the police,'' Erin said. I checked with a police source who confirmed that the hospital administrator said the ivermectin would kill the sheriff deputy.
- Erin said she told the police and the hospital that, ''If I wanted to kill him, I would have done it some other way- I wouldn't have gone through this court process.''
- Dr. Bowden told me that, ''''Before I started prescribing it, I looked at the original study on ivermectin presented to the FDA and saw no safety concerns. I then tried to find data on lethal overdose from ivermectin and found no published studies.''
- The hospital staff showed the police another court document and said it was a stay by the appeals court. Erin said she didn't know about this new document, but it did not have a judge's signature on it.
- ''They wouldn't show me anything '-- other than that 510 page thing'-- just scrolling and scrolling,'' she said. ''Beth, my attorney, said that is not the order that is the proposed order.''
- Lawyer Beth Parlato is representing the Jones family. ''We cannot do anything until it gets verified if there is a stay order. The appellate court was closed today for Veterans Day, so we can't verify. We tried.''
- Trying to get Ivermectin Early
- On Sept. 20, Erin said Jason started ''not feeling great'' and the next day started running a fever. A couple days later, they were running errands and decided to get something to eat. ''I got him some potato salad, and he couldn't taste it. And so he went to a lab and got tested, and it came back positive,'' Erin recalled.
- She said a few days after the test, Jason started having breathing problems.
- ''We always go to Total Care. It's not urgent, but they have doctors. And it's just open better hours for his career,'' she explained. She said the Total Care doctor prescribed him an antibiotic and steroid.
- ''We asked her for Ivermectin, and she said she wouldn't prescribe it,'' Erin said. ''I tried looking online for Ivermectin and called doctors to try to get some prescribed, but I just didn't have the resources back then to get it.''
- Tarrant County Sheriff Deputy Jason JonesThe next day, Jason had chest X-rays, which confirmed that he had pneumonia. The doctors said the steroids he had already taken ''should be good.'' But by that night, he was worse.
- ''He walked to the kitchen and came back to our room, and our daughter and I saw he was changing colors.'' A relative who is a nurse told them he needs oxygen. ''I said we knew the hospital was the last place we need to go.'' But they went anyway to a Texas Health Hospital near where they live.
- She said the hospital wanted to give him Remdesivir, but Jason refused. ''He was worried about the kidney shutting down and liver failure. So he didn't want it.'' She said they were concerned because they know another deputy at his department who passed away from COVID.
- The hospital didn't allow visitors for COVID patients. Jason didn't want to stay. ''He got into an argument with a doctor in the afternoon, Erin recalled. ''He said, 'Come pick me up. I'm done with them.'''
- Erin took him back to Total Care when his oxygen level fell into the 50s. ''The doctor said, 'I have to call an ambulance.''' They told her Texas Health Huguley is right down the road and allows one visitor, so that's why they chose to go there on Sept. 28.
- A week after he was in the hospital, Jason told Erin they needed to talk seriously.
- ''He went dark on me that day,'' she said. ''He talked about his career, talked about distributing things with our kids. I told him to stop it. But he said, 'Just let me tell you these things.''
- Erin said her husband told her that, ''They're going to kill me.''
- I asked her if those were his actual words. She said yes. ''He told me to hire an attorney because they are going to kill him. He felt that. He thought if he went on ventailors he knew the odds weren't great.''
- The next morning, Oct. 7, Erin got an early morning call from the hospital. ''They said, 'We are intubating him. We're putting him on a ventilator. You need to get up here,'' she recalled. Erin raced to the hospital.
- Everything moved fast around Erin in her husband's crowded room. ''I'm by myself, and he just grabbed my hand and told me he loved me and told me to give one of his guitars to his best buddy,'' she recalled with emotion. ''And that was the last time I heard his voice '-- through a ''BPAP machine.''
- She added, ''That was five weeks ago today.''
- Hospital doctors blame COVID patients
- Erin said Dr. Jason Andrew Seiden was Jason's doctor until two days ago. ''I don't know what happened. After the last court order was filed Monday, I went to his room and the nurse said Dr. Seiden is no longer on his case.'' She did not like him anyway.
- ''Dr. Seiden told me, 'It's just a shame -- all you unvaccinated-- you get sick and come running to the professionals for help.''
- Erin said she wishes she had her wits about her in the moment to respond.
- ''I would have said, 'Doctor, just as if you were in a situation you would have called the police, my husband would have shown up and laid his life down for you and your family '-- that's what you do if you're a professional,' Erin said to me, with anger in her voice for the first time.
- She added, ''Isn't that what everyone did before COVID? Get sick and go to the doctor?''
- Read my story about Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, Jason Jones's current doctor who only takes new patients who are unvaccinated here.
- Jason Jones in the ICU. Erin Jones took this photo.Erin said she is upset that Dr. Seiden changed what he said to her when they went to court.
- ''When he got intubated, Dr Seiden said, '75 percent don't make it, so you need to cling to the 25 percent,''' Erin said. ''But then we go into the hearing and he says now they are giving him a 10 to 15 percent chance of survival now. They were telling me things I didn't know. They told me he got COVID because he's unvaccinated and he's morbidly obese and now he has sleep apnea - but he's never snored or stopped breathing in his sleep, so how would we know?''
- Erin concedes that Jason was ''not healthy'' but that's part of being in law enforcement.
- ''So stress, yes, his job is super stressful in these times. We know he wasn't in top shape, I get it, but he's not on any daily medications.'' Erin said Jason was about 5'10'' and weighed 240 lb.
- She got frustrated by not having time to talk to the hospital doctors about alternative treatments to try. (Texas is a ''right to try'' state which is noted on the court order, at the bottom of this email.)
- ''I was pretty much at my wit's end, and that's when I found out that everything goes through Dr. Seiden. He wasn't willing to do anything that is not approved for COVID.He follows CDC, all these things, and that is just what he does.''
- She asked for melatonin because he would take it at home to sleep. ''I think he got one dose and had a collapsed lung. He's ended up with 5 chest tubes so far,'' Erin said.
- The Joneses have been married for 23 years. They have six children. Their oldest daughter is a niece who they adopted when she was 10 years old. The other five range from 12 to 19 years old. Erin has been a stay at home mom since they took custody of their niece. Jason is the sole provider.
- Erin said the other sheriff deputies tell her that they feel helpless. ''They can't show up to the hospital in uniform. I understand. I'm not asking anyone to do anything to jeopardize their jobs, and that is why I went the legal way, she said.
- Jason Jones's favorite holiday was Halloween because he liked to do family themes. I told Erin that my favorite photo of their Halloween themes was the one below.
- ''We had such a good time with Kiss that year,'' she texted back. ''We did music videos in our living room and even got my dad to wear leather pants and my mom a choker necklace!!''
- Erin was at her husband's ICU bedside when I called her. She asked me to hold on while she got her things. ''I don't like to talk on the phone in his room,'' she said when she was in the hallway.
- She headed to her car'-- through the atrium of the hospital.
- ''You know what burns me?'' asked Erin. ''It's extremely hard to walk through this atrium because they have pictures of Christ touching people and healing them.''
- LINKS TO SOURCES:Fundraiser for Jason Jones and Family on Give Send Go
- Texas Health Huguley Hospital website
- Dr. Bowden's practice Breathe MD is here, Linkedin, Twitter
- Dr. Jason A. Seiden, MD, FCCP practice NTX Lung and Sleep
- Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) website
- Government Information on Ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19: National Institutes of Health (NIH), World Health Organization (WHO), FDA
- Over 23,500 airmen and guardians say no to COVID vaccines as final deadline passes
- Nearly 95% of airmen and guardians '-- about 473,000 people '-- are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the Department of the Air Force announced Friday.
- About 23,500 troops remained completely unprotected as of 8 a.m. Friday, more than half of whom belong to the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard. That accounts for around one in every 20 people in the department.
- Nearly twice as many Guard and Reserve airmen are unvaccinated than in the active duty component, 14,500 to 8,800. This is the first time the Air Force has released holistic data on its effort to inoculate the department of about 501,000 uniformed members.
- RELATEDThe Air Force's deadline for Guardsmen and Reservists to complete a one- or two-dose vaccine regimen passed Thursday. Active duty Air Force and Space Force members had to get it done by Nov. 2. To be considered fully vaccinated, a person must wait two weeks after his or her second Moderna- or Pfizer-made shot, or after a single Johnson & Johnson dose.
- All three versions are federally endorsed for emergency use, and Pfizer's vaccine Comirnaty is the only one to earn full approval for people ages 16 and older so far.
- Right now, less than 1% of the total force remains partially vaccinated, meaning about 4,000 people have received only one of the two Moderna or Pfizer doses.
- More than 4,800 exemptions have been approved for people with select medical conditions, such as myocarditis or a known allergy to a component of the vaccine, and for those who will soon leave the military.
- Some 2,300 people in the Guard and Reserve won administrative exceptions, indicating they plan to leave the service of their own volition. Another 1,200 or so Guardsmen and Reservists are exempt for medical reasons.
- Officials haven't approved any requests for religious exemptions, citing the deadly virus's ongoing threat to public health and military readiness concerns. The service is still working through about 10,500 religious exemption requests, including nearly 6,000 from Guardsmen and Reservists.
- RELATEDPeople hoping for a religious waiver outpace those who have outright refused in writing to get the shot or who simply have not made an appointment. Compared to more than 10,000 exemption hopefuls, about 4,800 haven't started the vaccination process and 3,200 have declined it.
- Few people whose exemption requests were rejected have appealed. Others have chosen to get the shots after being turned down, while still others opted to start the process of leaving the military.
- Military and health experts have voiced concerns about how widely Guard and Reserve units would comply with the Pentagon's vaccination mandate.
- More part-time service members in low-vaccination areas may bring local vaccine skepticism and outright anti-vaccination sentiments to the military, and might not be required get the shot for their regular jobs. They also risk serious illness in themselves and others if infected with COVID-19 at their civilian jobs or the health care facilities they've helped out since early 2020.
- To limit the spread of disease and possibly incentivize the jab, the Air Force has started restricting what its members are allowed to do while unvaccinated.
- As of Nov. 29, active duty airmen who aren't fully vaccinated or are still awaiting a decision on their exemption request, can no longer qualify for permanent change of station moves '-- limiting their career options going forward.
- RELATEDIf an airman or guardian cannot deploy for at least a year because they haven't completed their shots, the Air Force will consider whether to keep them or start the process of kicking them out, the service said on a question-and-answer page. Each case will be handled on an individual basis; how long it takes to discharge someone depends on multiple factors, including their length of time in the service.
- ''Willfully disobeying a lawful order is incompatible with military service, and to get a vaccination is a lawful order,'' Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said during an online town hall Nov. 18. ''We have to do a lot of things to take care of the health of the force, and people have been required to get vaccinations for a number of things.''
