No Agenda Episode 1367 - "Immunity Debt"

  No Agenda Episode 1367 - "Immunity Debt"
    "Immunity Debt"
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  Credits
    "Immunity Debt"
    Executive Producers:
      Anonymous
      Dame Lydia
      Dame Zephyr
      Sir Robert Slaght
      Roland Thatcher
      Joel Nelson
    Associate Executive Producers:
      Emma Vallette
      Baron Sir Phenom of Iceland
      SIR CAH
      sara wood
      Agnes Roman
      Baron Chris of the Kawartha Highlands and Knight of the Rare Encounter
      Sir Gavin
    Become a member of the 1368 Club, support the show here
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    Title Changes
      Baronet Sir Phenom -> Baron of Iceland
    Knights & Dames
      Lydia Dominelli -> Dame Lydia
      Bryan Klimczak -> Sir Bryan Klimczak (requests Old Style and Malort (The Chicago,Handshake) at the roundtable)
      Nova Fadli -> Sir Gay Ninja
    Art By: Darren O'Neill
    End of Show Mixes: Rolando Gonzalez - Tom Starkweather - UKPMK
    Engineering, Stream Management & Wizardry
      Mark van Dijk - Systems Master
      Ryan Bemrose - Program Director
    Back Office Aric Mackey
    Chapters: Dreb Scott
    Clip Custodian: Neal Jones
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  Cover Art
    Art By: Darren O'Neill
  Shownotes
    Australia
      Strike Force Seasoned launched following Sydney CBD protest
    France
      French hospital goes on INDEFINITE strike to protest Covid-19 vaccination mandate
      The Republican Guard, a security detail established to protect the President of France, have ALL resigned, and will no longer protect President Macron
      vaxpass/France - 70% less movie tickets
    PCR
      CDC PCR Test Change
        "In preparation for this change, CDC recommends clinical laboratories and testing sites that have been using the CDC 2019-nCoV RT-PCR assay select and begin their transition to another FDA-authorized COVID-19 test. CDC encourages laboratories to consider adoption of a multiplexed method that can facilitate detection and differentiation of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses. Such assays can facilitate continued testing for both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 and can save both time and resources as we head into influenza season. Laboratories and testing sites should validate and verify their selected assay within their facility before beginning clinical testing."
        Link
    Mandates
      Covid could be spread through flatulence, say ministers
      Michigan governor to be stripped of emergency powers used for COVID-19 rules
      UK Vax lists being made
        I emailed you last week to highlight that our local Council was trying to get a list of everyone who had not had the jab yet from the local doctors.
        My wife has just told me that other regions are giving out these names already and our county has now agreed to give out the names too.
        They are using the emergency powers the Government granted itself at the start of the pandemic as the unjabbed are deemed a health risk to the general public.
        I am expecting someone to knock on my door in the near future and if I can't fight the urge to slam the door in their face I will try and get some information etc for you.
        Thanks for everything.
      Israel - Natural infection vs vaccination: Which gives more protection?
        Nearly 40% of new COVID patients were vaccinated - compared to just 1% who had been infected previously.
        By contrast, Israelis who were vaccinated were 6.72 times more likely to get infected after the shot than after natural infection, with over 3,000 of the 5,193,499, or 0.0578%, of Israelis who were vaccinated getting infected in the latest wave.
    OTG
      Today’s massive Internet outage comes courtesy of Akamai Edge DNS
      Google pushed a one-character typo to production, bricking Chrome OS devices
      Solar Flares outages?
        On 7/22 when the 30K sites went down, there was a planetary K-index of level 4 (I assume it was a big deal). He is also NOT a 'climate change guy'. He has said the solar flairs and the upcoming 'moon wobble' will play a huge part in flooding in the coming years.
    Green New Deal
      Nashville repost NHTSA recalls 2017-2019 Chevy Bolt
      Electric Busses in CA catch fire
      Germany Flooding - Political BOTG
        I live near the area that the report from thursday's show mentioned. Of course this is being
        politicized to the max, while people affected wait for actual help from politicians instead of
        hearing the same old preachings about the effects of carbon dyoxide. This being an election year
        makes it even worse.
        The so called unprecented floods happened on the same scale in this region in 1804 and 1910. Seems
        like it will take another 100 years for people to get complacent again. They will forget about not
        settling in flooding areas.
        And the state will likely not be setting up floodplains but instead be selling all the beautiful
        but dangerous landscape.
        Of course most people in Germany unaffected by this will eat up all the climate change rhetoric the
        media feeds them. For the rest it sounds like an excuse for what could have been prevented.
        Nils (actually a viscount)
    Variants
      Dystopian Israeli PM
      Snow leopard at San Diego Zoo suspected positive for COVID-19
      Dr Drosten has all the discoveries!
        The German researcher credited for the first COVID test assay has quite an impressive resumé.
        "Previous successes recorded by Prof. Drosten and his research groups include the development of novel Zika virus tests and the development of a standard test for the MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) pathogen, which is now being used worldwide. A BIH Professor and one the co-discoverers of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus in 2003, Prof. Drosten was also responsible for developing and making available the first diagnostic test for SARS. The next few years will see members of the DZIF’s ‘Virus detection and preparedness’ group at Charité continue their efforts to increase our preparedness for the emergence of new viruses."
        Link
      CDC now monitoring ‘over 200 individuals in 27 states’ for monkeypox
      100 Vaccinated Royal Navy Crewmembers Infected With COVID Onboard The HMS Queen Elizabeth Warcraft
      Long Covid vs General Anxiety Disorder
    Pfizer Marketing
      Anti-Pfizer smear campaign 'started by Russian troll factories' to target potential export market countries for the Sputnik V vaccine
      The Hospitalist's record
        The hospitalist Brytney Cobia appeared in a separate news story just before her recent social media post about vaccines. This one was about masks.
        July 21: https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87676
        July 23: https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2020/07/23/covid-doctors
        More scandalously, Brytney's husband, Miles (@neurooruen on Twitter), in a now-deleted tweet, wrote:
        "I can't believe we may have a vaccine released before phase 3 testing in the US. I really can't believe it. Regardless of all the crazy things that have happened, mass vaccine distribution BEFORE PHASE 3 TESTING, is insane to me. We have had one of the most stringent Approval policies of any country in the world... and yet we may be the first to release a vaccine in spite of a lack of phase 3 (not to mention
        Phase 4) testing. It's unlike anything I've ever seen in medicine".
        Archive link for tweet, as it's quite long. It may take some time to load, but it will get there:
        https://twunroll.com/article/1303164376053157893
        Maybe he changed his mind on the vaccine once Orange Man left office.
      Hospitalist
        A Hospitalist is a hospital based doctor that oversees patient care while admitted. They are similar to a Family Medicine doctor, and will work with your Primary Care Physician and any specialists needed (i.e. cardiologist, neurologist). If you get admitted from the Emergency Room, the first Doctor you meet after being moved upstairs will most likely be a Hospitalist.
        Most likely, your Primary Care Physician (the Doctor that gives you your annual Finger of Doom) will never go on rounds and visit you during your stay.
        If someone claiming to be a Hospitalist tells you about trends they are seeing in hospital care, they would be a credible source.
        I don’t work in health care, I’ve just made a lot of trips to the hospital with my parents lately.
        Producer Paul
        Even made NL news
        During the period she was there as reported, max 3 deaths
    Credit Karma
      Credit Karma example
        Hey there and ITM. One of my co-workers has the credit carma pay app. She bought food for us at work as she is the manager and is reimbursed through the company when she does. Her order for breakfast was picked at random as Credit Karma does, to be completly reimbursed. I think she paid about $60 dollars and Credit Karma sent her a message saying "we paid for your purchase". She got the entire amount refunded to her. They do this at random and from what I hear no one knows if there is a limit on how much a charge will be covered. I'm sure there is. .. but, Heck, I may just download it and go buy a car and cross my fingers. Just kidding. I'd never let that crap on my phone.
    Freedom Pass
      UK government plans to launch surveillance of Brits’ shopping & exercise habits through app in fight against obesity
      “No green pass!” Vax Passport ITALY
      Covid test recommendation Texas Urgent Care: continuing tactical aversion of other humanoids
      Prayers for covid-19
        A Prayer for Receiving the COVID Vaccine
        I have been praying for this day and now it is here!
        With great excitement, a touch of trepidation
        And with deep gratitude
        I give thanks
        To all the scientists who toiled day and night
        So that I might receive this tiny vaccination
        That will protect me and all souls around this world.
        With the pandemic still raging
        I am blessed to do my part to defeat it.
        Let this be the beginning of a new day,
        A new time of hope, of joy, of freedom
        And most of all, of health.
        I thank You, God, for blessing me with life
        For sustaining my life
        And for enabling me to reach this awe-filled moment.
        Amen
        Link
    Haiti
      Kirby Haiti Q&A
        Q: Hi. Thank you.
        My question has to do with the assassination in Haiti and the DOD's statement that some of the suspected people involved had received training from the U.S. military. Has there been anything in addition that the Defense Department has learned about potentially how many people, what -- what kind of training, things like that? And also, are those -- is that discovery and what happened in Haiti prompting the DOD to perhaps reevaluate or reconsider how it trains foreign militaries, or how it vets those who participate?
        MR. KIRBY: So I think what we can confirm is thus far, we've identified seven individuals who were former members of the Colombian military that had received some sort of training and education, U.S.-funded and provided education and training. Some of it was under State Department funding and authorities, and some of -- some of the training was under DOD, Department of Defense-funded training.
        But to you give an example of some of them that we've identified -- and -- and this isn't by individual. I'm not going to get into speaking to individuals, but cadet leadership development, counter-drug operations, noncommissioned officer professional development, small-unit leadership training, human rights training, emergency medical training, some helicopter maintenance training and those kinds of things -- all things that are very common. We train thousands of individuals, particularly from militaries in the Western hemisphere over the -- over the course of a given year, all training that is basic military and leadership training, as I just cited. And those examples I gave are actual examples of training we know that these seven individuals got -- nothing, certainly, related at all -- or -- or that one could extrapolate, you know, as leading to or encouraging of what happened in -- in Haiti. And I know of no plans right now, as a result of what happened in Haiti, for us to reconsider or to change this very valuable, ethical leadership training that we continue to provide to -- to partners in the Western hemisphere and to partners around the world.
        Q: Is it correct that some of them were -- were trained at Fort Polk, or were some people trained elsewhere, or --
        MR. KIRBY: I don't have the details of exactly where all this training went. You're talking about seven individuals over the course of their time in the -- in the Colombian military, and I just, I don't have the details of every base at which every training seminar was held, and frankly, I'm not really sure the relevance of that level of detail anyway.
        Q: But no changes in the works.
        MR. KIRBY: Sylvie?
      Pentagon admits it trained SEVEN of Haiti president’s murderers, but denies ‘encouraging’ assassination
    Olympics
      Jon Rahm Tests Positive for Covid-19, for the SECOND time in two months AFTER being fully vaccinated,
      China seethes at NBC for showing 'incomplete' map missing Taiwan during Olympic opening ceremony
    Cuomo
      DOJ drops investigations into Michigan, Pennsylvania, & New York nursing home Covid-19 deaths
    Biden
      CNN Biden town hall loses out to Fox News, MSNBC in ratings
        Deadline, citing Nielsen ratings, reported that CNN pulled in an average of 1.46 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., when the president was on stage in Cincinnati. That’s a 58 percent drop in viewership from the previous CNN town hall with Biden this past February, which drew 3.5 million viewers.
        Over the same 75-minute period Wednesday, Fox drew an average of 2.76 million viewers for “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and the first part of “Hannity.” The latter program featured a town hall with Florida Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez discussing the ongoing pro-freedom protests in Cuba.
        Link
    Noodle Gun
      Ford and GM replace 'chairman' title with gender-neutral 'chair'
    Supply Chains
      Restaurant Supply Chain issues
        Hey Adam. Just wanted to give you a quick heads up about things going on in the supply chain in the bar industry. I'm being told by my liquor reps that a particular brand of alcohol is not able to send out any of their product because they have no bottles to put it in.
        I noticed that another similar brand that provides similar products, puckers and flavored cordials, is now also not delivering product though I haven't gotten confirmation that THAT company is in the same boat.
        It's interesting to note that 2 months ago I couldn't get any of a particular popular beer delivered for a week because they also had a bottle shortage. No, it was not Pabst Blue Ribbon. Other items in the restaurant industry like glasses,
        silverware, and large pieces of equipment are also damn near impossible to find.
    Jerks in Space
      FAA changes rules for how it awards astronaut wings
    BTC
      Cash Will Soon Be Obsolete. Will America Be Ready? - The New York Times
        A central-bank digital currency can also be a useful policy tool. Typically, if the Federal Reserve wants to stimulate consumption and investment, it can cut interest rates and make cheap credit available. But if the economy is cratering and the Fed has already cut the short-term interest rate it controls to near zero, its options are limited. If cash were replaced with a digital dollar, however, the Fed could impose a negative interest rate by gradually shrinking the electronic balances in everyone’s digital currency accounts, creating an incentive for consumers to spend and for companies to invest.
        Link
      Ransomware key to unlock customer data from REvil attack
      Britcoin!
    Real News
      Woman holding her dog leaps to her death from 46-story building in New York's Hell's Kitchen
    STORIES
      Frequently Asked Questions '' Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 20:47
        What is a Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record?Your Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record is an electronic vaccination record drawn from the data stored in the California immunization registry. The digital record shows the same information as your paper CDC vaccine card: your name, date of birth, vaccination dates and type of vaccine you received. The digital record also includes a QR code that when scanned by a SMART Health Card reader will display to the reader your name, date of birth, vaccine dates and vaccine type. The QR code also confirms the vaccine record as an official record of the state of California.
        How does the Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record portal work?The Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record portal draws COVID-19 records from California's immunization systems. Enter your name, date of birth, and an email or mobile phone number associated with your vaccination record, then create a four-digit PIN. If the information you submitted matches the official record, you will receive a text or email with a link to your Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record. Enter the PIN you created to view the record.
        How will my vaccine record be delivered?When your vaccination record is found, you will receive a link delivered to the email or mobile phone number associated with the vaccination record. After entering your four-digit PIN, you will see your COVID-19 vaccination information including your name, date of birth, vaccination date(s), and vaccine manufacturer. You will also receive a scannable QR code confirming your vaccine record is authentic.
        If my record is found, how do I retrieve it?When your vaccination record is found, you will receive a link delivered to the email or mobile phone number associated with the vaccination record. You have 24 hours to access the link and enter your four-digit PIN to retrieve your Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record. Once saved to the phone or in an app, your digital vaccine record does not expire. If your link to retrieve your record expires, you can start over at Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record.
        What if my record is not found?If the information you submitted does not return a link, you can re-enter your information making sure to use an email or phone associated with your vaccine record, and double check that your name and birthdate are correct. If your record still isn't found, you may need to correct or update your immunization record. Contact your provider to update your record or follow the troubleshooting tips at cdph.ca.gov/covidvaccinerecord. If you received your vaccinations from a federal agency (e.g., Department of Defense, Indian Health Services, or Veterans Affairs), you will need to reach out to those agencies for assistance with your vaccination.
        What if my digital vaccine record is incorrect?If the information on your digital vaccine record is not correct, for instance missing a dose or the wrong dates or brand, you may need to correct or update your immunization record. Contact your provider to update your record or follow the troubleshooting tips at cdph.ca.gov/covidvaccinerecord.
        What if I made multiple vaccination appointments for multiple people with a single phone number?If you are a parent or guardian and have created multiple appointments with a single phone number or email, enter the requests one at a time to receive separate links for each vaccine record.
        Will my information remain private?Yes. Filling out the form on the portal does not provide instant access to your vaccine record. The link to the vaccine record requires a PIN that you create and is sent only to the mobile phone or email that is associated with your immunization record.
        The QR code is a SMART Health Card, a secure copy of your vaccination record. More information is at https://smarthealth.cards. To protect your privacy, the QR code can only be scanned and read by a SMART Health Card-compliant device.
        What happens to my information after I share it?Your Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record shows the same information as your paper CDC vaccine card. You can ask organizations that will scan the QR code in your Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record how they will use your data or if they will keep it. Only you can decide how and when to share your record.
        What if I need to replace my vaccination card?The portal provides a digital copy of your vaccine record. If you've lost your paper vaccine card, you may print out your digital record and use it. If you lose your Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record, you can start the process over at the Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record portal.
        Is this a vaccine passport?No. You are not required to obtain a Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record. It is an optional means to obtain your COVID-19 vaccine information, and is the digital version of your paper vaccine card. It is one of the options to show proof of vaccination. The State will not be implementing a mandatory passport system in California.
        Please click here for more information about general COVID-19 vaccine record guidelines and standards in California.
        Can I save my digital vaccine record on an Android device?Yes. You can save your digital vaccine record to Google Pay if you have Android version 5 and Google Play Services version 21.18 or above.
        You can also take a screen shot of your Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record and save it to your camera roll.
        Can I save my digital vaccine record on an iPhone?Yes. You can save your Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record on your iPhone by taking a screenshot and saving to your camera roll.
      Research reveals Beijing's response to SARS created template for Covid deception, writes IAN BIRRELL | Daily Mail Online
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 12:58
        Towards the end of 2002, several chefs and animal traders in the southern Chinese coastal province of Guangdong fell ill with a strange respiratory disease that left them coughing, feverish and struggling to breathe.
        Several worked in restaurants that slaughtered animals on the spot for diners, another supplied such creatures for them, and a third sold snakes in the squalid local market filled with stacked cages. This mysterious disease alarmed doctors, since it was clearly highly infectious. After the snake seller died, his wife and some medical staff who treated him fell sick, while at least two of the chefs triggered outbreaks in other nearby hospitals.
        These events marked the start of the global epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) '' a deadly new coronavirus almost certainly from bats that infected thousands of people in 30 countries, including four in Britain.
        Towards the end of 2002, several chefs and animal traders in the southern Chinese coastal province of Guangdong fell ill with a strange respiratory disease that left them coughing, feverish and struggling to breathe
        Fortunately, despite its lethal virulence and frightening impact on older people, there were just 774 fatalities worldwide and the outbreak was stifled in months. This was a warning to the world, a narrow escape from global health catastrophe that showed the dangers of a new pathogen '' yet it went unheeded, with terrible consequences almost two decades later. It also exposed, with unnerving familiarity in light of recent events, the reaction of a Communist regime that lied about the disease, silenced doctors, covered up data, duped global health authorities and blamed outsiders for a 'bioterrorist' attack.
        The disease flared up again briefly the following year after leaks at a flagship Chinese state-run laboratory, following two other incidents of infection in high-security research centres in Taiwan and Singapore. Little wonder the World Health Organisation warned that 'these laboratories represent the greatest threat for renewed SARS-CoV transmission'. Now the stark similarities between Beijing's sinister response to the two outbreaks are highlighted in a damning new paper published in CBRNe World, a journal for specialists in biological, chemical and nuclear threats.
        Milton Leitenberg, senior researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, argues that SARS taught China it could 'mislead, misinform and manipulate' health authorities with few consequences. He said this lesson was reinforced by the subsequent laboratory infection outbreaks '' and then applied in the pandemic 'in an aggressive and bravura style' with 'a massive campaign of denial, cover-up, diversions, delay and disinformation'.
        Intriguingly, China instantly blamed the latest coronavirus on an animal market in Wuhan '' backed by a scientific establishment insisting on natural 'spillover' from animals rather than anything untoward in a lab '' until this was disproven.
        These events marked the start of the global epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) '' a deadly new coronavirus almost certainly from bats that infected thousands of people in 30 countries, including four in Britain
        So what happened in that first SARS outbreak?
        The first case was traced to a patient in Foshan on November 16, 2002. This city '' unlike Wuhan '' is located in a region notorious for exotic cuisine. As cases multiplied, many with links to the animal trade, there were clear signs of human transmission as family members and medics fell ill. Health officials warned about a new, pneumonia-like disease.
        Yet the Communist Party response was to stifle information '' and it took another three-and-a-half months before China finally confessed to an epidemic that was by then spreading death and disease around the world.
        Beijing sent experts to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, to investigate on January 20, 2003 '' but their report filed a week later was marked 'Top secret' and not shared with the World Health Organisation.
        Party chiefs imposed a news blackout amid New Year festivities '' but China was a much less controlled society back then, so rumours spread. One text message warning of 'fatal flu' was shared 126 million times in three days.
        After the stories were picked up in Hong Kong newspapers, the WHO demanded answers. The government admitted there was a disease but insisted it was under control. Several days later, officials claimed the virus was caused by chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection. Yet the epidemic was intensifying, hitting health workers hard, with more than 400 falling sick in Guangzhou alone. Sales of a vinegar thought to protect against the disease rocketed.
        Beijing rebuffed outside offers of help '' just as it was to with Covid-19 '' and on February 23 the WHO reported that China's health authorities had declared the outbreak in Guangdong to be over.
        Yet two days earlier, a lung specialist treating patients in a Guangzhou hospital travelled by bus to Hong Kong for a wedding '' and his brief stay in a hotel infected travellers from Canada, Singapore, the US and Vietnam staying on the same floor.
        Now this disease was unleashed on the planet, with more than 4,000 cases later traced to this doctor's one-night visit that passed the virus to 14 of his fellow guests.
        One Hong Kong resident who fell sick infected more than 100 staff at a big teaching hospital. A woman from Singapore sparked 90 cases after going home. A Canadian mother died a few days later in Toronto after infecting her son and several medics. One week after the Canadian woman's death, the WHO ignored China to proclaim a global alert '' and two weeks later, on March 25, issued an emergency air travel advisory notice for the first time in its 55-year history.
        The same day, an infected woman flew home to Britain from Singapore and was admitted a week later to a Manchester hospital. Three other Britons were treated in London before being discharged.
        The disease was named SARS, with Covid later added to give the designation SARS-CoV '' just as the successor disease that emerged in Wuhan is called SARS-CoV-2. China finally admitted the virus had spread outside Guangdong at the end of March 2003 but blamed Hong Kong for being the source '' just as it made more phoney claims against Thailand over a flare-up in Beijing.
        Party chiefs imposed a news blackout amid New Year festivities '' but China was a much less controlled society back then, so rumours spread. One text message warning of 'fatal flu' was shared 126 million times in three days
        Days later, the government declared again the disease had 'already been brought under control'. Eventually it allowed in a team of WHO investigators. But officials prevented them from travelling to the outbreak's centre for eight days, failed to supply promised samples and refused to let them visit sick people in Beijing hospitals. Then, after granting access, they hid patients to dupe WHO about the number of cases.
        Susan Jakes, editor of the online ChinaFile magazine, was then Time magazine's correspondent in the country. 'Doctors told me they were ordered to remove patients from three hospitals when the WHO inspectors came,' she recalled. 'In one they were driven around in ambulances for hours. In another, they were put in a basement.'
        Little wonder many doctors were left infuriated by such deception given the gravity of the situation, as scores of colleagues fell ill.
        'Beijing's doctors listened to the politicians so they didn't demand facemasks, goggles or gloves,' said one virologist. 'They believed the propaganda.'
        After the health minister claimed there had been just 12 cases and three deaths in Beijing, one brave whistleblowing doctor from a military hospital contacted Jakes to expose the truth.
        Jiang Yanyong told her that medics were angry since there were 60 SARS patients and seven deaths at one military hospital alone. 'I couldn't believe what I was hearing,' he said. 'I have a responsibility to aid international and local efforts to prevent the spread of SARS.' Is this why China under ruthless President Xi Jinping clamped down so quickly on those doctors in Wuhan trying to warn of Covid-19 and then expelled journalists from US and Australian news organisations last year?
        China finally admitted the virus had spread outside Guangdong at the end of March 2003 but blamed Hong Kong for being the source '' just as it made more phoney claims against Thailand over a flare-up in Beijing. Pictured: A mural depicting medical workers battling SARS in Beijing
        BBC journalist John Sudworth was also driven out of the country four months ago after attempting to investigate a mine that was frequently visited by coronavirus researchers at Wuhan Institute of Virology to collect samples from bats. At least in 2003, the WHO, led by former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, was forceful after duplicitous reports emerged '' in sharp contrast to its supine stance in this pandemic under Ethiopian director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
        Back then it accused China of misleading the public and lying about the number of cases in unusually blunt language for a UN body. 'Next time something strange and new comes anywhere in the world, let us come in as quickly as possible,' demanded Brundtland.
        This pressure from doctors and the WHO forced China to take action. The country's then president, Hu Jintao, ordered officials to stop under-reporting data, the health minister was sacked and the government admitted to tenfold more cases. Within three months the global outbreak was contained after imposition of new measures such as travel restrictions, thermal scanners at airports, quarantine, contact-tracing and mask-wearing in the worst afflicted places. 'I don't think we've seen anything like this before,' Balaji Sadasivan, a doctor and health minister in Singapore, told the New York Times. 'This is a battle being fought with the thermometer and quarantine.'
        The epidemic ended with 8,098 confirmed cases and 774 deaths. This was a lucky escape since SARS is much deadlier than Covid-19 '' but its symptoms become apparent before people start spreading the disease, unlike its successor. Even before the SARS epidemic ended, scientists identified that the virus was carried by civet cats '' one of the key ingredients, along with shredded snake and chrysanthemum petals, in a popular Guangdong soup.
        Curiously, researchers have been unable to detect any animal host that might have transmitted SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans in the pandemic, despite intensive efforts that include tests on more than 80,000 samples.
        Over subsequent months, there were a series of incidents involving SARS in labs that nearly sparked a second wave, exposing both safety concerns at high-security research units and China's toxic obsession with secrecy. The first was minor and involved a student in Singapore. The second was more serious, taking place in a top-security military lab in Taiwan equipped '' as is Wuhan Institute of Virology '' by France. More than 90 people had to quarantine.
        Between February and April 2004, there were at least four primary infections due to sloppy practices at Chinese labs that led to 11 confirmed cases, including a nurse treating patients, and almost 1,000 people were put in quarantine. These began at an Institute of Virology lab run by the Chinese Center for Disease and Control (CCDC), which was then the country's leading viral research centre before the institute in Wuhan started its operations.
        The first two cases were never officially disclosed, emerging only after revelations by Chinese investigative journalists. Eventually the WHO sent in a team, though it didn't deliver a report, unlike after the earlier incidents in Singapore and Taiwan.
        The systemic failures, which included a fridge containing SARS samples moved into a corridor outside a lab to make space, led to several senior figures being given 'administrative sanctions'. They included CCDC deputy director Dong Xiaoping, who is now joint director, and a top Communist Party official who even joined the first WHO study team into the pandemic origins in February 2020. Later, the body declared a lab leak to be 'extremely unlikely'.
        Six years ago, the Chinese army published a book claiming SARS was created in a lab outside China, similar to how its officials now suggest a US military research centre as a source of this pandemic.
        'We thought SARS would be a watershed for handling disease and they would learn the lessons of transparency,' said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow at the US Council on Foreign Relations. 'But the pattern was no different, with cover-up, denials and inaction after the outbreak in Wuhan.'
        He is right. There are many uncomfortable parallels between these two outbreaks, even down to the time of year they emerged and local officials fearing the implications of actions that might disrupt party conventions or public holidays '' though only one can be definitively blamed on wild animals.
        'Dictatorships breed dishonesty because everyone is afraid of what a mistake could cost,' said Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. 'Today in China it is no different '' but this time we're all paying the price.'
      Ford and GM replace 'chairman' title with gender-neutral 'chair'
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 12:56
        Bill Ford, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board for Ford Motor Company.
        Geoff Robins | AFP | Getty Images
        DETROIT '-- Ford Motor Company's Bill Ford is no longer chairman of the automaker's board of directors, but he's still running the show.
        The automaker's board voted last week to amend Ford's bylaws to "adopt gender-neutral language throughout, including the title 'chair' in place of 'chairman,'" according to a recent regulatory filing.
        Bill Ford's new title is simply "chair."
        The changes, which took effect immediately, are a pretty big step for the historically male-dominated auto industry. They come after large swaths of corporate America have promised employees and investors that they will be more inclusive and focus on diversity efforts following social unrest in the wake of the #MeToo movement and George Floyd's murder last year.
        "Our roles at Ford aren't gender exclusive and these changes help limit ambiguity and contribute to the inclusive and equitable culture we're creating," Ford spokeswoman Marisa Bradley said in an emailed statement.
        A spokesman for General Motors said Monday it removed the "chairman" title from CEO Mary Barra in exchange for "chair" in May. He said GM did not change its bylaws but made the changes internally and to the company's website.
        Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, leaves after a meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. June 16, 2021.
        Carlos Barria | Reuters
        "Mary Barra's title adjustment from Chairman and CEO to Chair and CEO is just one of many changes at General Motors in our journey to be the most inclusive company in the world," David Barnas, a company spokesman, said in an emailed statement.
        Barra adopted the "chairman" title when she began leading the automaker's board in January 2016. She is the first female CEO and chair of any major automaker.
        JPMorgan Chase & Co. made headlines earlier this year by erasing gender designations from its bylaws as well.
      California Gives Female Inmates Condoms, Plan B After State Forces Them To Stay With Transgenders | The Daily Wire
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 12:55
        The state of California is reportedly offering contraceptives '-- including Plan B '-- to female inmates forced to stay with men identifying as ''transgender.''
        As The Daily Wire reported last September, inmates in California are now housed according to their self-proclaimed gender identity. SB 132 '-- signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) '-- states that prison officers must privately ask inmates in the intake process if they identify as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex. Inmates can then request a move to the facility that houses other inmates in line with their preferred identity.
        The Women's Liberation Front '-- a left-wing feminist organization that opposes gender identity legislation due to its negative effects upon women and children '-- revealed that corrections facilities are now offering contraceptives as a result of the policy:
        Women incarcerated in California's largest women's prison are describing the conditions as ''a nightmare's worst nightmare'' after the introduction of new pregnancy resources in the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) medical clinics. The new resources are a tacit admission by officials that women should expect to be raped when housed in prison with men, where all sex is considered non-consensual by default within the system.
        New posters recently appeared in medical rooms outlining the options available to ''pregnant people'' in prison, including prenatal care, abortion, and adoption. The poster also declares that women have the right to ''contraceptive counseling and your choice of birth control methods by a licensed health care provider within 60-180 days prior to scheduled release date.'' However, the only methods available to incarcerated women to prevent pregnancy are condoms, which appeared shortly after the men, and Plan B emergency contraceptives.
        Though it mainly seeks to prevent ovulation, Plan B can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg to the uterus, thereby ending a preborn baby's life.
        Before the prison bill passed in September, pregnancies among incarcerated women were ''vanishingly rare'' in California women's prisons, according to the Women's Liberation Front. Inmates who enter prison while pregnant are usually held in separate facilities until they give birth.
        As The Los Angeles Times reported in April, hundreds of male inmates have asked to be relocated to females' facilities:
        The demand has been high, with 261 requests for transfers since SB 132 took effect Jan. 1, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It's the start of a hugely sensitive operation playing out in one of the largest prison systems in the country.
        So far, the prison system has transferred four inmates to the Chowchilla women's prison, approved 21 gender-based housing requests and denied none. Of the 261 requests, all but six asked to be housed at a women's facility.
        One inmate told The Los Angeles Times that staffers have been preparing for the reality of pregnancies following the law's passage: ''They say we're going to need a facility that's going to be like a maternity ward. They say we're going to have an inmate program where inmates become nannies.''
        The Daily Wire is one of America's fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member .
      The vaccine may well have saved my life: PIERS MORGAN reveals he caught Covid at Euros final | Daily Mail Online
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 12:30
        SUNDAY, JULY 11
        To Wembley Stadium for the Euros final between England and Italy. 'Is this wise?' asked my wife Celia as I headed off sporting a St George's flag waistcoat.
        'Football's coming home!' I roared back defiantly. 'We haven't reached a final since I was 16 months old '' I have to be there.'
        'Well so long as Covid isn't coming home too,' she sighed, wearily.
        'It's Covid-safe and well regulated,' I insisted. 'Everyone there has to produce proof of being fully vaccinated like me or having had a negative lateral flow test in the past 48 hours.'
        As I said this, our TV was showing live footage from Wembley which already looked like total chaos, with reports of tens of thousands of ticketless fans being on the lash since 6am.
        'Doesn't look very safe to me,' Celia observed '' correctly as it turned out.
        Unlike the previous two England games I'd been to during the tournament '' against Scotland in the group stage and Denmark in the semi-final '' there was a highly volatile and chaotic atmosphere all around the area.
        By the time I arrived with my three sons around 5.30pm, Wembley Way was a cannabis-stinking, beer-sodden, seething, brawling, chanting, tinderbox.
        I've been to enough football matches over the past 45 years to know when things are likely to 'kick off' in a way that doesn't involve a ball and this was definitely one of them. And for the first time, I'd be right down the front among the hardcore fans in the regular stands, not in a cosy hospitality box.
        When we arrived at the first security barrier, it was complete mayhem as scores of drunken, aggressive, ticketless yobs tried to charge through. It was not a situation where having a recognisable face was a massive bonus.
        A guy suddenly appeared at my side and said: 'Need some help, Piers?'
        Piers said: ''It's Covid-safe and well regulated,' I insisted. 'Everyone there has to produce proof of being fully vaccinated like me or having had a negative lateral flow test in the past 48 hours'
        Before I could reply, he marched up to a steward on the other side of the barrier and said: 'I'm Mr Morgan's security guard and concerned for his safety '' OK if he and his family come in here?'
        The harassed steward clocked me, instantly replied 'Yes', opened the metal gate and ushered us through without checking whether we had tickets or a valid Covid status.
        As he did so, my 'bodyguard' bustled through too with his mate, their arms protectively around us. Then they both ran off laughing. They didn't give a damn about my safety '' they'd used me to get in without tickets or Covid checks.
        When we approached the second security gates, the automated turnstiles to get inside the stadium itself, there was similar carnage. Nobody checked our Covid status and I could see ticketless fans pushing through with people who had tickets and then getting into fights with others inside who'd paid a lot of money to be there and resented those barging in for nothing.
        My confidence that this event would be Covid safe had disintegrated '' it was turning into an unregulated free-for-all.
        Once inside, thankfully things were a bit calmer. A few people came up to me for selfies or a friendly chat (in a bizarre moment, one man said, 'Piers, my Mum's got a granite tile with your face on it! It's on my phone', and then showed me a photo of the tile markings which did indeed resemble me), and I wore a mask for the majority of the time when I wasn't eating or drinking. But here's the entirely unshocking reality: when you drink alcohol, your inhibitions drop.
        'My confidence that this event would be Covid safe had disintegrated '' it was turning into an unregulated free-for-all,' Piers said
        After the third pint, I became less careful and when my comedian friend Jack Whitehall appeared and was promptly asked by two female admirers of mine to take my photo with them, I couldn't resist gleefully posing, without a mask on. I threw my Covid caution to the wind because I was more excited by knowing how mortifying Whitehall would find his new role as my unpaid paparazzi.
        'We're all vaccinated or have tested negative,' I kept telling myself. 'It's fine.' But this was just the drink talking, given that thousands of people were now in the stadium without any tickets or Covid checks.
        The game was unbearably stressful, though the tension eased momentarily when a giant inflatable penis was unleashed and flew over our heads. 'Lovely tribute to ya, Piers,' yelled someone several rows away, 'ya giant c**k!'
        The atmosphere was incredible, the drama excruciating, the ending soul-crushing. But as we drove home after the penalty shoot-out, with our voices hoarse and our hearts battered, the boys and I all agreed on one thing: it had been one of the greatest experiences of our lives. I just hope it doesn't turn out to have been the Covid super-spreader I fear it became.
        TUESDAY, JULY 13
        I'm down at my Sussex village home and began feeling a bit rough during the afternoon. I put it down to the rancid hayfever I've endured since early May, which has rendered me a walking zombie for numerous days when the pollen count has been raging.
        But by this evening, my head was burning up and a thermometer confirmed a fever of 38.9C (102F). I also started having random extreme sneezing fits.
        'I bet you've got Covid from the damn football,' said Celia, not entirely sympathetically.
        'I wouldn't be sneezing like this if it was Covid,' I replied. 'It's probably just a cold. Remember those?' (I haven't actually had a common cold for 18 months.)
        We had a spare rapid lateral flow test in the house, so I took it, making myself gag as the swab whacked my tonsils and my eyes water as it intruded into my nasal cavity '' and about 15 minutes later it showed a clear result: positive.
        'Well?' said Celia.
        'I'm pregnant,' I replied.
        'Hilarious,' she said, though she wasn't laughing. 'Does this mean you've definitely got it?'
        'Not definitely but probably,' I replied. 'Apparently, 99.9 per cent of positive lateral flow results are accurate but a lot of negative ones aren't.'
        I booked myself the more definitive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test for the following morning to be certain and Celia vacated our bedroom faster than a greyhound springs out of a trap.
        'Next time you see me, I'll be in a hazmat suit,' she said.
        WEDNESDAY, JULY 14
        At 9am, I drove myself to a car park in Haywards Heath, a few miles from my village, where a very efficient and enthusiastic team of people instructed me how to do a PCR test in my car and bag up the sample for them. More gagging and eye-watering but it was a very good system and I was in and out within ten minutes.
        'Good luck, Piers!' said one of the staff as I drove off. I found those words strangely disconcerting.
        By lunchtime, my fever was up to 39.5C (103F), and I was experiencing wild chills, a thick head and more explosive sneezing. I felt as rough as a badger's a***, as they say in rural circles and went to bed.
        Later, Celia messaged me today's Sun front page that featured a Wembley yob boasting about how he drank 20 cans of cider, snorted large amounts of cocaine, lit a flare up his backside (in a scene that went viral), then sneaked his way into the final without a ticket by bribing a steward.
        'Is that what you meant by Covid-safe?' she asked rhetorically.
        On the news tonight, I watched ITV Health Editor Emily Morgan report from Royal Preston Hospital where 60 per cent of the 60 Covid patients currently in ICU or on an acute ward, have not been vaccinated, and many are quite young.
        'It's such a large figure, it's almost incredible,' she said.
        'There are fit and healthy people in their 30s on ventilators. These are people who are eligible for the jab, decided not to have it for whatever reason, and are now fighting for their lives. We've heard the warnings from scientists and Ministers for months now but seeing the impact of not getting the vaccine is no less shocking.'
        Unfortunately, we have also been subjected to warnings from crank conspiracy theory whack-jobs that the vaccines are an evil Government plot to control our minds, and from prominent media figures, who should know better, constantly seeking to downplay Covid's danger.
        One of the unjabbed patients was a 28-year-old man named Darren Gaskell, who caught the virus from a mate in the pub. 'I didn't think I was going to catch it,' he said through an oxygen mask. 'I didn't really know anybody that close to me who'd had Covid. I just thought it was more of a worldwide thing than a local thing. I just didn't think I was going to get it. I thought I'm young, I'll be able to fight it if I get it, it'll just be a bit of flu but it's not. I've never been this ill in my life. This is the most ill I've ever been.'
        His message? 'If I could turn back the clock, I would get vaccinated. Everyone should get vaccinated as soon as possible if they can.'
        THURSDAY, JULY 15
        My phone bleeped at 7.14am. 'Your recent coronavirus test has come back positive.'
        So I am now officially one of the 5.52 million people in the UK known to have been infected by the virus, of whom 129,000 have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid.
        As I'm sure everyone who gets it feels, it's a strange, disquieting moment to know I have this killer virus inside me.
        I'm 56, carrying a bit of excess timber (though, fortunately, a lot less than when I was on Good Morning Britain thanks to better diet and a new fitness regime) and the memory of what happened to poor Derek Draper, the husband of my former GMB colleague Kate Garraway, remains vivid.
        I'm 56, carrying a bit of excess timber (though, fortunately, a lot less than when I was on Good Morning Britain thanks to better diet and a new fitness regime) and the memory of what happened to poor Derek Draper, the husband of my former GMB colleague Kate Garraway, remains vivid
        Pictured: Kate speaks on Facetime to her husband Derek as he lies in his hospital bed
        Derek is three years younger than me and remains in a virtual coma 15 months after being rushed to hospital at the height of the first wave of the pandemic with a headache and breathing issues.
        Of course, the big and very fortunate difference for me is that vaccines have since been developed and I'm double-jabbed with the Oxford/AstraZeneca one.
        But what we don't really know yet is exactly how effective the vaccines are at preventing serious illness or worse '' apparently two jabs of AstraZeneca reduce the risk of infection by 65 to 90 per cent, symptomatic disease by 70 to 85 per cent, hospitalisation by 80 to 99 per cent, and death by 75 to 99 per cent '' and given how bad I currently feel, that's an unsettling uncertainty. One thing's for sure though: I'd be feeling a damn sight more unsettled if I hadn't been vaccinated.
        I phoned Dr Brian O'Connor, a top respiratory consultant who's helped me at London's Cromwell Hospital with various health issues in recent years, including a rather grim time three years ago when I ended up with five different afflictions ending in 'itis', which he diagnosed as being down to presenting breakfast TV and the shattering effect it has on one's immune system.
        'I've got Covid,' I said. 'PCR confirmed.'
        'Right, OK,' he replied calmly, as if I'd told him I'd been stung by a bee. But then again, who wants an excitable doctor?
        'You'll have undoubtedly been infected by the Delta variant,' he continued. 'Disappointingly, we now know that none of the current vaccines protects fully against infection with some of the new variants. However, they do mean the likely effects of infection should not be particularly significant. So you're unlikely to be hospitalised and extremely unlikely to be at risk of rapid deterioration in your respiratory status.'
        That was the good news. But there was a sting in the comforting tail.
        'All that said, you may have a somewhat torrid time over the next three to seven days, so please monitor your arterial saturations and contact me if they fall below 93 per cent. Take paracetamol, and if necessary, ibubrofen, plus Vitamin D.
        'I will prescribe you a fire-fighting stash of steroids and antibiotics in the event of you deteriorating over the weekend. I hope you won't need them unless there is a worsening in your status.'
        I'm not normally a catastrophiser and the odds are overwhelmingly good that I'll be absolutely fine but all I could remember from this conversation later, as my head continued to boil, were the words 'rapid deterioration', 'torrid' and 'worsening'.
        FRIDAY, JULY 16
        Horrible night of high fever, cold sweats, ferocious coughing and sneezing and strange aches all over my body, none of which has been helped by the very hot weather that's turned my bedroom into a Saharan furnace.
        And my voice now sounds like Barry White, though I couldn't feel less like a Walrus of Love.
        Various friends who I've confided in have responded in ways that I would say epitomise their personalities. 'Sending you much sympathy, although it does serve you right,' texted Dame Joan Collins, who had seen all of my Wembley posts on Instagram.
        'Working on the obituary package already,' messaged Sky News presenter Mark Austin, whose wife is a frontline A&E consultant.
        'Tributes failed to pour in last night'...?' I suggested.
        'Exactly.'
        My former TV wife Susanna Reid, who's just been shortlisted against me and Huw Edwards for News Presenter of the Year at the TRIC awards, was more solicitous.
        'Chicken soup, water and loving support at a distance,' she said. 'You OK?'
        'Yes, should be,' I replied. 'Most unnerving thing is late at night on your own pondering if you're going to be one of the unlucky ones.'
        'Yes, that 4.44am psychosis.'
        What was extraordinary is that almost everyone I've told said they've either got Covid themselves too or have friends and family members who do. This Delta variant is everywhere.
        I've done the NHS app contact-tracing stuff but the real focus of that is who you were in close contact with 48 hours before symptoms started when you're contagious without knowing it. So I've also been personally letting know various people who I was near to in the past week, so they can get a test just to be safe.
