No Agenda Episode 1375 - "At This Hour"

  No Agenda Episode 1375 - "At This Hour"
    "At This Hour"
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  Credits
    "At This Hour"
    Executive Producers:
      Sir Trent of John Galt's Society
      Brett Popish
      Sir Ronald Lafferty
      Sir Burney of the Yummy Gummies.
      Kevin Badinger
      Sir Zog of Elwood, Baron of the Des Plaines River Valley.
      Thomas Sullivan Jr
      Chris Kimmich
      Sir Latte, Knight of the Bremelos
      Robert Stokes
      Chris hewitt
      Tom Pyburn
      Derek Allison
      Sir Henry of Flowerfield
      Anonymous
      Al Gonsoulin
      Jacob Schmidt
    Associate Executive Producers:
      Sir Vegas King of the Land of Mongo
      Amanda Szalewski
      Jonathan Neighbors
      Elise Putnam
      Alex Brewer
      Sir D of Hollandsche Rading
      Adair Dillaha
      Arthur Saint
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    Knights & Dames
      Trent Leinenback -> Sir Trent of John Galt's Society
      Jacob Schmidt -> Sir Jake, Slumlord of the Ohio River Valley
      Ronald Lafferty -> Sir Ronald Lafferty
      Chris Burney -> Sir Burney of the Yummy Gummies
      Anonymous -> Sir Ernie, The Biker Knight of the Northern Province of the Star Fleet Command
      Steve Weiss -> Sir Vegas King of the Land of Mongo
    Art By: Nicefox
    End of Show Mixes: Rolando Gonzalez - Gucci Dragons - Tom Starkweather
    Engineering, Stream Management & Wizardry
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  Cover Art
    Art By: Nicefox
  Shownotes
    Afghanistan
      Kamala in by 25th, but military before sworn in
      Trump is riling up the Patriots -> Kamala China
      Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF)
        The US military is carrying people out of Kabul to nearby locations like Bahrain, but then they are being put on U.S. government charter flights. Pretty much always, U.S. government charters are done with U.S. airlines as a result of Buy American policies, but not this time despite U.S. carriers having hundreds of barely used widebody aircraft as a result of the Administration's COVID entrance restrictions. The charters are being done at least partially on foreign airlines like Gulf Air.
        There is also a program called the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) which exists for this exact situation whereby U.S. airlines are paid a large annual stipend to be prepared at all times for civilian evacuations in emergencies. Attached is the waiver of restrictions from DOT on operation of foreign carriers in and out of the United States as a result of the evacuation. It makes you wonder if anybody in the Administration even knows the CRAF program exists, but another example of Administration ineptness.
      The United States is considering getting commercial airlines to help refugees
      Kabul Airport Gates Are Closed, Taliban Confiscating U.S. Passports
      ISIS-K
    Mandates
      We Love NYC Concert rained out on Barry Manilow
      FSIS to deny inspection to meat processors who refuse to wear masks while inspectors are present
      Hollywood Crew Members Reject Vaccine Mandates
      McDonald's Requires all Corp Staff to be vaccinated
      NYC Papers Please BOTG
        Hi Adam,
        Just wanted to give you a quick update about my experience thus far with vaxx cards and indoor dining in NYC. My wife and I have our cards just saved as a photo on our phone. Last night, we went out with our friend in lower manhattan near stone street. We went to three bars. The first bar denied us entry because our friend had forgotten her vaccine card at home and didn’t have a photo. I left the bar in disgust and did not hide it. After getting her card, we tried a second bar. They also asked to show proof of vaccination, but like the first bar, they only required a photo of it and didn’t bother to match it with our ID. The third bar we went to didn’t ask at all.
        I find the whole thing disgusting and nearly went home after the first place denied us entry. If there’s one silver lining, it’s that it seems that bars are very lazy or perhaps reluctant to actually verify the cards. We were never asked to match our card with our photo ID, and it doesn’t even seem like they read the cards at all, just a quick glance.
    FDA Approval Pfizer Marketing
      Exponential increase in abnormal deaths after FDA EUA of mRNA vaccines
        The Y axis is weekly sum of US deaths with cause categorized as: Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified R00-R99 https://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/R00-R99
        It would be a good idea to ask a nurse about these R00-R99 codes. Happen to know one?
        I got this raw data from https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Weekly-Provisional-Counts-of-Deaths-by-State-and-S/muzy-jte6 and older data from https://kjhealy.github.io/covdata/
        note where the data overlaps temporally between the sources, there is match.
      The WHO is right to call a temporary halt to COVID vaccine boosters
      Vaccine Expirations
        I wanted to dispel a rumor that the boosters are being pushed due to expiring vaccine.
        There has been a lot of vaccine that has expired prior to being administered. In our health
        district (7 counties) we had hundreds of doses expire. But that was back in July. The doses being
        sent out now don’t expire till the last day of October. These are the ones being sent out in
        response to the increase in demand because of the booster news.
        In my opinion based on my observations I don’t see any correlation between the booster
        authorization and the expiring shots. It would be about 2 months too late.
      Moderna Set to Test Experimental HIV mRNA Vaccine in People
      Other Boosters
        Adam,
        I think you asked on the last show if there were any vaccines that took more than one shot.
        When I was still in (the US army) back in 2013, the Anthrax vaccine totaled six shots. (I don't remember the time period between each)
        But it's not like the military gets to question what or how often something is used on them.
        Thanks,
        Sir Anthrax
      Mississippi officials warn against using ivermectin for COVID-19 amid spike in poisonings
      Dying Newborns
        My friend works at womens hospital in downtown Houston. She has been there for 18 years and is a
        charge nurse within the nursery and postpartum. She has confided in me about the most amount of
        newborn still births with no genetic deformities that are noticable by sight and she told me she
        will walk to the morgue with the baby wrapped in the plastic containers/wraps and the
        freezer/fridge will be full of other babies and in one case there was no more room. She told me
        this is the first time in her 18 years she has seen this amount of deaths at birth. She told me she
        would inquire with other staff concerning testing the dead infant for why and they dont do it or
        seem to concern themselves with it. Some of the mothers she is aware are vaccinated; however
        because she is a charge nurse sometimes its not her patient and she wasnt aware if they were and is
        to busy to have checked. Also she is disheartened and not really like me or you guys about this
        situation. Im trying to get more infor but she got mad when i suggested i give her a key logger and
        malware to insert on their machines. If i find out more ill make you all aware.
    The Purge
      Porn made OnlyFans a powerhouse. Now it's banning sexual content
      FBI report absolves Trump And Pelosi etc
      Trump Not Directly Involved in Organizing Capitol-Riot Violence
      FBI No Trump Connection Matt Gaetz
        The game you’re watching isn’t the game being played.
        FBI doesn’t exonerate people - especially Stone/Jones types.
        Today’s narrative change is ALL about protecting FBI assets in militia groups who animated the acuity of criminality on J6.
        How many, Dir. Wray?
        Link
    Breakthrough
      Fully vaccinated people account for 20% of deaths between 8/1-8/5 in Louisiana
      Pandemic of the Vaccinated in UK
        thought you might be interested in some graphs I've been doing to see how the UK's vaccination roll out has worked out with the Delta Scariant.
        The data isn't very granular but they are currently publishing numbers for two cohorts, under and over 50 years of age.
        The take home messages from where i'm looking is:
        The Absolute Risk Reduction for over 50's is a crappy 4.5% so far having risen from an initial 2.5% 10 weeks ago.
        The unvaccinated over 50's are only accounting for 10% of 'cases' and have been doing so consistently over the same 10 week period.
        The double jabbed are now close to 70% of all cases and 60% of deaths.
        The real biggie however is when you look at the under 50's. Although deaths in this cohort are low in comparison to over 50's, the ARR for this cohort has been negative for the past 4 weeks and the Relative Risk Reduction negative for the past 8 weeks !!!! Whilst these numbers are big, the spread is increasing every new data sheet.
        If you're curious to see the numbers for yourself, the data sheets I've worked from (17 to 21) are available here:
        https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-of-novel-sars-cov-2-variant-variant-of-concern-20201201
        Cheers,
        Neil
      British Medical Journal Not Happy With Pfizer COVID Approval
        Short article worth reading the whole thing. Summation is BMJ thinks the approval process for Pfizer is being rushed with no transparency.
        They point out that there is no control group for Pfizer.
        Link
      Dying Newborns
        My friend works at womens hospital in downtown Houston. She has been there for 18 years and is a
        charge nurse within the nursery and postpartum. She has confided in me about the most amount of
        newborn still births with no genetic deformities that are noticable by sight and she told me she
        will walk to the morgue with the baby wrapped in the plastic containers/wraps and the
        freezer/fridge will be full of other babies and in one case there was no more room. She told me
        this is the first time in her 18 years she has seen this amount of deaths at birth. She told me she
        would inquire with other staff concerning testing the dead infant for why and they dont do it or
        seem to concern themselves with it. Some of the mothers she is aware are vaccinated; however
        because she is a charge nurse sometimes its not her patient and she wasnt aware if they were and is
        to busy to have checked. Also she is disheartened and not really like me or you guys about this
        situation. Im trying to get more infor but she got mad when i suggested i give her a key logger and
        malware to insert on their machines. If i find out more ill make you all aware.
      Who is Dr Sean Brooks
        https://meaww.com/who-is-dr-sean-brooks-ph-ds-anti-vaccine-warning-video-goes-viral-twitter-thinks-hes-a-doc
        https://www.amazon.com/Books-Sean-M-Brooks-Ph-D/s?rh=n:283155,p_27:Sean+M.+Brooks+Ph.D.
    OTG
      We built a system like Apple’s to flag child sexual abuse material — and concluded the tech was dangerous
      Letter to Tim Cook
    Great Reset
      When the spooks tell you a false flag is coming, a false flag is coming!
      The State Department has been hit by a cyber attack, and notifications of a possible serious breach were made by the Department of Defense Cyber Command
      Unemployment ends September 4th
      PA, nurses quitting BOTG
        Daughter a nurse for several years. Both my new neighbors, too. St Luke's University Hospital network pay raise last year was a 20.00 Wawa gift card. I. Shit you not. Claimed no revenues due to covid. They did lose income due to total cancelation of elective surgery for months. Many staff, including nurses furloughed. Daughter was not but close. Now.... Quitting in droves. Pay way too low, huge mandatory on call burden due to short staff. Two quick pay raises (not stopping the exodus) and a 5k one year 10k two year contract bonus if you dont quit.
        More Covid now than prior peak but still have space. Bethlehem PA... In the highest covid County in the entire region. Story not adding up.
      Notes with docs explaining science are now frequent. People getting the info from various sources
    Supply Chains
      North East Supply Chains
        We are having supply chain issues with various foods and food related items in the North East.
        Major Items of Note:
        For nearly a month prepared frozen Fried Chicken was nearly impossible to get.
        Two weeks ago it was potatoes.
        And last week it was bread.
        Local suppliers as well as large country wide ones like Sysco seem to all be having the same problem, no workers. Lack of labor is effecting the supply chain and it is only getting worse. No truck drivers, no warehouse workers, not enough people to package the food.
      Nitrogen for Oxygen
        Dear Adam,
        Please keep this confidential.
        Within my group we use nitrogen to calibrate and purge our pressure data acquisition systems. The supplier informed us on Friday that they were halting nitrogen production to ramp up for oxygen production. I'm not sure how lucrative oxygen production was on the 1st go around of covid. This might be a cash grab for the covid delta.
        Thanks,
    Cataracts
      Adam
      Heard you and John talking about cataracts. While working in a health food store a customer told me about N-acetylcarnosine to treat cataracts. The product she was using is called Can-C. She first successfully used it on her dog. Then when she started to develop cataracts she treated herself. I researched it for a friend and found some good science and a lot of personal success stories. It's probably worth a look.
      Thanks for No Agenda. It's helped keep my family safe and sane.
      Tracy
      Link
    War on Cash
      Las Vegas recently built a new football stadium called Allegiant Stadium. The Oakland Raiders moved there last year. It is 100% cashless.
      Tonight there is a nationwide credit card processing issue. At the stadium is a major WWE event called "Summerslam." Depending on where you are in the stadium, either you get free food, the food has run out or the concessions immediately closed down once the credit cards stopped working.
    STORIES
      Efficacy of N-acetylcarnosine in the treatment of cataracts - PubMed
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 22 Aug 2021 11:55
        Clinical Trial
        doi: 10.2165/00126839-200203020-00004. Affiliations
        Affiliation 1 Innovative Vision Products, Inc., County of Newcastle, Delaware, USA. markbabizhayev@yahoo.com PMID: 12001824 DOI: 10.2165/00126839-200203020-00004 Item in Clipboard
        Clinical Trial
        Mark A Babizhayev et al. Drugs R D . 2002 .
        doi: 10.2165/00126839-200203020-00004. Affiliation 1 Innovative Vision Products, Inc., County of Newcastle, Delaware, USA. markbabizhayev@yahoo.com PMID: 12001824 DOI: 10.2165/00126839-200203020-00004 Item in Clipboard
        Abstract Purpose: To evaluate the effects of 1% N-acetylcarnosine (NAC) solution on lens clarity over 6 and 24 months in patients with cataracts.
        Trial design: Randomised, placebo-controlled study.
        Participants: 49 subjects (76 affected eyes) with an average age of 65.3 +/- 7.0 years with a diagnosis of senile cataract with minimum to advanced opacification in various lens layers.
        Methods: 26 patients (41 eyes) were allocated to topical NAC 1% eyedrops twice daily. The control group consisted of 13 patients (21 eyes) who received placebo eyedrops and 10 patients (14 eyes) who did not receive eyedrops.
        Main outcome measures: All patients were evaluated at entry and followed up every 2 months for a 6-month period (trial 1), or at 6-month intervals for a 2-year period (trial 2), for best-corrected visual acuity and glare testing. In addition, cataract was measured using stereocinematographic slit-images and retro-illumination examination of the lens. Digital analysis of lens images displayed light scattering and absorbing centres in two- and three-dimensional scales.
        Results: The overall intra-reader reproducibility of cataract measurements (image analysis) was 0.830, and glare testing 0.998. After 6 months, 90% of NAC-treated eyes showed improvement in best corrected visual acuity (7 to 100%) and 88.9% showed a 27 to 100% improvement in glare sensitivity. Topographic studies indicated fewer areas of posterior subcapsular lens opacity and 41.5% of treated eyes had improvement in image analysis characteristics. The overall ratios of image analysis characteristics at 6 months compared with baseline measures were 1.04 and 0.86 for the control and NAC-treated group, respectively (p < 0.001). The apparent benefits of treatment were sustained after 24 months' treatment. No treated eyes demonstrated worsening of vision. The overall visual outcome in the control group showed significant worsening after 24 months in comparison with both baseline and the 6-month follow-up examination. The overall clinical results observed in the NAC-treated group by the 24-month period of examination differed significantly (p < 0.001) from the control group in the eyes with cortical, posterior subcapsular, nuclear or combined lens opacities. Tolerability of NAC eyedrops was good in almost all patients, with no reports of ocular or systemic adverse effects.
        Conclusion: Topical NAC shows potential for the treatment and prevention of cataracts.
        Similar articles N-Acetylcarnosine, a natural histidine-containing dipeptide, as a potent ophthalmic drug in treatment of human cataracts. Babizhayev MA, Deyev AI, Yermakova VN, Semiletov YA, Davydova NG, Kurysheva NI, Zhukotskii AV, Goldman IM. Babizhayev MA, et al. Peptides. 2001 Jun;22(6):979-94. doi: 10.1016/s0196-9781(01)00407-7. Peptides. 2001. PMID: 11390029 Clinical Trial.
        Lipid peroxidation and cataracts: N-acetylcarnosine as a therapeutic tool to manage age-related cataracts in human and in canine eyes. Babizhayev MA, Deyev AI, Yermakova VN, Brikman IV, Bours J. Babizhayev MA, et al. Drugs R D. 2004;5(3):125-39. doi: 10.2165/00126839-200405030-00001. Drugs R D. 2004. PMID: 15139774 Review.
        Cited by 11 articles AGE-RAGE stress: a changing landscape in pathology and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Prasad K. Prasad K. Mol Cell Biochem. 2019 Sep;459(1-2):95-112. doi: 10.1007/s11010-019-03553-4. Epub 2019 May 11. Mol Cell Biochem. 2019. PMID: 31079281 Review.
        An approach to revolutionize cataract treatment by enhancing drug probing through intraocular cell line. Wang L, Liu W, Huang X. Wang L, et al. Libyan J Med. 2018 Dec;13(1):1500347. doi: 10.1080/19932820.2018.1500347. Libyan J Med. 2018. PMID: 30045674 Free PMC article.
        N-acetylcarnosine (NAC) drops for age-related cataract. Dubois VD, Bastawrous A. Dubois VD, et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Feb 28;2(2):CD009493. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009493.pub2. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017. PMID: 28245346 Free PMC article. Review.
        On the Anticataractogenic Effects of L-Carnosine: Is It Best Described as an Antioxidant, Metal-Chelating Agent or Glycation Inhibitor? Abdelkader H, Longman M, Alany RG, Pierscionek B. Abdelkader H, et al. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2016;2016:3240261. doi: 10.1155/2016/3240261. Epub 2016 Oct 16. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2016. PMID: 27822337 Free PMC article.
        Comment on "Use of Carnosine for Oxidative Stress Reduction in Different Pathologies". Jargin SV. Jargin SV. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2016;2016:5250386. doi: 10.1155/2016/5250386. Epub 2016 Jul 17. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2016. PMID: 27500648 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
      Mississippi officials warn against using ivermectin for COVID-19 amid spike in poisonings | TheHill
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 22 Aug 2021 11:16
        August 20, 2021 - 08:20 PM EDT By Lexi Lonas Mississippi health officials are warning residents against using ivermectin, a horse dewormer medication, to treat COVID-19 infections at home amid a spike in poisoning calls to the Mississippi Poison Control Center.
        The Mississippi Department of Health sent a letter out to to the MS Health Alert Network on Friday warning health professionals of the spike in poisonings from individuals digesting ivermectin.
        "At least 70% of the recent calls have been related to ingestion of livestock or animal formulations of ivermectin purchased at livestock supply centers," the letter stated.
        Only one person was told to seek further help due to the amount of the ivermectin ingested and 85 percent of callers had mild symptoms.
        Some of the symptoms individuals can experience are rash, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, neurologic disorders, and sometimes severe hepatitis.
        There have been no hospitalizations reported to the department yet from someone ingesting ivermectin to cure the coronavirus.
        "Animal drugs are highly concentrated for large animals and can be highly toxic in humans," the letter signed by state epidemiologist Paul Byers stated. "Patients should be advised to not take any medications intended to treat animals and should be instructed to only take ivermectin as prescribed by their physician."
        The increase in ivermectin use comes as Mississippi is struggling to deal with an increase in coronavirus cases as the state has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the U.S.
      Delta's Gift Is Hybrid Immunity - WSJ
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 22 Aug 2021 11:13
        One senator at a time, a new variant is bracing up our vaccinated immune systems against new Covid.
        Politics is how we govern ourselves, so don't imagine Covid data could ever have been unpoliticized. The CDC's naming this week of a new analytics panel, featuring Harvard's Marc Lipsitch and John Hopkins's Caitlin Rivers, does not change this reality. It opens a new chapter.
        How so? From the start, our mistake has been our strange reticence to recognize the reality of mild or symptomless Covid. It began on day one with the World Health Organization and certain experts choosing to exaggerate Covid's deadliness by ignoring...
        Advertisement - Scroll to Continue
        Politics is how we govern ourselves, so don't imagine Covid data could ever have been unpoliticized. The CDC's naming this week of a new analytics panel, featuring Harvard's Marc Lipsitch and John Hopkins's Caitlin Rivers, does not change this reality. It opens a new chapter.
        How so? From the start, our mistake has been our strange reticence to recognize the reality of mild or symptomless Covid. It began on day one with the World Health Organization and certain experts choosing to exaggerate Covid's deadliness by ignoring mild and unseen cases. The same myopia continues to play havoc today with our ability to answer a crucial question: How rampant is the Delta variant among the vaccinated? The U.S. is hopelessly trying to draw conclusions from unrepresentative data.
        In the Massachusetts outbreak that set off government alarm bells, more than 300 vaccinated holiday-makers later tested positive. Were they 100% or 1% of those who returned home with the virus? No idea.
        In Chicago, 127 of 203 cases associated with the Lollapalooza music festival were fully vaccinated people. Same question. Are they the tip or the whole iceberg? No clue.
        With more young Covid victims landing in hospitals, is this because Delta is more virulent or because there's a lot more Delta than we know? Again, your government doesn't have the foggiest.
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        Now three more vaccinated U.S. senators have come down with Covid this week.
        This chosen myopia about unseen spread has proved costly but in ways that hint at its political utility. In January 2020, we could tell ourselves Covid wasn't here because we hadn't detected any cases. Later, when the pandemic was in full swing, overplaying the death risk and underplaying natural immunity helped to rally support for lockdowns, masking and vaccine rollout compliance.
        Still, why would scientists like Anthony Fauci and CDC leaders be satisfied with inadequate data? One reasonable presumption is that people don't ask questions they don't want the answers to. From the start, our public-health experts were realistic, not to say fatalistic, about the virus. The CDC on its webpage for months advised that every American should expect to be infected eventually. This advice disappeared only as political messaging became paramount. Accentuating how much viral spread remained unobserved and unmeasured apparently did not fit the agenda.
        Delta has made such motivated myopia no longer sustainable. The Covid-causing virus is a single-strand RNA virus'--i.e., prone to frequent mutation, like the flu, which requires a new vaccine every year.
        Advertisement - Scroll to Continue
        The public is being hit with absurdly late-to-the-news headlines saying Covid won't be going away. Its favorite media-approved epidemiologists now warn that everyone must get it sooner or later. Harvard's Michael Mina breaks the news that not the worst thing right now is vaccinated people getting asymptomatic Delta infections'--a ''booster'' shot against future variants likely to be as robust as any the government will be handing out.
        And more absurd than ever is social-media censorship of experts who say anything slightly complicated about masks or vaccine hesitancy, as if their discordant thoughts must still be suppressed in the name of eliminating Covid forever.
        This propaganda is now detrimental to the real goal. The coming surprise for Americans is that hybrid immunity, or vaccination plus inevitable exposure to an evolving virus, is our new way out. As much as it was right to try to soften this adjustment, look at Japan today, with Tokyo hospitals near collapse under the weight of a Delta outbreak. Look at New Zealand, an entire nation locked down over what was initially a single Delta case. These countries have yet to find a way to make peace with the virus and allow natural immunity to play its role in domesticating a new and unwelcome guest that won't be going away. China will be the ultimate case study: facing Delta with a billion-plus people who are immunologically naive or reliant on inferior vaccines.
        If you think nongovernment scientists were immune to the motivated myopia about unseen spread, read a Washington Post op-ed from just last week by two Boston University epidemiologists. They engage in otherwise interesting herd immunity math based on the garbage-in, garbage-out assumption that only 35 million Americans (the official number) have so far been infected.
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        Even the CDC has long since emerged from its fog. Its official ''tracker'' may still emphasize such ''reported'' cases, but the agency quietly estimates that 120 million Americans had been infected by May 1 in the unseen, unmeasured pandemic that Americans have actually been facing.
      Jacqui Heinrich on Twitter: "ðŸš¨BREAKING, thread: The State Department has been hit by a cyber attack, and notifications of a possible serious breach were made by the Department of Defense Cyber Command." / Twitter
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 22 Aug 2021 01:53
        Jacqui Heinrich : ðŸš¨BREAKING, thread: The State Department has been hit by a cyber attack, and notifications of a possible serious b'... https://t.co/v9xRQV8n6v
        Sat Aug 21 20:07:38 +0000 2021
        Muhammad Abu Musha : @JacquiHeinrich Oh
        Sun Aug 22 01:53:28 +0000 2021
        Paul Dewan : @JacquiHeinrich Shall we play a game?
        Sun Aug 22 01:51:32 +0000 2021
        L9 Tommy F. smeller : @JacquiHeinrich https://t.co/8p30KgM1n7
        Sun Aug 22 01:51:11 +0000 2021
        the whirly girl : @JacquiHeinrich @GreatDismal putin's a busy little man. what's he trying to delete for his boy now?
        Sun Aug 22 01:50:06 +0000 2021
      The Vaccinated Are Worried and Scientists Don't Have Answers - Bloomberg
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 22:32
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      Taliban unit wears US military gear to mock famous WWII photo | The Post Millennial
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 22:08
        We can't seem to find the page you're looking for.
        Go Back
      ISIS terror threat forces US military to establish alternate routes to Kabul airport - CNNPolitics
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 22:01
        (CNN)The US military is establishing "alternative routes" to Kabul airport because of a threat the terror group ISIS-K poses to the airport and its surroundings, as President Joe Biden met with senior officials Saturday to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan and counter-terrorism operations against the Islamic State offshoot.
        "There is a strong possibility ISIS-K is trying to carry off an attack at the airport," a US defense official told CNN. A senior diplomat in Kabul said they are aware of a credible but not immediate threat by Islamic State against Americans at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
        Two US defense officials described the military effort to establish "alternative routes" for people to get to Kabul airport and its access gates, with one saying these new routes will be available to Americans, third party nationals and qualified Afghans.
        The Taliban are aware of the new effort and are coordinating with the US, one of the officials said.
        Possible threats
        The Pentagon has been monitoring the situation around the airport, aware that the swelling crowds on the grounds and around the airfield create a target for ISIS-K and other organizations, which may use car bombs or suicide bombers to attack, the second official said. Mortar attacks are another possible threat.
        Details of the plan are being closely held, but the broadly sketched-out details call for people to follow new routes and access points in coordination with Taliban on the ground in an attempt to help disperse the gathering of large crowds or avoid the crowds altogether, the two officials said. US personnel would be in a position to observe the movement of people to ensure safety, but the official would not specify if that involves direct observation by nearby troops as well as the use of intelligence sensors.
        "There's a whole canopy of
        security concerns we have," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at a press briefing Saturday, as he described the military "fighting against both time and space" in its effort to safely evacuate people.
        "The idea is to get as many people out as fast as we can," Kirby said. "That's what the focus is. In trying to accomplish that mission, we're taking in a whole wealth of information about what the security environment looks like."
        Biden and his national security team met in the Situation Room on Saturday morning to discuss "the security situation in Afghanistan and counterterrorism operations, including ISIS-K," the White House said. "They discussed the massive logistical operation to evacuate American citizens and their families, SIV applicants and their families, and vulnerable Afghans both on U.S. military aircraft, as well as flight charters and coalition flights."
        ISIS-K is a self-proclaimed branch of the terror group that first emerged in Syria and Iraq. While the affiliates share an ideology and tactics, the depth of their relationship with regards to organization and command and control has never been entirely established.
        US intelligence officials previously told CNN the ISIS-K membership includes "a small number of veteran jihadists from Syria and other foreign terrorist fighters," saying that the US had identified 10 to 15 of their top operatives in Afghanistan. The group's name comes from its terminology for the area that includes Afghanistan and Pakistan: "Khorasan."
        Biden referred to the threat from Islamic State in
        an address to the nation on Friday, telling Americans that, "we're also keeping a close watch on any potential terrorist threat at or around the airport, including from the ISIS affiliates in Afghanistan who were released from prison when the prisons were emptied."
        Biden noted that ISIS in Afghanistan have been the sworn enemy of the Taliban, with which US officials have been coordinating and communicating on a constant basis over access to the airport.
        "I've said all along," Biden added, "We're going to retain a laser-focus on our counterterrorism mission, working in close coordination with our allies and our partners and all those who have an interest in ensuring stability in the region."
        'The best job they can'
        According to an official familiar with the matter, Biden has pushed his team to
        ramp up flights and evacuations but accessing the airport has become difficult as crowds swarm the gates.
        Not long before the President met to confer with Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and others on Saturday, the US embassy in Kabul sent a security alert saying that "because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so."
        At the Pentagon, where an official told CNN on Saturday that evacuations had slowed in the past 24 hours, spokesman Kirby said the State Department is "doing the best job they can to advise Americans who still haven't made it to the airport, what the situation looks like around the airport, that would be the prudent thing to do."
        "If you're an American and you're at a gate, you will be let in that gate," Kirby said Saturday.
        But gates to the airport have been closed for "short durations" over the past 24 hours, Gen. Hank Taylor, deputy director of the Joint Staff for Regional Operations, told reporters during the Pentagon briefing with Kirby.
        "There's been short durations throughout the last 24 hours where gates have been closed to allow the proper people to come in and out of those gates," Taylor said.
        The President asserted on Friday that there's no indication American citizens have been prevented from getting through to the airport but acknowledged the risks involved with the evacuation mission, saying it "is dangerous, involves risks to Armed Forces, and has been conducted under difficult circumstances."
        Biden stressed that he could not promise what the final outcome will be, or "that it will be without risk of loss." But he added that "as Commander in Chief, I can assure you that I will mobilize every resource necessary."
        Speaking to reporters Saturday, Kirby did not rule out taking other measures to get Americans to Kabul airport, including having US military troops go into the city and retrieve them, if necessary. On Friday, the Pentagon revealed it had used three CH-47 Chinook helicopters to retrieve 169 Americans who had gathered at a hotel about 200 meters from an airport gate, wary of the risks involved in trying to walk through the throngs outside amid reports of violence and Taliban beatings.
        "We're going to continue to explore options to assist Americans as needed," Kirby said. "We will do that here at the Pentagon. If there's a need to do something different than what we're already doing to facilitate them getting into the airport ... we'll certainly consider those options."
        'Fighting against both time and space'
        But Kirby acknowledged the challenge the military is facing as it works towards an August 31 deadline to leave the country. Biden has indicated the US may have to stay beyond that date if all Americans have not been evacuated yet.
        "I think we've been very honest about the fact that we know that we're fighting against both time and space," Kirby said. "That's really what, that's the race that we're in right now, and we're trying to do this as quickly and as safely as possible."
        The pace of the evacuation effort slowed after a bottleneck developed Friday as space at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, one of the leading destinations for flights, neared capacity, forcing the US to scramble for other locations.
        Only 6 C-17s have left Kabul international airport in the past 24 hours, carrying some 1,600 people, a defense official told CNN, a dramatic reduction in the pace of evacuations as a result of Friday's 8-hour delay in flights.
        That figure was a stark drop from the 6,000 people who flew out of Kabul in the previous 24-hour period on 16 C-17 flights and a C-130, according to figures Taylor gave reporters during a Pentagon briefing on Friday.
        On Saturday, Taylor told reporters that on military aircraft and charter planes combined, approximately 3,800 people were evacuated in the past 24 hours.
        Since the end of July, 22,000 people have been evacuated, with 17,000 of them flown out over in the week since August 14, Taylor said. Out of the 17,000 evacuated since August 14, 2,500 are US citizens, Taylor said.
        C-17 military planes are now "moving between Qatar and Germany," Taylor said, and in the past 24 hours, three flights from Kabul landed at Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC. Some Afghans will be transitioned to Fort Bliss for further processing, Taylor added.
        On Friday, US officials announced a dramatic expansion in the number of countries that will help transit Americans or temporarily host Afghans, including Germany where the first evacuation flight of about 350 people arrived at Ramstein Air Base.