- It's unclear how many of the Air Force's 152,500 permanent, full-time civilian employees were fully vaccinated by their Nov. 22 deadline. Air Force public affairs referred a Nov. 29 request for the data to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which referred the query to the Defense Department. The Office of the Secretary of Defense has not responded to the request as of Dec. 3.
- RELATEDAbout 93% of DoD active duty and civilian personnel have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, OMB said in a Nov. 24 release. The office did not break out the numbers by full vaccination status or civilian-only data.
- Contractors who work with the Department of the Air Force must be fully inoculated against the coronavirus by Dec. 8.
- Nearly 782,000 Americans, including 142 Air Force employees, contractors and dependents, have died during the COVID-19 pandemic so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seventy-five percent of Americans ages 5 and older have gotten at least one shot so far; severe side effects are rare.
- Breakthrough cases are possible, but the virus is more easily contracted, and more likely to have serious repercussions, for the unvaccinated. Unvaccinated people are nearly six times more likely to catch the coronavirus, 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated, the CDC said.
- Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Force Magazine, Inside Defense, Inside Health Policy, the Frederick News-Post (Md.), the Washington Post, and others.
- HERE WE GO AGAIN: "Alternative Mueller Report" Could Be Released
- Looks like Russiagate is being restarted.
- The feds could soon release an ''alternative Mueller report.''
- An unpublished investigative compilation sometimes referred to as the "Alternative Mueller Report" has been located in DOJ files and could be released soon.
- '...@joshgerstein'(C) https://t.co/E6RnOzfN0U
- '-- Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) December 3, 2021
- An unpublished investigative compilation sometimes referred to as the ''Alternative Mueller Report'' has been located in Justice Department files and could be released soon, according to a letter filed in federal court Thursday.
- A top deputy to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann, revealed in a book he published last year that the team he headed prepared a summary of all its work '-- apparently including details not contained in the final report made public in 2019.
- ''At least for posterity, I had all the [team] members '... write up an internal report memorializing everything we found, our conclusions, and the limitations on the investigation, and provided it to the other team leaders as well as had it maintained in our files,'' wrote Weissmann in ''Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation.''
- The reference prompted the New York Times to submit a Freedom of Information Act request for the document in January and to follow up in July with a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
- Lawyers from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan told Judge Katherine Polk Failla in a letter Thursday that officials have figured out what document Weissmann was alluding to and have begun reviewing it for possible release.
- ''Since Plaintiff filed its complaint, Defendant has located and begun processing this record and intends to release all non-exempt portions to Plaintiff once processing is complete,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Jude wrote. ''Defendant estimates that primary processing of the record will be complete by the end of January 2022 at which time Defendant expects to send the record to several other DOJ components for consultation.''
- Jude did not provide an estimate of how long those consultations could take, but proposed updating the court by mid-February.
- The pledge to process the so-called alternative Mueller report is no guarantee that what's released will contain significant new revelations. The Justice Department can use a variety of exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act to shield parts of the document from disclosure, including by deeming it attorney work-product or part of an internal deliberative process. Current DOJ leaders could waive those exemptions, but releasing other contents such as grand jury information could be more difficult due to legal restrictions.
- Why would this be created?
- It seems that this was just another trap set-up by the Deep State to revive the Russiagate narrative when needed.
- UPDATE-More from The Conservative Treehouse:
- Interesting report from Politico (using DOJ/FBI sources), highlighting a likelihood the DOJ will release another version of the Trump-Russia report in the spring of 2022. From the description it sounds like the Andrew Weissmann version of the Mueller report.
- If accurate; and there's no reason at this point not to see this as likely; this could be considered the third leg of the 2022 election stool being constructed by the leftists who plan election strategies within the Lawfare group.
- Leg one is the J6 Committee investigation and subsequent narrative findings.Leg two is the DOJ investigation of audit groups, indictments and subsequent narrative.Leg three would be the Andrew Weissmann report, and subsequent narrative.'...
- As we have noted for several years, and later admitted by former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, the special counsel team led by Andrew Weissmann -using the figurehead of Robert Mueller- was in full control of the U.S. Justice Department from May of 2017 to April of 2019. Simultaneously, the Lawfare group allies outside the special counsel were collaborating with their friends in the Weissmann group.
- The media, now writing about how an Andrew Weissmann version of the Mueller report will be released early next year, speaks further to the political motive operating inside the current DOJ. It appears that Main Justice, in collaboration with the FBI, will be the strategy center for the Democrat's 2022 election effort.
- The Palmieri Report is a Pro-America News Outlet founded by Jacob Palmieri. The Palmieri Report is dedicated to giving people the truth so that they can form their own informed political opinions. You can help us beat Big Tech by following us on GETTR , Telegram, and Rumble.
- CLICK TO SUPPORT US AND BUY OUR SHIRTSShare Your ThoughtsWe have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
- Koch network rocked by affair scandal, donor departures, discrimination lawsuit
- In this February 26, 2007 file photograph, Charles Koch, head of Koch Industries, talks passionately about his new book on Market Based Management.
- Bo Rader | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
- The libertarian political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, has been rocked by an alleged extramarital affair involving a departing leader, as well as an exodus of key donors while the organization undergoes major changes.
- CNBC also has learned that Arlington, Virginia-based Americans for Prosperity, which has over three million volunteers spread across 35 states, recently quietly settled a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination and retaliation in the group's North Carolina branch.
- In response to this story, the group's spokesman Bill Riggs told CNBC that they found an "amicable resolution" in the lawsuit and defended the organization's workplace environment as "respectful, rewarding, and inclusive."
- This week, Tim Phillips announced he was resigning as president of Americans for Prosperity after 15 years at the helm, citing what he called "challenging personal matters."
- Phillips is said to have had what's described as an extramarital affair with a Virginia-based Republican official, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. These people declined to be named in order to speak freely about a private matter.
- Claims of the affair came after Americans for Prosperity announced it had conducted an internal investigation into Phillips.
- The group would not confirm or deny to CNBC what it had uncovered during the probe of Phillips. Instead, it provided the same statements they did to the Washington Examiner, who first reported Phillips was quitting.
- Phillips said in a statement provided by the group: "This morning, I announced my resignation as president of Americans for Prosperity in order to focus on some challenging personal matters that require my full attention. It is difficult to leave this organization, but doing so now is in everyone's best interest."
- Phillips did not return repeated requests for comment from CNBC.
- "While the underlying issues were personal in nature, it was a matter of integrity that violated our principles," said a person within AFP who is familiar with the matter.
- "AFP's internal investigation did not uncover any financial malfeasance. This was a personal issue and did not, to our knowledge, impact anyone else internally at AFP," the person said.
- This person chose to speak on the condition of anonymity in order to openly discuss broad themes of what Phillips allegedly did.
- Donors and board members leaveWith Phillips gone, there remain only two board members listed on the 501(c)(4) nonprofit group's website, including Mark Holden, who is listed as chairman. Their CEO, Emily Seidel, is also a member of the board. AFP's 2020 990 tax disclosure lists at least six board members prior to the resignations.
- In an internal announcement late last year, which has gone previously unreported, the organization said that two board members resigned from AFP's board. Frayda Levy, one of the board members who resigned, had been listed as the board's chair on previous tax disclosure forms. Jim Miller, who has ties to the Koch-backed Citizens for a Sound Economy, also resigned from the AFP board.
- The announcement said that Levy would continue as a donor partner and active participant in AFP's New Jersey branch.
- Several major donors have stepped away from the group as it has adjusted its political messaging during the administration of former President Donald Trump.
- AFP has been backed by Koch and Republican-leaning donors for more than 15 years.
- Its 990 tax filing for 2020 shows the group raised just over $58 million that year, and had net assets of about $3 million by the end of it. AFP, like other similar nonprofits, does not publicly disclose the names of their donors. It finished with over $64 million in revenue compared to the over $54 million it received in 2019.
- The Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, another Koch-backed group, disclosed in its 2020 990 form that it donated $40 million to Americans for Prosperity.
- The group's spokesman told CNBC that they are gearing up for the upcoming 2022 elections.
- "AFP has grown into a world-class organization with hundreds of staff across 35 state chapters with more donors and more resources than we've ever had before. In 2020, AFP and AFP Action engaged in '' and won '' more races than ever before, and we fully expect to exceed those numbers in 2022," Riggs said in an emailed statement.
- During former President Barack Obama's administration, the group ran ads targeting the Affordable Care Act, his signature health care law that became known as Obamacare.
- The group also saw major victories under Trump, including reformations to the tax code and the appointment of three Supreme Court Justices whom AFP openly supported.
- But AFP also clashed with Trump when it came to trade issues such as the implementation of tariffs, the then-president imposed.
- And since the start of Trump's administration in 2017, AFP has publicly said it is open to working with Democrats as well as Republicans.
- However, during the 2020 election, the group's related but separate super PAC largely backed GOP contenders at the federal level, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. This year, it supported Glenn Youngkin in his victory over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial race.
- Some donors who have previously supported Koch-backed entities have signaled that they are not interested in supporting AFP or Koch-linked groups in the future.
- Wealthy businesspeople such as Randy Kendrick, Diane Hendricks, David Humphreys, Bob Luddy and Chris Rufer have suggested to allies that they have no immediate plans to contribute to a Koch-backed group, according to a person briefed on the matter.
- Kendrick could not be reached for comment.
- The other donors did not respond to emails seeking comment.
- Workplace discrimination lawsuitAFP's controversies aren't limited to the departure of Phillips and some donors.
- Last year, former AFP official Anna Beavon Gravely sued the group in North Carolina state court for gender discrimination, retaliation and wrongful discharge.
- A spokesman for AFP said that the two parties settled the lawsuit amicably.
- "We reached an amicable resolution in each matter. AFP is committed to a respectful, rewarding, and inclusive work environment," Riggs said.
- Gravely claimed that she did not get a promotion to North Carolina state director in 2018 despite her clear qualifications for the job, which was given to a man with less experience, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by CNBC.
- Gravely was eventually fired by the same man who got the job she was gunning for, the suit says.
- The complaint takes aim at Phillip Joffrion, who was once a regional director at AFP. The group's public 990 form from 2016 lists Joffrion and says he was paid just over $125,000 that year. He is not listed on subsequent forms.
- Joffrion, the suit says, was the authorized hiring manager for jobs that included the group's North Carolina state director post, the job that Gravely hoped to secure permanently after filling it in an acting capacity.
- Gravely "was made aware of the existence of prior complaints sounding in gender discrimination and/or sexual harassment," the suit says.
- The complaint highlighted a 2017 dinner during which Joffrion allegedly ridiculed Gravely for having a "rigid" personality and critiqued her for being too "process-focused."