        Last Friday, I'd been at Amanda Holden's 50th birthday dinner party on an outside terrace at the Rosewood London hotel with the likes of Simon Cowell, Alan Carr and the ghastly David Walliams. I sat with Keith Lemon star Leigh Francis and his wife, so I texted Leigh to let him know I had Covid and said: 'It would have been truly ironic if you two had gone home thinking, 'He's not so bad that Morgan' and then discovered I'd infected you with a killer virus.'
        'Ha ha, we did both say that!' he replied. 'But we've had tests and we're all good.'
        Cowell's partner Lauren Silverman said they'd both also tested negative before flying to Barbados. 'Have heard loads of people who are double vaccinated still getting Covid,' she texted. 'Scary stuff. It's going to be something we all have to live with now. But thank God we have the vaccines.'
        Last Friday, I'd been at Amanda Holden's 50th birthday dinner party on an outside terrace at the Rosewood London hotel with the likes of Simon Cowell, Alan Carr and the ghastly David Walliams
        SATURDAY, JULY 17
        BBC newsman Andrew Marr has revealed his own ordeal after catching the Delta variant at last month's G7 summit, despite also being fully vaccinated. Marr had similar symptoms to me, including the crazy sneezing fits, slight sore throat and headache, chills, aches, and up-and-down fever.
        He told the Daily Mail's Weekend magazine: 'Like Government Ministers, I'd been using that glib phrase 'mild to moderate symptoms' when talking about people who'd been double-vaccinated getting Covid but it can be really, really horrible. I'm still here and I was not hospitalised, so by that definition I'm a vaccine success. If I hadn't been vaccinated, I might well have been carking it in hospital, or at least on a ventilator.
        'So, I'm not saying this is a failure of the vaccines, far from it '' what I'm saying is just be careful. Even if you're double-vaccinated, you don't have superpowers, you can still get ill.
        'We have to open up and get the economy moving again but we also have to realise that this Delta strain is far more infectious than the earlier one, and even if you've had two jabs you're not protected against serious illness. If I had a single thing to say to people it would be not to think you're invulnerable, to carry on taking the precautions that feel right for you.' This strikes me as extremely good advice, especially after I read this tweet by Daily Mirror political journalist Rachel Wearmouth: 'I have a friend who is 28 years old & double jabbed.
        'He has been in hospital with Covid since Thurs. I don't know who needs to know this but please be careful. This virus is no joke.'
        That guy's half my age.
        Meanwhile, the new Health Secretary Sajid Javid has announced he has Covid and will be self-isolating. He's also fully vaccinated.
        I don't know which vaccine he had. The stats show you're significantly more likely to be infected with Covid if you've had the AstraZeneca vaccine than the Pfizer one, but when it comes to preventing serious illness or death, they're similarly effective.
        SUNDAY, JULY 18
        Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were both in close contact with Javid, so should be self-isolating for ten days. Yet, astonishingly, they announced this morning that they're going to carry on working under some new Government pilot scheme.
        As the country reels from the 'pingdemic' that's led to hundreds of thousands of people being forced to isolate after being pinged by the NHS app, this seemed hideously tone-deaf. After disbelief and outrage erupted across the political/media divide, a hasty U-turn was performed. But the damage is done.
        Once again, as with the Dominic Cummings and Matt Hancock scandals, the public is left thinking it's one rule for those who make the Covid restriction laws and another for the rest of us. That will reduce compliance and cost lives.
        By late afternoon, my fever had gone and I was feeling a lot better.
        'Glass of wine?' asked Celia.
        'God, yes,' I replied.
        But when I sipped the 2005 Chateau Batailley, normally one of my favourite clarets, I couldn't smell or taste anything. In fact, it was like drinking slightly rusty water. I was shocked and bemused, as I've had no problems tasting food or drinks like tea or coffee so far.
        Piers Morgan recounted his experience of heading to Wembley for the final of the Euros
        So, I tried another sip '' but nothing, again.
        This, for anyone who knows my love of good wine, is one of my worst nightmares.
        My dad couldn't taste wine for eight months after he and my mum had Covid quite badly last November, and he said the only upside was he could buy a £3 bottle of plonk and pretend it was Chateau Latour.
        I texted Dr O'Connor to tell him I had indeed suffered a catastrophic deterioration in my condition.
        'Avoid good wine during acute Covid as it's wasted,' he replied. 'You will taste strong cheap and cheerful wines but give subtle wines a miss for a while.'
        'God, this Covid really is the Devil's work,' I said. 'What are we talking here '' Liebfraumilch?'
        'Cheap Rioja, crude Chardonnay.'
        On balance, I think I'd rather die.
        'I can't taste wine,' I texted Susanna, who instantly realised the enormity of the crisis.
        'That's a disaster!' she replied. 'But it's for your own good, you'll save a fortune, drop half a stone and now you can come out on a night of sparkling waters with me!'
        A night on sparkling waters is what I imagine Dante endured during his Inferno journey though the Nine Circles of Hell.
        MONDAY, JULY 19
        Freedom Day and nothing more perfectly sums up the farcical reality of this historic moment than our Prime Minister, Health Secretary and Chancellor all being locked up in self-isolation.
        As, of course, am I.
        And my optimism last night that I might be making a quick recovery lasted until 10am today when I got hit by a sudden, brutal blast of debilitating fatigue that left me flat-lined in bed all day and feeling as if I'd been run over.
        Most other symptoms have gone, though I now have a persistent and very annoying cough, which like the taste/smell thing can last for weeks or even months after the virus leaves you. Each day of Covid infection seems to present new unexpected treats.
        The enforced hibernation has, however, given me plenty of time to think about where we are in this pandemic.
        A few weeks ago, I thought it made total sense for fully vaccinated people to get back their freedom. But then I realised '' mainly because my sons of 27, 24 and 20 forcefully told me! '' how unfair that would be on younger people who haven't yet had the chance to be double-jabbed and would therefore not be able to enjoy the same freedoms.
        My eldest boy Spencer, who had Covid a few months ago and is so far single-jabbed, tweeted: 'Today you will see a lot of older people whining about the young finally getting to enjoy the best part about being young. A lot of these people will also call their younger years the 'best of our lives'. Today's young sacrificed 17 months of theirs for them. Should be grateful.' He's got a point. If I was 27 again, I'd probably feel exactly the same as him.
        As the Delta variant runs riot through the UK, the big question now is whether enough people have been vaccinated to prevent the hospitalisations and deaths from exponentially increasing, as we saw in previous waves of the virus.
        If they have, then Boris Johnson's Freedom Day gamble may pay off.
        If they haven't, we could well face another lockdown by the autumn, which I think most of us would find truly soul-destroying and Boris might find politically ruinous. He's rolled the dice, and we've no idea how they will fall.
        TUESDAY, JULY 20
        Celia's admirable patience for facilitating my endless requests for everything from meals and pots of tea to a fan and mini-fridge is reaching a tipping point.
        'I knew that when I married someone so much older than me, I'd end up being their carer,' she announced today. 'I just hoped it wouldn't happen quite so soon.'
        To allay her irritation, I now start each request with, 'If I get you a nice dress on eBay, could I possibly have'...?'
        Self-isolation is a lot easier for the person doing it than the people who then have to do all the work.
        Though I have been doing stuff I never normally do '' like making my own bed, which I've found oddly therapeutic. As I lay proudly in my fresh sheets this morning, albeit still feeling wiped out and totally devoid of energy (I tried shouting, 'MAN UP, MORGAN!' to myself but Covid seems oblivious to my preferred motivational clarion cry), Kate Garraway rang.
        'It's the Patron Saint of Covid calling!' she chuckled, self-mocking the fact that since Derek was taken ill, that's pretty much all she's been able to think or talk about either privately or publicly.
        She was recording her Smooth Radio show while we spoke and broke off at one point to say to her listeners: 'Next, a song about love and positivity!'
        'What is it?' I asked when she came back to the phone.
        'Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely!
        He wrote it for his baby daughter but the lyrics could apply equally well to Kate.
        Much has been said about her extraordinary stoicism under the most appalling stress and strain of her family's ongoing nightmare '' Derek is back home under 24/7 nursing care but is still effectively in a coma despite occasional hopeful glimmers of cognisant response '' but honestly, people don't know the half of it.
        When Kate told me what her daily routine is now like, it exhausted me just listening to her. 'I don't know how you do it,' I said.
        'What choice do I have?' She replied. 'Derek is the love of my life.'
        Then, being Kate, she turned the subject back to me and my Covid experience. 'Anyway, how are YOU getting on?'
        'Oh, my situation's far worse,' I laughed. 'I can't even taste my Chateau Batailley!'
        Kate roared. 'Oh my God!!! I know how awful that must be for you...'
        'You know, Kate,' I replied, more seriously, 'I've been thinking about you guys so much in the past week. I've felt pretty awful with Covid but the vaccine may well have saved my life. Derek never had the chance to take one. That just seems so desperately unfair.'
        'It is,' she agreed, 'but I just hope everyone who can take it, does. I wouldn't wish what we're going through on anyone.'
        WEDNESDAY, JULY 21
        Still flat-lined in bed. Been a week now and although the fever's long gone, the fatigue keeps overwhelming me like a soporific tidal wave. I haven't even read a newspaper since developing symptoms, which for a news junkie like me is unprecedented. ('Avoid any intense cerebral activity for three weeks,' said Dr O'Connor, 'because your brain will be too foggy.')
        One explanation for why I've felt so whacked may be that a new study has revealed that the Delta variant delivers a viral load of Covid 1,000 times greater than the original strain.
        I don't so much fear dying from the virus (in the US, where 80 per cent of new cases are Delta, 97 per cent of people hospitalised with it, and nearly 100 per cent of people dying, have been unvaccinated), rather the dreaded 'long Covid', which more than a million people in the UK have now experienced.
        A neighbour of mine, a very fit 50-year-old movie executive, discovered his lung capacity had crashed to under 70 per cent when he tried to go diving five months after he had pre-vaccine Covid.
        Another TV producer friend, who also had pre-vaccine Covid, had six months of problems including breathing difficulties, insomnia, mental 'fog', an aversion to previously beloved alcohol and a constant craving for previously detested salt and vinegar crisps. This afternoon, I suddenly developed alarming chest pains that felt like severe indigestion. Of course, I made the dreadful mistake of Googling this apparent new symptom and read horror stories about it being a sign that I was deteriorating. For an uncomfortable and quite scary hour, I paced my room, fretting. Then the pain went as soon as it came. God, what a relief.
        Nobody wants to be the person who got taken out in the last days of the war when peace is looming again.
        THURSDAY, JULY 22
        I was due to have dinner with England football legend Jamie Redknapp tonight but when I cancelled and explained why, he revealed he, too, has had Covid.
        'I was at the final at Wembley and may have got it there,' he said, 'though it's impossible to know, isn't it?
        'I feel a lot better now but I had a rough three or four days. I've had one jab so far. I wouldn't want this f***** without the vaccination though, would you?
        'All sorts of weird stuff going on inside you and when your chest starts feeling bad, as mine did for a bit, that's worrying. Jesus, it's been no fun.'
        No, it hasn't. And Jamie's 48 and super-fit.
        FRIDAY, JULY 23
        Dr O'Connor's put me on some strong corticosteroids to jolt me out of my fatigued slump and potentially help prevent long Covid creeping in. This is definitely the roughest I've felt from any illness in my adult life. But, as I slowly come out the other side, coughing and spluttering, I'm still here '' unlike so many millions around the world who've lost their lives to Covid in this pandemic.
        For that, I owe a heartfelt debt of thanks to the brilliant scientists up in Oxford who created the AstraZeneca vaccine with such astonishing speed. Perhaps, I may even owe them my life?
        Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said today that data suggests 52,600 hospitalisations have so far been prevented in England by the vaccines. Was I one? I'll never know.
        Just as we can't be sure yet that Boris Johnson's strategy to reopen England on Monday was right or wrong. John Burn-Murdoch, from the Financial Times, summed up where we are: 'All eyes are now on England as a test case for whether 'vaccinate all adults who want the jab, then reopen' is a blueprint for emerging relatively smoothly from the pandemic, or whether it's promptly followed by another U-turn.'
        When the Delta variant began to really rage several weeks ago, I urged a continuation of stage 3 of the roadmap restrictions rather than full Freedom Day. It just seemed the worst possible time to open everything up.
        But Dr O'Connor said: 'I might have delayed the reopening by two/three weeks to allow more people to be vaccinated but it seems to me that if you don't have an axe to grind against Boris Johnson and look at it dispassionately, then this may well be a gamble worth taking. It certainly won't be any easier later in the year when other respiratory viruses are circulating.'
        If an eminent respiratory consultant thinks that, then frankly who am I to say he's wrong?
        And as Boris said, if not now, then when?
        The Government's new slogan is Keep Life Moving, and as someone who supported lockdowns as the only means of suppressing the virus before the hugely successful vaccine rollout, I concur.
        The bottom line is this: if the worst that most vaccinated people feel with Covid is how I've felt '' and anecdotally that seems to be the case '' then it's time we learned to live with the virus.
        Though we should tread carefully as we move. A lot more carefully than I did at Wembley.
        As Dr O'Connor put it, in his last words of advice before I head back out of self-isolation this weekend: 'Be a good boy and don't do anything crazy'...'
        My own advice is very simple: GET JABBED!
      Rishi Sunak plans to replace our cash with official digital currency | Daily Mail Online
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 12:29
        The Britcoin revolution! Rishi Sunak plans to replace our cash with official digital currency in 'biggest upheaval in the monetary system for centuries'Bank of England would establish a direct digital equivalent to physical moneySupporters say the move will give the economy a boost during a financial crisis Could slash cost and time it takes to make payments online and transfer money By Glen Owen for The Mail on Sunday
        Published: 17:29 EDT, 24 July 2021 | Updated: 20:16 EDT, 24 July 2021
        Cash in people's pockets would be superseded by a new 'Britcoin' digital currency in a plan being pushed by Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
        In what Treasury insiders say would be the biggest upheaval in the monetary system for centuries, the Bank of England would establish a direct digital equivalent to physical money and take control of it in the same way as sterling.
        Its supporters in the Treasury say that it would allow the Bank to give the economy a boost in times of financial crisis by paying the 'Britcoins' directly into people's bank accounts.
        Britcoin could also cut banking costs dramatically for small firms. However, critics warn that a digital version of the pound could lead to greater financial instability
        A taskforce of Treasury and Bank officials set up to examine the merits of Britcoin '' known as the Central Bank Digital Currency '' is expected to report to Mr Sunak by the end of the year
        It could also slash the cost and time it takes to make payments online and transfer money around the banking system.
        Britcoin could also cut banking costs dramatically for small firms. However, critics warn that a digital version of the pound could lead to greater financial instability '' making it harder for the Bank to regulate the economy with monetary policies such as setting interest rates.
        There are also fears the introduction of Britcoin would lead to higher loan and mortgage rates as millions of people switched cash to central bank digital currency, eating into the amount of money high street banks have on deposit to lend to borrowers.
        A taskforce of Treasury and Bank officials set up to examine the merits of Britcoin '' known as the Central Bank Digital Currency '' is expected to report to Mr Sunak by the end of the year.
        The Treasury is understood to be more keen than the Bank of England on the idea of creating an official British digital currency to compete with the rise of Bitcoin because they are wary of the huge numbers of people piling into cryptocurrencies. Some investors have lost vast sums as the price of Bitcoin has gyrated wildly.
        Meanwhile, other countries are racing to develop their own digital currencies. China has been testing a digital yuan; US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has hinted that a digital dollar could be created; and the European Central Bank is investigating plans for a digital euro. Unlike Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Britcoin would be linked to the value of the pound and backed by the central bank. That, in theory, should stop it from swinging massively in value.
        Under plans being considered by officials, consumers might be able to hold the currency in accounts directly linked to the Bank of England. Officials are undecided on whether to attach interest rates to Britcoin, which might make it attractive to savers as an alternative to cash.
        Retailers and other companies could accept the digital currency for ordinary payments that customers would otherwise have made with a debit or credit card.
        But the amount of money each individual could hold in Britcoin is likely to be limited initially. Crucially, consumers would be able to change pound Sterling into Britcoin with ease. It would also be made very simple '' and very fast '' to transfer Britcoin back into ordinary cash that could be taken out of an ATM. That might help avoid the type of long queues that occurred when thousands tried to get their money out of Northern Rock in 2007.
        The Bank of England would establish a direct digital equivalent to physical money and take control of it in the same way as sterling
        A digital currency where customers have accounts directly linked to the Bank of England would also make it far easier to issue so-called 'helicopter' money, where funds are injected into people's pockets by the Government.
        This could prove a more effective way of stimulating the economy in times of crisis than quantitative easing (QE).
        QE has been used since the 2009 financial crisis to flood the banking system with new money, but the scheme has been criticised for storing up potential inflation while failing to get the cash to trickle down to households and businesses in the rest of the economy.
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      Michigan governor to be stripped of emergency powers used for COVID-19 rules
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 11:44
        Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will be stripped of emergency powers she used during the coronavirus pandemic after a 76-year-old law was repealed Wednesday.
        The GOP-led state House followed the Senate's lead on Wednesday in voting 60-48, largely along party lines, to support an Unlock Michigan petition seeking to eliminate the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945.
        Whitmer, a Democrat, is unable to issue a veto after the state Supreme Court determined the law was unconstitutional. The repeal will not take effect until 91 days after the Legislature adjourns at the end of the year.
        The Washington Examiner reached out to the governor's office for comment.
        "The Michigan House approved the Unlock Michigan citizens' initiative to repeal the unconstitutional 1945 state law Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used to hold unilateral power over the people of Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your voices have been heard!" Michigan House Republicans tweeted following the vote.
        MICHIGAN SENATE VOTES TO REPEAL GOVERNOR'S EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN POWERS
        The "measure protects the fundamental structure of representation in government and is a win for democracy," said state Rep. Sue Allor.
        "When Gov. Whitmer decided to go it alone during the pandemic, her orders left struggling people in their wake," added state Rep. Ken Borton, who also supported the petition. "A solo approach was clearly wrong for our state. A governor must work with legislators to discover real solutions that work for everyone, and Unlock Michigan will help protect the people by protecting the legislative process."
        Democrats slammed the repeal effort, with state Rep. Mari Manoogian calling Unlock Michigan's petition a "partisan political power grab aimed at undermining Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her effort to manage the COVID-19 pandemic."
        "This initiated law will cripple the ability of governors from both parties to act quickly and decisively during public health emergencies, which will ultimately cost lives," she continued, accusing the House of "reckless lawmaking."
        The House Democratic whip accused fellow lawmakers of "pretend[ing] the GOP-led legislature was proactive in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic."
        "We are actively being gaslighted by our GOP colleagues during this Unlock Michigan debate," state Rep. Matt Koleszar said.
        Michigan's Senate approved the petition in a 20-15 party-line vote last week after the Unlock Michigan petition amassed 34,000 signatures supporting the repeal of the Emergency Powers of Governor Act, which enabled Whitmer's emergency actions.
        The petition was certified in a unanimous June 11 ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court.
        Although supporters of Whitmer said the governor's actions were necessary to save lives as COVID-19 spread throughout the state, detractors who signed the petition argued her actions were a "dangerous threat to our livelihoods and constitutional liberties."
        CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
        Whitmer imposed rigorous restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, including restricting travel and implementing a statewide mask mandate.
        Michigan has recorded more than 1 million cases of COVID-19 and 21,124 statewide deaths attributed to the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker.
      China seethes at NBC for showing 'incomplete' map missing Taiwan during Olympic opening ceremony
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: Signs of the Times
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 11:24
        (C) Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
        Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are furious with NBC Universal for showing an "incomplete" map of the country during Friday's opening ceremony at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
        As Chinese athletes entered the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, the NBC broadcast displayed a map of China that did not include Taiwan or the South China Sea as recognized parts of Chinese territory. The CCP considers both territories to be a rightful part of their country, despite that claim being disputed by various members of the international community.
        China's consulate in New York said NBC "hurt the dignity and emotions of the Chinese people" in a social media post Saturday. "We urge NBC to recognize the serious nature of this problem and take measures to correct the error," the statement continued.Chinese state-run media outlet Global Times
        also blasted NBC for the graphic, characterizing it as a "dirty political trick."
        Taiwanese athletes at the Olympic Games do not compete under the Chinese flag, instead competing under the banner of Chinese Taipei. China, Brunei, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are all involved in various territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
      SHOCK! Protective Detail of France President ALL Resign over COVID Restrictions; will no longer protect President Macron
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: Tap News
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 10:47
        SHOCK! Protective Detail of France President ALL Resign over COVID Restrictions; will no longer protect President Macron Sun 9:19 am +00:00, 25 Jul 2021 posted by Weaver
        The Republican Guard, a security detail established to protect the President of France, have ALL resigned, and will no longer protect President Macron!
        The mass resignation comes on the heels of his Presidential Decree requiring French citizens to have and use a ''Sanitary Passport'' (i.e. Vaccine Certificate) or be denied access to stores, bars, even DENIED VOTING!
        Citizens are taking to the streets in almost every major city, literally battling with police over enforcement of these new Presidential Decrees. Mass-Media is mostly IGNORING the civil uprising, reporting almost nothing as the country erupts in protest.
        The fighting is getting bloody, fast:
        The French Government has had to scramble to provide some other type of protective service for the vicious Dictator, who is stealing French liberty.
        Members of the Guard who resigned have been asked why they quit and the near universal reply: ''Macron isn't worth dying for''.
        One can only hope the French people are successful at ridding themselves of this despicable tyrant in whatever manner they see fit.
        BOMBAZO en Francia!! La Guardia Republicana (el Servicio de Protecci"n del Presidente) ha dimitido porque ya no quiere proteger a Macron. Ahora usan otro sistema de protecci"n. Esto no hab­a sucedido nunca. La noticia la acaba de revelar la diputada https://t.co/Qx2hCqpxcc pic.twitter.com/jWlJJlgHkp
        '-- Ttp (@daniTtP5) July 23, 2021
        https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/world/shock-protective-detail-of-france-president-all-resign-over-covid-restrictions-will-no-longer-protect-president-macron
      US could become 'Digital Dictatorship' with new Biden proposal
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Source: Signs of the Times
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 10:45
        A "new" proposal by the Biden administration to create a health-focused federal agency modeled after DARPA is not what it appears to be.
        Promoted as a way to "end cancer," this resuscitated "health DARPA" conceals a dangerous agenda.[April 28, 2020], President Biden was widely praised in mainstream and health-care-focused media for his call to create a "new biomedical research agency" modeled after the U.S. military's "high-risk, high-reward" Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. As touted by the president, the agency would seek to develop "innovative" and "breakthrough" treatments for cancer, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes, with a call to "end cancer as we know it."
        Far from "ending cancer" in the way most Americans might envision it, the proposed agency would merge "national security" with "health security" in such a way as to use both physical and mental health "warning signs" to prevent outbreaks of disease or violence before they occur. Such a system is a recipe for a technocratic "pre-crime" organization with the potential to criminalize both mental and physical illness as well as "wrongthink."
        The Biden administration has asked Congress for $6.5 billion to fund the agency, which would be largely guided by Biden's recently confirmed top science adviser, Eric Lander.
        Lander, formerly the head of the Silicon Valley-dominated Broad Institute, has been controversial for his ties to eugenicist and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his relatively recent praise for James Watson, an overtly racist eugenicist. Despite that, Lander is set to be confirmed by the Senate and Congress and is reportedly significantly enthusiastic about the proposed new "health DARPA."
        This new agency, set to be called ARPA-H or HARPA, would be housed within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and would raise the NIH budget to over $51 billion. Unlike other agencies at NIH, ARPA-H would differ in that the projects it funds would not be peer reviewed prior to approval; instead, hand-picked program managers would make all funding decisions. Funding would also take the form of milestone-driven payments instead of the more traditional multiyear grants.
        ARPA-H will likely heavily fund and promote mRNA vaccines as one of the "breakthroughs" that will cure cancer. Some of the mRNA vaccine manufacturers that have produced some of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines, such as the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, stated just last month that "cancer is the next problem to tackle with mRNA tech" post-COVID.
        BioNTech has been developing mRNA gene therapies for cancer for years and is collaborating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create mRNA-based treatments for tuberculosis and HIV. Other "innovative" technologies that will be a focus of this agency are less well known to the public and arguably more concerning.
        The Long Road to ARPA-H
        ARPA-H is not a new and exclusive Biden administration idea; there was a previous attempt to create a "health DARPA" during the Trump administration in late 2019. Biden began to promote the idea during his presidential campaign as early as June 2019, albeit using a very different justification for the agency than what had been pitched by its advocates to Trump.
        In 2019, the same foundation and individuals currently backing Biden's ARPA-H had urged then-President Trump to create "HARPA," not for the main purpose of researching treatments for cancer and Alzheimer's, but to stop mass shootings before they happen through the monitoring of Americans for "neuropsychiatric" warning signs.
        (C) harpa.org Still from HARPA's video "The Patients Are Waiting: How HARPA Will Change Lives Now"
        For the last few years, one man has been
        the driving force behind HARPA -- former vice chair of General Electric and former president of NBCUniversal, Robert Wright. Through the Suzanne Wright Foundation (named for his late wife), Wright
        has spent years lobbying for an agency that "would develop biomedical capabilities -- detection tools, treatments, medical devices, cures, etc. -- for the millions of Americans who are not benefiting from the current system."
        While he, like Biden, has cloaked the agency's actual purpose by claiming it will be mainly focused on treating cancer, Wright's 2019 proposal to his personal friend Donald Trump revealed its underlying ambitions.
        As first proposed by Wright in 2019, the flagship program of HARPA would be SAFE HOME, short for Stopping Aberrant Fatal Events by Helping Overcome Mental Extremes.
        SAFE HOME would suck up masses of private data from "Apple Watches, Fitbits, Amazon Echo, and Google Home" and other consumer electronic devices, as well as information from health care providers to determine if an individual might be likely to commit a crime. The data would be analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms "for early diagnosis of neuropsychiatric violence."
        The Department of Justice's pre-crime approach known as DEEP was activated just months before Trump left office; it was also justified as a way to "stop mass shootings before they happen." Soon after Biden's inauguration, the new administration began using information from social media to make pre-crime arrests as part of its approach toward combating "domestic terror."
        Given the history of Silicon Valley companies collaborating with the government on matters of warrantless surveillance, it appears that aspects of SAFE HOME may already be covertly active under Biden, only waiting for the formalization of ARPA-H/HARPA to be legitimized as public policy.
        The national-security applications of Robert Wright's HARPA are also illustrated by the man who was its lead scientific adviser -- former head of DARPA's Biological Technologies Office Geoffrey Ling. Not only is Ling the main scientific adviser of HARPA, but the original proposal by Wright would have Ling both personally design HARPA and lead it once it was established.
        A Plan to Merge Biology, Engineering and Computer Science
        Ling's work at DARPA can be summarized by BTO's stated mission, which is to work toward merging "biology, engineering and computer science to harness the power of natural systems for national security." BTO-favored technologies are also poised to be the mainstays of HARPA, which plans to specifically use "advancements in biotechnology, supercomputing, big data and artificial intelligence" to accomplish its goals.
        The direct DARPA connection to HARPA underscores that the agenda behind this coming agency dates back to the failed Bio-Surveillance project of DARPA's Total Information Awareness program, which was launched after the events of September 11, 2001.
        TIA's Bio-Surveillance project sought to develop the "necessary information technologies and resulting prototype capable of detecting the covert release of a biological pathogen automatically, and significantly earlier than traditional approaches," accomplishing this "by monitoring nontraditional data sources" including "prediagnostic medical data" and "behavioral indicators."
        While nominally focused on "bioterrorist attacks," TIA's Bio-Surveillance project also sought to acquire early detection capabilities for "normal" disease outbreaks. Bio-Surveillance and related DARPA projects at the time, such as LifeLog, sought to harvest data through the mass use of some sort of wearable or handheld technology.
        These DARPA programs were ultimately shut down due to the controversy over claims they would be used to profile domestic dissidents and eliminate privacy for all Americans in the US.
        That DARPA's past total surveillance dragnet is coming back to life under a supposedly separate health-focused agency, and one that emulates its organizational model no less, confirms that many TIA-related programs were merely distanced from the Department of Defense when officially shut down.
        By separating the military from the public image of such technologies and programs, it made them more palatable to the masses, despite the military remaining heavily involved behind the scenes.
        As Unlimited Hangout has recently reported, major aspects of TIA were merely privatized, giving rise to companies such as Facebook and Palantir, which resulted in such DARPA projects being widely used and accepted. Now, under the guise of the proposed ARPA-H, DARPA's original TIA would essentially be making a comeback for all intents and purposes as its own spin-off.
        Silicon Valley, the Military and the Wearable 'Revolution'
        This most recent effort to create ARPA-H/HARPA combines well with the coordinated push of Silicon Valley companies into the field of health care, specifically Silicon Valley companies that double as contractors to U.S. intelligence and/or the military (e.g., Microsoft, Google and Amazon).
        During the COVID-19 crisis, this trend toward Silicon Valley dominance of the health-care sector has accelerated considerably due to a top-down push toward digitalization with telemedicine, remote monitoring and the like.
        One interesting example is Amazon, which launched a wearable last year that purports to not only use biometrics to monitor people's physical health and fitness, but to track their emotional state as well. The previous year, Amazon acquired the online pharmacy PillPack, and it is not hard to imagine a scenario in which data from Amazon's Halo wellness band is used to offer treatment recommendations that are then supplied by Amazon-owned PillPack.
        Companies such as Amazon, Palantir and Google are set to be intimately involved in ARPA-H's activities. In particular, Google, which launched numerous health-tech initiatives in 2020, is set to have a major role in this new agency due to its long-standing ties to the Obama administration when Biden was vice president and to President Biden's top science adviser, Eric Lander.
        As mentioned, Lander is poised to play a major role in ARPA-H/HARPA if and when it materializes. Before becoming the top scientist in the country, Lander was president and founding director of the Broad Institute.
        While advertised as a partnership between MIT and Harvard, the Broad Institute is heavily influenced by Silicon Valley, with two former Google executives on its board, a partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Greylock Partners, and the former CEO of IBM, as well as some of its top endowments coming from prominent tech executives.
        (C) www.broadinstitute.org The Broad Institute
        Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who was intimately involved with Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and who is close to the Democratic Party in general, chairs the Broad Institute as of this April [2021]. In March 2021, Schmidt gave the institute $150 million to "connect biology and machine learning for understanding programs of life."
        During his time on the Broad Institute board, Schmidt also chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, a group of mostly Silicon Valley, intelligence and military operatives who have now charted the direction of the U.S. government's policies on emerging tech and AI. Schmidt was also pitched as potential head of a tech-industry task force by the Biden administration.
        Government and Public and Private Agencies Team Up
        Earlier, in January [2021], the Broad Institute announced that its health-research platform, Terra, which was built with Google subsidiary Verily, would partner with Microsoft. As a result, Terra now allows Google and Microsoft to access a vast trove of genomic data that is poured into the platform by academics and research institutions from around the world.
        In addition, last September [2020], Google teamed up with the Department of Defense as part of a new AI-driven "predictive health" program that also has links to the US intelligence community. While initially focused on predicting cancer cases, this initiative clearly plans to expand to predicting the onset of other diseases before symptoms appear, including COVID-19.
        As noted by Unlimited Hangout at the time, one of the ulterior motives for the program, from Google's perspective, was for Google to gain access to "the largest repository of disease- and cancer-related medical data in the world," which is held by the Defense Health Agency. Having exclusive access to this data is a huge boon for Google in its effort to develop and expand its growing suite of AI health-care products.
        The military is currently being used to pilot COVID-19-related biometric wearables for "returning to work safely." Last December [2020], it was announced that Hill Air Force Base in Utah would make biometric wearables a mandatory part of the uniform for some squadrons. For example, the airmen of the Air Force's 649th Munitions Squadron must now wear a smart watch made by Garmin and a smart ring made by Oura as part of their uniform.
        According to the Air Force, these devices detect biometric indicators that are then analyzed for 165 different biomarkers by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency/Philips Healthcare AI algorithm that "attempts to recognize an infection or virus around 48 hours before the onset of symptoms."
        The development of that algorithm began well before the COVID-19 crisis and is a recent iteration of a series of military research projects that appear to have begun under the 2007 DARPA Predicting Health and Disease (PHD) project.
        While of interest to the military, these wearables are primarily intended for mass use -- a big step toward the infrastructure needed for the resurrection of a biosurveillance program to be run by the national-security state.
        Starting first with the military makes sense from the national-security apparatus's perspective, as the ability to monitor biometric data, including emotions, has obvious appeal for those managing the recently expanded "insider threat" programs in the military and the Department of Homeland Security.
        One indicator of the push for mass use is that the same Oura smart ring being used by the Air Force was also recently utilized by the NBA to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks among basketball players.
        Prior to COVID-19, it was promoted for consumer use by members of the British Royal family and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for improving sleep. As recently as last Monday [April 26, 2021], Oura's CEO, Harpeet Rai, said that the entire future of wearable health tech will soon be "proactive rather than reactive" because it will focus on predicting disease based on biometric data obtained from wearables in real time.
        Another wearable tied to the military that is creeping into mass use is the BioButton and its predecessor the BioSticker. Produced by the company BioIntelliSense, the sleek new BioButton is advertised as a wearable system that is "a scalable and cost-effective solution for COVID-19 symptom monitoring at school, home and work." BioIntelliSense received $2.8 million from the Pentagon last December to develop the BioButton and BioSticker wearables for COVID-19.
        (C) BioIntelliSense.com BioIntelliSense CEO James Mault poses with the company's BioSticker wearable.
        BioIntelliSense, cofounded and led by former Microsoft HealthVault developer James Mault, now has its wearable sensors being rolled out for widespread use on some college campuses and at some U.S. hospitals. In some of those instances, the company's wearables are being used to specifically monitor the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine as opposed to symptoms of COVID-19 itself.
        BioIntelliSense is currently running a study, partnered with Philips Healthcare and the University of Colorado, on the use of its wearables for early COVID-19 detection, which is entirely funded by the US military.
        While the use of these wearables is currently "encouraged but optional" at these pilot locations, could there come a time when they are mandated in a workplace or by a government? It would not be unheard of, as several countries have already required foreign arrivals to be monitored through use of a wearable during a mandatory quarantine period. Saint Lucia is currently using BioButton for this purpose.
        Singapore, which seeks to be among the first "smart nations" in the world, has given every single one of its residents a wearable called a "TraceTogether token" for its contact-tracing program. Either the wearable token or the TraceTogether smartphone app is mandatory for all workplaces, shopping malls, hotels, schools, health care facilities, grocery stores and hair salons. Those without access to a smartphone are expected to use the "free" government-issued wearable token.
        The Era of Digital Dictatorships Is Nearly Here
        Making mandatory wearables the new normal not just for COVID-19 prevention, but for monitoring health in general, would institutionalize quarantining people who have no symptoms of an illness but only an opaque algorithm's determination that vital signs indicate "abnormal" activity.
        Given that no AI is 100% accurate and that AI is only as good as the data it is trained on, such a system would be guaranteed to make regular errors: The question is how many.
        One AI algorithm being used to "predict COVID-19 outbreaks" in Israel and some U.S. states is marketed by Diagnostic Robotics; the (likely inflated) accuracy rate the company provides for its product is only 73 percent. That means, by the company's own admission, their AI is wrong 27 percent of the time. Probably, it is even less accurate, as the 73 percent figure has never been independently verified.
        Adoption of these technologies has benefited from the COVID-19 crisis, as supporters are seizing the opportunity to accelerate their introduction. As a result, their use will soon become ubiquitous if this advancing agenda continues unimpeded.
        Though this push for wearables is obvious now, signs of this agenda were visible several years ago. In 2018, for instance, insurer John Hancock announced that it would replace its life insurance offerings with "interactive policies" that involve individuals having their health monitored by commercial health wearables.
        Insurance Companies Push for 'Fitness' Wearables
        Prior to that announcement, John Hancock and other insurers such as Aetna, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare offered various rewards for policyholders who wore a fitness wearable and shared that data with their insurance company.
        In another pre-COVID example, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article in August 2019 that claimed that wearables "encourage healthy behaviors and empower individuals to participate in their health." The authors of the article, who are affiliated with Harvard, further claimed that "incentivizing use of these devices [wearables] by integrating them in insurance policies" may be an "attractive" policy approach.
        The use of wearables for policyholders has since been heavily promoted by the insurance industry, both prior to and after COVID-19, and some speculate that health insurers could soon mandate their use in certain cases or as a broader policy.
        These biometric "fitness" devices -- such as Amazon's Halo -- can monitor more than your physical vital signs, however, as they can also monitor your emotional state. ARPA-H/HARPA's flagship SAFE HOME program reveals that the ability to monitor thoughts and feelings is an already existing goal of those seeking to establish this new agency.
        According to World Economic Forum luminary and historian Yuval Noah Harari, the transition to "digital dictatorships" will have a "big watershed" moment once governments "start monitoring and surveying what is happening inside your body and inside your brain."
        He says that the mass adoption of such technology would make human beings "hackable animals," while those who abstain from having this technology on or in their bodies would become part of a new "useless" class. Harari has also asserted that biometric wearables will someday be used by governments to target individuals who have the "wrong" emotional reactions to government leaders.
        Unsurprisingly, one of Harari's biggest fans, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, has recently led his company into the development of a comprehensive biometric and "neural" wearable based on technology from a "neural interface" start-up that Facebook acquired in 2019.
        Per Facebook, the wearable "will integrate with AR [augmented reality], VR [virtual reality], and human neural signals" and is set to become commercially available soon. Facebook also notably owns the VR company Oculus Rift, whose founder, Palmer Luckey, now runs the U.S. military AI contractor Anduril.
        As recently reported, Facebook was shaped in its early days to be a private-sector replacement for DARPA's controversial LifeLog program, which sought to both "humanize" AI and build profiles on domestic dissidents and terror suspects. LifeLog was also promoted by DARPA as "supporting medical research and the early detection of an emerging pandemic."
        It appears that current trends and events show that DARPA's decadeslong effort to merge "health security" and "national security" have now advanced further than ever before.
        This may partially be because Bill Gates, who has wielded significant influence over health policy globally in the last year, is a long-time advocate of fusing health security and national security to thwart both pandemics and "bioterrorists" before they can strike, as can be heard in his 2017 speech delivered at that year's Munich Security Conference.
        That same year, Gates also publicly urged the U.S. military to "focus more training on preparing to fight a global pandemic or bioterror attack."
        In the merging of "national security" and "health security," any decision or mandate promulgated as a public health measure could be justified as necessary for "national security," much in the same way that the mass abuses and war crimes that occurred during the post-9/11 "war on terror" were similarly justified by "national security" with little to no oversight.
        Yet, in this case, instead of only losing our civil liberties and control over our external lives, we stand to lose sovereignty over our individual bodies.
        The NIH, which would house this new ARPA-H/HARPA, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars experimenting with the use of wearables since 2015, not only for detecting disease symptoms but also for monitoring individuals' diets and illegal drug consumption.
        Biden played a key part in that project, known as the Precision Medicine initiative, and separately highlighted the use of wearables in cancer patients as part of the Obama administration's related Cancer Moonshot program.
        A Plan to Record, Mark and Manipulate Your Brain
        The third Obama-era health research project was the NIH's BRAIN initiative, which was launched, among other things, to "develop tools to record, mark and manipulate precisely defined neurons in the living brain" that are determined to be linked to an "abnormal" function or a neurological disease.
        These initiatives took place at a time when Eric Lander was the cochair of Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology while still leading the Broad Institute. It is hardly a coincidence that Eric Lander is now Biden's top science adviser, elevated to a new cabinet-level position and set to guide the course of ARPA-H/HARPA.
        Thus, Biden's newly announced agency, if approved by Congress, would integrate those past Obama-era initiatives with Orwellian applications under one roof, but with even less oversight than before. It would also seek to expand and mainstream the uses of these technologies and potentially move toward developing policies that would mandate their use.
        If ARPA-H/HARPA is approved by Congress and ultimately established, it will be used to resurrect dangerous and long-standing agendas of the national-security state and its Silicon Valley contractors, creating a "digital dictatorship" that threatens human freedom, human society and potentially the very definition of what it means to be human.
        To find more of Webb's work, be sure to check out her website, unlimitedhangout.com. You can also find her videos by searching Bitchute, and she has her own podcast channel called Unlimited Hangout on Rokfin.com. Warp Speed reporting can also be found on thelastamericanvagabond.com. At present, Webb is also still on Twitter @_whitneywebb.
      The French shut it down
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        Archived Version
        Source: Vox Popoli
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 10:41
        An entire hospital has gone on "indefinite strike" against mandatory vaccines for health workers:
        The staff of the hospital in Montelimar, in the French department of Drome, have gone on indefinite strike to protest the new rules demanding they take a vaccine against Covid-19 by mid-September or face losing their jobs.
        The strike against “forced vaccination” was announced on Thursday by the CGT-GHPP trade union, and affects some 200 doctors and 1,500 nurses in the southeastern French city.
        Hundreds of them gathered outside the hospital on Friday, denouncing lockdowns and vaccine mandates and chanting “liberté!”.
        The French legislature is finalizing the proposal that would require all medical professionals in contact with the vulnerable to be fully vaccinated by September 15, or else lose their salaries and even their jobs.
        They're well-supported by the public, as hundreds of thousands of their compatriots protested against vaccine passports in 168 different villages and cities yesterday.
        Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of French cities for the second weekend in a row to protest against health passes and mandatory vaccination for medics. In Paris, rallies ended up in scuffles with police.
        Law enforcement officers in the French capital used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds as the situation on the streets spiraled out of control during the massive demonstrations provoked by the government’s plans to extend health passes for public places and enforce mandatory vaccination for certain jobs, including health workers.
        Videos published on social media showed a crowd of angry young people forcing police officers to retreat from the Champs-Elysees by blocking the road, pelting officers with various objects and even attacking police vans. Law enforcement responded by deploying water cannon to disperse the crowd.
        Le Monde reported 161,000 protesters, but the numbers were clearly even higher. What was interesting was that virtually none of the protesters were wearing masks; it appears people are increasingly unafraid of Covid now.
        Italians were protesting vaccine passports too, albeit in much smaller numbers, most likely because everyone, including the police, will just ignore the pass anyhow.
        Protests against the Italian government’s plan to introduce health passes were held in more than 80 locations on Saturday, where people denounced the measure as discriminatory.
        Around 3,000 rallied in Rome and 5,000 in Turin, the capital of the northwestern Piedmont region, while smaller protests were held elsewhere across the country, Italian media said. Overall, demonstrations were reported in more than 80 cities and towns.
        People took to the streets to denounce the plan of the government led by Prime Minister Mario Draghi to introduce a health pass, known as the ‘Green Pass’. The document serves as proof that a person has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, has tested negative for Covid-19 in the last 48 hours, or has recovered from the virus.
        Starting from August 6, only Green Pass holders will be allowed into cafes, restaurants, gyms, and open-air shows.
        Protesters view the measure as discriminatory. Some marched with signs that read, ‘Draghi Like Hitler’ and ‘Freedom, No More Dictatorship’, while others carried Italian flags and lit flares.
        Labels: EU, vaccines
      Only Trump can fix vaccine hesitancy among his supporters | TheHill
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 04:29
        " I alone can fix it ," declared Donald Trump in 2016, as he received the Republican Party's nomination for president.
        Now, five years later, the United States faces a huge crisis that, in our view, only former President Trump can fix: Namely, the reluctance of large numbers of his supporters to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
        According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99.5 percent of Americans who have died from COVID-19 during the last six months were unvaccinated. In addition, m ore than 97 percent of current hospitalizations that involve the highly contagious delta variant, today's predominant strain, are being experienced by people who have not received shots. Thus, vaccinating substantial numbers of the unvaccinated would almost certainly save tens of thousands of lives - in terms both of preventing new infections in the near future and in protecting all Americans vaccinated and unvaccinated - against the prospective spread of more lethal covid variants.