        CNN's Jennifer Hansler, Kevin Liptak and Betsy Klein contributed to this report
      2021 ICD-10-CM Codes R00-R99: Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 22:00
        ICD-10-CM Codes 'º Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified R00-R99 Note This chapter includes symptoms, signs, abnormal results of clinical or other investigative procedures, and ill-defined conditions regarding which no diagnosis classifiable elsewhere is recorded.Signs and symptoms that point rather definitely to a given diagnosis have been assigned to a category in other chapters of the classification. In general, categories in this chapter include the less well-defined conditions and symptoms that, without the necessary study of the case to establish a final diagnosis, point perhaps equally to two or more diseases or to two or more systems of the body. Practically all categories in the chapter could be designated 'not otherwise specified', 'unknown etiology' or 'transient'. The Alphabetical Index should be consulted to determine which symptoms and signs are to be allocated here and which to other chapters. The residual subcategories, numbered .8, are generally provided for other relevant symptoms that cannot be allocated elsewhere in the classification.The conditions and signs or symptoms included in categoriesICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code R00
        Abnormalities of heart beat 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Non-Billable/Non-Specific Code Type 1 Excludes abnormalities originating in the perinatal period (P29.1-) Type 2 Excludes specified arrhythmias (I47-I49)R00-ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code R94
        Abnormal results of function studies 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Non-Billable/Non-Specific Code Includes abnormal results of radionuclide [radioisotope] uptake studiesabnormal results of scintigraphyR94 consist of:(a) cases for which no more specific diagnosis can be made even after all the facts bearing on the case have been investigated;(b) signs or symptoms existing at the time of initial encounter that proved to be transient and whose causes could not be determined;(c) provisional diagnosis in a patient who failed to return for further investigation or care;(d) cases referred elsewhere for investigation or treatment before the diagnosis was made;(e) cases in which a more precise diagnosis was not available for any other reason;(f) certain symptoms, for which supplementary information is provided, that represent important problems in medical care in their own right. Type 2 ExcludesType 2 Excludes Help
        A type 2 excludes note represents "not included here". A type 2 excludes note indicates that the condition excluded is not part of the condition it is excluded from but a patient may have both conditions at the same time. When a type 2 excludes note appears under a code it is acceptable to use both the code ( R00-R99 ) and the excluded code together.
        abnormal findings on antenatal screening of mother (ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code O28
        O28 Abnormal findings on antenatal screening of m... O28.0 Abnormal hematological finding on antenatal s... O28.1 Abnormal biochemical finding on antenatal scr... O28.2 Abnormal cytological finding on antenatal scr... O28.3 Abnormal ultrasonic finding on antenatal scre... O28.4 Abnormal radiological finding on antenatal sc... O28.5 Abnormal chromosomal and genetic finding on a... O28.8 Other abnormal findings on antenatal screenin... O28.9 Unspecified abnormal findings on antenatal sc... O28.-)certain conditions originating in the perinatal period (ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code P04
        Newborn affected by noxious substances transmitted via placenta or breast milk 2016 2017 - Revised Code 2018 2019 2020 2021 Non-Billable/Non-Specific Code Includes nonteratogenic effects of substances transmitted via placenta Type 2 Excludes congenital malformations (Q00-Q99)encounter for observation of newborn for suspected diseases and conditions ruled out (Z05.-)neonatal jaundice from excessive hemolysis due to drugs or toxins transmitted from mother (P58.4)newborn in contact with and (suspected) exposures hazardous to health not transmitted via placenta or breast milk (Z77.-)P04-ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code P96
        Other conditions originating in the perinatal period 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Non-Billable/Non-Specific Code P96)signs and symptoms classified in the body system chapterssigns and symptoms of breast (ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code N63
        Unspecified lump in breast 2016 2017 2018 - Converted to Parent Code 2019 2020 2021 Non-Billable/Non-Specific Code Applicable To Nodule(s) NOS in breastN63,ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code N64.5
        Other signs and symptoms in breast 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Non-Billable/Non-Specific Code Type 2 Excludes abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging of breast (R92.-)N64.5)Codes
        R00-R09 Symptoms and signs involving the circulatory and respiratory systems R10-R19 Symptoms and signs involving the digestive system and abdomen R20-R23 Symptoms and signs involving the skin and subcutaneous tissue R25-R29 Symptoms and signs involving the nervous and musculoskeletal systems R30-R39 Symptoms and signs involving the genitourinary system R40-R46 Symptoms and signs involving cognition, perception, emotional state and behavior R47-R49 Symptoms and signs involving speech and voice R50-R69 General symptoms and signs R70-R79 Abnormal findings on examination of blood, without diagnosis R80-R82 Abnormal findings on examination of urine, without diagnosis R83-R89 Abnormal findings on examination of other body fluids, substances and tissues, without diagnosis R90-R94 Abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging and in function studies, without diagnosis R97-R97 Abnormal tumor markers R99-R99 Ill-defined and unknown cause of mortality ICD-10-CM Range R00-R09
        Symptoms and signs involving the circulatory and respiratory systemsR00 Abnormalities of heart beatR01 Cardiac murmurs and other cardiac soundsR03 Abnormal blood-pressure reading, without...R04 Hemorrhage from respiratory passagesR05 CoughR06 Abnormalities of breathingR07 Pain in throat and chestR09 Other symptoms and signs involving the c... ICD-10-CM Range R10-R19
        Symptoms and signs involving the digestive system and abdomen Type 2 Excludes congenital or infantile pylorospasm (Q40.0)gastrointestinal hemorrhage (K92.0-K92.2)intestinal obstruction (K56.-)newborn gastrointestinal hemorrhage (P54.0-P54.3)newborn intestinal obstruction (P76.-)pylorospasm (K31.3)signs and symptoms involving the urinary system (R30-R39)symptoms referable to female genital organs (N94.-)symptoms referable to male genital organs (N48-N50)R10 Abdominal and pelvic painR11 Nausea and vomitingR12 HeartburnR13 Aphagia and dysphagiaR14 Flatulence and related conditionsR15 Fecal incontinenceR16 Hepatomegaly and splenomegaly, not elsew...R17 Unspecified jaundiceR18 AscitesR19 Other symptoms and signs involving the d... ICD-10-CM Range R20-R23
        Symptoms and signs involving the skin and subcutaneous tissue Type 2 Excludes symptoms relating to breast (N64.4-N64.5)R20 Disturbances of skin sensationR21 Rash and other nonspecific skin eruptionR22 Localized swelling, mass and lump of ski...R23 Other skin changes ICD-10-CM Range R25-R29
        Symptoms and signs involving the nervous and musculoskeletal systemsR25 Abnormal involuntary movementsR26 Abnormalities of gait and mobilityR27 Other lack of coordinationR29 Other symptoms and signs involving the n... ICD-10-CM Range R30-R39
        Symptoms and signs involving the genitourinary systemR30 Pain associated with micturitionR31 HematuriaR32 Unspecified urinary incontinenceR33 Retention of urineR34 Anuria and oliguriaR35 PolyuriaR36 Urethral dischargeR37 Sexual dysfunction, unspecifiedR39 Other and unspecified symptoms and signs... ICD-10-CM Range R40-R46
        Symptoms and signs involving cognition, perception, emotional state and behavior Type 2 Excludes symptoms and signs constituting part of a pattern of mental disorder (F01-F99)R40 Somnolence, stupor and comaR41 Other symptoms and signs involving cogni...R42 Dizziness and giddinessR43 Disturbances of smell and tasteR44 Other symptoms and signs involving gener...R45 Symptoms and signs involving emotional s...R46 Symptoms and signs involving appearance ... ICD-10-CM Range R47-R49
        Symptoms and signs involving speech and voiceR47 Speech disturbances, not elsewhere class...R48 Dyslexia and other symbolic dysfunctions...R49 Voice and resonance disorders ICD-10-CM Range R50-R69
        General symptoms and signsR50 Fever of other and unknown originR51 HeadacheR52 Pain, unspecifiedR53 Malaise and fatigueR54 Age-related physical debilityR55 Syncope and collapseR56 Convulsions, not elsewhere classifiedR57 Shock, not elsewhere classifiedR58 Hemorrhage, not elsewhere classifiedR59 Enlarged lymph nodesR60 Edema, not elsewhere classifiedR61 Generalized hyperhidrosisR62 Lack of expected normal physiological de...R63 Symptoms and signs concerning food and f...R64 CachexiaR65 Symptoms and signs specifically associat...R68 Other general symptoms and signsR69 Illness, unspecified ICD-10-CM Range R70-R79
        Abnormal findings on examination of blood, without diagnosis Type 2 Excludes abnormal findings on antenatal screening of mother (O28.-)abnormalities of lipids (E78.-)abnormalities of platelets and thrombocytes (D69.-)abnormalities of white blood cells classified elsewhere (D70-D72)coagulation hemorrhagic disorders (D65-D68)diagnostic abnormal findings classified elsewhere - see Alphabetical Indexhemorrhagic and hematological disorders of newborn (P50-P61)R70 Elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate ...R71 Abnormality of red blood cellsR73 Elevated blood glucose levelR74 Abnormal serum enzyme levelsR75 Inconclusive laboratory evidence of huma...R76 Other abnormal immunological findings in...R77 Other abnormalities of plasma proteinsR78 Findings of drugs and other substances, ...R79 Other abnormal findings of blood chemist... ICD-10-CM Range R80-R82
        Abnormal findings on examination of urine, without diagnosis Type 1 Excludes abnormal findings on antenatal screening of mother (O28.-)diagnostic abnormal findings classified elsewhere - see Alphabetical Indexspecific findings indicating disorder of amino-acid metabolism (E70-E72)specific findings indicating disorder of carbohydrate metabolism (E73-E74)R80 ProteinuriaR81 GlycosuriaR82 Other and unspecified abnormal findings ... ICD-10-CM Range R83-R89
        Abnormal findings on examination of other body fluids, substances and tissues, without diagnosis Type 1 Excludes abnormal findings on antenatal screening of mother (O28.-)diagnostic abnormal findings classified elsewhere - see Alphabetical Index Type 2 Excludes abnormal findings on examination of blood, without diagnosis (R70-R79)abnormal findings on examination of urine, without diagnosis (R80-R82)abnormal tumor markers (R97.-)R83 Abnormal findings in cerebrospinal fluidR84 Abnormal findings in specimens from resp...R85 Abnormal findings in specimens from dige...R86 Abnormal findings in specimens from male...R87 Abnormal findings in specimens from fema...R88 Abnormal findings in other body fluids a...R89 Abnormal findings in specimens from othe... ICD-10-CM Range R90-R94
        Abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging and in function studies, without diagnosis Includes nonspecific abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging by computerized axial tomography [CAT scan]nonspecific abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging by magnetic resonance imaging [MRI][NMR]nonspecific abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging by positron emission tomography [PET scan]nonspecific abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging by thermographynonspecific abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging by ultrasound [echogram]nonspecific abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging by X-ray examination Type 1 Excludes abnormal findings on antenatal screening of mother (O28.-)diagnostic abnormal findings classified elsewhere - see Alphabetical IndexR90 Abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging ...R91 Abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging ...R92 Abnormal and inconclusive findings on di...R93 Abnormal findings on diagnostic imaging ...R94 Abnormal results of function studies ICD-10-CM Range R97-R97
        Abnormal tumor markersR97 Abnormal tumor markers ICD-10-CM Range R99-R99
        Ill-defined and unknown cause of mortalityR99 Ill-defined and unknown cause of mortali... A00-Z99 Q00-Q99ICD-10-CM Range Q00-Q99
        Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalitiesQ00-Q07 Congenital malformations of the nervous ...Q10-Q18 Congenital malformations of eye, ear, fa...Q20-Q28 Congenital malformations of the circulat...Q30-Q34 Congenital malformations of the respirat...Q35-Q37 Cleft lip and cleft palateQ38-Q45 Other congenital malformations of the di...Q50-Q56 Congenital malformations of genital orga...Q60-Q64 Congenital malformations of the urinary ...Q65-Q79 Congenital malformations and deformation...Q80-Q89 Other congenital malformationsQ90-Q99 Chromosomal abnormalities, not elsewhere...ICD10Data.comS00-T88ICD-10-CM Range S00-T88
        Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causesS00-S09 Injuries to the headS10-S19 Injuries to the neckS20-S29 Injuries to the thoraxS30-S39 Injuries to the abdomen, lower back, lum...S40-S49 Injuries to the shoulder and upper armS50-S59 Injuries to the elbow and forearmS60-S69 Injuries to the wrist, hand and fingersS70-S79 Injuries to the hip and thighS80-S89 Injuries to the knee and lower legS90-S99 Injuries to the ankle and footT07-T07 Injuries involving multiple body regionsT14-T14 Injury of unspecified body regionT15-T19 Effects of foreign body entering through...T20-T25 Burns and corrosions of external body su...T26-T28 Burns and corrosions confined to eye and...T30-T32 Burns and corrosions of multiple and uns...T33-T34 FrostbiteT36-T50 Poisoning by, adverse effect of and unde...T51-T65 Toxic effects of substances chiefly nonm...T66-T78 Other and unspecified effects of externa...T79-T79 Certain early complications of traumaT80-T88 Complications of surgical and medical ca...
      Bitcoin in Afghanistan: Cryptocurrency, the Taliban, and capital flight
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 21:44
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        For many Afghans, this week has laid bare the worst-case scenario for a country running on legacy financial rails: A nationwide cash shortage, closed borders, a plunging currency, and rapidly rising prices of basic goods.In some ways, it's a perfect test case for the usefulness of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. CNBC spoke with several Afghans who are using crypto to learn how they got into it, how it's helping them, and barriers to further adoption. Crypto trader and vlogger Farhan Hotak traveling to the Shah Wali Kot District in Afghanistan.
        Farhan Hotak isn't your typical 22 year-old Afghan.
        In the last week, he helped his family of ten flee the province of Zabul in southern Afghanistan and travel 97 miles to a city on the Pakistani border. But unlike others choosing to leave the country, once his relatives were in safe hands, Hotak then turned around and came back so that he could protect his family home '' and vlog to his thousands of Instagram followers about the evolving situation on the ground in Afghanistan.
        He has also been keeping a very close eye on his crypto portfolio on Binance, as the local currency touches record lows and nationwide bank closures make it next to impossible to withdraw cash.
        "In Afghanistan, we don't have platforms like PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle, so I have to depend on other things," said Hotak.
        Afghanistan still mostly operates as a cash economy, so money in Hotak's crypto wallet won't help him put dinner on his table tonight, but it does give him peace of mind that some of his wealth is safeguarded against economic instability at home.
        It also offers bigger promises down the road: Access to the global economy from inside Afghanistan, certain protections against spiraling inflation, and crucially, the opportunity to make a bet on himself and a future he didn't think was possible before learning about bitcoin.
        "I have very, very, very limited resources to do anything. I'm interested in the crypto world, because I have earned a lot, and I see a lot of potential in myself that I can go further," he said.
        Run on the banksFor many Afghans, this week has laid bare the worst-case scenario for a country running on legacy financial rails: A nationwide cash shortage, closed borders, a plunging currency, and rapidly rising prices of basic goods.
        Many banks were forced to shutter their doors after running out of cash this week. Photos featuring hundreds of Kabul residents crowding outside branches in a futile effort to draw money from their accounts went viral.
        Afghan people line up outside AZIZI Bank to take out cash as the Bank suffers amid money crises in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 15, 2021.
        Haroon Sabawoon | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
        "There's no bank I can go to right now, no ATM," said Ali Latifi, a journalist born and based in Kabul. "I live above two banks and three ATM machines, but they've been off since Thursday," said Latifi, referring to the Thursday before the palace ouster.
        Without an authority helming the Central Bank, it appears that printing cash to cover the shortfall isn't an option, at least in the short-term.
        The Western Union has suspended all services and even the centuries-old "hawala" system '' which facilitates cross-border transactions via a sophisticated network of money exchangers and personal contacts '' for now, remains closed.
        Sangar Paykhar, a Kabul native currently living in the Netherlands, has been in constant touch with relatives there in recent weeks. He said that many who live paycheck to paycheck were, at first, borrowing money from others to get by, but now, those able to lend out cash have started conserving their funds.
        "They've realized the regime has collapsed" and that those they are lending to "might not have a job tomorrow," said Paykhar.
        A few days before the Taliban entered Kabul, Musa Ramin was among the people who queued outside a bank in a fruitless attempt to withdraw cash. But unlike other Afghans in line with him that day, months earlier, he had invested a portion of his net worth into crypto. Ramin had been burned before by a rapidly depreciating currency, and decentralized digital money had proven to be a trusted safeguard.
        In 2020, on what was meant to be a brief layover on a trip from London to Kabul, Ramin got stuck in Turkey. A one-week, mandatory Covid quarantine ballooned into six months.
        "I converted all my money to the lira," he said. After the Turkish currency began to spiral, Ramin said his capital was cut in half, and he was forced to conserve it. "That is when I discovered bitcoin."
        With all flights cancelled and no other options for departure, Ramin realized he needed to find alternative ways to support himself while stranded in Turkey during the pandemic-related shutdown. That's when he started trading crypto.
        "At first, I lost a lot of money," he said. But he's since gotten the swing of managing his digital assets, thanks to Twitter and tutorials on YouTube.
        Musa Ramin at the Royal Opera House in London, just before his six-month quarantine in Turkey.
        Even after returning to Kabul, the 27 year-old says he put all his focus into trading crypto. 80% of his crypto capital is in spot exposure, primarily in major coins, like bitcoin, ethereum, and binance coin. The other 20% he uses to trade futures.
        "I was making more money in crypto in a month than in construction in a year," said Ramin, though he did acknowledge the risk that's involved. "It's easy making money in crypto but keeping that wealth is the difficult part."
        Despite that volatility, Ramin still sees crypto as the safest place to park his cash. "If a government isn't formed quickly, we might see a Venezuela-type situation here," Ramin told CNBC. He feels virtual tokens are his safest hedge against political uncertainty and plans to increase his exposure to digital currencies in the coming year to as much as 40% of his total net worth.
        Ramin isn't alone in his thinking. Google trends data shows that web searches in Afghanistan for "bitcoin" and "crypto" rose sharply in July just before the coup in Kabul. That said, because this tool is a measure of interest, the spike could be referring to 10 searches or it could be 100,000.
        But in a country that has long relied on physical cash for virtually all transactions, not many people have the option to let their savings sit in a bank account, let alone a digital wallet.
        Just take Hotak. He lives in a remote part of Afghanistan where there are no ATMs or bank branches nearby. That means he has to keep a lot of physical cash on hand, in order to cover daily expenses. "Afghanistan is an unexpected country, and you have to be ready for anything," he said.
        While Hotak thinks that crypto is his future, for now, the bulk of his income comes from day labor jobs, like shoveling, brick work, digging wells, and running a tailor shop that makes clothes."Zabul is not a very developed city. It's a village, so that's how I earn," he said.
        Signs of a growing crypto economyIt's hard to get insight into crypto adoption in Afghanistan.
        Beyond the fact that measuring cryptocurrency adoption at the grassroots level isn't easy, people actively go out of their way to hide who they are.
        Some Afghans, for example, will conceal their IP address by using a virtual private network, or VPN, in order to mask their geographic digital footprint.
        And unlike many crypto boosters '' who tend to be vocal and community-driven '' digital currency supporters inside Afghanistan often don't want others to know they exist.
        "The crypto community in Afghanistan is very small," said Hotak. "They actually don't want to meet each other." He thinks that could change if the political situation normalizes, but "for now, everyone just wants to stay hidden until things are nice."
        However, new research from blockchain data firm Chainalysis is offering fresh optics on the country's apparently burgeoning peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto network, which is increasingly the most telling metric of adoption in Afghanistan. Hotak, as well as his friends, use Binance's P2P exchange, which allows them to buy and sell their coins directly with other users on the platform.
        Chainalysis' 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index gives Afghanistan a rank of 20 out of the 154 countries it evaluated in terms of overall crypto adoption. And when you isolate for its P2P exchange trade volume, Afghanistan jumps up to seventh place. That's a big move in just 12 months: Last year, Chainalysis considered Afghanistan's crypto presence to be so minimal as to entirely exclude it from its 2020 ranking.
        "Afghanistan on top makes sense from a capital controls point of view, given it's hard to move money in and out," explained Boaz Sobrado, a London-based fintech data analyst.
        And some experts tell CNBC that Chainalysis could actually be underestimating its overall adoption.
        "Unlike many other countries, sanctioned nations don't have good and clear data on P2P markets," explained Sobrado. He says that is partly to do with the fact that it is harder to track those transactions.
        Afghan currency traders at a central money market in Kabul.
        Getty
        There are other anecdotal signs of adoption across the country.
        Nearly a decade ago, sisters and Afghan entrepreneurs Elaha and Roya '' both of whom had a focus on computer science at Herat University '' founded the Digital Citizen Fund, an NGO that helps women and girls in developing countries gain access to technology. The organization has 11 women-only IT centers in Herat and another two in Kabul, where they teach 16,000 females everything from essential computer skills to blockchain technology.
        Before classes were suspended earlier this week, creating a crypto wallet was also part of the curriculum. Elaha Mahboob tells CNBC that some students have chosen to secure their money in crypto accounts and a few have specifically started investing in bitcoin and ethereum in order to achieve their long-term financial goals.
        "This is especially important as they don't have to worry about not having access to their money, because major banks in Afghanistan have closed," Mahboob said.
        A few Digital Citizen Fund participants have left the country and used the crypto accounts they made in class as a way to transfer their money out.
        Afghanistan's exposure to the cryptosphere was also taking place inside the presidential palace. Blockchain company Fantom told CNBC it had been working in tandem with the previous government.
        One such project with the Ministry of Health involved piloting blockchain technology to track counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Fantom says the pilot "concluded successfully," and they had been preparing for national rollout before the Taliban took over.
        Then there's Sweden-based Bitrefill, an online marketplace that helps customers live on cryptocurrency by exchanging digital coins like bitcoin or dogecoin for gift cards with partner merchants. In Afghanistan, the card offerings include multiple mobile phone service providers, games such as Fortnite and Minecraft, Hotels.com, and Flightgift, which can be redeemed for flights with 300 international airlines.
        While the company wouldn't share sales numbers on the record with CNBC, Bitrefill does have the endorsement of Janey Gak, who uses it to top up her phone. Her Twitter account has become a must-follow for those who want to understand the situation on the ground through her eyes, but she's also evangelizing the power of bitcoin to transform the country.
        "I'm just an ordinary person. I'm not anyone special," she said. "I am just someone who discovered bitcoin a couple of years ago."
        In 2018, Gak '-- who goes by the name "Bibi Janey" '-- started a Facebook page as a hobby to see what Afghans thought of bitcoin. "I remember getting a lot of comments and questions like, 'Can you explain more?'" she said. "People would be fascinated by it, but they would be so confused." She also got lots of questions about where to buy bitcoin.
        Since entering this world, she has learned how to code and reads as much as she can about bitcoin. "I don't trade, I don't do any of that," she said. "I just make some money here and there and save it in bitcoin."
        Through her research, she's come to the conclusion that in order for Afghanistan to be a truly sovereign state, it must never borrow money '' and adopt a bitcoin standard. To foment wider adoption, Gak commissions articles to be translated to local languages.
        "It's not much, but it's a start," she told CNBC.
        DIY crypto railsThe on-ramp to participating in the crypto economy in Afghanistan is complicated and there are still multiple barriers to entry.
        Access to the internet, while growing, remains low. There were 8.64 million internet users in Afghanistan in January 2021, according to DataReportal.com and internet penetration stood at 22%.
        Unreliable electricity poses another major issue, as power outages are common. "Power goes out once every day for a couple of hours," said Ramin, though he noted that it happens in some parts of Kabul more often than others.
        When CNBC first spoke to Hotak, he was seated near one of the land-crossings into Pakistan, tapping into a WiFi network across the border. "We don't have proper internet on the Afghanistan side," he explained.
        Hotak also uses solar power to charge his phone, given the country's long-standing issue with electricity outages.
        Electricity and a stable internet connection are two essential rails for widespread crypto adoption. Also critical is having access to some form of online banking or a credit card that is recognized internationally '' which again, poses a big problem for many Afghans. Eighty-five percent of the country is unbanked, according to one U.N. estimate, meaning they do not have a bank account.
        So people wishing to deal in crypto have to get creative.
        Hotak and some of his contacts enlist the help of family and friends in neighboring Pakistan or across the Gulf of Oman in the United Arab Emirates, where they have easier access to global markets.
        "It's very easy in Pakistan," he said. "Most people have relatives in Dubai, who buy crypto for them using their credit cards."
        When the person then wants to liquidate their crypto stake, relatives will sell it for them and use the hawala system, an honor-based system of credit common in Asia and the Middle East, to transfer the funds across the border to Afghanistan. The strategy requires a great deal of trust. In the case of Hotak, his friend in Pakistan doubles as his crypto broker.
        "He is a very, very close friend. He has his details on the account that I use, so we could say that it's his account, but I use it," Hotak said of the arrangement.
        The Salma Hydroelectric Dam in Herat, Afghanistan, is close to the Iran border.
        Getty
        Trust is also key when it comes to judging the quality of trading tips. "There's a lot of scammers on YouTube and Twitter," warned Ramin. When he first started off, he would spend most of his money buying coins promoted by people looking for exit liquidity. "That's why I stopped trading small-cap coins."
        Hotak, on the other hand, has found a reliable online community that offers him sound trading advice.
        "There's a few groups on Telegram, WhatsApp, and there's even a Pakistani community on Facebook I follow that gives me the signals to sell. I follow them, and it's been good so far," said Hotak.
        Brokers advertising crypto services on Facebook appear to be operating across the country. Hotak visited one in Herat in early 2020. He went to interview for a job there and says the two-story data center was packed with boys, mostly aged 20 to 25.
        "They were all university people," he said. "They all had smartphones in their hands, and they were just scrolling down and down."
        CNBC has not spoken with any of these brokerages directly, but Hotak says the site he visited in Herat is still going. Hotak also says that Herat is home to a bitcoin mining farm.
        "They had these very big CPUs. Very advanced," he said. But Hotak tells CNBC he didn't get to see the entire operation. "I just got a little glimpse of it."
        Blockchain analysts Lorne Lantz and Rieya Piscano say they looked at various data sources and found no sign of bitcoin or ethereum nodes running in Afghanistan, so it is unclear whether this miner in Herat has covered his online footprint, or whether he's cut off his rigs.
        Even with all of these workarounds, the political turmoil of the last few weeks doesn't make it easy to find time to think about crypto.
        "The reality is I cannot focus on crypto trading when the ongoing events in Afghanistan are this intense," said Hotak. "With no electricity and bad internet, crypto trading is near to impossible, so we just hold."
        Crypto trader and vlogger Farhan Hotak in Herat, Afghanistan.
        Path to mass adoptionOn Aug. 15, an hour and a half before Ramin's flight bound for Turkey was due to take off, then-President Ghani arrived to the airport in Kabul. After that, Ramin says that all flights were halted and everyone was kicked out.
        Ramin still has plans to leave, along with his family. But finding a flight is proving to be difficult. He's used his now dwindling supply of afghanis to purchase flights for ten members of his family. He's done this three times, and all three times, the flights were canceled. With travel agencies shut, he remains in a bit of a holding pattern on the ground in Kabul.
        Ramin is one among many looking to leave the country. Every media outlet on the planet has been circulating the same photos of Afghans clinging to planes, fleeing the country with whatever possessions they can carry. For several, this has meant having to leave a lot behind.
        Ramin estimates that around 5-10% of his net worth is in crypto, which makes it easier to plan an exit, knowing that there is some money in the bank to tide him over, especially since he doesn't know if he will ever see the money in his bank accounts in Kabul.
        "If some type of government doesn't come to existence, then I could potentially see the majority of my wealth being wiped out," he said. For now, he and his family are just sitting tight, waiting to catch a flight out.
        But many people are staying put, in part because they want to foment positive change at home.
        "In these circumstances, one can fully appreciate the censorship-resistance property of blockchain-based assets. I believe this is the main driver of the fundamental value of bitcoin and other cryptos," said Andrea Barbon, Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of St. Gallen.
        Gak, for example, thinks that using legacy financial rails like the hawala system might be one of the most effective ways to foster mass adoption. It is a vision she detailed in a prescient story she wrote for Hacker Noon in 2018.
        She's also thinking about opening her own exchange shop in Kabul. "The idea is that anyone with bitcoin can exchange it for fiat and then use that to buy goods like always. Anyone who is unable to receive can have their family for example, send the bitcoin to me with a unique address that only the recipient would know just like hawala," she explained in a tweet.
        Ramin has a similar plan to make crypto more accessible to Afghans. "I hope once I gain more knowledge in blockchain technology to create a team and develop an easily accessible trading platform which Afghans can use," he said.
        There are promising trends on their side. The number of social media users in Afghanistan increased by 22% from 2020 to 2021, and 68.7% of the total population now has a mobile phone connection, according to DataReportal.com. It helps that more than 60% of the population is under 25 and hungry to be a part of the modern economy. Shakib Noori, previously the CEO of a mobile money company in Afghanistan, says this younger demographic also tends to be more tech savvy.
        Ultimately, CNBC is told that grassroots adoption comes down to one Afghan teaching another about how cryptocurrencies like bitcoin work. Hotak has already mentored three students, and that's just the beginning.
        "The Afghan people '' they're very complicated. And it's very hard convincing them that digital currency exists," he said. "I have plans to teach people about cryptocurrency in the future...but for now, people are just laying low and waiting to see what happens next."
        Evacuees crowd the interior of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan August 15, 2021.
        Courtesy of Defense One | Handout via Reuters
      EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood Crew Members Reject Vaccine Mandates, Plan To Rebel Against Biden-Connected Union Leadership - National File
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 16:49
        Hollywood crew members are planning to rebel against leadership of the IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) if the union leaders do not stand against all vaccine mandates, according to a letter circulated to union members that has been obtained by NATIONAL FILE. The anti-forced vaccine crew members are planning to hold up contract negotiations and to vote against current IATSE leadership in all future elections if the leaders promote the ''atrocity'' of vaccine mandates. Current IATSE president Matthew Loeb recently wrote a letter to Joe Biden volunteering the union and its members to work with the Biden White House in building field ''vaccinations sites.'' IATSE recently made a short-term agreement allowing Hollywood studios to mandate the Coronavirus injection on studio sets. The union represents more than 140,000 professionals in the entertainment industry.Our source tells us: ''There is an anonymous letter circulated amongst Hollywood IATSE crews via text message. Seems Hollywood union crew members are fed up with their leadership and are now organizing AGAINST their own unions. They are angry about the mandates. Hollywood may lose a bunch of its workers.''
        An urgent message to all the 13 IATSE West Coast Locals currently negotiating our new union contract.Local 44 - Local 80 - Local 600 - Local 695 - Local 700 - Local 705 - Local 706 - Local 728 - Local 729 - Local 800 - Local 871 - Local 884 - Local 892August 2021,Dear Representatives,We feel compelled to write about recent concerns we have. Both on our behalf and for all of our co-workers. We hope the points presented can be taken with an open mind and as a warning for dangerous future legal risks our union might be accepting.To that end, the following two items are REQUIRED to earn a yes vote from ALL of us. 'ƒ Complete rejection of any and all vaccine mandates 'ƒ Complete rejection of any and all vaccine status inquiries by employer (note: this specifically includes Complete rejection of any visible marking of crew members with colored stickers or similar - incredibly violating)Omission of either from any new contract will require us to immediately vote NO for any new contract. We have no choice in this. For us, this is non-negotiable, there is no possible compromise, and this is essentially a ''one issue'' contract. Forcing people to give up freedom over their own bodies is unacceptable and goes against every value this country, and all of humanity, cherishes and protects.If a contract is presented without these two essential provisions, we will also be voting against all current leadership in every future election if they promote this atrocity. To us, that would be an inexcusable betrayal of the responsibility of representation, something that could not forgotten or forgiven.It is already unconscionable that in the recent RTW update our unions agreed to allow production companies to mandate an Experimental Gene Therapy as a condition of employment. According to widespread international adoption of the Nuremberg Code decades ago, this is officially classified as a ''Crime Against Humanity''.Does IATSE really want to open itself up legally to liability for future lawsuits? The risk of this is real and would bankrupt the union along with all of our pension accounts. We are worried that the union is already at liability risk with the recent RTW agreement and suggest it be retracted immediately with all references to vaccine mandates removed.You may have heard the argument that we are free to choose another job, so it is not really a ''mandate''. That is inaccurate in the eyes of the law, which clearly states any groups, not just governments, mandating OR coercing participation in Medical Experiments are equally culpable and guilty of crimes. Manufacturers have been granted immunity from liability decades ago. That protection does not extend to employers or unions. If a member is coerced into participating in Medical Experiments to keep their job and suffers a debilitating injury, or death, the employers and the unions collaborating in this coercion are BOTH liable and could be sued. Another glaring source of future liability is any representative verbally or in writing claiming that these Experimental shots are ''safe''. Members are being told by their business managers to just get the shot because it is ''safe'' and "not a big deal''.The safety has NOT YET been determined, these Medical Experiments are UNAPPROVED by the FDA. They are currently only AUTHORIZED FOR USE under an ''Emergency Use Authorization''. That is NOT equivalent to being APPROVED for ''safe'' use.The safety is still being vigorously debated on a global stage. As of 7/30/2021 (8 months of Covid shots) there have been 12,366 DEATHS associated with these Covid Experimental Gene Therapy shots reported to the national Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). To put this into perspective, that number is 50% more than ALL OTHER vaccine related reported deaths COMBINED (8,858) since the beginning of the VAERS database 30 YEARS AGO. In only 8 months.Union representatives should STOP using the word "safe" to coerce the members you represent into participating in a Medical Experiment. This is not a grey area legally. It is a crime to try and convince someone that any of these Medical Experiments are ''safe''. It is still conceivable that in the future we find out these shots don't work. On Friday, August 6th, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky stunned many viewers of CNN with the following shocker: "Our vaccines are working exceptionally well. They continue to work well for Delta in regard to severe illness and death being prevented. BUT WHAT THEY CAN'T DO ANYMORE IS PREVENT TRANSMISSION." So, why then are we mandating shots that don't prevent covid from spreading. What is the point of that? This new development suggests that these shots aren't as protective as previously thought. We could still eventually find out that they are dangerous. You need only research the risk of ''Pathogenic Priming'' or ''Antibody Dependent Enhancement'' that medical professionals and clinical experts have been warning us for almost a year might present with this type of Experimental Gene Therapy. Union representatives using terminology now such as ''safe'' open the union up to legal liability in the future.Safety debates aside, we are not asking that as a union we collectively decide about the potential dangers and/or efficacy of the vaccine'...that may never be agreed upon, even by some of the smartest minds in Medicine. We are only asking you to seriously consider the fact that at the end of the day there are certain inalienable rights that simply must never be violated, no matter what you believe. Even those of us who have gotten one of these shots agree that what we put into our body (especially things that can't be removed, ever) and the decision on whether or not to participate in any medical treatment must remain a PRIVATE and PERSONAL decision between a patient and their doctor. Mandating such participation is unacceptable. There is a large constituency of members that completely rejects this coercion and will vehemently vote against it. We would have seen this already if the recent RTW agreement was put up for a vote.Consider this precedent being set: We draw up papers with a lawyer demanding information on the status of all other employees' health conditions in regards to other forms of communicable diseases. Demanding information on employees with AIDS, hepatitis, flu, STDs measles, mumps, and so on, then force the employers to make immediate policies to section off employees who have any illness that can be spread, including the common cold, and maybe wear a colored sticker that indicates which illness they have. If an employer is going to take responsibility in stopping the spread of covid-19, they will then be liable for the spread of anything else. Is this the future you want for our industry? It is an absurdity. What possible madness is next in this fear driven mania? Those of you casually conceding to these demands may not like the future consequences. Don't let fear drive us to bad decisions for some unrealized promised safety."They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither."We are prepared and resolute in our commitment to fully walk away from this industry if it goes down this dark path. We could not in good conscience support a union or an industry promoting these human rights abuses. We love this business; we feel we are a part of something that actually does change the world (some of us for decades). However, we can't contribute to an industry if it is promoting crimes against humanity. These policies being pushed are immoral, and considering the influence Hollywood exerts over most of the world, these policies are a threat to all of humanity. We refuse to be a part of that. With the global stage we occupy, what we should be doing is setting an ethical example and be united to reject human rights abuses.We believe the IA does have its members best interests at heart. Lately, we have seen some horrible decisions that can only be attributed to woeful misinformation and likely terrible advice. We are writing with the intent of saving our union because we all love it and love our careers in this industry. With the recently updated RTW agreement (un-voted on by the membership), IATSE is showing it is being irresponsible with its members physical safety and financial security. We are sincerely hoping now you find the courage to correct this mistake. Please REACH OUT and talk to members about this issue. That is something that hasn't been happening enough lately. We think you will find a vast majority completely reject a policy that forces or coerces Medical Experiments and treatments on members as a condition of employment. There are a lot of us that believe this. Please keep us all working. Don't jeopardize the ratification of a hard-earned contract with one bad decision. Stand up for what is right, just, and ethical, and the members will rally and align with you. Please do the right thing, and don't force us to walk away from an amazing industry.Thank you for your time.In Solidarity,Southern California Concerned IATSE Union Crew Members"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."(I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery)---------------
      COVID: 90% of patients treated with new Israeli drug discharged in 5 days - The Jerusalem Post
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 16:44
        Some 93% of 90 coronavirus serious patients treated in
        several Greek hospitals with a new drug developed by a team at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center as part of the Phase II trial of the treatment were discharged in five days or fewer.