- Joffrion later told Gravely that one of the reasons she did not get the job was because of a concern related to her humility, according to the lawsuit.
- The lawsuit also refers to a separate class-action lawsuit filed against the organization for workplace discrimination.
- It is unclear where that purported other suit was filed. The now-former AFP official who is said to be part of that complaint is based in Arkansas.
- Shortly after Gravely's lawsuit was filed, AFP moved to have the complaint transferred to North Carolina federal court.
- After the case was transferred there, AFP said in a court filing that the group "specifically denies that [Gravely] was subjected to any discriminatory or retaliatory conduct."
- Court filings show that Gravely dismissed her lawsuit, with the consent of AFP, dismissed her lawsuit "with prejudice" in late September.
- Such dismissals, which bar a plaintiff from refiling the same kind of suit against a defendant, are routinely done in cases where the parties have reached an out-of-court settlement of claims.
- Gravely declined to comment to CNBC. Her attorney did not return a request for comment.
- FOCAC Chinese-African Summit Offers Chance for U.S. Africa Policy Rethink
- Chinese leaders are meeting this week with Africa's political, military, and civil elites in Dakar, Senegal, for the eighth gathering of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). More African leaders have chosen to attend FOCAC than did the United Nations General Assembly, drawn to the former's emphasis on cultivating partnerships based on national agendas.
- For a long time, the United States' main message to African countries was ''We're not Europe,'' but since at least the early 2000s, China's message to Africa has been ''We're not the United States.'' China has made significant process in Africa by speaking loudly and carrying a small stick. Its public diplomacy campaigns focus on relationship-building with African counterparts and broad media coverage of all forms of cooperation, while simultaneously keeping sanctions and security engagements minimal.
- In contrast, U.S. President Joe Biden recently announced that Ethiopia, Mali, and Guinea would be ineligible for duty-free trade access to the United States starting Jan. 1, 2022, due to human rights violations in Ethiopia's Tigray region and unconstitutional military rule in both West African nations.
- Chinese leaders are meeting this week with Africa's political, military, and civil elites in Dakar, Senegal, for the eighth gathering of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). More African leaders have chosen to attend FOCAC than did the United Nations General Assembly, drawn to the former's emphasis on cultivating partnerships based on national agendas.
- For a long time, the United States' main message to African countries was ''We're not Europe,'' but since at least the early 2000s, China's message to Africa has been ''We're not the United States.'' China has made significant process in Africa by speaking loudly and carrying a small stick. Its public diplomacy campaigns focus on relationship-building with African counterparts and broad media coverage of all forms of cooperation, while simultaneously keeping sanctions and security engagements minimal.
- In contrast, U.S. President Joe Biden recently announced that Ethiopia, Mali, and Guinea would be ineligible for duty-free trade access to the United States starting Jan. 1, 2022, due to human rights violations in Ethiopia's Tigray region and unconstitutional military rule in both West African nations.
- It is hard to remember the last time many African countries had their head of state photographed with a U.S. president, let alone received an invitation to visit Washington. Even when Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema came through Washington this September, he met with Vice President Kamala Harris but not Biden. And yet, a regular meeting with the president of China is something that every African leader (that does not have ties with Taiwan) can count on through FOCAC.
- While FOCAC continues to be a successful tool for China's Africa policy, it is a painful reminder of America's diplomatic shortfalls in Africa. The United States does not need to create its own version of the forum to achieve the same successes, but it does need a policy toward Africa that plays to America's strengths and recognizes the importance of relationship-building.
- China has focused on economic engagements over and above security and normative concerns, and on face time with African leaders and people-to-people exchanges. At the last FOCAC event in 2018, China announced 50,000 government scholarships and 50,000 short-term training courses. These are offered to university students, law enforcement officials, civil servants, medical staff, agricultural extension workers, and military personnel, among many others across Africa.
- During fieldwork conducted in Zimbabwe in June and July of 2013, a senior official at the Zimbabwean Ministry of Agriculture said that the majority of their staff had already been to China for training, such that many were already going for their second round. No doubt this is a story that could be told across every ministry in every African country that has ties with China today. There is simply no comparison in terms of the depth and breadth of relationship-building that China has developed with African leaders and future leaders for at least the past decade.
- To achieve the same level of diplomatic successes, the United States might need to get away from its punitive approach. More broadly, it might consider reassessing its reliance on measures such as the U.S. sanctions currently in effect on nine African countries, with Ethiopia, Mali, and Guinea soon to be added to the list.
- It may also need to reconsider a set of relationships that has been primarily driven by security concerns and think instead of economic ones. America's counterterrorism campaigns in Africa have done more to define Washington's relationships with African states than the election of the first Black president did. Since 9/11, the United States has built up a network of roughly 29 military outposts across the African continent. This network was necessarily established in collaboration with local partners and serves a vital role in supporting local security-building efforts in many regions. It highlights the United States' capacity to invest in African relationships when necessary, but on its own it represents a foreign-policy strategy toward Africa that prioritizes the short term without greater concern for the long-term significance of the region.
- Since 2009, China has consistently surpassed the United States as Africa's largest trading partner. As China has emerged as the world's 21st-century factory, its appetite for raw materials has provided a solid bedrock for relations with African nations, and it is likely to do so for many years to come. No number of ominous speeches about the Chinese threat'--or even Chinese actions such as reportedly bugging the headquarters of the African Union'--are likely to erode this fundamental economic incentive.
- In response, the United States is looking to reinvigorate its engagements in the region to counter China's influence where possible. For instance, the Build Back Better World program and the Blue Dot Network are focused on countering China's ever-trumpeted Belt and Road Initiative'--without much thought as to whether the United States can, or should, be trying to compete with China on massive infrastructure projects.
- Ultimately it is a positive development that the United States should wish to compete in building much needed infrastructure across the region, but it is hard to see how competitive U.S. firms can be compared to the Chinese firms that have been building roads and railways in Africa since the 1960s. And, of course, infrastructure is often an inherently corrupt and unprofitable line of business that Chinese projects on the continent have grappled with as much as anyone.
- Arguably, this myopic focus on countering China's economic engagements has blinded the United States to its own unique strengths. The prime example of this is the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), due to expire in 2025, a nonreciprocal trade program that gives 39 eligible African countries duty-free access to U.S. markets. This has had catalytic effects on African industrialization, and many of the African manufacturers taking advantage of AGOA are exporting low-tech goods, like textiles, that they could not hope to export to China, as China still has jobs to protect in those same industrial sectors.
- Some critics have pointed to the fact that several Chinese firms have actually relocated to Africa in order to take advantage of the opportunities presented by AGOA. However, this should be of little concern to U.S. policymakers. By relocating factories to Africa, these Chinese investors are creating jobs on the continent, spurring demand or supply for other industries, and creating the possibility for knowledge transfers and spillovers such that locals can replicate the industrial processes they are witnessing.
- The fact that these Chinese investors may be benefiting financially takes for granted the much more significant contributions to economic development that AGOA has fostered in the few African contexts where Chinese-owned factories operate. This is still a policy that the United States can be proud of and would do well to promote among other wealthy countries.
- Ultimately, U.S. policy on Africa is down, but it is certainly not out. Rather than trying to compete on fields where China is better established, it can play to its own strengths. Even though it is mostly virtual, this year's FOCAC will be another important milestone for China-Africa relations. It is an invitation to the United States to consider what its own route for cooperation might look like in the years to come.
- Correction, Nov. 30, 2021: An earlier version of this piece mistakenly said the United States has roughly 29 military bases in Africa, but it does not have that many bases.
- Operation White Elephant
- Operation White Elephant is a nonprofit organization that coordinates, synchronizes and deconflicts humanitarian assistance, provides necessary emergency communications support and equipment, conducts media efforts to educate and raise awareness, and assists with legal needs for issues arising during the crisis.
- Our goal is to leave no American or ally behind and assist with vital humanitarian aid. Operation White Elephant is an effort to achieve this objective. We are committed to working tirelessly day and night to assist all those affected by this ongoing humanitarian crisis.
- We are a group of concerned citizens- to include former military, intelligence officials, and human rights activists- who worked tirelessly for more than two decades to assist our allies in Afghanistan with their efforts to be a free sovereign nation.
- Time is of the essence, and stakes are high. The catastrophic threat of the rebirth of global terrorism is a reality. We must assist those who are standing up for themselves against terrorism by expeditiously rendering necessary aid to the vulnerable during this humanitarian crisis.
- Along the way, many of us built lifelong friendships and relationships with our Afghan allies. We cannot let this disgraceful exit from Afghanistan define us as a nation. This is not who we are as Americans. We must unite in this urgent effort to support Americans and our allies. By donating to Operation White Elephant, together we can accomplish this mission.
- Lara Logan: Can we stop pretending the Taliban are not terrorists?
- Lara Logan, a Middle East expert explain perfectly what happened
- DNA test data breach affects millions of people - see if you're one of them
- DNA Diagnostics Center (DDC), a popular DNA and paternity testing company, announced in a notice this week that it detected a data breach in August. The hackers gained access to an archived database containing personal information collected between 2004 and 2012. DDC says it acquired the database alongside a national genetic testing organization system in 2012. A data breach notification from the Maine attorney general's office reveals that the breach affected over 2.1 million people.
- DNA testing company reports data breachDNA Diagnostics Center located in Ohio. Image source: DDCAfter detecting the data breach, DDC claims to have taken action quickly. The company ''proactively contained and secured the threat and executed a prompt and thorough investigation in consultation with third-party cybersecurity professionals.'' DDC also worked with law enforcement. Following their investigation, they determined that the attackers potentially stole files and folders from the database between May 24th, 2021 and July 28th, 2021.
- There is some good news, at least from DDC's perspective. The company notes that it never actually used the archived system in its operations. Furthermore, the system hasn't been active since 2012. So, just to clarify, the attackers did not steal information DDC is actively using. If you've recently received a relationship test directly from DDC, your data is still safe.
- Should you be concerned?At this point, you are probably wondering whether or not you should be concerned. Here is what DDC had to say about the people who might have had their data stolen:
- If you know you have received a relationship test from DDC directly, this incident did not affect that test, as the information was acquired from an archived system that was never used by DDC. Individuals whose personal information was potentially accessed are being notified in accordance with state regulations, and out of an abundance of caution to protect against identity fraud, DDC is providing a complimentary membership of Experian credit monitoring to eligible individuals. If you received a relationship test as a part of court proceedings or independent, individual testing between 2004 and 2012 but have not received a mailed letter from DDC regarding this incident, please contact 1-855-604-1656 as you may be eligible for complimentary credit monitoring services through Experian.