        Consequently, the key question would seem to be how to get the unvaccinated to change their minds.
        A recent Washington Post-ABC poll found that only 49 percent of Republicans - as opposed to 93 percent of Democrats - have been either vaccinated or say that they plan to be, so the most urgent need would clearly rest with those on the Republican side of the political divide. And who would be more likely to convince reluctant Republicans than Trump?
        Yet, in March, Donald and Melania Trump were excluded when the Ad Council produced a series of public service advertisements by former presidents and first ladies, including the Carters, Clintons, Bushes and Obamas. While the Ad Council is not part of the U.S. Government, these ads unquestionably had at least semi-official status. Undoubtedly, if the Biden administration had pushed for the inclusion of the Trumps, they almost certainly would not have been left out.
        And in March about the same time the presidential ads started to appear, President Biden was asked by a reporter if he thought Trump should be enlisted to help promote vaccination. The president responded , "I discussed it with my team and they say the thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks is what the local doctors, what the local preachers, what the local people in the community say."
        In our view, having such people speak out in support of vaccination is a useful but not sufficient strategy. As other events and numerous polls have shown, Trump retains great influence with people who voted for him. It would almost certainly have a huge impact and help make America great again, if he were to urge his supporters - and everyone else in the country - to be vaccinated. He might point out that he himself had been vaccinated with no negative results, and he might even display a photo or a video clip of his vaccination. He could also stress that he played a key role in developing the vaccines and relate how his foresight in making this happen resulted in the safe arrival of effective vaccines in record time.
        Unquestionably, the likelihood of Trump making such a statement or launching his own campaign would be increased if it were preceded by a public statement - or even a phone call - from Biden praising Trump for his catalytic role and saying that the Biden administration stands with Trump in urging all Americans to be vaccinated as soon as possible.
        The two of us have spent our professional lives trying to resolve conflict, and we can say unequivocally that giving people credit for what they have accomplished - particularly when they deserve it - is one of the best ways of inducing them to act.
        The scenario we propose would be above partisan politics. Certainly, it would disturb some people who do not want to give Trump credit for anything, but, after all, he was a prime mover behind development of the vaccines. It might also unsettle those who question the legitimacy of the Biden presidency.
        The key issue here should not involve replaying personal or political differences. What is crucial is getting vaccines into the arms of the unvaccinated.
        John Marks was the founder and long-time president of Search for Common Ground, the world's largest non-profit, conflict resolution organization. Susan Collin Marks was vice president of Search for Common Ground.
      In A Flash, Bitcoin Can Become The Default Digital Reserve Currency Of The World | Bitcoin Magazine: Bitcoin News, Articles, Charts, and Guides
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 23:04
        Bitcoin has faced many challenges before, but it seems that the free market repeatedly creates innovative solutions to these.
        Bitcoin is king '-- it is still the best performing asset of our lives. It has silenced its harshest critics and only continued to grow in adoption, usability and relevance. The fact that bitcoin has achieved all this in only 12 years is remarkable. However, there is a very real specter that has been haunting the Bitcoin blockchain since its inception: speed. As adoption continues to bring billions in institutional money, retail, venture capital and now even entire countries into the Bitcoin ecosystem, we are facing the congestion and throughput problems many feared would keep bitcoin from achieving all its lofty revolutionary goals. Despite this, and even despite the rise of altcoins and the scalability challenges facing bitcoin, it will continue to build upon its successes and inevitably become the primary digital reserve currency of the world economy. How? With a bolt of Lightning.
        Bitcoin's Scalability ChallengesIf a blockchain network cannot scale to meet the needs of the global, digital economy, there is no hope of achieving mainstream adoption. There are many measures for scalability, but the most common is throughput (transactions per second or TPS). For context, Visa's payments network can process an estimated 24,000 transactions per second, though in reality only needs to complete about 1,700/sec. By comparison, Bitcoin processes between four and five transactions per second'--in other words, Bitcoin is painfully slow. Bitcoin's latency is in large part what motivated the rise of altcoins: Cardano, Nano and Solana, to name a few, all advertise high transaction throughput in comparison to bitcoin.
        Many Bitcoin users would argue that speed isn't the ultimate aim for bitcoin, whose primary purpose is to serve as a store of value and a hedge against inflation. Admittedly, there is a real need for preserving wealth through time to dodge the ravages of fiat currency inflation that have wreaked havoc on countries like Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Argentina and Iran. However, Bitcoin purists never doubted that Bitcoin should also live up to the original vision of a peer-to-peer electronic cash system laid out in Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin white paper.
        So, how does bitcoin arrive at this vision as a global currency and means of exchange, in addition to a store of value?
        The Bitcoin Cash hardfork was one potential solution to scalability: By increasing block size, more transactions could be included at a time. However, Bitcoin Cash can still only process a meager 116 transactions per second (it also failed miserably in the adoption test). Enter: the Lightning Network.
        The Lightning Network works by offloading capacity from the main Bitcoin blockchain onto a second layer of payment channels. Since Bitcoin's scalability issues are driven by the fact that each transaction has to be broadcasted to the entire network and included in the main Bitcoin blockchain, by utilizing Lightning Network, two entities can open a payment channel between them to enable instantaneous and frictionless payments. The only time transactions are broadcasted to the entire chain is when they open or close a channel. Lightning's real magic lies in the fact that you don't have to open a channel with someone in order to transact with them. The network knows how to send money across existing channels from sender to receiver. Say Alice and Bob have a channel, and Bob and Charlie have a channel, Alice can pay Charlie by hopping through their mutual friend Bob. Suddenly, those 4.5 transactions per second can scale into the billions.
        Now the efficacy of Satoshi's original vision becomes plausible. The case can now be made unequivocally for bitcoin as a viable digital currency usable in everyday life across the globe. The Lightning Network's adoption has grown exponentially, nearing 13,000 nodes and $60 million in total locked bitcoin, and is offering solutions to Bitcoin's scalability to places like El Salvador, Vietnam, the Philippines and many other nations in desperate need of alternatives to their national currencies. The Lightning Network now even seems to be garnering the attention of mainstream players as Twitter is eyeing the implementation of the protocol into the platform.
        Even with the Lightning Network in use and growing in popularity all the time, there still stands other obstacles bitcoin must overcome to become the digital reserve currency of the world. Ever since Nixon broke the U.S. dollar away from the gold standard in 1971, USD has been in a state of inflation, now losing nearly 4% of its value year over year. Indeed, inflation is inevitable with any fiat currency, but the rise of digital currencies like bitcoin presents an alternative that is immune to fiat's failings.
        One Coin To Rule Them All As the Lightning Network grows in adoption, bitcoin will realize Satoshi Nakamoto's original intentions as a store of value and means of payment. Already, we can see multiple reasons why bitcoin is expertly positioned to be a dominant form of currency. It is often the first cryptocurrency acquired by those new to the crypto space. It is the most well known, highly regarded and commonly held cryptocurrency in the world. Bitcoin also has endless use cases as a universal form of exchange on almost all centralized exchanges, DEXs and nearly any DeFi platform one can find. With the additional help of a fast, high-throughput overlay network such as Lightning, bitcoin has the potential to become the global reserve currency of the future.
        This is a guest post by Sagi Bakshi. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
      Latest News - NSW Police Public Site
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 22:11
        UntitledSaturday, 24 July 2021 05:05:52 PM
        Police have established Strike Force Seasoned following a police operation in response to unauthorised protest activity in Sydney's CDB today.
        A high-visibility policing operation was launched about 12pm (Saturday 24 July 2021) to ensure the safety of all protest participants, as well as the wider community and local businesses.
        General duties officers from across the Central Metropolitan Region were assisted by specialist police from the Public Order and Riot Squad (PORS), ODIN, Police Transport Command, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command and the Mounted and Dog Unit.
        During the operation, 57 people were arrested and are currently in the process of being charged.
        At least 90 Penalty Infringement Notices were also issued for breaches of the public health orders.
        Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said he shared the community's outrage at the actions of those present at this afternoon's protest.
        ''These individuals are on notice, as they have also risked the safety of our frontline officers,'' Minister Elliot said.
        ''They should know that a police strike force has been established and will forensically investigate all CCTV and social media footage collected over the course of the afternoon's protest.
        ''Police will not hesitate to bring more charges.
        ''It will only take one person with COVID-19 to turn to today's event into a super-spreader, so decent-minded Australians have every right to feel infuriated at such selfish behaviour.''
        Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon, Metropolitan Field Operations, said the work of Strike Force Seasoned, which will comprise of at least 22 detectives, starts now.
        ''Our officers have already started to identify attendees and will continue for as long as required to identify and prosecute all those who broke the law today.
        ''I want to thank the more than 350 police who were part of today's response. They did not go to work to be assaulted or have projectiles thrown at them '' the actions of the individuals involved in those offences was a disgrace.
        ''I also want to thank the majority of the community who continue to work with police and abide by the public health orders.
        ''They are in place for a reason and police will continue to enforce them '' our officers will not tolerate those who think the law does not apply to them.''
        Anyone with information or vision of today's protest activity is urged to contact Crime Stoppers through the online portal or by contacting 1800 333 000. Every single report will be investigated.
        Police continue to appeal to the community to report suspected breaches of any public health order or behaviour which may impact on the health and safety of the community by contacting Crime Stoppers: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence.
        The public is reminded not to report crime via NSW Police social media pages.
      Savage45 on Twitter: "A1.3b! If so then than the entire news media must be coerced! @adamcurry https://t.co/76MjN0Q6pp" / Twitter
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 22:05
        Savage45 : A1.3b! If so then than the entire news media must be coerced! @adamcurry https://t.co/76MjN0Q6pp https://t.co/MO63PReCFx
        Sat Jul 24 17:19:55 +0000 2021
      100 Vaccinated Royal Navy Crewmembers Infected With COVID Onboard The HMS Queen Elizabeth Warcraft
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 21:51
        About 100 fully vaccinated crewmembers onboard the Royal Navy's HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier have been infected with COVID-19 as they make their way through a 28-week global deployment tour.
        The BBC reported the aircraft carrier is leading the Carrier Strike Group that has several other warships accompanying it.
        The 100 cases of COVID-19 are being managed on the ship, with other ships in the fleet also affected by the virus, the BBC was told. The London Evening Standard also confirmed the outbreak.
        Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the BBC that the deployed crewmembers had all received two doses of the COVID vaccine. About 3,700 personnel are part of the Carrier Strike Group, according to the the news outlet..
        The HMS Queen Elizabeth is now entering the Indian Ocean and is set to continue its voyage to Japan later this year.
        Last year, the Royal Navy's HMS Northumberland returned to shore and isolated after crewmembers were suspected to be infected with the virus.
        The HMS Queen Elizabeth departed in May for its Carrier Strike Group, with eight RAF and 10 U.S. Marine Corps F35B stealth fighter jets onboard. It is being accompanied on its tour by six Royal Navy ships, a submarine, 14 naval helicopters, and a team of Royal Marines.
      Finnair to trial IATA 'Travel Pass' app on flights between Heathrow and Helsinki | Daily Mail Online
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 20:22
        An all-in-one 'travel pass' that could be used to slash border hall queues for holidaymakers is being trialled at Heathrow Airport.
        The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade body for airlines, is trialling its new 'Travel Pass' mobile app on flights between the London airport and Helsinki.
        The app allows travellers to put a digital version of their passport, along with their Covid test results and their entry requirements in one place so they can be easily checked.
        Travel bosses hope technology could cut the wait times at airport check-in and border halls.
        Other similar apps, such as Verifly, have been used and promoted, including by the likes of BA, as a way for passengers to check entry requirements and input tests results ahead of travel.
        But the IATA's app has drawn particular interest because of the digitalised passport function.
        The Government says it is monitoring the three-week trial, which will be rolled out on the Finnair flights between Heathrow and Helsinki Airport between now and mid-August.
        The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade body for airlines, is trialing its new 'Travel Pass' app (pictured) on flights between the London-based airport and Helsinki
        Travel bosses hope the app could cut the wait times at airport check-in and border halls (Pictured: queues at the UK border at Heathrow Terminal 5 last month)
        What is the IATA's 'Travel Pass'?: A Q&A Q: What is Travel Pass?
        A: IATA Travel Pass is a mobile application that helps travellers to store and manage their verified certifications for COVID-19 tests or COVID-19 vaccinations
        Q: How does IATA Travel Pass work?
        A: The app has four main functions:
        1. A global registry of health requirements which enables passengers to find information on travel, testing and vaccination requirements for their journey
        2. A Global registry of testing / vaccination centres, enabling passengers to find testing centres and labs at their departure location which meet the standards for testing and vaccination requirements of their destination.
        3. A Lab App '' enabling authorised labs and test centres to securely share certified test and vaccination certificates with passengers.
        4. Contactless Travel App - enabling passengers to create a 'digital passport', receive test and vaccination certificates and verify that they are sufficient for their itinerary, and share test or vaccination certificates with airlines and authorities to facilitate travel.
        Q: What's the point of it?
        A: The IATA hopes that it will streamline and digitalise travel documentation and that it will help give governments the confidence to reopen borders without quarantine.
        Q: Which airlines are taking part?
        A: More than 45 airlines across the world are taking part in trials - and a full list is here. For UK travellers, the main airlines trialling the scheme are BA and the remaining IAG group, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and Etihad.
        Q. Do passengers need to pay for IATA Travel Pass?
        A: No - it's free to download from the Apple App Store and on Google Play. It is also free to use.
        Ole Orv(C)r, Finnair Chief Commercial Officer, said: 'Covid-19 travel restrictions have disrupted millions of travellers all around the world.
        'They have also severely contributed to ever-present anxieties for travellers across the whole aviation sector.
        'The industry is in need for current protocols to be replaced with more effective, digital solutions to simplify coronavirus travel procedures.'
        IATA says the app allows travellers to receive, store and manage any verified COVID-19 certificates securely ahead of their flight.
        Bosses of the trade board say they hope, in the future, the app will enable customers to navigate their way through airports and board their flight more quickly and efficiently.
        'It will do this by ensuring customers avoid the additional burden of travel document hassle '' providing a smoother customer experience for regular travellers,' say the IATA.
        During the trial, the Finnish carrier will collect feedback from customers and crew to help the app's future development.
        Speaking about the plans, a Government spokesperson told MailOnline: 'The Global Travel Taskforce continues to review how we safely restart international travel while managing the risk from imported cases and variants.
        'We are constantly exploring how new technology can support these aims and look forward to hearing about the conclusion of the trials.'
        Alongside Finnair, the IATA app, which is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play is being trialled on other carriers, including BA, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and Etihad.
        In March the IATA teamed up with Singapore Airlines for flights from Singapore to Heathrow.
        Speaking at the time, JoAnn Tan, acting senior vice president of marketing planning in Singapore Airlines, said: 'Digital health credentials will be essential as borders reopen and travel restrictions get progressively lifted worldwide.
        'It (the app) gives travellers a one-stop-shop to help them comply with the new rules for travel.
        'It shows that governments can efficiently manage these travel requirements with complete confidence in the identity of the passenger and the veracity of the travel credentials'--importantly, avoiding long queues.'
        During the trial, the Finnish carrier (pictured: A Finnair plane) will collect feedback from customers and crew to help the app's future development
        The new trial comes as it was revealed on Tuesday that Border Force officers have been told they no longer need to make Covid checks on arrivals in the UK.
        According to a leaked report officials have been told they no longer have to 'routinely' check passengers arriving from green and amber list countries.
        Arrivals currently have to provide a negative Covid test taken before departure and must complete a Passenger Locator Form within 48 hours of departure to the UK.
        What do arrivals in the UK from green and amber list countries need to do before they travel? Green List
        - You must take a Covid test before you travel. This can be a PCR, Lamp or anti-gen but must meet specific requirements - of '‰¥97% specificity, '‰¥80% sensitivity at viral loads above 100,000 copies/ml.
        - You must book and pay for a 'Day 2' Covid test to be taken two days after your arrival in the UK.
        - You must fill out a Passenger Locator Form within 48 hours of travel
        Amber List
        All of the above. PLUS:
        - If you are NOT double vaccinated you must quarantine at home for at least 10 days. You can be released earlier if you take part in the Test and Release scheme.
        - If you ARE double vaccinated you will need to declare that you have been fully UK vaccinated on your passenger locator form or you are under 18 and resident in the UK. You will need to show proof of your vaccination status to your carrier (ferry, airline or train) when you travel.
        But, as of Monday just gone, Border Force officials will no longer routinely check passengers have these documents, according to the leaked document, first reported by the Guardian.
        Passport e-gates will also no longer refer passengers to in-person checks by Border Force officers if a passenger locator form is not found, the paper reports.
        Passenger Locator Forms are still checked by airlines ahead of travel, while the Government insists arrivals who do not comply still run the risk of being fined.
        The change in policy also does not impact on red list arrivals, who must isolate in designated quarantine hotels for 10 days, at the cost of £1750, after landing in the UK.
        The move, aimed at reducing queues at the border, comes after Heathrow Terminal 5's passport control hall was thrown into chaos on Monday night due to a glitch in the e-gate system.
        Thousands of frustrated passengers were left queuing in the Border hall on Monday night after a Government blunder led passengers to fill out their Passenger Locator Forms incorrectly.
        The forms sparked a wave of rejections at the e-gates, with Border Force officials eventually closing them to prevent further disruption.
        Lucy Moreton, professional officer for the ISU, which represents border immigration and customs staff in the UK, said Border Force staff had also been told not to challenge Covid documentation 'even if it is recorded on the system that the documentation has not been completed'.
        Ms Moreton told the BBC: 'Ultimately this is a political decision. Certainly, it will reduce queue times significantly and hopefully also the level of verbal abuse to which Border Force staff are subject.
        'That is welcome to us. The impact on the UK's Covid security is ultimately a scientific determination.'
        A Government spokesman told MailOnline: 'Our utmost priority is protecting the health of the public and our enhanced borders regime is helping reduce the risk of new variants being transmitted.
        'All passenger locator forms are still being checked by carriers, as they are legally required to do, and to suggest otherwise is wrong.
        'This legal requirement on carriers is underpinned by a robust compliance regime, which is overseen by regulators.
        'Compliance with these rules is essential in order to protect the population from new variants of Covid-19, and so there will be tough fines for those who do not follow the rules.'
        Heathrow introduces a £5 passenger drop-off charge for cars AND taxi drivers at departures which must be paid online or over the phone - in desperate bid to claw back £2billion pandemic losses Heathrow Airport is to introduce a £5 passenger drop-off charge outside its terminals - as it desperately attempts to claw back more than £2billion in pandemic losses.
        The new charge will be brought in from October and will apply to all vehicles - including taxis and private hire cars - entering the forecourt areas outside the airport's terminals.
        The fee must be paid online or over the phone, with number plate reading cameras, instead of barriers, being used to enforce the charge.
        Heathrow chiefs say the move, which brings the airport's policy in line with the likes of Gatwick and Manchester, who also have £5 drop-off charges, is aimed at 'improving air quality and reducing congestion'.
        Bosses also admit the money will help the airport recover after losing around £5million-a-day throughout the Covid pandemic.
        However the move is likely to be another headache for holidaymakers hoping for a stress-relieving getaway after months of Covid cancellations and confusion.
        Meanwhile taxi unions have rallied against the move, urging its drivers should be exempt from the charge.
        Announcing the decision, which comes after the launch of a review in December last year, Heathrow bosses said: 'From October, Heathrow will be introducing a charge for vehicles dropping off passengers at its terminal forecourts.
        The charge will be brought in from October and will apply to all vehicles - including taxis and private hire cars - entering the forecourt areas outside each terminal. Pictured: The charge will apply to drop-off areas outside the airport's terminals
        'We have always said that we would consider introducing a form of road user charging and several other approaches to improve air quality and reduce congestion at Heathrow.
        'This charge forms part of our updated Surface Access strategy and sustainable travel plans.
        'We updated these plans after reviews were conducted of all airport projects in light of the collapse in passenger numbers experienced at Heathrow due to the impacts of the pandemic and the subsequent loss of £5million a day.'
        Heathrow bosses (pictured: CEO John Holland-Kaye) say the £5 charge is less than the up to £15 fee it had planned to charge under its 'Heathrow Vehicle Access Charge 'HVAC' plan
        The charge will apply to all vehicles entering the drop-off forecourts of Heathrow's terminals - though blue badge holders and emergency vehicles will be exempt.
        Heathrow chiefs say the areas will be marked up with 'clear signage' on roads in and around the airport to 'ensure drivers are fully aware' of chargeable areas.
        The charge zones will be enforced using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, with the charge being paid online, via mobile phone or an automated telephone service.
        Parking fines will be handed out to those who do not pay the charge, Heathrow bosses warned.
        But the move has today been criticised by taxi unions, who warn it could inflict further damage on an industry which has already been hit badly by the Covid pandemic.
        Dave Lawrie from the National Private Hire and Taxi Association said he understood why airports implement such charges, and that others already had similar schemes in place.
        But, speaking to MailOnline, he said: 'With the Covid situation, I think our industry should be exempt.'
        The charge zones will be enforced using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras (like those pictured here), with the charge being paid online, via mobile phone or an automated telephone service
        Mr Lawrie said the charge would be passed on to customers - which could drive business away from taxi and private hire vehicles.
        Heathrow bosses meanwhile say the £5 charge is less than the up to £15 fee it had planned to charge under its 'Heathrow Vehicle Access Charge 'HVAC' plan.
        Airport bosses say they had hoped to introduce the charge, of between £10-15, ahead of the opening of its third runway, along with a Heathrow Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (HULEZ) by 2022.
        However they say the £5 drop-off charge replaces these proposals.
        Airport chiefs say the car parks will continue to operate as normal and that a free drop off option remains at its long stay car parks, where passengers can take a free bus transfer to the terminal.
        Heathrow said: 'This move will not impact passenger pick up, which should continue via the car parks, as picking up passengers is not permitted on the terminal forecourts.
        'More details on the scheme, registering your vehicle, and making payments will be published in due course,' the airport said in a statement.
        The move comes after Gatwick Airport introduced a drop-off charge at its terminals earlier this year.
        The airport introduced the £5 drop-off scheme at its North Terminal in March, followed by its South Terminal in April.
        Manchester Airport introduced a similar charge in 2018 and has since increased its prices from £3 to £5 for five minutes, with ten minutes costing £6 and more than ten minutes attracting a staggering £25 charge.
      French Box Office Drops 70% Due to New Entry Requirements to Cinemas - Variety
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:31
        The French box office has taken a big hit and dropped 70% this week due to the new sanitary measures enforced on July 21 which require a proof of vaccination or a recent negative PCR test to enter cultural venues, including movie theaters.
        French President Emmanuel Macron announced on July 12 that the EU Digital Covid Certificate '-- commonly called ''health pass'' '-- would be mandatory at all cultural venues. The new measure '-- which has sparked protests across the country with some people calling Macron a dictator '-- is meant to help contain the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in France, as well as push people to get vaccinated. Starting on Aug. 1, the health pass will also be mandatory in cafes, shops, restaurants, as well as trains and planes, among other places.
        On Wednesday (July 21), the day that the measure kicked off, theatrical admissions fell 60% to 280,000 compared with the previous day.
        ''It's a dramatic situation '-- on Tuesday, ''Kaamelott '' Premier volet,'' the latest opus of Alexandre Astier's adventure comedy franchise had a bullish launch in theaters with 320,000 tickets sold in a single day, and then a day later the entire box office for all movies was 280,000 admissions,'' said Eric Marti at Comscore France.
        ''F9,'' the latest instalment of Universal's action-packed ''Fast & Furious'' franchise with Vin Diesel, John Cena and Michelle Rodriguez, saw its ticket sales in France drop by 90% since Wednesday. Several other movies which bowed at the Cannes Film Festival and were recently released, including Leos Carax's ''Annette,'' with Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, which opened the fest and won best director, and the Palme d'Or winning ''Titane'' also suffered with a 80% and 33% drop, respectively. Admissions for Paul Verhoeven's ''Benedetta,'' another Cannes competition title, dropped by 70%, according to Comscore France.
        A decree published earlier this week allows exhibitors to bypass the mandatory health pass if they can limit audience capacity to 50 people per screen which seems to be a feasible option for some smaller cinemas. Marc-Olivier Sebbag at the FNCF (French National Exhibitors Federation) however, says large venues such as multiplexes which had already been the most impacted by the lockdown will be the most hurt by these new restrictions. Exhibitors now fear distributors will pull out their upcoming releases, notably Gaumont with ''OSS 117: From Africa With Love,'' the anticipated French comedy starring Jean Dujardin (''The Artist'') which world premiered on closing night at Cannes.
        The box office drop is not so surprising considering that only 43.8% of the French population is fully vaccinated as of July 23. The new measure primarily affects the young population which has been last to access vaccines and incidentally adolescents and youth demographics are the most likely to go to movie theaters, especially during summertime, explains Sebbag.
        After Macron's speech, the number of appointments for a shot of the vaccine skyrocketed by more three million, France Prime Minister Jean Castex said in a televised interview on Wednesday. As many as 4.3 million people booked an appointment to get their first dose since July 12, according to a CNN report citing the medical booking site Doctolib.
        France is the first country in Europe to require a health pass in public venues but other countries are expected to follow suit. Italy, which hosts the Venice Film Festival in early September, just announced it will also make the health pass mandatory in most public venues starting Aug. 6. In the U.K. a proof of vaccination will also be demanded in nightclubs and other venues with large crowds from the end of September.
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      Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby Holds an Off-Camera Press Briefing > U.S. Department of Defense > Transcript
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:23
        PRESS SECRETARY JOHN F. KIRBY: Everybody. Okay. Just a couple things at the top.
        This morning, Secretary Austin, Deputy Secretary Hicks and acting undersecretary of personnel and readiness joined the secretary of veterans' affairs, the Honorable Denis McDonough, and other V.A. leaders and a small group of advocates and survivors to participate in a survivor and advocate roundtable on sexual assault and sexual harassment. During the meeting, the group discussed priorities, efforts and recommendations as part of the development and implementation of the Independent Review Commission roadmap. This is, I think, their third engagement with this group of survivors. This is something that the group, that they've been trying to stay in touch with as we move from the very beginning of the IRC all the way through the end, so it was a chance to touch base with them again now that the IRC recommendations are complete, and listen to them and their input, and to read out to them where the department's thinking is on this.
        Today, we will also host a delegation from the government of Iraq for the next iteration of the U.S.-Iraq military technical talks as part of the U.S.-Iraq strategic dialogue. The meetings will discuss the long-term U.S.-Iraq security cooperation partnership and areas for cooperation beyond counterterrorism, and we'll, of course, give a full readout of the meeting when it's over.
        And with that, I think we'll start with Bob on the phone here.
        Q: Yes. Thanks, John.
        I actually do have a question about the Iraq talks. My question is, you know, the last time there was, I think, the last Iraq-U.S. strategic dialogue in April, there was a joint statement put out afterwards that said that now that U.S. and coalition forces had transitioned to training and advising, that the -- this would allow for what they said was the redeployment of any remaining combat forces from Iraq, with the timing to be established in upcoming technical talks, which may be exactly what you were referring to there. And my question is, has there been any additional clarity on that timing? And does Secretary Austin wish there to be, let's say, more clarity and a -- a firm timetable for withdrawing from Iraq?
        Thanks.
        MR. KIRBY: Yeah, Bob.
        We are talking about -- we're talking with the Iraqis over the course of the next couple of days about a whole host of issues, and certainly, you can expect that one of those issues is, of course, the American military footprint in Iraq and the missions that we're conducting inside Iraq. I won't get ahead of those discussions. I do think you can expect that at the conclusion of the dialogue, there will be a public statement, as there has been in the past. And as I said we'll give a readout from today's meetings, as well. I don't know how detailed that will be in terms of a timeline for the eventual departure of U.S. troops.
        I think it's important to remember that we are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This was -- this -- this mission, which was focused on ISIS, was never intended to be permanent, and I think everybody has always understood that there would be a time when there would no longer be a need for U.S. combat forces inside Iraq. And what that looks like going forward, again, these talks are part of that process, and I simply don't -- won't be able to get ahead of decisions that haven't yet been made.
        But -- we're obviously in close consultation with our Iraqi partners about what we're doing and the mission against ISIS, how that's going, and of course, thinking about what the future would look like.
        Q: A follow-up question is, is it your intention to establish more clarity during this week's talks, or is this the beginning of a longer-term dialogue?
        MR. KIRBY: Again, I don't want to get ahead of talks that haven't been completed. We're -- we're certainly looking at these talks as additional opportunities in the process to discuss what the future will look like.
        Q: Thank you.
        MR. KIRBY: Okay. In here? Court?
        Q: On that, has the Biden administration's viewpoint changed? I mean, is it still the intention of the administration to maintain U.S. military combat troops in Iraq or -- I mean, I know there's these ongoing reviews, so is that still the hope, that the same footprint or even a larger footprint will -- where are you -- where is that coming from?
        MR. KIRBY: No -- Courtney, I mean, the hope is that we can, you know, rid ourselves and rid the region of the threat that ISIS poses. And there's been a lot of good work done in the last several years on greatly diminishing that threat. That's -- that's what we're there for and that's what we're hoping for.
        Our presence there, again, is at the invitation of the Iraqi government and what that looks like going forward is something that we're going to decide with our Iraqi partners. So if and it's -- not about a desire to have a presence or not to have a presence, it's a desire, in concert with our Iraqi partners, to eradicate the threat that ISIS poses, and -- and that's what these discussions are all about. It's examining the threat, examining what we're doing, the operations, and what it needs to look like going forward, commensurate with the status of ISIS inside Iraq.
        Q: And then one -- one other thing --
        (CROSSTALK)
        MR. KIRBY: Hang -- hang on just a second.
        Q: What is the department's intent about media access to the Afghans who are going to Fort Lee?
        MR. KIRBY: I would refer to you -- to the State Department for that, Courtney. That it's a -- the -- the media posture for the relocation of these individuals and their families is not something that the Department of Defense is going to be responsible for. That's -- that's really for the State Department to speak to.
        Yeah -- yeah, Joe?
        Q: Yeah, thank you so much.
        Yeah, I had a question on Afghanistan. I wanted to ask (inaudible) yesterday. What -- what's the current assessment of the Pentagon of Pakistan's role inside Afghanistan? And have you seen any evidence that the Pakistani Air Force has helped Taliban in gaining grounds, especially in the Kandahar Province?
        MR. KIRBY: I'm not going to speak for operational details here, Joe, you know that, and we -- we've talked about this before. The -- we -- we recognize that Pakistan has a stake in a stable, secure Afghanistan, the long border there, and we've long recognized that the border between those two countries has been used in the past as safe haven for some of these terrorist groups, including the Taliban, and that the Pakistani people themselves have fallen victim to terrorist attacks that have emanated from that border region.
        So our message to the Pakistanis has remained consistent, that -- that we we recognize we have shared interests here, common interests in not allowing for those safe havens, and -- and we continue to talk to the Pakistanis about ways that, collectively, all of us can -- can see an improvement there.
        But as for what the Pakistanis are doing or are not doing and operationally, that's something that they should speak to, not -- not us.
        Q: Sorry, but you can't say if they are playing a positive or a negative role now -- right now --
        MR. KIRBY: What I can tell you is that we -- we have had discussions with Pakistan about ways in which they can be helpful in terms of helping secure that border and contributing to a more stable and more secure future for Afghanistan.
        Q: Yeah, but Pakistan's support to the Taliban (inaudible), which he has said, is helping Taliban get control -- ground control of -- now they have control of 200 districts. Isn't it impacting your mission in Afghanistan?
        MR. KIRBY: Well, our mission in Afghanistan is to complete this drawdown and to get to a point where our force presence is designed to protect our diplomats and our diplomatic mission. That's our mission in Afghanistan.
        And again, I think we've been very candid and forthcoming about the challenges along that border, and I think the Pakistani people, they understand the threat that they're under, too, and the need to -- to not allow for there to be safe haven there.
        Yes, Wafaa? How's your finger?
        (CROSSTALK)
        Q: Yes, I have to keep it for a few days.
        Back to the strategic dialogue, you said that the meetings will discuss area of cooperation beyond concert -- counter-terrorism. Can you explain this, especially that the mission in Iraq is to defeat ISIS, its counter-terrorism mission?
        MR. KIRBY: Yeah, the military mission in Iraq is aligned against ISIS but we also have a bilateral relationship with Iraq that doesn't just exist in a security environment, and I think that's what the strategic dialogue is trying to get at.
        Q: And are you going to discuss specific security measures that the government of Iraq, the Iraqi Forces need to take to secure the bases -- military bases where the U.S. is being, like, targeted by militia backed by Iran?
        MR. KIRBY: I think we'll be talking about a range of security issues. I'm not going to get ahead of the the discussions, but to your point -- and we've said this before -- we take the safety and security of our people in Iraq very, very seriously. The President has proven on numerous occasions now that he's willing to take action to try to bolster that force protection and he certainly reserves the right as Commander in Chief to do it again, if need be. And -- and I think our Iraqi partners well understand that.
        Yeah?
        Q: Hey, good morning, sir.
        After he took office in January, the Secretary (inaudible) zero-based reviews of about 40 advisory committees and boards. What's the status of those reviews, sir?
        MR. KIRBY: They -- we -- largely, the committee-level work has been completed and -- and we are examining those committee recommendations -- the Secretary is -- to determine how he wants to move forward.
        I don't have any specific announcements to make today but I do think you'll start to see us be able to communicate in -- with -- in more detail very soon about what those -- what -- what boards are going to be reconstituted and -- how they're going to be both chaired and populated.
        I don't want to get ahead, again, of the Secretary's decisions. I think in general, now that the committee work is done -- I mean, I can certainly, in general, point to the fact that some of the major boards, like the Defense Policy Board, the Defense Science Board, the Defense Business Board, Health and Innovation Boards -- I mean, they -- will be reconstituted. But the -- as for -- you know, beyond that, I'd really rather not get ahead of -- again, of the Secretary's decision space.
        I didn't go to anybody on the phone here. Stephen Losey?
        Q: Hi. Thank you.
        My question has to do with the assassination in Haiti and the DOD's statement that some of the suspected people involved had received training from the U.S. military. Has there been anything in addition that the Defense Department has learned about potentially how many people, what -- what kind of training, things like that? And also, are those -- is that discovery and what happened in Haiti prompting the DOD to perhaps reevaluate or reconsider how it trains foreign militaries, or how it vets those who participate?
        MR. KIRBY: So I think what we can confirm is thus far, we've identified seven individuals who were former members of the Colombian military that had received some sort of training and education, U.S.-funded and provided education and training. Some of it was under State Department funding and authorities, and some of -- some of the training was under DOD, Department of Defense-funded training.
        But to you give an example of some of them that we've identified -- and -- and this isn't by individual. I'm not going to get into speaking to individuals, but cadet leadership development, counter-drug operations, noncommissioned officer professional development, small-unit leadership training, human rights training, emergency medical training, some helicopter maintenance training and those kinds of things -- all things that are very common. We train thousands of individuals, particularly from militaries in the Western hemisphere over the -- over the course of a given year, all training that is basic military and leadership training, as I just cited. And those examples I gave are actual examples of training we know that these seven individuals got -- nothing, certainly, related at all -- or -- or that one could extrapolate, you know, as leading to or encouraging of what happened in -- in Haiti. And I know of no plans right now, as a result of what happened in Haiti, for us to reconsider or to change this very valuable, ethical leadership training that we continue to provide to -- to partners in the Western hemisphere and to partners around the world.
        Q: Is it correct that some of them were -- were trained at Fort Polk, or were some people trained elsewhere, or --
        MR. KIRBY: I don't have the details of exactly where all this training went. You're talking about seven individuals over the course of their time in the -- in the Colombian military, and I just, I don't have the details of every base at which every training seminar was held, and frankly, I'm not really sure the relevance of that level of detail anyway.
        Q: But no changes in the works.
        MR. KIRBY: Sylvie?
        Q: Hello. I had a question about Somalia. There was a strike against Al-Shabaab in Somalia this week, and I wanted to know if it was authorized by the White House, or if the -- if President Biden lift the instruction to always go through the White -- the White House to -- before striking Somalia.
        MR. KIRBY: The strike that we've -- that -- that we're -- you're talking about, Sylvie, was ordered by General Townsend under his existing authorities to act in -- in the defense of our Somali partners, who were under attack by Al-Shabaab. He had all -- he had the authorities to do this. He ordered this on his own. You know, he ordered this under his own authority to do so, and he didn't need to -- to ask permission to -- to conduct that strike.
        Q: But in March, you told us that all the strikes that were ordered outside Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria had to go through the White House.
        MR. KIRBY: What I can tell you is that General Townsend had the authority to order this strike, and -- and he used those authorities to do so, and those -authorities have existed for -- for General Townsend, and I'm not -- you know, I -- I think -- I think I'll just leave it there.
        Oren?
        Q: On the Iraq talks, given the relationship between the presence in Syria and the presence in Iraq, is there a -- is that part of these talks, how a tweak or a change to the footprint in Iraq might affect the footprint in Syria, or is that a consideration for DOD as these move forward? And then separately, do you know the number of Delta variant breakthrough cases amongst DOD vaccinated personnel?
        MR. KIRBY: I don't have a number on the Delta variant cases here. Let me see if we can get you a better idea. We do know that there are -- there are Delta cases inside the DOD population. I just don't have the exact number.
        I'm sorry, and your first question was about Syria?
        Q: Essentially, how does the conversation in Iraq and the strategic dialogue, how could that affect, and -- and is it part of the conversation about it could affect the footprint in Syria? (inaudible) --
        MR. KIRBY: I mean, as you know -- again, I don't want to get ahead of talks that are ongoing here and where it's going to go. But as you know, the -- the missions are very -- they're very linked because we knew when ISIS stood up in 2014, or when they got -- when they were on the move in 2014, they were using Syria as a staging/logistics/ recruiting/training ground for much of their operations inside Iraq. So -- it's all -- I mean, there -- there is a linkage there under Operation Inherent Resolve.
        What -- what decisions might come out of these talks that could affect the footprint in Syria, I just don't know. But, you know, but clearly, the fight against ISIS continues, and --and how it's going to look, you know, in -- in future months, I think, is just unknown right now. We're going to be continuing to talk to the Iraqis about our presence there, and about what makes the most sense for the threat that ISIS poses, and just as importantly, what makes the most sense for our Iraqi partners, because we're there at their invitation.
        Yeah?
        Q: Thanks. On Afghanistan, SIGAR yesterday put out a report on ANDSF's fuel with -- alleging that about half of it has been stolen, and without enough fuel, ANDSF operations will come to a grinding halt. First, does DOD have any reaction to this ongoing issue? And going forward, does DOD or groups like DLA or anyone else expect to provide logistical support for fuel, spare parts, that sort of thing, in Afghanistan?
        MR. KIRBY: Yeah, I don't have -- I don't have anything on that report. I haven't seen it. So let me see if we have an official department reaction to that. I just haven't seen it, and I wouldn't want to speculate.
        But broadly speaking, as the secretary said, our commitment to the ANDSF will continue after the drawdown is complete in a largely financial and logistical support component. Now what -- what piece of that is fuel, I just don't know, and I don't know that we have that all ironed out right now. But our support to the ANSF -- ANDSF will continue in terms of helping them have the logistical and maintenance capability to continue defending their country.
        And again, I just have to -- let me take a look at this report and see what it says. I just -- I don't know.
        Eric?
        Q: John, going back to the airstrike in Somalia, there have been other times when partner forces have come into contact with al-Shabaab and airstrikes had not been authorized. What was -- what made this particular incident rise to that occasion and does it augur for more instances where U.S. drones or other aircraft will come in support of Somali forces on the ground?
        MR. KIRBY: Yeah, I -- I won't speak for General Townsend and the calculus that he used to come -- to make this decision. Again, it was -- he ordered it, he had the authority to do it, and I think I'd rather refer -- defer to him in terms of whatever thought process he's willing to share. It was done, I think as I said, at his level.
        And as for the future, clearly I won't speculate about what potential operations could occur in the -- in the future but he does have the authority to act in defense of our forces and our Somali partners, if he feels that he needs to do that. He has the authority and has the capability and -- and I think, you know, we'll just -- I -- I wouldn't want to get ahead of that.
        It does underscore the threat that Al-Shabaab poses in Somalia and -- and certainly the Horn of Africa, and -- and that -- that threat remains significant and we're -- we're going to continue to be vigilant about it.
        Jeff Schogol?
        Q: Thank you. Has the U.S. military conducted any airstrikes around Kandahar recently? I'm seeing tweets that possibly some Navy FA-18s have launched attacks to stop the Taliban from taking the city.
        MR. KIRBY: Without speaking to specifics, Jeff, I can say that -- that in the last several days, we have acted through airstrikes to -- to support the ANDSF but I -- I won't get into tactical details of those strikes.
        But we continue to be able to and we continue to, as the Secretary said yesterday, conduct airstrikes in support of the ANDSF. General McKenzie has those authorities.
        Q: Well, if I could follow up, the DOD did announce an airstrike in Somalia. Why not just say what's going on in Afghanistan?
        MR. KIRBY: We didn't announce an airstrike in Somalia, Jeff, we were asked a question and we answered it.
        (CROSSTALK)
        MR. KIRBY: I -- as I said and as the Secretary said yesterday, we have, in recent days, conducted strikes in support of the ANDSF. We're not going to get into specific details about them.
        Yes, ma'am?
        Q: How many troops do you have in Syria now?
        MR. KIRBY: I'll get you the firm number. I don't have it off the top of my head. It's -- as I understand it, it's still less than 1,000 but we can -- we can try to pull you a more specific number.
        Q: Thank you. Russia and Ethiopia --
        MR. KIRBY: I'm sorry?
        Q: Russia and Ethiopia last week signed a military cooperation agreement. Do you have any concern regarding that?
        MR. KIRBY: Who? I'm sorry, I could not understand you.
        Q: Russia and Ethiopia signed a military agreement last week -- Russia and Ethiopia.
        MR. KIRBY: Okay, Russia and Ethiopia.
        Q: Yeah. Do you have any comment on that?
        MR. KIRBY: I'm not familiar with that agreement. I don't want to speculate or comment on it. I have not seen that agreement. Yeah, I'm sorry.
        Yeah, in the back there?
        Q: Hi, John. Just to bring it back to Iraq, can you tell us which Iraqi officials are participating in that current discussions ahead of Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi's visit?
        MR. KIRBY: I don't think I have that list, do I, Jess. We should be able to get it to you, though, I just don't have that --
        (CROSSTALK)
        Q: -- just to follow up on this, you mentioned, you know, it's always been understood that combat troops will eventually no longer be needed. Do you have a rough estimate of how many U.S. combat troops are actually in Iraq right now?
        MR. KIRBY: I think what we said -- the -- the number's roughly around 2,500.
        Q: Right, but aren't they considered advisors under OIR?
        MR. KIRBY: They are -- they are -- the mission is -- is largely advice and assistance.
        Q: Okay. Do you have any -- any rough idea of what percentage or --
        MR. KIRBY: I can't break that down more than that, no.
        Okay, thanks.
        Q: Thank you.
      Pentagon admits it trained SEVEN of Haiti president's murderers, but denies 'encouraging' assassination '-- RT USA News
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:18
        The Pentagon's top spokesman has confirmed that at least seven Colombians implicated in the assassination of Haiti's president had received US training in the past, but denied it might have somehow ''encouraged'' the hit.
        ''Thus far, we've identified seven individuals who were former members of the Colombian military that had received some sort of ... US funded and provided education and training,'' Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday, stressing that such training is ''very common,'' and did not ''[lead] to or [encourage] what happened in Haiti.''