        The Phase II trial confirmed the results of Phase I, which was conducted in Israel last winter and saw 29 out of 30 patients in moderate to serious condition recover within days.
        ''The main goal of this study was to verify that the drug is safe,'' Prof. Nadir Arber said. ''To this day we have not registered any significant side effect in any patient from both groups.''
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        if(window.location.pathname.indexOf("656089") != -1){document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";}else if(window.location.pathname.indexOf("/israel-news/") != -1){ document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none"; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js'; script.setAttribute('pubname','jpostcom'); script.setAttribute('widgetname','0011r00001lcD1i_12258'); document.getElementsByClassName('divAnyClip')[0].appendChild(script);}The trial was conducted in Athens because Israel did not have enough relevant patients. The principal investigator was Greece's coronavirus commissioner, Prof. Sotiris Tsiodras.
        Arber and his team, including Dr. Shiran Shapira, developed the drug based on a molecule that the professor has been studying for 25 years called CD24, which is naturally present in the body.
        ''It is important to remember that 19 out of 20
        COVID-19 patients do not need any therapy,'' Arber said. ''After a window of five to 12 days, some 5% of the patients start to deteriorate.''
        The main cause of the clinical deterioration is an over activation of the immune system, also known as a cytokine storm. In case of COVID-19 patients, the system starts attacking healthy cells in the lungs.
        ''This is exactly the problem that our drug targets,'' he said.
        CD24 is a small protein that is anchored to the membrane of the cells and it serves many functions including regulating the mechanism responsible for the cytokine storm.
        Arber stressed that their treatment, EXO-CD24, does not affect the immune system as a whole, but only targets this specific mechanism, helping find again its correct balance.
        ''This is precision medicine,'' he said. ''We are very happy that we have found a tool to tackle the physiology of the disease.''
        ''Steroids for example shut down the entire immune system,'' he further explained. ''We are balancing the part responsible for the cytokine storms using the endogenous mechanism of the body, meaning tools offered by the body itself.''
        Arber noted that another breakthrough element of this treatment is its delivery.
        ''We are employing exosomes, very small vesicles derived from the membrane of the cells which are responsible for the exchange of information between them,'' he said.
        ''By managing to deliver them exactly where they are needed, we avoid many side effects,'' he added.
        The team is now ready to launch the last phase of the study.
        ''As promising as the findings of the first phases of a treatment can be, no one can be sure of anything until results are compared to the ones of patients who receive a placebo,'' he said.
        Some 155 coronavirus patients will take part in the study. Two-thirds of them will be administered the drug, and one-third a placebo.
        The study will be conducted in Israel and it might be also carried out in other places if the number of patients in the country will not suffice.
        ''We hope to complete it by the end of the year,'' Arber said.
        If the results are confirmed, he vowed that the treatment can be made available relatively quickly and at a low cost.
        ''In addition, a success could pave the wave to treat many other diseases,'' he concluded.
      Judge rules Twitter can be sued for failing to take down child porn videos | Courthouse News Service
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 16:27
        A federal judge found Twitter may have benefitted financially from ad revenue generated by tweets containing child sexual abuse material.
        The login/sign up screen for a Twitter account is seen on a laptop computer Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)SAN FRANCISCO (CN) '-- A law signed by former President Donald Trump has opened the door to potentially hold Twitter liable for allowing child pornography to circulate on its platform, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
        In 2018, Trump signed the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which carved out an exception to a 1996 law that shields internet platforms from lawsuits over content posted by their users. The law was passed in reaction to websites like Backpage.com, which critics said facilitated an online marketplace for prostitution.
        The law was intended to discourage platforms from making it easy for sex traffickers to advertise and sell the services of their victims online. Some civil rights groups have complained the law amounts to censorship of online speech.
        Twitter was sued this past January by two young men who say they were manipulated into sharing sexually explicit videos of themselves as minors before finding the videos posted on Twitter a few years later.
        Two 18-year-old plaintiffs suing under the pseudonyms John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 say they were 13 years old when a sex trafficker posing as a 16-year-old girl tricked them into sending pornographic videos of themselves through the social media app Snapchat. A few years later when they were in high school, links to those videos began appearing on Twitter in January 2020.
        The plaintiffs say they alerted law enforcement about the tweets and urgently requested that Twitter remove them, but Twitter refused to do so until nine days later when a Department of Homeland Security agent contacted Twitter and urged action. At that point, the posts had already received 167,000 views and 2,223 retweets, according to the lawsuit.
        Twitter is accused of violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which makes it illegal to benefit from a sex trafficking venture. Internet platforms are generally immune from lawsuits over content posted by users under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, but FOSTA carved out a specific exception for violations of that sex trafficking law.
        Twitter argued it could not be sued for the alleged violation because it did not participate in the venture, and even if it had, it gained no benefit from the alleged participation.
        In a 56-page ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero rejected that argument. He found the complaint adequately alleged the sexually explicit tweets were monetized to generate ad revenue for Twitter. Spero said he found that allegation plausible given that the tweets were reportedly viewed and shared thousands of times.
        The judge also noted that Twitter was specifically alerted about the videos multiple times but took no action for more than a week. According to the lawsuit, Twitter also received a complaint in December 2019 stating that a user who posted some of the videos had been sharing ''obvious child porn,'' but the platform allegedly did nothing in response.
        ''The Court finds that these allegations are sufficient to allege an ongoing pattern of conduct amounting to a tacit agreement with the perpetrators in this case to allow them to post videos and photographs it knew or should have known were related to sex trafficking without blocking their accounts or the videos,'' Spero wrote.
        The judge dismissed other claims from the lawsuit, including invasion of privacy and negligence claims, because Twitter remains shielded from liability for those claims under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
        Reacting to Spero's ruling in a statement Thursday, plaintiffs' attorney Peter Gentala called it a landmark decision.
        ''This historic ruling is the first breakthrough for an online trafficking survivor in any court where Twitter has alleged CDA immunity,'' said Gentala, who serves as senior legal counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
        Gentala also called the ruling a step toward justice for his clients, whom he said were harmed by Twitter's decision to let child sexual abuse material spread on its platform.
        ''No tech company should be allowed to profit from and outright ignore child sexual abuse material,'' Gentala said.
        In an emailed statement, a Twitter spokesperson said the company has zero tolerance for material that features or promotes child sexual exploitation.
        ''We aggressively fight online child sexual abuse and have heavily invested in technology and tools to proactively enforce our policy,'' a Twitter spokesperson said, adding that the company has a team dedicated to removing illicit content and working with law enforcement to protect minors from harm.
        ''We disagree with the Court's ruling and its interpretation of relevant law, and we strongly deny that Twitter benefited in any way from the activities alleged in this complaint,'' the spokesperson said.
        Follow Nicholas Iovino on Twitter
      Osama bin Laden predicted Joe Biden would be incompetent president and 'lead America into a crisis' | Daily Mail Online
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 16:25
        Osama bin Laden banned al Qaeda from assassinating Joe Biden because the Democrat would become an incompetent president and 'lead the US into a crisis' if jihadists were successful in killing Barack Obama.
        Bin Laden made the remark in a 2010 letter that was found in a trove of documents at the Pakistan compound where he was killed by US special forces in 2011.
        The document was first made public in 2012 but has been brought back to light and given new significance amid the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan that has gifted the country back to the Taliban.
        Osama bin Laden banned al Qaeda from killing Joe Biden because he wanted the Democrat to become president - believing he was 'unprepared' and would 'lead the US into a crisis'
        Joe Biden has been widely condemned for his withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan which has gifted control of the country back to the Taliban
        Is this man fit for office? Doctors say they would be concerned about 'anyone' with Joe Biden's symptoms at age 78 after two brain aneurysms and a heart condition - which are BOTH linked to memory problems Questions have been raised about US President Joe Biden's cognitive wellbeing after a car crash interview over his handling of the unfolding Afghanistan crisis.
        America's oldest president provided jumbled responses to questions and mixed up details about his son in an interview with ABC.
        The stumbles did not make the broadcasted version but were revealed when a full transcript of the interview was published overnight.
        It revealed the President incorrectly stated his late son Beau Biden worked for the Navy in Afghanistan, before correcting himself that he served for the Army in Iraq.
        It follows a spate of gaffes and slips of the tongue since the 78-year-old ran his successful presidential campaign in 2019.
        Mr Biden has previously suffered two brain aneurysms and a heart condition which makes the muscle beat too fast, causing dizziness and confusion.
        A top cardiologist told MailOnline today that both conditions are linked to memory difficulties and confusion, as well as dementia.
        Dr Aseem Malhotra, an NHS consultant and expert in evidence-based medicine, said: 'Certainly there's a link [between the conditions and cognitive decline].
        'But just as a doctor observing him, given his medical history and age, I'm worried about early onset dementia.
        'I would be worried about anyone exhibiting issues with recall and memory at Joe Biden's age.'
        And Dr Amit Bajaj, an associate professor in speech science Emerson University in Boston Massachusetts, agreed that the reasons behind Mr Biden's increasing number of gaffes might be 'because he is old'.
        Bin Laden - then-leader of al Qaeda, and the man that America went to Afghanistan to kill - penned the 48-page missive in May 2010 to an aide identified as 'Brother Shaykh Mahmud', real name Atiyah Abd al-Rahman.
        In it, he discusses the need to direct resources away from terror attacks in other Muslim countries and instead focus on direct attacks against the US.
        On page 36, he outlines his desire to form two hit squads - one in Pakistan and another in Afghanistan - whose job it will be to plot attacks against then-US President Barack Obama and ex-CIA director David Petraeus, should they visit either country.
        Giving his reasoning for attacking Obama, he says: 'Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make Biden take over the presidency for the remainder of the term, as it is the norm over there.
        'Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the US into a crisis.'
        He the adds: 'As for Petraeus, he is the man of the hour in this last year of the war, and killing him would alter the war's path.'
        US intelligence analysts who first revealed the existence of the document to the Washington Post in 2012 said neither of the plots against Obama or Petraeus were realistic or amounted to anything.
        But bin Laden's attack on Biden's abilities and his forewarning of an American 'crisis' rings truer now than it did back then.
        Biden is facing mounting fury across the world for abandoning Afghans to their fate - and yesterday it emerged that his administration was warned last month that the Afghan capital would quickly fall to the Taliban after an American withdrawal.
        A dozen diplomats sent a confidential memo in a dissent channel to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on July 13 that the Taliban was rapidly gaining ground and the city was vulnerable to collapse, the Wall Street Journal reported.
        On July 8, President Biden said it was 'highly unlikely' the Taliban would take control of Afghanistan and denied there would be chaos in Kabul.
        There are mounting questions over how the White House, the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence services were evaluating the future of Afghanistan, the threat of the Taliban and how quickly power would change hands.
        Afghan security forces were collapsing, they said, and offered ways to mitigate the advancing insurgents.
        But it may have been too late to stop them.
        The State Department memo, according to the report, also called for the government to use tougher language on the violence in the past from the Taliban and urged them to start collecting information for Afghan allies who qualified for Special Immigrant Visas after working with US forces.
        The Journal reported that 23 Embassy staffers signed the cable and rushed to deliver it considering the deteriorating situation in Kabul.
        Blinken reviewed the cable, a personal familiar with it told the paper.
        State Department spokesman Ned Price told the Journal: 'He's made clear that he welcomes and encourages use of the dissent channel, and is committed to its revitalization. We value constructive internal dissent.'
        The memo urged the administration to start flights evacuating people out of the country no later than August 1st.
        A former CIA counter-terrorism chief also advised the president's campaign Kabul would crumble within days with a depleted American presence.
        But in an interview released on Thursday morning, President Biden claimed that he was never told that such a rapid collapse was possible.
        And a day earlier, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he never saw any intelligence warning that the Afghan government could fall so quickly.
        'There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days,' Milley said.
        Their claims were disputed in a detailed account describing the state of understanding at the CIA written by Douglas London, the agency's former counter-terrorism chief for south and south-west Asia, which offered a very different assessment.
        He said the rapid collapse was one of a number of possible scenarios.
        'Ultimately, it was assessed, Afghan forces might capitulate under the circumstances we witnessed, in projections highlighted to Trump officials and future Biden officials alike,' he wrote on the Just Security website.
        Tens of thousands of Afghans are currently trying to flee the country on mercy flights from Kabul, with babies passed over barbed wire to US soldiers
        Taliban fighters swept into Kabul almost unopposed last week, and have since assumed control of the country
        London, who also served as a volunteer adviser to the Biden campaign after leaving the CIA in 2019, scoffed at the president's claim that events in Afghanistan unfolded more rapidly than expected.
        'That's misleading at best,' he said. 'The CIA anticipated it as a possible scenario.'
        Biden has been accused of 'humiliating' America on the world stage by committing himself to Trump's plan to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan this year.
        The rapid withdrawal was followed by the equally rapid collapse of the Afghan army - which the west spent 20 years and billions of dollars training and equipping - allowing the Islamists to walk into Kabul virtually unopposed last week.
        That has sparked a desperate rush to get out of the country, with tens of thousands of people gathering at the airport each day in a bid to get on one of the last evacuation flights.
        Meanwhile the Taliban has started going house-to-house in a hunt for anyone who collaborated with the west, so they can be tortured and killed.
        Each day brings more horrifying scenes from the airport including men falling from US planes, a teenager whose body was crushed in landing gear, women being whipped by Taliban guards and children who have been trampled.
        Western nations have pledged to take more than 100,000 Afghan refugees between them but have now been forced to admit that they may not even be able to evacuate their own citizens before the air bridge is cut off.
        Biden has said US troops will stay past his August 31 date for withdrawal in order to get all US passport holders out of the country - but with the Taliban now firmly in control, it remains to be seen whether he can keep that promise.
        UK defence sources have said they are contingency planning for withdrawal of their own forces with as little as 24 hours notice if the Americans suddenly decide to abandon ship - a scenario they fear will put troops in danger.
      China Admits Taliban Ties Aimed at Getting Afghanistan's $3 Trillion in Rare Earths
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 15:55
        In the course of hectoring the United States for its ''bungled and embarrassing withdraw from Afghanistan'' on Thursday, China's state-run Global Times admitted Beijing has a rapacious interest in Afghanistan's vast rare-earths mineral resources and snarled it was none of America's business if China makes deals with the Taliban to get what it wants.
        The Global Times accused the U.S. of profiteering from Afghanistan for the past twenty years, without offering any theories on where all the plunder might have gone, and claimed America is only worried about China going after those mineral resources because the U.S. is jealous:
        Rare-earth metals in Afghanistan were estimated to be worth anywhere between $1 trillion and $3 trillion in 2020. China may ''align itself with Taliban and try to exploit Afghanistan's rare-earth metals,'' US media outlet CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing an investment analyst's so-called ''warning.''
        The US has spent 20 years on its ''anti-terror war'' in Afghanistan, investing a huge amount of resources to support the government. It's not hard to imagine that there are huge economic considerations behind this. Over the past two decades, US firms have enjoyed privileges in exploiting rare resources in Afghanistan. The US troops' withdrawal and the drastic change in Afghanistan's situation is undoubtedly a heavy blow to US economic interests in Afghanistan and the wider region. With many US businesses leaving due to losing their protection, the US may instead choose to obstruct future cooperation between Afghanistan and other countries. We cannot rule out the possibility that the US could launch its notorious sanction measures again to protect its economic interests in the region after US troops' withdrawal.
        However, the US is in no position to meddle with any potential cooperation between China and Afghanistan, including on rare earths. The so-called ''warnings'' in the CNBC report show that American firms doing business in Afghanistan are dissatisfied with Washington's hasty evacuation and therefore the loss of their ''privileges,'' and it also reveals the US' fear of possible advancement for China with regard to the rare-earth sector. After all, China has a much better track record in successfully cooperating with developing countries around the world.
        One reason China's propagandists are so peeved at the CNBC report mentioned above is that one of its contributors, AllianceBernstein director of emerging market debt Shamaila Khan, said it was a ''very dangerous proposition for the world'' to let the Taliban (and, by extension, its new best friends in Beijing) control those much-needed minerals.
        Taliban fighters stand guard in front of the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 16, 2021. Thousands of people packed into the Afghan capital's airport on Monday, rushing the tarmac and pushing onto planes in desperate attempts to flee the country after the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
        ''It should be an international initiative to make sure that if any country is agreeing to exploit its minerals on behalf of the Taliban, to only do it under strict humanitarian conditions where human rights, and rights for women are preserved in the situation,'' Khan said.
        China is reliably enraged by discussions of its human rights abuses and rejects all Western efforts to hold it, or its allies, to high standards. Chinese propagandists portray the international human rights establishment as a scam designed to keep developing nations from reaching their full potential.
        The Global Times added that China is skilled at mining rare earths and desperately needs them to fuel its industrial growth, so the civilized world should withhold its criticisms of whatever deals Beijing strikes with the Taliban to exploit those resources '' or to preserve its massive existing investments in Afghanistan, such as the $4.2 billion Anyak copper mine, the China National Petroleum Corporation's oil projects, $550 million in annual bilateral trade, and $630 billion in infrastructure projects.
        Chinese street vendors and customers gather at a local market outside a state-owned coal-fired power plant near the site of a large floating solar farm project under construction by the Sungrow Power Supply Company on a lake caused by a collapsed and flooded coal mine on June 14, 2017, in Huainan, Anhui province, China. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
        ''As the largest neighbor of Afghanistan, China is a vigorous partner for the war-battered country to get its economy back on track, given China's experience and capability in related areas, such as agriculture and industrial infrastructure,'' t he Chinese Communist newspaper lectured. ''By sharp contrast, U.S.-led predatory resource exploitation in the country has not delivered tangible benefit to ordinary Afghan people or benefits to the nation's economic growth.''
        India's Business Standard noted on Thursday the rare earths China desires ''are a key component for a host of advanced technologies like iPhones and hi-tech missile guidance systems,'' as well as ''rechargeable batteries for electric and hybrid cars, advanced ceramics, computers, DVD players, wind turbines, catalysts in cars and oil refineries, monitors, televisions, lighting, lasers, fiber optics, superconductors and glass polishing.''
        The Business Standard observed that China is already the world's top supplier of rare earths and controls about two-thirds of the global supply, so seizing Afghanistan's minerals will help Beijing preserve its monopolistic position by making it harder for other countries to decouple from Chinese supply lines.
        In this undated photo, employees work on a battery production line at a factory in an eastern Chinese province. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
        Afghanistan could become an especially important source of lithium , which is crucial for building electric car batteries. The largest established reserves of lithium are in Bolivia, but the U.S. government believes Afghanistan could have even more if enough security and political stability is given to explore the country's mineral resources.
      The August 2021 full moon is, somehow, a Blue Moon. Here's why. | Space
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 15:26
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        The nearly-full moon of May, known as the Flower Moon, gleams against the twilight sky in this photo taken by Kevin M. Gill of Los Angeles, California, on May 6, 2020. (Image credit: Kevin M. Gill/Flickr/CC BY 2.0)Next Sunday (Aug. 22) brings us the August full moon and in addition, it will also be a "Blue Moon."
        But wait a minute, you might ask: Isn't a "Blue Moon" defined as the second full moon that occurs during a calendar month? The full moon on Aug. 22 is the only full moon this month. So, how can we call it a Blue Moon?
        Yet it indeed is a Blue Moon '-- but only if we follow what is now a somewhat obscure rule. In fact, it was the original definition for branding a full moon as "blue."
        Related: Blue Moon, Blood Moon, Black Moon: What's with all these weird moon names?
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        The almanac ruleBack in the July 1943 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, in a question and answer column, there was a reference made to the term "Blue Moon." The unusual term was cited from a copy of the 1937 edition of the now-defunct Maine Farmers' Almanac.
        On the almanac page for August 1937, the calendrical meaning for the term "Blue Moon" was given.
        That explanation said that the full moon "usually comes full 12 times in a year, three times for each season." Occasionally, however, there will come a year when there are 13 full moons, not the usual 12. The almanac explanation continued:
        "This was considered a very unfortunate circumstance ... and it upset the regular arrangement of church festivals. For this reason 13 came to be considered an unlucky number."
        And with that extra full moon, it also meant that one of the four seasons that year would contain four full moons instead of the usual three. When a particular season has four full moons the third was apparently called a Blue Moon so that the fourth and final one can continue to be called the "late moon."
        So, where did we get the "two full moons in a month rule" that is so popular today?
        Major misapprehension!Once again, we must turn to the pages of Sky & Telescope. This time, on page 3 of the March 1946 issue, James Hugh Pruett wrote an article, "Once in a Blue Moon," in which he made a reference to the term "Blue Moon" and the S&T article from July 1943. Pruett unfortunately came to this conclusion:
        "Seven times in 19 years there were '-- and still are '-- 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon."
        Mr. Pruett's 1946 explanation was, of course, the wrong interpretation and it might have been completely forgotten were it not for journalist Deborah Byrd, who used it on her popular National Public Radio program, StarDate on Jan. 31, 1980. Over the next decade, Mr. Pruett's misinterpretation gained traction with a new audience of baby boomers, and today his "two full moons in a month rule" is recognized worldwide.
        Meanwhile, the "original" Maine Farmers' Almanac rule had been all but forgotten.
        As was noted earlier, that publication has long since gone out of business. You should not confuse it with The Farmers' Almanac which has been publishing continuously since 1818, but coincidentally also happens to be based in Lewiston, Maine.
        Not quite "full" ... and not literally "blue"So, going by the old "Maine Almanac rule," for summer 2021, we have four full moons: June 24, July 23, Aug. 22nd and Sept. 20. The third full moon '-- the Blue Moon according to the original rule set down by the Maine Farmers' Almanac '-- comes on Sunday, with the moon officially turning full at 8:02 a.m. EDT (1202 GMT).
        That means that for North America, the moon phase will be just past full '-- actually a waning gibbous moon '-- when it comes over the horizon at nightfall that Sunday evening. Of course, to everyone who sees it, it will still look full, even though it will be ever-so-slightly out of perfect roundness.
        And don't expect to see the moon shine with a bluish tint. In the past, there have been very unusual atmospheric circumstances that have caused the moon (and the sun) to appear bluish, caused by anthropogenic aerosols injected into the atmosphere such as volcanic ash and dust (after the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in August 1883) or airborne soot from forest fires (such as from western Canada in September 1950). But nothing out of the ordinary has occurred in recent days or weeks, so this weekend's moon should look pretty much the way we are accustomed to seeing it.
        Here at Space.com, we have posted many stories regarding the differences between the two blue moon definitions over the years. And as it turns out, the last time we had a blue moon based on the "four full moons in a season" rule was in May 2019. Consider this column an updated version for 2021.
        It seems to be an August thing So, when are the next Blue Moons after this Sunday?
        If you go by the "Pruett two full moons in a month rule," the next blue moon will also come in the month of August '-- Aug. 30, 2023 to be exact.
        But if you still go by the old "Maine Almanac rule," that won't happen again until yet another August, this time on Aug. 19, 2024, which (as is the case this month) will be the third full moon of four during the summer season of that year.
        So, what Blue Moon definition tickles your fancy? Is it the second full moon in a calendar month, or the third full moon in a season with four?
        Maybe it's just one or maybe it's both. We leave the final decision solely up to you.
        Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of the Blue Moon of August 2021 and would like to share it for a story or photo gallery, send images and comments to spacephotos@space.com!
        Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
        Joe Rao is Space.com's skywatching columnist, as well as a veteran meteorologist and eclipse chaser who also serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmers' Almanac and other publications.
        Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
      The tenets of Critical Race Theory are essential for addressing population health disparities - Lantz | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 15:03
        Paula Lantz Six states have banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other frameworks about structural racism in K-12 settings, and many more are considering similar policy action. Ford School professor and social epidemiologist Paula Lantz is critical of what she describes as knee-jerk political action, and says the scientific tenets that underlie CRT are crucial to understanding and addressing racial inequality in important social outcomes, including population health.
        In her opinion piece in the Milbank Quarterly , she writes ''CRT is a framework for a critical (i.e., deep, historical, complex) analysis of what drives ongoing racial inequality that builds upon long-standing scientific theories and concepts, and is supported by decades of multidisciplinary scholarship.''
        Further, the tenets of CRT are essential when seeking to address racial inequalities in all social outcomes, including population health. Lantz asserts that there can be no objective or effective teaching, research, or practice addressing the large racial health disparities (e.g., in life expectancy, infant/maternal mortality, and almost every type of illness or injury) that persist in the U.S. that does not implicitly or explicitly incorporate the main tenets of CRT.
        She elucidates on each of them for the field of population health science:
        Tenet 1: Race is a social construction '' the way that race is defined and experienced is the result of social and political thought and actions that change over time. A basic premise of population health science is that ''race'' is not a biological imperative driving disease processes and longevity, but rather a marker for how individuals within populations experience physical and social exposures, risks, facilitators, burdens and discrimination that matter for health over the life course.
        Tenet 2: Although individuals can indeed be racist, racism and its outcomes are perpetuated in society through social processes above and beyond individual actions including through cultural norms, institutional rules, and laws and regulations. Rather than focus on racism as primarily being a problem of person to person racism'... CRT elucidates how institutions, systems, and policies can be designed in ways that reinforce, codify, and perpetuate exposures, risks and opportunities that differ across socioeconomic and racial groups.
        Tenet 3: Because the differential treatment of individuals based upon racial classification is embedded within social systems and institutions'--including public policy and law'--racism is commonplace. Understanding structural racism within our systems and policies related to education, income, housing, food, criminal justice, the environment, and health care matters greatly for addressing population health inequities.
        Tenet 4: While racism is perpetuated at the structural/macro level in society, listening to and understanding the lived experiences of individuals is essential for understanding how racism works to create inequities in individual outcomes, including health. Moving beyond descriptive research that simply documents racial disparities in health outcomes, CRT rightly asserts that there is a need to better represent in research, the media, and policy advocacy/reform work how racism in all of its manifestations is experienced by people in ways that matter, including for physical/mental health.
        Lantz concludes with a call to action. ''It is incumbent upon those committed to health equity through population health science to publicly defend the tenets of CRT and their long-standing contributions to population health. The stakes'--the ability for education, research, community-based efforts, and policy reform to improve the health and well-being of all'--are incredibly high.''
        You can read the opinion piece here .
        racial justice Paula Lantz Education Health Critical Race Theory CRT health equity population health Milbank Quarterly
      Opium production in Myanmar - Wikipedia
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 10:18
        A world map of the world's primary opium or heroin producers. The
        Golden Triangle region, which Myanmar is part of, is pinpointed in this map.
        Opium production in Myanmar has historically been a major contributor to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium after Afghanistan, producing some 25% of the world's opium, and forms part of the Golden Triangle. The opium industry was a monopoly during colonial times and has since been illegally operated by corrupt officials in the Burmese military and rebel fighters,[1] primarily as the basis for heroin manufacture. In recent times however, opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has declined year-on-year since 2015. According to latest data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), an estimated 405 metric tons (mt) of opium were produced in Myanmar in 2020, representing less than half of the estimate of 2013 (870 mt), while the area of opium poppy cultivation declined by 11% from 33,100 in 2019 to 29,500 hectares (ha).[2]
        Opium production is mainly concentrated in the Shan and Kachin states. Due to poverty, opium production is attractive to impoverished farmers as the financial return from poppy is estimated to be 17 times more than that of rice. In spite of the continuing shift towards synthetic drug production in Myanmar, and specifically methamphetamine in areas around the Golden Triangle, organized crime groups that traffic heroin in Southeast Asia still generate substantial profits from the business. Latest findings from 2020 show that domestic heroin consumption of 6 tons was valued at US$ 144 - 315 million, while the export of heroin from Myanmar to neighbouring countries was worth between US$ 0.5 and 1.6 billion locally. Heroin also continues to pose a significant public security and health challenge for neighbouring countries as Myanmar remains the major supplier of opium and heroin in East and Southeast Asia, as well as Australia. According to the latest estimates, there are more than 3 million heroin users in the region consuming approximately US$10 billion worth of the drug annually.[3]
        Economic specialists indicate that recent trends in growth have the potential to increase the gap between the rich and the poor in the country, empowering criminal rackets at the expense of democracy.
        History [ edit ] Opium has been present in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) since as early as the 1750s, during which the Kongbaug Dynasty was in power.[4] The United States provided economic aid to the country then known as Burma in 1948 to reduce the opium trade. Between 1974''78, Burma received eighteen helicopters from the US for opium caravan interception.[5] In 1990, Myanmar was producing more than half of the world's opium. The percentage dropped to one third by 1998. In 1999, the country reported a goal to become opium-free by 2014.[6] As of 2012, some 300,000 households in Myanmar were involved in the industry.[7]
        Myanmar is also one of three countries of the golden "triangle" with Thailand and Laos forming the other two arms, where opium production accounted for about 50% of the world's consumption in 1990 but was reduced to about 33% by 1998.[8] Myanmar part of this triangle is reported to be a lawless region.[9]
        Production [ edit ] Left: A field of opium. Right: Poppy seed pods
        Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium after Afghanistan, producing some 25% of the world's opium.[1][7] In the past, though, it was "the world's unrivaled leader in opiate production".[10] Production is mainly concentrated in the Shan and Kachin states.[1]
        On an annual rate, the production of opium in the country was estimated to be some 150 tonnes (150 long tons; 170 short tons), according to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1956.[11] In more recent years, following a spike in production until 2014, opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has declined year-on-year since 2015. According to latest data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), an estimated 405 metric tons (mt) of opium were produced in Myanmar in 2020, representing less than half of the estimate of 2013 (870 mt), while the area of opium poppy cultivation declined by 11% from 33,100 in 2019 to 29,500 hectares (ha). As in previous years, the majority of opium continues to be cultivated in northern Myanmar's Shan State, accounting for 84% (24,700 ha) of the total opium poppy cultivation area in 2020, followed by Kachin State at 12% (3,600 ha), with both decreasing by 12% and 6% respectively from 2019. Areas with opium cultivation in Kayah and Chin States (1,200 ha) accounted for 4% of the total.[12]
        In spite of the continuing shift towards synthetic drug production in Myanmar, specifically methamphetamine in the Golden Triangle, organized crime groups that traffic heroin in Southeast Asia still generate substantial profits from the business. Latest findings from 2020 show that domestic heroin consumption of 6 tons was valued at US$ 144 - 315 million, while the export of heroin from Myanmar to neighbouring countries was worth between US$ 0.5 and 1.6 billion locally. Heroin also continues to pose a significant public security and health challenge for neighbouring countries as Myanmar remains the major supplier of opium and heroin in East and Southeast Asia, as well as Australia. According to the latest estimates, there are more than 3 million heroin users in the region consuming approximately US$10 billion worth of the drug annually.[13]
        Drug movement [ edit ] Prior to the 1980s, heroin was typically transported from Myanmar to Thailand, before being trafficked by sea to Hong Kong, which was and still remains the major transit point at which heroin enters the international market. In the 21st century, drug trafficking has circumvented to southern China (from Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong) because of a growing market for drugs in China, before reaching Hong Kong.[14]
        The Burmese economy and opium [ edit ] The prominence of major drug traffickers have allowed them to penetrate other sectors of the Burmese economy, including the banking, airline, hotel and infrastructure industries.[15] Their investment in infrastructure have allowed them to make more profits, facilitate drug trafficking and money laundering.[16]
        Due to the ongoing, rural-based insurgencies within Myanmar, many farmers have little alternative but to engage in opium production, which is used to make heroin.[1] Most of the money earned from opium sales go into the drug barons' pockets; the amount left is used to sustain the livelihood of the farmers.[17] Economic specialists indicate that recent trends in growth have the potential to increase the gap between the rich and the poor in the country, empowering criminal rackets at the expense of democracy.[7]
        Eradication programme [ edit ] With the establishment of the democratic government after the rule of a military junta, there is hope that opium eradication would be a serious public policy. The new government has taken steps to reform the system but the ground situation is otherwise as there is an upsurge in its production and this is attributed in a report by the UN as due to "the resurgence in opium production in Southeast Asia is the demand for opiates, both locally and in the region in general".[18]
        Government reports claim that in 2012, a fourfold increase of elimination of poppy fields has been effected amounting to 24,000 hectares of poppy fields.[1] According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) land poppy cultivation registered an increase of 17 percent, the highest increase in eight years.[9]
        See also [ edit ] Internal conflict in MyanmarCrime in MyanmarReferences [ edit ] ^ a b c d e "UN report: Opium cultivation rising in Burma". BBC. 31 October 2012 . Retrieved 10 June 2013 . ^ "Myanmar Opium Survey 2020: Cultivation, Production and Implications" (PDF) . February 2021. ^ "Myanmar Opium Survey 2020: Cultivation, Production and Implications" (PDF) . February 2021. ^ James, Helen (2012). Security and Sustainable Development in Myanmar/Burma. Routledge. pp. 94''. ISBN 9781134253937. ^ Chouvy, Pierre-Arnaud (2009). Opium: Uncovering the Politics of the Poppy. Harvard University Press. pp. 109''. ISBN 978-0-674-05134-8. ^ Pitman, Todd (October 31, 2012). "Opium Production In Myanmar On Rise, Says UN" . Retrieved 11 June 2013 . ^ a b c "The Spike In Myanmar's Opium Production Could Destabilize All Of Asia". Business Insider. 1 November 2012 . Retrieved 10 June 2013 . ^ "UN Says Burmese Opium Production Rising". Irrwaddy organization. 31 October 2012. ^ a b "Myanmar opium output rises despite eradication effort". Reuters.com. 31 October 2012 . Retrieved 13 June 2013 . ^ Rotberg, Robert I. (1998). Burma: Prospects for a Democratic Future. Brookings Institution Press. pp. 186''. ISBN 9780815791690. ^ Derks, Hans (2012). History of the Opium Problem: The Assault on the East, Ca. 1600 '' 1950. BRILL. pp. 428''. ISBN 9789004221581. ^ "Myanmar Opium Survey 2020: Cultivation, Production and Implications" (PDF) . February 2021. ^ "Myanmar Opium Survey 2020: Cultivation, Production and Implications" (PDF) . February 2021. ^ Chin, Ko-lin; Sheldon X. Zhang (April 2007). "The Chinese Connection: Cross-border Drug Trafficking between Myanmar and China" (PDF) . U.S. Department of Justice: 98. ^ Chin, Ko-lin (2009). The Golden Triangle: inside Southeast Asia's drug trade. Cornell University Press. pp. 239''240. ISBN 978-0-8014-7521-4. ^ Lyman, Michael D.; Gary W. Potter (14 October 2010). Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts and Control . Elsevier. ISBN 978-1-4377-4450-7. ^ South, Ashley (2008). Ethnic Politics in Burma: States of Conflict. Routledge. pp. 145''. ISBN 9780203895191. ^ "Opium Production In Myanmar On Rise, Says UN". Huffington Post. 31 October 2012 . Retrieved 13 June 2013 .