- This clearly could have been worse, but the fact remains that the breach impacted 2.1 million people. Attackers were able to steal full names, credit and debit card numbers, account numbers, passwords, and more. DDC is in the process of sending letters to affected individuals. If you think that you might be one of the 2.1 million victims, keep an eye out. You should get a letter soon.
- How to protect yourself from fraudDDC also offered a series of steps individuals can take to protect their personal information:
- Place a fraud alert on your credit file. Call any one of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) and tell them to alert you before they open a new account.Place a security freeze on your credit file. A more extreme step that will stop credit bureaus from releasing your credit report with express authorization.Obtain a free credit report. Once every 12 months, you can request a free credit score from each of the three major bureaus. Once you receive your report, check it for discrepancies.This data breach of a DNA testing firm goes to show just how determined hackers are to steal data anywhere they can find it. Always keep a close eye on your accounts for any signs of trouble. You never know when or where someone might find your email address and passwords.
- AI.cooking | Podcastindex.org
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- PodLP '' Podcasts for KaiOS and the JioPhone
- PodLPPodcasts for the next billion.
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- Valse coronacheck-apps sluizen QR-codes van gebruikers door | NOS
- Twee valse coronacheck-apps die in omloop zijn, sluizen de QR-codes van hun gebruikers door naar een onbekende bestemming. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van de NOS.
- De apps zijn bedoeld om met andermans QR-code ergens naar binnen te kunnen, of juist als ondernemer een controle op QR-codes te veinzen zonder dat er daadwerkelijk wordt gecontroleerd.
- Uit een analyse van de broncode van de app blijkt dat de QR-codes die gebruikers scannen, worden doorgestuurd naar een externe server. Wie tot de QR-codes toegang heeft en wat er vervolgens met de codes gebeurt, is onbekend.
- De makers van de app waren donderdag niet bereikbaar voor commentaar. Een poging om een reactie te krijgen, resulteerde in een verbanning uit het Telegram-kanaal waar de app wordt verspreid. In een reactie op het nieuwsbericht noemt een beheerder van het kanaal de bevindingen "fake news". "Pure framing en trap er niet in!"
- "Het is strafbaar om te frauderen met coronatoegangsbewijzen", laat een woordvoerder van het ministerie van Volksgezondheid weten. "We hebben eerder aangifte gedaan en onderzoeken of we dat opnieuw moeten doen."
- KopirenEen van de nagemaakte CoronaCheck-apps laat mensen die geen legitieme QR-code willen gebruiken, andermans code kopiren. Vervolgens kunnen ze die laten zien in iets wat net lijkt op de 'echte' CoronaCheck-app.
- Om die code in te laden in de app, moet iemand de QR-code gebruiken van iemand die hersteld is, gevaccineerd of negatief getest. Bij het scannen van die code wordt echter op de achtergrond een kopietje verstuurd, blijkt nu.
- Verschillende soorten QR-codesEr zijn meerdere soorten QR-codes. Niet alle QR-codes zijn vatbaar voor misbruik en als ze worden gedeeld, verschilt de privacy-impact.
- De codes in de CoronaCheck-app verlopen na 90 seconden. Misbruik daarvan op grote schaal is daardoor niet erg realistisch, en als ze worden buitgemaakt is de privacy-inbreuk zeer gering: alleen initialen en soms je geboortedag en -maand liggen dan op straat.Zogenoemde printcodes, bedoeld voor mensen zonder smartphone, verlopen na een jaar. Deze zijn populair onder mensen die met andermans QR-code naar binnen willen. Ze zijn makkelijk te kopiren en blijven lang geldig, maar als ze worden buitgemaakt is de privacy-impact net zo gering als bij appcodes.Codes van Europeanen van buiten Nederland zijn het meest gevoelig. Deze QR-codes bevatten veel priv(C)gegevens: welk vaccin je hebt gehad en je complete naam. Bovendien zijn ze lang geldig. Ze zijn eenvoudig uit te wisselen en als ze worden buitgemaakt is de privacy-impact groot: welk vaccin je hebt gehad is een medisch persoonsgegeven en dat is extra beschermd.De andere app laat ondernemers "die niet willen discrimineren" ogenschijnlijk controles op de CoronaCheck-app uitvoeren, terwijl in de praktijk alle QR-codes een groen vinkje opleveren. Daarbij gaat het ook om QR-codes die zijn verlopen of zelfs helemaal geen coronatoegangsbewijs zijn.
- Maar ook de codes die daarmee worden gescand, worden - zonder dat dat wordt verteld - doorgestuurd naar een externe server. Of er overigens ondernemers zijn die de valse scanner-app daadwerkelijk gebruiken, is onbekend. Het gebruik ervan is verboden.
- Niet nodigVoor de werking van de app is het versturen van de QR-codes niet nodig: ze worden namelijk lokaal opgeslagen, op de telefoon van de gebruiker. Of en hoe er misbruik van de codes wordt gemaakt, is onduidelijk; de makers van de app reageerden niet op vragen daarover. Ook is niet bekend hoeveel QR-codes er zijn doorgestuurd.
- Eerder hintten de makers op een nieuwe functie in de app, waarmee elke gebruiker "een QR-code op naam kan zetten". Daarbij doelen ze waarschijnlijk op een functie waarbij gebruikers een QR-code passend bij hun initialen kunnen inladen. Of die optie te maken heeft met de dataverzameling, is onbekend.
- In de Nederlandse QR-codes worden alleen initialen en in een deel van de gevallen geboortedatum of geboortemaand verwerkt. De bedoeling is dat er aan de deur ook op identiteitskaart wordt gecontroleerd, maar dat gebeurt niet altijd.
- Gedeelde QR-codes worden overigens vaak snel geblokkeerd door de makers van de CoronaCheck-app. Op dit moment staan er 1258 QR-codes op de zwarte lijst, waarvan 997 Nederlandse en 261 afkomstig van buiten Nederland.
- Zelfs als er in (C)(C)n keer honderden, duizenden of zelfs tienduizenden QR-codes zouden worden gedeeld, is er technisch geen belemmering om die te blokkeren, melden bronnen rond de CoronaCheck-app.
- VerantwoordingNa een tip van een anonieme gebruiker dook de NOS-redactie in de broncode van de webversie van de nagemaakte CoronaCheck-apps. We zochten uit naar welke cloudprovider de QR-codes worden verstuurd en vervingen de logingegevens (in technische termen de api-sleutels) van de makers van de app door die van een account in ons beheer.
- Vervolgens scanden we QR-codes met de nagemaakte apps en keken we welke data de app bleek te versturen. Daarbij gaat het onder meer om de inhoud van de QR-code. Die konden we vervolgens omzetten in een geldige QR-code die door de officile scanner-app wordt herkend.
- Expert Reportedly Killed After He Publicly Revealed that Graphene Hydroxide is in COVID-19 Vaccines and Warned of Its Dangers '' Great Mountain Publishing
- Dr. Andreas Noack is one of the foremost experts on graphene in the world. He has studied data from Professor Pablo Campra from the University of Almeira. Dr. Campra used micro-raman spectroscopy to analyze the contents of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Noack reviewed Dr. Campra's findings and found that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine contains graphene hydroxide .
- Dr. Noack confirmed the findings of Robert Young, M.Sc., D.Sc., Ph.D., who used phase-contrast microscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy to analyze the following COVID-19 vaccines: Pfizer''BioNTech mRNA Vaccine, the Moderna-Lonza mRNA-1273 Vaccine, the Serum Institute Oxford Astrazeneca Vaccine, and the Janssen COVID -19 Vaccine. Dr. Young concluded:
- The Pfizer, Moderna, Astrazeneca and Janssen drugs are NOT ''vaccines'' but complexed Graphene Oxide nano particulate aggregates of varying nano elements attached to genetically modified nucleic acids of mRNA from animal or vero cells and aborted human fetal cells.
- Dr. Noack states that the graphene hydroxide in the vaccine is a nanoparticle that is 50 nm long and 0.1 nm thick. Dr. Noack explains that the nanoparticles of graphene hydroxide act as kind-of razor blades slicing and dicing as they move through the body. Graphene hydroxide is not biodegradable. It remains circulating in the blood indefinitely. Dr. Noack explains that the heart and brain are organs that are particularly susceptible to damage from graphene hydroxide. Dr. Noack opines that is why there has been a rash of young athletes dropping dead from heart attacks. The blood of the young athletes is efficiently coursing throughout the body causing unseen damage until they unexpectedly drop dead. Dr. Noack explains that doctors performing autopsies on victims of the vaccine are not going to find the graphene hydroxide because they are looking for something biological as the cause of death. Graphene hydroxide is not biological so it will not be visible in their tests. Below is the video posted by Dr. Noack on November 23, 2021.
- On November 27, 2021, Dr. Noack's girlfriend announced that shortly after Dr. Noack posted his video and it went viral, he was attacked and killed. The timing of the attack suggests that it was in retribution for his revelations about graphene hydroxide in the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. They determined to silence Dr. Noack. They could not allow Dr. Noack, an authoritative and unimpeachable expert in graphene, to reveal the dangerousness of the COVID-19 vaccines. Below is her video announcement of his death.
- Dr. Noack had previously been arrested by the Austrian police in their attempt to stop him from posting videos about the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccines. His arrest in the video below was prior to his November 23, 2021, video posted above revealing the details of graphene hydroxide in the COVID-19 vaccines.
- Poisonous Graphene Oxide Found in COVID-19 VaccinesJapan Ministry of Health Pulls Millions of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Vials After They React to Magnets
- Danske Bank Slaps 'ESG' Label On 95% Of Its Funds As Top Banker Speaks Out Against "Greenwashing" | ZeroHedge
- One of the most disturbing developments on Wall Street in recent years is how the "green cult" has managed to infiltrate the culture, forcing firms to drum up ESG-branded offerings or risk losing clients to better-prepared rivals.
- But like any other fad, the shift to ESG, and the pressure investors are putting on "dirty" oil and gas companies (not to mention coal) has had side effects that are more serious, and others that are more or less benign.
- In the "serious blowback" camp is the fact that the backlash against traditional energy companies and the new orientation in Washington has helped drive inflationary pressures to their highest level in 3 decades (more on that here) by weighing on US supplies of crude oil.
- The truth is there simply aren't enough truly "green" assets to go around, which is why Wall Street is scrambling to label any old company "green" based sometimes on little more than promises.
- Just look at the top holding of two of Wall Street's biggest "ESG" funds.
- Who knew Apple and American Express were paragons of carbon neutrality?
- Above all, "green" bonds are supposed to create new incentives for borrowers by allowing companies that meet "green" requirements (at least on the surface) to issue debt and borrow money at slightly lower rates. But this also presents serious risks of mis-pricing.
- The universe of ESG has grown so fast that it now encompasses 33% of total US assets under management.