        While Kirby declined to provide details on an individual basis for the seven assassins, he said the instruction included ''cadet leadership development, counter-drug operations, noncommissioned officer professional development, small-unit leadership training, human rights training, emergency medical training, some helicopter maintenance training, and those kinds of things.''
        Also on rt.com Haiti's interim PM says he'll resign after US & Western powers endorse his rival in sudden reversal He went on to say that he knew of no plans at the Pentagon to reconsider this ''very valuable, ethical leadership training'' program despite recent events in Haiti, which saw President Jovenel Mo¯se shot dead by gunmen at his home near Port-au-Prince earlier this month. Around two dozen suspects have since been brought into Haitian custody, the majority of them former members of Colombia's military now working for private security firms, some based in the US.
        The Pentagon had previously confirmed that some of the Colombian assassins had received American training, but declined to offer any details at the time.
        Though Kirby repeatedly argued that the US training courses played no role in the presidential hit, the assassination comes as the latest in a long line of coups and murder plots involving US-trained foreign personnel. Since 2008, Africa alone has seen no fewer than seven military coups spearheaded by American-trained fighters. Among the most recent are two separate coups in Mali since August 2020, both led by US-trained Colonel Assimi Go¯ta.
        Worldwide, the record on US training programs appears much more damning. Between 1970 and 2009, American-trained militants were involved in 165 coup attempts, according to research published in 2017 by Jonathan Caverley of the US Naval War College and Jesse Savage of Trinity College Dublin. Though their research was confined to only two specific programs, they found a ''robust relationship between US training of foreign militaries and military-backed coup attempts.''
        Also on rt.com Biden to send Marines to guard US Embassy in Haiti, but says broader deployment 'not on the agenda at this moment' Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
      CA Agency May Scrap Electric Bus Fleet After Electric Buses Melt in California Sun, Catch Fire, Cost Too Much to Fix
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:18
        The electric bus idea is going down in flames '' literally.
        A California transit official said electric buses manufactured by Proterra are melting in the California heat.
        One electric bus caught fire while it was charging and the agency said the electric buses are just too expensive to fix.
        The Washington Free Beacon reported:
        TRENDING: US Women's Soccer Team Stands for the National Anthem Before 2nd Olympic Match in Rare Moment of Respect
        An electric bus manufactured by Proterra caught fire while charging in a southern California city that is now considering taking the electric buses off the road, according to government records.
        The Foothill Transit agency, which serves the valleys surrounding Los Angeles, will decide on Friday whether costly Proterra buses purchased in the last decade are still operable. Problems cited by the agency include not only the bus that caught fire in what's described as a ''thermal event,'' but also buses that melt in the California heat and have transmission failures. Roland Cordero, the agency's director of maintenance and vehicle technology, says the problems with the buses are exacerbated by Proterra's inability to help with repairs.
        ''With the number of failures we are experiencing and the inability of Proterra to provide parts, these [Battery Electric Buses] BEBs will only get worse as we continue to operate them whenever the BEBs are available for service,'' Cordero wrote ahead of Friday's executive board meeting, where the agency will debate taking Proterra buses out of service.
        Meanwhile Biden's gargantuan 'infrastructure' plan allocates billions of dollars to expand electric vehicles and charging stations.
      Ransomware key to unlock customer data from REvil attack - BBC News
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:15
        image copyright Getty Images
        A computer key that can unlock the files of hundreds of companies which were hacked in a large-scale cyber-attack has been obtained.
        US IT firm Kaseya - which was the first to be targeted earlier this month - said it got the key from a ''trusted third party''.
        Ransomware is malicious software that steals computer data and scrambles it so the victim cannot gain access.
        The hackers then ask for payment in return for releasing the files.
        Kaseya's decryptor key will allow customers to retrieve missing files, without paying the ransom.
        media caption Technology explained: what is ransomware?The company's spokeswoman Dana Liedholm declined to answer whether Kaseya had paid for access to the key.
        She told tech blog Bleeping Computer that the firm was actively helping customers restore their files.
        The "supply chain" attack initially targeted Kaseya, before spreading through corporate networks which use its software.
        Kaseya estimated that between 800 and 1,500 businesses were affected, including 500 Swedish Coop supermarkets and 11 schools in New Zealand.
        After the attack at the beginning of July, criminal ransomware gang REvil demanded $70m worth of Bitcoin in return for a key that would unlock the stolen files.
        But members of the group disappeared from the internet in the days following the incident, leaving companies with no way of retrieving the data until now.
        Who is the mystery gifter?
        That's the big question in the cyber-security world at the moment.
        But really it is irrelevant for two reasons.
        Firstly, giving away the key now is far too late for most of the victims of this massive ransomware attack.
        The most desperate companies would have paid the gang already to get their operations back online, and others would hopefully be on their way to recovering by now without the help of the criminals.
        Secondly, the mystery gifter was most probably linked to - or working with - the criminals directly.
        It seems improbable that a well-run and experienced cyber-crime group like REvil would have accidentally leaked its most prized possession, or had it taken by some sort of secret law enforcement operation.
        I'm told by a hacker who claims to be a part of the inner circle that it was "a trusted partner" who gave the key away on behalf of the group's leader, who calls himself Unknown.
        My contact says it's all part of "a new beginning".
        So while some are calling this the end of the REvil group, it could well be the start of something else.
      Rick Dennison out as Minnesota Vikings assistant after refusing COVID-19 vaccine, sources say
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:11
        Jul 23, 2021 Courtney Cronin ESPN Staff Writer
        CloseCovered the 49ers, Raiders and Warriors for the San Jose Mercury News. She joined ESPN in 2017.EAGAN, Minn. -- After refusing to receive a vaccine for COVID-19, Rick Dennison is out as a Minnesota Vikings assistant coach, sources told ESPN on Friday.
        Dennison had served as the Vikings' offensive line coach/run game coordinator the past two seasons. In a statement Friday, the Vikings said they were still in discussions with Dennison about the league's COVID-19 protocols.
        Another coach in the league, New England Patriots co-offensive line coach Cole Popovich, also won't be with his team in 2021 in a decision related to the COVID-19 vaccine and NFL guidelines, league sources confirmed to ESPN.
        The vaccine is required for all Tier 1 staff, including coaches, front-office executives, equipment managers and scouts. Players are not required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine but will face strict protocols during training camp and throughout the season that vaccinated players will be able to forgo.
        In a memo released by the league this summer, the NFL said any unvaccinated Tier 1 staff member must provide a valid religious or medical reason for not receiving the vaccine. Losing Tier 1 status prohibits coaches from being on the field and in meeting rooms and having direct interactions with players.
        NFL says COVID outbreaks could lead to forfeits 1d Kevin Seifert
        WR Hopkins, others question NFL's vaccine push 1d Josh Weinfuss
        The Vikings noted in their statement that Dennison does not have a vaccination exemption.
        Phil Rauscher has been promoted from assistant offensive line coach to fill Dennison's position, sources told ESPN. The Vikings also hired Ben Steele, who had recently been hired by Auburn as a special teams analyst, to fill the position Rauscher had held since 2019.
        Dennison's departure comes at a time of transition for the Vikings' offense, which will be guided by first-year offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Kubiak, 34, was promoted to fill the role his father, Gary, held in Minnesota during the 2020 season.
        With 27 years of NFL coaching experience, Dennison was considered a vital piece in helping bridge the gap for the younger Kubiak, given his experience calling run plays and knowledge of the scheme the Vikings have used since the 2019 season.
        The Vikings were one of the league's prominent running teams in 2020 behind Dalvin Cook, who became the first Minnesota player to rush for at least 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns in a season. Cook was responsible for 30.5% of the Vikings' scrimmage yards, the second-highest rate in the NFL behind Tennessee's Derrick Henry (33.8), according to ESPN Stats & Information data.
        In New England, Popovich coached with the Patriots through the spring, and his on-field presence stood out, in part, as he was one of the only staffers to wear a mask during practice.
        Popovich, who is distantly related to longtime San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich but said in September that he has never met him, was set to enter his seventh season with the Patriots. In 2020, he had shared the offensive line duties with longtime former Youngstown State offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo, who is now expected to take on more of a leading role.
        The Boston Globe first reported that Popovich wouldn't be coaching with the Patriots in 2021.
        Dennison, 63, worked with Gary Kubiak for more than three decades in Denver (1995-2009, 2015-16), Houston (2010-13) and Baltimore (2014). Before joining the Vikings in 2019, Dennison served as offensive line coach/run game coordinator for the New York Jets in 2018.
        Rauscher is entering his seventh season as a coach in the NFL after joining the Vikings in 2020. He coached with Dennison on the Broncos staff during the 2015 and 2016 seasons and was Washington's offensive line coach in 2019.
        Steele was on several NFL rosters as a tight end from 2001 to 2007, including in Houston under Gary Kubiak. He began working in the NFL in 2013 as an offensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a position he held until 2016. Steele was later promoted to tight ends coach for the Buccaneers before moving to the Atlanta Falcons, where he was an offensive assistant in 2019 and tight ends coach in 2020. He was hired by Auburn earlier this year.
        The Vikings will hold their first training camp practice Wednesday.
        ESPN's Mike Reiss contributed to this report.
      NHTSA issues second recall for Chevy Bolt over fire risk from battery
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:10
        (WXYZ) '-- A second recall has been issued for more than 50,000 Chevrolet Bolts due to a fire risk.
        According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, the recall covers 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt models which were originally recalled in November 2020 and revised in May 2021.
        Due to a risk of fire, owners of the vehicles should continue to park them outside, away from structures and not charge them overnight.
        GM also is instructing owners to take the following actions.
        Set their vehicle to the 90% state of charge limitation either using Hilltop Reserve mode (2017 and 2018 model years) or Target Charge Level mode (2019 model year).If owners are unable to set their vehicles to the 90% state of charge limitation mode, or if they feel uncomfortable making the change, GM is asking owners to visit their dealer immediately to have the change made.Recharge the battery on their Bolts after each use and avoid running down the battery below an estimated remaining 70-mile range where possible.GM said the new recall will replace the battery module in the affected vehicles. Until it is completed, owners should follow the steps above.
        Vehicle owners can visit NHTSA.gov/recalls and enter their 17-digit vehicle identification number to see if their vehicle is affected under this recall. If it is, vehicle owners should call their nearest Chevrolet dealership immediately to schedule a free repair. For more information on this recall, visit www.chevy.com/boltevrecall
        Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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      US Women's Soccer Team Stands for the National Anthem Before 2nd Olympic Match in Rare Moment of Respect
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:08
        Earlier this month several women from the US soccer team turned away from the US flag as 98-year-old WWII veteran Pete DuPr(C) played the national anthem on a harmonica.
        The US women's soccer team was playing an exhibition game against Mexico in East Hartford, Connecticut in a pre-Olympic sendoff game before heading to Japan.The US Soccer Federation later denied this but the video was clear.
        On Wednesday the US Women's Soccer Team took a knee before their Olympic opening game. Then they proceeded to get spanked 3-0 by the Swedish women.
        They actually took a knee during the Olympics while representing the US.
        TRENDING: US Women's Soccer Team Stands for the National Anthem Before 2nd Olympic Match in Rare Moment of Respect
        On Saturday the women's US soccer team reportedly stood for the National Anthem.That's weird?
        The US women's soccer team didn't kneel for the anthem this time.
        Hmm.
        '-- James Finley (@jamesdfinley) July 24, 2021
        We need the video.
        @catturd2 Multiple US women soccer players do not place hand over heart or sing the National Anthem. Getting ready to begin play against New Zealand.
        '-- Michael (@WeAreBlessed5) July 24, 2021
        History.
        The US women's 2021 soccer team should learn a thing or 2 from the 1996 team. #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/lWKnzjVR3A
        '-- Megan Mompher (@MeganMompher) July 23, 2021
        US Women Soccer Team defeated New Zealand by 3-0.
        Sweden defeated Australia by 4-2.
        USA & Australia game would be very important and USA must defeat or tie Australia otherwise they need to go home.
        I predict USA would go to next round.
        USA play with Australia on Judy 27. pic.twitter.com/pDptoGTf7p
        '-- Olis Bahari (@olisbahari) July 24, 2021
      HERE WE GO: Dangerous Fungus Resistant to All Drugs and First Found in Asia Is Identified in the US for the First Time
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:07
        A dangerous fungus resistant to all drugs was identified in two cities, Washington DC and Dallas, Texas.The fungus was first identified in Asia.(Now where have we heard this before?)
        The fungus is dangerous to hospital and nursing home patients. It is most deadly when it enters the bloodstream.
        Stat News reported:
        TRENDING: US Women's Soccer Team Stands for the National Anthem Before 2nd Olympic Match in Rare Moment of Respect
        For the first time ever, researchers have reported cases of people carrying or infected with strains of the dangerous fungus Candida auris that were resistant to all classes of antifungal drugs before any treatment, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The agency also reported evidence of some transmission of the strains within health facilities.
        Candida auris, or C. auris, which was first seen in 2009, has been highly resistant to the few available treatment options for several years, leaving people who treat and study fungal diseases concerned about the toll this superbug could take, particularly on severely ill patients. That there are now so-called pan-resistant cases in people who had never been treated with antifungal drugs is particularly unnerving, experts said.
        The CDC reported on five cases, three in Washington, D.C., and two in Texas. In both locations, the cases were clustered within facilities. The facilities were not identified, but the fungus is most commonly diagnosed in very sick people who are in specialized long-term facilities.
        The CDC reported that
        Candida auris is an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat. CDC is concerned about C. auris for three main reasons:
        It is often multidrug-resistant, meaning that it is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections. Some strains are resistant to all three available classes of antifungals.It is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods, and it can be misidentified in labs without specific technology. Misidentification may lead to inappropriate management.It has caused outbreaks in healthcare settings. For this reason, it is important to quickly identify C. auris in a hospitalized patient so that healthcare facilities can take special precautions to stop its spread.
      Research suggests Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine reprograms innate immune responses
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:06
        Researchers in The Netherlands and Germany have warned that Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine induces complex reprogramming of innate immune responses that should be considered in the development and use of mRNA-based vaccines.
        Jorge Dom­nguez-Andr(C)s and colleagues say that while the vaccine has been shown to be up to 95% effective in preventing infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and subsequent COVID-19, little is known about the broad effects the vaccine may have on the innate and adaptive immune responses.
        In the current study (not peer-reviewed*), the research team from Radboud University Medical Center and Erasmus MC in the Netherlands, and the Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Hannover Medical School (MHH), and the University of Bonn, in Germany, confirmed the efficacy of BNT162b2 vaccination at inducing effective humoral and cellular immunity against several SARS-CoV-2 variants.
        However, they also showed that the vaccine altered the production of inflammatory cytokines by innate immune cells following stimulation with both specific (SARS-CoV-2) and non-specific (viral, fungal and bacterial) stimuli.
        Following vaccination, innate immune cells had a reduced response to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), TLR7 and TLR8 '' all ligands that play an important role in the immune response to viral infection.
        Neta and colleagues also found that cytokine responses to fungi were increased following vaccination.
        The mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine induces complex functional reprogramming of innate immune responses, which should be considered in the development and use of this new class of vaccines,'' writes the team.
        A pre-print version of the research paper is available on the medRxiv* server. A preprint is a version of a scholarly or scientific paper that precedes formal peer review and publication in a peer-reviewed scholarly or scientific journal.
        The accelerated development of new vaccine technologiesSince the COVID-19 pandemic began in late December 2019, researchers across the globe have been racing to develop vaccines to help combat the global healthcare crisis.
        The scale of the pandemic has led to the accelerated development of new mRNA-based vaccines, the first of which to be registered was the BNT162b2 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech.
        This vaccine is based on a lipid nanoparticle''formulated, nucleoside-modified mRNA that encodes the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 strain that was isolated early on in the pandemic in Wuhan, China.
        The spike protein is the main structure the virus uses to infect host cells, and its receptor-binding domain (RBD) is a primary target of neutralizing antibodies following natural infection or vaccination.
        Several phase 3 trials have shown that BNT162b2 elicits broad humoral (antibody) and cellular responses that protect against COVID-19. However, many challenges remain while this and other mRNA-based vaccines are rolled out globally, with the emergence of new variants being of particular concern.
        The variants that have emerged in the UK (B.1.1.7 lineage), South Africa (B.1.351), and Brazil (P.1) contain multiple mutations in the spike that could impact disease severity, viral transmissibility, and vaccine effectiveness.
        The capacity of BNT162b2 to induce effective humoral and cellular immunity against the new SARS-CoV-2 variants is only now beginning to be understood,'' says Dom­nguez-Andr(C)s and colleagues.
        Furthermore, an unexplored area is whether BNT162b2 vaccination has long-term effects on innate immune responses:
        This could be very relevant in COVID-19, in which dysregulated inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis and severity of the disease,'' writes the team. ''Multiple studies have shown that long-term innate immune responses can be either increased (trained immunity) or down-regulated (innate immune tolerance) after certain vaccines or infections.''
        What did the researchers do?The researchers showed that one dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine induces high concentrations of anti-spike and anti-spike RBD antibodies, while a second dose three weeks later elicits even higher levels.
        All the post-vaccine serum samples tested effectively neutralized the B.1.1.7 variant, but 37.5% showed decreased neutralizing activity against the B.1.351 variant.
        These data support the evidence that B.1.351, and possibly other variants, may be able to escape vaccine-induced humoral immunity to a certain extent,'' say the researchers.
        What about the cellular response?Vaccination with BNT162b2 has been reported to activate SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, and to increase the production of immune-modulatory cytokines such as interferon-Î" (IFN-Î").
        Dom­nguez-Andr(C)s and colleagues, therefore, assessed the secretion of IFN-Î" from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in response to different SARS-CoV-2 strains before and after BNT162b2 vaccination.
        TNF-Î± and IFN-Î± production in response to heterologous stimuli in PBMCs isolated from vaccinated subjects. (A) Description of the study: vaccination and blood collection days. (B-G) Fold change values of TNF-Î± production are calculated individually for each subject by division of t2:t1 and t3:t1. Data are presented as fold changes ± SEM (n=15-16) and analysed by Wilcoxon's matched-pairs signed-rank test comparing each ratio to t1=1 (red line). (H-I) IFN-Î± production (pg/ml) at t1, t2 and t3. Data are presented as cytokine concentration ± SEM (n=15-16) and analysed by Wilcoxon's matched-pairs signed-rank test.
        Vaccination increased IFN-Î" production by at least 50% in 37.5% of the samples stimulated with the standard SARS-CoV-2 strain, in 50% stimulated with the B.1.1.7 or B.1.351 variant, but only in 18.8% of samples stimulated with the Bavarian variant.
        These findings argue that BNT162b2 vaccination induces better humoral than cellular immune responses,'' say the researchers.
        Cytokine responses to certain stimuli were reduced following vaccinationInterestingly, BNT162b2 vaccination decreased IFN-Î" production following stimulation with the TLR7 and TLR8 agonist R848. The TLR7 and TLR8 ligands are key players in the immune response to viral infection.
        Vaccination also decreased production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-Î± and interleukin-1Î² following stimulation with either the standard SARS-CoV-2 strain or different Toll-like receptor ligands.
        In contrast, responses to the fungal pathogen Candida albicans were higher after vaccination.
        In addition, the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1Ra was reduced in response to Toll-like receptor 4 and C. albicans. This also suggests a shift towards increased inflammatory responses to fungi following vaccination, say the researchers.
        These results collectively demonstrate that the effects of the BNT162b2 vaccine go beyond the adaptive immune system,'' writes the team. ''The BNT162b2 vaccine induces reprogramming of innate immune responses as well, and this needs to be taken into account.''
        What do the authors advise?The researchers say that in combination with strong adaptive immune responses, the reprogramming of innate responses could either contribute to a more balanced inflammatory reaction to SARS-CoV-2 infection or a weakened innate immune response.
        The effect of the BNT162b2 vaccination on innate immune responses could also interfere with the responses to other vaccinations, adds the team.
        Our findings need to be confirmed by conducting larger cohort-studies with populations with diverse backgrounds, while further studies should examine the potential interactions between BNT162b2 and other vaccines,'' concludes Dom­nguez-Andr(C)s and colleagues.
        * Important NoticemedRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
        Journal reference:
        Dom­nguez-Andr(C)s J, et al. The BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 reprograms both adaptive and innate immune responses. medRxiv, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.03.21256520, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.03.21256520v1
      UK government plans to launch surveillance of Brits' shopping & exercise habits through app in fight against obesity '' media '-- RT UK News
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 18:36
        A pilot scheme that will track people's routines, such as shopping and running errands, might soon be rolled out in the UK, to award those who make healthier choices, according to reports in the British press.
        The government-backed programme, which will be incentivising those who opt for a less fattening diet and walk more is set to be launched in the next six months, The Telegraph reports. A special app is in the works and companies are being signed up to participate, suggesting it might be introduced nationwide in time for the new-year new resolutions boom.
        Read more
        Those who choose fruit and vegetables in the supermarket will reportedly be given ''free treats,'' as will those who increase their daily exercise by walking and running or taking part in special activities. The points received through the tracking app will then be able to be exchanged for event tickets, discounts, and other bonuses.
        The pilot project will reportedly cost the government £6 million ($8.25 million). Business entrepreneur Sir Keith Mills '-- the man behind the widely used Air Miles and Nectar customer loyalty programmes, is said to have been involved in its rollout.
        Prime Minister Boris Johnson is believed to have greenlighted the ''radical'' new scheme because he is desperate to manage obesity levels in Britain, which has one of the worst records in this regard in Western Europe. The majority of UK's adult population is overweight, and more than a million people were hospitalised last year due to obesity-related illnesses.
        ''There is a whole team in Downing Street working on this, and the prime minister thinks that we simply cannot go on as before and that we must now tackle it head-on,'' The Telegraph quoted an unnamed Whitehall source as having said. According to the official, Johnson takes the matter rather personally and is currently on a ''very rigorous diet'' himself.
        Johnson, who suffered a severe case of Covid last year, reportedly believes the obesity issue is especially troubling amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Overweight people are considered to be more seriously affected by the virus, with a recent controversial report by the World Obesity Federation suggesting there was a correlation between being overweight and a high risk of dying from Covid that was second only to the risk posed by old age.
        Also on rt.com Obesity and coronavirus: The nanny state mob are spreading alarmist and dubious claims for their own ends In an effort to slim down the nation, a number of plans have already been put forward this year. A tax on sugar and salt was suggested in a recent expert report, which recommended a tax per kilo on those products when sold wholesale, but Johnson has reportedly said he wasn't ''attracted'' to the proposal.
        Another plan, aimed mainly at tackling the childhood-obesity issue and junk-food consumption, has been announced by the UK government, however. TV adverts for foods high in fat, salt or sugar will be banned before 9pm, with the measure due to come into force at the end of 2022.
        Also on rt.com Fat Britannia: PM Johnson targets UK's childhood obesity pandemic with ban on junk food TV adverts before 9pm Like this story? Share it with a friend!
      Families could get rewards for healthy living in new war on obesity
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 18:36
        Boris Johnson is to launch a government-backed rewards programme for families switching to healthier food and exercising under radical plans to tackle Britain's obesity crisis.
        The scheme will monitor family supermarket spending, rewarding those who reduce their calorie intake and buy more fruit and vegetables. People increasing their exercise by taking part in organised events or walking to school will also accumulate extra "points" in a new app.
        On Friday night, Lord Stevens, the outgoing head of the NHS, warned that the health service would struggle struggle to cope in future if there were not radical moves to tackle obesity.
        Under the new plan, "loyalty points" accumulated would be exchanged for discounts, free tickets or other incentives.
        The scheme is to be launched in January and underlines Mr Johnson's determination to tackle growing levels of obesity. The Prime Minister blamed his weight for his serious illness with Covid last year.
        He has brought in Sir Keith Mills, who helped run the London Olympics who is the entrepreneur behind Air Miles and the Nectar loyalty scheme, to spearhead the national drive.
        A Whitehall source said: "There is a whole team in Downing Street working on this, and the Prime Minister thinks that we simply cannot go on as before and that we must now tackle it head on.
        "He has been on a very rigorous diet and exercise programme and it is likely he will play a leading role in fronting this whole campaign."
        In an interview with the Financial Times, Lord Stevens suggested Britons' lifestyles needed a major overhaul, saying: "The layers of the onion... stretch out to things that are obviously beyond a healthcare system's direct control, including the obesogenic food environment that children and poorer communities are exposed to.
        "Countries where more than half the population are overweight have had 10 times more Covid deaths."
        The UK has one of the worst records for obesity in Western Europe, with two in three adults overweight or obese, and one in three children reaching this stage by the time they leave primary school.
        Details of the new scheme are disclosed in tender documents being studied by dozens of companies, charities and other organisations who have been asked to bid to take part.
        The programme '' modelled on schemes tried in Singapore '' is likely to first trial an app allowing people to scan in their weekly shop and track their activity levels.
        Officials are considering going still further, with rewards linked to compliance with NHS checks, such as undergoing a smear, mammogram or health MOT.
        Officials last week met the TV chef and food campaigner Jamie Oliver to discuss the new drive to slim down British waistlines, The Telegraph understands.
        Many of the ideas under consideration, such as linking compliance with NHS checks with financial rewards, are likely to prove controversial.
        Pilot schemes will examine how best to incentivise families to make changes to their diet and exercise habits. Companies such as Capita and Serco are understood to be among those bidding for contracts, with the first pilot likely to be run across a whole city.
        Earlier this month, the Government issued a tender for the £6 million pilot, and around 40 firms are understood to have shown interest. Details of the first pilots are yet to be agreed but are likely to focus on surveillance of diet and exercise habits, with hopes that an app can be rolled out nationally.
        Health officials are examining methods tried abroad, such as Singapore's "national steps challenge", encouraging people to compete using digital trackers, and "wellness" schemes in Canada offering lower insurance premiums to those who boost their activity levels.
        Obesity-related illnesses cost the NHS £6 billion a year and have fuelled Covid death rates in the UK. Last year, ministers said the NHS could save £100 million if everyone who was overweight lost at least 5lbs.
      No probes for Cuomo & Whitmer: Biden DOJ drops investigations into Michigan, Pennsylvania, & New York nursing home Covid-19 deaths '-- RT USA News
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 18:08
        The Biden administration has decided not to investigate the Democrat governors of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York over claims their Covid-19 policies led to the deaths of thousands of vulnerable people in nursing homes.
        Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joe Gaeta informed House Republicans on Friday that the Justice Department had decided not to open an investigation into any public nursing facilities in the three states ''at this time.''
        ðŸš¨ðŸš¨ BREAKING'--Biden's DOJ just said they're refusing to investigate the massive nursing home COVID death scandals in New York, Michigan, & Pennsylvania.Absolutely shameful.They're complicit in these Democrat governors' cover ups.Families who lost loved ones deserve better.
        '-- Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) July 23, 2021In August 2020, the Trump administration requested data about nursing home deaths from Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York '' states that had policies ordering nursing homes to take in Covid-19 patients.
        A terrible day for thousands of families. In a letter to @SteveScalise, @TheJusticeDept wrote that they were dropping the nursing home investigations in all states including New York. There will be no justice for our loved ones, and it feels like we've lost them all over again. pic.twitter.com/DV7uNRMr9D
        '-- Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) July 23, 2021''We have reviewed the information you provided along with additional information available to the Department. Based on that review, we have decided not to open a [civil rights] investigation of any public nursing facility within Michigan at this time,'' said the letter sent to Governor Gretchen Whitmer by Steven Rosenbaum, chief of the litigation section in the DOJ's civil rights division, on Thursday. The same letter was sent to Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania.
        New: DOJ tells Whitmer's team feds won't pursue investigation related to COVID-19 nursing home policies. Comes after DOJ under Trump suggested Whitmer "issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents" https://t.co/eeAgvNTVna
        '-- Dave Boucher (@Dave_Boucher1) July 22, 2021Whitmer's April 2020 executive order required nursing homes to accept Covid-19 patients discharged from hospitals and place them in dedicated isolation units. Melissa Samuel, president of the Health Care Association of Michigan, claims the order was never fully implemented, however.
        Wolf's former health secretary, Rachel Levine '' who withdrew her own mother from a nursing home even as overseeing the state policy of mandating homes take in Covid-19 patients '' has since been confirmed as the first transgender assistant secretary at President Joe Biden's Department of Health.
        The DOJ apparently sent the same letter to New York's Andrew Cuomo. The only remaining governor who could be under investigation at this point is New Jersey's Phil Murphy.
        Also on rt.com Cuomo's aides 'spent months hiding' Covid-19 nursing home deaths, NYT claims based on documents & interviews Michigan's official figures say that 87% of Covid-19 deaths were among people aged 60 and older, and about a third of the state's total deaths were ''linked to'' long-term care facilities, amounting to 5,754 residents and staff. However, investigative journalist Charlie LeDuff claims the numbers might have been undercounted by as much as 100%, and that officials at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services told him their review of data about the deaths was stopped because it was too ''time-consuming.''
        Whitmer's celebrity status among the Democrats was cemented by the FBI announcement that they had thwarted a ''plot'' to kidnap her in October 2020. Since then, it has emerged that more than half the people involved were FBI informants '' and the plot had actually originated with them.
        Her spokesman, Bobby Leddy, welcomed the DOJ letter, calling accusations against Whitmer ''baseless'' and accusing her Republican critics of seeking to ''politicize the worst public health crisis in 100 years.'' Whitmer's actions ''saved thousands of lives,'' while the Republican proposals would have led to more virus spread and deaths, he claimed.
        Also on rt.com Michigan health department hit with lawsuit over its refusal to share nursing home data amid comparisons to Cuomo's cover-up Tudor Dixon, one of the Republicans vying to run against Whitmer in 2022, denounced the DOJ for choosing to ''put partisan politics ahead of accountability.'' Dixon was unable to see her grandmother, who died in a nursing home during the lockdown, due to Whitmer's executive orders barring visitations, which only expired in March this year.
        But Dixon and other Republicans seem to be facing long odds, as Whitmer is reportedly flush with record amounts of cash, having raised more than any gubernatorial candidate in Michigan's history.
        On Wednesday, however, the Michigan state legislature repealed the emergency powers law she had used to impose lockdowns. The governor is unable to veto the decision, because it started out as a citizen petition that gathered half a million signatures.
        Also on rt.com Biden appoints transgender Penn. official Rachel Levine to senior health post despite grisly record on Covid nursing home deaths Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
      Defending Against Lockdown 2.0 and Food Shortages: TIMELINE: URGENT '' Ingersoll Lockwood, Inc.
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 18:07
        Defending Against Lockdown 2.0 and Food Shortages: TIMELINE: URGENT
        TRIGGER: THE COVID-19 DELTA VARIANT:
        SHOULD YOU DEMAND OF YOUR STATE GOVERNOR AND PUPPET HEALTH OFFICIALS:
        Show me a sample under a microscope? Has it been isolated? Show me a test for it?
        If there is one, it's the spiked proteins shedding from the vaccinated, yet it's not been isolated. It's the trigger ''talking point'' to recreate FEAR and PANIC for a Lockdown 2.0. If/when people die from the DELTA variant, demand a real autopsy. Demand to find out if they were COVID-19 vaccinated if they are a relative. You will most likely find in all cases, they were vaccinated.
        In America, what happened to our freedoms? If you believe in the US Constitution and your State Constitution, why are your rights being trampled? We'll, we know it's coordinated, as VANGUARD owns everything and coordinates everything '' media, food, fuel, pharma, energy and the list goes on. The globalists created one powerful private company that invests heavily and creates controlling interest and leverage like a BLACKROCK being held over your head.
        Many judges are corrupt. You are navigating a very fine line and highwire just to attempt to reclaim your rights, when taking them seriously, if you choose to go it alone. BUT if a large group of citizens make enough noise and push hard enough with the right lawyers, maybe some of your rights '' OUR rights can be salvaged, while we push for the Great Awakening vs the Great Reset.
        HOMEWORK:
        USDA ''Build Back Better'' aka 6uild 6ack 6etter is a New World Order 2.0 message: the rebuilding of the supply chain is the theft of natural and organic farming, cutting down meat and milk supplies and much more. Search ''Build Back Better'' and watch some videos of globalist shills using these code words and then read ''The Great Reset'' to see what you are up against '' it's pure evil and Lucifarian. FOIA (freedom of information act requests) should be flooding the USDA and cc your State Senators and Representatives about the overpriced payments to farmers to destroy cows, milk supplies and crops.
        Was the ''Affordable Care Act'' affordable? Was the Patriot Act patriotic? Do you think Build Back Better means you're included in this future dystopia? Read The Great Reset. by Nazi Globalist Demon Klaus Schwab ''You will own nothing and you will be happy.''
        LOOKINGGLASS PREDICTION: Lockdown 2.0 by late October, early November 2021. They will claim it's the 'DELTA' variant of COVID-19 starting in mid-July 2021, ramping throughout all mainstream media outlets. Biden, Fauci, Gates and other criminals will use this messaging and it will be heard world wide from most puppet/government officials in most countries. Potential supply chain issues growing and artificial food shortages begin in the same timeframe. Stop your State Governor NOW from executing Lockdown 2.0 and illegal executive orders by using your voices, collectively and legally. Here are a sampling of your rights '' find a constitutional lawyer today '' find a group of like minded citizens to support your letter/lawsuit/media coverage today:
        OSHA: Your plan is not OSHA-compliant, there has been no OSHA training by state and city retailers and employers in regard to wearing masks, with the exception of our local hospitals. Enforcing this plan means you are purposefully and willfully violating OSHA. The Respiratory Protection Standard (1910.134) is usually one of the top 10 most frequently cited standards following inspections of workplaces by OSHA. YOUR VIOLATION OF OSHA IS A FEDERAL CRIME YOU ARE WILLFULLY COMMITTING. See: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/respiratoryprotection/enforcement.html
        ADA: you are forcing '' a discrimination scenario against Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) '' each of you may be fined up to $75,000 for your first action that violates ADA. This is your first action. Second actions are $150,000 fines; THIS IS A FEDERAL CRIME YOU ARE WILLFULLY COMMITTING. See: https://www.ada.gov/index.html
        FIRST AMENDMENT, US CONSTITUTION: Freedom of expression cannot be suppressed or limited in any way. Muffling a voice, forcing the covering against the will of a citizen for freedom of their facial expression, even reducing their ability to breath and speak properly is a hindrance and violation. See: https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1169/anti-mask-laws
        FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT: Our Founding Fathers believed this so sacrosanct a right, yet you are creating restrictions against it, including across state lines. Businesses will continue to close due to lack of restricted visitors and tourism, many will avoid Nashua like the plague you will make it '' unemployment, homelessness, business foreclosure '' all lost American dreams created by restrictions of movement. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_under_United_States_law
        DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS UNDER COLOR OF LAW: The US Department of Justice. Section 242 of Title 18 makes it a crime for a person acting under color of any law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.
        For the purpose of Section 242, acts under ''color of law'' include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within their lawful authority, but also acts done beyond the bounds of that official's lawful authority, if the acts are done while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. Persons acting under color of law within the meaning of this statute include police officers, prisons guards and other law enforcement officials, as well as judges, care providers in public health facilities, and others who are acting as public officials. It is not necessary that the crime be motivated by animus toward the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin of the victim.
        The offense is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances of the crime, and the resulting injury, if any. See: https://www.justice.gov/crt/deprivation-rights-under-color-law
        You, [Name of Your Governor], may very well become the litmus test for the 'new normal', where government officials, city and town mayors begin to realize that an Oath must be taken seriously, that our Laws are sacrosanct and that we may politely ask the sick to self-quarantine or consider new guidelines ie polite suggestions not ordinances and related fines; that you may never violate the US Constitution or the Bill of Rights for any reason '' a cold, a flu, a pandemic or otherwise.
        EXHIBIT A: HEALTH CARE FACTS RELATED TO COVID-19
        LOW OR NO TRACES OF VITAMIN D FOUND IN THOSE DYING OF COVID-19
        Those that have died and had their blood tested, it was found to be extremely deficient in Vitamin D. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200507121353.htm
        The State of New Hampshire, for example, has one of the largest organic suppliers of Vitamin D, MegaFood, yet instead of sourcing this for the elderly and at risk, you demand masks and ventilators.
        HEALTHY PEOPLE DON'T NEED TO WEAR MASKS
        New guidance from the World Health Organization released on Monday says healthy people don't need to wear face masks and that doing so won't provide added protection from the coronavirus. See: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=218000772914341 and https://www.businessinsider.com/who-no-need-for-healthy-people-to-wear-face-masks-2020-4
        There's some evidence that caretakers of infected people can protect their health by wearing masks, the WHO guidance said, but ''there is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking, can prevent them from infection with respiratory viruses, including COVID-19.''
        MASKS AND BANDANAS ONLY REDUCE BLOOD-OXYGEN SUPPLY
        The average filtration of the hard to get N95 mask is .3 microns, while the size of COVID-19 is .012 microns. It's like putting up a chain link fence to keep out Mosquitos. See: https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/does-wearing-face-mask-increase-co2-levels
        THE AVERAGE AGE OF SOMEONE DYING FROM COVID-19 IS 82 YEARS OLD
        According to the CDC, the average age of someone dying from COVID-19 is 82 years. The average life span of an American is 80 years. https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Death-Counts-by-Sex-Age-and-S/9bhg-hcku
        UNMASKED SUNLIGHT KILLS COVID-19 AND SO DOES UV RADIATION
        According to the Director of the US DHS Science and Technology Directorate, COVID-19 dies in sunlight in 90 seconds or less. Ultraviolet lights kill COVID-19 equally fast.
        Most honest reporting Doctors have admitted that Hydroxycholoroquine, Zinc and Zpaks if administered early enough in the onset of signs of a COVID-19 infection, have an over 90% recovery rate, whereas Intubation (ie ventilation) has only a 12% recovery rate (ie 88% put on ventilators, die on ventilators). See: https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/do-90-percent-of-covid-19-patients
        MASK OVER USE IS ALREADY CREATING MASSIVE BIOHAZARDS AND OCEAN TRASH
        Trash from overuse of masks are already damaging the oceans. In Nashua, masks and gloves are left all over parking lots of retailers, now. See: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/coronavirus-masks-gloves-oceans-pollution-waste-a9469471.html and https://www.energylivenews.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-face-masks-could-have-a-devastating-effect-on-the-environment/
        LOCKDOWN '' STAY AT HOME '' SOCIAL DISTANCE = > DEATHS
        A wave of new research suggests social separation is bad for us. Individuals with less social connection have disrupted sleep patterns, altered immune systems, more inflammation and higher levels of stress hormones. One recent study found that isolation increases the risk of heart disease by 29 percent and stroke by 32 percent.
        Another analysis that pooled data from 70 studies and 3.4 million people found that socially isolated individuals had a 30 percent higher risk of dying in the next seven years, and that this effect was largest in middle age.
        Loneliness can accelerate cognitive decline in older adults, and isolated individuals are twice as likely to die prematurely as those with more robust social interactions. These effects start early: Socially isolated children have significantly poorer health 20 years later, even after controlling for other factors. All told, loneliness is as important a risk factor for early death as obesity and smoking.
        UNEMPLOYMENT AND SMALL BUSINESS CLOSINGS IN THE ALLEGED ''LIVE FREE OR DIE'' STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AS ONE EXAMPLE
        185,000 in NH, for example, are out of work, not because of COVID-19, because of LOCKDOWN. No one seems to get sick at Home Depot, Loews, Walmart or the State Liquor store yet they cannot peacefully assemble in their Churches in Nashua '' is Covid-19 that smart that it discriminates against God fearing citizens?
        WHO SAYS MILLIONS TO DIE BECAUSE OF LOCKDOWNS '' NOT COVID-19
        ACCORDING TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, OVER 265,000,000 WILL DIE WORLDWIDE DUE TO THE HEALTH AND LOGISTICS AND STARVATION ISSUES FROM LOCKDOWN, NOT FROM COVID-19. See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/hunger-could-be-more-deadly-than-coronavirus-in-poorer-countries/2020/05/14/32fd3f9a-8bd3-11ea-80df-d24b35a568ae_story.html
        'Quarantine' is when you restrict the movement of sick people.'Tyranny' is when you restrict the movement of healthy people. EXTRA CREDIT, STUDENTS: Why would Governor Sununu an alleged Republican, issue/sign an edict in April 2020 against the use of Hydroxychloroquine (like so many other Governors, mostly ''D''s) to combat COVID-19 when POTUS45 said it worked, many Doctors saved lives with a Hydroxy, Zinc and Zithro-Pack (Zpack) regimen and it's even posted on NIH.gov as to the effectiveness against even more deadly plagues? Follow his travels, his funders and who is in the Pease AFB corporate park making a vaccine. THESE PEOPLE ARE GREEDY, EVIL AND SICK.
        What did your Governor do? Who do these people ACTUALLY work for? Hint: It's no longer WE THE PEOPLE.
      Canadian Doctor Removed from Hospital Duty after Speaking out about COVID ''Vaccine'' Side Effects - Vaccine Impact
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 17:53
        Comments by Brian ShilhavyEditor, Health Impact News
        Last month we published an interview with Dr. Charles Hoffe, a medical doctor for 28 years in the small, rural town of Lytton in British Columbia, Canada.
        He tried to sound the alarm over the troubling side effects he was seeing in his community from the COVID-19 shots, which included one death.
        The results of his trying to warn the medical system about what he was seeing are that he was issued a gag order and basically told to shut up.
        He didn't. He did an interview explaining what was happening after the COVID-19 shots, and the damage they were causing, putting his own career on the line. See:
        Canadian Doctor Defies Gag Order and Tells the Public How the Moderna COVID Injections Killed and Permanently Disabled Indigenous People in His CommunityLifeSite News is now reporting that Dr. Hoffe was relieved of his emergency room duties, which has resulted in him losing half of his income, because he dared to tell the truth.
        Canadian doctor removed from hospital duty after speaking out about COVID vaccine side effectsby Anthony MurdochLifeSite News
        Excerpts:
        A Canadian family doctor says he has been punished by his local health authority because he raised concerns about side effects he observed in some of those who had received the Moderna COVID-19 jab within his community.
        ''I am no longer allowed to work in the ER,'' British Columbia Dr. Charles Hoffe said, according to a True North News report.
        Hoffe added that his suspension from the ER came at the end of April, after his local health authority ''suspended'' his clinical privileges ''for the crime of causing 'vaccine hesitancy,' for speaking out about my vaccine injured patients.''
        In an April 5 letter, Hoffe had written to British Columbia Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry that he was ''quite alarmed at the high rate of serious side effects from this novel treatment,'' in reference to Moderna COVID-19 injections given to 900 mostly Indigenous people in Lytton, British Columbia.
        Hoffe said he had observed one patient death, ''numerous'' allergic reactions, along with three individuals who had ''disabling'' neurological deficits completed with chronic pain, which persisted ''for more than 10 weeks after their first vaccine.''
        ''So in short, in our small community of Lytton, BC, we have one person dead, and three people who look as though they will be permanently disabled, following their first dose of the Moderna vaccine. The age of those affected ranges from 38 to 82 years of age,'' wrote Hoffe.
        Following his letter, Hoffe said, he is no longer allowed to work in the ER department of St. Bartholomew's Health Centre due to his views on the COVID injection. He still can work in his private practice.
        ''I am still permitted to see patients in my private practice, which is not under the jurisdiction of the Interior Health authority,'' Hoffe said.
        Losing the ability to work in the ER has resulted in his income being slashed by half, which he explained is ''the price of advocating for the safety of my patients.''
        Read the full article at LifeSite News.
        Comment on this article at HealthImpactNews.com.