      Mike Richards's Rise to 'Jeopardy!' Host Sparks Questions About Past - The Ringer
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 10:16
        Update, August 20: Mike Richards has stepped down as the host of Jeopardy! According to a statement provided by Sony, the studio ''will now resume the search for a permanent syndicated host.''
        One day in the fall of 2013, Mike Richards called Ken Jennings.
        At the time, Jennings was nearly a decade removed from the 74-game Jeopardy! winning streak that had made him a household name. Richards, meanwhile, was backstage at The Price Is Right, the show he had joined as a co''executive producer five years earlier, and where that May he had launched a podcast called The Randumb Show, which was promoted to listeners as a look behind the scenes at Price.
        Before he called Jennings to record a segment on the podcast, Richards put a question to his cohost. ''Are you good at trivia?'' he asked.
        ''Some trivia,'' she replied.
        ''See, what I am is horrible at all trivia,'' Richards said. ''It doesn't even matter if it's a specific area I should know. I don't have that kind of mind.'' Later in the episode, after Jennings joined, Richards went further: ''If I had gotten on Jeopardy!'--well, I never would have gotten on Jeopardy!, let's be square,'' he said.
        Now, though, Richards has gotten on Jeopardy!, albeit on the other side of the stage. On August 11, parent studio Sony Pictures Television announced that the 46-year-old will become the show's new permanent host, just 15 months after he was named its executive producer. Actress Mayim Bialik will host prime-time tournaments, but the nightly job belongs to Richards. He alone will fill the role long held by Alex Trebek.
        Richards's selection has been met with criticism by Jeopardy! fans and former contestants alike, many of whom have questioned the validity of a prolonged and high-profile audition process that ended with the ascension of someone once tasked with leading it. (Last week, The New York Times reported that Richards ''moved aside after he emerged as a candidate.'') And while some disappointment was probably inevitable at the end of a guest host rotation that featured names ranging from LeVar Burton and Aaron Rodgers to Robin Roberts and Savannah Guthrie, the decision to promote Richards'--an internal candidate who was relatively unknown to the general public'--has sparked more backlash than the show might have anticipated.
        ''It's unfortunate that guest hosts like Aaron Rodgers and LeVar Burton really put themselves out there in terms of openly wanting the job and for Rodgers in particular, discussing the extraordinary amount of effort to which he went to prepare for his turn, when it's not clear anyone besides Richards ever had a real chance at the main role,'' says Kristin Sausville, who won five games on Jeopardy! in 2015. ''Rodgers and Burton were clear about how important Jeopardy! was to them personally. Given that he also was a candidate to host The Price Is Right, it looks like Richards just wanted to host a game show, any game show.''
        Concerns about Richards extend to the Jeopardy! staff, with a source close to the show telling The Ringer that employees were blindsided by Sony's announcement and multiple sources describing how staff morale has deteriorated under Richards's watch as EP. Interviews with sources from Sony, Jeopardy!, and previous shows Richards has worked on, including The Price Is Right and Let's Make a Deal, paint a picture of a showrunner who could be exclusionary and dismissive of longtime show employees'--as well as someone who wasn't shy about wanting to move in front of the camera. Says a former Deal employee who was at the show during Richards's tenure: ''When I worked there, it just seemed to be something everyone knew.''
        In recent weeks, questions about Richards have only intensified, with multiple lawsuits dating to his time as EP of The Price Is Right gaining attention after an early-August report that Richards was in advanced negotiations to secure the Jeopardy! host job. The lawsuits, two of which were settled out of court, focused on the mistreatment of female employees by Price's male leadership, including Richards. Richards was originally named as a defendant in one of those complaints, but was dismissed from the suit before it settled.
        One suit was filed in 2010 by Brandi Cochran, who worked as a model on the show. It centered on the discrimination and harassment she said she experienced after becoming pregnant. At the time, The Price Is Right had recently laid off several models; the suit says that after Cochran informed Richards of her pregnancy, he ''said to her, 'Go figure! I fire five girls ... what are the odds?''' which Cochran understood ''to mean that Richards would have selected her for layoff if he had known that she was going to get pregnant.'' After giving birth, she learned that her contract had been terminated.
        Cochran's lawsuit also detailed Richards's input on what the show's models should wear. ''Richards decided that the models' skirts should be shorter and said that he liked the models to look as if they were going out on a date,'' the suit says. ''At his suggestion, models wore bikinis on the show more frequently.''
        On August 9, Richards emailed a statement to the Jeopardy! staff to deny these accounts and address concerns about the culture he'd helped foster at The Price Is Right. ''These were allegations made in employment disputes against the show,'' he wrote. ''I want you all to know that the way in which my comments and actions have been characterized in these complaints does not reflect the reality of who I am or how we worked together on The Price is Right.''
        But the sources who spoke to The Ringer, who were granted anonymity out of concern for potential retaliation, depict a different reality. Richards's statement also does not align with several remarks he made on The Randumb Show, which he hosted from 2013 to 2014. A review of all 41 episodes of the podcast that were available online until Tuesday reveals that Richards repeatedly used offensive language and disparaged women's bodies. In an episode published on September 4, 2014, after the iCloud photo hack, which exposed intimate images of numerous female celebrities, Richards asked his assistant and his cohost'--both much younger women'--whether they had ever taken nude photos. When his cohost said that she had sometimes taken photos of herself when she thought she looked cute, Richards responded, ''Like booby pictures? What are we looking at?'' Later, he asked to go through her phone; when she declined to share an image with him, he asked whether it was ''of [her] boobies.''
        Your browser does not support the audio tag.
        On another 2014 episode, Richards said that one-piece swimsuits made women look ''really frumpy and overweight,'' echoing the portion of Cochran's lawsuit that mentions Richards's preferences about swimwear.
        Hours after The Ringer asked Sony and Richards's agent about The Randumb Show, the audio of every episode was pulled down and the podcast's hosting site, mrichtv.podbean.com, was deleted. Richards subsequently issued a statement to The Ringer. ''It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago. Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry. The podcast was intended to be a series of irreverent conversations between longtime friends who had a history of joking around. Even with the passage of time, it's more than clear that my attempts to be funny and provocative were not acceptable, and I have removed the episodes. My responsibilities today as a father, husband, and a public personality who speaks to many people through my role on television means I have substantial and serious obligations as a role model, and I intend to live up to them.''
        Sony declined to comment. A source from Sony says that the studio was unaware of the podcast's existence or the episodes' removal until being notified by The Ringer.
        Jeopardy! begins taping its new season on Thursday, with Sony leadership hoping to ring in the beginning of a bright new era. But doubts about the man set to be the face of that era remain. What were the circumstances that led to his selection? How has he steered shows in the past? And how will Richards steward one of television's most cherished institutions?
        Richards became the executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune in May 2020, succeeding longtime chief Harry Friedman. Friedman was a dynastic figure at Sony Pictures Television, serving as Wheel's executive producer for 25 years and Jeopardy!'s EP for 23 years. During that time, he brought the two programs into the modern era and turned both into ratings juggernauts. Together, the shows bring in a reported $125 million in profit each year. In his 2018 book The Big Picture, author Ben Fritz estimated that Wheel and Jeopardy! had ''made total profits of $2 billion and $1 billion, respectively, over their decades on the air.'' The shows' immense successes afforded Friedman a rare level of autonomy within Sony, where Wheel and Jeopardy! were seen as off-limits to meddling from studio executives.
        In August 2019, Friedman, then 72, gathered the staffs of both shows to the Jeopardy! stage to announce that he would retire at season's end. Richards, who that June had signed an overall deal with Sony to ''develop and produce game shows for network, cable, and streaming platforms,'' was announced as the incoming executive producer a month later, and spent the latter part of Friedman's final season shadowing him in the studio.
        Then, just months into Richards's debut season, Trebek died due to complications of pancreatic cancer. Coupled with the other recent departures of several key staffers'--including the longtime head of the contestant department, Maggie Speak, and stage manager John Lauderdale'--and the taping difficulties caused by the pandemic, which left many staff members working from home, there was a widespread perception internally of a power vacuum. One source close to Jeopardy! says that senior Sony executives were eager to fill it. ''While previously Jeopardy! seemed to be its own island, under Mike the hand of Sony seems ever present,'' the source says.
        That presence was particularly evident during the guest-host rotation. Since January, when Richards inserted himself into the hosting lineup and became a candidate for the permanent job, confusion has swirled around how much influence he has had over a process in which he himself was a contender. According to multiple sources, that influence manifested in different ways.
        For example, much has been made of Sony's use of analytics to identify a front-runner. ''We want to go at this with real analytics and real testing and not just go, 'Hey, how about this guy?''' Richards told a Wall Street Journal podcast in April. Indeed, the studio called out this element in its announcement of Richards and Bialik, who Sony TV chairman Ravi Ahuja said '''‹'‹were both at the top of our research and analysis.'' On Saturday, The New York Times reported that Richards alone selected the episodes that were sent to focus groups for review; the show's two supervising producers, Lisa Broffman and Rocky Schmidt, who are both in their fourth decade working on the show, were excluded from the process. When The Ringer asked about the Times focus group report, neither Sony nor Richards offered comment.
        As executive producer, Richards controlled nearly everything about Jeopardy!'s most recent season. Sources say this led to myriad conflicts of interest. ''He was the one rehearsing and giving direction to all the guest hosts, who may not have realized they were competing with him for the job,'' says a Sony employee familiar with the host search. ''He could influence the promotion of those shows and the respective guest hosts. He had personal relationships with the executives involved, who had entrusted the show to him a year before.''
        The same Sony source adds: ''It's not hard to see the structural advantages that such a candidate would have. Would he vigorously advocate for the strongest guest hosts, as an EP normally would in that situation?''
        Some viewers have called into question the treatment of two of last season's most popular guest hosts, LeVar Burton and Ken Jennings. In Burton's case, fans have complained that the Reading Rainbow star was given just a week's worth of episodes'--filmed in the space of a single tape day'--compared to the two weeks afforded to most of the other candidates. Burton's supporters have also pointed out that his episodes aired in the midst of the Summer Olympics, which caused some to be preempted on NBC affiliate stations and may have contributed to lackluster ratings. Through a representative, Burton declined to comment.
        And sources close to the show cast doubts on Richards's decision-making surrounding Jennings. Many Jeopardy! staffers and former contestants long presumed that Jennings would be Trebek's anointed successor, an expectation that only grew in the months after Trebek's 2019 cancer diagnosis. After Jennings won 2020's Greatest of All Time tournament, Friedman hired him as a consulting producer'--a move from contestant to staff that some interpreted as a bridge to hosting, with Jennings's early duties including presenting categories of his own creation. Trebek furthered this perception, asking Jennings to narrate much of his 2020 memoir, The Answer Is '..., and arranging a call with him to discuss guest hosting just two days before Trebek's death. As The New York Times reported, the host left Jennings a pair of his cuff links, which awaited him in Trebek's dressing room, along with a note from Trebek's wife, Jean, when Jennings arrived at the studio to serve as the season's inaugural guest host.
        Jennings taped six weeks of episodes before a minor conflict with an upcoming tape day emerged. As The Ringer previously reported, sources say the show's production staff was able to accommodate the conflict, only for Richards to step in and insist on hosting instead. When the time came to tape the preamble to his first episode, Richards blamed COVID-19 for the change and exaggerated the nature of Jennings's conflict. ''We have some amazing guest hosts coming that I can't wait for you to see, but with the COVID outbreak here in L.A., folks were understandably a little reticent to shoot,'' Richards said. ''Ken Jennings did a great job, but he's unavailable due to obligations with his show The Chase.''
        Richards taped his first games on January 11. Days later, Jeopardy! formally announced its initial roster of post-Jennings guest hosts, which included the EP. In May, Richards insisted that he was ''never meant to be a part of [the guest hosting] process.'' Sony declined to comment on when Richards became an official candidate for the permanent host job.
        After Jennings's curtailed run, which posted the highest ratings of any guest host this season, Jeopardy! did not air any additional categories hosted by him. Previously, the categories had aired roughly once a month, about as often as those hosted by members of the Clue Crew. Categories featuring clues read by the Clue Crew, celebrities, and affiliate station news anchors continued to air.
        When reached for comment, Jennings confirmed that his categories would return as part of this coming season. ''Obviously I'm disappointed with how this process played out, but I'd rather look ahead,'' Jennings says. ''I plan to be with the show as long as they'll have me, no matter who's hosting.''
        Richards got his start in television in 1997, as an intern for The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. A full-time job as a production assistant led to a string of subsequent behind-the-scenes gigs, but his ambitions were greater. He taped a series of pilots; in 2003, the WB picked up the reality show High School Reunion, which he hosted. Richards went on to host the CW's Beauty and the Geek and the Reelz entertainment show Dailies. In 2007, he auditioned to replace Bob Barker as Price's host when the iconic emcee was preparing to retire.
        ''Of all the people we were trying out, he had the least professional experience,'' Roger Dobkowitz, a longtime Price producer, said in 2012 of Richards's hosting audition. ''He knew all the right words to say, but he did not bring anything special, personality or performance-wise, to the test show. His performance was compared to that of an eager student performing in a college show and putting on his best impersonation of what he thinks a game show host is.'' Dobkowitz did not respond to The Ringer's request for comment.
        The Price job ultimately went to Drew Carey, who remains the show's host. But Richards apparently impressed the right people: In 2008, he was hired as Price's co''executive producer'--one month after Dobkowitz was fired ''to make room'' for Richards, according to Esquire's Chris Jones. Jones wrote at the time that Dobkowitz was ''widely considered the show's institutional memory'' and that ''the twin losses of Barker and Dobkowitz'--among other changes, including the arrival of a rotating cast of young models to replace the aging familiars'--had left devoted fans of The Price Is Right feeling out of orbit.''
        The changes led to similar feelings of disorientation among the show staff, according to a former CBS employee who worked on The Price Is Right. ''A ton of the people that worked at the show had been there forever'--like the new guy was there for 20 years,'' says the source. ''So when Mike came in it really shook things up and got rid of some people.
        ''They didn't have a lot of love for him.''
        In 2009, Richards helped sell a reboot of Let's Make a Deal to be produced by Fremantle, the company that makes The Price Is Right. CBS picked it up; Richards executive-produced both shows.
        But Richards's attention could be divided, according to a former Let's Make a Deal employee who says that Richards did not watch the show for an extended period of time. ''And when he did, he didn't like the direction it had taken,'' the former employee says. ''He came in for a meeting about it, and a post producer sarcastically reintroduced [themselves], because Mike had been away so long. That producer was fired shortly after and ended up getting a settlement for wrongful termination. That was my impression of Mike, a smile with sharp teeth.''
        When reached for comment, this producer confirmed that they had been fired, but said they could not comment on the specifics because of the terms of a nondisclosure agreement. Neither Richards nor Fremantle responded to requests for comment on this incident.
        Multiple former Let's Make a Deal employees have another shared memory of Richards: They say it was common knowledge he wanted to be the host of Jeopardy! One says the topic ''was watercooler talk.''
        After Richards was named the executive producer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune in 2019, another former Deal employee remembers a supervisor who had worked closely with Richards remarking, ''I bet he hires himself.''
        In May 2013, Richards launched The Randumb Show. The podcast, named after a comedy show that Richards hosted as a student at Pepperdine University, was recorded on the Price Is Right set, often in Richards's office. Many episodes featured recent winners or members of The Price Is Right cast and crew, including director Adam Sandler (no relation to the actor), announcer George Gray, and the show's models. Guests on Price made appearances on the podcast as well, including Chrissy Teigen and 2014 Miss America Nina Davuluri.
        The conversations among Richards, his cohost and former assistant Beth Triffon, and occasionally Jen Bisgrove'--the podcast's producer and Richards's assistant at the time'--are freewheeling, skipping between pop culture news, upcoming TV lineups, and the latest goings-on at Price. Many have a gossipy edge, with Richards displaying a tendency to turn bawdy and sometimes vulgar. In one 2014 episode, Triffon discusses once working as a model at CES; Richards subsequently calls her a ''booth ho'' and ''booth slut.'' When the subject comes up again in a later conversation with Let's Make a Deal announcer Jonathan Mangum, both Mangum and Richards repeatedly call her a ''boothstitute.''
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        Triffon did not respond to multiple requests to speak about the podcast. Bisgrove, who joined Sony in 2019 and is now listed as a production coordinator at Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, did not respond to a request either.
        Women's bodies and clothing are recurring subjects for Richards. On a 2013 episode, he says that women ''dress like a hooker'' on Halloween; on another, he tells a story about a former Price employee who had taken up baking: ''We said that we were going to have to saw her out of her room because she was going to be so giant that she wouldn't be able to fit out the door.'' When discussing weight gain, Price announcer Gray says, ''There's a lot of guys that would not be entirely upset with a petite woman that's curvy''; Richards repeatedly uses the term ''huskadoo.'' He saves his praise for Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the former cohost of The View and Fox & Friends: ''She's, like, kind of my type. You know'--blond, good-looking.''
        After seeing a photo of Triffon standing by two friends at a lake, he says one-piece swimwear is ''genuinely unattractive.'' ''Not good. Not becoming. Not flattering.'' Richards says that the swimsuits had made her friends ''look really frumpy and overweight,'' which prompts the following exchange:
        Triffon: It's so funny because no one's overweight.
        Richards: But they all look terrible in the picture. They look fat and not good in the picture. It's bad. You look great. You look like a Sports Illustrated model, and then you've got one-piece malones on either side of you, which are just horrible.
        Triffon: I can't wait till you meet my roommate, because she's literally gonna be like, walk up to you in a bag and be like, ''Hey.''
        Richards: ''Hey, what's up? I'm wearing a smock.'' And then I'm gonna give her a smack.
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        There are multiple conversations in which Richards makes remarks about Triffon's height and appearance. He repeatedly calls her a derogatory term for little people, a word that he also uses to describe the actress Kristin Chenoweth. (Both that word and the R-word, which Richards uses in a January 2014 episode, are considered slurs.) In the podcast's third episode, Triffon discusses some acting roles she has auditioned for; Richards says she should try out for Taiwanese roles because of her height. In another episode, after Gray makes a nonspecific comment about big noses, Richards jumps in. ''Ixnay on the ose-nay,'' he says. ''She's not an ew-Jay.''
        Richards also makes disparaging comments about Triffon's economic status. During an episode in which Triffon discusses problems at her apartment, he says, ''Does Beth live, like, in Haiti? Doesn't it sound like that? Like, the urine smell, the woman in the muumuu, the stray cats.'' In another episode, Triffon talks about losing her job and says she qualified for unemployment insurance benefits totaling $389 per week. Richards says, ''The dangerous side about the crack that you just took is that not everyone is like you. But everyone can collect unemployment, which is why we have so many people on unemployment right now. Which is why we have so many people on food stamps. Because what if you got unemployment and food stamps? You'd be like, 'Good lord, I'm making'--.' You know what I'm saying?''
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        He goes on to ask, ''Do you feel dirty? Seriously, and I'm not trying to be mean. Do you feel a little dirty?''
        In an episode released two months later, Triffon tells a story about giving a dollar to an unhoused woman. Part of the exchange that follows is below:
        Richards: Oh my god. You're perpetuating the circle. '... If you gave away money that was given to you by the government, that's the circle of no life.
        Triffon: No, Mike, it was just a dollar.
        Richards: That's the sound of America going down the toilet.
        Triffon: I thought that she needed it!
        Richards: She didn't even ask you for it.
        Triffon: So she could get some coffee or some food!
        Richards: Or some crack! Or some meth!
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        But Richards himself has recently received government assistance. According to Small Business Administration data made available by government watchdog group Accountable.US, a consultancy that was incorporated in 2018 and lists Richards as the CEO and sole shareholder received a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan for $127,906 in May 2020, as well as a COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan for $150,000 later that year. Richards did not respond to The Ringer's request for comment about these loans.
        And Richards's podcast comments about the unhoused stand in contrast to the actions of his Jeopardy! host predecessor. One of Trebek's last major gifts was $500,000 to the Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, to which the show contributed an additional $250,000. The organization is building the 107-bedroom Trebek Center to provide shelter to those in need.
        There are at least two occasions on The Randumb Show when Richards discusses how he sees himself in the showbiz sphere. In an episode from September 2013, he brings up Jeff Probst, whose eponymous talk show was canceled after a single season on CBS. ''Jeff Probst had a daytime talk show, which I was cheering for because I like, you know, the average white-guy host,'' Richards says. ''I cheer for him to succeed because I feel like through his success I could have some success hosting.''
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        And in an episode from earlier that year he discusses Ryan Seacrest, whom Richards says he was passed over for to host American Idol. ''Listen, again, my family'--not huge Seacrest fans,'' Richards says. ''Me, I think it's great what he's done. And I think he's actually made the world a safer place for what I like to call the 'skinny white host,' like George [Gray] and I. Which is, you'll take a chance on someone that you don't know.''
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        Many people who have spoken at length on the radio or on podcasts would surely like to take back some of what they've said, and neither Pat Sajak nor Trebek was completely devoid of controversy. But in an online, socially conscious world, Richards has a tall task ahead of him in proving not only that he deserves the Jeopardy! job after a long and contentious process whose integrity many fans doubt, but also that he can embody the qualities'--intellectual curiosity, cultural open-mindedness, and reverence for the topics, both silly and serious, that appear on the board'--that have made Jeopardy! into a beloved touchstone.
        Richards will become just the third permanent host in Jeopardy! history after Trebek and Art Fleming. Trebek's edition of the show, which he also produced for the first three years of its run, was markedly different from Fleming's, both in atmosphere and substance. And whereas Fleming made no secret of his trivial humility'--''If I didn't have that sheet in front of me, you wouldn't have found me within a mile of the studio,'' he said'--Trebek made a point of his own academic bona fides. Though he long insisted that Jeopardy! was a young person's game, much of his mystique as host was tied to the perception that he could sidle up to a buzzer and defeat any of the day's contestants in a battle of the wits.
        Richards's Jeopardy! will be different as well. There are some early signs of what he has in mind, and it's bigger and glitzier. The decision to bring in Bialik exclusively to host prime-time specials'--the kind of decision that would fall squarely under an EP's purview'--suggests Jeopardy! intends to make what had been a very occasional foray into the post''8 p.m. network TV time slot into a multiple-times-a-year hoopla. These tournaments might flip much of what viewers consider to be Jeopardy! on its head: a college tournament originally announced last year will use teams; it and a recently advertised competition for college professors have been promoted by a professional casting agency, indicating Jeopardy! will seek to move beyond the build-it-and-they-will-come contestant recruitment efforts of yore.
        Changes seem to be trickling into the nightly edition of Jeopardy! too, according to multiple recent contestants. Beginning last season, Richards's first as EP, contestants invited to compete in an upcoming episode have also received instructions: Jeopardy! has a new producer, the contestant coordinators now explain, and he wants to class up the show. Players are told to bring a wardrobe of ''dressy interview wear,'' and sent images of nattily dressed men in suits and women in the sort of stiff primary colors that might be spotted on the morning news. Jeans, long verboten but seldom fussed over, are now firmly off limits.
        One of Trebek's preferred quips about Jeopardy! was that he was simply its host and not its star; the stars, he often said, were the contestants. To the show's community of longtime viewers and former contestants, this has long been part of Jeopardy!'s magic. It's not just a wholesome pop culture fixture; it's a celebration of learning, an identity, a way of life.
        After months of auditions, focus groups, and roiling comment sections, Sony has decided that Richards is not just capable of keeping that magic alive'--he is the best person to do it. On the eve of taping his first episodes as permanent host, it's clear that not everybody feels the same way.
        ''I think that one reason why Jeopardy! was aspirational for many of its contestants was its sense of integrity,'' says Sausville, the 2015 champion. ''There was something intrinsic to the show and Alex Trebek's hosting of it that elevated it above other game shows. The baggage Mike Richards has brought from his previous experience as an executive producer, as well as the optics of what comes across as his self-selection as host, have tarnished that. I think there's a real danger of Jeopardy! becoming just another syndicated game show, and that makes me concerned for its longevity and standing.''
      'Jeopardy!' host Mike Richards is exactly who you think he is
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 10:15
        UPDATE (Aug. 20, 2021, 10:25 a.m. ET): Mike Richards announced Friday he would be stepping down from his gig as "Jeopardy!" host following a series of revelations about his past.
        ''Really? This guy?''
        That was my initial thought when news broke Aug. 11 that Mike Richards would become the new host of "Jeopardy!," succeeding the late Alex Trebek, who was much beloved and iconic. Names like LeVar Burton, Robin Roberts, Aaron Rodgers and Ken Jennings had been floated during the search for the show's new host.
        Richards, unlike many of the guest hosts he was competing against for the gig, isn't a household name, and he has all the physical distinctiveness of white bread. But he was the show's (fairly new) executive producer.
        Unflattering news about Richards' history soon began popping up, including mentions of past lawsuits alleging discrimination against female employees from his time as executive producer of ''The Price is Right.'' Richards has said those allegations do ''not reflect the reality of who I am or how we worked together on 'The Price is Right.''' So on Tuesday evening, when The Ringer published a deeply reported piece about Richards' history of offensive, discriminatory public comments on ''The Randumb Show,'' his now-defunct podcast, I couldn't muster an ounce of surprise.
        Just a resigned, exhausted ''of course.''
        I have spent a decade writing columns and news stories about men who have been thrust into positions of power despite having made a plethora of mistakes '-- mistakes that suggest a lack of respect for people who don't look like them and act like them. They consistently fail up through the ranks of corporate America and Hollywood and Big Tech like they're encased in Teflon. The human collateral damage that might be left in their wake goes largely unacknowledged.
        Frankly, I'm tired of these men taking up useful space in our collective brains.
        Richards said exactly the type of things on ''The Randumb Show'' that you might expect from a generic 46-year-old Ken doll who fancies himself an ''edgy'' amateur comedian. According to the Ringer report, Richards frequently commented on the appearance, height and professional history of his co-host and former assistant, Beth Triffon. He called her a ''booth ho'' and a ''booth slut'' for having previously worked as a model at the Consumer Electronics Show (an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association). He uses a derogatory slur for little people to describe her and suggests that she audition for ''Taiwanese roles'' because of her short stature.
        Richards said exactly the type of things on ''The Randumb Show'' you might expect from a generic 46-year-old Ken doll who fancies himself an ''edgy'' amateur comedian.
        He also denigrates government assistance programs and unhoused people, invokes the r-word to question other people's intelligence, uses a stereotype about Jews and big noses, comments on the weight a colleague will gain once she takes up baking, proclaims that women dress like ''hookers'' on Halloween and says one-piece swimsuits are ''genuinely unattractive'' and make women ''look really frumpy and overweight.''
        The fact that he said all of these things '-- out loud, on a public podcast, recorded on the premises of his workplace, without fear of retribution '-- signals how little these comments struck him as problematic.
        Though Richards made the comments seven or eight years ago, he was already well into his 30s. When we pair that history with allegations of pregnancy discrimination at ''The Price is Right,'' a picture emerges of someone who is anything but a safe choice for Sony Pictures Television. (CNN's Matt Belloni reported Thursday night that Sony's CEO, Tony Vinciquerra, is under internal pressure to swap Richards out ASAP.)
        And yet.
        Richards was a known quantity '-- or at least assumed to be. He had the privilege of being hired off his familiarity and his potential. Never mind that as the executive producer of ''Jeopardy!'' Richards had been deeply involved in the audition process for host before he recused himself and stepped forward as a candidate. The New York Times reported that he ''retained a key role in selecting which appearances by each prospective host would be screened for focus groups, whose reactions weighed heavily in Sony's decision-making.'' Never mind that, as The Ringer reported, ''staff morale has deteriorated under Richards's watch as EP.''
        Even Richards' podcast appearances betray some awareness of his own privilege. On two different 2013 episodes, he waxes poetic about Jeff Probst and Ryan Seacrest, who he said represent victory for the ''average white-guy host'' and ''skinny white host.''
        ''I cheer for him to succeed,'' Richards said of Probst, ''because I feel like through his success I could have some success hosting.''
        In a way, he was absolutely right. When you exist in a body that our culture still automatically equates with authority and promise, so much can be ignored, overlooked and excused.
        Emma Gray, a freelance journalist focused on the intersection of gender, culture and politics, is the author of "A Girl's Guide to Joining the Resistance." She is a co-host of the Webby Award-nominated podcast "Here to Make Friends." She spent the last 10 years as a senior reporter and editor at HuffPost.
      US general tells British special forces: Stop rescuing people in Kabul, you're making us look bad
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 10:11
        (C) Provided by Washington Examiner I understand that the commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division has told the commander of the British special forces at the Kabul airport to cease operations beyond the airport perimeter.
        Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue has told his British Army counterpart, a high-ranking field-grade officer of the British army's 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, that British operations were embarrassing the United States military in the absence of similar U.S. military operations. I understand that the British officer firmly rejected the request.
        This show of rare tension between the U.S. and British command groups in Kabul reflects three factors.
        First, it shows the obvious stress of attempting to extricate thousands of personnel under a situation of increasing terrorist threat. Elements of the Haqqani network, the Islamic State in Afghanistan, and possibly al Qaeda are now operating in proximity to Kabul airport with some degree of command separation from the Taliban.
        In addition, the British military has more operational latitude in Kabul than the U.S. military, including the Navy SEAL elements present at the airport. I understand that the SAS has conducted operations to bring American citizens, as well as British citizens and at-risk personnel, through checkpoints and to the airport. This is not an indictment on U.S. capabilities or special operations intent, but rather, it's a reflection of political-military authorities. In part, this difference is understandable. Large-scale U.S. military operations beyond the Kabul airport perimeter would entail significant risk absent prior Taliban approval. But there is a sense, at least by allies, that the U.S. military could be doing more to leverage the Taliban into providing greater ease of access to the airport for those most at risk.
        A bureaucratic tug of war between the State Department, Pentagon, and White House is also disrupting evacuation operations out of Kabul. This is aggravating British, French, and other Kabul-present military authorities. I understand that these governments have been further aggravated by the failure of the White House and Pentagon to communicate adequately, or in some cases, to communicate at all, on their intentions and actions. All these allies admit, however, that only the U.S. military could provide the airfield defense and air traffic control capabilities now on display.
        Still, as I noted on Wednesday, the Biden administration's conduct of the Afghanistan withdrawal has raised deep concerns by allies as to the administration's credibility and confidence. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, allied officials reemphasized this concern to me on Friday.