- Not everyone is okay with this rapid advance - even some of those who stand to profit from it.
- Critics include senior officials at banks that are deeply involved in the business. Danske Bank's top "ESG" banker spoke to Bloomberg a few days ago about the risks inherent in the explosive growth of ESG-branded assets, especially loans and bonds. The banker, Samu Slotte, warned about an epidemic of "greenwashing" in the global asset management industry.
- There are "clear risks" as things stand now, he said. "There is room for improvement."
- But one banker's lack of self-awareness isn't stopping Danske Bank from engaging in some ESG-related skullduggery of its own. The bank just announced plans to 're-categorize' the vast majority of its funds, lumping them into the ESG category by simply adding a label.
- The bank announced its plans in a statement to the press released Wednesday. And it's not just a handful of funds: this month, more than 130 funds across Danske Invest's markets will be classified as ESG funds and 10 as funds with a 'sustainable investment objective', Danske revealed.
- Danske will use definitions from Articles 8 and 9 of the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. After re-categorization, about 95% of all Danske Invest funds will be either ESG funds or funds with a sustainable investment objective
- This would suggest that Slotte is already behind, since he told Bloomberg the other day that he expects 75% of large corporate loans to have some kind of a sustainable component. At Danske, the number of products carrying the ESG tag is closing in on 100%. ESG assets are already worth $35 trillion.
- Investors are already signaling that they prefer a more detailed explanations of a company's ESG bona fides, rather than the more general outlines preferred by the sell side. Even now, companies that don't meet their climate-focused objectives (in the business, they call these objectives KPIs) can expect to see borrowing costs surge.
- But if this were to happen all at once across a range of borrowers, this could potentially be a major risk to holders of ESG bond funds.
- Barack Obama Surprises Students at Covid Vaccine Clinic | PEOPLE.com
- "I don't love getting a shot," the former president told the crowd. "But I do it because it's going to help keep me healthy"
- A group of students at a D.C. elementary school not only got the COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday '-- they also got an unexpected visit from former president Barack Obama.
- Obama, 60, surprised a group of children when he stopped by a vaccination clinic taking place at Kimball Elementary School in Southeast D.C., The Washington Post reports. Obama was joined by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert.
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- The former president handed out stickers to the group of five to 11-year-olds gathered at the clinic, The Independent reports, and even gave fist-bumps to the brave students after they received their vaccines.
- WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 30: Former U.S. President Barack Obama hugs a student while talking with elementary school students as they prepare to get their second vaccine shots at the Kimball Elementary School on November 30, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images) Credit: Doug Mills-Pool/Getty
- RELATED: Ciara and Her Kids Will Meet with Jill Biden at the White House to Encourage Vaccinations
- Speaking to over 50 people '-- students, plus their teachers and parents '-- Obama said, "We are just getting through the holiday season and we have one more thing to be thankful for, which is that we can get kids vaccinated if they're between the ages of 5 and 11," per the Post.
- He added, "Nobody really loves getting a shot. I don't love getting a shot. But I do it because it's going to help keep me healthy."
- Obama also said that vaccines could hasten a return to normal activities that children haven't been able to enjoy during the pandemic.
- "It's also going to help keep schools open because the more kids are vaccinated, the less likely that we're going to have a covid outbreak in the schools," he said. "And that means our kids have a chance to learn together and socialize '-- you know, do all the things that you're supposed to be doing when you're 5 or 6 or 7 or 11."
- RELATED: Why It's Important to Get Kids 5 to 11 Vaccinated for COVID '-- and What Parents Need to Know
- Dr. Fauci delivered his own remarks to the crowd, telling them that the vaccines "are really going to protect you," and adding, "We know that from a lot of data, and a lot of experience we have."
- Obama has been vocal about the importance of getting vaccinated since COVID-19 vaccines became available to the public earlier this year. The former president, who got vaccinated in March, has stopped by other vaccination sites and participated in a COVID-19 vaccine PSA with all living former presidents '-- except Donald Trump '-- to encourage Americans to get vaccinated.
- Never miss a story '-- sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
- "This vaccine means hope," Obama said in the PSA, which was released in early March. "It will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease."
- Since Obama filmed the PSA, the CDC has updated its vaccine guidelines to better protect Americans against the evolving strains of the virus. With the discovery of the new Omicron variant, the agency now "strongly encourages" booster shots for all adults.
- In early November, Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in children under 12, making nearly all Americans eligible to receive the vaccine.
- As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from the CDC, WHO and local public health departments. PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMe to raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, click here.
- A 'radical' UN climate style 'pandemic treaty' for viruses!? World Health Organization agrees to negotiate a 'pandemic treaty' to prevent next outbreak | Climate Depot
- WHO 'pandemic treaty' may seek to enforce global lockdowns?! "An international agreement to prevent and deal with future pandemics"complete with a ''legally binding'' agreement.
- By: Marc Morano - Climate Depot December 1, 2021 1:07 PM with 0 comments
- WaPo: Less than a week after the new omicron variant of the coronavirus was reported to the World Health Organization, global leaders on Wednesday agreed to start negotiations to create an international agreement to prevent and deal with future pandemics '-- which some have dubbed a ''pandemic treaty.'' The special session of the World Health Assembly, only the second ever held by the WHO's governing body, pledged by consensus to begin work on an agreement, amid a round of applause, after three days of talks. ''I welcome the decision you have adopted today, to establish an intergovernmental negotiating body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response,'' WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said . The commitment by countries to negotiate a ''global accord'' would ''help to keep future generations safer from the impacts of pandemics,'' he added.
- The assembly's decision will see the creation of an ''intergovernmental negotiating body'' to draft and negotiate the final convention, which would then need to be adopted by member states. '... Tedros said omicron ''demonstrates just why the world needs a new accord on pandemics,'' and called for a ''legally binding'' agreement.
- Marc Morano's comment: '' This will be a virus version of the UN IPCC & Paris climate style pacts. The pandemic 'crisis' will become permanent just like the 'climate crisis.' Attempts to impose lockdowns for future COVID variants or new viruses may be internationally imposed instead of national, state or local. If you don't like your governor, mayor or school board, you can vote them out, but if a 'radical' WHO 'pandemic treaty' that is 'legally binding' becomes reality, global mandates may be coming your way and local elections will cease to matter as unelected bureaucrats will be yielding the real power over your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. This must be stopped now. Even the Washington Post is calling a 'pandemic treaty' a 'radical' idea.
- Once a 'pandemic treaty' is set in place, COVID mandates will become permanent as elite officials fly around the world to discuss how to further crush freedom to wage war on viruses. Just like the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the architects of a 'pandemic treaty' will seek more and more power and control and become a self-interested lobbying organization all while doing squat to prevent or mitigate future viruses. A 'radical' WHO 'pandemic treaty' may be just the ticket for the administrative state to reign in rogue anti-lockdown governors like Ron DeSantis.''
- For more on how COVID is being used to create permanent lockdowns see Morano's new upcoming book: Hardcover '' August 30, 2022 '' by Marc Morano (Author)
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/30/omicron-pandemic-treaty-who/
- By Adam Taylor '' November 30, 2021
- Excerpt: A pandemic treaty could be far grander in ambition than a TRIPS waiver. An international agreement could address specific concerns raised by omicron '-- for example, committing countries to a certain level of vaccine manufacturing infrastructure or to the kind of surveillance done in South Africa and Botswana that helped identify the variant.
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/01/who-coronavirus-pandemic-agreement-treaty/
- Washington Post '' December 1, 2021
- The special session of the World Health Assembly, only the second ever held by the WHO's governing body, pledged by consensus to begin work on an agreement, amid a round of applause, after three days of talks.
- ''I welcome the decision you have adopted today, to establish an intergovernmental negotiating body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response,'' WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
- The commitment by countries to negotiate a ''global accord'' would ''help to keep future generations safer from the impacts of pandemics,'' he added.
- As omicron variant alarm spreads, countries mull a radical 'pandemic treaty'
- But some experts said the proposal wasn't ambitious enough. ''I think we need a 'public health treaty' that is broader and covers all big diseases,'' said Srividhya Ragavan, an expert in global health at Texas A&M University's School of Law, adding that a ''pandemic treaty'' would be a ''self-center approach'' for the West.
- ''Fact is, too many people are lost from lack of access to available medications for diseases such as cancer,'' Ragavan said.
- The assembly's decision will see the creation of an ''intergovernmental negotiating body'' to draft and negotiate the final convention, which would then need to be adopted by member states. The negotiating body will hold its first meeting by March 1, the WHO said. It will also hold public hearings to inform its deliberations and deliver progress reports.
- As the session got underway Monday, the WHO warned of a ''very high'' global risk from the omicron variant. Tedros said it ''demonstrates just why the world needs a new accord on pandemics,'' and called for a ''legally binding'' agreement.The decision adopted by the assembly on Wednesday, however, stops short of calling for a legally binding instrument, but aims to beef up global action plans toward preventing, preparing and responding to future pandemics. The recent arrival of a fast-spreading variant from an under-vaccinated country should bolster those who favor a treaty. For over a year, experts have warned that ''no one is safe until everyone is safe.''
- Supporters say a ''pandemic treaty'' or other international instrument could address some of the failures of the coronavirus pandemic. For example, it could put in place a global structure to identify threats earlier; better share data or genome sequences of emerging viruses; and ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines or other drugs.
- The United States has said it is largely in favor of such an accord.
- ''The United States is committed to working with member states to take forward the recent recommendations of the working group on preparedness and response. That includes developing a new WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument and making agreements to improve the effectiveness and agility of international health regulations,'' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. ''Of course, that's in all of our interests.''
- Britain and European Union states have also championed an agreement. Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel called this week for ''reliable financing'' for the WHO and greater contributions from its member states '-- while alluding to the E.U. position of supporting a binding agreement.
- Twitter Slaps 'Unsafe' Label On American Heart Association mRNA Vaccine Warning | ZeroHedge
- Twitter has slapped an "unsafe link" warning on a study from the American Heart Association which found that mRNA vaccines dramatically increase risk of developing heart diseases from 11% to 25%.
- As of this writing, when one clicks on the link in the below tweet...
- ð¨ð¨ð¨ð¨ð¨ New study and warning from American Heart Association: mRNA vaccines dramatically increase risk of developing heart diseases from 11% to 25% ð¨ð¨ð¨ð¨ð¨https://t.co/7QxltagOPj
- '-- Marina Medvin ðºð¸ (@MarinaMedvin) December 2, 2021This warning, which ZeroHedge followers are no stranger to, pops up, requiring one to click "Ignore this warning and continue" before they can proceed to the American Heart Association's website:
- Check out this total insanity.The Journal of the American Heart Association puts out a study warning of the impact of mRNA Covid vaccines on the heart.