        See Also:
        COVID-19 Bioweapon Injection Casualties List Minnesota Woman Loses both Legs and both Hands Following Second Pfizer COVID-19 Shot
        Freedom of Information Request Reveals 5,522 People have Died Within 28 Days of Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines in Scotland
        18,928 DEAD, 1.8 Million Injured (50% SERIOUS) Reported in European Union's Database of Adverse Drug Reactions for COVID-19 Shots
        Attorney Files Lawsuit Against CDC Based on ''Sworn Declaration'' from Whistleblower Claiming 45,000 Deaths are Reported to VAERS '' All Within 3 Days of COVID-19 Shots
        CENSORED: CDC Records Almost 12,000 DEATHS in 7 Months Following COVID-19 Injections
        Canadian Doctor: 62% of Patients Vaccinated for COVID Have Permanent Heart Damage
        Comply with COVID-19 ''Vaccination'' Demands and You Could End up DEAD Like These PeopleTens of Thousands of COVID-19 ''Vaccine'' Injured in the U.S. Begging for Help as the Medical Community Turns Their Back on Them
        6-Year-Old Son Tells Dad ''Please Don't Get the Shot'' '' But He Did and Now He's DEAD
        Americans Will Celebrate ''Independence Day'' as CDC Reveals Almost 7000 DEAD and Half a Million Injured Following COIVD Injections?
        Father And Daughter Die Four Days Apart Despite Taking Different Brands Of COVID-19 Shots
        1,007,253 Injuries 1,403 DEAD in the UK Following COVID-19 Injections According to UK Government
        More Families Devastated from Deaths and Injuries Following COVID-19 Shots
        Former NFL Player Collects Stories of Lives Destroyed by the COVID-19 Shots '' Mother Regrets Putting 12-year-old Daughter in Pfizer COVID-19 ''Vaccine'' Trial
        45-Year-Old Bartender Tells World: ''Shut the Hell Up and Get Your Vaccine!'' He Died 1 Month Later Following the Moderna mRNA Shot
        COVID-19 Bioweapon Shots Destroy Young Lives '' What Percentage of the American Public is now Complicit with Murder?
        4 British Airways Pilots DEAD Following COVID-19 Injections While Spain and Russia Prohibit ''Vaccinated'' From Air Travel
        Oregon Senator's Wife and 19-Year-Old College Student Among Latest Victims DEAD Following Bioweapon COVID-19 Shots
        Parents of Benjamin Goodman Speak out on His Murder by J&J Bioweapon Shot
        British Software Developer Now Paralyzed After Taking COVID Jabs and Mocking Anti-Vaxxers '' Others DEAD
        Censored in the Corporate Media Hundreds of Medical Professionals Speak Out on Medscape Forum Warning about Dangers of COVID Injections
        COVID-19 Bioweapon Shots Continue to Kill and Cripple People Leaving Behind Devastated Families
        Hong Kong: 12 DEAD Four Miscarriages in One Week Following COVID-19 Injections
        Man Who Developed CDC Vaccine Tracking System, BBC Radio Personality '' Among the DEAD Following COVID-19 Injections
        DEATH and Suffering Continue to Follow COVID-19 Bioweapon Injections
        COVID-19 Bioweapon Shots Continue to Kill and Maim People Across the World
        More Ruined Lives Following COVID-19 Bioweapon Injections
        Rock and Roll Legend Eric Clapton Regrets COVID Shot, while Others Die Shortly After the Injections
        45-Year-Old California Father of Two Dead 10 Days After COVID Injection
        57-Year-Old Syracuse Man Mocks ''Anti-vaxxers,'' DEAD Seven Days After Johnson & Johnson Shot
        Healthy Utah High School Athlete Develops Blood Clots in His Brain Following COVID Injection
        CDC Reports 2 More Infant DEATHS Following Experimental COVID Injections During Clinical Trials
        48-Year-Old Surgeon DEAD after Mocking ''Anti-vaxxers'' and Writing His Own Obituary after Moderna COVID Injections
        16-Year-Old Wisconsin Girl DEAD Following 2 Doses of the Experimental Pfizer COVID Injections
        Tragedy Continues to Strike Families with Loved Ones Dying After being Injected with Experimental COVID Shots
        Experimental Adenovirus COVID Injections Continuing to Kill Younger, Middle-Aged People
        59-Year-Old Israeli Fashion Icon Alber Elbaz DEAD After Being ''Fully Vaccinated'' for COVID-19
        Pro-Vaccine Cybersecurity Expert Dan Kaminsky DEAD at 42 Following Experimental COVID Shot
        44-Year-Old Pastor DEAD after Moderna COVID Shot '' Wanted Other Pastors and African Americans to Follow her Example and Take the Shot
        'Baldwin Hills' Star 30-Year-Old Ashley Taylor Gerren DEAD after Getting COVID Injection
        Brain Injuries and DEATH Continue to Follow J&J COVID Injections
        Family Member of Rapper DMX Claims COVID ''Vaccine'' Injection Preceded his Fatal Heart Attack '' Not Drug Overdose
        35-Year-Old Nurse and Mother of 2 DEAD Following Pfizer Experimental COVID Injections in UK
        21-Year-Old University of Cincinnati Student DEAD 24 Hours after Johnson & Johnson COVID Injection
        Healthy 43-Year-Old Father of 7 Suffers Stroke and is Paralyzed after Johnson and Johnson COVID Shot
        20-Year-Old Scottish Man DEAD 12 Hours After being Injected with the Experimental Pfizer mRNA COVID Jab
        Healthy 27-Year-Old Chicago Doctor DEAD 3 Months Following COVID Shots Raising Long-term Safety Concerns
        Midwin Charles: 47-Year-Old MSNBC Legal Analyst DEAD After Experimental mRNA COVID Shot
        22-Year-Old Israeli Girl DEAD Following Experimental Pfizer mRNA COVID Injection
        Italy: Two More Teachers DEAD After AstraZeneca COVID Shot
        40-Year-Old Wisconsin Music Teacher DEAD Following Experimental COVID Injection
        Canada Suspends AstraZeneca COVID Shot '' 2,530 Injuries and 24 DEAD Following Mostly Pfizer and Moderna Shots
        North Carolina College Professor DEAD After Johnson and Johnson COVID Shot
        Entire City in Shock as Another Italian Professor is DEAD Following the AstraZeneca COVID Injection
        31-Year-Old Italian Professor DEAD following the Experimental AstraZeneca COVID Injection
        Kansas City Council Woman DEAD Hours After Receiving Experimental COVID Injection
        2 Men Dead at Senior Care Home following Experimental Pfizer COVID Injections as Australia Begins COVID Shots
        People Now Dying Following the Experimental Johnson and Johnson COVID Injections
        27-Year-Old Georgian Nurse DEAD One Day after AstraZeneca Experimental COVID ShotIreland: Nine Nursing Home Residents Die of COVID-19 Despite Being mRNA ''Vaccinated''
        Teacher Dies Hours After Getting AstraZeneca COVID Shot in Italy '' Manslaughter Investigation Launched
        Pediatric Nurse Brags About Getting COVID Vaccine While Pregnant '' Baby is Stillborn 8 Days Later
        Boxing Champion Marvin Hagler DEAD at Age 66 After Receiving an Experimental COVID ''Vaccine''
        39-Year-Old Surgical Technician and Mother Dies 4 Days After Second Experimental Moderna COVID mRNA Shot
        UK Government Changes Recommendations on Pregnant Women Getting Experimental COVID Injections Causing at Least 20 Miscarriages So Far
        First Week of COVID Experimental Vaccines in South Korea: 7 DEAD and More than 2,800 Injured
        Whistleblower Reveals Many Pregnancy Complications following Experimental COVID Injections '' ''Vaccine Leaving a Trail of Devastated Mothers''
        12 Residents Die After First COVID Vaccine in Wales Nursing and Dementia Care Centre
        Death Rates Skyrocket in Israel Following Pfizer Experimental COVID ''Vaccines''
        28-Year-Old PhD Physical Therapist DEAD 2 Days After Being Injected with COVID Experimental mRNA Vaccine
        22 Elderly with Dementia Dead in 1 Week After the Experimental mRNA COVID Injection in the Netherlands
        Two Nuns Dead and 28 COVID Positive 2 Days After Experimental COVID mRNA Injections
        Formerly Healthy American Serviceman Now has Heart Disease Following the Moderna COVID Shots
        Whistleblower Video Footage of Forced COVID Vaccines in German Nursing Homes Goes Public '' Attorney: ''We're Dealing with Homicide, Maybe Even Murder''
        Second Pfizer COVID Shot Halted in Spain After 46 Deaths in One Nursing Home Following the First Shot
        Former Detroit TV Anchor Karen Hudson-Samuels Suddenly Dies One Day After Being Injected with Experimental mRNA COVID Shot
        Whistleblower: 8 of 31 Residents Dead in German Nursing Home After They Were Forcibly Injected with Pfizer Experimental mRNA COVID Shots Against Their Will
        28-Year-old Wisconsin Healthcare Worker has Aneurysm '' Brain Dead Five Days After Second Experimental Pfizer mRNA COVID Injection
        Another Medical Professional in the Prime of Life DEAD Weeks After Receiving the mRNA Experimental Injection as Memphis Mourns Loss of 36-Year-Old Doctor
        Wisconsin Resident Doctor has Miscarriage 3 Days After Being Injected with Experimental COVID mRNA Shot
        39-Year-Old Medical Doctor and Son of Former Chief Justice of Trinidad Found Dead After COVID Injection in Ireland
        TRAGEDY! 9 Dead in Spanish Nursing Home Shortly After First Pfizer Shots but Second Doses Given Anyway '' Religious Beliefs in Vaccines Causing Massive Senior Deaths?
        Another Jewish Holocaust? Local Talk Radio Reports ''Many Dying'' in Israel Following Pfizer Experimental mRNA Injections
        45-Year-Old Italian Doctor ''In the Prime of Life and in Perfect Health'' Drops Dead After the Pfizer mRNA COVID Shot: 39-Year-Old Nurse, 42-Year-Old Surgical Technician Also Dead
        58-Year-Old Mother and Grandmother of Six in Virginia Dies Within Hours of Receiving Experimental Pfizer mRNA Injection
        Israeli Teenager Hospitalized in ICU for ''Inflammation of the Heart'' Days after Receiving Second Pfizer Vaccine
        24 Residents Dead in 3 Weeks as One Third of UK Nursing Home Residents Die After Experimental mRNA COVID Injections
        CNA Nursing Home Whistleblower: Seniors Are DYING LIKE FLIES After COVID Injections! SPEAK OUT!!!
        Did Larry King Receive an Experimental COVID Shot Just Before His Death?
        53 Dead in Gibraltar in 10 Days After Experimental Pfizer mRNA COVID Injections Started
        Baseball Legend Hank Aaron Dead After Receiving the Experimental Moderna mRNA COVID Injection
        10 Dead with 51 Severe Side-Effects Among Germany's Elderly after Experimental Pfizer COVID Injections
        55 Americans Have Died Following mRNA COVID Injections as Norway Death Toll Rises To 29
        23 Seniors Have Died in Norway After Receiving the Pfizer Experimental COVID mRNA Injection
        Louisiana Woman Convulses Uncontrollably after Being Injected with the Experimental Pfizer COVID Shot '' ''I can't stand to see my mom this way it makes me want to cry knowing I can't do anything to help her.''24 Dead and 137 Infected at NY Nursing Home After Experimental COVID Injections
        ''Very Healthy 56-Year-Old'' Miami Obstetrician Dies after Being Injected with the Experimental Pfizer COVID Vaccine
        ''Perfectly Healthy'' 41-year-old Pediatric Assistant Dies Suddenly After Injected with Experimental Pfizer COVID Vaccine
        Is the Tennessee Nurse Who Passed Out on Live Camera After the COVID Vaccine Still Alive?
        32-Year-Old Mexican Doctor Suffers Seizures and is Paralyzed After Receiving the Pfizer Experimental Vaccine
        See Also:
        Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through 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
        It's Time to Choose Sides: Do You Even Know What Side You Are On?
        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
        The Satanic Roots to Modern Medicine '' The Mark of the Beast?
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        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.
        Leaving a lucrative career as a nephrologist (kidney doctor), Dr. Suzanne Humphries is now free to actually help cure people.
        In this autobiography she explains why good doctors are constrained within the current corrupt medical system from practicing real, ethical medicine.
        One of the sane voices when it comes to examining the science behind modern-day vaccines, no pro-vaccine extremist doctors have ever dared to debate her in public.
        Book '' The Vaccine Court , by Wayne Rohde '' 240 pages''The Dark Truth of America's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program''FREE Shipping Available!ORDER HERE!Published on May 31, 2021
      Anti-Pfizer smear campaign 'started by Russian troll factories' to target potential export markets | Daily Mail Online
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 17:07
        Anti-Pfizer smear campaign 'started by Russian troll factories' to target potential export market countries for the Sputnik V vaccineThe Network Contagion Research Institute's paper says Russia to blame for slursIt claims troll factories are targeting countries that could buy into its own jabsSocial media influencers are being asked by marketing firms to post content By Dan Sales For Mailonline
        Published: 12:04 EDT, 24 July 2021 | Updated: 12:40 EDT, 24 July 2021
        Russian internet troll factories have been blamed for an anti-Pfizer Covid jab smear campaign by a new report from a research institute.
        The Network Contagion Research Institute's paper says the aim of the misinformation drive is to promote the country's own Sputnik V vaccine.
        Tactics used by the smear campaign include releasing and promoting negative coverage of Pfizer and targeting specific countries.
        The report says one unusual approach saw marketing firms from Russia directly go to popular figures to try and get them to act on their Facebook and Instagram platforms.
        It alleges: 'Russian marketing firms have directly approached social-media influencers in France.
        'Offering financial compensation for promoting fraudulent, allegedly ''leaked'' stories about Pfizer vaccine complications.'
        People wait to receive doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus disease
        The Pfizer vaccine has been particularly targeted by the misinformation campaign
        The report says that troll factories have targeted countries that are potential Sputnik markets
        The report claims that the Russian have also zeroed in on spreading the messages in Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Canada.
        This is due to them believing those countries are seen as potential export markets for Sputnik.
        NCRI's paper continues: 'In a Council on Foreign Relations blog post, members of Novetta, a disinformation tracking firm, revealed that in the Fall of 2020, well before vaccine makers had released any data to confirm vaccine effectiveness, public opinion of Sputnik V in Africa was suspiciously high.
        President Putin told Russians that the time last month come when he would name his possible successor in the Kremlin, but said the choice would ultimately lie with voters
        'Training camps' for T cells 'behind strong immune response in adenovirus jabs'Covid vaccines, such as the ones developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, foster 'training camps' for infection-fighting cells that make the jabs highly effective in offering long-term protection, according to scientists.
        Research from Oxford University suggests adenovirus vaccines can generate 'strong and sustained populations' of a group of cells in the immune system known as 'killer' T cells, which find and destroy infected cells that have been turned into virus-making factories.
        This type of vaccine uses a harmless, modified version of a chimpanzee adenovirus (ChAdOx1) to enter human cells and trigger immune response.
        The findings, published in the journal Nature Immunology, are based on studies conducted on animal models.
        Paul Klenerman, Sidney Truelove professor of gastroenterology at the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Medicine, and one of the lead authors of the paper, said: 'Millions of people will have received adenovirus vaccines around the world '' not only the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, but the J&J vaccine, and also the Chinese and Russian versions.
        'The ultimate goal with these vaccines is the induction of long-term immune system protection using both antibodies and T cells.
        'This research helps us to understand more on the process of vaccination, and why the effects on killer T cells are so prolonged.'
        Novetta found that the Russian vaccine had the ''second-highest rate of positive quotes (66 percent) in African media coverage'' and the ''the second-lowest negative perception (11 percent)".
        'In the promotion of its vaccine, Russia has employed the time-tested propaganda method of publishing a high volume of positive news stories across several media platforms that rely on dubious information'
        President Vladimir Putin has told Russians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 amid a wave of cases, and said for the first time that he had received Russia's Sputnik V shot.
        The Kremlin had previously said that Putin, 68, received a two-dose vaccine in March and April, but it gave no further details and did not release images of him getting it.
        That lack of publicity came under the spotlight as officials concerned about slow uptake to coax or compel people to get the COVID-19 shots, which are readily available.
        It comes as President Putin told Russians last month that the time would come when he would name his possible successor in the Kremlin, but said the choice would ultimately lie with voters.
        Putin said he had been asked not to reveal its name so as not to give the product a competitive advantage, but went on to say it was Sputnik V. Moscow has not approved any foreign vaccines.
        'I thought that I needed to be protected for as long as possible. So I chose to be vaccinated with Sputnik V. The military is getting vaccinated with Sputnik V, and after all I'm the commander-in-chief,' he said.
        'After the first shot, I didn't feel anything at all. About four hours later, there was some tenderness where I had the shot. I did the second at midday. At midnight, I measured my temperature. It was 37.2 (Celsius). I went to sleep, woke up and my temperature was 36.6. That was it.
        'I don't support mandatory vaccination, and I continue to hold this point of view,' Putin said.
        Russia launched its inoculation programme in January with the aim of vaccinating 60% of the population by the autumn, but the Kremlin said this week low uptake meant it would fall short of that target.
        Advertisement
      Patents Prove SARS-CoV-2 Is a Manufactured Virus
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 17:01
        In a January 2021 lecture, Jonathan Latham, Ph.D., introduced the term "the pandemic virus industrial complex," to describe the academic, military and commercial complexes that are driving the pandemic agenda and obscuring facts that indicate SARS-CoV-2 is a manmade virus.
        In the video above, David E. Martin, Ph.D., introduces shocking evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is indeed a manmade bioweapon, and has been in the works for decades. Much of this research was funded by none other than the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
        Pandemic virus industrial complex indeed! You do not want to miss this bombshell interview, conducted by Reiner Fuellmich,1 founding member of the German Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee2 ,3 (AuŸerparlamentarischer Corona Untersuchungsausschuss or ACU4 ). A transcript5 is available if you prefer to read it.
        SARS-CoV-2 Is Not a Novel Coronavirus at AllMartin has been in the business of tracking patent applications and approvals since 1998. His company, M-Cam International Innovation Risk Management, is the world's largest underwriter of intangible assets used in finance in 168 countries. M-Cam has also monitored biological and chemical weapons treaty violations on behalf of the U.S. government, following the anthrax scare in September 2001.
        According to Martin, there are more than 4,000 patents relating to the SARS coronavirus. His company has also done a comprehensive review of the financing of research involving the manipulation of coronaviruses that gave rise to SARS as a subclade of the beta coronavirus family.
        In his testimony to ACU, he reviews some of the most pertinent patents, showing SARS-CoV-2 is not a novel coronavirus at all but, rather, a manmade virus that has been in the works for decades.
        And what we found '... are over 120 patented pieces of evidence, to suggest that the declaration of a 'novel coronavirus' was actually entirely a fallacy. There was no novel coronavirus ... it's not been novel for over two decades. ~ David Martin, Ph.D.
        A comprehensive list of 120 patents relating to SARS-CoV-2-associated features can be found here.6 The features patented are referenced in two key scientific papers, "A Novel Bat Coronavirus Reveals Natural Insertions at the S1/S2 2 Cleavage Site of the Spike Protein and a Possible Recombinant 3 Origin of HCoV-19," and "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2."
        On that list, we see numerous patents detailing manipulation of the polybasic cleavage site for SARS-CoV, the spike protein, as well as ACE2 binding, all three of which are supposed to be unique features of SARS-CoV-2. As explained by Martin:
        "We took the reported gene sequence, which was reportedly isolated as a novel virus, indicated as such by the ICTV, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses of the World Health Organization. We took the actual genetic sequences that were reportedly novel and reviewed those against the patent records that were available as of the spring of 2020.
        And what we found, as you'll see in this report, are over 120 patented pieces of evidence, to suggest that the declaration of a 'novel coronavirus' was actually entirely a fallacy.
        There was no novel coronavirus. There are countless, very subtle modifications of coronavirus sequences that have been uploaded, but there was no single identified 'novel coronavirus' at all.
        As a matter of fact, we found records in the patent records, of sequences attributed to novelty, going to patents that were sought as early as 1999. So not only was this not a novel anything '... it's not been novel for over two decades."
        Spike Protein Vaccine for Coronavirus Patented 22 Years AgoUp until 1999, coronavirus patents were all in the veterinary sciences. The first coronavirus vaccine to use the S spike protein was patented by Pfizer in January 2000 (Patent No. 6372224). It was a spike protein virus vaccine for canine coronavirus. You can look up the actual patents for yourself on the United States Patent and Trademark Office's website,7 if you like.
        "Ralph Baric's work on '... rabbit cardiomyopathy '... and then canine coronavirus in Pfizer's work, to identify how to develop S spike protein vaccine target candidates, [give] rise to the obvious evidence that '...
        '... neither the coronavirus concept of a vaccine, nor the principle of the coronavirus itself, as a pathogen of interest with respect to the spike proteins behavior, is anything novel at all. As a matter of fact, it's 22 years old based on patent filings," Martin says.
        From HIV Vaccine Development to COVID-19According to Martin, Fauci and the NIAID "found the malleability of coronavirus to be a potential candidate for HIV vaccines," and in 1999, Fauci funded research at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (where Baric has a lab) to create "an infectious replication-defective coronavirus" specifically targeted for human lung epithelium.
        The patent for that replication-defective coronavirus that attacks human lung cells was filed April 19, 2002 (Patent No. 7279327). "In other words, we made SARS," Martin says. Or perhaps more accurately, Fauci and UNC did. Several months after that patent filing, the SARS outbreak in Asia occurred.
        "That patent, issued as U.S. Patent 7279327 '... clearly lays out in very specific gene sequencing, the fact that we knew that the ACE receptor, the ACE2 binding domain, the S-1 spike protein, and other elements of what we have come to know as this scourge pathogen, was not only engineered, but could be synthetically modified in the laboratory using nothing more than gene sequencing technologies.
        Taking computer code and turning it into a pathogen, or an intermediate of the pathogen, and that technology was funded exclusively, in the early days, as a means by which we could harness coronavirus as a vector to distribute HIV vaccine."
        Coronavirus '-- A Biological Weapon Candidate Since 2001?As mentioned, Martin has monitored biological and chemical treaty violations since 2001, following the anthrax attacks. Throughout the fall of 2001, an "enormous number" of bacterial and viral pathogens were patented through the National Institutes of Health, the NIAID, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and their international collaborators.
        "Our concern was that coronavirus was being seen as not only a potential manipulatable agent for potential use as a vaccine vector, but it was also very clearly being considered as a biological weapon candidate," Martin says.
        Before the SARS outbreak in China, Martin reported these concerns publicly. "So, you can imagine how disappointed I am to be sitting here '... having 20 years earlier pointed that there was a problem looming on the horizon with respect to coronavirus," he says.
        CDC Holds Patents on SARS CoronavirusIn April 2003, after the SARS outbreak in China had occurred, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tried to file a patent for the entire gene sequence for the SARS coronavirus (Patent No. 7220852). This is a violation of 35 U.S. Code Section 101, which states you cannot patent a naturally-occurring substance.
        That CDC patent also had several derivative patents associated with it, including U.S. patent 46592703P and U.S. patent 7776521. These two patents cover the gene sequence of SARS coronavirus and the means for detecting it using RT PCR testing.
        Together, these patents are highly problematic, because if you own both, then "you have a cunning advantage to being able to control 100% of the provenance of not only the virus itself, but also its detection, meaning you have entire scientific and message control," Martin explains.
        The CDC tried to justify the patent by saying they were being sought in order to ensure that everyone would be free to research coronaviruses. However, that is a lie, Martin says. The U.S. patent office rejected the patent on the gene sequence as unpatentable because it was 99.9% identical to a coronavirus that was already in the public domain.
        The CDC paid an appeal fine in 2006 and again in 2007. They also paid an additional fee to keep the application private. In the end, the CDC overrode the patent examiner's rejection and secured the patent in 2007.
        "Last time I checked, if you're trying to make information available for the public research, you would not pay a fee to keep the information private," Martin says. According to Martin, the gene sequence filed by the CDC in 2003, 2005 and 2006 is 89% to 99% identical to the sequence identified as SARS-CoV-2.
        Sequoia PharmaceuticalsApril 28, 2003 '-- three days after the CDC filed its patent for the SARS coronavirus '-- Sequoia Pharmaceuticals filed a patent on an antiviral agent for the treatment and control of infectious coronavirus (Patent No. 7151163). So, the CDC files a patent on SARS coronavirus, and three days later there's a treatment?
        This strongly suggests there was a working relationship behind the scenes. Sequoia Pharmaceuticals, founded in 2002, develops antiviral therapeutics with a special focus on drug-resistant viruses.8 Its lead investors include the Wellcome Trust.
        But there's yet another problem with Sequoia's 2003 filing for an antiviral agent. It was actually issued and published before the CDC patent on SARS coronavirus had been granted, which didn't happen until 2007, and the CDC had paid to keep the application private.
        "So, the degree to which the information could have been known by any means other than insider information between those parties is zero," Martin says. "It is not physically possible for you to patent a thing that treats a thing that had not been published, because CDC had paid to keep it secret.
        This, my friends, is the definition of criminal conspiracy, racketeering and collusion. This is not a theory, this is evidence. You cannot have information in the future, and form a treatment for a thing that did not exist. It is a RICO case ...
        And the RICO pattern, which was established in April of 2003 for the first coronavirus, was played out to exactly the same schedule when we see SARS COV-2 show up, when we have Moderna getting the spike protein sequence by phone from the vaccine research center at NIAID, prior to the definition of the novel subclade. How do you treat a thing, before you actually have the thing?"
        Sanofi Holds Patents to Novel Feature of SARS-CoV-2The next bombshell revelation occurred on June 5, 2008, when Ablynx, now a part of Sanofi, filed a series of patents detailing what we've been told are novel features of SARS-CoV-2, namely the polybasic cleavage site, the spike protein and the ACE2 receptor binding domain. The first of those patents, U.S. Patent No. 9193780, was issued November 24, 2015.
        Between 2016 and 2019, a series of patents were issued to Ablynx and Sanofi covering the RNA strands and the subcomponents of the gene strands.
        Between 2008 and 2017, a series of patents were also filed by a long list of players, including Crucell, Rubeus Therapeutics, Children's Medical Corporation, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit¤t in M¼nchen, Protein Science Corporation, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, University of Iowa, University of Hong Kong and the Chinese National Human Genome Center in Shanghai.
        This series of patents detail ever single attribute that is supposed to be unique to SARS-CoV-2, according to the paper, "A Novel Bat Coronavirus Reveals Natural Insertions at the S1/S2 2 Cleavage Site of the Spike Protein and a Possible Recombinant 3 Origin of HCoV-19."
        This paper has routinely been used to identify the so-called novel coronavirus that is SARS-CoV-2. Yet there are 73 patents, issued between 2008 and 2019, that describe the very elements that are said to be unique to SARS-CoV-2. Patents have been filed for SARS-CoV-2's polybasic cleavage site, the ACE2 receptor binding domain, and the spike protein.
        "So, there was no 'outbreak' of SARS, because we had engineered all of the elements of that," Martin says. And by 2016, when Baric published a paper warning that SARS coronavirus was "poised for human emergence," the virus in question had already been patented for commercial exploitation 73 times!
        The Pandemic Virus Industrial Complex Is Swimming in ProfitBaric is one of the few people who has profited significantly from this pandemic, which he appears to have been part of creating. Another is Fauci. The same drug companies that hold patents on not-so-novel SARS-CoV-2 features are also raking in profits from their COVID shots.
        In 2015, Dr. Peter Daszak, head of the EcoHealth Alliance that funneled research dollars from the NIAID to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for coronavirus research, who has promoted the official narrative that SARS-CoV-2 has a natural origin, stated:9
        "We need to increase public understanding of the need for medical countermeasures such as a pan-coronavirus vaccine. A key driver is the media and the economics will follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage, to get to the real issues. Investors will respond if they see profit at the end of the process."
        Sounds an awful lot like what we're facing right now, doesn't it? At the end of the day, this pandemic has primarily been about profit and the shifting of wealth, from the lower- and middle-classes to the already ultra-wealthy. This is a war on the public, waged using biological weapons and information warfare, with the ultimate goal of "resetting" life and commerce as we know it.
        Intentional Weaponization of Spike ProteinMartin says:
        "There wasn't a lab leak. This was an intentional bio-weaponization of spike proteins to inject into people, to get them addicted to a pan-coronavirus vaccine. This has nothing to do with a pathogen that was released, and every study that's ever been launched to try to verify a lab leak, is a red herring.
        [There are] 73 patents on everything clinically novel '-- 73, all issued before 2019. And I'm going to give you the biggest bombshell of all to prove that this was actually not a release of anything, because Patent No. 7279327, the patent on the recombinant nature of that 'lung-targeting' coronavirus, was transferred mysteriously from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to the National Institutes of Health in 2018.
        Now, here's the problem with that. Under the Bayh-Dole Act, the U.S. government already has what's called a march-in right provision. That means if the U.S. government has paid for research, they are entitled to benefit from that research at their demand or at their whim.
        So, explain why, in 2017 and 2018, suddenly the National Institutes of Health have to take ownership of the patent that they already had rights to, held by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. And how did they need to file a Certificate of Correction to make sure that it was legally enforceable, because there was a typographical error in the grant reference in the first filing?
        They needed to make sure that not only did they get it right, but they needed to make sure every typographical error that was contained in the patent was correct on THE SINGLE PATENT REQUIRED, to develop the Vaccine Research Institute's mandate, which was shared between the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Moderna in November of 2019, when UNC Chapel Hill, NIAID and Moderna began the sequencing of a spike protein vaccine '-- a month before an outbreak ever happened."
        'New Normal' Coined by Merck at 2004 Bioterrorism ConferenceThe more we learn, the grimmer it gets. Clearly, plans for our current-day predicament were laid well over a decade ago. According to Martin, the slogan "The New Normal" was coined by Merck during a January 6, 2004, conference called "SARS and Bioterrorism, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Antimicrobial Therapeutics, and Immune Modulators."
        This term has now become a branded campaign adopted by the World Health Organization, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and the rest of the pandemic virus industrial complex.
        Incidentally, Fauci is on the board of directors of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, as is Dr. Chris Elias, president of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and George Fu Gao, Ph.D., director-general of the Chinese CDC and a Chinese communist party member.10
        It's a long interview, but it does not disappoint. I urge you to take the time to listen to it, as Martin really lays out the timeline of when and how this pandemic virus came to be. He's also published a 205-page paper11 detailing Fauci's involvement that you can download from archive.org.
        It now seems clearer than ever that everything we're experiencing was planned and executed with a profit motive in mind. Armed with this new knowledge, I urge you once again to reclaim your life, your freedom and independence, and resist this manufactured notion of a "new normal." A new normal will surely be established if we persist, but it will be the converse of what the pandemic virus industrial complex is hoping for.
        We will resurrect medicine and science from the induced coma these fields are currently in, and usher in a new era of medical freedom, personal liberty, responsible and transparent government, fiscal stability and health care that actually promotes health rather than slow death. It may take a while, but together, we can do it. To get there, keep sharing information such as that provided by Martin in this mind-blowing interview in any way you can. In the end, truth will prevail. Believe it.
      Covid could be spread through flatulence, say ministers
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 15:32
        The official advice is to open a window to increase ventilation and slow the spread of Covid, but now there could be an added incentive '' the virus may also be spread by flatulence.
        Ministers have privately pointed to evidence that Covid could be spread by people breaking wind in confined spaces such as lavatories. One said they had read "credible-looking stuff on it" from other countries, although government scientists are yet to produce a paper on the matter.
        The source said there had been evidence of a "genomical-linked tracing connection between two individuals from a [lavatory] cubicle in Australia."
        There were also "well-documented cases of diseases spreading through waste pipes during lockdowns in Hong Kong when the U-bend had dried out".
        The science is not definitive, however, and another minister told The Telegraph that as Covid is "a respiratory disease, transmission and shedding is mostly taking place through the mouth and actually mainly the nose".
        A spokesman for Boris Johnson said he was not aware of claims that the virus can be spread by flatulence. The spokesman added: "We keep the latest scientific evidence under review."
        Healthy people tend to break wind between five to 25 times a day, and testing has found that SARS-CoV-2 can be present in faecal material.
        The risk of spreading Covid this way is thought to be less, however, because wearing underpants and clothes below the waist would act to filter out harmful particles in the same way a face mask can.
        Suggestions of spreading the virus through flatulence first emerged in Australia last year when Norman Swan, an Australian medic, advised on an ABC podcast: "No bare-bottom farting."
        Scientists discovered earlier in the pandemic that genetic fragments of the virus could be detected in sewage. In the UK, officials ramped up a programme to analyse wastewater for early signs of coronavirus in May, and the programme now covers two-thirds of England's population.
        It has helped with the detection of local outbreaks or the presence of variants of concern, which can be linked to specific communities via the sewage treatment network, and Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, described it as "an additional detection system" for Covid.
      COVID-19 Vaccinated Americans Are Sitting Ducks When a Variant Bypasses Vaccine Immunity. | by Hooman Noorchashm | Jun, 2021 | Medium
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 14:47
        When, not if, a SARS-CoV-2 variant emerges to bypass vaccine immunity, our only hope will be a specific and effective anti-inflammatory therapy: cyclosporine!The SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates in naturally infected people. And eventually a variant will emerge that can bypass the immunity generated by the current vaccine. When, not if, that happens vaccinated people will be sitting ducks '-- and the solution will be specific and effective generic anti-inflammatory treatments like cyclosporine.For the record, in early 2021, I got my COVID-19 vaccine shots uneventfully. I suggest that all persons over age 16 get this shot, IF they are not already immune to SARS-CoV-2.
        Back in May 2021, I tested my blood for antibodies at Labcorp to make sure that the vaccine had worked for me. As expected, I have over 1000 U/ml of SARS-CoV-2 Spike antibodies in my blood. The vaccine worked!
        I didn't have a prior COVID-19 infection, so unlike naturally immune people from a prior infection, I don't have immunity to any other part of the virus '-- as expected.
        The problem is that if and when the SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates to a novel variant, as it's doing with the Indian Delta variants, the virus can ''bypass'' the antibody immunity generated in my body by the vaccine.
        This means that if I get exposed to a strain of the virus whose spike protein is sufficiently different than the one that was used to make the vaccine, I am very likely to get infected and ill.
        It's anyone's guess whether the current vaccine is able to provide any degree of protection at all against a new SARS-CoV-2 variant, like Delta, capable of ''vaccine bypass''.
        I suppose even if the vaccine antibodies don't protect me against a ''vaccine bypass'' variant, maybe the vaccine T-cells will. But that's just a guess! Wishful thinking, really!
        And if this guess is wrong'....well, literally millions of vaccinated Americans, and many worldwide, are just sitting ducks for this likely ''vaccine bypass'' variant virus.
        To make matters worse, because the folks who are vaccinated have been reassured that they are immune to COVID-19, most aren't taking ANY precautions against the virus'....So when, not if, the ''vaccine bypass'' variant emerges, these folks are LITERALLY unsuspecting sitting ducks.
        So, yes, with at least half the US population carrying vaccine immunity, and no natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2, somewhere upwards of 100 million vaccinated Americans are sitting ducks for such a ''vaccine bypass'' variant.
        Of course, I'm quite confident that the vast majority of my friends and family, and the millions of folks who are naturally immune to SARS-CoV-2 from a prior infection, will be resistant to infection by most variants. Simply because their immune systems fought off the whole virus, not just the spike protein in the vaccine, and remember it.
        Naturally immune people are likely to be far more robustly immune to SARS-CoV-2 variants than vaccinated folks. And that is a basic and unassailable scientific prediction that is highly likely to bear out. In fact, it may be the reason why the Chinese population is so resistant to COVID-19 '-- their population is likely to be immunized against prior iterations of SARS-CoV viruses.
        To be clear, I am not suggesting that un-immune folks in America and the rest of the western hemisphere not get vaccinated. The risk cost of natural immunity from an actual infection is much higher than the cost of vaccination. I am simply sharing my analysis of what we are highly likely to confront soon: A ''vaccine bypass'' variant of SARS-CoV-2.
        So what's the solution if/when a ''vaccine bypass'' strain does emerge '-- as the Indian ''Delta Plus'' variant seems to be promising? How can millions of vaccinated sitting ducks be saved? Is there a solution?
        The answer is yes! THERAPEUTICS! And specifically, generic and vastly available anti-inflammatory therapeutics with well known and mechanistically relevant cellular targets involved in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 disease.
        It's a travesty that for a whole year now, FDA and NIH have been resisting development, testing and repurposing of some of our staple generic anti-inflammatory drugs to treat COVID-19 disease, which is AN INFLAMMATORY DISEASE!
        The reason they've resisted, is that Dr. Fauci and his crew placed their bet on the vaccine '-- and doggedly pursued its rapid development and deployment en mass. As an immunologist, I don't think this was an entirely incorrect bet '-- Fauci probably fashioned himself a bit of a hero in single-mindedly advocating for vaccine development with minor attention to anti-inflammatory drugs. But the Fauci crew's catastrophic error was that they almost entirely ignored development and rapid testing of some of our staple generic anti-inflammatory drugs. Ones with powerful and scientifically grounded rationale for use against COVID-19 disease.
        It has been my prejudice and expert opinion as an immunologist, since March 2020, that the generic outpatient drug cyclosporine is a lock-and-key fit for the immunological fingerprint of COVID-19 disease.
        So, as I write here in late June 2021, it remains my opinion that when the current COVID-19 vaccine is bypassed by an emergent SARS-CoV-2 variant, early treatment using cyclosporine will highly likely save millions of lives on our planet.
        In April 2020, CBS News covered my efforts to get cyclosporine tested as a block to the progression of COVID-19 disease.The reader might know that since March 2020, I have been doing all I can to get cyclosporine to come into the limelight of COVID-19 therapeutic testing by NIH, FDA and academic institutions.
        Sadly, neither the NIH, nor the FDA responded efficiently to my calls for immediate testing and emergency use of this staple generic anti-inflammatory drug. I believe this failure was related to Dr. Fauci's prejudice for development of a vaccine, over treatment of COVID-19 inflammatory disease.
        But recently, my colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, led by Professor Carl June, finally published the results of a phase 1 trial of cyclosporine in patient with moderate to severe COVID-19 disease. I was privileged to have contributed to the development of this project, which met enormous resistance to get off the ground '-- both locally and at the level of FDA.
        You may now read a pre-print version of this paper from Penn, HERE.
        Blood levels of cyclosporine reach a therapeutic plateau 48 hours after start of oral treatment.In this paper, we demonstrated that cyclosporine blood levels hit a therapeutic plateau by 48 hours after start of treatment in COVID-19 patients with moderate COVID-19 disease requiring supplemental oxygen.
        Amazingly all 10 COVID-19 patients treated at Penn, all moderate to severely ill and a few with high risk co-morbidities, were discharged from the hospital within a week '-- none required ICU level care.
        I do not find this picture terribly surprising, because cyclosporine is literally a lock-and-key fit, from a cellular mechanistic perspective, for the immunological fingerprint of COVID-19 disease.
        Most impressively, cyclosporine, quite dramatically turned off the hyper-inflammatory syndrome characteristic of COVID-19 disease in all 10 of the patients tested.
        The figure to the left here, shows that by days three after start of treatment, most the inflammatory markers associated with the COVID-19 disease had started to normalize (Going from a Red to a Blue state in Panel A). And by day 7 of treatment almost all markers were back at baseline.
        Impressively, the the C-Reactive Protein (CRP) level, which is a very sensitive marker of inflammation in COVID-19 disease, almost entirely normalized by day three following the start of cyclosporine therapy (See green graph '-- panel D).
        These are powerful results. All ten patients were discharged home without a visit to ICU. All had their hyperinflammatory markers shut off starting at day 2, when cyclosporine levels in the patients' blood were therapeutic.
        Additionally, I personally treated a few COVID-19 patients with cyclosporine off-label, including my own sister, early as outpatients. As you will see in the below CBS News video, she recovered her sense of taste and smell within 48 hours of starting cyclosporine '-- exactly when the drug starts turning off the inflammatory response in our study.
        Not to belabor this point, but only to summarize, as an immunologist I can confidently state that the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Operation Warp Speed are an important scientific and clinical contribution.
        Unfortunately, I am also certain that because of the pandemic nature of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a ''vaccine bypass'' variant will almost certainly emerge soon, if it hasn't already'-- and that the millions of vaccinated Americans will become sitting ducks for this new variant.
        When, not if, this happens, it is a mere certainty that cyclosporine could play a dominant role in saving tens or hundreds of thousands of lives. IF American regulators and doctors listen and look with care and mental acuity at the clinical mechanistic rationale and the existing data '-- instead of accusing me and any others warning about ''vaccine bypass'' SARS-CoV-2 variants as ''fear mongering, or thinking about cyclosporine within the constraints of our profession's jargon as a ''powerful immunosuppressant''. Both these criticisms are incorrect and will lead us to failure against emerging variant SARS-CoV-2 strains capable of ''vaccine bypass''.
        Let us not ignorantly engage in wishful thinking and the waste precious time we've earned at this point in the pandemic, by not thinking rationally and projecting our scientific prognostication capacities forward.
        Cyclosporine's therapeutic signal and the mechanistic rationale for blocking progression of COVID-19 disease is simply way too loud and precise to ignore.
        Of course, I continue to be shocked by the inability of Dr. Fauci and his crew at the NIH to redirect our nation's public health machinery onto repurposing of some staple generic anti-inflammatory drugs for the early treatment of COVID-19 disease '-- most notably cyclosporine.
        Worse than any of the sins politicians in Washington are accusing Dr. Fauci of for the sake of politics, he should not get a free pass on having ignored our generic anti-inflammatory therapies for COVID-19 treatment.
        Dr. Fauci and his crew at NIH, should get fully interrogated on why they ignored cyclosporine. Because many of the over 600,000 dead Americans could have been saved '-- that, is nearly certain.
      Ninth Circuit rules against Calif. Gov. Newsom order barring private school in-person teaching | Fox News
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 13:13
        Published July 23, 2021
        Last Update 10 hrs ago
        Private school parents see victory over Newsom COVID mandatesThe California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday ruled against Gov. Gavin Newsom's coronavirus mandates that barred private school children from receiving in-person teaching.
        In a suit brought forward in July 2020 by the Center for American Liberty, 20 plaintiffs challenged an order by Newsom that barred in-person teaching in 32 counties '' a mandate that affected 80% of California's children.
        Five of the plaintiffs argued that Newsom overstepped his authority in denying private-school parents control over their children's education.
        CALIFORNIA POLICE SERGEANT RIPS GOV. NEWSOM FOR DENYING CRIME SPIKE: HE'S LIVING IN A 'FANTASY WORLD'
        "California's forced closure of their private schools implicates a right that has long been considered fundamental under the applicable caselaw '-- the right of parents to control their children's education and to choose their children's educational forum," Judge Daniel Collins said Friday.
        The federal appellate court remanded the case for further proceedings and said it was not "moot."
        The court did rule against 14 parents and one student who challenged a previous district court ruling and said the parental rights regarding education in private schools did not hold for public school parents.
        "We hold that the district court properly rejected the substantive due process claims of those Plaintiffs who challenge California's decision to temporarily provide public education in an almost exclusively online format," Collins said.
        CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
        The Ninth Circuit judge argued that both the U.S. Supreme Court and the California court have yet to "recognize a federal constitutional right" to have the state "affirmatively" provide education in a specific format, meaning public education could still be taught in-person or online.
        Harmeet Dhillion, founder of the Center for American Liberty, said the group would continue to challenge Newsom's order as it pertains to public schools.