        Washington Examiner Videos
        Tags: Opinion, Beltway Confidential, Special Forces, Britain, Navy SEALs, Army, Joe Biden, Afghanistan, Taliban, National Security, Foreign Policy
        Original Author: Tom Rogan
        Original Location: US general tells British special forces: Stop rescuing people in Kabul, you're making us look bad
      expert reaction to MHRA approval of Ronapreve as the first monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 approved for use in the UK | Science Media Centre
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 10:08
        August 20, 2021It has been announced today that t he Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has given approval for the first monoclonal antibody treatment for the prevention and treatment of acute COVID-19 in the UK.
        Prof Martin Landray, Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, said:
        ''This is the monoclonal neutralising antibody combination initially developed by Regeneron '' the one that President Trump received when he had COVID-19 last autumn.
        ''It combines two antibodies that bind to different places on the coronavirus spike protein, preventing uptake by cells and accelerating clearance of the virus. The rationale for combining two different antibodies is that if a viral variant prevented one drug from binding to the spike protein, the other would still be effective '' a 'belt and braces' approach.
        This licensing decision is an important step forward. There have been a number of trials in the out-of-hospital setting, each with positive results '' reducing viral clearance and reducing the risk of hospitalisation. There have been no major safety concerns.
        ''The challenge going forward will be in determining which patients should be prioritised for this treatment. COVID is not a rare disease and many people get better of their own accord after a few days of a nasty flu-like illness. It would be hard to justify giving what are likely to be limited supplies of a relatively expensive treatment to huge numbers of people who are likely to get better on their own. On the other hand, it may play an important role in patients who are at higher risk of developing severe infection and who are more likely to end up in hospital.
        ''(Note: The treatment has also been studied in patients who have already been admitted to hospital: In the RECOVERY trial involving over 9000 patients admitted with COVID-19 we found that the treatment was effective in reducing the risk of death and shortening hospital stay for those patients who had not mounted their own natural antibody response to the virus. However, today's news does not relate to the use of this treatment in that context.)''
        https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-monoclonal-antibody-treatment-for-covid-19-approved-for-use-in-the-uk
        Declared interests
        Dr Penny Ward: ''No COIs. I am semi-retired, but I am owner/Director of PWG Consulting (Biopharma) Ltd a consulting firm advising companies on drug and device development. Between December 2016 and July 2019 I served as Chief Medical Officer of Virion Biotherapeutics Ltd, a company developing antiviral treatments for respiratory viral diseases. Previous employee of Roche, makers of tocilizumab (anti IL6 antibody) and CMO of Novimmune, makers of empalumab (anti IFN gamma antibody). These are my personal views and do not reflect those of either institution.''
        Prof Martin Landray: ''Co-lead, RECOVERY trial of treatments for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. Note: Regeneron provided supplies of the monoclonal antibody combination for evaluation in the RECOVERY trial. Roche provided supplies of tocilizumab, another drug which we evaluated in the RECOVERY trial.''
        None others received.
      Cannabidiol Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Replication and Promotes the Host Innate Immune Response
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 10:05
        Version 1. bioRxiv. Preprint. 2021 Mar 10.
        This article is a preprint. Preprints have not been peer reviewed.To learn more about preprints in PMC see: NIH Preprint Pilot.
        Long Chi Nguyen,
        *,1 Dongbo Yang,
        *,1 Vlad Nicolaescu,
        *,2,9 Thomas J. Best,
        3 Takashi Ohtsuki,
        4,^ Shao-Nong Chen,
        4 J. Brent Friesen,
        4 Nir Drayman,
        6 Adil Mohamed,
        6 Christopher Dann,
        1 Diane Silva,
        5 Haley Gula,
        2,9 Krysten A. Jones,
        7 J. Michael Millis,
        8 Bryan C. Dickinson,
        7 SavaÅŸ Tay,
        6 Scott A. Oakes,
        5 Guido F. Pauli,
        4 David O. Meltzer,
        3 Glenn Randall,
        #,2,9 and
        Marsha Rich Rosner#,1Long Chi Nguyen1Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        Dongbo Yang1Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        Vlad Nicolaescu2Department of Microbiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        9Howard Taylor Ricketts Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont IL 60439
        Thomas J. Best3Center for Health and the Social Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        Takashi Ohtsuki4College of Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL 60612
        Shao-Nong Chen4College of Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL 60612
        J. Brent Friesen4College of Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL 60612
        Nir Drayman6Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        Adil Mohamed6Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        Christopher Dann1Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        Diane Silva5Department of Pathology, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        Haley Gula2Department of Microbiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        9Howard Taylor Ricketts Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont IL 60439
        Krysten A. Jones7Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        J. Michael Millis8Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        Bryan C. Dickinson7Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        SavaÅŸ Tay6Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        Scott A. Oakes5Department of Pathology, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        Guido F. Pauli4College of Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL 60612
        David O. Meltzer3Center for Health and the Social Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        Glenn Randall2Department of Microbiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        9Howard Taylor Ricketts Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont IL 60439
        Marsha Rich Rosner1Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        1Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        2Department of Microbiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
        3Center for Health and the Social Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        4College of Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy Institute, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL 60612
        5Department of Pathology, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        6Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        7Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        8Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Chicago IL 60637
        9Howard Taylor Ricketts Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont IL 60439
        *Equal contribution
        ^Current affiliation: Department of Food Bioscience and Biotechnology, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
        Contributed by
        Author contributions:
        Conceptualization: MRR, LCN, DY, GR, SAO, GFP, DOM, ND
        Methodology: MRR. GR, SAO, DOM, GFP, ND, BCD
        Software: DY, TB
        Formal analysis: DY, TB
        Investigation: LCN, DY, VN, TB, TO, SC, JBF, ND, AM, CD, DS, HG, KAJ
        Resources: GR, MRR, GFP, ST, BCD
        Data Curation: DOM, TB, DY
        Writing '' original draft: MRR
        Writing '' review & editing: LCN, DY, VN, TB, SC, JBF, ND, AM, KAJ, DS, JMM, BCD, ST, SAO, GFP, DOM, GR, MRR
        Visualization: LCN, DY, ND, AM, SC, BCD, JBF
        Supervision: MRR. GR, DOM, GFP, SAO, ST, BCD
        Project Administration: MRR
        Funding acquisition: MRR
        .
        The complete version history of this preprint is available at
        bioRxiv.
        AbstractThe rapid spread of COVID-19 underscores the need for new treatments. Here we report that cannabidiol (CBD), a compound produced by the cannabis plant, inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection. CBD and its metabolite, 7-OH-CBD, but not congeneric cannabinoids, potently block SARS-CoV-2 replication in lung epithelial cells. CBD acts after cellular infection, inhibiting viral gene expression and reversing many effects of SARS-CoV-2 on host gene transcription. CBD induces interferon expression and up-regulates its antiviral signaling pathway. A cohort of human patients previously taking CBD had significantly lower SARSCoV-2 infection incidence of up to an order of magnitude relative to matched pairs or the general population. This study highlights CBD, and its active metabolite, 7-OH-CBD, as potential preventative agents and therapeutic treatments for SARS-CoV-2 at early stages of infection.
        Summary sentence:Cannabidiol from the cannabis plant has potential to prevent and inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection
        Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a pandemic that has overtaken the world during the past year. SARS-CoV-2, related to severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV), is the seventh species of coronavirus known to infect people. These coronaviruses, which include SARS-CoV, 229E, NL63, OC43, HKU1, and MERS-CoV cause a range of symptoms from the common cold to more severe pathologies (1). Despite recent vaccine availability, SARS-CoV-2 is still spreading rapidly (2), highlighting the need for alternative treatments, especially for populations with limited access to vaccines. To date, few therapies have been identified that block SARS-CoV-2 replication and viral production.
        SARS-CoV-2 is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) enveloped virus composed of a lipid bilayer and four structural proteins that drive viral particle formation. The spike (S), membrane (M), and envelope (E) are integral proteins of the virus membrane and serve to drive virion budding, while also recruiting the nucleocapsid (N) protein and the viral genomic RNA into nascent virions. Like SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 primarily enters human cells by the binding of the viral S protein to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor (3''5), after which the S protein undergoes proteolysis by transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2) or other proteases into two non-covalently bound peptides (S1, S2) that facilitate viral entry into the host cell. The N-terminal S1 binds the ACE2 receptor, and the C-terminal S2 mediates viral-cell membrane fusion following proteolytic cleavage by TMRSS2 or other proteases. Depending upon the cell type, viral entry can also occur after ACE2 binding, independent of proteolytic cleavage (6''8). Following cell entry, the SARS-CoV-2 genome is translated into two large polypeptides that are cleaved by two viral proteases, MPro and PLPro (9, 10), to produce 15 proteins, in addition to the synthesis of subgenomic RNAs that encode another 10 accessory proteins plus the 4 structural proteins. These proteins enable viral replication, assembly, and budding. In an effort to suppress infection by the SARS-CoV-2 beta-coronavirus as well as other evolving pathogenic viruses, we tested the antiviral potential of a number of small molecules that target host stress response pathways.
        One potential regulator of the host stress and antiviral inflammatory responses is cannabidiol (CBD), a member of the cannabinoid class of natural products (11). CBD is produced by Cannabis sativa (Cannabaceae; marijuana/hemp). Hemp refers to cannabis plants or materials derived thereof that contain 0.3% or less of the psychotropic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and typically have relatively high CBD content. By contrast, marijuana refers to C. sativa materials with more than 0.3% THC by dry weight. THC acts through binding to the cannabinoid receptor, and CBD potentiates this interaction (12). Despite numerous studies and many typically unsubstantiated claims related to CBD-containing products, the biology of CBD itself is unclear and specific targets are mostly unknown (11). However, an oral solution of CBD is an FDA-approved drug, largely for the treatment of epilepsy (13). Thus, CBD has drug status, is viable as a therapeutic, and cannot be marketed as a dietary supplement in the United States (11). Although limited, some studies have reported that certain cannabinoids have antiviral effects against hepatitis C virus (HCV) and other viruses (14).
        RESULTSTo test the effect of CBD on SARS-CoV-2 replication, we pretreated A549 human lung carcinoma cells expressing exogenous human ACE-2 receptor (A549-ACE2) for 2 hours with 0''10 Î¼M CBD prior to infection with SARS-CoV-2. After 48 hours, we monitored cells for expression of the viral spike protein (S). For comparison, we also treated cells over a similar dose range with an MLK inhibitor (URMC-099) previously implicated as an antiviral for HIV (12) and KPT-9274, a PAK4/NAMPT inhibitor (13) that our analysis suggested might reverse many changes in gene expression caused by SARS-CoV-2. All three inhibitors potently inhibited viral replication under non-toxic conditions with EC50s ranging from 0.2''2.1 Î¼M ( Fig. 1A ). CBD inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication in Vero E6 monkey kidney epithelial cells as well (fig. S1A). No toxicity was observed at the effective doses (fig. S1B). We also determined that CBD suppressed replication of a related beta-coronavirus, mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), under non-toxic conditions with an EC50 of ~5 Î¼M using A549 cells that express the MHV receptor (A549-MHVR), indicating the potential for more broader viral efficacy (fig. S1C,D).
        Cannabidiol (CBD) is a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro.(A) A549 cells with ACE2 overexpression (A549-ACE2) were treated with indicated doses of CBD, KPT-9274, or URMC-099 followed by infection with SARS-CoV-2 at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.5 for 48 hours. The cells were stained for spike protein and the percentage of cells expressing the spike protein in each condition was plotted. EC50 values are indicated. (B) The 1H qNMR spectra of CBD from a reference material and CBD samples from three different suppliers A, B, and C. (C) A549-ACE2 cells were treated with indicated doses of CBD from three different suppliers followed by infection with SARS-CoV-2 at an MOI of 0.5 for 48 hours. The cells were stained for spike protein and the percentage of cells expressing the spike protein in each condition was plotted. EC50 values are indicated.
        When isolated from its source plant, natural non-synthetic CBD is typically extracted along with other cannabinoids, representing the unavoidable residual complexity of natural products. To verify that CBD is indeed responsible for the viral inhibition, we analyzed a CBD reference standard as well as CBD from three different sources for purity using 100% quantitative NMR (qNMR). These sources included two chemical vendors (Suppliers A and B) and one commercial vendor that used natural materials (Supplier C). The striking congruence between the experimental 1H NMR and the recently established quantum-mechanical HiFSA (1H Iterative Full Spin Analysis) profiles observed for all materials confirmed that 1) the compounds used were indeed CBD with purities of at least 97% ( Fig. 1B ) and 2) congeneric cannabinoids were not present at levels above 1.0% (11). Analysis of these different CBD preparations in the viral A549-ACE2 infection assay showed similar EC50s with a range from 0.6''1.8 Î¼M likely reflecting the intrinsic biological variability of the assay ( Fig. 1C ). No toxicity was observed for any of the CBD preparations at the doses used to inhibit viral infection (fig. S1 E''G).
        CBD is often consumed as part of a C. sativa extract, particularly in combination with psychoactive THC enriched in marijuana plants. We therefore determined whether congeneric cannabinoids, especially analogues with closely related structures and polarities produced by the hemp plant, are also capable of inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection. Remarkably, only CBD was a potent agent, while limited or no antiviral activity was exhibited by the structurally closely related congeners that share biosynthesis pathways and form the biogenetically determined residual complexity of CBD purified from C. sativa: THC, cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), cannabidivarin (CBDV), cannabichromene (CBC), or cannabigerol (CBG) ( Fig. 2 A '' B ; see Methods). None of these compounds were toxic to the A549-ACE2 cells in the dose range of interest (fig. S2). Notably, combining CBD with THC (1:1) significantly suppressed CBD efficacy consistent with competitive inhibition by THC.
        Limited or no inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection by Cannabinoids other than CBD.(A) A549-ACE2 cells were treated with indicated doses of various cannabinoids or a CBD/THC 1:1 mixture followed by infection with SARS-CoV-2 at an MOI of 0.5 for 48 hours. The cells were stained for spike protein and the percentage of cells expressing the spike protein in each condition was plotted. All cannabinoids tested were isolated from a hemp extract as described in Methods. (B) Chemical structures of cannabinoids and 7-OH CBD. (C) A549-ACE2 cells were treated with indicated doses of 7-OH CBD followed by infection with the SARS-CoV-2 at an MOI of 0.5. The cells were stained for spike protein and the percentage of cells expressing the spike protein in each condition was plotted. Representative data of CBD from Figure 1C (Supplier A) is used for comparison. EC50 values are indicated.
        CBD is rapidly metabolized in the liver and gut into two main metabolites, 7-carboxy-cannabidiol (7-COOH-CBD) and 7-hydroxy-cannabidiol (7-OH-CBD). Although the levels of 7-COOH-CBD are 40-fold higher than 7-OH-CBD in human plasma, 7-OHCBD is the active ingredient for the treatment of epilepsy (14). Like CBD but unlike the other cannabinoids, 7-OH-CBD effectively inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication in A549-ACE2 cells (EC50 3.6 Î¼M; Fig. 2C ) and was non-toxic to cells (fig. S2H). Analysis of blood plasma levels in healthy patients taking FDA-approved CBD (Epidiolex®) shows a maximal concentration (Cmax) for CBD in the nM range whereas 7-OH-CBD had a Cmax in the Î¼M range, similar to that observed in cultured cells (15). These results suggest that CBD itself is not present at the levels needed to effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in people. By contrast, the plasma concentrations of its metabolite 7-OH-CBD, whose Cmax can be increased several-fold by co-administration of CBD with a high-fat meal, are sufficient to potentially inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans (15).
        CBD could be acting to block viral entry to host cells or at later steps following infection. As CBD was shown to decrease ACE2 expression in some epithelial cells including A549 (16), we first determined whether CBD suppressed the SARS-CoV-2 receptor in our A549-ACE2 overexpressing cells. No decrease in ACE2 expression was observed ( Fig. 3A ). Furthermore, analysis of lentiviruses pseudotyped with either the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein or the VSV glycoprotein (17) showed that antibody to the spike protein effectively blocked viral infection of the SARS-CoV-2, but not VSV-G expressing viruses. However, 10 Î¼M CBD only partially inhibited cell entry by spike-expressing virus, suggesting that other mechanisms were largely responsible for its antiviral effects ( Fig. 3B , and figs. S3 A and B). By contrast, antibodies to the spike protein effectively blocked viral infection of the SARS-CoV-2 but not VSV-G expressing viruses. Consistent with this, CBD was also effective at inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein expression in host cells even 2 hours after infection in the presence of antibodies to the spike protein to prevent reinfection during this time period ( Fig. 3C , '‹ D ). To assess whether CBD might be preventing viral protein processing by the viral proteases Mpro or PLpro, we assayed their activity in vitro (fig. S4). CBD did not affect the activity of either protease, raising the possibility that CBD targets host cell processes.
        CBD inhibits viral replication after SARS-CoV-2 entry into the host cell.(A) Immunoblots of ACE2 protein expression from A549-ACE2 cell lysates either untreated or treated with vehicle or CBD at indicated doses (n=3). Blots were probed with antibodies against ACE2 and tubulin. ACE2 protein expression levels were normalized to the tubulin signal within each sample. ACE2 expression levels were plotted relative to untreated samples. Expression levels were compared to vehicle by one-way ANOVA. (B) 293T-ACE2 cells were infected by spike or VSV-G pseudovirus for 72 hours with the indicated doses of CBD treatment, and the percentage of infected cells plotted. (C) A549-ACE2 cells were either pre-treated or not with 10 Î¼M CBD for 2 hours, then infected with SARS-CoV-2 at an MOI of 0.5 for 2 hours. Cells were then treated with 10 Î¼M CBD or DMSO for 16 hours with the spike neutralizing antibody to prevent reinfection. Spike positive cells were quantified and normalized to the virus-infected only sample. (D) Validation of neutralizing antibody efficacy. 400 pfu of SARS-CoV-2 virus was incubated with or without 100 Î¼M of neutralizing antibody for 1 hour. A549-ACE2 cells were treated with the mixture for 16 hours and Spike positive cells were quantified.
        Consistent with this interpretation, RNA-seq analysis of infected A549-ACE2 cells treated with CBD for 24 hours shows a striking suppression of SARS-CoV-2-induced changes in gene expression. CBD effectively eradicated viral RNA expression in the host cells, including RNA coding for spike, membrane, envelope and nucleocapsid proteins ( Figs. 4 A and '‹ B ). Both SARS-CoV-2 and CBD each induced significant changes in cellular gene expression, including a number of transcription factors (figs. S5 and S6). Principal component analysis of host cell RNA shows almost complete reversal of viral changes but, rather than returning to a normal cell state, the CBD+virus infected cells resemble those treated with CBD alone ( Fig. 4C ). Clustering analysis using Metascape reveals some interesting patterns and associated themes ( Fig. 4D , figs. S7, and S8). For example, viral induction of genes associated with chromatin modification and transcription (Cluster 1) is reversed by CBD although CBD alone has no effect. Similarly, viral inhibition of genes associated with ribosomes and neutrophils (Cluster 3) is largely reversed by CBD, but the drug alone has no effect. This contrasts with Clusters 5 and 6 where CBD alone induces strong activation of genes associated with the host stress response. Together these results suggest that CBD acts to prevent viral protein translation and associated cellular changes.
        Changes in Viral and host cell transcription following SARS-CoV-2 infection or CBD treatment.A549-ACE2 cells were infected with SARS-CoV-2 at MOI of 3 with or without CBD treatment at 10 Î¼M for 24 hours. RNA-seq was performed as described in Methods. (A) Heatmap of relative levels of SARS-CoV-2 genes from the RNA-seq samples. (B) Expression levels of SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid genes. Percent expression level changes for genes from infected cells compared to cells infected and CBD treated are indicated for each gene. (C) Principal component analysis (PCA) of RNA-seq data showing control (veh_mock), SARS-CoV-2 infected (veh_infect), CBD-treated (CBD_mock), and SARS-CoV-2 infected plus CBD treated (CBD_infect) samples. The first and second principal components (PC1 and PC2) of each sample are plotted. (D) Heatmap of normalized expression levels of 5,000 most variable genes across all RNA-seq samples, clustered into 6 groups based on differential expression between treatment conditions.
        One potential mechanism by which CBD could suppress viral infection and promote degradation of viral RNA is through induction of the interferon signaling pathway. Interferons are among the earliest innate immune host responses to pathogen exposure (18). SARS-CoV-2 infection suppresses the interferon signaling pathway (19) ( Fig. 5A , and fig. S9). Some genes that are induced by CBD in both the absence and presence of the virus include receptors for interferons beta and gamma as well as mediators of the signaling pathway such as STATs 1 and 2 ( Fig. 5A and fig. S10). Other genes in the pathway like OAS1, an interferon-induced gene that leads to activation of RNase L and RNA degradation (20), are not significantly induced by CBD unless in the presence of the virus ( Fig. 5A and fig. S11). These latter results are consistent with the possibility that CBD lowers the effective viral titer sufficiently to enable normal host activation of the interferon pathway. At the same time, CBD effectively reverses viral induction of cytokines that can lead to the deadly cytokine storm at later stages of infection ( Fig. 5B ). Collectively, these results suggest that CBD inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection in part by activating the interferon pathway leading to degradation of viral RNA and subsequent viral-induced changes in host gene expression, including cytokines.
        CBD promotes host cell interferon responses and inhibits viral induction of cytokines.(A) Heatmap of normalized expression levels of genes from the Interferon Response Canonical Pathway for all RNA-seq samples including control (veh_mock), SARS-CoV-2 infected (veh_infect), CBD-treated (CBD_mock), and SARS-CoV-2 infected plus CBD treated (CBD_infect) samples. Hierarchical clustering was applied to the genes. (B) Heatmap of normalized expression levels of GO Cytokine Activity genes which were up-regulated by the viral infection but down-regulated by CBD treatment for all RNA-seq samples as described in (A).
        Given that CBD preparations containing substantial amounts of CBD are taken by a large number of individuals, we examined whether CBD exposure might correlate to a decreased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Analysis of over 93,000 patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 at the University of Chicago Medical Center showed that 10.0% tested positive overall, but only 5.7% of the ~400 who had any cannabinoid in their medical record tested positive ( Fig. 6 ). Patients taking CBD versus other cannabinoids had an even lower rate of testing positive (1.2% in 85 CBD patients versus 7.1% in 113 patients taking other cannabinoids, p=0.08). This finding that patients taking other cannabinoids had less protection against viral infection is consistent with our cell culture studies. Since multiple potential confounding factors could explain these findings, including age, race, clinical morbidities, and sex, we matched 82 patients who were prescribed oral, FDA-approved CBD (Epidiolex®) before COVID-19 testing to patients who had no indication of taking any cannabinoids but had comparable other characteristics including similar demographic characteristics, clinical comorbidities, and records of other medications in the two years before COVID-19 testing (table S1). Of the patients prescribed oral CBD before their COVID-19 test, the most common morbidity categories were hypertension and conditions with immunosuppression. Strikingly, only 1.2% of the patients prescribed CBD contracted SARS-CoV-2 whereas 12.2% of the matched, non-cannabinoid patients tested positive (p=0.009), suggesting a potential reduction in SARS-CoV-2 infection risk of approximately an order of magnitude.
        High Dose CBD usage in patients is significantly correlated with a reduction in COVID-19 positivity.Associations between reported cannabinoid medication use and COVID-19 test results among adults tested at the University of Chicago Medicine (total n=93,565). P*: p-values of percent positivity of the specified patient population compared to percent positivity of all patients (10% COVID-19 positive among 93,565 patients). Middle right: 85 patients took CBD before their COVID test date. Upper right: 82 of the 85 patients took FDA-approved CBD (Epidiolex®) and were matched to 82 of the 93,167 patients (Matched Controls) with a nearest neighbor propensity score model that scored patients according to their demographics and their recorded diagnoses and medications from the two years before their COVID-19 test. P-values were calculated using Fisher's exact test two-sided.
        DISCUSSIONOur results suggest that CBD can block SARS-CoV-2 infection at early stages of infection, and CBD administration is associated with a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans. Furthermore, the active compound in patients is likely to be 7-OH-CBD, the same metabolite implicated in CBD treatment of epilepsy. The substantial reduction in SARS-CoV-2 infection risk of approximately an order of magnitude in patients who took FDA-approved CBD highlights the potential efficacy of this drug in combating SARS-CoV-2 infection. Finally, the ability of CBD to inhibit replication of MHV raises the possibility that CBD may have efficacy against new pathogenic viruses arising in the future.
        One mechanism contributing to the antiviral activity of CBD is the induction of the interferon pathway both directly and indirectly following activation of the host immune response to the viral pathogen. In fact, interferons have been tested clinically as potential treatments for COVID-19 (21). Importantly, CBD also suppresses cytokine activation in response to viral infection, reducing the likelihood of immune cell recruitment and subsequent cytokine storms within the lungs and other affected tissues. These results complement previous findings suggesting that CBD suppresses cytokine production in recruited immune cells such as macrophages (22). Thus, CBD has to the potential not only to act as an antiviral agent at early stages of infection but also to protect the host against an overactive immune system at later stages.
        CBD has a number of advantages as a potential preventative agent against SARS-CoV-2. CBD is widely available without restricted access if the content of THC is <0.3%. There are multiple means of ingestion, including potential for inhalation and nasal delivery. CBD blocks viral replication after entry into cells and, thus, is likely to be effective against viral variants with mutant spike proteins. Unlike drugs such as remdesivir or antiviral antibodies, CBD administration does not require injection in hospital settings. Finally, CBD is associated with only minor side effects (15).
        However, several issues require close examination before CBD can be considered or even explored as a therapeutic for COVID-19 (11). Although many CBD formulations are available on the market, they vary vastly in quality, the amount of CBD, and their pharmacokinetic properties after oral administration, which are mostly unknown. CBD is quite hydrophobic and forms large micellar structures that are trapped and broken down in the liver, thereby limiting the amount of drug available to other tissues after oral administration. The inactive carriers have a significant impact on clinically obtainable concentrations. As CBD is widely sold as a preparation in an edible oil, we analyzed flavored commercial hemp oils and found a CBD content of only 0.30% in a representative sample (fig. S12). The purity of CBD and, in particular, the composition of the materials labelled as CBD are also important, especially in light of our findings suggesting that other cannabinoids such as THC might act to counter CBD antiviral efficacy. This essentially eliminates the feasibility of marijuana serving as an effective source of antiviral CBD, in addition to issues related to its legal status. Finally, other means of CBD administration such as vaping and smoking raise concerns about potential lung damage.
        Future studies to explore the optimal means of CBD delivery to patients along with clinical trials will be needed to fully test the promise of CBD as a therapeutic to block SARS-CoV-2 infection. As the clearance rates for CBD in plasma are substantially lower in humans than mice, we would suggest moving to clinical trials rather than doing preclinical studies in animal models (15). We advocate carefully designed placebo-controlled clinical trials with known concentrations and highly-characterized formulations in order to define CBD's role in preventing and treating early SARS-CoV-2 infection. The necessary human in vivo concentration and optimal route and formulation remain to be defined. We strongly caution against the urge to take CBD in presently available formulations as a preventative or treatment therapy at this time, especially without the knowledge of a rigorous randomized clinical trial with this natural product (23).
        ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe thank the members of the SARS-CoV-2 host response team in Chicago for stimulating discussions and support with particular thanks to Julian Solway, Rick Morimoto, Nissim Hay, Anne Sperling, HuanHuan Chen, Raphael Lee, Raymond Roos, Shannon Elf, Alexander Muir, Gokhan Mutlu, Jay Pinto, Steven White, Nickolai Dulin, Ray Moellering, Viswanathan Natarajan, Leonitis Platanias, Karen Ridge and HuanHuan Chen. We thank Dominique Missiakas for facilitating access to the University of Chicago Howard Taylor Ricketts Facility by providing protocols and trained scientists. We also thank Nicole Rosner and Kathleen Cagney for proposing and facilitating analysis of clinical data, and Mark Ratain for consideration of pharmacokinetic issues. We thank the University of Chicago Genomics Facility (RRID:SCR_019196) especially Sandhiya Arun and Pieter Faber, for their assistance with RNA sequencing. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the University of Chicago Vice Provost for Research, Karen Kim, and the Dean of the Biological Sciences Division, Kenneth Polonsky, for their steadfast support.
        Funding:This work was supported by:
        BIG Vision grant from the University of Chicago (M.R.R.)
        National Institutes of Health grant R01 GM121735 (M.R.R.)
        National Institutes of Health grant R01 CA184494 (M.R.R.)
        National Institutes of Health grant R01 AI137514 (G.R.)
        National Institutes of Health grant R01 AI127518 (G.R.)
        National Institutes of Health grant R01 AI134980 (G.R.)
        National Institutes of Health grant R01 CA219815 (S.A.O.)
        National Institutes of Health grant R35 GM119840 (B.C.D)
        National Institutes of Health grant P30 CA014599 (University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center Support grant)
        Competing interests:Five of the authors (MRR, GR, LCN, DY and JMM) filed a provisional patent entitled ''Method of use of Cannabidiol as an antiviral agent''. Receipt of the provisional patient was acknowledged by the USPTO on November 30, 2020. S.A.O. is a cofounder and consultant at OptiKira., L.L.C. (Cleveland, OH).
        FootnotesData and materials availability: All data, code, and materials used in the analysis will be available in some form to any researcher for purposes of reproducing or extending the analysis except when limited by materials transfer agreements (MTAs). Raw and processed RNA-seq data will be deposited into the GEO database.
        Supplementary Materials
        Materials and Methods
        Figs. S1 to S12
        Table S1
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      Joe vs. The Swamp, by Ann Coulter
        Link to Article
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 04:24
        Maladroit as the withdrawal has been, at least the US is officially getting out of Afghanistan, something three presidents before Biden couldn't do. From Ann Coulter at anncoulter.com:
        President Biden ended the war in Afghanistan earlier this week, fulfilling the broken promises of the last three presidents, whereupon both the liberal and conservative media rose up as one to shout: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
        This is a blow to our national security! Al Qaeda is rising! A disaster! A catastrophe! Biden went against the advice of the ''foreign policy establishment''!
        And that was just Fox News.
        MSNBC and CNN were even harsher, striking a new tone from networks that, heretofore, have found nothing to criticize about Joe Biden.
        Under his masterful leadership, our nation's murder rate has reached breathtaking heights. Despite being handed a miracle vaccine, Biden has made a mess of COVID, unfathomably returning us to masking and shutdowns, as if completely unaware: There's a vaccine for that, Mr. President. The border is a calamity, with hundreds of thousands of foreign marauders entering our country every month '-- bringing exotic new COVID variants with them.
        MSNBC and CNN: Isn't he the greatest?
        But end the endless war? Suddenly, liberals found a Biden policy worthy of attack.
      The WHO is right to call a temporary halt to COVID vaccine boosters
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 01:07
        Israel has begun rolling out a third dose of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, even though the case for boosters has not yet been proved. Credit: Nir Alon/Alamy
        The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for a moratorium on COVID-19 boosters until the end of next month, with the aim of ensuring that at least 10% of people in all countries are vaccinated before extra doses are handed out. It makes a compelling argument. As Nature went to press, 58% of people in high-income countries had received at least one vaccine dose; in low-income countries this number stood at just 1.3%.
        Moreover, the case for boosters has not yet been proved. Most COVID-19 vaccines currently in use remain extremely effective months after administration, particularly against severe disease and death. In a period of vaccine scarcity, the choice to dole out boosters must be guided by evidence of benefit, and consideration given to the cost of delaying the delivery of vaccines to vulnerable people and health-care workers in other countries. So far, there is little evidence that boosters are needed to protect the fully vaccinated.
        Sadly, many countries are moving ahead with boosters regardless. Israel has begun giving third doses of Pfizer's mRNA vaccine to people over 50 and other vulnerable groups. France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States are all planning to provide boosters to certain groups. In the United States, more than one million people have managed to get an unauthorized third dose.
        In some cases, boosters might be warranted '-- if the evidence suggests that the usual doses aren't effective, for example. One study of people who have had an organ transplant, meaning they need to take drugs that suppress the immune system, found that almost half had no antibody response after two doses of mRNA vaccines (B. J. Boyarsky et al. JAMA 325, 2204''2206; 2021).
        Boosters might also be needed if vaccines made from inactivated viral particles, namely those from the Chinese manufacturers Sinopharm and Sinovac, are found to provide inadequate protection against severe disease or death from variants such as Delta. A surge of COVID-19 in Indonesia that has affected many health-care workers fully vaccinated with Sinovac, and surges in other countries reliant on Sinovac's shot, have led officials to consider boosters using other vaccines '-- even though vaccines are far from the only factor implicated in rising disease rates.
        All other vaccines currently in use seem to be more than 90% effective against hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Although some studies have found that vaccine-induced antibody levels wane after several months, this is typical for all vaccines and not necessarily indicative of waning protection against the coronavirus.
        Scientists don't yet know how much extra protection a booster shot might confer against disease, or for how long any boost will last. However, on average, an unvaccinated person exposed to the coronavirus is much more likely both to be infected and to spread that infection than is a vaccinated individual. Moreover, they are more than 90% more likely to be hospitalized or die from the disease. Choosing an unknown but potentially incremental benefit for a person in a wealthy country over a massive, life-saving one for a person elsewhere in the world is a losing strategy, because new variants will inevitably arise in places where the spread of COVID-19 continues unabated.
        Instead of offering boosters to large swathes of people, wealthier nations need to be more active in getting the world vaccinated '-- and there are several ways to do this.
        First, rich countries must come through on promises to support COVAX, the international alliance supplying vaccines to low-income countries. It remains short on its modest goal to vaccinate the most vulnerable 20% of populations by the end of 2021.