- Twitter reflexively applies a warning that the site may be unsafe.
- THE F'ING AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION?!? WTF!!! pic.twitter.com/TVfktAzWon
- '-- The Reckoning ð'¥ (@sethjlevy) December 2, 2021One Twitter user, however, noted that an "expression of concern" was filed over the AHA study, noting that there are "several typographical errors" and "no data in the abstract regarding myocardial T-cell infiltration" or "statistical analyses for significance provided."
- That said, Twitter's warning says that the link was identified as being "potentially spammy or unsafe," and could contain:
- malicious links that could steal personal information or harm electronic devicesspammy links that mislead people or disrupt their experienceviolent or misleading content that could lead to real-world harmcertain categories of content that, if posted directly on Twitter, are a violation of the Twitter RulesIt's unclear as to which of these warrants the label.
- Chinese Debt Relief: Fact and Fiction '' The Diplomat
- China Power | Economy | East Asia COVID-19 has increased calls for China to forgive old loans. Time to sort out the facts and the fiction about how China manages debt in troubled times.
- Credit: Pixabay AdvertisementThis week the World Bank and IMF are holding their (virtual) annual spring meetings. The COVID-19 crisis has pushed over 90 countries to ask the IMF for help. In late March, the two Bretton Woods institutions called on all official bilateral creditors '-- such as China '-- to provide immediate debt relief to low-income borrowers.
- What will China do for its debtors now facing economic collapse? Some fear that a malign China will leverage this crisis to seize strategic assets. Others report that a benign China has already ''wiped clean'' many nations' debt slates. ''Chinese debt can easily be renegotiated, restructured, or refinanced,'' said a Zambian economist.
- Our research suggests that both views are far from reality. To work with Beijing to ease the pain of the spiraling economic crisis, policymakers will need to sort out the facts and the fiction about how China manages debt in troubled times.
- The majority of China's low-income borrowers are in Africa, where China made its first loan to Guinea in 1960. Today, China accounts for about 17 percent of African debt, according to the World Bank.
- China does not publish data on its overseas lending, but our China Africa Research Initiative team at Johns Hopkins University has tracked more than a thousand Chinese loans '' worth $152 billion '-- extended to 49 African governments and their state-owned companies between 2000 and 2018.
- Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
- These are not evenly distributed. Oil-rich Angola accounts for $43 billion in signed loans '-- nearly 30 percent of the total for Africa. A signed agreement with a Chinese lender is not the same as a debt, however. For example, as of 2017, China had agreed to lend Nigeria $5.3 billion for transport, IT, and power projects, but had disbursed just $2.5 billion. Furthermore, our figures do not account for repayments. Angola has repaid at least $16.7 billion of its Chinese loans.
- Diplomat BriefWeekly NewsletterNGet briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific.
- Get the Newsletter Yet in the current crisis, any level of debt risks being unsustainable. What is China likely to do?
- AdvertisementOur team recently examined dozens of Chinese overseas debt restructurings between 1980 and 2019 and nearly a hundred cases of debt cancellation. Our findings run counter to much of the conventional wisdom.
- Myth #1: China frequently cancels debt
- A recent study of Chinese debt relief concluded that China's debt write-offs were ''common.'' One financial analyst called Beijing a ''free money machine,'' saying (erroneously) that over half of China's debt relief recipients had their debt written off completely between 2000 and 2018.
- Yes, China has canceled more than $4 billion in low income countries' debt since 2000. However, these canceled debts '-- more than 376 of them '-- were nearly all from a small category of Chinese lending: interest-free, foreign aid loans that had reached maturity without being fully paid off. In Africa, interest-free loans today average $10 million and make up less than 5 percent of Chinese lending.
- Myth #2: Chinese debt negotiations are easy
- China does not impose the economic conditions required by the IMF or the World Bank, but the process of debt relief is not automatic. In Beijing, a committee led by China's Ministry of Finance and involving the Ministry of Commerce, China Exim Bank, and China Development Bank carefully considers whether applicants for relief are truly unable to service each troubled loan on its original terms.
- The Republic of Congo's successful $1.6 billion debt restructuring in 2019 provided new terms for just eight of the country's two dozen Chinese loans. This complicated, loan-by-loan scrutiny differs from Paris Club debt workouts, which usually treat the entire debt stock.
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- Furthermore, calls for ''China'' to provide debt relief overlook the fact that there are now multiple Chinese lenders. We found more than 30* Chinese banks and companies loaning money to African governments.
- In Iraq, China joined with other countries in a United Nations-sponsored effort to cancel debt in 2007. Beijing forgave all the official debt owed to the Chinese government. But Iraq was also on the hook to Chinese companies for some $8.5 billion in commercial debt. It took another three years of separate negotiations for 80 percent of this to be written off.
- Myth #3: China will seize strategic assets in lieu of loan payments
- AdvertisementWe saw no evidence of asset seizures in Africa, or indeed, anywhere among Chinese borrowers in debt difficulties. In the much misunderstood case of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, a newly elected government facing a balance of payments crisis that was not Chinese in origin privatized its Chinese-financed port to a Chinese investor in 2017. This brought in over $1 billion in foreign exchange. Similarly, debt-distressed Republic of Congo concessioned its 535-kilometer Chinese-financed highway to a Congolese-Sino-French consortium, which now operates it as a toll road.
- The Trump administration has stoked fears about countries losing their sovereignty through public-private partnerships like these. Instead, we should be encouraging more of them. Equity investments are a smart way for countries to finance the operation of badly needed infrastructure, while also helping repay loans.
- The challenges outlined here make it unlikely that we will see Beijing agree to real and wide-ranging debt relief this week. At the end of 2018, China itself owed $1.96 trillion in foreign debt. As a former China Exim Bank official told me: ''if African borrowers don't pay us, we still have to pay our bondholders.''
- As the economic and financial toll from COVID-19 becomes apparent, Chinese loans '-- and the possibility of debt relief '-- will continue to be in the headlines. Making sense of what China can and can't offer requires taking a hard look at some deep-seated myths about Chinese lending.
- *This figure has been updated.
- Deborah Brautigam is Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy and Director of the SAIS China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
- Scientists develop drug to treat Covid-19 anxiety '-- RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
- A team of Russian scientists has pioneered a new anti-anxiety drug designed to calm the nerves of worried coronavirus patients and minimize the risk of potentially dangerous interactions with medicines used to treat the virus.
- ''We've developed an innovative new molecule that acts highly selectively on adrenoceptors and serotonin receptors, and provides anxiolytic, anti-depressive, and procognitive effects,'' Elena Yakubova, Russia's National Technological Initiative's medical director, told RIA Novosti on Friday. ''In the second phase of pre-clinical and clinical trials, the medication proved highly effective, tolerable, and safe.''
- According to her, those given the new therapy, named Aviandr, saw their scores on anxiety tests fall by more than half after eight weeks of taking the treatment. In addition to reducing anxiety, the medication also demonstrated a noticeable anti-depressive effect.
- ''We are currently in the third phase of clinical trials for two cases: generalized anxiety disorder and neurological disorders associated with cases of extended coronavirus infection,'' the director continued.
- Generalized anxiety disorder is a condition characterized by constant, excessive, and unrealistic worry over everyday things. Over 300 million people suffer from it, according to the World Health Organization, and there have been warnings that the pandemic has sparked a global mental health crisis and strained support services. In addition, there are fears recovering coronavirus patients could be at greater risk of developing symptoms.
- The National Technological Initiative added that the market for medications to treat the condition is at least $7 billion. Many of the available drugs, however, can result in serious side effects including headaches, weakness, and insomnia. In addition, the boffins said, anti-anxiety medications have been shown to result in dependency, leading to withdrawal after the course of treatment.
- Worse still, in July last year, a team of Italian scientists published an analysis that suggested a range of drugs used to treat mental health conditions ''showed potentially relevant safety risks for people with Covid-19.'' According to the research, those on the medicines ''may frequently require treatment with psychotropic medications, but are at the same time at higher risk for safety issues because of the complex underlying medical condition and the potential interaction with medical treatments.''
- According to Andrey Ivashchenko, another scientist at the NTI, if the results are confirmed in a third round of clinical trials, ''the Ministry of Health can decide to speed up the approval of Aviandr, which will help millions of Russian patients get effective, modern therapy for post-Covid central nervous system disorders,'' he said, adding that the medication also has great export potential.
- Thousands facing heart problems due to 'post-pandemic stress disorder' | Evening Standard
- Up to 300,000 people in the UK are facing heart-related illnesses due to post-pandemic stress disorder (PPSD), two London physicians have warned.
- This could result in a 4.5 per cent rise in cardiovascular cases nationally because of the effects of PPSD, with those aged between 30 to 45 most at-risk, they claim.
- Mark Rayner, a former senior NHS psychological therapist and founder of EASE Wellbeing CIC, said that as many as three million people in Britain are already suffering from PPSD, thanks to stress and anxiety caused by the effects of Covid-19.
- He fears this could result in a dramatic rise in physical health issues, such as coronary heart failure, if cases are not detected or treated early.
- Mr Rayner said: ''PPSD is a very real problem on a massive scale. As well as the condition itself with all its immediate problems, one of the biggest collateral issues is the affect it can have on heart health.
- ''It is widely recognised that reducing stress and mental health problems is crucial to the prevention and recovery of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes.
- ''We are talking about as many as 300,000 new patients with heart issues.''
- Mr Rayner warned that without at least doubling the current funding, the NHS will not be able to tackle the ''trauma timebomb'', which could have potentially fatal consequences for those suffering with long-term PPSD.
- Meanwhile, Tahir Hussain, a senior vascular surgeon at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, said he has seen a significant rise in cases where he works.
- He said: ''I've seen a big increase in thrombotic-related vascular conditions in my practice. Far younger patients are being admitted and requiring surgical and medical intervention than prior to the pandemic.
- ''I believe many of these cases are a direct result of the increased stress and anxiety levels caused from the effects of PPSD.
- ''We also have evidence that some patients have died at home from conditions such as pulmonary embolism and myocardial infarction. I believe this is related to many people self-isolating at home with no contact with the outside world and dying without getting the help they needed.''
- PPSD is a mental health condition induced by the pandemic. While it is not yet officially recognised, many experts believe it should be.
- Mr Rayner added: ''Everyone has heard of PTSD but we really urgently need to get our heads around PPSD.
- ''The pandemic and the resulting lockdowns it's brought have had a massive effect on the mental health of the whole nation.''
- Research suggests that patients with symptoms of depression are at 64 per cent greater risk of developing coronary artery disease and 59 per cent more likely to have a future adverse cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or cardiac death.
- Heart and circulatory diseases account for a quarter of all deaths in the UK - equating to more than 160,000 deaths each year.