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      Woman holding her dog leaps to her death from 46-story building in New York's Hell's Kitchen
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 12:59
        The woman, 60, had just finished eating her last meal on top of her 46-story apartment building when she jumped to her death with her 'lap dog'She lived in a 46-story building called The Victory at 561 10th Ave. near 41st Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of ManhattanThe building was previously the site of another fatal jumping incident in February 2020Cops told the New York Post they found a handwritten note from the woman talking about stress and bottles of medication in her apartment A woman and her rescue dog died on Friday after she jumped from the roof of her luxury building in New York City while carrying her pet, police said.
        The woman, 60, had just finished eating her last meal on top of her 46-story apartment building when she jumped to her death with her 'lap dog' just before 1 p.m., the New York Post reported.
        She lived in a 46-story building called The Victory at 561 10th Ave. near 41st Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan - the site of another fatal jumping incident in February 2020.
        Cops told the New York Post they found a handwritten note from the woman talking about stress and bottles of medication in her apartment.
        A woman and her dog, not pictured, died on Friday after she jumped from the roof of her apartment building while carrying her pet The woman, 60, had just finished eating her last meal on top of her 46-story apartment building when she jumped to her death The building is managed by Fetner PropertiesThe building has 420 rental apartments She lived in a 46-story building called The Victory at 561 10th Ave. near 41st Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan Cops said they found a handwritten note from the woman talking about stress and bottles of medication in her apartment The FDNY were at the scene to wash down the entire street due to all the blood over a large area Firefighters had to use real hoses because of the amount of bloodJust before the woman jumped, a paper airplane note landed near a local resident who was sitting on the roof of a building across the street, he told the outlet.
        Dimitri Wallace told the New York Post that he saw the words 'You are blessed!' scrawled on one of the paper airplane's wings. On the other, someone had written: 'Stay strong. You'll get through this!'
        Wallace said he wondered if someone was okay after finding the paper airplane, and in turn threw the paper airplane off the roof to pass along 'a positive message.'
        'Yo, that's crazy that somebody like threw this note and then this literally happened like right after,' he said. 'I just saw it, and I was like 'Oh, that's weird.'
        Click here to resize this module
        It was not immediately clear if the paper airplane had been written by the woman or by someone else who had thrown it from another building in an attempt to reach her before she jumped.
        Witnesses told the New York Post that they were shocked the woman had jumped with her pooch.
        Construction worker Mike Olive, 37, said: 'Bro, she threw herself out with a dog! With a dog!'
        'It's unfortunate that somebody finds themselves in that situation. It's unfortunate. Hopefully, God has her in his hands,' he said.
        Hesham Almakaleh, 20, was working as a security guard at a charter school across the street and said he was glad school wasn't in session so kids didn't have to see the woman jump.
        'How could you just grab your dog?' Almakaleh added.
        One witness told the New York Daily News that he thought the someone had thrown garbage into the street.
        He said: 'I got closer and I realized that was not garbage, and I got the hell out of there.'
        Last February, the NYPD responded to another suicide at the same building Cops were reported to have rappelled down to access the body of that person The person was found on an above-ground landing and carried out a service entrance door to the buildingLast February, the NYPD responded to another suicide at the same building. The victim in that incident did not land on the street or sidewalk next to the building.
        The person was found on an above-ground landing and carried out a service entrance door to the building. Cops had to use ropes and a ladder to access the body in a confined space and hoist it up to a level where they could then remove it.
        The building, managed by Fetner Properties, has 420 rental apartments.
        Preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the number of suicides in the United States decreased 5.6% in 2020 - from 47,511 in 2019 to 44,834 in 2020.
        Critics of lockdown measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic have suggested those measures would drive the suicide rate higher.
        According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the nation. There were 130 suicides per day on average in 2019 '' most of which, 50.39%, were caused by firearms. The advocacy group maintains a list of risk factors and warning signs.
        CDC data lists New York as having among the lowest suicide rates in the nation.
        Anyone considering suicide should contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or can chat with someone live on its website .
      Are These Giant Prehistoric Trees ' Secret Energy
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 03:23
        Old trees can be seen as a rarity, they are accounted for and protected as a natural monument.
        But why do they say all the forest, even in Siberia, are not older than 200 years? WHERE ARE THE GIANTS?I want to approach this issue from the other side '' beginning from the Earth's poles. Soviet biologists have discovered something strange: the poles unnatural quantity of water in the form of ice and snow, and an unnatural quantity of carbon dioxide dissolved in the oceans. This clearly adds to the latest general craze trend about global warming. With some simple calculations, scientists claim they have deduced a figure that says that recently there was general warming in 99.9% of the Earth's biosphere.
        It is known that living cells are composed mainly of water, so the snowcaps of the poles are nothing but the release of water organisms, which in the gaseous state migrated to the poles and then condensed in the form of precipitation.
        Now think about it in the figure of 99.9%!
        In other words, what is now water grows, crawls, flies, swims, and runs around the Earth, at a volume of 20,000 times smaller than it was before the fire. This was to all of our plants, animals, and people together. Insert an image to compare the ratio of volumes
        But then there was a discrepancy:
        The biologists have divided this figure by the area of all the continents together and they did not work '' there was not enough land and the fact is it shouldn't be anywhere else but on land. It turned out that the stereotype thinking was to blame because our usual forests of 30-meter height sat down like a virus in the minds of biologists and prevented the quick unraveling of the matter.
        If the plants do not fit in breadth, they should be placed upward and all at once grow together!
        The new theory quickly drew a hypothetical forest of unimaginable heights.And soon there were these pictures:
        The barbaric fall of the California Redwoods (between 1880 and 1920), which miraculously survived the 1816 bombing of the planet. Just imagine how many years you need to grow a tree to such an extent!
        There is such a rule in the proportions of trees: the diameter of the stump is approximately 3 times the height of the lumberjack, let it be (1.75m x3) x20 = 105 meters! Just think about it! You enter the forest, the height of which is not the usual 30 meters, but 100! So much for the fabulous forests that they love to describe in folk tales and draw in cartoons. Forests that are irretrievably lost thanks to such barbarians.
        I understand that it is just hired workers (they certainly need to feed the family), which received orders from above, but if each woodcutter refused the criminal order, the forest would remain whole.
        Look at these photos carefully:
        If someone thinks that the forests were cut down just for timber, then I hasten to dispel your naivety.
        The fact is that old trees work also as information storage, database, and hard disks in modern parlance. Everything that happens on the planet, the trees do record it in its information portal. A person with good enough sensitivity can just go to a forest and easily access any information about the past, just by touching the tree trunk.
        I do not know for what reason, but several Redwood's barbarians decided to leave one alive '' even made a fence and called it a reserve!
        So, to sum up: as you can see the remains of a giant forest were found, hence '' the theory of giant forests of the past proved how snow poles also took this place in the mosaic.
        It seems that this topic could be closed here, but not so simple'...
        Take at least the book Legends of Crimea , as an example where everything converges for Paleontologists around the world digging up fossils of animals and plants not only in Crimea but also across the globe. There are also many museums around the world that are simply overwhelmed with petrified clover, frog-wah, FMD-ancestry, dinosaur pieces, etc.
        So Far So Good? But Don't Forget We Have A Topic Here: Trees.
        WHERE ARE THE TREES, GUYS?
        The California Redwoods are not appropriate here, since they are carbon-based, and therefore do not fit into the Silicon Era. How do I know?
        Well, firstly, they are cut and sawed with standard tools (Silicon breaks axes and saws).
        Second, pay attention to the growth of rings, indicating the change of seasons.
        So, even these old giants in the photo are not related to the silicon era.
        You will not believe it, but they have been found!
        Guess where?
        All in same North America; in Arizona to be precise.
        IT ALL SEEMS TO HAVE CONVERGED ON THE EDGE OF THE AREA OF THE ARYANS!
        And the river Kolo-RA-do '...
        Just think ~ What made this ancient crater in ''Kolo'' on the other side of the world?
        And another mark erased from the Earth'...
        But we will pretend not to notice this theater of the absurd because we are interested in flint trees.
        And here they are, by the way!
        I present to you an open-air museum. Petrified trees are scattered in the desert and also fenced.
        This fossil park is not simple '' it's just simply unique!
        If a turtle and a frog turned to stone in gray and white pebbles, local trees are turned into '...
        SEMI-PRECIOUS STONES!
        Can you see the annual rings?
        We Admire The Stones Don't We? Beautiful, Is It Not?
        Well, It's Time To Sum It Up:
        ~ All our forests are young and do not grow higher than 30 meters;
        ~ Our forests are now preserved in the form of American Redwoods;
        ~ There exist fossils of the silicon era, including trees of gems.
        Since as a child I saw ''in the animal world'' fossils of gerbils and frogs, I was tormented by the question and although it came from a child's head, now it's a million-dollar question:
        How can a frog be petrified, instead of just rot, as it should be with an organic body?
        I do not know about you, but it seems that something is not being told'...
        '''...Fossilization process occurs underground when the body is buried under sediments, but do not deteriorate due to lack of oxygen'...'' '' Wikipedia.
        We need some kind of natural disaster, such as a volcanic eruption, or clay rain, to cover frogs and mammoths alike, where these sedimentary rocks together with air bacteria do not turn the body to a state of smelly manure. In other words, the bodies stiffened and became compacted.
        According to scientists, ORGANIC MATERIAL HAS BEEN AND BECAME SILICA (SiO'‚‚).
        A carbon body under no circumstances becomes a cobblestone ever, this nonsense was invented to conceal the silicon era!
        The transformation of the logs into a gem '' that's where the scope lies, and cynicism is really going wild.
        But how does a piece of wood turn into a semi-precious stone?
        I will reveal the secret later, but for now, let us examine this whole deal on semi-precious items.
        I do not know about You, but I am PERPLEXED by 3 points:
        According to the official version, the trees died in an unfair battle against a neighboring volcano, circa 225 million years ago. And this exciting story goes even deeper'... The wood was not burned in lava flame. They did not rot for 225 million years in the damp earth; but in spite of current knowledge in physics, chemistry, and biology, simply turned into gems! But that's not all:
        PLEASE NOTE THAT TREES ON THE PICTURES ARE NOT BROKEN
        THEY WERE SAWED!
        The question is:
        Was it before or after Armageddon that trunks shredded like sausage? If after, then what brand of chainsaw Indians sawed gems?
        I would have bought it myself. For those who think only a complete idiot would believe in the transformation of wood into gems'...
        The question arises:
        If someone staged this whole circus, why would they bring back and then scatter the trees of the silicon life forms?
        AND NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT THING'...
        ANY OF YOU NOTICED HOW MANY OF THESE ARE SMALL SILICON TREES?
        After all, they are not comparable, even with the Redwoods of California!
        And everything is very simple:
        IT IS NOT A TREE BUT BRANCHES OF GIANT TREES OF THE SILICON ERA!
        And those trees are so huge that American Redwoods beside them look like a match compared to Baobab tree. And while tourists with open mouths marvel the gems and are lost in distraction, no one will pay attention to the background from which these beautiful threads came.
        But the whole trick is in the background.
        To finally understand what I've been trying to tell, it is necessary once again to recall a quote:
        Close to the face, it's hard to see to any person. Great things are seen at a distance.. We once again buried the nose into something very big.
        I once again urge you to think on a planetary scale, and therefore simply urge to change the viewing angle.
        What do you see?
        A stump in the middle of daisies, right?
        And I continue to insist that this is a TABLE MOUNTAIN and formed from a magmatic melt that rose from the depths of the Earth and froze, about 200 million. years ago:
        Let me present to you the mountain ''Devil's Tower'' in Wyoming, USA.
        It is a TABLE MOUNTAIN, formed from a magmatic melt that rose from the depths of the earth and froze about 200 million years ago.
        I BELIEVE THAT IT IS A GIANT TREE STUMP ON A SILICON LIFE FORM AND CAN EASILY PROVE IT.
        Everything that you have just read is flowers. Further '' much cooler!
        Steeper '' literally '...
        Devil's Tower was formed from molten magma that rose from the depths of the earth and stood in the form of elegant columns. '' Wikipedia
        Stood in perfect hexagonal columns as much as 300 meters into the sky! But to say that this geometric masterpiece is just the result of a lava fountain is the same nonsense as if to say that a race car appeared on the tracks due to an explosion at a Ferrari factory.
        Comparative Analysis:
        Do You Know What Is The Fact That Amazes Me The Most?
        ALL COLUMNS ARE HEXAGONAL
        Why Hexagonal?
        There are no similar snowflakes, but they are a perfect hexagonal shape.
        Bees, too, not knowing mathematics, correctly identified that the regular hexagon has the smallest perimeter among equal area figures, so this form can be filled efficiently. Building honeycomb, the bees instinctively try to make it possible for it to be more spacious while expending as little wax as possible. The hexagonal shape is the most economical and effective figure for the construction of hundreds!
        Furthermore'...
        There are those that do not yet understand that our universe is fractal, and therefore makes no difference to study to what extent '' in the size of mountains or in the size of the tree, that everyone lives under the same roof.
        Opening a botany textbook, we find the structure of some plants is associated with our giant stump. But it's useless to argue with them.
        Let me introduce you to a cross-section of the stem of flax:
        A straight spitting image of our stump with a bird's eye view.
        Stump fibers as flax fiber stem have a hexagonal shape, which strictly maintained its geometry throughout the length of the barrel; the same as much as 386 meters. The fibers do not differ from one another: they are not only calibrated over the entire length but with respect to each other.
        Each fiber stump is covered with a thin shell. Just as fascia '' the connective tissue sheath, forming housings of muscle fibers. As you can see, a fossilized shell in contact with wind and moisture '' crack, peel/fall off, and is direct proof that the stump fibers consist of at least two different components.
        The fibers do not go into the ground vertically. They gradually bent to smoothly evolve to the root system.
        As you can see, the official version of casual hardened lava flies to hell.
        TOO MANY FACTS SCREAMING THAT THIS STUMP IS OF A GIANT TREE OF SILICON!
        I understand that Hollywood in 1977 concocted Spielberg's ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' to the Devil's Tower in the title role, which is 100 times repeated that it is a mountain for a meeting with the aliens, but where were your eyes, scientists? Hey, biologists, geologists, paleontologists, you study the world behind the mask of the welder?
        Now, let's count up the height of the tree, which was the stump once.
        To do this, we use the formula that I gave in the first part, where the diameter of the stump height is approximately equal to 1/20 of the entire tree. Thus, the diameter of our stump '' 300 meters at the base. Given that the great stump rises up over a period of 7500 years, it is clear that it was wider, but, even if at a modest 300 meters and multiply it by 20, we get the height of the tree (and now get ready) '' 6 km in height!
        But on the other hand, do not underestimate the tenacious hooks that the matrix holds in the mind of disbelievers, so I'm sure that even after such evidence, there are deep sleepers which will require the continuation of this banquet. If you think that my arguments have been exhausted, then I hate to disappoint you: I still have so many trump cards that I will savor every moment, pulling the culmination of the 6th chapter, because this story is as intricate as those from detective Agatha Christie.
        So, we understood something with one stump, it's time to explore the other.
        YOU JUST NEED TO TAKE THE BLINDERS OFF, AND YOU DO NEED TO SEE THIS'...
        Allow me to present to you the
        Resemble Something'...?
        Again, Some Hexagonal Poles'...
        100% Similarity with Plant Fibers From Devil's Tower
        This is another giant tree stump, but only out of the ground. The tree grew right on the beach.
        The trail consists of 40 thousand giant pillars of this geometry, their proportions will envy even the bees!
        Obviously, this natural wonder the experts declared a national reserve.
        And again, guess what official science says about the Irish stump:
        Giant's Causeway (Giant's Trail) '' A natural monument of about 40,000 interconnected basalt columns, formed as a result of an ancient volcanic eruption '' Wikipedia.
        '... ERUPTION!
        Well, tell me, how can we keep from hearing eruption fountain coming from the scientist community?
        It is difficult, very difficult, but for now, we will have to bite our lips and keep waiting.
        Why haven't the honeycombs also not yet been named by the eruption of an ancient volcano?
        They also do not distinguish from the Trail Giant!
        Just look at this masterpiece of Geometry:
        So, to recapitulate, this is lava eruption:
        And this is how it flows:
        This is how lava solidifies:
        Now let us compare with the Devil's Tower and Trail Giant:
        Well? Who else here believes in the lava fountain story?
        If you think that apart from two silicon giant trees I have nothing else to show, then you're mistaken.
        They are all over the planet and they are abysmal.
        The most interesting thing is that people do not even think they are stumps, and official science seriously must have wondered:
        How can we hide this from them?
        And so, they came up with a brilliant name for silicon stumps: Basalt rocks!
        Now, pay special attention to the following two pictures: '' How to hang fiber ceiling .''
        So how can it be explained now the volcanic version? Did lava drip to the ground and not reach it somehow?
        HOW ARTIFACTS LIE RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES'...
        BUT THE PRISM MATRIX DOES NOT ALLOW US TO SEE.
        And we move on, and not to deviate from the title of this piece, I bring to your attention one more hexagonal marvel of nature.
        SILICON NATURE
        As you can see, not everything is as simple as it is written in the book Natural History and shown on the Discovery channel.
        Traditional knowledge would not deny here the obvious conclusion of these hexagons, but to the silicon stumps it still somehow something about the hexagonal structure as if they do not exist at all!
        And They Are'... More As It Is!
        You will not believe it, but the truth is not only on wiki. I searched the Internet and didn't find an explanation of the hexagonal structure.
        There was only one place with a shy line, saying :
        Look how oddly withered and cracked salt!
        And here I fell into a stupor '...
        First: under the scorching rays of the sun crust any surface cracks like this:
        Not Like HoneycombsSecond: Show me the American Lake crack again:
        As far as I know, the cracks '' it is deepening between the surface of the fragments, and I see the rise, and it is '' the exact opposite of cracks!
        More like-fascia fibers, the same as silicon stumps!
        And third, why is it that the salt surface is divided on the hexagonal fragments? Since there is not a general explanation from science I will express their own opinion. According to WakeUpHuman, Salt Lakes are sludge-settling tanks. I agree with this version, with the exception of that lake and here's why: every cell is an attribute peculiar to living organisms, be it ownership of the queen bee, the structure of snowflakes, or plant fibers.
        But, as we have seen with their own eyes, Salar de Uyuni '' is not just a giant salt formation. IT IS A LIVING SILICON LIFE FORM CREATURE!
        Now can you see how we are cut off from the real image of the past?
        If giant trees are still able to get into our wretched imagination, here is a creature of salt by 10 thousand square kilometers in width, while it is hard for us to imagine how high those trees were able to reach!
        Now, do you understand that only 7500 years ago our planet looked so fabulous that James Cameron and his Avatar movie were not playing?
        In short, the planet literally has been scrapped in gigantic proportions.
        They scraped the top layer all over the world, as the old asphalt road workers scraped everything for their bosses' cars. Only a small height of the layer was left '' a few hundred meters. Please note that the coastal line of the lake has the shape of a semicircle and it is not the only one '' it seems it has been worked with an excavator wheel'... This theme is just brilliant, started by Pavel Ulyanov, (WakeUpHuman). I have mentioned the name of this man before, who in the past year, in my opinion, made a real revolution in the science of anatomy regarding volcanoes, rivers, quarries, waste heaps, seas, lakes, etc. As he said, these terms can now be simply deleted from the lexicon as they are unnecessary, because no volcanoes and canyons exist in principle. Now in the head, the logical circuit will start being intertwined with this opening of Pavel, so we strongly recommend that you read this until the end, otherwise your mosaic will be incomplete. With regard to our lake, you want to pay attention here to a point, I certainly understand that the name (Salar de Uyuni) '' suggests something that we are not being told, therefore we just have to think. Well, the theoretical part is over, and it is time to proceed to the culmination of the events and travel on the runway!
        But first, we need to go back to the first stump and see in it a strange thing.
        BET YOU DID NOT SEE IT!
        Look Closely At Its Flat Top.
        IT'S SIMPLE'...
        THE TREE WAS CUT DOWN!
        And imagination excites the imagination, and the questions are lining up:
        Who cut it down? For what?
        Was it sawed?
        These questions we will look at later, because they go by the wayside, and you know why?
        Because this is not the only sawed stump on the planet.
        I'll tell you more:
        Devil's Tower was just a sample compared with what you will see next'...
        Ladies and gentlemen, our plane is ready to fly. Our policy is that there is no policy, we simply circled over the planet! Fasten your seat belts, and better hold the handrails, for what you are about to see will modify your knowledge of the mountains and the rocks.
        Australia:
        In the course of the flight play the game: Find the 10 differences.
        Although there are only two differences: the material and the size.
        Canada:
        Italy:
        Namibia:
        Cape Town:
        Greenland:
        Argentina:
        USA:
        Diomede Islands:
        Ethiopia:
        Venezuela:
        Scientists have dubbed them Mesas because of the flat surface, like a table.
        These stumps are sticking out all over the planet. Hundreds of them:
        And now let us remember how our conversation began.
        We thought we had seen the forests and walked in them when their growth is only 30 meters. We enjoy their beauty and are accustomed to these forests, but we are simply forced to think that it is a forest, when in fact '' it is just a 30-meter-high bush'...
        Then it turned out that in the United States they preserved the old wood that is depicted in fairy tales: ''a giant'' 100-meters. It makes such giants fantasy when we hear the words, Fairy Forest. On the California redwoods our imagination is limited (because of the prism), otherwise, the mind would question itself at the size of Devil's Tower, indicating a tree of 6 km altitude.
        For example, a mountain in Cape Town (Africa) where the dimensions are truly impressive, the diameter of the plateau (3 km), multiplied by 20, and the height of an African tree turns into '' 60 km! This is 10 times higher than the Devil's Tower, so our mind is definitely not seeing the stump in Cape Town! We are not even generally aware of what size is a normal tree when we only see its branches. Only one such gigantic twig could safely fit a sleeping area with shopping malls, schools, and parks. Sorry for the crazy example, but I do not see any other way to apply modern brains on the ancient picture of the world.
        60 kilometers!
        Were there any higher?
        Now imagine that this is not the limit.
        Those who carefully read the previous information, know that on the island of Buyan was an Oak of unprecedented proportions, turned into petrified stump which raises to the sky. This Oak grew without rest, so it fits well into the ''fairy tale''. No one knows how big its stump (covered by a glacier in Antarctica) was, but the fact is that Oak was a few hundred kilometers in height '' that's for sure, which is several times higher than the African tree of Cape Town.
        Thus, the oak that grew in Antarctica was the largest plant in the world!
        Remember at the beginning of the chapter I pointed out the prism-bodyguard of our mind which distorts the world.
        But how much? A lot!
        Ask any person next to you and show them the real trees in the photos, and they immediately will focus on the little greens, not even noticing these wretched bushes (in which he sees the little green trees). The little greens probably could be compared as moss, but not a forest:
        Now let's look even wider. I once again try to encourage you to think on a planetary scale.
        Just imagine what a giant curtain fenced over our face hides the true aspect of the world!
        Now you know why the Apocalypse is literally translated as the opening curtain?
        Now you know why at the beginning of this chapter, I pointed to the prism embedded matrix through which we see the world, and as it turned out, we see almost nothing. Take my word, everything around is arranged differently and has nothing to do with what you see. I would say that the current state of society is a real dream, and the saddest thing is that not in a figurative sense of the word.
        You've probably noticed that the giant stumps I call trees are not the trees we know of.
        What is the difference in the old and new style? None.
        TREE ~ This is the True Name of the GIANTS!
        It came from the word chart from Antiquity. In other words, the antiquity '' a period when the trees grew. When they say: In ancient times '' this is over 7500 years ago, or even earlier. I think now it is clear that measly 30-meter trees of bushes have been diluted from their ancestors.
        Back to the questions:
        Who Cut Them Down?
        For What Purpose?
        What Kind of Saw Was Used?
        Still too early to answer.
        Given that the entire surface of the planet was covered by gigantic vegetation'...
        Let's ask ourselves instead:
        What happened to the rest of the mega-timber?
        The fact is that the table mountains are only a few trees at best, which were chosen for the saw cut.
        KEYWORD: TO SAW CUT!
        The rest of the world was just a single forest and it was laid blast.
        We have examined the stumps at ground level, and everyone has seen the trees cut down, but what of the broken ones?
        Let's Have A Look:
        A broken stump of carbon. Understand the hint?
        Well then, if not, we will continue to play:
        Find 10 differences.
        I think you grasped the meaning, and therefore, I propose to take a sober look at the highest stumps of the planet, which broke from the impact of the blast wave:
        Everest:
        AS YOU PROBABLY GUESSED'...
        THE ROCKS ON THE PLANET DO NOT EXIST!
        This is all the debris of stumps.
        You can revise a million pictures, but apart from the bodies of the silicon in the world, you will not see anything.
        How to explain the origin of the rocks of official science?
        Now you understand why we are so fascinated by the rocks?
        Why is the elite real estate placed among the rocks?
        Why is the ecological material for housing construction '' pieces of rock?
        Because although ''the rocks'' died, they continue to emit powerful energy of life-saving for us '' mortal representatives in the carbon era.
        STONE '' A BRIDGE BETWEEN THE SILICON AND CARBON FORM OF LIFE!
        And now another important point:
        You must learn to clearly distinguish between the rocks of the mountains. This is a completely different concept.
        The rock is composed of a single piece of ragged stone, with characteristic protruding into the sky like the fragments of fibers.
        And behold, the mountain '' a bunch of loose waste to giant dump trucks. Its distinguishing feature '' almost perfect cone shape, as befits a bulk structure. Sometimes waste is beginning to react between its layers, so the mountain abruptly turns into a volcano spewing lava.
        So there are no volcanoes, mountains, and rocks they do also not exist. You can delete these terms from the lexicon.
        Fly further'... So, from the aircraft, we are well made out that:
        ABSOLUTELY ALL THE ROCKS OF OUR PLANET ARE THE BODIES OF THE SILICON WORLD!
        '' It's all fallen trees? '' you ask.
        No, not all.
        Lots of rocks refer to fossilized animals and humans. Fans of the Crimea have now guessed it first, but this topic is immense, so the details of fossilized fauna come in the next chapter.
        It should also be noted that not all trees have cell fibers as Devil's Tower or the Giant Causeway, for example. Many of the rock, which we have just mentioned, have a plate or a sponge-like structure of the same type as our mushrooms. As they got different from the light, the silicon world of antiquity was so varied that the majority of species and subspecies are simply unable to be identified and cataloged.
        Boys and girls, our plane circled the Earth, and we came into land.
        Ship crew thanks you for having not gone mad from reading the comments to the usual pictures. After landing you will be taken to a cozy hotel in the rocks, where you have a rest before dinner, after which we will gather in a bunch today the information in an orderly and coherent mosaic.
        Enjoy your vacation!
        Now sit back, I'll tell you a story!
        Consider the nature of the film Avatar , only multiplied by its diversity as a million times. All this was in bloom and oozing until the bad guys came. First, they cut down some of the best trees (branded chainsaws do not forget), to use them as bio-fuel for the big generator to change the temperature and the atmospheric pressure inside the planet!
        This was the beginning of the end'...
        Following the climate change, all flora petrified, in contrast to some of the fauna that still somehow escaped undercover. Thus, vegetation had no longer signs of life and before the silicon era their bodies lost all its elasticity, the planet was overrun by a destructive carpet. The temperature blast downed everything that had roots'...
        Let's look at this clearly by the example of Carbon Trees familiar to us:
        As you can see, the stump is about 5-10% of the volume of wood that falls with a crash. Here is the fallen wood from allegedly Tunguska meteorite:
        And now imagine the volume of the fallen tree, let the height be of 100 kilometers.
        CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MUCH STONE MUST LIE DOWN THERE WITH THE STUMP?
        So where did it all go?
        But on this question, we just said Pavel Ulyanov after the blast, all the living fell, then came the funny guys with their fun technique and literally scraped from all continents a few hundred meters of the upper layer of the '' stone ''. These creatures were like cancer devouring one continent after another, emptying the earth, and making it into a pit on a planetary scale.
        That was all that formed the deserts, the barbaric period, and an expression of Career.
        Cuttlefish in the photo '' Bagger 288 '' the largest bucket-wheel excavator in the world today. If this equipment is with us (primitive prosimians), imagine the level of alien technology, which controlled the trees at a height of 100 km'...
        But as a rotary excavator works: he crawls on tracks parallel to the pit wall. The huge disc with buckets scrapes the rock, leaving a concave wall of stone:
        Geologists, I see more students being hypnotized, just like developing careers called a miracle of nature, such as the cliff in Australia:
        THIS IS HILARIOUS.
        If you do not believe in this, they called it a wave of rock, check out the official explanation.
        To not be accused of plagiarism, I repeat for the tenth time that this theme of the quarries, volcanoes, and bucket wheel excavators was brilliantly opened by Pavel Ulyanov (WakeUpHuman). Simply, we are approaching the climax of this amazing story, and I just had to familiarize you with the principle of the bucket wheel excavators, otherwise, you will not understand the culmination of the whole chapter.
        Continuing:
        All that fell on the surface of the planet has been scraped by the mega-machines, so what we have got from the silicon era was the surviving stone stumps (cliffs).
        The thing on the Aryans area was just a tidbit of the unusual composition of the soil.
        The composition of the rocks was not always of the usual silicon dioxide (SiO'‚‚), neither they were always semi-precious stones.
        Now you understand why the organized park of petrified trees, and why those distributed logs are now like gems?
        And here another question arises'...
        Why were these stumps left untouched?
        I confess I have no answer.
        Access to this information for some reason turned out to be classified, so we have to rely on logic, which is very bad for writing such material.
        It is possible that the stumps were some kind of cork-stopper of some energy that flows from the earth's shifters that cannot be opened.
        Look At The Picture:
        Anticipating the question, I asked 500 times after the publication of this chapter:
        How to determine which rock was alive, and what is not?
        I inform you that in the silicon world there was no stone at all.
        So, absolutely every boulder that you can find in the world '' it's a piece chipped off of some creature in the silicon era.
        Thus, the entire silicon flora and fauna of the occupants were taken, and the question arises:
        Where have such prodigious amounts of stone gone? Maybe it was taken out of the earth, as many believe?
        No guys, nothing was exported.
        Stone was needed inside the planet for the construction of the century.
        And what can be constructed from such a large quantity of stone? Bases? Fortresses? Cities?
        Leave these small thoughts!
        If you want to understand the intentions of the gods, then you need to think like a god, and once again I ask you to think in planetary consciousness, and oddly enough, this will help us in the fairy tale of the gingerbread man.
        There Was An Old Couple. So, The Old Man Says To The Old Woman:
        Come on, old woman, on duct Scratch, the bottom of the barrel for litter, whether flour naskrebesh on bun. She took the old wing, scratched on the duct, on susekam pomelo, and scraped together two handfuls of flour. Knead the flour with sour cream, cooked up the bun, roasted in butter, and put in the window chill.
        Recently I discovered one more version of this fairy tale, more similar to the truth, as it explains who the gingerbread man is.
        Asked Tarkh Perunovich Jiva '' create a bun. And She Svarog susekam scratched by the barns chertozhim pomelo and molded bun and put it on the Hall Rada window. And shone bun and rolled on Perunova Way. But not for long, he rolled in the Hall of Boar rolled, chewed off at the Boar Bun side, but not all took a bite and the tithe. Pitch on the bun and has come to the Hall of Cygnus, the Swan, and otkleval piece, and in the Hall of the Raven '' Raven otkleval piece, in the Hall of the Bear '' Bear Koloboks god squeezed. Wolf in his Hall of Bun almost half gnawed, and when the loaf has come to the Hall of Fox, Fox ate it.
        This tale is a figurative description of the astronomical observations of the movements of the Month Ancestors across the sky, from the full moon to full moon. In Halls Tarkh and Jiva, to Svarog Circle comes a full moon, after the Hall of Fox begins a new moon.
        Thus, as the second tale of the Gingerbread Man '' this is the Month.
        This is so clear and logical, there is no doubt is there?
        But in this story, there is another hidden one'...
        I do not know about you, but my childhood strained as the phrase ''bottom of the barrel scraped''. When I hear it, the feeling I get is that scratching my rake back. And not in vain, as it turned out as intuitive rejection. And now a question to one billion: For some such susekam scrapers grandmother?
        Let The Pictures Show:
        Admire What Tools Grandmother Jiva Uses As Scrapers For The Bottom Of The Barrel. This is the bottom of the barrel '' the scraped continents of our planet, and not the rubbish that we think:
        And Here's The Hitch:
        The size of it all, the fact that the city beside it is hollow, and the stone are scraped from around the world'...
        What happened to the lion's shares of the stones?
        Everything is very simple.
        Do you happen to know what it is that makes glass?
        MOLTEN SILICA!
        Yes, the same silicon dioxide (SiO'‚‚), which consist of ''rock'' .
        In place of the gods, I have melted rocks into glass.
        Why such a huge amount of God's glass?
        To Build A Giant Shell And Call It'...
      Opinion | Cash Will Soon Be Obsolete. Will America Be Ready? - The New York Times
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 02:39
        Opinion | Cash Will Soon Be Obsolete. Will America Be Ready? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/22/opinion/cash-digital-currency-central-bank.htmlGuest Essay
        July 22, 2021
        Video Credit Credit... By Erik Carter By Eswar Prasad
        Dr. Prasad is a professor of trade policy at Cornell University and the author of a forthcoming book on digital currencies.
        When was the last time you made a payment with dollar bills?
        Some people still prefer to use cash, perhaps because they like the tactile nature of physical currency or because it provides confidentiality in transactions. But digital payments, made with the swipe of a card or a few taps on a cellphone, are fast becoming the norm.
        To keep their money relevant, many central banks are experimenting with digital versions of their currencies. These currencies are virtual, like Bitcoin; but unlike Bitcoin, which is a private enterprise, they are issued by the state and function much like traditional currencies. The idea is for central banks to introduce these digital currencies in limited circulation '-- to exist alongside cash as just another monetary option '-- and then to broaden their circulation over time, as they gain in popularity and cash fades away.
        China, Japan and Sweden have begun trials of central bank digital currency. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank are preparing their own trials. The Bahamas has already rolled out the world's first official digital currency.
        The U.S. Federal Reserve, by contrast, has largely stayed on the sidelines. This could be a lost opportunity. The United States should develop a digital dollar, not because of what other countries are doing, but because the benefits of a digital currency far outweigh the costs.
        One benefit is security. Cash is vulnerable to loss and theft, a problem for both individuals and businesses, whereas digital currencies are relatively secure. Electronic hacking does pose a risk, but one that can be managed with new technologies. (As it happens, offshoots of Bitcoin's technology could prove helpful in increasing security.)
        Digital currencies also benefit the poor and the ''unbanked.'' It is hard to get a credit card if you don't have much money, and banks charge fees for low-balance accounts that can make them prohibitively expensive. But a digital dollar would give everyone, including the poor, access to a digital payment system and a portal for basic banking services. Each individual or household could have a fee-free, noninterest-bearing account with the Federal Reserve, linked to a cellphone app for making payments. (About 97 percent of American adults have a cellphone or a smartphone.)
        To see how this might help, consider the payments that the U.S. government made to households as part of the coronavirus stimulus packages. Millions of low-income households without bank accounts or direct deposit information on file with the Internal Revenue Service experienced complications or delays in getting those payments. Checks and debit cards mailed to many of them were delayed or lost, and scammers found ways to intercept payments. Central-bank accounts could have reduced fraud and made administering stimulus payments easier, faster and more secure.
        A central-bank digital currency can also be a useful policy tool. Typically, if the Federal Reserve wants to stimulate consumption and investment, it can cut interest rates and make cheap credit available. But if the economy is cratering and the Fed has already cut the short-term interest rate it controls to near zero, its options are limited. If cash were replaced with a digital dollar, however, the Fed could impose a negative interest rate by gradually shrinking the electronic balances in everyone's digital currency accounts, creating an incentive for consumers to spend and for companies to invest.
        A digital dollar would also hinder illegal activities that rely on anonymous cash transactions, such as drug dealing, money laundering and terrorism financing. It would bring ''off the books'' economic activity out of the shadows and into the formal economy, increasing tax revenues. Small businesses would benefit from lower transaction costs, since people would use credit cards less often, and they would avoid the hassles of handling cash.
        To be sure, there are potential risks to central-bank digital currencies, and any responsible plan should prepare for them. For example, a digital dollar would pose a danger to the banking system. What if households were to move their money out of regular bank accounts and into central-bank accounts, perceiving them as safer, even if they pay no interest? The central bank could find itself in the undesirable position of having to allocate credit, deciding which sectors and businesses deserve loans.
        But this risk can be managed. Commercial banks could vet customers and maintain the central-bank digital currency accounts along with their own interest-bearing deposit accounts. The digital currency accounts might not directly help banks earn profits, but they would attract customers who could then be offered savings or loan products. (To help protect commercial banks, limits can also be placed on the amount of money stored in central-bank accounts, as the Bahamas has done.) A central-bank digital currency could be designed for use across different payment platforms, promoting private sector competition and encouraging innovations that make electronic payments cheaper, quicker and more secure.
        Another concern is the loss of privacy that central-bank digital currencies entail. Even with protections in place to ensure confidentiality, no central bank would forgo the ability to audit and trace transactions. A digital dollar could threaten what remains of anonymity and privacy in commercial transactions '-- a reminder that adopting a digital dollar is not just an economic but also a social decision.
        The end of cash is on the horizon, and it will have far-reaching effects on the economy, finance and society more broadly. With proper preparation and open discussion, we should embrace the advent of a digital dollar.
      Delta variant: Pfizer Covid vaccine 39% effective in Israel, prevents severe illness
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 02:38
        Published Fri, Jul 23 2021 1:23 PM EDTUpdated 6 Hours Ago
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        Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine is just 39% effective in Israel where the delta variant is the dominant strain, according to a new report from the country's Health Ministry.The two-dose vaccine still works very well in preventing people from getting seriously sick, demonstrating 88% effectiveness against hospitalization and 91% effectiveness against severe illness, according to the Israeli data.People receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine inside a Covid-19 mass vaccination center at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday, Jan. 4, 2020.
        Kobi Wolf | Bloomberg | Getty Images
        Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine is just 39% effective in Israel where the delta variant is the dominant strain, but still provides strong protection against severe illness and hospitalization, according to a new report from the country's Health Ministry.
        The efficacy figure, which is based on an unspecified number of people between June 20 and July 17, is down from an earlier estimate of 64% two weeks ago and conflicts with data out of the U.K. that found the shot was 88% effective against symptomatic disease caused by the variant.
        However, the two-dose vaccine still works very well in preventing people from getting seriously sick, demonstrating 88% effectiveness against hospitalization and 91% effectiveness against severe illness, according to the Israeli data published Thursday.
        "We have to be mindful that, with time, the effectiveness of these vaccines may wane," said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease professor at the University of Toronto.
        He stressed that the shots are still highly effective in preventing severe infection, helping hospital systems not get too overwhelmed heading into the colder months. That being said, "we're still in the Covid era and anything can happen," he said.
        "We have to be prepared and we have to be nimble that people may need a booster at some point," he added. "This close surveillance that's happening in countries like Israel, the U.K. and other parts of the world is going to be very helpful in driving policy if and when we do need boosters."
        The delta variant, already in more than 104 countries, is concerning health officials in the U.S. as they see more breakthrough infections, which occur in fully vaccinated people, even though they are more mild.
        White House chief medical officer Dr. Anthony Fauci said fully vaccinated people might want to consider wearing masks indoors as a precaution against the rapidly spreading variant in the U.S.
        Health experts are concerned about the fall season, when delta is expected to hit states with the lowest vaccination rates the hardest '-- unless those states and businesses reintroduce mask rules, capacity limits and other public health measures that they've largely rolled back.
        "That's something we obviously don't want to see," Fauci said Wednesday, noting the so-called breakthrough infections. "This virus is clearly different than the viruses and the variants that we've had experience with before. It has an extraordinary capability of transmitting from person to person."
        Dr. Paul Offit, who advises the FDA on Covid vaccines, said while the vaccines still provide excellent protection against severe disease and death, they may not work as well against mild cases or spreading the disease to others.
        He urged more Americans to get vaccinated, saying delta is a highly contagious virus and the shots will help people from getting seriously sick. Currently, less than half of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, according to data compiled by the CDC.
        "That is a rich and fertile ground for the virus to continue to reproduce itself and continue to create variants that possibly become more and more resistant to vaccines or natural infection," he said.
        WHO officials said Monday that the longer that people around the world remain unvaccinated and social mixing continues, the higher the risk of a more dangerous variant to emerge.
        The report out of Israel, which began vaccinating its population ahead of many other countries, is likely to bolster arguments from drugmakers that people will eventually need to get booster shots to protect against emerging variants.
        Pfizer said earlier this month it is starting to see waning immunity from its two-dose vaccine, and now plans to seek authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for a booster dose. However, federal officials say fully vaccinated Americans do not need additional shots at this time.
        In a statement to CNBC, Pfizer said it remains confident its two-dose regimen is protective against the coronavirus and its variants.
        Still, it said a third dose may be helpful after analysis from its phase three study showed a decline in efficacy against symptomatic infection after four to six months.
        "Initial data of a third dose of the current vaccine demonstrates that a booster dose given at least 6 months after the second dose elicits high neutralization titers against the wild type and the Beta, which are 5 to 10 times higher than after two primary doses," the company said.
        View the full site
      CNN Biden town hall loses out to Fox News, MSNBC in ratings
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 01:35
        July 22, 2021 | 6:51pm | Updated July 22, 2021 | 6:51pm
        Enlarge Image President Joe Biden participates in a town hall-style interview at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 21, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
        CNN's Wednesday night town hall with President Joe Biden in Ohio barely made a ripple in the cable news prime-time ratings race, as the network drew just over half the viewers of Fox News and finished a hair behind MSNBC.
        Deadline, citing Nielsen ratings, reported that CNN pulled in an average of 1.46 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., when the president was on stage in Cincinnati. That's a 58 percent drop in viewership from the previous CNN town hall with Biden this past February, which drew 3.5 million viewers.
        Over the same 75-minute period Wednesday, Fox drew an average of 2.76 million viewers for ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' and the first part of ''Hannity.'' The latter program featured a town hall with Florida Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez discussing the ongoing pro-freedom protests in Cuba.
        CNN pulled in an average of 1.46 million viewers when President Joe Biden was on stage. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstMSNBC edged out CNN for second place among the big three cable networks, drawing an average of 1.47 million viewers for ''All in with Chris Hayes'' and the first portion of ''The Rachel Maddow Show.''
        CNN did top MSNBC by 100,000 in the coveted 25-54 viewing demographic during the town hall, netting 297,000 of that audience to 197,000 for MSNBC. However, both channels finished well behind Fox, which drew 475,000 demographic viewers in the 8 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. period.
        Overall, Fox News won primetime Wednesday night with an average of 2.36 million viewers compared to 1.63 million for MSNBC and and 1.28 million for CNN. In the 25-54 demographic, Fox averaged 400,000 viewers, while CNN drew 279,000 and MSNBC pulled in 209,000.
        Over the same 75-minute period Wednesday, Fox drew an average of 2.76 million viewers. AP Photo/Richard Drew, FileThe town hall, moderated by CNN anchor Don Lemon, was held in a half-empty auditorium at Mount St. Joseph University. Pictures tweeted by members of the traveling press corps showed more than a dozen empty rows of seats at the rear of the venue, while the audience was clustered in the first few rows for the benefit of CNN's cameras.
        CNN spokeswoman Lauren Pratapas told The Post late Wednesday that the audience size was ''typical '... for a CNN town hall.''
        Biden made news during the event by touting the number of coronavirus vaccinations in the US and declaring ''this is not a pandemic,'' before warning that children under 12 would likely need to wear masks in school this fall unless they become eligible for a vaccine soon.