        However, global vaccine availability is limited '-- and will only become more so if boosters become commonplace '-- so vaccine donations alone won't suffice. Leaders of countries whose companies have benefited from public funds '-- such as BioNTech in Germany and Moderna in the United States '-- should use their clout to expand manufacturing. Many more wealthy nations need to support a proposal led by India and South Africa '-- that has the United States' backing '-- for a temporary waiver on vaccine patents.
        These deals must be matched by funds to get new manufacturers up and running quickly and safely, along with financing for countries to allow them to purchase vaccine doses and distribute them to their populations. Typically, this process occurs over years or even decades, but time is crucial in a pandemic '-- and needs are vast. Patent waivers won't solve the problem alone; neither will vaccine donations or a temporary moratorium on boosters. The world must push on all fronts simultaneously.
        Allowing COVID-19 to spread in low and lower-middle-income countries '-- where, overall, fewer than 15% of people are vaccinated '-- could result in millions of people dying or facing long-term complications from severe COVID-19. Economies will erode as businesses and schools remain closed. And surging COVID-19 levels will foster the evolution of new variants that could be yet more transmissible than Delta, deadlier than existing strains or able to evade the immune response. Last month, the International Monetary Fund warned that highly infectious variants could derail economic recovery around the world, and wipe US$4.5 trillion from global gross domestic product by 2025.
        If vaccines were not scarce, boosters would be less controversial. But to focus on boosters when more than half the world lacks vaccine doses is short-sighted and will only keep the pandemic burning longer. For wealthy countries, this strategy means they will be indefinitely chasing their tails in terms of new variants. And for the rest of the world, it means prolonging unnecessary suffering.
      Trump Not Directly Involved in Organizing Capitol-Riot Violence: Report
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        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 22:15
        A person raised a "Make America Great" hat as President Donald Trump spoke to supporters from The Ellipse near the White House on January 6. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images The FBI has found no evidence that Trump was directly involved in organizing Capitol-riot violence. It also found little evidence of an organized plot to overturn the election results. "Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," said one former official. The FBI hasn't found any evidence that the January 6 assault on the US Capitol was part of an organized plot to overturn the election results, Reuters reported, citing law-enforcement officials.
        The officials also said that the FBI has "so far found no evidence" that former President Donald Trump or "people directly around him were involved in organizing the violence," Reuters reported.
        "Ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases," a former law-enforcement official familiar with the investigation told Reuters. "There was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."
        More than 570 participants have been arrested by federal officials. Investigators have found that groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys did plan ahead of time to break into the Capitol, but they didn't engage in much planning beyond that step. Reuters reported that 40 of the defendants are being prosecuted on conspiracy charges, implying a certain amount of planning and coordination.
        But prosecutors have generally shied away from alleging a broader plot. Senior Department of Justice officials do not intend to bring forward seditious-conspiracy charges or even racketeering charges, which are commonly used against organized criminal gangs.
        A Democratic congressional source told Reuters that senior lawmakers who have been briefed on the FBI's investigation find the results credible.
        Though the FBI has not found an organized plot or direct involvement by Trump, that doesn't mean that Trump didn't play an important role in instigating the violence. Earlier this year, the House of Representatives impeached Trump on the charge of "incitement of insurrection" after he spent weeks promoting conspiracy theories about the results of the 2020 election. On January 6, Trump gave a speech on The Ellipse where he urged supporters to march on the Capitol.
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      U.S. reviewing if Moderna shot tied to higher heart inflammation risk - Washington Post | Reuters
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        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 22:13
        An employee shows the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Northwell Health's Long Island Jewish Valley Stream hospital in New York, U.S., December 21, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
        Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. health officials are reviewing reports that Moderna Inc's (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine may be linked to a higher risk of a rare heart condition in younger adults than previously thought, the Washington Post reported late on Thursday, citing people familiar with the review.
        The review was focused on Canadian data that suggests a higher risk from the shot than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, especially in men below the age of 30, according to paper.
        The Washington Post report quoted a source saying it was too early for the regulators to reach a conclusion, and that additional work was needed before any recommendation was made.
        "While we won't comment on internal meetings or discussions, we can say that FDA is absolutely committed to reviewing data as it becomes available to us," the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Moderna did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
        The possible review comes just two days after U.S. health officials said that COVID-19 vaccine booster doses will be available to Americans from Sept. 20, over concerns that initial vaccinations may offer lower protection in the face of rising infections due to the Delta variant. read more
        Health regulators in June had added a warning to the literature that accompanies mRNA vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer (PFE.N) to flag a rare risk of heart inflammation seen primarily in young males.
        Data from a government agency's safety monitoring system in that month suggested a rate of 12.6 cases of heart inflammation per million in 12-to 39-year-olds. read more
        The benefit of mRNA shots in preventing COVID-19 continues to outweigh the risks, regulators in the United States and the EU as well as the World Health Organization have said. read more
        If new information changes the risk-benefit profile of COVID-19 vaccines, the FDA will update the public accordingly, the agency said in an email.
        There might be a 2.5 times higher incidence of myocarditis in those who get the Moderna vaccine compared with Pfizer's vaccine, the Post quoted a source as saying.
        Roughly 142 million shots of the Moderna vaccine have been administered in arms, according to U.S. government data as of Thursday.
        Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Ramakrishnan M.
        Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
      Arnold Schwarzenegger loses corporate sponsor of bodybuilding event for 'dangerous, anti-American' comment | Fox News
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 22:09
        Published August 20, 2021
        Former Calif. governor previously said his passion for 'keeping America great' could cause him to lose his temperArnold Schwarzenegger's rant about the importance of wearing face masks has landed him in hot water.
        Fox News can confirm the former governor of California has lost a sponsor for his annual bodybuilding event known as the Arnold Classic due to controversial comments he made last week. The former governor of California riled up citizens when he called mask-averse Americans "schmucks" and said, "screw your freedom," to those seeking to terminate COVID-19 mandates.
        In a statement to Fox News on Friday, REDCON1, a sports nutrition brand, confirmed they've pulled out from Schwarzenegger's event as well as any others he's involved in.
        "To be clear we did not pull out of the event because of a mask issue. We understand the importance of public safety as well as the responsibilities all event organizers. These are unprecedented times and we're aligned with public safety for all. We elected to discontinue support due to Arnold's comment, 'Screw Your Freedoms,'" a spokesperson for the company said.
        MASKLESS ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER CHOMPS ON CIGAR AS HE SAYS CALLING PEOPLE 'SCHMUCKS' OVER MASKS CROSSED A LINE
        A recent comment Arnold Schwarzenegger made about freedom was 'dangerous' and 'anti-American,' REDCON1 claims. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
        "With the global influence Arnold personally possesses we find that ideology dangerous and anti-American," the company continued.
        "REDCON1 is a patriotic pro-freedom brand rooted in the uncompromising unapologetic belief that you, as an American, are entitled to your freedoms and opinion and should not be insulted or persecuted for having a varying view. We support everyone's individual freedoms," the statement concludes.
        REDCON1 founder Aaron Singerman also voiced his opposition to Schwarzenegger's comments on his personal Instagram, writing, "For the last 15 years I've been attending the Arnold Classic, and for at least a decade I've been a sponsor of the contest. I've loved Arnold as long as I remember, and credit him for my initial interest in bodybuilding and fitness. I've looked at him as a role model.
        "A guy who had nothing and no advantages, who never made an excuse, and created tremendous success. He became an icon based on his work ethic, his charisma, and his grit. It's with a heavy heart and some genuine sadness, that REDCON1 has decided to discontinue any and all support for the Arnold Classic and the other Arnold related events around the world," Singerman's post continues.
        "We've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars being a top sponsor of the event, and this year the exclusive sponsor of the webcast, but we can't in good Conscience continue to support & be involved with someone who has such diametrically opposed beliefs."CAMPOS-DUFFY TO SCHWARZENEGGER: 'I WAS BORN FREE ... NOT WAITING FOR A BODYBUILDER TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO'
        In a controversial interview, Schwarzenegger had a message for those arguing that "freedom" is more important than wearing masks amid the coronavirus pandemic.
        "People should know there is a virus here. It kills people, and the only way we prevent it is to get vaccinated, wear masks, do social distancing, washing your hands all the time, and not just to think about, 'Well, my freedom is being kind of disturbed here,'" the "Terminator" franchise star, 74, said.
        CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
        "No, screw your freedom, because with freedom comes obligations and responsibilities. We cannot just say, 'I have the right to do X, Y and Z.' When you infect other people, that is when it gets serious," he added, publicly admonishing those who aren't subscribing to the practice of masking up and getting the shot."
        Schwarzenegger recently explained that his passion for 'keeping America great' could cause him to lose his 'temper.' (Getty)
        The actor's daughter Katherine, 31, took to her own social media account to support her father's message.
        Later, in an op-ed for The Atlantic, Schwarzenegger addressed some of the criticism he received over the comments, writing, "I'll admit, calling people schmucks and saying 'Screw your freedom' was a little much," though he still stood by the statement.
        CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
        Days later, Schwarzenegger was spotted in public without a mask as he walked outside and puffed on a cigar.
        Reps for the actor and organizers for the Arnold Classic did not immediately return Fox News' request for comment.
      Kavita Patel
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 20:49
        Kavita Patel is a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Previously, she was the managing director of clinical transformation at the Center for Health Policy at Brookings. Dr. Patel is an advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center and a member of Health and Human Services Physician Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee.
        Dr. Patel is a primary care physician in Washington, DC. She also served in the Obama Administration as director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement in the White House. As a senior aide to Valerie Jarrett, President Obama's senior advisor, Dr. Patel played a critical role in policy development and evaluation of policy initiatives connected to health reform, financial regulatory reform, and economic recovery issues.
        Dr. Patel also has a deep understanding of Capitol Hill from her time spent on the late Senator Edward Kennedy's staff. As deputy staff director on health, she served as a policy analyst and trusted aide to the Senator and was part of the senior staff of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee under Sen. Kennedy's leadership. She also has an extensive research and clinical background, having worked as a researcher at the RAND Corporation and as a practicing physician in both California and Oregon. She currently advises health care technology and services organizations through New Enterprise Associates.
        Dr. Patel a previous Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, and while at Brookings, returned to providing clinical care as an internal medicine practitioner. She earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center and her masters in public health from the University of California Los Angeles.
        Kavita Patel is a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Previously, she was the managing director of clinical transformation at the Center for Health Policy at Brookings. Dr. Patel is an advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center and a member of Health and Human Services Physician Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee.
        Dr. Patel is a primary care physician in Washington, DC. She also served in the Obama Administration as director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement in the White House. As a senior aide to Valerie Jarrett, President Obama's senior advisor, Dr. Patel played a critical role in policy development and evaluation of policy initiatives connected to health reform, financial regulatory reform, and economic recovery issues.
        Dr. Patel also has a deep understanding of Capitol Hill from her time spent on the late Senator Edward Kennedy's staff. As deputy staff director on health, she served as a policy analyst and trusted aide to the Senator and was part of the senior staff of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee under Sen. Kennedy's leadership. She also has an extensive research and clinical background, having worked as a researcher at the RAND Corporation and as a practicing physician in both California and Oregon. She currently advises health care technology and services organizations through New Enterprise Associates.
        Dr. Patel a previous Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, and while at Brookings, returned to providing clinical care as an internal medicine practitioner. She earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center and her masters in public health from the University of California Los Angeles.
      Opinion | We built a system like Apple's to flag child sexual abuse material '-- and concluded the tech was dangerous - The Washington Post
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 16:31
        Jonathan Mayer is an assistant professor of computer science and public affairs at Princeton University. He previously served as technology counsel to then-Sen. Kamala D. Harris and as chief technologist of the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau. Anunay Kulshrestha is a graduate researcher at the Princeton University Center for Information Technology Policy and a PhD candidate in the department of computer science.
        Earlier this month, Apple unveiled a system that would scan iPhone and iPad photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The announcement sparked a civil liberties firestorm, and Apple's own employees have been expressing alarm. The company insists reservations about the system are rooted in ''misunderstandings.'' We disagree.
        We wrote the only peer-reviewed publication on how to build a system like Apple's '-- and we concluded the technology was dangerous. We're not concerned because we misunderstand how Apple's system works. The problem is, we understand exactly how it works.
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        Our research project began two years ago, as an experimental system to identify CSAM in end-to-end-encrypted online services. As security researchers, we know the value of end-to-end encryption, which protects data from third-party access. But we're also horrified that CSAM is proliferating on encrypted platforms. And we worry online services are reluctant to use encryption without additional tools to combat CSAM.
        We sought to explore a possible middle ground, where online services could identify harmful content while otherwise preserving end-to-end encryption. The concept was straightforward: If someone shared material that matched a database of known harmful content, the service would be alerted. If a person shared innocent content, the service would learn nothing. People couldn't read the database or learn whether content matched, since that information could reveal law enforcement methods and help criminals evade detection.
        Knowledgeable observers argued a system like ours was far from feasible. After many false starts, we built a working prototype. But we encountered a glaring problem.
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        Our system could be easily repurposed for surveillance and censorship. The design wasn't restricted to a specific category of content; a service could simply swap in any content-matching database, and the person using that service would be none the wiser.
        A foreign government could, for example, compel a service to out people sharing disfavored political speech. That's no hypothetical: WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app, already uses content matching to identify dissident material. India enacted rules this year that could require pre-screening content critical of government policy. Russia recently fined Google, Facebook and Twitter for not removing pro-democracy protest materials.
        We spotted other shortcomings. The content-matching process could have false positives, and malicious users could game the system to subject innocent users to scrutiny.
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        We were so disturbed that we took a step we hadn't seen before in computer science literature: We warned against our own system design, urging further research on how to mitigate the serious downsides. We'd planned to discuss paths forward at an academic conference this month.
        That dialogue never happened. The week before our presentation, Apple announced it would deploy its nearly identical system on iCloud Photos, which exists on more than 1.5 billion devices. Apple's motivation, like ours, was to protect children. And its system was technically more efficient and capable than ours. But we were baffled to see that Apple had few answers for the hard questions we'd surfaced.
        China is Apple's second-largest market, with probably hundreds of millions of devices. What stops the Chinese government from demanding Apple scan those devices for pro-democracy materials? Absolutely nothing, except Apple's solemn promise. This is the same Apple that blocked Chinese citizens from apps that allow access to censored material, that acceded to China's demand to store user data in state-owned data centers and whose chief executive infamously declared, ''We follow the law wherever we do business.''
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        Apple's muted response about possible misuse is especially puzzling because it's a high-profile flip-flop. After the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., the Justice Department tried to compel Apple to facilitate access to a perpetrator's encrypted iPhone. Apple refused, swearing in court filings that if it were to build such a capability once, all bets were off about how that capability might be used in future.
        ''It's something we believe is too dangerous to do,'' Apple explained. ''The only way to guarantee that such a powerful tool isn't abused '... is to never create it.'' That worry is just as applicable to Apple's new system.
        Apple has also dodged on the problems of false positives and malicious gaming, sharing few details about how its content matching works.
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        The company's latest defense of its system is that there are technical safeguards against misuse, which outsiders can independently audit. But Apple has a record of obstructing security research. And its vague proposal for verifying the content-matching database would flunk an introductory security course.
        Apple could implement stronger technical protections, providing public proof that its content-matching database originated with child-safety groups. We've already designed a protocol it could deploy. Our conclusion, though, is that many downside risks probably don't have technical solutions.
        Apple is making a bet that it can limit its system to certain content in certain countries, despite immense government pressures. We hope it succeeds in both protecting children and affirming incentives for broader adoption of encryption. But make no mistake that Apple is gambling with security, privacy and free speech worldwide.
      In Afghanistan, Big Plans to Gather Biometric Data - The New York Times
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        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 15:08
        Passengers leaving Afghanistan last week had their fingerprints scanned at the Kabul airport, a new requirement for all. Credit... Mikhail Galustov for The New York Times KABUL, Afghanistan '-- Afghanistan has many dubious distinctions on the international-rankings front: 10th-poorest, third-most corrupt, worst place to be a child, longest at war. To that may soon be added: most heavily fingerprinted.
        Since September, Afghanistan has been the only country in the world to fingerprint and photograph all travelers who pass through Kabul International Airport, arriving and departing.
        A handful of other countries fingerprint arriving foreigners, but no country has ever sought to gather biometric data on everyone who comes and goes, whatever their nationality. Nor do Afghan authorities plan to stop there: their avowed goal is to fingerprint, photograph and scan the irises of every living Afghan.
        It is a goal heartily endorsed by the American military, which has already gathered biometric data on two million Afghans who have been encountered by soldiers on the battlefield, or who have just applied for a job with the coalition military or its civilian contractors.
        The Kabul airport program is also financed by the United States, with money and training provided by the American Embassy. Americans, like all other travelers, are subject to it.
        ''Some of the embassies are quite exercised about it,'' one Western diplomat said. Such a program would be illegal if carried out in the home countries of most of the occupying coalition. The United States and Japan fingerprint all foreigners on arrival; South Korea plans to start doing so in January. (Brazil retaliated against the American program by fingerprinting arriving Americans only.) Officials at the American Embassy declined to comment specifically on the program; a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security denied it had anything to do with it.
        Biometric data is also being gathered by the American military at all of Afghanistan's eight major border crossings, in a program that it plans to hand over to the Afghan government at the end of this month. So far, that program gathers only random samples at border crossings, because traffic is so heavy, but since it began in April it has already added 200,000 people to the military's biometrics database.
        The military wants to use biometrics to identify known or suspected insurgents, and to prevent infiltration of military bases and Afghan security forces. ''The technology removes the mask of anonymity,'' said Capt. Kevin Aandahl of the Navy, a spokesman for the military's detainee operations, which include the biometrics program.
        Gathering the data does not stop at Afghanistan's borders, however, since the military shares all of the biometrics it collects with the United States Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security through interconnected databases.
        Even the civilian-run airport program collecting fingerprints and photographs feeds its information into computers at the American Embassy, as well as at the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and its intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, according to Mohammad Yaqub Rasuli, the head of the Kabul International Airport.
        Mr. Rasuli acknowledges that the airport screening has had a rocky start. ''We are happy with the system, but the airlines and the passengers are not that happy,'' he said.
        Delays of up to two hours have resulted from the screening, which takes at least three minutes per passenger. With six screening stations at most, the process becomes laborious, and so many travelers recently have been missing their flights that the airlines routinely delay takeoffs.
        ''Someone who is not used to this system, it can take 10 to 15 minutes each,'' said Mohammed Fawad, deputy director of immigration at the airport.
        Reporters at the airport have on several occasions witnessed immigration officers just waving through some passengers as crowds backed up; others were allowed to skip their thumbprints to speed things along. One man had his hand fingerprinted upside down, with nails facing the scanner.
        ''It is some sort of cultural deficiency,'' Mr. Rasuli said. ''After six months, everyone will be happy with it.'' The next step will be a national identity card with biometric data on every citizen, he said. ''A lot of our problems will be solved with this.''
        As with the military's biometric data, information on each person is fed into a computer to find those who are on terrorist watch lists, have outstanding criminal warrants or even are just businessmen under investigation.
        In the first two and a half months, how many suspects have been apprehended with the new system, Mr. Rasuli was asked.
        ''None,'' he said.
        The military has done somewhat better with its program, according to Col. Fred Washington, director of the United States Army's biometrics task force. Since 2007, when biometric collection began in Afghanistan, biometrics have been used to identify 3,000 suspects on either Watch List 1 or Watch List 2, the American military's two most serious classifications for possible insurgents or terrorists. In many cases, fingerprints found on bomb remains have identified the bomb maker, he said.
        ''People are accepting it because they know it's making their country secure,'' Colonel Washington said.
        Mohammad Musa Mahmoodi, executive director of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, said, ''Given the circumstances in Afghanistan, fighting terrorism and insurgency, government can take measures to protect its citizens.''
        ''To be honest, we've got more important problems to worry about,'' he said.
        Civil liberties groups abroad are more concerned. ''The situation in Afghanistan is unprecedented, but I worry that we could move into that situation in the United States without even realizing we're doing it,'' said Jennifer Lynch, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.
        There have been some signs of Afghan sensitivities as well. A military-financed program to gather biometric data in the city of Kandahar in 2010, during the push to control insurgency there, was so unpopular that President Hamid Karzai promised local elders to have it canceled, which it was, according to Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the governor in Kandahar Province.
        And the Afghan government has yet to pass legislation providing for the biometric screening of the entire population that it has announced it plans to carry out for the national identity card.
        As a result, the military has not conducted wholesale sweeps of communities to gather biometrics, Colonel Washington said, although in just the past year 12,000 soldiers have been trained to use the B.A.T. '-- the Biometric Automated Toolset. ''We can't go door to door,'' he said.
        The Commander's Guide to Biometrics in Afghanistan, however, encourages documenting as many Afghans as possible.
        ''Every person who lives within an operational area should be identified and fully biometrically enrolled with facial photos, iris scans, and all 10 fingerprints (if present),'' the guide says. (That was apparently a reference to Afghanistan's many amputees.)
        While the B.A.T. equipment is portable, it is not always easy to use, and the results can sometimes be unpredictable.
        A reporter from The New York Times, an American of Norwegian rather than Afghan extraction, voluntarily submitted to a test screening with the B.A.T. system. After his fingerprints and iris scans were entered into the B.A.T.'s armored laptop, an unexpected ''hit'' popped up on the screen, along with the photograph of a heavily bearded Afghan.
        The ''hit'' identified the reporter as ''Haji Daro Shar Mohammed,'' who is on terrorist Watch List 4, with this note: ''Deny Access, Do Not Hire, Subject Poses a Threat.''
      American Bar Association Poised To Mandate Diversity Training, Affirmative Action at Law Schools
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 15:05
        CampusLegal scholars say mandates could force law schools to violate federal law
        SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 12: Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the 2013 America Bar Association (ABA) annual meeting on August 12, 2013 in San Francisco, California. The ABA honored Hillary Clinton with its highest honor, the ABA Medal. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Aaron Sibarium ' August 19, 2021 2:16 pmThe American Bar Association is poised to mandate diversity training and affirmative action at all of its accredited law schools, a move top legal scholars say could jeopardize academic freedom and force schools to violate federal law.
        The association, which accredits nearly every law school in the United States, is mulling a plan that would require schools to "provide education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism," including a mandatory ethics course instructing students that they have an obligation to fight "racism in the law." Schools would also be required to "take effective actions" to "diversify" their student bodies'--even when doing so risks violating a law that "purports to prohibit consideration of" race or ethnicity.
        The proposal has sparked fierce blowback from legal scholars across the country, including 10 emeritus professors at Yale Law School, who called it a "problematic" and "disturbing" attempt to "institutionalize dogma" through the accreditation process. Violating federal law is "not legally defensible conduct for any institution," they wrote in a public comment on the plan in June, nor is it "a legally defensible requirement by an organization certifying law schools."
        Those arguments have so far fallen on deaf ears: When the plan was submitted for final review on Aug. 16, it contained all of the provisions to which the Yale professors had objected.
        The American Bar Association is not the only accreditation body pushing progressivism. Many of the accreditors for private secondary schools require their members to integrate social justice into every aspect of their curricula, centralizing pedagogical power in the hands of bureaucrats rather than teachers. That's diminished the autonomy of schools as well as families, who increasingly struggle to find institutions that are both well-credentialed and open-minded.
        Few accreditors, however, are as influential as the American Bar Association. There are fewer than 250 law schools in the United States, and 199 of them are accredited by the association. In most states, attending an ABA-accredited school is a prerequisite for taking the bar exam. So when the association sets standards for law schools, it is effectively setting them for the entire legal system: corporate lawyers, criminal prosecutors, state judges, and Supreme Court justices will all be educated in whatever ideology the association dictates'--even if it is indifferent to the rule of law itself.
        The proposed standards would institutionalize that indifference throughout legal academia. Laws prohibiting schools from considering race in admissions are "not a justification for a school's non-compliance" with the diversity requirement, one standard reads. According to the Yale professors, "It would appear that [this language] instructs schools to risk violating state or federal law in order to retain certification." Though the plan does tell schools to pursue diversity "by means other than those prohibited," it never specifies what those means are, an omission the Yale professors say could encourage legally dubious activities.
        Such activities might include using "personal ratings" to establish unofficial racial quotas, a practice that has landed Harvard in the Supreme Court. Though universities can use race as a "plus factor" in admissions, they cannot set hard floors or ceilings for any particular racial group. The ABA's accreditation plan would encourage law schools to set those ceilings anyway, through the same sort of chicanery Harvard allegedly employs.
        It would also encourage students to see existing law as illegitimate. The plan mandates a course on "professional responsibility" that stresses lawyers' "obligation" to fight racism in the legal system'--implying the legal system is racist'--and requires students to learn about "bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism" at least two other times before graduating. "Courses on racism and bias in the law" are one way of satisfying that second requirement. Insofar as this curriculum assumes the law is unjust, it supplies a justification for disobeying it.
        The curricular mandates have elicited the strongest pushback from law professors, who see them as a fundamental threat to academic freedom. Brian Leiter, a legal theorist at the University of Chicago Law School, told the American Bar Association that its plan would "almost certainly violate the academic freedom rights of faculty at many (probably most) schools." Kate Stith, a professor and former dean at Yale Law School, was even more blunt, calling the proposal a "shocking" act of overreach.
        "It is totally inappropriate for a group like the American Bar Association to intrude into the content of law school curricula," she told the Washington Free Beacon.
        The American Bar Association, which did not respond to a request for comment, will make a final decision on the plan next year.
        The most shocking thing about the proposal may be Yale's intense institutional opposition to it. Yale Law School has one of the most leftwing faculties in the country, with fewer self-identified conservatives than Stanford, Harvard, or the University of Chicago law schools. It also has one of the most outspokenly progressive student bodies: Earlier this year, a raft of Yale Law affinity groups demanded that the school's prestigious law journal "prioritize anti-racism" in its admissions process, falsely alleging that minorities were underrepresented on the masthead. The demands plunged the journal into chaos and led its former editor'--himself a minority and a proponent of affirmative action'--to apologize for the "unwelcoming culture" he had presided over.
        Yale's emeritus professors seemed to have had such uprisings in mind when they drafted their comment. They point to the ABA's endorsement of "affinity groups"'--the same institutions that had launched the crusade against the Yale Law Journal'--as an example of ideological overreach.
        "Affinity groups are by definition non-diverse," the comment reads. "There are good faith differences of opinion about whether some affinity group programs support or detract from diversity goals."
        If the American Bar Association presses ahead with its plan, those programs could soon be a prerequisite for practicing law in the United States.
        Published under: Affirmative Action , Diversity , yale law school
      Mike Richards steps down as 'Jeopardy!' host following controversy over past statements - NewsBreak
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 15:02
        Longtime "Jeopardy!" executive producer Mike Richards said Friday he is stepping down as the incoming permanent host for the popular game show following backlash over recently surfaced podcast episodes in which he made derogatory remarks about women.
        The Ringer's Claire McNear, who first reported on the 2013 to 2014 podcast episodes in which Richards reportedly made the sexist comments, shared a message Richards sent to the show's team Friday in which he said that "it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show."
        "As such, I will be stepping down as host effective immediately," he added.
        Richards, who also faced pushback over previous allegations of pregnancy discrimination that resulted in two lawsuits, added that it "pains" him that "these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on Jeopardy! as we look to start a new chapter."
        "As I mentioned last week, I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role," he added in the statement shared with The Ringer.
        Richards said that as a result of his resignation, Friday production of the show would be cancelled, with Sony Pictures TV now resuming its search for a new permanent host.
        He also said that in the meantime, Sony will be bringing in guest hosts, as it did following the death of longtime host Alex Trebek in November. Among those who have stood behind the lectern since are LeVar Burton, Katie Couric and Aaron Rogers.
        "I want to apologize to each of you for the unwanted negative attention that has come to Jeopardy! over the last few weeks and for the confusion and delays this is now causing," Richards added. "I know I have a lot of work to do to regain your trust and confidence.''
        Sony Pictures TV also released a statement saying it was standing behind Richards' decision to step down, adding that it was "surprised this week to learn of Mike's 2013/2014 podcast and the offensive language he used in the past."
        "We have spoken with him about our concerns and our expectations moving forward," the company added. "Mike has been with us for the last two years and has led the Jeopardy! team through the most challenging time the show has ever experienced. It is our hope that as EP he will continue to do so with professionalism and respect.''
        On Aug. 11, the 46-year-old was named the new host of the flagship show, with TV actor Mayim Bialik set to host a series of related "Jeopardy!" spinoff prime-time specials.
        The Ringer reported this week that in now-deleted episodes of Richards' former podcast, "The Randumb Show," he reportedly asked his female assistant and co-host if she had ever taken ''booby pictures," and at another point called her a ''booth ho.''
        Richards issued an apology Wednesday following the release of the report, saying, "there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry."
        ''Even with the passage of time, it's more than clear that my attempts to be funny and provocative were not acceptable, and I have removed the episodes,'' he added.
        '--Updated at 10:53 a.m.
      Who is Dr Sean Brooks? PhD's apocalyptic anti-vaccine warnings go viral, spark outrage | MEAWW
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 14:25
        Sean Brooks says say in the video, ''Dr. Robert Malone, who created the messenger RNA [mRNA] vaccine has said no one should ever take these jabs ever, under any circumstance whatsoever -- he created it! And he says, 'Don't ever do it!'"
        Dr Sean Brooks touting anti-vaccine ideas in a viral video (Twitter/@RedpillEire)A viral video has taken the internet by storm and is being touted online by anti-vaccine folks as a must-watch. The video is being shared online as a supposed doctor's chilling testimony of what happens when one takes the Covid-19 vaccine '-- "The people who have taken it are going to die in the next 6 months to 3 to 5 years."
        This viral video comes in the wake of the Joe Biden administration's announcement on Wednesday, August 18, that Covid-19 booster shots would be available starting September 20 for American adults who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. The US will provide a third shot to Americans who received their second vaccine dose at least eight months ago, pending authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration.
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        "This will boost your immune response. It will increase your protection from Covid-19," President Biden said. "That's the best way to protect ourselves from new variants that could arise."
        Who is Dr Sean Brooks?The viral video features a man called Sean Brooks, who was seen speaking at what is being reported as an ''SW Ohio School Board Meeting''. It is not clear if that refers to the Ohio School Boards Association Southwest Region or the Southwest Local School District.
        The video sees a bald man approach the mic in an auditorium of sorts and introduce himself. He says, ''My name is Dr Shawn Brooks, PhD, Oxford. I have 48 publications, including 23 books. I've studied health medicine, anatomy, and physiology for approximately 21 years.'' He adds, ''Dr Robert Malone, who created the messenger RNA [mRNA] vaccine has said no one should ever take these jabs ever, under any circumstance whatsoever '-- he created it! And he says, 'Don't ever do it!'"
        There's much to break down here. But first and foremost, in the very beginning, he introduces himself as a PhD '-- not a medical doctor. There seems to be very little information about him online.
        In the comments section of the video published on bitchute.com, one person asked, ''I saw this on another channel. I like to cover my basis and do my own digging on this stuff. So I tried looking up this published doctor. I can't find anything on him. I would have asked this on the other channel but the comments are blocked. Can anyone else?'' To this, another person responded with, ''I found something that appears to be the same guy on quite frankly channel but that guy said his profession was in education. Not a medical doctor.''
        Another person shared an Amazon author link to that of Sean M Brooks, a man whose books include titles like 'Violence Among Students and School Staff: Understanding and Preventing the Causes of School Violence', 'The Unmasking of American Schools: The Sanctioned Abuse of America's Teachers and Students', 'Purposeful Deception: The Inside Plan to Communize and Destroy American K-12 Education,' and more. It's unclear if this is the same person at all.
        Brooks, in his speech, referred to Dr Robert Malone as the person who supposedly ''created the messenger RNA vaccine''. That claim too has some problems with it. As per an August 12 report in The Atlantic, Malone started popping up on podcasts and cable news shows a few months ago, presented as a scientific expert, arguing that the approval process for the vaccines had been unwisely rushed.
        Dr Robert Malone. (Twitter/@RWMaloneMD)He reportedly told Tucker Carlson that the public doesn't have enough information to decide whether to get vaccinated. He also reportedly told Glenn Beck that offering incentives for taking vaccines is unethical. He is slowly becoming an anti-vaccine ideologue. And he's always billed as the mRNA inventor '-- a credit which he touts very often as well. ''I literally invented mRNA technology when I was 28,'' Malone, who is now 61, told The Atlantic.
        Malone reportedly did work on this in the late 1980s at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He also wrote two papers on it. But as per Rein Verbeke, a postdoctoral fellow at Ghent University, in Belgium, and the lead author of a 2019 history of mRNA-vaccine development, while Malone and his co-authors ''sparked for the first time the hope that mRNA could have potential as a new drug class,'' the achievement of the mRNA vaccines of today ''is the accomplishment of a lot of collaborative efforts.''
        It is unclear what Dr Sean Brooks' credentials are. But if his own words are to be taken into consideration, he is not a medical doctor. And what he cites in his little speech is also not the most reliable information.
        If you have a news scoop or an interesting story for us, please reach out at (323) 421-7514
      Vaccine Makers Claim COVID Shots Are '95% Effective' '-- But What Does That Mean? ' Children's Health Defense
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        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 13:23
        The Defender is experiencing censorship on many social channels. Be sure to stay in touch with the news that matters by subscribing to our top news of the day. It's free.
        In 1954, writer and repentant cigarette industry lobbyist Darrell Huff wrote the best-selling book, ''How to Lie with Statistics,'' with the aim of teaching the general public how to decode the ''secret language of statistics.''