- Figures show there are around 7.6 million people living with a heart or circulatory disease in the UK.
- Jussie Smollett trial: Prosecution rests after brothers testify the actor directed them to carry out a fake racist and anti-gay attack - CNN
- By Omar Jimenez, Eric Levenson and Bill Kirkos, CNN
- Updated 11:00 PM EST, Thu December 02, 2021
- (CNN) Two brothers testified in court over the past two days that "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett directed them to carry out a fake hate crime while pretending to be Donald Trump supporters in an attempt to get media attention.
- Abimbola "Bola" Osundairo and his brother Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo provided critical testimony on Wednesday and Thursday in Smollett's criminal trial on charges that he staged the attack and falsely reported it to police.
- The prosecution rested Thursday evening after three days of testimony in which it called seven witnesses, including the brothers.
- Ola Osundairo told jurors that Smollett "had this crazy idea of having two MAGA supporters attack him," and that he wanted "to put that on social media."
- "Mr. Smollett asked you to fake attack him?" Deputy Special Prosecutor Sam Mendenhall asked.
- "Yes," Ola Osundairo responded.
- "Pretending to be Trump supporters?" Mendenhall continued.
- "Yes," Ola Osundairo said.
- "So he could then post it on social media?" the prosecutor continued.
- "Yes," Ola Osundairo answered.
- He said that Bola was tasked with hitting Smollett, while Smollett wanted Ola to put a noose around his neck and pour gasoline on him. They ultimately changed gasoline to bleach because, Ola Osundairo said, "I wasn't comfortable pouring gasoline on somebody."
- Smollett, who is Black and gay, has said two men struck him, yelled anti-gay and racist remarks, put a noose around his neck and poured bleach on him on a frigid night in Chicago in January 2019. Police initially investigated the incident as a possible hate crime and poured significant resources into solving the case and locating the two men.
- But after interviewing them and finding other evidence, authorities instead determined that Smollett paid the men $3,500 to stage the hate crime against him so he could get publicity and a career boost.
- Smollett has pleaded not guilty to six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly making false reports to police that he was a victim of a hate crime. His defense attorney said in opening statements he is a real victim and the men saw the actor as a "mark" or "target."
- Thursday's session got heated and defense attorneys called for a mistrial. One of the lawyers alleged Judge James Linn lunged at her, and another said the judge was making facial expressions.
- It began when the judge interjected as attorney Tamara Walker repeatedly pressed Ola Osundairo on his use of homophobic words, such as when he referred to a musician friend as a "fruity ass." Linn angrily instructed Walker to move on from her line of "collateral" questioning.
- The defense has suggested during the trial that homophobia may have been a motive in a real hate crime attack that night.
- In a heated exchange, Walker asked the judge for a sidebar, which he denied at first. After the defense for a second time requested a meeting outside of earshot of the jury, Linn sent the panel out of the room.
- Walker and her defense team requested a mistrial.
- As the exchange between the judge and the defense quickly escalated, Walker became emotional, at one point sobbing as she paced around a table, claiming Linn was not allowing her to continue a line of questioning that was critical to the defense's case.
- Walker also claimed Linn lunged at her while at the sidebar, something Linn vehemently denied.
- "When you said the word mistrial, and I know you have some pressures here, I'm stunned that you would consider a mistrial," Linn said. "Ms. Walker, there were objections that had to be sustained and I was trying to get back on point."
- "Just because you think you were allowed to go one way, we're all just doing our jobs," Linn told Walker.
- "There will be no mistrial," he told the stunned courtroom.
- Defense attorney Heather Widell also addressed the judge, stating, "I would also like to go on the record that there are facial objections coming from the bench when there are objections."
- "You're great at facial expressions," Linn shot back.
- Court ended Thursday night after the defense calling its own witnesses.
- Defense sharply questions Bola OsundairoThe brothers delivered the core testimony of the case, stating plainly that the attack was always intended to be fake.
- Bola Osundairo was the first of the two brothers to testify, speaking in court on Wednesday and Thursday. He told the court that Smollett "wanted me to fake beat him up," and he agreed to do so because he felt indebted to the actor.
- "I believed he could help further my acting career," Osundairo testified. "He told me that we would need another person to fake beat him up. He mentioned could my brother do it. I said yes."
- The actor directed them to say "Empire, f****t, n***er, MAGA," fake punch him, pour bleach on him and then run away, he testified.
- "Who was in charge of this thing?" Webb asked.
- "Jussie was," Bola Osundairo told the jury.
- The man also said Smollett first explained the plan to him in a car where Smollett was smoking marijuana.
- "Even though he's smoking you still think he's serious?" asked defense attorney Shay Allen.
- "He sounded serious," Bola Osundairo responded.
- Osundairo said Smollett "wanted to use the fake attack or camera footage for media." He testified that while he didn't expect payment for helping Smollett stage the attack, the actor still gave him a check for $3,500.
- In cross-examination, Allen accused Bola Osundairo of having a desire to work security for Smollett and that it became a growing point of tension. Osundairo testified he didn't remember.
- "You attacked Jussie because you wanted to scare him into hiring you," accused Allen, to which Osundairo responded, "No."
- However, special prosecutor Dan Webb asked whether Smollett ever talked about security at all while this "fake attack" was being hatched and Osundairo responded, "No."
- Testimony grew tense at times as Allen asked whether Bola Osundairo had a sexual relationship with Smollett, which he denied, and how he could not have expected the police to get involved if the media attention on the story grew, as Smollett allegedly planned.
- "I wasn't thinking," Bola Osundairo said.
- "We finally agree on something," Allen responded.
- During re-direct examination, Webb honed in on the timing of the alleged hoax on one of the coldest nights in Chicago. "If you had not had advanced discussions with Jussie Smollett how would you know where he would be at 2 a.m. in a polar vortex?"
- "I wouldn't," Osundairo responded.
- Later, Ola Osundairo testified the brothers had at one point contemplated leaving if the actor didn't show up.
- "It was super cold that night. I was freezing the whole time we were out there," he said. "My brother saw him and that's when we continued to approach him."
- Osundairo said that's when he put the rope over Smollett's head and poured bleach on him, while trying not to get bleach on Smollett's face to avoid injuring the actor.
- Defense witness says Smollett sounded panickedThe first witness called by the defense described what he heard as he talked to Smollett during the encounter.
- Brandon Moore, Smollett's former music manager, said he heard "something something MAGA country," then what sounded like scuffling.
- "Jussie said, 'Yo, I just got jumped,' " Moore told the court.
- Smollett sounded panicked and out of breath, Moore testified.
- During cross-examination, deputy special prosecutor Sean Wieber pointed out, "You couldn't see how hard the punches landed," and "you did not witness what happened to Mr. Smollett," to which Moore responded, "Correct."
- The defense also called an emergency medicine physician who examined Smollett after the alleged attack and Smollett's publicist at the time, Pamela Sharp.
- The prosecution said in its opening statement that Smollett orchestrated the attack for publicity and a career boost. Sharp testified that Smollett earned between $100,000 and $125,000 per episode -- about $2 million for a season.
- The judge ended the day by telling jurors not to come back until Monday, when they might hear closing arguments and begin deliberating.
- CNN's Omar Jimenez and Bill Kirkos reported from Chicago and CNN's Eric Levenson reported and wrote from New York. CNN's Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
- Buried In Biden's Infrastructure Bill Is A Mandatory Backdoor Kill Switch For Your Car | HotHardware
- Remember that 2700-page, $1 trillion dollar infrastructure bill that the US government passed back in August? Well, have you read it? Of course we're joking -- we know you haven't read it. Most of the legislators who voted on it probably haven't either. Some folks have, though, and they're finding some pretty alarming things buried in that bill.
- One of the most concerning things we've heard so far is the revelation that this "infrastructure" bill includes a measure mandating vehicle
- backdoor kill-switches in every car by 2026. The clause is intended to increase vehicle safety by "passively monitoring the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired," and if that sentence doesn't make your hair stand on end, you're not thinking about the implications.
- Let us spell it out for you: by 2026, vehicles sold in the US will be required to automatically and silently record various metrics of driver performance, and then make a decision, absent any human oversight, whether the owner will be allowed to use their own vehicle. Even worse, the measure goes on to require that the system be "open" to remote access by "authorized" third parties at any time.
- The passage in the bill was unearthed by former Georgia Representative Bob Barr, writing over at the
- Daily Caller. Barr notes correctly that this is a privacy disaster in the making. Not only does it make every vehicle a potential tattletale (possibly reporting minor traffic infractions, like slight speeding or forgetting your seat-belt, to authorities or insurance companies), but tracking that data also makes it possible for bad actors to retrieve it.
- privacy concerns, though, are the safety issues. Including an automatic kill switch of this sort in a machine with internet access presents the obvious scenario that a malicious agent could disable your vehicle remotely with no warning. Outside that possible-but-admittedly-unlikely idea, there are all kinds of other reasons that someone might need to drive or use their vehicle while "impaired", such as in the case of emergency, or while injured.
- Even if the remote access part of the mandate doesn't come to pass, the measure is still astonishingly short-sighted. As Barr says, "the choice as to whether a vehicle can or cannot be driven ... will rest in the hands of an algorithm over which the car's owner or driver have neither knowledge or control." Barr, a lawyer himself, points out that there are legal issues with this whole concept, too. He anticipates challenges to the measure on both 5th Amendment (right to not self-incriminate) and 6th Amendment (right to face one's accuser) grounds. He also goes on to comment on the vagueness of the legislation. What exactly is "impaired driving"? Every state and many municipalities have differing definitions of "driving while intoxicated."
- Furthermore, there's also no detail in the legislation about who should have access to the data collected by the system. Would police need a warrant to access the recorded data? Would it be available to insurance companies or medical professionals? If someone is late on their car payment, can the lender remotely disable the vehicle? Certainly beyond concerns of who would be allowed official access, there's also once again the ever-present fear of hackers gaining access to the data'--which security professionals well know, absolutely will happen, sooner or later. As Barr says, the collected data would be a treasure trove of data to "all manner of entities ... none of which have our best interests at heart."