        MSNBC drew in an average of 1.47 million viewers. Steve Zak Photography/FilmMagic''My expectation, talking to the group of scientists '-- we put together over 20 of them '-- plus others in the field,'' Biden said, ''is that sometime maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning of September, October, you'll get a final approval saying the FDA said, 'No, this is it. It's good'.''
      NðŸ... S on Twitter: "The FDA announced today that the CDC PCR test for COVID-19 has failed its full review. Its Emergency Use Authorization has been REVOKED. It is a Class I recall. The most serious type of recall. Too many false POSITIVES! This is the tes
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 00:45
        NðŸ... S : The FDA announced today that the CDC PCR test for COVID-19 has failed its full review. Its Emergency Use Authoriz'... https://t.co/Po8FhihMt2
        Fri Jul 23 20:43:42 +0000 2021
        Savedandstillgrowing : @chromosoom_8 Wouldnt this just be Bill Gates and George Soros getting everything ready for the new test for the co'... https://t.co/iifMIZIkXX
        Fri Jul 23 23:46:17 +0000 2021
        Gerry M Nu±ez : @chromosoom_8 I tested Negative 2 times but my doctor decide i was positive ðŸ…ðŸ…ðŸ…
        Fri Jul 23 23:09:28 +0000 2021
        LooDLC : @chromosoom_8 This a recall or just switching to another kind of test now? I don't see anything about recall there.
        Fri Jul 23 21:50:02 +0000 2021
        Bill Jenkins : @chromosoom_8 It doesn't matter, too late.NATO is now on American soil.We lost
        Fri Jul 23 21:46:24 +0000 2021
        wazza80 : @chromosoom_8 Shouldn't it be revoked effective immediately. Job finished by thenðŸ¤...''‚¸
        Fri Jul 23 21:31:19 +0000 2021
        DonBarry : @chromosoom_8 Where does it say exactly why?
        Fri Jul 23 21:26:46 +0000 2021
        Steve Urkel : @chromosoom_8 @MRDIORDIOR1 @ilieBB
        Fri Jul 23 21:26:33 +0000 2021
        Syn : @chromosoom_8 Dec 31st.... plenty of time to continue the tyrannical measures....
        Fri Jul 23 21:19:23 +0000 2021
        Sander : @chromosoom_8 Audience: Individuals performing C testing. ''.. implement one of many FDA-authorized alternatives..'''... https://t.co/67iGpH6FSv
        Fri Jul 23 21:15:52 +0000 2021
        Sabr : @chromosoom_8 Source
        Fri Jul 23 21:04:39 +0000 2021
        Randir the Mith : @chromosoom_8 Hahahahahahaha @Neloangelo314
        Fri Jul 23 21:01:29 +0000 2021
      Biden Administration Unveils 'Historic' Investment For Communities That Could Create 300,000 Jobs In The 'Near Term' - The Daily Caller
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 00:44
        President Joe Biden's administration announced that it would give $3 billion in coronavirus stimulus funds to approved local communities across the country.
        The program dubbed ''Investing in America's Communities'' amounts to the largest initiative of its kind in decades, according to the Department of Commerce. Local governments and organizations nationwide impacted by the coronavirus pandemic are able to apply to receive the federal funds.
        ''President Biden's American Rescue Plan delivered direct relief to the American people and was the first step to energizing the American economy following the devastating impacts of the coronavirus pandemic,'' Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement. ''Now, its medium-term investments will allow communities around the country not only rebuild but reimagine their economy for the future.''
        Governments, colleges, non-profits, unions and tribes may apply for funds while individuals and for-profit companies may not, according to the announcement. The department will award grants to up to 30 total localities. (RELATED: Biden Responds To Question About Defunding Police By Asking About Democrats 'Sucking Blood Out Of Children')
        Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo addresses reporters on Thursday. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
        The Investing in America's Communities effort includes six separate programs including the ''Build Back Better Regional Challenge,'' tourism grants and the ''Good Jobs Challenge,'' which will receive $1 billion, $750 million and $500 million respectively, the Commerce Department said. The administration will also offer $300 million for coal communities in an effort to reinvigorate areas that have been ravaged in recent years.
        The ''historic'' initiative could create 300,000 new jobs in the ''near term'' in areas where funding is allocated, Raimondo told reporters on Thursday.
        ''We will work with local communities across the country on innovative new approaches to ensure that we can increase American competitiveness by strengthening our workforce, businesses, and communities and build back better in regions across the country,'' she said.
        Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
      Newark archdiocese to investigate app use allegations - by The Pillar - The Pillar
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 21:50
        The Archdiocese of Newark says it will investigate the possibility of clerical sexual misconduct, in response to questions from The Pillar about the use of location-based hookup apps at several parish rectories in the archdiocese.
        While a spokesperson told The Pillar it is ''not acceptable'' to use apps ''inconsistent with Church teaching,'' the archdiocese has also expressed concerns about the ''morally suspect'' collection of app signal data.
        iPhone. Public domain. Share The Pillar
        ''The inappropriate use of any app or communication tool would pose a concern in any circumstance and for any community. Although the use of such an app, and its use in a specific location, does not provide direct evidence of any specific activity, the Archdiocese of Newark takes seriously all complaints of misconduct or abuse by members of the clergy, religious, lay staff and volunteers of the Archdiocese,'' Maria Margiotta, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Newark, told The Pillar on Friday.
        ''It is not acceptable for any member of the clergy to use any app or website in a way that is inconsistent with Church teachings and their own religious vows. Similarly, it is inappropriate for anyone to use an app or website in a way that is inconsistent with Church teachings,'' Margiotta added.
        The Pillar contacted the Newark archdiocese after a review of commercially available app signal data showed patterns of location-based hookup app use at more than 10 archdiocesan rectories and clerical residences during 2018, 2019, and 2020. There are 212 parishes in the Newark archdiocese.
        The analysis of commercially available signal data obtained by The Pillar, which was legally obtained and whose authenticity The Pillar confirmed, shows evidence that both homosexual and heterosexual hookup apps were used in parish rectories or other clerical residences with a frequency suggesting, in several cases, residence in those locations.
        While it does not identify the names, addresses, or telephone numbers of particular users, data collected, commodified, and sold by hookup apps with the consent of users can include the usage location of particular devices at particular times.
        Without compelling public interest regarding individual priests serving in archdiocesan ministries, The Pillar did not undertake to de-anonymize data about parish rectory app usage.
        Share
        The Pillar initially contacted the Newark archdiocese July 8, requesting an off-the-record meeting with Cardinal Joseph Tobin to discuss evidence of sexual activity on the part of clerics in the archdiocese, which could bear upon safe environment policies in the Archdiocese of Newark.
        The archdiocese requested that The Pillar submit written questions and relevant information in writing to the archdiocesan communications office. Given the sensitive nature of the information, The Pillar asked twice more for an in-person meeting at which to present information directly to Cardinal Tobin, in order to brief him fully and allow him to ask questions in an off-the-record setting several days ahead of any reporting on the matter by The Pillar.
        Those requests were not accepted, and The Pillar submitted summary information and written questions to the Newark archdiocese on July 21.
        On July 23, Margiotta told The Pillar that ''although the use of such an app does not provide proof of any specific activity or misconduct, the misuse of any app or website in an ecclesiastical residence, whether by clergy or a layperson, would pose a concern.''
        At the same time, Margiotta requested additional information, so that the archdiocese can ''investigate and take appropriate action.''
        ''We are committed to protecting the faithful, and when we learn of any immoral behavior or misconduct, we take appropriate measures to address concerns and reinforce this commitment.''
        Location-based hookup apps permit users to contact other users in geographic proximity to them, to exchange messages and pictures, and often to arrange sexual encounters.
        Use of such apps is inconsistent with clerical obligations to continence and chastity, according to Fr. Thomas Berg, a professor of moral theology at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York.
        Berg told The Pillar that ''according to canon law and the Church's tradition, clerics are obliged to observe 'perfect and perpetual continence,' as a reflection of what should be our lived pursuit of our spousal relationship with the Church and with Christ.''
        Amid the sexual abuse crisis of 2018, Church leaders engaged in fierce discussion about the impact of violations of clerical chastity on the Church's life and culture.
        Some Catholics noted the work of the now-deceased psychotherapist Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and advocate for the victims of clerical sexual abuse, who argued that even consensual sexual activity by and among celibate clerics can foster a culture of both tolerance and secrecy, which enables sexual manipulation, coercion, and abuse.
        Sipe, who warned Church leaders about the now-disgraced Theodore McCarrick, cautioned that a failure to address that issue would compound problems in the Church's response to sexual abuse.
        Share The Pillar
        Hookup apps are ordinarily used for encounters involving adults. But priests in the United States, as well as the U.K., Ireland, and Italy, have been arrested for sexual contact with minors established through both homosexual and heterosexual hookup apps.
        One such priest, Fr. Robert McWilliams of Cleveland, pled guilty last week to federal charges of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors, and of child pornography charges. McWilliams used location-based hookup apps to arrange commercial sex with a minor, and used more traditional forms of social media, on which he posed as a female in order to entice and exploit minor male victims to send him pornographic images.
        Experts warn that sexual engagement with minors can take place through hookup apps even unwittingly. Charges were last year dropped against a South Carolina priest after a sheriff's department investigation determined that although Fr. Raymond Flores had traded explicit photos with a minor, he did so under the sincere impression that the individual was 18 years old.
        Experts have warned that hook-up apps pose an ongoing risk of child exploitation because of the ease with which age verification checks can be evaded, and called on industry leaders and legislators to tighten access to the platforms.
        Some Church leaders have called in recent months for a focus on technology accountability as part of the Church's response to recent sexual abuse crises.
        While the Newark archdiocesan Code of Conduct and Supplemental Norms for Clergy address some related issues, they do not specifically reference the use of computers, mobile devices, social media, or apps aimed at facilitating hook-up encounters.
        Share The Pillar
        While Church leaders have made clergy discipline reform efforts on several fronts, they have not discussed technology accountability at length, despite indications the scope of the issue could be considerable.
        The Pillar assessed app signal data to consider the possible extent of such a problem, and included the Archdiocese of Newark in its assessment because of its prominence in the McCarrick scandal, which has raised questions about the long-term local impact of McCarrick's years at the helm of the archdiocese.
        Newark archbishop Cardinal Joseph Tobin pledged after the McCarrick scandal to consider whether reform efforts are needed in the archdiocese; after ordering a review of seminary culture and implementing other measures, he is largely regarded to have taken that pledge seriously.
        In 2018, as the McCarrick scandal garnered international attention, Tobin also ordered a review of the former archbishop's activities and influence in the archdiocese, including a review of McCarrick's alleged financial improprieties. Tobin has said he will make information from that report available after an ongoing attorney general's investigation in New Jersey has concluded.
        Share
        In its written responses to The Pillar on Friday, the Newark archdiocese raised privacy concerns about the collection and commoditization of app signal data, saying the ''collection, analysis, and publication of data related to the misuse of these apps also poses a concern'' for the archdiocese.
        In fact, recent reporting from The Pillar based upon analysis of app signal data has spurred considerable discussion about privacy. While app users are required to consent to the commoditization and commercialization of personal data in exchange for app use, some commentators say that consent doesn't mitigate the right to privacy.
        The use of app signal data and similar technology in reporting is not unprecedented.
        A February report from the New York Times, in which reporters used app signal data to identify and name a participant in the January U.S. Capitol incursion, even after he denied participation, did not prompt similar reaction. While the New York Times said the identified participant consented to be quoted, it did not define the conditions under which that consent was elicited.
        For its part, the Newark archdiocese said that ''the potential to harm the reputations of individuals who may not have engaged in misconduct of any kind further underscores the controversial and morally suspect collection of such data.''
      Today's massive Internet outage comes courtesy of Akamai Edge DNS | Ars Technica
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 04:27
        DNS outage '-- Contrary to popular belief, it's not always DNS... but it is today. Jim Salter - Jul 22, 2021 5:36 pm UTC
        Enlarge / "Dude, it
        can't be DNS." "How much you wanna bet?"
        A massive Internet outage today has downdetector.com covered in warnings for popular websites and services, such as the PlayStation Network, Steam, Fidelity Investments, Airbnb, FedEx, LastPass, UPS, Amazon, and others.
        The root cause of the outage appears to be a failure in Akamai's Edge DNS Service. Its system status page reports that Akamai is aware of "an emerging issue with the Edge DNS service"'--one downgraded to "Minor Service Outage," with no further explanation as of press time.
        Not sure yet why so many sites online not loading, but confirmed it's not a @Cloudflare issue. Bad days happen to everyone so hope whoever is having one it gets resolved quickly. #hugops
        '-- Matthew Prince ðŸŒ¥ (@eastdakota) July 22, 2021According to Akamai, a fix has been implemented, and Edge DNS is "resuming normal operations." Akamai also states that the unspecified issue "was not a result of a cyberattack on the Akamai platform," although there's no word so far on what the issue actually was or what caused it.
        The volume of large-scale Internet outages seems only to be increasing, with some of the world's largest sites often the most heavily impacted. Today's outage resulted from a DNS failure rather than a content delivery network failure'--but it underscores an important point.
        The Internet was originally designed to be decentralized and fault-resistant'--but as the world's biggest sites and services coalesce around a few massive infrastructure providers, failures at those providers have increasingly significant effects on the Internet ecosystem as a whole.
      Google pushed a one-character typo to production, bricking Chrome OS devices '' Ars Technica
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 04:25
        Bloomberg / Getty Images
        Google says it has fixed a major Chrome OS bug that locked users out of their devices. Google's bulletin says that Chrome OS version 91.0.4472.165, which was briefly available this week, renders users unable to log in to their devices, essentially bricking them.
        Chrome OS automatically downloads updates and switches to the new version after a reboot, so users who reboot their devices are suddenly locked out them. The go-to advice while this broken update is out there is to not reboot.
        View more
        The bulletin says that a new build, version 91.0.4472.167, is rolling out now to fix the issue, but it could take a "few days" to hit everyone. Users affected by the bad update can either wait for the device to update again or "powerwash" their device'--meaning wipe all the local data'--to get logged in. Chrome OS is primarily cloud-based, so if you're not doing something advanced like running Linux apps, this solution presents less of an inconvenience than it would on other operating systems. Still, some users are complaining about lost data.
        ChromeOS is open source, so we can get a bit more detail about the fix thanks to Android Police hunting down a Reddit comment from user elitist_ferret. The problem apparently boils down to a single-character typo. Google flubbed a conditional statement in Chrome OS's Cryptohome VaultKeyset, the part of the OS that holds user encryption keys. The line should read "if (key_data_.has_value() && !key_data_->label().empty()) {" but instead of "&&"'--the C++ version of the "AND" operator'--the bad update used a single ampersand, breaking the second half of the conditional statement.
        Enlarge / ChromeOS's programming typo. It happens to the best of us.
        It sounds like, because of this error, Chrome OS never properly checked user passwords against the stored keys, so even correct passwords came back with a message saying, "Sorry, your password could not be verified."
        The whole selling point of Chrome OS is that it's reliable and unbreakable, and botched updates like this hurt the OS. It's not clear how such an obvious, show-stopping problem like this made it into the stable release channel. Chrome OS has three testing channels that changes are supposed to go through'--the "canary," "dev," and "beta" channels'--with weeks of testing between releases. Somehow this bug escaped that entire process. This problem also seems like something a unit test or automated testing could have caught'--not being able to log in is pretty obvious.
        The error marks the second defective Chrome OS update pushed out this month. An update at the beginning of July made CPU usage spike on some models, slowing them down to a crawl.
      Mark Zuckerberg is betting Facebook's future on the metaverse - The Verge
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 03:40
        As June came to an end, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told his employees about an ambitious new initiative. The future of the company would go far beyond its current project of building a set of connected social apps and some hardware to support them. Instead, he said, Facebook would strive to build a maximalist, interconnected set of experiences straight out of sci-fi '-- a world known as the metaverse.
        The company's divisions focused on products for communities, creators, commerce, and virtual reality would increasingly work to realize this vision, he said in a remote address to employees. ''What I think is most interesting is how these themes will come together into a bigger idea,'' Zuckerberg said. ''Our overarching goal across all of these initiatives is to help bring the metaverse to life.''
        The metaverse is having a moment. Coined in Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson's 1992 sci-fi novel, the term refers to a convergence of physical, augmented, and virtual reality in a shared online space. Earlier this month, The New York Times explored how companies and products including Epic Games' Fortnite, Roblox, and even Animal Crossing: New Horizons increasingly had metaverse-like elements. (Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has been discussing his desire to contribute to a metaverse for many months now.)
        ''we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company''In January 2020, an influential essay by the venture capitalist Matthew Ball set out to identify key characteristics of a metaverse. Among them: it has to span the physical and virtual worlds; contain a fully fledged economy; and offer ''unprecedented interoperability'' '-- users have to be able to take their avatars and goods from one place in the metaverse to another, no matter who runs that particular part of it. Critically, no one company will run the metaverse '-- it will be an ''embodied internet,'' Zuckerberg said, operated by many different players in a decentralized way.
        Watching Zuckerberg's presentation, I couldn't decide which was more audacious: his vision itself or his timing. Zuckerberg's announced intention to build a more maximalist version of Facebook, spanning social presence, office work, and entertainment, comes at a time when the US government is attempting to break his current company up. A package of bills making its way through Congress would potentially force the company to spin out Instagram and WhatsApp, and limit Facebook's ability to make future acquisitions '-- or offer services connected to its hardware products.
        And even if tech regulation stalls in the United States '-- historically not a bad bet '-- a thriving metaverse would raise questions both familiar and strange about how the virtual space is governed, how its contents would be moderated, and what its existence would do to our shared sense of reality. We're still getting our arms wrapped around the two-dimensional version of social platforms; wrangling the 3D version could be exponentially harder.
        At the same time, Zuckerberg said, the metaverse will bring enormous opportunity to individual creators and artists; to individuals who want to work and own homes far from today's urban centers; and to people who live in places where opportunities for education or recreation are more limited. A realized metaverse could be the next best thing to a working teleportation device, he says. With the company's Oculus division, which produces the Quest headset, Facebook is trying to develop one.
        ''I don't think that this is primarily about being engaged with the internet more. I think it's about being engaged more naturally.''After I watched his speech, Zuckerberg and I had a conversation. (The metaverse being unavailable to us at press time, we used Zoom.) We discussed his vision for an embodied internet, the challenges of governing it, and gender imbalance in virtual reality today. And with President Biden's fierce criticism of Facebook's failures in removing anti-vaccine content in the headlines, I asked him about that, too.
        ''It's a little bit like fighting crime in a city,'' he told me. ''No one expects that you're ever going to fully solve crime in a city.''
        This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
        Mark Zuckerberg, welcome to The Vergecast.
        Thanks, Casey. It's good to be here. We've got a lot to go through.
        As always, there's a lot to discuss with you '-- and the White House is demanding Facebook do more to remove vaccine misinformation, which I know is on a lot of people's minds right now. I want to get to that, but I want to start with this talk you gave internally at Facebook a few weeks ago, which I recently had a chance to watch. You told your employees that your future vision of Facebook is not the two-dimensional version of it that we're using today, but something called the metaverse. So what is a metaverse and what parts of it does Facebook plan to build?
        This is a big topic. The metaverse is a vision that spans many companies '-- the whole industry. You can think about it as the successor to the mobile internet. And it's certainly not something that any one company is going to build, but I think a big part of our next chapter is going to hopefully be contributing to building that, in partnership with a lot of other companies and creators and developers. But you can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content '-- you are in it. And you feel present with other people as if you were in other places, having different experiences that you couldn't necessarily do on a 2D app or webpage, like dancing, for example, or different types of fitness.
        ''we're basically mediating our lives and our communication through these small, glowing rectangles. I think that that's not really how people are made to interact.''I think a lot of people, when they think about the metaverse, they think about just virtual reality '-- which I think is going to be an important part of that. And that's clearly a part that we're very invested in, because it's the technology that delivers the clearest form of presence. But the metaverse isn't just virtual reality. It's going to be accessible across all of our different computing platforms; VR and AR, but also PC, and also mobile devices and game consoles. Speaking of which, a lot of people also think about the metaverse as primarily something that's about gaming. And I think entertainment is clearly going to be a big part of it, but I don't think that this is just gaming. I think that this is a persistent, synchronous environment where we can be together, which I think is probably going to resemble some kind of a hybrid between the social platforms that we see today, but an environment where you're embodied in it.
        So that can be 3D '-- it doesn't have to be. You might be able to jump into an experience, like a 3D concert or something, from your phone, so you can get elements that are 2D or elements that are 3D. I'd love to go through a bunch of the use cases in more detail, but overall, I think that this is going to be a really big part of the next chapter for the technology industry, and it's something that we're very excited about.
        It just touches a lot of the biggest themes that we're working on. Think about things like community and creators as one, or digital commerce as a second, or building out the next set of computing platforms, like virtual and augmented reality, to give people that sense of presence. I think all of these different initiatives that we have at Facebook today will basically ladder up together to contribute to helping to build this metaverse vision.
        ''I've been thinking about some of this stuff since I was in middle school and just starting to code''And my hope, if we do this well, I think over the next five years or so, in this next chapter of our company, I think we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company. And obviously, all of the work that we're doing across the apps that people use today contribute directly to this vision in terms of building community and creators. So there's a lot to jump into here. I'm curious what direction you want to take this in. But this is something that I'm spending a lot of time on, thinking a lot about, we're working on a ton. And I think it's just a big part of the next chapter for the work that we're going to do in the whole industry.
        This feels like a fairly far-future vision, even though parts of it are visible now and coming together. I think overall, it feels like a very maximalist version of what the internet could be. You talk to employees about, ''from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed, being able to jump into the metaverse to do almost anything you can imagine.'' And probably some of us are using the internet that way already.
        But this description feels more like the metaverse that might be familiar to us from books like Ready Player One or Snow Crash, or maybe like Fortnite today, where some of the most important aspects of our lives, including our work, are being lived and done inside these virtual spaces. Are those good analogs for the kind of world that you're talking about?
        Well, what I'm excited about is helping people deliver and experience a much stronger sense of presence with the people they care about, the people they work with, the places they want to be. And the reality is that today with the mobile internet, we already have something that a lot of people access from the moment they wake up to when they go to bed. I don't know about you, but a lot of mornings, I reach for my phone by my bedside before I even put on my glasses, just to make sure, get whatever text messages I got during the middle of the night and make sure that nothing has gone wrong that I need to jump into immediately upon waking up. So I don't think that this is primarily about being engaged with the internet more. I think it's about being engaged more naturally.
        And today, I think about the computing platforms that we have. We have these phones. They're relatively small. A lot of the time that we're spending, we're basically mediating our lives and our communication through these small, glowing rectangles. I think that that's not really how people are made to interact. A lot of the meetings that we have today, you're looking at a grid of faces on a screen. That's not how we process things either. We're used to being in a room with people and having a sense of space where if you're sitting to my right, then that means I'm also sitting to your left, so we have some shared sense of space in common. When you speak, it's coming from my right. It's not just all coming from the same place in front of me.
        I don't know how much you've had this experience, but I have a bunch, in work meetings over the last year, where I sometimes find it hard to remember what meeting someone said something in because they all look the same and they all blend together. And I think part of that is because we don't have this sense of presence in space. What virtual and augmented reality can do, and what the metaverse broadly is going to help people experience, is a sense of presence that I think is just much more natural in the way that we're made to interact. And I think it will be more comfortable. The interactions that we have will be a lot richer, they'll feel real. In the future, instead of just doing this over a phone call, you'll be able to sit as a hologram on my couch, or I'll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it'll actually feel like we're in the same place, even if we're in different states or hundreds of miles apart. So I think that that is really powerful.
        I've been thinking about some of this stuff since I was in middle school and just starting to code. I remember when I was in math class, I would have my notebook and I'd basically just sit there and write code and ideas for things I wanted to go code when I got home from school that day. And some of them I was able to do back then, but one of the things that I really wanted to build was basically the sense of an embodied internet where you could be in the environment and teleport to different places and be with friends.
        I think some combination of the fact that I probably didn't know enough math to pull it off then, and just the technology was decades away from really being ready to do that in a good way '-- that wasn't the direction that I gravitated in originally, in terms of building different social experiences. But this is something that I've been excited about. I've thought that this would be the holy grail of social interactions from well before when I started Facebook. And it's really exciting to me that now the next set of platforms are going to be able to do this.
        ''People aren't meant to navigate things in terms of a grid of apps''One of the reasons why we're investing so much in augmented and virtual reality is mobile phones kind of came around at the same time as Facebook, so we didn't really get to play a big role in shaping the development of those platforms. So they didn't really develop in a very natural way, from my perspective. People aren't meant to navigate things in terms of a grid of apps. I think we interact much more naturally when we think about being present with other people. We orient ourselves and think about the world through people and the interactions we have with people and what we do with them. And I think if we can help build the next set of computing platforms and experiences across that in a way that's more natural and lets us feel more present with people, I think that'll be a very positive thing.
        I'm not sure that people would necessarily find it more natural to work all day wearing a VR helmet, but maybe it's something we get used to. But I am really interested in some of the things that you've said about the way a metaverse could create jobs that don't exist today, like whole economies springing up inside of this metaverse. What novel new forms of work do you see happening in this world you want to build?
        So, let me get to that in a second. But just to go back to your comment about people not working in [a VR helmet] all day long '-- there's clearly an evolution, or multiple, in the technology that are going to need to be possible, that will need to happen before this is the main way that people work. But I think we're going to be there by the end of this decade. Today, the VR headsets, they're still kind of a bit clunky, they may be a bit heavier than you would ideally like them to be. There need to be advances in being able to express yourself and having higher resolution, being able to read text better, a number of things like that. But we're getting there, and each version is better and better. And Quest 2 has been a real hit so far in terms of how people are using it. I've been surprised.
        We planned on it mostly being used for games and thought that a lot of these social interactions or things around work wouldn't come until later, but a lot of the biggest experiences on Quest 2, that people spend the most time in, are already just hanging out socially. And there are a number of things around work and productivity. There are even experiences that I really hadn't thought about, things like fitness. These apps like Supernatural and FitXR, which you can kind of think about it like Peloton, but instead of having a bike or a treadmill, the device is your VR headset and you're basically taking a class in there, where you're boxing or dancing. And it's really fun. I think if you haven't tried it out, it's something that a lot of people are enjoying.
        But going back to your point about work, and how this is going to work, I also don't think this is going to be all VR. I think it's going to be AR too. And part of the reason why VR is available, and why you have things like the Quest 2 years before you're going to have AR glasses is because it's a little more socially acceptable to wear something like a VR headset in the comfort of your own home. But I think to get AR glasses that we wear around throughout the day, they have to be normal-looking glasses, right? So you're basically cramming all of these materials to build what we would've thought of as a supercomputer 10 years ago into the frame of glasses that are about five millimeters thick '-- you have computer chips, and networking chips, and holographic wave guides, and things for sensing and mapping out the world, and batteries and speakers, all this stuff, and it just needs to fit into these glasses '-- so that is a real challenge.
        And I actually would go so far as to say that I think that might be one of, if not the biggest technological challenge that our industry will face in the next decade. We tend to really celebrate things that are big, right? But I actually think miniaturizing things and getting a supercomputer to fit into a pair of glasses is actually one of the bigger challenges. But once you have that, so you have those glasses and you have your VR headset, I think that's going to enable a bunch of really interesting use cases.
        So, one is you will be able to, with basically a snap of your fingers, pull up your perfect workstation. So anywhere you go, you can walk into a Starbucks, you can sit down, you can be drinking your coffee and kind of wave your hands and you can have basically as many monitors as you want, all set up, whatever size you want them to be, all preconfigured to the way you had it when you were at your home before. And you can just bring that with you wherever you want.
        ''We tend to really celebrate things that are big, right?''If you want to talk to someone, you're working through a problem, instead of just calling them on the phone, they can teleport in, and then they can see all the context that you have. They can see your five monitors, or whatever it is, and the documents or all the windows of code that you have, or a 3D model that you're working on. And they can stand next to you and interact, and then in a blink they can teleport back to where they were and kind of be in a separate place.
        So I think for focus time and individual productivity, I think being able to have your ideal setup, we call this ''infinite office.'' We already have a version of this for our VR headsets, and it's improving very quickly. I think it's going to be great for multitasking and for getting your environment set up everywhere. There've been a lot of studies that show that people are more effective when they can pull up multiple of the things that they're working on that are related to each other at once. If you're coding, having multiple windows open rather than single-tasking, that's a big deal. So I think that that's going to be one.
        The other area that I think is going to be pretty exciting is basically doing meetings. And I already do a bunch of meetings in VR. Even though the avatars aren't as realistic today as they will be in a few years, in a lot of ways it already feels almost more real, and more like you have a sense of space, than a Zoom call, because you have the shared sense of space. So if someone is sitting to your right, you're sitting to their left. If you're sitting in a circle, everyone can kind of remember what order people were in. There's spatial audio. You look over to the head of the table and there could be a screen there, where people who can't be in VR or AR can videoconference in and be a part of your meeting from outside. You can project and different people can share as many documents as they want. So it's no more of this, ''Oh, I can only share one document at a time,'' because everyone, you presume, only has one screen. And in VR, people can pull up as many screens as they want so you can share as much context as you want during a meeting. You have a whiteboard, people can draw. It's pretty wild.
        And we're clearly just at the beginning of this. So I think that that's going to be very exciting and people can customize their office space, and have it feel like what their physical office is and just be a digital continuation of that. So I think that's pretty neat.
        ''You can teleport instantaneously''But then I think what you were also asking about is, aside from doing the kind of knowledge work that we would typically do in offices today, but instead doing it in the metaverse, I do think that there will be entirely new types of work too. So in terms of designing places where people hang out, this is going to be a massive part of the creator economy, I think. You'll have individual creators designing experiences and places. You'll have artists doing things, whether it's a comedy show ... We did this comedy show on our team in Horizon the other day and it was just kind of funny, you feel like you're there with other people, and there's something to it that's a little more engaging than just all looking at a screen independently and watching it yourself. There's just something to the energy.
        What was this show? Did you tell jokes during the show?
        I was not the comedian, fortunately for the other participants who were there. But no, the team that's developing Horizon, which is a big part of our internal efforts in this space, they try to do fun things like this, just to kind of build out and test how the development of the work is going. And I thought that that was pretty funny. But you'd get concerts in there. You have this whole set of creators who are building out different experiences, ranging from an individual creator to teams of dozens of people building AAA games, where you can have your avatar and you can go across these experiences. You can teleport instantaneously. You can bring your outfits and your digital objects with you. So I think that there's going to be a whole economy around this.
        And I guess one broader point that I'd make here is, one lesson that I've taken from running Facebook over the last five years is that I used to think about our job as building products that people love to use. But you know, now I think we just need to have a more holistic view of this. It's not enough to just build something that people like to use. It has to create opportunity and broadly be a positive thing for society in terms of economic opportunity, in terms of being something that, socially, everyone can participate in, that it can be inclusive. So we're really designing the work that we're doing in the space with those principles from the ground up. This isn't just a product that we're building. It needs to be an ecosystem. So the creators who we work with, the developers, they all need to be able to not only sustain themselves, but hire a lot of folks.
        And this is something that I hope eventually millions of people will be working in and creating content for '-- whether it's experiences, or spaces, or virtual goods, or virtual clothing, or doing work helping to curate and introduce people to spaces and keep it safe. I just think this is going to be a huge economy and frankly, I think that that needs to exist. This needs to be a rising tide that lifts a lot of boats. We can't just think about this as a product that we're building.
        ''overall I'm quite proud of how we've shown up and what I think our net impact has been here''Yeah, so let's talk about some of those principles that you're going to use to build this. Because I know some people are going to hear this vision for the metaverse and just reflexively wish that you wouldn't build it. They'll say, Facebook wasn't governed effectively when it was in two dimensions, and trying to build it in three dimensions is pure hubris. And people feel that way for different reasons. But one that has come up a lot over the past couple of weeks is misinformation. President Biden has since walked this back, but on Friday he was talking about misinformation related to COVID vaccines. And he said, ''Facebook is killing people.'' How do you respond to the idea that Facebook has played a role in making people hesitant about getting vaccinated?
        Well, I think that our basic role here '-- and I appreciate you mentioning the fullness of the context there, because I do think that the president offered more context on that after his original comment. There's multiple prongs here. One part of it is we need to basically help push out authoritative information. We do that. We've helped, I think it's more than 2 billion people around the world, access authoritative information about COVID over the course of the pandemic by putting it at the top of Facebook and Instagram. We've helped millions of people, including here in the US, basically go use our vaccine finder tool to actually go get their vaccine. So I'm quite confident, just looking at the analytics and the net impact, that we've been a positive force here.
        And in fact, if you look at vaccine acceptance amongst people who use our products, it has increased quite a bit over the last few months. So to the extent that there are pockets of the population for which hesitancy is growing, that hasn't been the trend of what we've seen overall on Facebook. And I also think that broadly, when you're looking at what's going on in any given country, it's useful to look at this from the perspective that Facebook and Instagram and all these tools are widely used in almost every country in the world. So if one country is not reaching its vaccine goal, but other countries that all these same social media tools are in are doing just fine, then I think that that should lead you to conclude that the social media platforms are not the decisive element in terms of what is going on there.
        But nonetheless, I do think we have a big role and we have a range of strategies that we employ. We take down content that could lead to imminent harm, and we flag and decrease the distribution of content that our fact checkers flag as misinformation, but that is not going to lead to imminent harm. So we treat those two differently, and I think that's the right thing to do. So overall, I think we've taken a lot of efforts on this. I think our company has made a lot of progress in this space over the last five years since the 2016 election. It's tough to say that anyone was well-prepared for the pandemic, but I think we'd built a lot of systems that I think could really come in handy on this. And overall I'm quite proud of how we've shown up and what I think our net impact has been here.
        But managing the integrity of these communities, whether you're talking about misinformation on Facebook or other types of harm '-- we track about 20 different types of harm, everything from terrorism to child exploitation to incitement of violence. There are lots of different types of harm. You need to build specific systems to handle them. We have, I think at this point it's more than 1,000 people working on building the AI and technical systems. And I think it's more than 30,000 or 35,000 people helping to review the content. And that kind of apparatus that we built up I think will carry naturally to all the work that we'll do going forward.
        But when you think about the integrity of a system like this, it's a little bit like fighting crime in a city. No one expects that you're ever going to fully solve crime in a city. The police department's goal is not to make it so that if there's any crime that happens, that you say that the police department is failing. That's not reasonable. I think, instead, what we generally expect is that the integrity systems, the police departments, if you will, will do a good job of helping to deter and catch the bad thing when it happens and keep it at a minimum, and keep driving the trend in a positive direction and be in front of other issues too. So we're going to do that here.
        And for the metaverse, I think that there are different types of integrity questions. One of the big issues that I think people need to think through is right now there's a pretty meaningful gender skew, at least in virtual reality, where there's a lot more men than women. And in some cases that leads to harassment. And I think one of the things that we've been able to do better in some of our experiences than some of the other games and things out there is give people easier tools to block people, just be able to have a sense of when there might be harassment going on, to keep it a safe space that can be inclusive for everyone, that everyone wants to be a part of.
        ''I think that the mix of the problems that we see may vary, and I'm sure there'll be new ones too''Because ultimately, you're not going to have a healthy and vibrant community if it skews so much towards one gender or the other, or a whole part of the population just doesn't feel safe. So this stuff is going to be critical. It's not just critical for having a good social impact, it's critical for building good products. And it's something that we're focused on from the beginning here.
        One of the things I've been thinking about as I've been reading more about the metaverse is that it seems to me that it promises to host much more information, generally, than social networks do today. This isn't a network where I'm spending 20 or 30 minutes a day scrolling through a feed. Potentially, I'm spending eight-plus hours here working. And, as you noted, it's not just text or voice communications, you're also virtually moving through these spaces; it's an office, it's a performance space. So do you think that the systems that you have now to work on making spaces safe and healthy extend naturally? Or are we going to have to rethink this, just given the volume of information that is contained here?
        Well, there will clearly be new challenges. Even in just the 2D world of the social media apps that we work on, there are going to be new challenges. So this is not a thing that you're ever done with. But when we started working on a lot of these problems in a much bigger way, through the middle of the 2010s leading up to the 2016 election, and really turbocharged it a lot after that, we just knew that if you're going to go and try to build these AI systems to be able to proactively identify harmful content '-- that's not something that you can stand up in six months. We basically put together a roadmap that was a three- or four-year roadmap to get through all of the work that we needed to get to a good place.
        And sometimes when you're working on long-term projects, it can be a little painful because you realize, ''Hey, we want this today.'' But it's going to take a few years to get there. But I do think the reality is that now that we've built up a lot of that AI work and we've hired a lot of the content moderators, I think it will be easier to add new use cases and be able to adapt the systems that we've built to different types of harms. So it's something that we're thinking about from the beginning. For example, the gender skew that I just mentioned, the feeling that a number of women have around being harassed in the space, those are somewhat more acute problems, potentially, in gaming and in VR. Obviously that's a thing that exists in the other platforms as well. But I think that the mix of the problems that we see may vary, and I'm sure there'll be new ones too. So this is just something that we'll need to keep focused on.
        I want to ask one more question about responsibility. I was talking to Nilay, who runs The Verge, about all this. And he asked me the question, ''Who gets to augment reality?'' And he talked about a world where we're all wearing our headsets, and we're looking at the US Capitol building. And most of us might have an overlay that says, ''This is the building where Congress works.'' And then some people might see an overlay that says, ''On January 6, 2021, our glorious revolution began.'' And then maybe some other people see an overlay that says, ''Lizard people are inside doing experiments on humans.'' And I think the real question in there is: does this metaverse further splinter our sense of shared reality? Does it let us sort ourselves into a bunch of unrelated bubbles? Should we be worried about that?
        Well, this, I think, is one of the central questions of our time. And I think there are clear pros and cons of this. I think the positive version of this is that if you go back 20 or 30 years, a lot of people's individual opportunities and experience was dictated by their physical proximity. Right?
        So [when] I grew up, I played Little League baseball in my town, not because I am made to be a baseball player, but because that was one of the few activities that was available. There was, I think, one other kid in the town who was interested in computers '-- I was lucky that there was one other kid. And that was my world. If I wanted to call someone who I met when I was at camp or something and wanted to stay in touch with a friend, I would have to pay a lot more because long-distance calls cost more than talking to people nearby.
        I think one of the things that is most magical about the present, and that I think is going to get even more so, is that flattening out distance creates a lot more opportunities for people. Not just in the sense that a version of me growing up today wouldn't be stuck playing Little League, that I'd get to find people who are interested in the same things, so I could explore coding and have a much more vibrant community around that, or surfing, or whatever the thing is that you're interested in. I think that that's probably quite compelling and positive. I also think it is really important for economic opportunity. One of the big issues today in society is inequality. And one of the people I think has done the most interesting research on this is this guy, Raj Chetty, I think he's at Harvard now. And basically some of the research that he's done shows that the zip code in which you were born and raised is highly correlated with your future mobility and what your income is going to be. And I think that that just goes against the sense that we have in this country that people should have equal opportunity.
        But in a world where there can be more remote work, I don't know what The Verge is doing, but I can tell you at Facebook, since we knew that this pandemic was going to be going on for a while, and we probably weren't going be in offices, pretty early on, I basically just told our team, ''Okay, look, stop just constraining ourselves from hiring people who are physically close to an office that they can't go into anyway. Remote work is going to be a bigger part of the future. I think within five to 10 years, probably about half the company is going to be remote. Let's double down on that now and hire people in all these different places, which I think is going to create more opportunity.'' But then you have this question, which is, now that we're going back and you have this hybrid world, there are all these cultural questions of, ''Okay, will the people who are working remotely really be able to have exactly the same opportunities as the people who are physically there with each other?''
        And I think when you have technologies like holograms from augmented and virtual reality, the answer gets closer to ''yes'' than it would have been before. When those people were just videoconferencing in on a flat screen or doing phone calls or not seeing each other as often. The better that this technology for presence gets, the more you can live where you want, be a part of the communities that you want to. And I think that that's more positive in terms of creating more opportunity for people. Now, obviously, you also have the downsides of that that need to get managed. In order to have a cohesive society, you want to have a shared foundation of values and some understanding of the world and the problems that we all face together.
        And I think part of what we're all trying to figure out now is, how do you build that in a world where people have so much freedom and opportunity to go explore the things that are interesting to them and get different opportunities, but are less anchored physically? But I think we're probably just going to go more in that direction. I think we will solve, or at least figure out how to come to an equilibrium on, the cohesion point. But I think overall, we should be celebrating the fact that this is going to, I believe, create more opportunity for people, not just in all places in the US but around the world.
        How do you think about how the metaverse will be governed? If it's a consortium of different companies, who's going to be responsible for shaping these policies?
        Well, I think that there will be a number of different layers to this. I think a good vision for the metaverse is not one that a specific company builds, but it has to have the sense of interoperability and portability. You have your avatar and your digital goods, and you want to be able to teleport anywhere. You don't want to just be stuck within one company's stuff. So for our part, for example, we're building out the Quest headsets for VR, we're working on AR headsets. But the software that we build, for people to work in or hang out in and build these different worlds, that's going to go across anything. So other companies build out VR or AR platforms, our software will be everywhere. Just like Facebook or Instagram is today.
        So I think part of this is, I think it'll be good if companies build stuff that can work together and go across lines rather than just being locked into a specific platform. But I do think that, just like you have the W3C that helps set standards around a bunch of the important internet protocols and how people build the web, I think there will need to be some of that here, too, for defining how developers and creators can build experiences that allow someone to take their avatar and their digital goods and their friends, and be able to teleport seamlessly between all these different experiences.
        ''In order to have a cohesive society, you want to have a shared foundation of values and some understanding of the world and the problems that we all face together''So we're already starting to do some of this. There's an XR consortium that we are in with Microsoft and a bunch of other companies that are working on some of this as well. But I think that that's going to be one of the big questions. I don't think every company is going to have exactly the same vision here. I think some are going to have more siloed visions, and I, at least, believe that in order for this to work really well, you want it to be very portable and interconnected.
        There's this great essay that the venture capitalist Matthew Ball wrote last year about the metaverse. I imagine you've read it, but he talks about ''unprecedented interoperability'' as one of the defining features of this metaverse. And we live at this time when the biggest tech platforms are barely interoperable; at most, they might let you share some contact data or export some photos. So it sounds like you're saying that you're preparing to build systems that are much more interoperable than the ones we have today, at least on Facebook's end.
        Yeah. I think that that aligns with our mission and worldview. We're generally not trying to serve a smaller number of people but have them pay us a large premium. That's not our business model. We're here to serve as many people as possible and to help people connect. And when you're building social systems primarily, you want everyone to be able to be a part of the same systems. So we want to make them as affordable as possible, we want to make them as unified as possible, and part of that is making sure that things can run everywhere, can run across different platforms, can talk to each other. There are a bunch of big questions about how you do that. There will be privacy questions, there'll be intellectual property questions.
        I thought Matthew Ball's essays, by the way, were great, and anyone who's trying to learn about this, I think he wrote a nine-part piece on a bunch of the different aspects of what the metaverse could be, and I highly recommend all of them. But I'd say that, I think sometimes people may be a little idealistic about assuming that this will develop in a certain way. I think the vision that Matthew lays out, for example, of being extremely interoperable, is the vision that I hope comes about. But I think we've seen from modern computing that there are different companies that push in different directions. So I think from my perspective, without a doubt, you're going to have some companies that are trying to build incredibly siloed things, and then some that are trying to build more open and interoperable ones.