        In his introduction, Huff wrote: ''Averages and relationships and trends and graphs are not always what they seem.'' He added: ''There may be more in them than meets the eye, and there may be a good deal less.''
        Almost 70 years later, Huff's admonition that a ''well-wrapped statistic'' can ''sensationalize, inflate, confuse and oversimplify'' seems more relevant than ever. For a pertinent modern-day example, one need look no further than COVID vaccine developers' ''headline-worthy'' but misleading claims about their products' ''95% effectiveness.'' As BMJ associate editor Peter Doshi and others have been confirming for months, these efficacy data are largely a matter of statistical smoke and mirrors.
        Why are manufacturers' claims about vaccine effectiveness misleading? Pfizer and Moderna declined to share with the public the fact that there is another way to parse their data that has more real-world significance.
        Examining a statistic called absolute risk reduction '-- the number of percentage points that an individual's risk goes down if they do something ''protective'' '-- the two companies' COVID vaccines barely make a dent at all, reducing someone's risk of experiencing COVID symptoms (the clinical trials' endpoint) by less than 1%. This is the practical number that people are likely to care about most.
        Knowing the paltry real-world impact of the injections on someone's risk of developing COVID symptoms, how many people swayed by the misleading ''95% effective'' mantra might instead have decided to refuse the vaccines '-- products that have revealed themselves to be highly unsafe and, in some cases, fatal?
        Unfortunately, topping its November efficacy claims for people 16 years and older, Pfizer just announced its COVID injection is ''100% effective for 12-to-15 year-olds.'' This announcement sets the stage for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) predicted authorization of Pfizer's unlicensed vaccine for the adolescent market.
        Parents who know that COVID rarely poses a threat to children and adolescents may already be planning to keep their kids away from the experimental shots, but there are other reasons for taking Pfizer's latest grandiose claims with a grain of salt.
        Absolute vs. relative risk
        In November '-- just before the FDA issued its initial Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Pfizer's COVID vaccine '-- Doshi cautioned the public that Pfizer's and Moderna's efficacy results seemed dramatic only because the companies derived them from relative risk data.
        Absolute risk, simply explained, is ''the likelihood that an outcome will occur.'' Relative risk ''compares the risk of a health event '... among one group with the risk among another group.''
        Pfizer told the FDA that eight (of approximately 22,000) volunteers in its vaccine group developed a PCR-confirmed case of COVID-19, versus 162 of 22,000 volunteers in the placebo group. Moderna reported a similar spread '-- five out of 15,000 in the vaccine group versus 90 out of 15,000 in the placebo group.
        When one does the math, the Pfizer clinical trial numbers showed: ''The risk reduction in absolute terms [was] only 0.7%, from an already very low risk of 0.74% [in the placebo group] to a minimal risk of 0.04% [in the vaccine group].'' (Dividing 0.7 '-- the difference between the two groups '-- by 0.74 is the mathematical calculation that produced the touted ''95% effective'' number).
        Although the eight versus 162 PCR-confirmed COVID cases in the Pfizer trial may sound like a big difference to the casual reader, Peter Doshi subsequently alerted the public to the fact that Pfizer skewed its analysis by excluding more than 3,400 individuals with non-PCR-confirmed symptoms of COVID '-- individuals split almost evenly across the vaccine and placebo groups.
        As Doshi wrote in The BMJ: ''With 20 times more suspected than confirmed cases, this category of disease cannot be ignored simply because there was no positive PCR test result. Indeed this makes it all the more urgent to understand.''
        Factoring in both the suspected and confirmed cases, Doshi noted, would drop the 95% relative risk figure down to 19%.
        In 2019, the author of a pre-COVID paper, ''How to Communicate Evidence to Patients'' (quoted in a post-COVID blog), explained that relative risks ''can exaggerate the perception of difference'' between groups '-- especially, as in the case of COVID vaccines and many other medical interventions, ''when the absolute risks are very small.''
        Other researchers agree the concealment of ''underlying absolute risks'' (and the tendency to ''overestimate'' effects presented in relative terms) are a ''major weakness'' of relative risk data. For these reasons, many researchers insist that one risk measure ''cannot be interpreted without the other.''
        Elaborating on the importance of providing a ''complete picture'' and communicating both measures, European researchers writing in 2017 explained how relative risk data alone can mislead:
        ''When relative risks are used for the presentation of effects of a treatment, this can make the treatment seem better than it actually is. For example, investigators may claim that a certain treatment reduces mortality by 50% when the intervention reduces death rates from 0.002% to 0.001%, an improvement the clinical relevance of which may be questioned.''
        Risk reduction '... or risk intensification?
        In the vaccine arena, a subtle byproduct of a narrow focus on relative risk-based efficacy statistics is that the latter often eclipse meaningful discussions of safety.
        Pfizer's announcement of 100% effectiveness in younger adolescents seems intended to accomplish just such a goal, drawing attention away from the 4,178 post-COVID-vaccine deaths now reported (through May 3) to the U.S.-based Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
        In Europe, the COVID vaccine fallout has been equally alarming: The EudraVigilance database lists 8,430 deaths (through Apr. 24) '-- and more than 354,000 injuries '-- following injection with one of the four emergency-authorized shots (made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca).
        Supplementing reports to official databases, thousands of individuals have posted COVID vaccine injury stories on social media. Facebook recently deleted a group for COVID-19 vaccine victims and families that had in excess of 120,000 followers '-- the group ''had been gaining more than 10,000 followers per week.'' The company's action is part of an unabashed Big Tech effort to curtail online discussions of vaccine risks and rebrand them as ''misinformation.''
        Drawing attention to the mounting evidence of COVID vaccine dangers, physicist and medical doctor Richard Fleming, Ph.D., M.D., J.D.. recently described increased risks for inflammation and blood clotting as well as a worrisome type of protein clumping associated with dementia and other neurological disorders.
        Fleming called on the Biden administration to immediately reevaluate ''whether there's any demonstrated efficacy'' of the COVID shots. In Fleming's view, the companies' own data show that the injections have ''no statistically significant benefit'' and ''make zero difference in stopping COVID.''
        Talking back
        In the concluding chapter of ''How to Lie with Statistics'', Huff encouraged members of the public to be more discerning and to ''talk back'' to and ''face down'' phony statistics. To this end, he recommended asking five simple questions, all of which could be helpful as the public scrutinizes the vaccine industry's blanket pronouncements about COVID vaccine efficacy and safety and regulators' moving-target statements about herd immunity:
        ''Who says so?'' This question entails assessing phenomena like researcher bias, use of ambiguous statements, ''selection of favorable data and suppression of unfavorable'' and reliance on improper measures.''How does he know?'' Evaluating this question includes considering biased or improper sampling, small sample sizes and low response rates, including researcher attempts to cover up these defects.''What's missing?'' Do the researchers rely on meaningless averages or fail to contextualize their findings?''Did somebody change the subject?'' Huff noted that ''one thing is all too often reported as another.''''Does it make sense?'' With this final question, Huff cautioned that many a flawed statistic '-- particularly in the medical realm '-- ''gets by only because the magic of numbers brings about a suspension of common sense.''As Children's Health Defense Chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. noted in January, ''the absence of a placebo group in post-vaccination surveillance systems makes it easy for self-interested pharmaceutical and regulatory officials to undercount injuries by attributing them to coincidence.'' Kennedy added, ''Coincidence is turning out to be quite lethal to COVID vaccine recipients.''
        The BMJ's Doshi has shown that vaccine manufacturers are not above inappropriately excluding data, deviating from study protocols (and then hiding the deviations), using unofficially unblinded study groups and keeping raw data (even when taxpayer-funded) to themselves.
        One way for the public to push back against this ''strategic chicanery'' and lethal ''coincidences'' is to follow the lead of rigorous questioners like Doshi, querying the ''trustworthiness and meaningfulness'' of reported results at every step.
      DHS Secret Terror Watchlist With Nearly 2 MILLION People On It Exposed Online With NO PASSWORD
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        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 13:18
        The Department of Homeland Security under Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this year revealed plans to declare their political opposition "suspected domestic extremists" and strip them of their rights by placing them on the No Fly List.
        Every indicator suggests Mayorkas has followed through on those plans and has been rapidly expanding the regime's No Fly List and terror watchlist by adding dissidents such as America First talk show host Nick Fuentes to them.
        According to a newly released report from security researcher Volodymyr Diachenko, DHS last month had their highly-secretive terror/no fly watchlist with nearly 2 million so-called "suspected terrorists" on it exposed on the open internet "without a password or any other authentication required to access it."
        Despite DHS being immediately alerted to the astonishing act of incompetence by Diachenko, they took three weeks to take the exposed database down. That means the entire list could potentially be in the hands of our foreign adversaries' while American dissidents are being blocked from knowing whether they are on these lists and being forced to go through legal hell to fight to get off the lists in order to get their rights back.
        From Volodymyr Diachenko, "America's secret terrorist watchlist exposed on the web without a password: report":
        On July 19, 2021 I discovered a terrorist watchlist containing 1.9 million records online without a password or any other authentication required to access it.
        The watchlist came from the Terrorist Screening Center, a multi-agency group administered by the FBI. The TSC maintains the country's no-fly list, which is a subset of the larger watchlist. A typical record in the list contains a full name, citizenship, gender, date of birth, passport number, no-fly indicator, and more.
        I immediately reported it to Department of Homeland Security officials, who acknowledged the incident and thanked me for my work. The DHS did not provide any further official comment, though.
        Timeline of the exposure
        On July 19, 2021, The exposed server was indexed by search engines Censys and ZoomEye. I discovered the exposed data on the same day and reported it to the DHS.
        The exposed server was taken down about three weeks later, on August 9, 2021. It's not clear why it took so long, and I don't know for sure whether any unauthorized parties accessed it.
        What data was exposed?
        The exposed Elasticsearch cluster contained 1.9 million records. I do not know how much of the full TSC Watchlist it stored, but it seems plausible that the entire list was exposed.
        Each record in the watchlist contained some or all of the following info:
        - Full name
        - TSC watchlist ID
        - Citizenship
        - Gender
        - Date of birth
        - Passport number
        - Country of issuance
        - No-fly indicator
        The data also included a couple of categorical fields that I was unable to identify, including "tag," "nomination type," and "selectee indicator".
        Notably, the database was found on a Bahrain IP address, not a US one.
        Dangers of exposed data
        The terrorist watchlist is made up of people who are suspected of terrorism but who have not necessarily been charged with any crime. In the wrong hands, this list could be used to oppress, harrass, or persecute people on the list and their families. It could cause any number of personal and professional problems for innocent people whose names are included in the list.
        With all due respect Mr. Diachenko, DHS Secretary Mayorkas himself is already using the list to oppress, harass and persecute people.While there may be some foreign terrorists on the list who deserve to be on there, Mayorkas has made it clear through his actions he is using the list as a tool for punishing the regime's political enemies.
        There have been several reports of US authorities recruiting informants in exchange for keeping their names off of the no-fly list. Some past or present informants' identities could have been leaked.
        About the TSC watchlist
        The Terrorist Screening Center was set up by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2003. It shares information on suspected terrorists with the following US federal agencies:
        - Department of State
        - Department of Defense
        - Transportation Security Authority (TSA)
        - Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
        ... as well as some international partners.
        The TSC maintains a watchlist of suspected terrorists. The notorious no-fly list is a subset of the TSC watchlist. The watchlist is supposed to be classified, with access only granted to "agencies and officials who are authorized to conduct terrorist screening in the course of their duties..."
        Americans are being put on the No Fly List and being stripped of their right to fly with no due process.Americans are also being put on the Terror Watchlist with no due process and being subject to various expanded surveillance measures and invasive screenings at airports.
        Odds are it's no coincidence this list happened to be exposed right as Mayorkas appears to be expanding it for use as a "social credit score" system to punish the regime's political opposition. Just last week, the Atlantic published an article from a former Obama DHS official calling for all unvaccinated people to be added to the No Fly List.
        DHS also just issued a bulletin claiming Americans opposed to corona lockdown measures are potential terrorists.
        Mayorkas has big plans for these blacklists and he's clearly working behind the scenes to implement them!
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      White House backtracks after Biden appears to say US would defend Taiwan against China | Taiwan | The Guardian
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 13:04
        Show caption US president Joe Biden has appeared to lump Taiwan together with countries to which Washington has explicit defence commitments. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
        TaiwanAdministration official plays down president's comment comparing Taiwan commitments to those in Nato, saying US policy has not shifted
        Reuters in Washington
        Thu 19 Aug 2021 22.29 EDT
        A senior Biden administration official said US policy on Taiwan had not changed after President Joe Biden appeared to suggest the US would defend the island if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-held US position of ''strategic ambiguity''.
        In an interview aired by ABC News on Thursday, Biden was asked about the effects of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and responses in Chinese media telling Taiwan this showed Washington could not be relied on to come to its defence.
        China holds live-fire exercises near Taiwan in response to 'provocations' Biden replied that Taiwan, South Korea and Nato were fundamentally different situations to Afghanistan and appeared to lump Taiwan together with countries to which Washington has explicit defence commitments.
        ''They are ... entities we've made agreements with based on not a civil war they're having on that island or in South Korea, but on an agreement where they have a unity government that, in fact, is trying to keep bad guys from doing bad things to them,'' the president said.
        ''We have made, kept every commitment. We made a sacred commitment to article 5 that if in fact anyone were to invade or take action against our Nato allies, we would respond. Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan. It's not even comparable to talk about that.''
        A senior Biden administration official said later on Thursday that US ''policy with regard to Taiwan has not changed'' and analysts said it appeared that Biden had misspoken.
        China's embassy in Washington and Taiwan's representative office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
        'Law and order collapsed': Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong on finding freedom in Taiwan Washington is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, but it has long followed a policy of ''strategic ambiguity'' on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
        Article 5 is a Nato agreement that states an attack on one member of the alliance is viewed as an attack on all.
        South Korea is also a US treaty ally with a mutual defence agreement, but US relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan have been unofficial since Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979.
        Some prominent US academics and others have argued Washington should give Taiwan a more explicit security guarantee in light of increasing military pressure from Beijing. But Biden's Indo-Pacific policy coordinator, Kurt Campbell, has appeared to reject this, saying in May there were ''significant downsides'' to such an approach.
        Bonnie Glaser, a Taiwan expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, called Biden's apparent mischaracterisation ''unfortunate''.
        US official warns China against 'catastrophic' move on Taiwan ''The US had an article 5 commitment to Taiwan from 1954 to 1979. The Biden administration isn't considering returning to that commitment, as indicated by public statements by Kurt Campbell.''
        Earlier this week, Republican senator John Cornyn erroneously tweeted that the US has 30,000 troops in Taiwan, which has not been the case since before 1979.
        Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was asked about Taiwan this week and called it a ''fundamentally different question in a different context'' to Afghanistan.
        ''We believe our commitment to Taiwan ... remains as strong as it's ever been,'' he said, without specifying what the commitment was.
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      The Afghanistan Debacle, Zalmay Khalilzad and The Great Reset | New Eastern Outlook
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 04:23
        The Afghanistan Debacle, Zalmay Khalilzad and The Great Reset P 19.08.2021 U F. William Engdahl
        Much of the world is shocked by the apparent incompetence of the Biden Administration in the human and geopolitical catastrophe that is unfolding in Afghanistan. While Biden speaks out of both sides of his pre-scripted mouth, stating that everyone else is to blame than his decisions, then stating ''the buck stops here,'' only adds to the impression that the once sole-superpower is in terminal collapse. Could it be that this is all part of a long-term strategy to end the nation state in preparation for the global totalitarian model sometimes called the Great Reset by the Davos cabal? The 40 year history of the Afghan US war and the Afghani Pashtun who shaped the policy until today is revealing.
        The airwaves of mainstream media across the globe are filled with questions of military incompetence or intelligence failure or both. It is worthwhile to examine the role of the Biden Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation at the State Department, Afghan-born Zalmay Khalilzad. For the one figure who has shaped strategic US foreign policy since 1984 in the Administration of Bush Sr., and has been US Ambassador to both Afghanistan and to Iraq at key times during the US wars there, as well as the key figure in the present debacle, astonishingly little media attention has been given the 70-year old Afghan-born operative.
        The Shadowy Khalilzad
        Khalilzad, an ethnic Pashtun born and raised in Afghanistan until High School, is arguably the key actor in the unfolding Afghan drama, beginning with the time he was the architect of the radical transformation under Bush Jr of US strategic doctrine to ''preventive wars.'' He was involved in every step of the US policy in Afghanistan from CIA training Taliban Mujihideen Islamists (organization banned in Russia) in the 1980's to the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 to the Doha deal with the Taliban and the current disastrous collapse.
        The May 8 1992 New York Times reported on a leaked Pentagon draft ,later called the Wolfowitz Doctrine after the Pentagon official under then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. Paul Wolfowitz had been charged by Cheney with drafting a new US global military posture following the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to the Times leak, the document argued that, ''the US must become the world's single superpower and must take aggressive action to prevent competing nations'--even allies such as Germany and Japan'--from challenging US economic and military supremacy.'' It further stated, ''We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role.'' It was de facto a declaration of unilateral imperialism.
        At the time Zalmay Khalilzad worked under Wolfowitz as Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning, where he was tasked with drafting the new doctrine, working with Wolfowitz and outside consultants, including Khalilzad's doctorate professor at the University of Chicago, RAND neo-conservative ''godfather'', Alfred Wohlstetter. Wolfowitz had also studied at Chicago under Wohlstetter. This group became the core of the so-called neo-conservative warhawks. Khalilzad once said Cheney personally credited the young Afghani for the strategy document, allegedly telling Khalilzad, ''You've discovered a new rationale for our role in the world.'' That ''discovery'' was to transform America's role in the world in a disastrous way.
        Khalilzad's highly controversial policy proposal, while it was later deleted from the published document by the Bush White House, reappeared a decade later as the Bush Doctrine under Bush Jr., also known as ''preventive wars'' and was used to justify the US invasions of Afghanistan and later Iraq.
        Bush jr., whose Vice President was Dick Cheney, initiated the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001,urged on by his Afghan adviser, Zalmay Khalilzad, using the excuse that Osama bin Laden, the alleged architect of the 911 attacks, was hiding under protection of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, so the Taliban must be punished. In May, 2001, some four months before 911, Bush National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had named Khalilzad as ''Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Gulf, Southwest Asia and Other Regional Issues.'' The ''other regional issues'' was to become huge.
        Khalilzad had headed the Bush-Cheney Transition team for the Department of Defense. His influence twenty yearas ago was enormous and largely hidden from public view. Former Khalilzad boss Wolfowitz was Number Two at the Bush Jr. Pentagon and former Khalilzad consulting client, Don Rumsfeld was Defense Secretary.
        Bush declared war against the Taliban regime for refusing to extradite the Saudi Jihadist Bin Laden. There was no UN role, no debate in Congress. It was the new US doctrine from Khalilzad and Wolfowitz and their neo-con cabal, that might makes right. Here began the 20-year US debacle in Afghanistan that never should have begun in any sane world of rule by law.
        Taliban Origins
        The origins of the Taliban come out of the CIA project, initiated by Carter Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1979, of recruiting and arming radical Islamists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and even Saudi Arabia, to wage irregular warfare against the Soviet Red Army then in Afghanistan. The CIA code-named it Operation Cyclone and it lasted ten years until the Red Army withdrew in 1989. A Saudi-CIA asset, Osama bin Laden, had been brought into Pakistan to work with the Pakistani ISI intelligence to draw money and Jihadists from the Arab states into the war. A significant number of radicalized Afghan Pashtun students called Taliban or ''seekers'' were recruited from radical madrasses, some in Pakistan where the ISI protected them. That CIA war became the longest and most costly CIA operation in its history. By 1984 Khalilzad was in the middle of it all, as US State Department Afghan specialist.
        During the latter part of the 1980's CIA war in Afghanistan, working with radical Islamist Mujahideen and Taliban mercenaries, Khalilzad emerged as the most influential US policy figure on Afghanistan. By 1988 Khalilzad had become the State Department's ''special advisor'' on Afghanistan under former CIA head, George Bush Sr. In that post he was the one who dealt directly with the Mujahideen, including the Taliban.
        By then he had become close to Jimmy Carter's Afghan war strategist, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Joining the US State Department in 1984 after teaching at Brzezinski's Columbia University, Khalilzad became Executive Director of the influential Friends of Afghanistan lobby where Brzezinski and Kissinger associate, Lawrence Eagleburger were members. The Friends of Afghanistan, with USAID money, lobbied Congress for major US support to the Mujahideen. Khalilzad also successfully lobbied to give advanced US Stinger missiles to the Mujahideen. During this period Khalilzad had dealings with the Mujahideen, Taliban, Osama bin Laden and what came to become Al Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia).
        In the George W. Bush Administration, Khalilzad was named Special Presidential Envoy to Afghanistan in early 2002, and was directly responsible for installing CIA asset Hamid Karzai as Afghan president in 2002.Hamid's brother, warlord of the country's largest opium province, Kandahar, was paid by the CIA at least since 2001. Khalilzad was clearly aware.
        Khalilzad himself had reportedly been ''selected'' by CIA recruiter, Thomas E. Gouttierre, when Zalmay was an AFS exchange High School student in Ceres, California in the 1960s. Goutttierre headed the CIA-financed Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. That would explain his later career rise to extraordinary influence in US Afghan policy and beyond.
        Notably, the disgraced current Afghan ''President in flight,'' Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the American-appointed ''co-president'' of Afghanistan, was a classmate of Khalilzad in the early 1970s as an undergraduate at the American University of Beirut, as were both of their future wives. Small world.
        By 1996 following several years of civil war among the rival factions of the CIA-backed Mujahideen the Taliban, backed by Pakistan's ISI, took control of Kabul. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan by 1996 was a direct consequence of Khalilzad's arming and backing of the Mujahideen in the 1980s, including of Osama bin Laden. It was no accident or miscalculation. The CIA was in the business of weaponizing political Islam and Khalilzad was and is a key player in that. Khalilzad served as board member of the Afghanistan Foundation during the Clinton years, which advocated that the Taliban join forces with the anti-Taliban Mujahideen resistance groups.
        During the end of the Clinton Presidency Khalilzad played a key role in shaping the military agenda of the next President with his role in the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), together with Cheney, Wolfowitz, Don Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush and others who played key policy roles in the George W. Bush presidency. After the 911 attacks in 2001 Khalilzad orchestrated the Bush war against Taliban in Afghanistan and became Bush Envoy to Afghanistan. By November 2003 Khalilzad was US Ambassador to Afghanistan where his hand-picked President,Karzai, was installed. In February 2004 Ambassador Khalilzad welcomed US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and a Brigadier General Lloyd Austin in Kabul. Austin knows Khalilzad.
        By December 2002 Bush had appointed Khalilzad to be Ambassador at Large for Free Iraqis to coordinate ''preparations for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.'' Khalilzad and his PNAC neocon cronies had advocated a war to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein since the late 1990s, well before 911. Two years later after the US war against Iraq began, Khalilzad was made Ambassador to Iraq. No one person has been more responsible for the rise of radical Islam terror groups from Taliban to Al Qaeda in those two countries than Zalmay Khalilzad.
        No ''Intelligence Failure''
        In 2018 Khalilzad was recommended by US Secretary of State and former CIA head Mike Pompeo, to be US ''Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation'' for the Trump Administration. There was no hint of reconciliation from Khalilzad or Taliban. Here the wily Khalilzad entered into exclusive US-Taliban talks with their exiled envoys in Doha Qatar, the pro-Taliban Gulf state that houses leading Muslim Brotherhoods figures as well as Taliban. Qatar is reportedly a major money source for the Taliban.
        Khalilzad successfully pressed Pakistan to release the co-founder of Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the key strategist of the Taliban victory in 1996, so that Baradar could lead the talks with Khalilzad in Doha. Then-President Trump reportedly approved that Khalilzad would negotiate in Doha solely with the Taliban, without the Kabul regime present. Baradar signed the February 2020 ''deal'' negotiated by Khalilzad and Taliban, the so-called Doha Agreement, in which the US and NATO agreed to a total withdrawal, but without any Taliban power-sharing agreement with the Kabul Ghani government, as Taliban refused to recognize them. Khalilzad told the New York Times of his deal that Taliban had committed to ''do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals.''
        This was highly dubious and Khalilzad knew it, as Taliban and Al Qaeda have been intimately linked since the 1980s arrival of Osama bin Laden in Afghanstan. The current leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is reportedly alive and in Taliban safe haven inside Afghanistan. In short, this is the ''deal'' Khalilzad struck with the Taliban for then-President Trump, a deal which was accepted by the Biden Administration with only a minor change stating initially that September 11, 2021 be the date of final US pullout. Talk about symbolism.
        The fall of Afghanistan was not the result of an ''intelligence failure'' by the CIA or a military mis-calculation by Secretary Austin and the Pentagon. Both knew, as did Khalilzad, what they were doing. When Austin approved the secret dark-of-night abandonment of the strategic Bagram Airbase, largest US military base in Afghanistan, on July 4, without notifying the Kabul government, it made clear to the US-trained Afghan army that the US would give them no more air cover. The US even stopped paying them months ago, collapsing morale further. This was no accident. It was all deliberate and Zalmay Khalilzad was central to all. In the 1980s his role helped create the 1996 Taliban takeover, in 2001 the Taliban destruction, and now in 2021 the Taliban restoration.
        The real gainer in this insanity is the globalist agenda of so-called Davos ''Great Reset'' cabal who are using it to destroy the global influence of the United States, as Biden domestically destroys the economy from within. No nation, not Taiwan, not Japan, not Philippines, not India or even Australia, nor any other nation hoping for US protection in the future will be able to trust Washington to hold its promises. The fall of Kabul is the end of the American Century. Little wonder the China media is filled with schadenfreude and jubilation as the discuss Silk Road deals with the Taliban.
        F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine ''New Eastern Outlook''.
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      Moderna Set to Test Experimental HIV mRNA Vaccine in People
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        Fri, 20 Aug 2021 00:52
        A nurse in Guatemala preparing a dose of the Moderna covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala on July 15, 2021Photo: Johan Ordonez/AFP (Getty Images)Perhaps the next best hope for a permanent way to defeat HIV is about to get underway. According to trial registration data, pharmaceutical company Moderna will start a Phase I clinical trial of its HIV vaccine candidate this week, based on the same mRNA platform behind its successful covid-19 vaccine. The trial will test the vaccine's safety and measure the relevant immune response generated in a small group of healthy volunteers.
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        Moderna announced its latest efforts to develop an HIV vaccine in April, as part of a collaboration with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At the time, the company discussed plans to test two potential candidates, named mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1574. On August 11, Moderna and other research partners published details about their Phase I trial of mRNA-1644 on ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of human trials maintained by the National Institutes of Health. According to the posting, the trial will officially start on August 19. Ultimately, it plans to involve 56 healthy volunteers who test negative for HIV.
        There are now highly effective antivirals that can eradicate most traces of HIV in infected people, as well as prevent people exposed to it from becoming infected. But the virus still has plenty of tricks that let it linger in the body once it has infected our cells. This includes the ability to quickly mutate parts of its structure, making it hard for HIV-specific antibodies produced by the immune system (elicited either through infection or a theoretical vaccine) to recognize it. For decades, though, we've known that some people can produce broadly neutralizing antibodies to HIV'--antibodies that can target multiple strains of the virus. These antibodies focus on stable parts of the virus that don't change much as it mutates, allowing them to remain potent.
        G/O Media may get a commission
        One common strategy for developing an HIV vaccine has relied on coaxing the immune system to produce these broadly neutralizing antibodies on its own, much as some genetically blessed people can do already. But so far, these efforts have fallen short. Moderna is betting that its vaccine platform, combined with a novel method for soliciting these powerful antibodies from the immune system, can succeed where others have failed.
        Phase I trials are expressly designed only to test the safety of a new drug or vaccine in healthy people. But the researchers will also be keeping an eye on the immune responses of the volunteers, particularly their B-cells, which are responsible for producing and maintaining antibodies. That should tell us whether this plan shows signs of being feasible.
        mRNA vaccines work by encoding the relevant target into a package of genetic material (the mRNA) that gets delivered to cells. The cells then produce the target on their own, hopefully triggering the desired immune response. Contrary to anti-vaccination propaganda, the mRNA itself quickly dissolves and at no point alters our genetics. Ideally, as seen with the covid-19 shot, this development process takes less time than traditional vaccines, which Moderna hopes will allow scientists to quickly fine-tune the best antigens (the parts of the virus that actually create an immune response) to use for an HIV inoculation.
        The company has said that it plans to start three clinical trials of HIV vaccine candidates in 2021. At this time, Moderna has not responded to a request for comment from Gizmodo concerning this trial or the ongoing status of research into the mRNA-1574 candidate.
        Even in the best-case scenario, it's likely to take years before any successful HIV vaccine can reach the public. Moderna's current Phase I study isn't expected to finish until 2023, and prior to the covid-19 vaccines, the shortest gap between human trials and full approval for a vaccine was five years. During the covid-19 vaccine trials, the coronavirus was spreading widely around the world, allowing faster data gathering for how well the shot protected people. HIV is much less common, so gathering the needed data to confirm a vaccine works will take longer. (For ethical reasons, of course, researchers do not usually deliberately expose people to pathogens.) Given fears that the pandemic will only further set back public health efforts to eradicate HIV, though, these vaccines will still be sorely needed for years to come.
      OnlyFans is banning porn, the very thing that made it big
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        Thu, 19 Aug 2021 20:44
        OnlyFans is banning porn, the company announced today. It's a surprise move meant to protect its partnerships with banks and payment providers. The platform will still allow creators to post nude photos and videos, but not any ''sexually explicit conduct.'' The change goes into effect starting in October.
        Kowtowing '-- The decision comes as the London-based company has reportedly been struggling to raise new funding, because investors are either cautious that it might be hosting content containing minors, or because they're contractually prohibited from investing in adult content. But being a major platform for adult creators, OnlyFans risks alienating the very users who made it big in the first place.
        OnlyFans confirmed the decision in a statement shared with Input:
        Effective 1 October, 2021, OnlyFans will prohibit the posting of any content containing sexually-explicit conduct. In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform, and to continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines. Creators will continue to be allowed to post content containing nudity as long as it is consistent with our Acceptable Use Policy. These changes are to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers. We will be sharing more details in the coming days, and we will actively support and guide our creators through this change in content guidelines. Adding insult to injury, OnlyFans added that it ''[remains] dedicated to our community of 130 million users and over 2 million creators that have earned over $5 billion on our platform.'' When asked by Input what would happen to the existing NSFW content posted to OnlyFans prior to the October 1 cutoff, a spokesperson noted the official statement is ''all we have to share at this stage.''
        OnlyFans brings in money hand over fist, with revenue estimated to hit $2.5 billion in 2022 on total sales of $12.5 billion. Normally any other startup with that type of revenue would have no trouble raising money.
        Sex sells, clearly, but banks are conservative and porn companies often struggle to find payment providers willing to do business with them. Being arguably the highest profile company in the industry, it's maybe surprising that OnlyFans allowed porn as long as it did. Another company that allows creators to charge for their work, Patreon, ramped up its crackdown on adult content creators back in 2018 as payments providers turned the screws on it. Because these platforms allow anyone to sign up, investors have reportedly been worried that minors could subscribe to see adult creators' content '-- or make content of their own. OnlyFans has been trying to raise money at a $1 billion valuation.
        Betrayal '-- OnlyFans shies away from promoting adult content in favor of just SFW fare. It recently launched its first mobile app '' that's free of nudity. OnlyFans cannot offer its more raunchy content through apps on iOS or Android due to app store rules set by Apple and Google.
        OnlyFans grew off the back of sex workers, who found a safe haven in the platform to charge their fans for access to explicit photos and videos. Unfortunately, there remains a stigma in the world surrounding sex, and OnlyFans empowering a new generation of entrepreneurs to run their own independent businesses '-- and make millions doing it '-- apparently wasn't enough to change that perception.
        Now instead of looking like a positive force in the world, OnlyFans could be seen as betraying the people who got it where it is today. Its turn away from explicit content could help it attract more upscale partners, but sex workers will remain in the underground economy where they've always been stuck as capitalism decides that their work isn't acceptable.
        Besides OnlyFans and Patreon, the microblogging site Tumblr also banned pornography in the interest of attracting advertisers. Adult creators are increasingly running out of spaces to make money on the internet that they have full ownership of.
        OnlyFans could get past the porn to be a successful ''creator economy'' platform for other types of content, but its reputation has been pretty solidly ingrained as a go-to place for porn, so... good luck with that.
        Read more:Porn stars are trying to become cam stars. It's not as easy as it looksThe creator of OnlyFans ran shady and exploitative porn sites in the '90s
      Most vaccine-hesitant group is those with PhDs, research shows | The College Fix
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        Thu, 19 Aug 2021 13:23
        Most skeptical and least likely to change their minds, findings reveal
        A study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh researchers found that vaccine hesitancy is highest among those with a PhD.
        The online survey of more than 5 million adults was conducted between January 6 and May 31. People who said ''probably not'' or ''definitely not'' when asked if they would get the vaccine were considered vaccine hesitant.
        ''There was not a decrease in hesitancy among those with a professional degree or PhD,'' the paper states.
        A news release regarding the results explained further: ''Hesitancy held constant in the most educated group (those with a Ph.D.); by May Ph.D.'s were the most hesitant group.''
        The graph (below) provided in the survey charted the results. The line in yellow represents those with PhDs. It shows that their vaccine hesitancy rate rose slightly over the five-month survey period to end at the top of the chart.