- ALL CLIPS
- VIDEO - ITM for Adam from rwanda where goat wear masks
- 1m57sCDC recommends vaccinated people wear masks indoors where virus is surgingWXYZ
- VIDEO - (19) DC Capital ðºð¸ on Twitter: "Alex Jones has @LegendaryEnergy energy." / Twitter
- DC Capital ðºð¸ : Alex Jones has @LegendaryEnergy energy. https://t.co/JMyDzHI5J2
- Sat Dec 04 08:09:05 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - Did omicron pick up common cold mutation? | South Africa | World News | WION | WHO | New Variant - YouTube
- VIDEO - Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call
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- VIDEO - Pod Save America - ''America's Next Top MAGA.'' on Stitcher
- 68 minutes | Dec 2, 2021 ''America's Next Top MAGA.'' Republicans compete to out-crazy each other over Lauren Boebert and vaccine requirements, Law Professor Leah Litman joins to talk about the Supreme Court case that may overturn Roe v. Wade, and Dr. Mehmet Oz shakes up the 2022 midterms by carpetbagging his way into the Pennsylvania Senate race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- VIDEO - Homeless States Per Capita. (And Washington DC) - YouTube
- VIDEO - Vaccine inequality to blame for omicron, says Rockefeller Foundation
- Rajiv Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation
- Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images
- The failure of the wealthiest nations to share Covid-19 vaccines quickly and widely with developing countries is a key reason for the emergence of the new omicron variant, according to Rajiv J. Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.
- South African scientists reported their discovery of the highly mutated variant late last week, though cases have now been identified around the world. Dutch authorities say the variant was already in the Netherlands when South Africa alerted the World Health Organization about it.
- Omicron's plethora of mutations led to the WHO designating it a "variant of concern" and "very high risk," though much remains to be learned in the coming weeks about the severity of symptoms and the variant's ability to evade vaccines and treatments.
- Speaking to CNBC at the Conference de Paris on Tuesday, Shah said the pandemic has highlighted the "tremendous ingenuity and innovation" in the private sector that can be used in public policy. Operation Warp Speed in the U.S. is a "huge success story," he added.
- However, he suggested that the developed world had failed in its two objectives to ensure that such success could be emulated globally.
- "One was to achieve 40% immunization coverage by the end of this year, and the other was to achieve 70% and therefore herd immunity by September of next year. Neither of those is going to be achieved through current efforts," Shah said.
- "And that's exactly why we have this dangerous new variant, disrupting global markets and global economies and lives around the world."
- 'In everybody's national interest'He added that the Rockefeller Foundation's experts have estimated that new variants are six to eight times more likely to come from less developed countries, because slow immunization means viral replication continues to occur at a high rate.
- Several African leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, have accused rich Western nations of hoarding vaccines. Ramaphosa said in a speech over the weekend that the emergence of the omicron variant should be a "wake-up call to the world that vaccine inequality cannot be allowed to continue."
- "Instead of prohibiting travel, the rich countries of the world need to support the efforts of developing economies to access and to manufacture enough vaccine doses for their people without delay," Ramaphosa said.
- A number of countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., moved to restrict travel from South Africa and neighboring countries following the initial report to the WHO '-- a move characterized by Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera on Sunday as fueled by "Afrophobia" rather than science.
- "I frankly wish the companies that are involved here '-- Pfizer, Moderna, and others '-- would do more to make their products available either through partnership with local manufacturers, or through true tiered pricing arrangements that could allow developing countries to access those products on the right terms much faster," Shah told CNBC's Charlotte Reed on Tuesday.
- "It's in everybody's national interest to serve other countries right now."
- VIDEO - The Most Dangerous Conspiracy Theory in the World | Truth Hurts - YouTube
- VIDEO - (5) Luke Rudkowski on Twitter: "Thank you Joe Rogan! https://t.co/afPc2tHzEA" / Twitter
- 0007 : @Lukewearechange Don't be too excited Dana, most of the tests are inaccurate anyway you could easily have never been positive.
- Sun Dec 05 12:21:24 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - (3) Jimmy Kimmel Live on Twitter: "Jimmy has had enough of scumbags attacking Dr. Fauci! #LeaveFauciAlone https://t.co/zlZCCkytG3" / Twitter
- Jimmy Kimmel Live : Jimmy has had enough of scumbags attacking Dr. Fauci! #LeaveFauciAlone https://t.co/zlZCCkytG3
- Wed Dec 01 03:46:08 +0000 2021
- Robi-Ann Doyle : @JimmyKimmelLive https://t.co/y9bqfKTS3l
- Sun Dec 05 12:17:48 +0000 2021
- Robert May : @JimmyKimmelLive Well said Jimmy. Well said. ''¸
- Sun Dec 05 12:17:25 +0000 2021
- Joie de Vivre : @JimmyKimmelLive You are a gift @jimmykimmel !! Thank you!!!
- Sun Dec 05 12:06:49 +0000 2021
- Ellie : @JimmyKimmelLive The puppy killer?
- Sun Dec 05 11:51:46 +0000 2021
- Shibainu shib : @JimmyKimmelLive https://t.co/wnueJolg9t
- Sun Dec 05 11:40:50 +0000 2021
- Earthling : @JimmyKimmelLive If it's true that his agency funded Chinese gain of function tests on Covid in Wuhan and he didn't'... https://t.co/en70pEHK6H
- Sun Dec 05 11:31:32 +0000 2021
- Jaro : @JimmyKimmelLive https://t.co/HdlbwWZhEu
- Sun Dec 05 11:02:18 +0000 2021
- judyðð : @JimmyKimmelLive I was a new nurse when the AIDS epidemic had its beginnings. It was a scary and uncertain time for'... https://t.co/vlRJD95leE
- Sun Dec 05 10:45:15 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - Graphene "razor blades" found in the COVID bio-weapon (Dr. Andreas Noack)
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- VIDEO - Dec 4th. Melbourne protest with time lapse. - YouTube
- VIDEO - Tom Elliott on Twitter: "MSNBC panel worries "Florida Man" and "right-wing extremist" @GovRonDeSantis reincarnating the Fla. State Guard will be used to "shoot looters" or precipitate the kidnapping of a governor https://t.co/XBB8ZeJ9pA" / Twitter
- Tom Elliott : MSNBC panel worries "Florida Man" and "right-wing extremist" @GovRonDeSantis reincarnating the Fla. State Guard wil'... https://t.co/qTEqdosuTa
- Sat Dec 04 16:48:47 +0000 2021
- Teresa Marie ðºð¸ ðºð¸ : @tomselliott @GovRonDeSantis She is a clone of @JoyAnnReid Shame on you @MSNBC this crap reporting. I guess you car'... https://t.co/DU3DS7kJfk
- Sun Dec 05 12:15:00 +0000 2021
- Belle : @tomselliott @GovRonDeSantis Ridiculous MSNBC and most news outlets just want to stir up people they are horrible.'... https://t.co/mjyJZQLlYn
- Sun Dec 05 09:40:18 +0000 2021
- Disabled Dyslexic : @tomselliott @GovRonDeSantis @varadmehta
- Sun Dec 05 09:35:13 +0000 2021
- danteinvest : @tomselliott @GovRonDeSantis It's only 200 volunteers, get a grip
- Sun Dec 05 08:49:25 +0000 2021
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- VIDEO - U.N. Taking Down Private Websites - Domain Level Censorship - YouTube
- VIDEO - DEA warns of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl
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- First published at 05:50 UTC on December 5th, 2021.
- Former DEA special agent in charge Derek Maltz says 'we have a chemical weapon attack that nobody's paying attention to.'#FoxNews #JudgeJeanine
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- VIDEO - Fritz The Cat (1972) (Higher Quality) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
- Can You Chip In?The Internet Archive is growing faster than ever before, and we need your help. As an independent nonprofit, we build and maintain all our own systems, but we don't charge for access, sell user information, or run ads'--instead we're powered by donations averaging $30. Unfortunately, fewer than 1 in 1000 of our patrons donate.
- We don't ask often, but right now, we have a 2-to-1 Matching Gift Campaign, tripling the impact of every donation. If each of our users gave just $3, we could end this fundraiser today'--so if you find all these bits and bytes useful, please pitch in.
- '--Brewster Kahle, Founder, Internet Archive
- VIDEO - DC Capital ðºð¸ on Twitter: "Alex Jones has @LegendaryEnergy energy." / Twitter
- DC Capital ðºð¸ : Alex Jones has @LegendaryEnergy energy. https://t.co/JMyDzHI5J2
- Sat Dec 04 08:09:05 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - PodShow Co-Founder Speaks on Growth of Podcast Industry (VIDEO)
- By Newsy StaffDecember 3, 2021
- Ron Bloom describes the inspiration behind PodShow, the company he co-founded in 2005, and what it has contributed to the booming podcast industry.
- Stitcher and Spotify are common brands for podcast fans in 2021, but before they came into the public lexicon there was PodShow. Former MTV video jockeys Adam Curry and Ron Bloom created it back in 2005.
- Their company was at the forefront of the podcast boom. Bloom tells Newsy he believes it's an "unstoppable" medium for media and content moving forward.
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- VIDEO - (33) Macroaggressions with Charlie Robinson Podcast on Twitter: "This guy is awesome. Someone needs to buy him that beer." / Twitter
- Macroaggressions with Charlie Robinson Podcast : This guy is awesome. Someone needs to buy him that beer. https://t.co/epsYTdpzPT
- Fri Dec 03 22:42:41 +0000 2021
- Dee ð ðClovers for Assange : @macroaggressio3 https://t.co/f55qrSsHWa
- Sat Dec 04 03:58:30 +0000 2021
- Light in the Darkness : @macroaggressio3 Someone start a GoFundMe to get him that beer.
- Sat Dec 04 02:01:48 +0000 2021
- Hotep Kash : @macroaggressio3 Omicron = Moronic ð¤£
- Sat Dec 04 00:10:37 +0000 2021
- Dee ð ðClovers for Assange : @macroaggressio3 I think he might be an interesting person to be interviewed on an outrageous podcast.
- Fri Dec 03 22:47:31 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - Utah senator demands answers from CDC, FDA after hundreds of vaccine patients suffer 'life-altering - YouTube
- VIDEO - Governor Jay Inslee on Twitter: "https://t.co/caXL4vwfAY" / Twitter
- Governor Jay Inslee : https://t.co/caXL4vwfAY
- Thu Dec 02 22:33:11 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - Alec Baldwin Exclusive Interview - Part 1 | ABC News - YouTube
- VIDEO - Gaetz Grills Dem Witness on "White Batch" Vaccines in White Neighborhoods
- WHITE JURORS IN RITTENHOUSE CASE IS "WHITE PRIVILEGE ON STEROIDS"TheStewartAlastairEdition
- VIDEO - Matt Taibbi: Yes, The Deep State Does Exist, And It's LIBERALS Who Are Doing Its Bidding - YouTube
- VIDEO - (8) á'ªá(C)ááá´ ð"¸'ð on Twitter: "Start the day with a Psaki bomb. Doocy will never learn. https://t.co/15qmCbSgOY" / Twitter
- á'ªá(C)ááá´ ð"¸'ð : Start the day with a Psaki bomb. Doocy will never learn. https://t.co/15qmCbSgOY
- Thu Dec 02 16:02:19 +0000 2021
- VIDEO - Inside Australia's Covid internment camp - YouTube