        And I don't even think it's a question of, is one going to win over the other? I mean, has open-source won over closed-source? There were just multiple things at different times, some are expressed more in the technology industry than others, but we're going to be contributing to trying to build a more open and interoperable one, and that's kind of our goal here. But even within that, there's a lot of questions about how that works. Is it interoperable because it's decentralized, in the way that a bunch of the crypto work is being designed now, so there's kind of no central dependency? It's not just interoperable, but there's no centralized control points? Or is it interoperable because there are some bodies that set standards and enable a bunch of these experiences to work together? And I think you'll probably see multiple approaches on that too. So I think this is going to be one of the big questions in terms of how this evolves.
        I think I have time for two more questions. So one of them is a little bit nerdy, but when you read books and watch movies about the metaverse, the fact that these spaces are owned by giant corporations are often the subject of satire. Do you see any room here for public, government-owned spaces in the metaverse? Something like, I don't know, libraries, parks, and is this something that governments should start thinking about so that they have a role to play as this stuff gets built?
        I certainly think that there should be public spaces. I think that's important for having healthy communities and a healthy sphere. And I think that those spaces range from things that are government-built or administered, to nonprofits, which I guess are technically private, but are operating in the public interest without a profit goal. So you think about things like Wikipedia, which I think is really like a public good, even though it's run by a nonprofit, not a government.
        ''each company should not have its own metaverse''One of the things that I've been thinking about a lot is: there are a set of big technology problems today that, it's almost like 50 years ago the government, I guess I'm talking about the US government here specifically, would have invested a ton in building out these things. But now in this country, that's not quite how it's working. Instead, you have a number of Big Tech companies or big companies that are investing in building out this infrastructure. And I don't know, maybe that's the right way for it to work. When 5G is rolled out, it's tough for a startup to really go fund the tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure to go do that. So, you have Verizon and AT&T and T-Mobile do it, and that's pretty good, I guess.
        But there are a bunch of big technology problems, [like] defining augmented and virtual reality in this overall metaverse vision. I think that that's going to be a problem that is going to require tens of billions of dollars of research, but should unlock hundreds of billions of dollars of value or more. I think that there are things like self-driving cars, which seems like it's turning out to be pretty close to AI-complete; needing to almost solve a lot of different aspects of AI to really fully solve that. So that's just a massive problem in terms of investment. And some of the aspects around space exploration. Disease research is still one that our government does a lot in.
        But I do wonder, especially when we look at China, for example, which does invest a lot directly in these spaces, how that is kind of setting this up to go over time. But look, in the absence of that, yeah, I do think having public spaces is a healthy part of communities. And you're going to have creators and developers with all different motivations, even on the mobile internet and internet today, you have a lot of people who are interested in doing public-good work. Even if they're not directly funded by the government to do that. And I think that certainly, you're going to have a lot of that here as well.
        But yeah, I do think that there is this long-term question where, as a society, we should want a very large amount of capital and our most talented technical people working on these futuristic problems, to lead and innovate in these spaces. And I think that there probably is a little bit more of a balance of space, where some of this could come from government, but I think startups and the open-source community and the creator economy is going to fill in a huge amount of this as well.
        Last question: If you succeed in building a metaverse, will you at least consider giving it all away to the first person who solves a scavenger hunt?
        I appreciate the Ready Player One reference.
        I mean, just to nitpick on something here for a second, I don't think in the future, people are going to call the work that individual companies do a metaverse. Hopefully, if we're successful collectively in building a system that's more interoperable, and where you can teleport between things, it should all be the metaverse, each company should not have its own metaverse. Hopefully in the future, asking if a company is building a metaverse will sound as ridiculous as asking a company how their internet is going. So I think just in terms of giving a sense of sort of where this should go, but within that ... now I've lost track of what your question was.
        It was a joke question. But look, as always, there's a lot to think about here and I appreciate you coming on and sharing some of the vision.
        I mean, this is an exciting area. It's going to be a big focus, and I think that this is just going to be a big part of the next chapter for the way that the internet evolves after the mobile internet. And I think it's going to be the next big chapter for our company too, really doubling down in this area. For the last 17 years, we've worked a lot on building different apps for people to connect, and the main way that they've done that is on phones. And I think if we're successful, then maybe five years from now, or seven years from now, people will primarily think about us as a metaverse company, rather than a mobile internet company, that's kind of helping to build these kinds of experiences. And I think it's just going to span so much.
        ''people will primarily think about us as a metaverse company, rather than a mobile internet company''People will hang out, you'll be able to really feel like you're present with other people, you'll be able to do all kinds of different work, there'll be new jobs, new forms of entertainment. Whether it's gaming or incredibly complex scavenger hunts like you're talking about, or more and more enjoyable ways of doing fitness or concerts, or getting together at the comedy show that we talked about. I just think that there's a ton here, and I think we can do this in a way that creates a lot of economic opportunity where millions of people around the world can be doing creative work that they really enjoy, building experiences or virtual items or art or different things that are more inspiring to them than whatever the jobs are that they may feel like they can do today. So I'm really looking forward to helping to play some role in building out this next chapter for the internet. And I'm sure over the years, we're going to have many conversations about this, Casey.
        For sure. I'm looking forward to writing about all of the unanticipated problems that come about as a result of the metaverse! But the good things, too. Mark, thank you for coming on The Vergecast.
        Happy to do it. All right. Talk soon.
        Tech 19 days after REvil's ransomware attack on Kaseya VSA systems, there's a fix Mobile Nomad could not resist draping the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack in leather Tech Old Vidme embeds turn into a hub of porn after domain purchase View all stories in Tech
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      VIDEO - Alabama governor says 'it's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks' as pandemic worsens - POLITICO
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        Sun, 25 Jul 2021 11:52
        Ivey went on to describe the shots as ''safe'' and ''effective,'' saying: ''The data proves that it works. [It] doesn't cost you anything. It saves lives.''
        But the remarks from the governor grew more pointed when she was pressed on what it would take for greater numbers of Alabamans to get their shots.
        ''I don't know. You tell me,'' Ivey said. ''Folks [are] supposed to have common sense. But it's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It's the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.''
        Alabama remains the state with perhaps the lowest vaccination rate in the country, according to the CDC: Only 39.6 percent of its residents 12 and older have been fully vaccinated, compared to the 48.8 percent of Americans nationally who have gotten their shots.
        On Thursday, Ivey told reporters she had ''done all I know how to do'' to boost her state's vaccination numbers.
        ''I can encourage you to do something,'' she said, ''but I can't make you take care of yourself.''
        The White House took a different approach when asked about Ivey's remarks on Friday. ''We're not here to place blame or threats; we're here to provide accurate information,'' press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
        ''We understand her frustration,'' Psaki added, noting the administration would continue to educate Americans about the risks of going unvaccinated.
        Federal health officials in recent days have warned of a ''pandemic of the unvaccinated'' as the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus surges across the country.
        The Delta variant now represents more than 83 percent of the virus circulating in the United States, according to the CDC, and unvaccinated people account for 97 percent of coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths nationally.
        Meanwhile, the White House has hardened its rhetoric toward social media companies such as Facebook and conservative media including Fox News, urging them to stop the proliferation of misinformation about the vaccine.
        A senior spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a White House official tested positive for Covid-19 this week, and the Capitol's chief physician is considering reimposing a mask recommendation inside the complex.
        Asked on Thursday about the possibility of a mask mandate for vaccinated Americans, President Joe Biden told reporters his administration would ''follow the science.'' Government health experts, he said, were ''looking at all possibilities.''
        Maeve Sheehey contributed to this report.
      VIDEO - Economic Renegade on Twitter: "141 cases of Covid in hospital, all but one vaccinated. Wakey wakey'...ðŸ¤ #auspol #ausbiz #ausecon #nswcovid19 https://t.co/h3MR9QYoLU" / Twitter
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        Economic Renegade : 141 cases of Covid in hospital, all but one vaccinated. Wakey wakey'...ðŸ¤ #auspol #ausbiz #ausecon #nswcovid19 https://t.co/h3MR9QYoLU
        Sun Jul 25 06:55:01 +0000 2021
        StavtheGreat : @EconomicRenegad @CraigKellyMP
        Sun Jul 25 11:37:07 +0000 2021
        Badders1 : @EconomicRenegad Did he mean to say "all but 1 are VACCINATED"?
        Sun Jul 25 11:32:37 +0000 2021
        ðŸŒ¸ðŸŒ¸roo_mint ðŸŒ¸ðŸŒ¸ : @EconomicRenegad Boom almost all in hospital are jabbed
        Sun Jul 25 11:30:12 +0000 2021
        modfather : @EconomicRenegad Vallance corrected 60% in hospital vaccinated to unvaccinated,seems a lot of these experts who's j'... https://t.co/zbd2GCX8PJ
        Sun Jul 25 11:29:38 +0000 2021
        A Arkay : @EconomicRenegad ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£
        Sun Jul 25 11:28:42 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Pandemic Of The Vaxxinated | Real Jew News
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        Brother Nathanael Channel, BroVids
        Pandemic Of The Vaxxinated July 23 2021
        Watch: 'Censor-Free!' HERE!
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        Brother Nathanael @ July 24, 2021
      VIDEO - (77) Operation Fishbowl - High-Altitude Weapons Effects - YouTube
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      VIDEO - 'Long COVID' clinics expanding as thousands of British Columbians struggle with symptoms | CTV News
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        VANCOUVER -- The number of new COVID-19 infections has dropped from its peak during the third wave, but the medical system is only now ramping up supports and medical treatment for thousands of British Columbians who continue to experience symptoms months after getting sick with the coronavirus.
        Four post-COVID recovery clinics are now accepting patients in the Lower Mainland, offering teams of experts including lung specialists, psychologists, rheumatologists and physical therapists to better care for people experiencing the long-lasting effects of an illness that's still being analyzed and unravelled.
        One of the leading doctors involved in treating ''long COVID'' patients says that while the multi-disciplinary approach may sound expensive, he believes it'll actually be more cost-effective for the health-care system in the long-term.
        ''That's the intention, to save a lot of money because instead of having an individual jump around from one specialist to the next in an uncoordinated way, we're intending to do it and we've put these systems in place so that that care is better coordinated,'' said Dr. Chris Carlsten, UBC's head of respiratory medicine and Post-Covid Recovery Clinic lung specialist.
        ''People want to feel good, they want to work, they want to be productive, they want to be active '... so it's just a matter of trying to help them do that.''
        When the long-hauler clinics were first established last year, they were only taking COVID patients with the most debilitating post-infection symptoms. Since then, they have expanded and continue to grow with more funding; they are now accepting patients with a range of symptoms and severities.
        The growing treatment options come as local researchers say it's time we start changing how we think of the illness and the auto-antibody response that might be leading to the long-term symptoms.
        ''Initially, we thought of COVID-19 as a respiratory illness, but what we've learned is that this is a multi-system disease, affecting multiple organs '-- from the brain, heart, kidneys and liver to the gastrointestinal tract,'' said Dr. Anita Palepu, UBC professor and head of the department of medicine, in a research update.
        SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF PATIENTS HAVE ONGOING SYMPTOMSA precise definition and estimate of how many British Columbians could be struggling with lasting symptoms from the disease is hard to pinpoint. The symptoms are a topic of considerable debate in the medical community, and even the rough estimate that a third of people who've had COVID will have symptoms lasting three months after their initial infections is imprecise at best.
        Symptoms can include typical hallmarks of COVID-19 (coughing, tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing), brain fog, fatigue and difficulty concentrating; loss of taste and smell may be lingering effects, but aren't the focus of the recovery clinics.
        A referral from a physician is required for care.
        Even with a conservative estimate, some 40,000 British Columbians are likely still experiencing symptoms from their infection months later, with varying impacts on their quality of life. Carlsten points out that the one-third ballpark estimate is for those who've had symptoms.
        ''There's so many people that are infected that are not symptomatic at all, some of whom don't even know they were infected,'' he said.
        Some people who weren't seriously sick have had their symptoms stick around for a year or more, he added, while others who've been hospitalized have made full recoveries, so there's no clear pattern about who will be grappling with the symptoms long-term.
        LIVING WITH LONG COVID While some who technically have long COVID may see their lingering symptoms as little more than an annoyance, for others, the consequences have been debilitating.
        Vancouver resident Katy McLean had been very physically and socially active before catching the virus last September, but the 43 year-old now needs a walker and had to stop working and go on disability support.
        "I had what seemed like fatigue and a head cold at the beginning, then lost my sense of smell on day nine," she told CTV News, explaining that while her initial illness improved after a month, she relapsed in the spring and spent three months unable to get out of bed.
        ''I compare it to a bad hangover when you're just dizzy, you're sick, you're so tired, you can't do anything '' you can't think straight,'' she said. ''You feel foggy and cognitively impaired.''
        Describing her illness as like a rollercoaster, McLean says her worst days come with shortness of breath and heart palpitations. She's also developed chronic fatigue syndrome and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which has turned her feet a purplish colour and prevents her from standing for more than a few minutes, even if she had the energy to stand longer.
        ''It's isolating,'' said McLean, crediting her live-in partner for supporting her through her illness.
        "I could've never imagined 10.5 months later I'd still be in this situation with my mobility impaired and on disability, unable to work, unable to socialize."
        The Provincial Health Services Authority now has resources for patients and doctors alike to research what medical professionals have been able to learn about the long-term effects of COVID-19.
        GETTING HELPThe impacts of isolation and de facto lockdowns have affected everyone, whether they've stifled personal relationships and connections or left people feeling depressed and stressed out. But, Carlsten says mood disorders shouldn't be confused with the low energy and brain fog so many long-haulers are experiencing.
        ''It's not just depression and mood. A lot of the manifestations of COVID couldn't be explained by that at all,'' said the lung specialist, pointing to a CT scan of COVID-ravaged lungs, predominantly white from damage and scarring.
        ''You can imagine how if your lungs are so affected by that, it's so easily visible, what that can do to your oxygen levels and when you have oxygen levels that are compromised, it's not a stretch to think you can't think clearly,'' Carlsten said.
        While the PHSA's website indicates the clinics will only treat people with a confirmed COVID diagnosis or positive serology test, the practitioners are more lenient, acknowledging many people may have self-isolated with symptoms without getting tested, particularly when testing was in short supply.
        ''Admittedly, that has been a difficult question for us, because you can imagine the mountain it opens,'' said Carlsten. ''We've been working with the government to get the resources for that, and more recently they've been forthcoming. So, as those resources come, we'll expand the eligibility and we certainly don't believe a positive test is the only way to establish that you've had COVID.''
        McLean is grateful there are more supports and hopes there will be more awareness about a condition that's misunderstood and often unrecognized by people who haven't experienced it themselves.
        ''There's not a lot of attention on this because a lot of us are off into the shadows,'' she said. ''We're not in the world anymore, we're not participating in socializing or the workforce or anything, we're just at home trying to get better."
      VIDEO - (54) Curtis Houck on Twitter: "Speaking to @TeamCavuto, Dr. Fauci hits back at @JoshRogin and @RandPaul, saying that the Wuhan funding and gain of function research discussion is "more complicated than [what's being said]...Those scientists were w
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        Curtis Houck : Speaking to @TeamCavuto, Dr. Fauci hits back at @JoshRogin and @RandPaul, saying that the Wuhan funding and gain of'... https://t.co/OmroDFxjb0
        Fri Jul 23 20:26:38 +0000 2021
        Lupin : @CurtisHouck @TeamCavuto @joshrogin @RandPaul Does anybody still believe in Fauci?
        Sat Jul 24 19:31:18 +0000 2021
        DebtCliff : @CurtisHouck @TeamCavuto @joshrogin @RandPaul His lips are movingAnd he is still lying
        Sat Jul 24 19:31:04 +0000 2021
        Theeasternbloc : @CurtisHouck @TeamCavuto @joshrogin @RandPaul A lot of people are well respected until they screw something up.
        Sat Jul 24 19:29:44 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - (77) NASA: Always trying to cover their screwups. - YouTube
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        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:43
      VIDEO - Xinjiang, China: The Reality
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        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:26
        The West makes all kinds of horrendous claims about human rights in China -- but what evidence is there really? A new report out from Italian researchers gets at what is real and what is warmongering propaganda. KJ Noh, peace activist, scholar on the geopolitics of Asia & organizer with Pivot to Peace, breaks it down. Link to the report here .
      VIDEO - (77) Jen Psaki asked POINT BLANK about vaccine mandates - YouTube
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        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:12
      VIDEO - VIDEO: Press Secretary Psaki Lamely Defends "Artist" Hunter Biden Attending Events With Potential Buyers of His "Art"
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        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 19:02
        Press Secretary Jen Psaki did her best to defend Hunter Biden's new career as an artist, but it was obvious this is one big grift happening out in the open. Peter Schweitzer has been following the Biden family's corruption for years and says this latest endeavor to launder money is ''genius'' (see video below) in a very corrupt way. The answers from Psaki today aren't very reassuring when it comes to potential corruption.
        During today's press conference, Psaki tried to ensure the media that Hunter Biden will be ''attending'' buyer's events where prospective buyers will be. The names of buyers will be kept confidential? Isn't that even shadier?
        Psaki couldn't name any concrete safeguards or procedures to ensure Hunter's ''art'' sales are ethical.
        Trending: CRIME-RIDDEN NYC: 4 Black Attackers, One Wearing A Shower Cap, Bludgeon Disabled, Elderly White Woman With Kitchen Pot, Steal Her Walker and Credit Cards [VIDEO]
        Investigative reporter Peter Schweitzer recently called Hunter's latest grift ''genius'' in a very corrupt way:
        The video clip below reveals so much about how corrupt the Biden crime family has been for so long. It begins with Joe Biden during a debate with President Trump lying about whether Hunter's laptop is real. Biden lies and says it's Russian disinformation. Bartiromo begins her interview with Peter Schweitzer by asking him whether the Hunter Biden laptop is real'...IT IS
        Investigative reporter Peter Schweitzer has been exposing the Biden crime family for years. In the interview with Maria Bartiromo on 'Sunday Morning Futures,' Schweitzer said Hunter Biden's new ''art scheme'' is ''genius'''...
        He explains that the art market is 'subjective,'' so there's no questioning what someone pays for it. This is why the art market is full of corruption. The pieces are priced up to $500k and will be marketed to foreign entities. This scheme is a perfect set-up for the Biden crime family.
        Grifter's gotta grift'...
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      VIDEO - Dak Prescott Declines To Disclose His Shot Status, Citing It's A HIPAA Violation (VIDEO) | Total Pro Sports
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        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 18:39
        He did it last month, and he did it again on Friday after Dak Prescott continued to decline to say whether he has gotten vaccinated.
        The Dallas Cowboys QB not only declined to state his status, he mentioned HIPAA law.
        Cowboys QB Dak Prescott declined to say he got the vaccine, pointing to HIPPA, but he believes the team will reach the NFL vaccinated threshold
        '-- Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) July 23, 2021If you are not aware, HIPAA has nothing to do with questions asked and answered by individual players. HIPAA makes health-care providers responsible to the federal government for disclosing private medical information. That is literally it.
        In a memo sent to clubs, the NFL said games would only be postponed if required by government authorities, medical experts or NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. If games are moved or canceled due to unvaccinated individuals, teams and players could also face financial penalties.
        For players, guaranteed money in contracts can become unguaranteed, and they could be fined under conduct detrimental language.
        Share This
      VIDEO - (77) Dr Charles Hoffe - YouTube
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        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 17:51
      VIDEO - (77) Thousands gather for Sydney anti-lockdown protest | Coronavirus | 9 News Australia - YouTube
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        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 17:13
      VIDEO - JILL on Twitter: "I'll just leave this here and then go and pray for the people living in South Australia. https://t.co/WuTcTOE7Bb" / Twitter
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        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 15:44
        JILL : I'll just leave this here and then go and pray for the people living in South Australia. https://t.co/WuTcTOE7Bb
        Fri Jul 23 08:49:39 +0000 2021
        Trudeau terror : @1Swinging_Voter https://t.co/O1EbTMbjnH
        Sat Jul 24 15:17:41 +0000 2021
        RoOSTA-Coach : @1Swinging_Voter How does this woman have a job...
        Sat Jul 24 15:03:30 +0000 2021
        Linc McDermott : @1Swinging_Voter What???
        Sat Jul 24 13:25:06 +0000 2021
        Dom Fedele : @1Swinging_Voter @andrewbogut Not even a CPA could figure out those numbers ðŸ‚ðŸ‚ðŸ‚
        Sat Jul 24 13:08:02 +0000 2021
        Sharah Kasny : @1Swinging_Voter Day'... sounds like day!
        Sat Jul 24 12:34:25 +0000 2021
        Shane Szakacs : @1Swinging_Voter Not everyone is good at there job
        Sat Jul 24 12:32:02 +0000 2021
        Bj¶rn Fri : @1Swinging_Voter https://t.co/xUetYO2lII
        Sat Jul 24 12:03:25 +0000 2021
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        Sat Jul 24 10:45:09 +0000 2021
        Megan Forrester : @1Swinging_Voter @Brentmartin24
        Sat Jul 24 10:44:39 +0000 2021
        Sonya : @1Swinging_Voter It's A Bimbo.
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        Juddly : @1Swinging_Voter Is she having a stroke?
        Sat Jul 24 10:06:19 +0000 2021
        SAW : @1Swinging_Voter Is she trying to compete against Biden in the incoherent awards?
        Sat Jul 24 09:50:11 +0000 2021
        SoCalBohoGal : @1Swinging_Voter What tests are these people running there? If the nasal test, I'd decline. I wouldn't want damage to my sinuses
        Sat Jul 24 09:10:23 +0000 2021
        SoCalBohoGal : @1Swinging_Voter Prayers for our Aussue brothers and sisters. OMG!
        Sat Jul 24 09:09:24 +0000 2021
        Simon Croft : @1Swinging_Voter The mind boggeleth
        Sat Jul 24 08:55:16 +0000 2021
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        Sat Jul 24 08:32:33 +0000 2021
        gopal g tðŸ‡®ðŸ‡" : @1Swinging_Voter I just picked up two words, said repeatedly,test-die-test-die-test-die.........RIP South Australia.
        Sat Jul 24 08:32:12 +0000 2021
        fangalator : @1Swinging_Voter What is this? The evil mother slapping us in line
        Sat Jul 24 08:15:09 +0000 2021
        Jerusha Alaine-H(C)nri : @1Swinging_Voter What the hell is she on about?
        Sat Jul 24 08:04:00 +0000 2021
        Adrian Layt ðŸ‡ : @1Swinging_Voter Yep got it! ðŸ‘ðŸ'
        Sat Jul 24 07:57:54 +0000 2021
        Hux : @1Swinging_Voter https://t.co/NVbiEaMxys
        Sat Jul 24 07:44:27 +0000 2021
        WhoKnowsðŸŒ¸ : @1Swinging_Voter ðŸ¤--ðŸ¤--ðŸ¤--ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£
        Sat Jul 24 07:34:47 +0000 2021
        ðŸ‡¨ðŸ‡... Jman ðŸ‡¨ðŸ‡... : @1Swinging_Voter @CanadianPM @JustinTrudeau understands completely. After all he's a genius. #IStandWithTrudeau ('... https://t.co/x2kpVvS5Y1
        Sat Jul 24 07:21:15 +0000 2021
        The Truth : @1Swinging_Voter She's very uncomfortable'...and she doesn't agree with what's she's saying. She's saying this under'... https://t.co/9zCunFf7vA
        Sat Jul 24 06:50:27 +0000 2021
        RayVon ðŸ´ó §ó ó ¥ó ®ó §ó ðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§ðŸ‡®ðŸ‡±ðŸ‰Cock/Balls : @1Swinging_Voter https://t.co/9UUx2tWMoU
        Sat Jul 24 06:48:55 +0000 2021
        Rhett Weeks : @1Swinging_Voter https://t.co/iIplI4ZmIU
        Sat Jul 24 06:36:55 +0000 2021
        Roger Kerr : @1Swinging_Voter Someone actually thought it was a good idea for her to explain this?ðŸ‚ðŸ‚ðŸ‚
        Sat Jul 24 06:36:21 +0000 2021
        Ms. Donna : @1Swinging_Voter Best pray for Israel too and the Freanch could probably use one also.
        Sat Jul 24 06:34:37 +0000 2021
        Sledgehammer ðŸ•Ž : @1Swinging_Voter Should prey for the British. It's comming here soon.
        Sat Jul 24 06:07:34 +0000 2021
        MainStreetPerth : @1Swinging_Voter Even animals don't let the dumbest of the herd lead the herd!!!!
        Sat Jul 24 05:53:19 +0000 2021
        Captain Truth Teller : @1Swinging_Voter Stop testing stay at home, virus defeated. The end
        Sat Jul 24 05:52:29 +0000 2021
        dazm229 : @1Swinging_Voter What the hell did she just try to explain? I don't speak or understand gibberish.
        Sat Jul 24 05:52:27 +0000 2021
        Kevin Thompson : @1Swinging_Voter She looks nice, is she married? ðŸ
        Sat Jul 24 05:42:34 +0000 2021
        Suzieq : @1Swinging_Voter These people are absolutely mental
        Sat Jul 24 05:27:48 +0000 2021
        Ian Harper : @1Swinging_Voter @thedondookie Staggering
        Sat Jul 24 05:27:13 +0000 2021
        The Beagler : @1Swinging_Voter "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble! Fire Burn! and Cauldron Bubble!"Shakespeare - "Macbeth"
        Sat Jul 24 05:09:37 +0000 2021
        Patriot Aussie : @1Swinging_Voter Remember don't touch the footy.
        Sat Jul 24 05:05:26 +0000 2021
        FolksyEdge : @1Swinging_Voter Rocket scientists and all that
        Sat Jul 24 05:02:32 +0000 2021
        Captain Luds : @1Swinging_Voter I do not consent. Period!
        Sat Jul 24 05:01:06 +0000 2021
        MasterClass : @1Swinging_Voter OMG ! Clear as mud'...
        Sat Jul 24 04:47:51 +0000 2021
        Hank Rearden 678 : @1Swinging_Voter @BillyRN6776 The creepy body language has the look of a hostage video, I wonder what they have on her?
        Sat Jul 24 04:42:09 +0000 2021
        Karen McKenzie : @1Swinging_Voter Why get tested if you're not exposed ðŸ¤--
        Sat Jul 24 04:36:24 +0000 2021
        JenR-C : @1Swinging_Voter So it's pretty simple, test 1 may be on day 2,3 or 4 then test 2 on any of those days, so u count'... https://t.co/Tna6rX5MFm
        Sat Jul 24 04:20:32 +0000 2021
        JenR-C : @1Swinging_Voter Huh????
        Sat Jul 24 04:17:12 +0000 2021
        Willie Duffield : @1Swinging_Voter @harry_wines
        Sat Jul 24 04:09:03 +0000 2021
        jase75 : @1Swinging_Voter https://t.co/dMvC2sKzdn
        Sat Jul 24 04:04:55 +0000 2021
        kingkongdonkey : @1Swinging_Voter U jealous.... were about to come out of a lockdown cos were not selfish cunts here. Everyone does'... https://t.co/08ECvm8Xkv
        Sat Jul 24 03:37:19 +0000 2021
        Matt : @1Swinging_Voter yup and these are the people that are running our country now!
        Sat Jul 24 03:14:28 +0000 2021
        Helen Tea ðŸŠðŸŒ¸ : @1Swinging_Voter Who is this and what rock did they pull her out from?
        Sat Jul 24 03:04:44 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Richard H. Ebright on Twitter: "@CBSNews The unvaccinated need to be excluded from public spaces, businesses, and schools." / Twitter
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 15:11
        Richard H. Ebright : @CBSNews The unvaccinated need to be excluded from public spaces, businesses, and schools.
        Fri Jul 23 20:35:41 +0000 2021
        SAV : @R_H_Ebright You sir should be excluded from speaking as well as the above you previously mentioned. Your brain cap'... https://t.co/QxEO0DmvBB
        Sat Jul 24 15:10:38 +0000 2021
        jneas : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews Nazi
        Sat Jul 24 15:10:34 +0000 2021
        DerpTrades : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews I thought we beat the nazi's in 1945?
        Sat Jul 24 15:10:34 +0000 2021
        Stu Varney's Lovechild : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews It's doesn't stop me from getting Covid. It doesn't stop me from spreading Covid. If I have h'... https://t.co/da8HcYDwxQ
        Sat Jul 24 15:10:19 +0000 2021
        Amy : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews Sayonara to Children in public
        Sat Jul 24 15:09:27 +0000 2021
        SGT_Hawg : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews Well Dick, that's pretty woke of you. Will you be starting the forced vaccinations on the po'... https://t.co/pBktVSYDCM
        Sat Jul 24 15:08:29 +0000 2021
        Eddie Neal : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews Ratio was well earned by this huge bag of dicks
        Sat Jul 24 15:07:40 +0000 2021
        Bane-ary Explosion : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews Which of the many diseases currently circulating are you up to date on your vaccinations for?
        Sat Jul 24 15:07:04 +0000 2021
        WoGðŸ : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews this tweet isn't going to age well. have fun being a nazi in your #Nuremberg2 trial :-)
        Sat Jul 24 15:06:08 +0000 2021
        Calv ðŸŽ¸ðŸ¥(C)ðŸ'ªðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§ðŸ´ó §ó ó ¥ó ®ó §ó ðŸ‚ : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews Just put them all in stripped clothing, maybe a tattoo or a barcode & a nice badge to sew on.'... https://t.co/UopSIy4txJ
        Sat Jul 24 15:06:07 +0000 2021
        me ðŸ´ó §ó ó ¥ó ®ó §ó ðŸ‘¾ðŸ‘½ðŸº : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews You need to stop smoking magic. It already has a 99% survival rate. Stop the scare mongering and get a life.
        Sat Jul 24 15:05:44 +0000 2021
        TarcyK #BOO #StandUp4Brexit : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews Why?
        Sat Jul 24 15:05:32 +0000 2021
        Dr Dr Bitcoin Al Bundy : @R_H_Ebright @CBSNews Why anyone with a BMI over 25?Their incredibly weak immune systems put us all at risk The'... https://t.co/HJpPjYdE1r
        Sat Jul 24 15:05:13 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Darren of Plymouth ðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§ on Twitter: "It is like a darkness has descended upon the world. https://t.co/BbEoZ2pwKF" / Twitter
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 12:22
        Darren of Plymouth ðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§ : It is like a darkness has descended upon the world.https://t.co/BbEoZ2pwKF
        Fri Jul 23 19:23:15 +0000 2021
        ShaRoN ELLUL-BONICI : @DarrenPlymouth If it works, why Re vaccinated individuals are still contracting the virus
        Sat Jul 24 12:06:45 +0000 2021
        ShaRoN ELLUL-BONICI : @DarrenPlymouth Wtf!! It's definitely the end
        Sat Jul 24 12:02:14 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - glenna borg on Twitter: "@NumbersMuncher Here we go again? @adamcurry" / Twitter
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 24 Jul 2021 00:47
        glenna borg : @NumbersMuncher Here we go again? @adamcurry
        Fri Jul 23 22:52:03 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Daily Caller on Twitter: "A reporter challenges @PressSec on not releasing the number of breakthrough covid cases among WH staffers: REPORTER: "Why not just provide the number are you trying to hide something?" @PressSec: "Why do you need to have
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 21:19
        Daily Caller : A reporter challenges @PressSec on not releasing the number of breakthrough covid cases among WH staffers:REPORTE'... https://t.co/wA8Y8UWGM4
        Fri Jul 23 18:01:05 +0000 2021
        DigitalDystopia : @DailyCaller @PressSec Someone important has tested positive in the White House
        Fri Jul 23 21:17:40 +0000 2021
        B O W E N : @DailyCaller @PressSec the #Covid toy isn't about to go away. Nope. it is far too useful.
        Fri Jul 23 21:16:58 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - What On Earth Happened? (Full Documentary - 8 Hours)
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 20:24
        Another interesting documentary detailing the lies and deception embedded within the historical narrative.
        ðŸ‘‰ The content creator is "EwarAnon". His current YouTube channel is EWAR. Please SUBSCRIBE: https://urlzs.com/Pcve4
        ðŸ--Š Download 'Breathe' for FREE: https://tinyurl.com/yadt3q7wðŸ--Š Download 'Brain Dead' for FREE: https://urlzs.com/69Uhi
        Please support Sage of Quay' Radio:* Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sageofquay* Sage of Quay Hub Website: http://www.sageofquay.com/* Sage of Quay blog: https://sageofquayblog.blogspot.com/
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        Please visit Labor of Love Music for more information about Mike's music: http://www.laboroflovemusic.com/
      VIDEO - New NFL Policy: Get Vaccinated Or FORFEIT?! - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 16:23
      VIDEO - Joe Biden 'has to be taken out of circulation' after 'rambling about men on the moon' - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 14:33
      VIDEO - You're Not Listening, It's A CRISIS! - YouTube
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 03:31
      VIDEO - Steve '‚ on Twitter: "@henokeliasmdr @adamcurry" / Twitter
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 03:28
        Steve '‚ : @henokeliasmdr @adamcurry
        Fri Jul 23 01:44:20 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Otavio (Tavi) Costa on Twitter: "None of us own enough hard assets. https://t.co/JgrEevENas" / Twitter
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 23 Jul 2021 03:23
        Otavio (Tavi) Costa : None of us own enough hard assets.https://t.co/JgrEevENas
        Fri Jul 23 00:01:41 +0000 2021
        LEON MX BOXING COACH : @TaviCosta Lol. She is so clueless.
        Fri Jul 23 03:22:07 +0000 2021
        GT : @TaviCosta Spot on
        Fri Jul 23 03:19:39 +0000 2021
        EOSIAN : @TaviCosta its funny she doesn't know where the root cause of inflation is coming.... stop printing money FFS. Inf'... https://t.co/Lya8uVeKyN
        Fri Jul 23 03:15:44 +0000 2021
        Crypt0 Pope : @TaviCosta How old is this interview? Can someone get her the current lumber prices please? Also, has she been to a'... https://t.co/mDwNMWsSyl
        Fri Jul 23 03:14:02 +0000 2021
        Heidi : @TaviCosta @PhilCrypto77 The "Experts".
        Fri Jul 23 03:13:48 +0000 2021
        DizzleTheRizzle : @TaviCosta Everyone owns too many you will see
        Fri Jul 23 03:10:14 +0000 2021
        Richard Gravois : @TaviCosta @fundstrat This kinda shit makes me think being finacially savy is just not gonna be enough.
        Fri Jul 23 03:09:52 +0000 2021
        CryptoK : @TaviCosta Seems like AOC is growing up before our eyes: she is turning more Republicans day by day.
        Fri Jul 23 03:09:14 +0000 2021
        JMH : @TaviCosta @fundstrat Honestly you all ignorant of monetary policy. The FED raising rates killing the economy and'... https://t.co/rmAGKbC2iV
        Fri Jul 23 03:08:23 +0000 2021
        b time : @TaviCosta There gone
        Fri Jul 23 03:03:27 +0000 2021
        David Ek : @TaviCosta AOC. We try not to like her. Verdad.
        Fri Jul 23 03:02:29 +0000 2021
        ''¨ : @TaviCosta @fundstrat https://t.co/Itkx38OLcQ
        Fri Jul 23 03:01:21 +0000 2021
        Anthony : @TaviCosta So the printing of trillions has nothing to do with inflation? Not having enough ports(?) apparently n'... https://t.co/Mk1XyvRhvi
        Fri Jul 23 02:59:37 +0000 2021
        K Crimson 714 : @TaviCosta Jfc
        Fri Jul 23 02:57:12 +0000 2021
        drew k : @TaviCosta I'm dumber after watching this
        Fri Jul 23 02:54:25 +0000 2021
        TrOLL PLAZA : @TaviCosta Half knowledge is dangerous. And she is fiing bullets everywhere.
        Fri Jul 23 02:43:27 +0000 2021
        ××××' ××•×¤×¨ : @TaviCosta Unfortunately, @AOC fail to understand what @DanRiffle long advocated: There should not be any billioner'... https://t.co/Dy7AHfxC03
        Fri Jul 23 02:43:14 +0000 2021
        John Smith : @TaviCosta does he believe there are enough industrial materials in the world if FED prints 3.5 Trillions more?
        Fri Jul 23 02:37:19 +0000 2021
        LifeofPi : @TaviCosta This show politicians are not aware of gravity of situation....what FED is doing to our country and our children...
        Fri Jul 23 02:35:57 +0000 2021
        jillNWa : @TaviCosta Weak answer. The amount of debt the USA must finance is excessive. It makes us ultra rate sensitive. We'... https://t.co/jFqKvs4Gdj
        Fri Jul 23 02:35:45 +0000 2021
        Pragmatic Capitalist : @TaviCosta I dont like her, but I think she's right here.
        Fri Jul 23 02:32:35 +0000 2021
        Crypto Galaxy : @TaviCosta she wants them to get the diagnosis right....lolz the US is doomed unless they get smart people in posit'... https://t.co/lvDrrJomwf
        Fri Jul 23 02:32:02 +0000 2021
        They call me Bruce '­• : @TaviCosta So she's an economist now?
        Fri Jul 23 02:31:34 +0000 2021
        Derek Mahon : @TaviCosta Rates are being raised with inflation anyway. If there aren't enough ports, why only a problem now? Let''... https://t.co/oQW0jBuVSL
        Fri Jul 23 02:30:06 +0000 2021
        TinTin Value : @TaviCosta Did she say ''diagnose'' ðŸ'ðŸ‚
        Fri Jul 23 02:29:48 +0000 2021
        E. Eaton : @TaviCosta Supply chain disruptions & deincentivize holding cash. There - i saved the government millions
        Fri Jul 23 02:28:55 +0000 2021
        Pete the Axe : @TaviCosta We agree with you @AOC ..everyone should own Bitcoin #BTC and Ethereum $ETH
        Fri Jul 23 02:28:53 +0000 2021
        Heavy Hitter : @TaviCosta Agreed
        Fri Jul 23 02:25:52 +0000 2021
        thedirtyrussian : @TaviCosta Clearly someone does her grocery shopping.
        Fri Jul 23 02:25:27 +0000 2021
        Happy Andy : @TaviCosta Clueless
        Fri Jul 23 02:22:39 +0000 2021
        Alok Agarwal : @TaviCosta Haha.. who came up with the term 'transitory inflation'... linguistic genius
        Fri Jul 23 02:20:48 +0000 2021
    No Agenda Social Registration
  Clips and Docs
    Art
    All Clips
      ABC America This Morning - anchor Andrew Dymburt - airstrikes against the tailban (16sec).mp3
      Australian prime minister blaming the deaths of vaccinated on the people.mp3
      NA dictator dan.mp3
      NA morrison on lockdowns 1.mp3
      NA morrison on lockdowns 2.mp3
      NBC Nightly News - anchor Lester Holt - anti-covid protest in france and australia (22sec).mp3
      Australia NSW covid update - 141 ALL vaccinated but one.mp3
      Fauci backtrack on Wuhan Lab - more coomplicated than is being said.mp3
      NBC fact-checks Biden and throws him under the bus.mp3
      Biden sucking blood oout of babies on tarmac.mp3
      CBS Evening News - anchor Dr Jon LaPook - Breakthrough (2) millions of vaccinated will be at risk if exposed (29sec).mp3
      CBS Evening News - anchor Dr Jon LaPook - Breakthrough (3) rare cases of vaccinated infecting fully vaccinated (18sec).mp3
      CBS Evening News - anchor Norah ODonnell - Fauci (1) do breakthrough cases mean the vaccine is failing (25sec).mp3
      CBS Evening News - anchor Norah ODonnell - Fauci (2) if you had j&j do you need a pfizer or moderna (17sec).mp3
      NBC Nightly News - anchor Vaughn Hillyard - breakthrough cases -produced report (2min).mp3
      CBS Evening News - anchor Dr Jon LaPook - Breakthrough (1) produced report -get vaccinated to stop variants (1min21sec).mp3
      Don Lemon with AOC explains monetary policy.mp3
      MSNBC Scott Gottlieb 3d shot and Boosters GAFFE (credit Brittany).mp3
      Newsmax Rand Paul Kids Vacc GAFFE.mp3
      Biden example 2 applause.mp3
      biden example 3.mp3
      BIDen I'm serious think.mp3
      Biden in public sucking blook funny.mp3
      BIDeN JULY mEDLY.mp3
      BIDEN Man on the moon short.mp3
      BIDeN oncoherent early ramble.mp3
      BIDEN Two deacades wTF.mp3
      BIDEN WTF Pandemic.mp3
      moms for liberty 2 NYD.mp3
      moms for liberty NYD.mp3
      NIDeN Total deaths vs wars.mp3
      not a joke ISO.mp3
      nutball in Land Mgmt bureau DOX.mp3
      Satan ISO.mp3
      Senator Risch on BLM appointment 3.mp3
      Senator Risch on BLM appointment 4.mp3
      Senator Risch on BLM appointment ONE.mp3
      Senator Risch on BLM appointment TWO.mp3
      smoke in NYC NTD.mp3
      Tracey srone manning FINAL.mp3
      Tracey stone manning NPR.mp3
      Two yahoos FBI six weeker npr.mp3
      voting in Texas NPR.mp3
      all kiddin.mp3
      asking ISO.mp3
      Biden BS on teachers.mp3
      biden example 0.mp3
      Biden example 1 applause.mp3
      Gustavo Arellano (LA Times) ranting about Bezos and Branson-kcrw_whities_in_outer_space.mp3
      Yamiche KQED -1- You are my Hero.mp3
      Yamiche KQED -2- Generators instead of Ventilators.mp3
      CBS Evening News - anchor Norah ODonnell - Fauci (3) are we headed to a new lockdown (22sec).mp3
      CBS Evening News - anchor Norah ODonnell - Fauci (4) how does the NFLs decision affect other businesses (29sec).mp3
      CNBC Squawk Box - anchor Ross Sorkin - Dr Scott Gottlieb (2) NFL and vaccinations -it will result in more mandates (56sec).mp3
      MSNBC - anchor Mika Brzezinski - Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey blaming the unvaccinated (50sec).mp3
      NBC Nightly News - anchor Kathy Park - NFL and vaccinations follow-up (26sec).mp3
      People jabbed with Nonovax PLACEBOS during vaccine trials will have same privileges as those who are ‘fully’ vaxxed, UK minister says.mp3
      ABC America This Morning - anchor Mona Kosar Abdi - mississippi to challenge roe v wade (17sec).mp3
      CBS Evening News - anchor David Begnaud - NFL and vaccinations (52sec).mp3
      ABC GMA - anchor MaryAlice Parks - bill before congress would require women to sign up for draft (13sec).mp3
      NBC Nightly News - anchor Gabe Gutierrez - cleveland indians will be the guardians next year (10sec).mp3
      BBC Olympic Laurel CREDIT is a human right.mp3
      ABC America This Morning - anchor Andrea Fujii - internet outages blamed on bug (1min39sec).mp3
      City of Austin robocall regarding Covid.mp3
      CNBC Squawk Box - anchor Becky Quick - Dr Scott Gottlieb CDC modeling is off (52sec).mp3
      CNBC Squawk Box - anchor Ross Sorkin - Dr Scott Gottlieb (1) are boosters just a way for pfizer to make money (56sec).mp3
      CNBC Squawk Box - anchor Ross Sorkin - Dr Scott Gottlieb (3) israeli study show pfizer vaccine is 39% effective against delta (1min23sec).mp3
      NBC Nightly News - anchor Kathy Park - boosters -get vaccinated to stop variants -yearly shot (53sec).mp3
      Olsterholm says there are one hundred people without immunity.mp3
      Yale doctor says Delta Variant is mostly like a cold or flu after vaccine.mp3
      ABC GMA - anchor George Stephanopolus - Dr Jen Ashton rise of other respiratory illnesses - immunity debt (1min16sec).mp3