        ''Most of the coverage would have you believe that the surge in cases is primarily down to less educated, 'brainwashed' Trump supporters who don't want to take the vaccine,'' Unherd reports. ''This may be partially true: the areas in which the delta variant is surging coincide with the sections of red America in which vaccination rates are lowest.''
        But ''this does not paint the full picture,'' Unherd noted:
        People with a master's degree had the least hesitancy, and the highest hesitancy was among those holding a Ph.D.
        What's more, the paper found that in the first five months of 2021, the largest decrease in hesitancy was among the least educated '-- those with a high school education or less. Meanwhile, hesitancy held constant in the most educated group; by May, those with Ph.Ds were the most hesitant group.
        So not only are the most educated people most sceptical of taking the Covid vaccine, they are also the least likely the change their minds about it'...
        Read the paper here and the Unherd analysis here.
        MORE: My university ignores COVID my natural immunity
        IMAGE: Nirat Pix / Shutterstock
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      Chemical manufacturer delivers sulfuric acid to MI water treatment plant, loses certification | Just The News
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        Thu, 19 Aug 2021 12:41
        The Facts Inside Our Reporter's NotebookAll Michigan municipal water treatment plants were notified by the state last Wednesday that the certification of chemical manufacturer PVS Nolwood was revoked after delivering sulfuric acid instead of fluoride to New Baltimore's municipal water treatment plant.
        PVS Nolwood is no longer accredited to distribute chemicals for water treatment following the mix-up, The Epoch Times reported. The chemical manufacturer was supposed to deliver hydrofluosilicic acid, also known as fluoride, to New Baltimore's municipal water treatment plant, but the mislabeled containers that were delivered ended up being sulfuric acid.
        The error caused an estimated $10,000 in damages to equipment at New Baltimore's municipal water treatment plant, the outlet reported.
        PVS Nolwood is a wholesaler, meaning it receives chemicals in bulk and repackages them in custom container sizes.
        On July 11, a water technician at New Baltimore's municipal water treatment plant realized the error when he pumped the sulfuric acid, which was supposed to be fluoride, into a large fluoride storage tank, according to The Epoch Times. The chemical caused an unusual reaction with the fluoride, as a lot of heat was generated when the two mixed. The worker was not injured.
        That day, the treatment plant was inactive, so the toxic chemical mixture was not released into the water supply system that serves 14,000 customers, the news outlet reported.
        The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy released a bulletin on Aug. 5, describing what happened as "a serious incident" and alerting Michigan municipal water suppliers to verify the chemicals they received from PVS Nolwood were exactly what they ordered.
        "This incident is an important reminder for water suppliers to review their standard operating procedures for chemical delivery and releases," the bulletin read.
        "We stopped buying from PVS Nolwood as soon as we found out about the incident," New Baltimore Mayor John Dupray told The Epoch Times. "We will no longer be a customer of theirs.
        "I was surprised and very concerned," he continued. "It should be a concern to everyone how this mistake happened so easily with products being mislabeled. There should be better safety precautions."
        PVS Nolwood did not respond to The Epoch Times' multiple requests for comment.
        The certification was revoked by National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), which is an independent, international organization that tests, audits, and certifies products and services through a worldwide network of laboratories that serves 180 countries.
        The NSF revocation notice of PVS Nolwood's certification said, "certification for all products is withdrawn due to PVS Nolwood's failure to comply with NSF certification requirements, including unauthorized use of the NSF mark and applying the NSF mark to non-certified product(s). PVS Nolwood labeled a product as hydrofluosilicic acid and applied the NSF mark to the product packaging when the product was in fact sulfuric acid."
        No other Michigan municipalities had reported any similar issues at their water treatment plants as of Aug. 16.
    ALL CLIPS
      VIDEO - Delay in elective procedures due to COVID could cause healthcare cost to skyrocket
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        Sun, 22 Aug 2021 13:08
        FORT MYERS
        Healthcare groups across the country, including Lee Health, are delaying some elective procedures to deal with the rising cases of COVID-19.
        However, those delays can affect the cost of care for patients.
        Elective procedures are case-by-case, but experts urge patients to get informed and speak with multiple professionals before taking any action.
        Hospitals are nearing capacity, forcing tough decisions to be made when it comes to prioritizing operations.
        ''This virus spiking in different areas in an unpredictable manner is overwhelming healthcare systems,'' said Dylan Geraci with KMG Insurance Solutions.
        Some groups have delayed elective procedures entirely while others like Lee Health are only offering a small, limited amount.
        If your elected procedure is still available, experts recommend making the decision carefully.
        ''It really comes down to someone's level of pain,'' Geraci said. ''Is your quality of life really being affected by the level of pain they're in? Can you not live the quality of life that you want to live? If yes, then you want to get that procedure done.''
        The delay in procedures could cause costs to skyrocket for individuals.
        Especially because some patients strategically plan their operation, often first spending their medical deductible before going under the knife.
        Jon Hess with Athos Health said if patients are forced to wait until after their benefits reset, it could cost tens of thousands of dollars out of their pocket.
        ''Depending on how long this goes, and how long it takes to reschedule some of these procedures, you might have a year where you have to pay your deductible again,'' said Hess, chief executive officer with Athos Health.
        ''You might have some extra cost that you weren't planning on,'' Hess added.
        The word ''elective'' can be subjective with medical professionals and affordable care at a premium.
        If a patient is dealing with increasingly unbearable pain, experts say more advice could lead to the right solution.
        ''You've got to be a smart consumer in medical care. You want to seek a second opinion when you're told to get a surgery. You want to do your own research,'' Geraci said.
        Hess agrees.
        ''Most physicians I know are more than willing to have that conversation with their patients. And if you're confused or get an answer you don't like, get a second opinion. Don't be afraid to ask for it,'' Hess said.
        MORE INFORMATION:
        Serious medical procedures can be intimidating.
        For more information that can help you make a smart decision, here is a list of expert-recommended websites:
        U.S. Preventative Services Task Force
        ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely
        Cochrane
        JAMA Internal Medicine
        If you or a loved one have had any issues or questions about cost of care, you can email [email protected]
      VIDEO - IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE THAT SHOULD SEND ALL WHO KNOWINGLY COOPERATED TO PRISON
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        305 rumbles
        Rumble '-- Fred Corbin, you are a Real Hero!!ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘He has '£leaked Pfizer jab documents & access to the Wuhan labs "deleted" database!Vital information that proves, once again, this entire PLANdemic...Yet the "board" don't want to know! WHY??? (There IS only ONE answer!!)They are all in on the scam!!!!
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      VIDEO - Blocka ðŸ‡"ðŸ‡ on Twitter: "Saddle up ladies, Chippy said it's on!" / Twitter
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        Blocka ðŸ‡"ðŸ‡ : Saddle up ladies, Chippy said it's on! https://t.co/HgXGlRQPta
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        Policy not Populism : @blairdrysdale77 Chippy was in Auckland and looks like he's got the sweats today. Winning combo!
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        Shazzk : @blairdrysdale77 https://t.co/Apiw4gObxJ
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        Tim Gorton : @blairdrysdale77 Spread ya legs when surrounded by other peeps !! It's definitely on !!
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        Edwin Mabonga : @blairdrysdale77 I wondered why the prime minister was not on for the usual briefing.
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        Andrew Mcleod : @blairdrysdale77 More lockdown babies
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        Mark : I can't believe they let him say this on tv https://t.co/NfkxRSUFcR
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        TXIndepndnt1836(C) : @mark28cullen https://t.co/KhLKzwqcB2
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        Oliver BeerThanks : @mark28cullen @KeyganTherese It's called free speech.....
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        Ellie Gray : @mark28cullen Great to see this 'allowed' on tv. However, the host pushing the 'what if your kids wanted it'.. I'm'... https://t.co/wKgJ6fH7VO
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        On Thursday news broke that a suspected bomber had parked his truck near the Library of Congress and was threatening to set off his explosive device. Negotiators were sent out to engage with a man in a truck. Police evacuated the area around the building. The Cannon House Office Building is being evacuated.
        49-year-old Floyd Ray Roseberry of North Carolina, later surrendered himself to law enforcement.
        Roseberry said repeatedly during his Facebook livestream from his truck that someone ''in the military'' built the bomb for him. It was later discovered that his bomb was inoperable.
        Roseberry's Facebook account was quickly taken down on Thursday.
        TRENDING: BREAKING: KILLER WALKS FREE! Capitol Police Officer Lt. Mike Byrd Exonerated for Shooting Ashli Babbitt Dead in Cold Blood
        Information Liberation later reported on the curious case of this alleged bomber:
        Twitter user AbcdentMinded compiled a damning series of clips from Roseberry's 30-minute Facebook livestream strongly indicating he is just the latest mentally ill person undercover FBI agents decided to entrap for political gain.
        ''Great news gang,'' AbcdentMinded said, ''remember that rambling guy who said he'd been given a bomb and 'chosen' for his mission, who had a vague impression of multiple other accomplices hiding nearby with bombs of their own? They got him! And it wasn't a bomb after all. The counter-terrorists win ðŸŽ‰ðŸŽ‰ðŸŽ‰.''
        Great news gang, remember that rambling guy who said he'd been given a bomb and ''chosen'' for his mission, who had a vague impression of multiple other accomplices hiding nearby with bombs of their own? They got him! And it wasn't a bomb after all. The counter-terrorists winðŸŽ‰ðŸŽ‰ðŸŽ‰ https://t.co/sfSWZDCGbd
        '-- ¬(abcdentminded) (@abcdentminded) August 20, 2021
        Because Roseberry is mentally disabled, his ramblings made him sound like a schizophrenic neocon rather than a fed up everyday American patriot (see: ''white extremist'') as the FBI likely intended.
        In the course of his 30 minute rant, Roseberry went from saying how he supports mass immigration of ''black, white, lesbian, gay, LGBT'' people to calling for immediate ''airstrikes in Afghanistan'' to ''kick the Taliban's a** and stop them from killing people.'''...
        '...Roseberry's ex-wife told the media on Thursday that ''he's always been mentally unstable, volatile'' and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and put on medication.
        Read the rest here.
        It appears that once again there is more to this story than what was originally reported.Would anyone be surprised if the FBI was behind this stunt just like their previous operations?
      VIDEO - Watch: Biden Gets Caught Off-Guard When NPR Reporter Changes His Question at Last Minute - Becker News
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        President Joe Biden was caught off-guard at his Friday press conference as he took questions from reporters on his pre-determined list. It turns out, the questions appeared to be pre-screened, as well.
        Biden turned to ask an NPR reporter for a question, only to get one that was different than the one he expected.
        ''Joe gets busted on pre-screened questions when NPR reporter changes it at the last second,'' the Twitter user Scuba Mike noted. Watch:
        Oops!
        Joe gets busted on pre-screened questions when NPR reporter changes it at the last second. LULZ pic.twitter.com/HAPiPXOXCX
        '-- SCUBA MIKEðŸ¤ (@SCUBA2024) August 20, 2021
        ''Scott Detrow,'' Biden said. ''Scott? NPR.''
        ''Thank you, Mr. President,'' he said. ''I just want to follow up on something you said a moment ago. You said that there's 'no circumstances' where American citizens cannot get to the airport. That doesn't really square with the images we're seeing around the airport, with the reporting on the ground from our colleagues who are describing chaos and violence.''
        ''Are you saying unequivocally that any American who wants to get to the airport is getting there and getting past the security barrier and to the planes where they want to go?'' Detrow asked.
        ''I though the question was '-- how can they get through to the airport outside the airport?'' Biden replied, obviously a reference to questions that were pre-screened by the White House.
        It wasn't the only embarrasing and revealing part of the Biden press conference. As he turned and left, Biden left a question unanswered as he fled the press conference.
        ''Why do you continue to trust the Taliban, Mr. President?'' a reporter asked. ''Why do you continue to trust''''
        President Biden has humiated the United States on the world stage. But even more so, he continues to embarrass himself by insulting the intelligence of the American people on a daily basis.
        NOW READ:
        British Lawmaker Eviscerates Biden Over 'Shameful' Afghan Withdrawal in Passionate Condemnation of U.S. President
      VIDEO - Melbourne lockdown protest turns violent, Sydney and Brisbane rallies prompt police response | 7NEWS - YouTube
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      VIDEO - Toobin to Attorney General: Don't prosecute Donald Trump - YouTube
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      VIDEO - Highly Vaccinated Israel Is Seeing A Dramatic Surge In New Cases : Goats and Soda : NPR
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        Sat, 21 Aug 2021 15:16
        Medics in Jerusalem transfer a COVID-19 patient to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. Many hospitals in Israel are at full capacity following a sharp increase in coronavirus infections. Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
        toggle caption Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images Medics in Jerusalem transfer a COVID-19 patient to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. Many hospitals in Israel are at full capacity following a sharp increase in coronavirus infections.
        Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images Israel was the first country on Earth to fully vaccinate a majority of its citizens against COVID-19. Now it has one of the world's highest daily infection rates '-- an average of nearly 7,500 confirmed cases a day, double what it was two weeks ago. Nearly one in every 150 people in Israel today has the virus.
        What happened, and what can be learned about the vaccine's impact on a highly vaccinated country? Here are six lessons learned '-- and one looming question for the future of the pandemic.
        1. Immunity from the vaccine dips over time.Israel had fully vaccinated slightly over half its population by March 25. Infections waned, venues reopened to the vaccinated and the prime minister told Israelis to go out and have fun. By June, all restrictions, including indoor masking, were abolished.
        But Israel paid a price for the early rollout. Health officials, and then Pfizer, said their data showed a dip in the vaccine's protection around six months after receiving the second shot.
        2. The delta variant broke through the vaccine's waning protection.It was a perfect storm: The vaccine's waning protection came around the same time the more infectious delta variant arrived in Israel this summer. Delta accounts for nearly all infections in Israel today.
        "The most influential event was so many people who went abroad in the summer '-- vacations '-- and brought the delta variant very, very quickly to Israel," said Siegal Sadetzki, a former public health director in Israel's Health Ministry.
        3. If you get infected, being vaccinated helps.The good news is that among Israel's serious infections on Thursday of this week, according to Health Ministry data, the rate of serious cases among unvaccinated people over age 60 (178.7 per 100,000) was nine times more than the rate among fully vaccinated people of the same age category, and the rate of serious cases among unvaccinated people in the under-60 crowd (3.2 per 100,000) was a little more than double the rate among vaccinated people in that age bracket.
        The bad news, doctors say, is that half of Israel's seriously ill patients who are currently hospitalized were fully vaccinated at least five months ago. Most of them are over 60 years old and have comorbidities. The seriously ill patients who are unvaccinated are mostly young, healthy people whose condition deteriorated quickly.
        Israel's daily average number of infections has nearly doubled in the past two weeks and has increased around tenfold since mid-July, approaching the numbers during Israel's peak in the winter. Deaths increased from five in June to at least 248 so far this month. Health officials say that currently 600 seriously ill patients are hospitalized, and they warn they cannot handle more than 1,000 serious infections at the same time.
        4. Israel's high vaccination rate isn't high enough.The country jumped out ahead of all other countries on vaccines, and 78% of eligible Israelis over 12 years old are vaccinated.
        But Israel has a young population, with many under the eligible age for vaccination, and about 1.1 million eligible Israelis, largely between the ages of 12 and 20, have declined to take even one dose of the vaccine.
        That means only 58% of Israel's total citizenry is fully vaccinated. Experts say that's not nearly high enough.
        "We have a very large fraction of our population who are paying the price for a small fraction of the population who did not go to get the vaccine," said Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute of Science, who advises the Israeli government on COVID-19.
        Unvaccinated people helped fuel the rapid spread of the virus while the country remained open for business in recent months with few serious restrictions.
        "That will lead to mass infection, which is exactly what we are seeing now," said Segal.
        5. Vaccinations are key, but they are not enough.Israel is trying to slow the wave without resorting to a new lockdown, which Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says would take an economic toll and "destroy the future of the country." The country is placing caps on gatherings, increasing hospital staff and pleading for unvaccinated people to get immunized.
        On Israel's doorstep, the vaccination rate is much lower in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Only around 8% of Palestinians have been fully vaccinated. Palestinians are wary of certain brands of vaccine in ample supply, like AstraZeneca's, while Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine is in shorter supply for Palestinians. But the Palestinian population is not a source of transmission in Israel. Only vaccinated Palestinians are given permits to enter Israel and Israeli settlements.
        As for the low rate of vaccination in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, "we don't have a shortage of vaccine. It is the hesitancy," said Randa Abu Rabe, a local World Health Organization official working in the Palestinian territories.
        An Israeli health worker administers a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a vaccination center in Jerusalem. Israel is the first country to launch a national booster campaign for the Pfizer vaccine. Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
        toggle caption Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images An Israeli health worker administers a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a vaccination center in Jerusalem. Israel is the first country to launch a national booster campaign for the Pfizer vaccine.
        Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images 6. Booster shots offer more protection '-- if you are one of the world's lucky few to get them.Israel is the first country to offer a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine in a nationwide booster campaign. Preliminary research in Israel suggests booster shots significantly increase protection against the coronavirus a week after a person receives the third dose.
        Israeli national HMO Maccabi Healthcare Services, which conducted the preliminary study of 149,144 Israelis who received three Pfizer shots, said for Israelis above age 60, a Pfizer booster shot reduced the chances of infection by 86% and reduced the chances of severe infection by 92%.
        The early data reflects studies by vaccine-makers Pfizer and Moderna and provides a glimpse at boosters' effects in a real-world setting.
        After reviewing data on breakthrough infections in Israel, the U.S. announced a booster shot campaign beginning in late September for anyone eight months after their second shot. The U.K. has promised boosters soon, and Turkey is offering Pfizer shots to those immunized with the Sinovac vaccine to help citizens planning to travel, since some countries will not recognize the Chinese vaccine.
        Israel has lowered the minimum age for boosters to 40. "The triple dose is the solution to curbing the current infection outbreak," Anat Ekka Zohar of Maccabi said in a statement.
        Boosters are not being offered in the Palestinian territories yet, and the World Health Organization has called on countries to stop giving COVID-19 booster shots in order to help poorer countries get vaccinated.
        "Israel very much respects the World Health Organization but acts according to local considerations and the interests of Israeli citizens. We help the world a lot," an Israeli health official told NPR, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. "If the U.N. didn't secure enough vaccines for Chad, Mali, Myanmar and Guatemala, that doesn't mean that Israel shouldn't seek to prevent a pandemic from happening here."
        Experts warn if countries do not vaccinate their populations, more variants will develop, threatening even vaccinated nations.
        Looming question: Will we need COVID-19 vaccines every several months? We don't know.The Cinema City movie theater complex in Jerusalem teems with young children and parents, but steps from the box office is a makeshift vaccination station where dozens of mostly older residents wait their turn to get booster shots.
        More than a million Israelis have received a Pfizer booster shot in the last several weeks. They are being watched around the world, as Israel is the first nation to give a third dose of Pfizer on a mass scale, just as it was ahead of the curve on the first round of shots.
        "They make the test of us," said Etti Ben Yaakov, sitting in a vaccination booth with her brother as he got a booster shot. "But in the first [round], it was the same. So I don't feel it's something wrong. I think it's good."
        She predicts the coronavirus, like the flu, will mean shots every year. "We will have to live with the corona," she said.
        Ido Hadari, of HMO Maccabi, which led the preliminary booster shot study, questioned whether regular shots will become the norm.
        "I don't know of any disease where we are vaccinated every six months, and to be honest, I don't think the public will come to get vaccinated every six months," Hadari said. "But you cannot predict anything with this disease."
      VIDEO - Anti-lockdown protesters swarm Australia's capital cities | 7NEWS - YouTube
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      VIDEO - Critical Race Theory Debate - YouTube
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      VIDEO - Anderson Cooper 360° on Twitter: ""Judging by what I'm seeing here at the airport, I don't think the US right now is able to deliver on any promise really, because despite whatever the best intentions might be, the reality is it's chaos," @claris
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        Anderson Cooper 360° : "Judging by what I'm seeing here at the airport, I don't think the US right now is able to deliver on any promise r'... https://t.co/scPhL0zp8B
        Sat Aug 21 00:24:32 +0000 2021
        Joseph Love : @AC360 @clarissaward @andersoncooper That's your boy, Anderson. Own it. You little bitch.
        Sat Aug 21 09:39:02 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Dr. Roger Hodkinson: "It's all been a pack of lies"
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        Dr. Roger Hodkinson: "It's all been a pack of lies"
        Dr. Roger Hodkinson It's all been a pack of lies
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      VIDEO - McEnany:The Biden admin was caught flat-footed - YouTube
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      VIDEO - President Biden Remarks on Afghanistan Evacuations | C-SPAN.org
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        August 20, 2021 2021-08-20T15:47:35-04:00 https://images.c-span.org/Files/d4a/20210820135301001_hd.jpg President Biden gave remarks at the White House on military efforts to evacuate Americans and Afghans in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control. After announcing that approximately 18,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since July, including 13,000 people since evacuation operations began on August 14, the president said, ''any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.'' President Biden went on to say, ''this evacuation mission is dangerous,'' and that he cannot guarantee the outcome.President Biden gave remarks at the White House on military efforts to evacuate Americans and Afghans in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control. After'... read more
        President Biden gave remarks at the White House on military efforts to evacuate Americans and Afghans in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control. After announcing that approximately 18,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since July, including 13,000 people since evacuation operations began on August 14, the president said, ''any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.'' President Biden went on to say, ''this evacuation mission is dangerous,'' and that he cannot guarantee the outcome. close
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        People in this videoHosting OrganizationWhite HouseWhite House Featured Clips from This Video 1:49 PM President Biden Provides Update on Afghanistan EvacuationsWhile Delivering remarks from the White House on the situation in Afghanistan, President Biden announced that the'...
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      VIDEO - The Politics of the Pandemic: Dr. Kavita Patel and Dr. Janice Blanchard with James Hohmann - YouTube
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      VIDEO - Brookings' Dr. Kavita Patel on vaccination and masking trends amid the Covid Delta variant - YouTube
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      VIDEO - Authors In August: Charles King And The Gods Of The Upper Air Rule Breaker Investing podcast
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        Similar to Rule Breaker InvestingJoin host Chris Hill and a panel of Motley Fool investment analysts each week as they cover the week's top business news and financial headlines, while breaking down the stock market implications for investors. Plus, interviews with best-selling authors, industry experts, and an inside look at stocks on our radar. New episodes available every Friday.
        Healthcare, technology, energy, consumer goods, and more. Every day, Motley Fool analysts break down a specific industry and the stocks making headlines. Questions? Comments? Email us at IndustryFocus@fool.com.
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        Exploring the ideas, methods, and stories of people that will help you better invest your time and money. Learn more and stay-up-to-date at https://joincolossus.com/
        The Motley Fool's daily look at stocks in the news, the top business/investing stories, and occasional tangents.
        In each episode of "Exchanges at Goldman Sachs," people from the firm share their insights on developments shaping industries, markets and the global economy.
        A personal finance and investing podcast on money, how it works, how to invest it and how to live without worrying about it. J. David Stein is a former Chief Investment Strategist and money manager. For close to two decades, he has been teaching individuals and institutions how to invest and handle their finances in ways that are simple to understand. More info at moneyfortherestofus.com
        ''Mad Money'' takes viewers inside the mind of one of Wall Street's most respected and successful money managers for free. Cramer is listeners' personal guide through the confusing jungle of Wall Street investing, navigating through opportunities and pitfalls with one goal in mind'--to help you make money. ''Mad Money'' features the unmatched, fiery opinions of Jim Cramer and the popular Lightning Round, in which he gives his buy, sell and hold opinions on stocks to callers.
        Will Covid-19 reshape the global economy or simply shrink it? What are nations doing to protect jobs and businesses from the fallout, and what will the long-term consequences be for labor markets, global supply chains and government finances? On Stephanomics, a podcast hosted by Bloomberg Economics head Stephanie Flanders'--the former BBC economics editor and chief market strategist for Europe at JPMorgan Asset Management'--we combine reports from Bloomberg journalists around the world and conve ...
        The Hustle presents - My First Million. A podcast where we brainstorm new business ideas based on trends & opportunities we see in the market. Sometimes we have famous guests, and they do it with us.
      VIDEO - (20) Critical Thinking 101(Expert of Expert Evaluation) on Twitter: "Trump on booster shots: "That sounds to me like a money making operation for Pfizer." https://t.co/szObF8Rgpl" / Twitter
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        Critical Thinking 101(Expert of Expert Evaluation) : Trump on booster shots: "That sounds to me like a money making operation for Pfizer."https://t.co/szObF8Rgpl
        Wed Aug 18 21:34:58 +0000 2021
        David Dunbar : @critica18495985 @Dempz8 Jesus Gary your now retweeting trump videos! Same guy who suggested injecting bleach, woul'... https://t.co/9A7UdaTPUt
        Fri Aug 20 14:57:03 +0000 2021
        King of Bitchain : @critica18495985 Bullseye TrumpðŸŽ¯ but it takes one to know one.
        Fri Aug 20 14:36:47 +0000 2021
        Elon's musk : @critica18495985 @jack the fact that you'll block this man & not the fucking taliban makes me believe good ol DJT s'... https://t.co/XfEvn37DO8
        Fri Aug 20 13:52:14 +0000 2021
        Lee Van Cleef : @critica18495985 is he pissed he can't weasel his way in on the deal?
        Fri Aug 20 13:37:24 +0000 2021
        Muriukialbert : @critica18495985 Before they were good for life and then for a year and now for 6 months.
        Fri Aug 20 13:27:36 +0000 2021
        Matt Eul : @critica18495985 This is why our country is the way it is. My money is trump already got his booster and is saying'... https://t.co/qmhsM6X9oS
        Fri Aug 20 13:16:06 +0000 2021
        TT '­¸'­¸ : @critica18495985 I miss this man ðŸ‚
        Fri Aug 20 12:55:44 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Nurse Resigns over COVID Vaccine Mandate Joining other Nurses Nationwide Creating Nursing Shortage
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        1m35sCourageous Nurse RESIGNS Over Vaccine MandateWendy Rogers
      VIDEO - US fears possible terrorist attack by 'Taliban's sworn enemy ISIS-K' amid Afghanistan evacuations, national security advisor says '-- RT World News
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        The US national security advisor has warned of a potential terrorist attack by ISIS-K in Afghanistan, saying American troops are ''laser-focused'' on the threat as they struggle to evacuate citizens after a Taliban takeover.
        Asked on Thursday whether the White House fears that US citizens stranded in Afghanistan could become ''hostages,'' Jake Sullivan demurred, telling NBC's Lester Holt that the evacuation process is dangerous but is ''working'' for now, before raising the specter of terrorism.
        ''I want to level with the American people, this is a risky operation. We have now established contact with the Taliban to allow for the safe passage of people to the airport. And that is working at the moment,'' he said, but added ''we can't count on anything.''
        We have to worry about all kinds of contingencies. One of the contingencies we are very focused on '' laser-focused on '' is the potential for a terrorist attack from a group like ISIS-K, which, of course, is a sworn enemy of the Taliban.
        HOLT: Is there any fear'...this could become a hostage situation?SULLIVAN: '...One of the contingencies we are'...focused on is the potential for a terrorist attack by a group like ISIS-K, which of course is a sworn enemy of the Taliban, so we will keep working to minimize the risks pic.twitter.com/0iSmxl1eDY
        '-- JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) August 19, 2021ISIS-K '' the name given to the Islamic State faction in the so-called ''Khorasan province,'' a historical region covering parts of Afghanistan and Iran '' emerged around 2015, largely made up of fighters from the Pakistan-based Tehrik-i-Taliban. Since forming in Afghanistan's Nangarhar region, the group has repeatedly clashed with the Afghan Taliban, at some points even seeing US war planes provide air support, with American troops jokingly dubbing themselves the ''Taliban Air Force.''
        In contrast to other ISIS affiliates seeking to launch attacks abroad, ISIS-K has largely remained a local concern within Afghanistan and Pakistan.
        Also on rt.com The Biden administration's incompetence has created the conditions for a modern Dien Bin Phu in Kabul Though he stressed the administration's concerns about terrorism from ISIS-K or similar groups, Sullivan offered no evidence to suggest an attack is imminent, leaving details vague. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also noted on Wednesday that American forces would not leave the Kabul airfield, suggesting there is little they could do to track down would-be terrorists.
        The NBC anchor also quizzed Sullivan on how many American citizens remain stuck in Afghanistan amid the hasty pull-out operation '' launched after the Taliban seized Kabul last weekend '' but he had no clear answers.
        ''We don't have a precise number,'' Sullivan said, explaining that the government has trouble keeping track of the comings and goings of citizens, and that ''we can't know for certain how many Americans are in-country.''
        Earlier on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby was asked the same question, but simply said ''I don't know,'' directing journalists to the State Department for an estimate.
        Also on rt.com Pentagon DOES NOT KNOW how many Americans are still in Afghanistan, or how many were among the 7,000 evacuated so far However, Ned Price of the State Department also had few details to give during his Thursday briefing. While he said a total of 7,000 people had been evacuated so far, he was ''not in a position to break that down much further'' and did not say how many Americans remained in the country. Price added that another 6,000 people of unspecified nationality were cleared and ready to leave the Kabul airport, but referred reporters back to the Pentagon for more details on exactly what the evacuation mission entails.
        As of Wednesday, the Associated Press estimated that some 15,000 US citizens were still in Afghanistan, though other reports have put the number lower. The Defense Department is aiming to evacuate between 5,000 and 9,000 people per day, but has only averaged about 1,100 daily so far due to difficulties with getting people to the airport, among other complications. Evacuees include US diplomatic staff and other workers, as well as Afghans who worked alongside the coalition and other locals considered at risk of Taliban reprisals.
        While the US Embassy in Afghanistan recently warned citizens that it could not ''ensure safe passage'' to the Kabul airport and that flights would operate on a ''first come, first serve basis,'' Sullivan nonetheless told NBC that ''we will get any American who wants to get to the airport'... we will make that happen.''
        ''The issue that we are confronting is at the gates of the airport there are large crowds. We're working through that, we're getting them through, we're getting them on planes,'' he added.
        Also on rt.com US promises NOT to charge Americans to fly out of Afghanistan after report of '$2,000 repatriation fee' triggers outrage Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
      VIDEO - Full transcript of ABC News' George Stephanopoulos' interview with President Joe Biden - ABC News
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        Stephanopoulos spoke to Biden in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
        August 19, 2021, 7:33 AM ET
        ' 23 min read
        Read the full transcript of President Joe Biden's exclusive interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday.
        GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, thank you for doing this.
        PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Thank you for doin' it.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's get right to it. Back in July, you said a Taliban takeover was highly unlikely. Was the intelligence wrong, or did you downplay it?
        BIDEN: I think -- there was no consensus. If you go back and look at the intelligence reports, they said that it's more likely to be sometime by the end of the year. The idea that the tal -- and then it goes further on, even as late as August. I think you're gonna see -- the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and others speaking about this later today.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: But you didn't put a timeline on it when you said it was highly unlikely. You just said flat out, "It's highly unlikely the Taliban would take over."
        BIDEN: Yeah. Well, the question was whether or not it w-- the idea that the Taliban would take over was premised on the notion that the -- that somehow, the 300,000 troops we had trained and equipped was gonna just collapse, they were gonna give up. I don't think anybody anticipated that.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: But you know that Senator McConnell, others say this was not only predictable, it was predicted, including by him, based on intelligence briefings he was getting.
        BIDEN: What -- what did he say was predicted?
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator McConnell said it was predictable that the Taliban was gonna take over.
        BIDEN: Well, by the end of the year, I said that's that was -- that was a real possibility. But no one said it was gonna take over then when it was bein' asked.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: So when you look at what's happened over the last week, was it a failure of intelligence, planning, execution or judgment?
        BIDEN: Look, I don't think it was a fa-- look, it was a simple choice, George. When the-- when the Taliban -- let me back -- put it another way. When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government get in a plane and taking off and going to another country, when you saw the significant collapse of the ta-- of the-- Afghan troops we had trained -- up to 300,000 of them just leaving their equipment and taking off, that was -- you know, I'm not-- this -- that -- that's what happened.
        That's simply what happened. So the question was in the beginning the-- the threshold question was, do we commit to leave within the timeframe we've set? We extended it to September 1st. Or do we put significantly more troops in? I hear people say, "Well, you had 2,500 folks in there and nothin' was happening. You know, there wasn't any war."
        But guess what? The fact was that the reason it wasn't happening is the last president negotiated a year earlier that he'd be out by May 1st and that-- in return, there'd be no attack on American forces. That's what was done. That's why nothing was happening. But the idea if I had said -- I had a simple choice. If I had said, "We're gonna stay," then we'd better prepare to put a whole hell of a lot more troops in --
        President Joe Biden speaks with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Aug. 18, 2021, in Washington, D.C. ABC NewsSTEPHANOPOULOS: But your top military advisors warned against withdrawing on this timeline. They wanted you to keep about 2,500 troops.
        BIDEN: No, they didn't. It was split. Tha-- that wasn't true. That wasn't true.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: They didn't tell you that they wanted troops to stay?
        BIDEN: No. Not at -- not in terms of whether we were going to get out in a timeframe all troops. They didn't argue against that.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: So no one told -- your military advisors did not tell you, "No, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It's been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that"?
        BIDEN: No. No one said that to me that I can recall. Look, George, the reason why it's been stable for a year is because the last president said, "We're leaving. And here's the deal I wanna make with you, Taliban. We're agreeing to leave if you agree not to attack us between now and the time we leave on May the 1st."
        I got into office, George. Less than two months after I elected to office, I was sworn in, all of a sudden, I have a May 1 deadline. I have a May 1 deadline. I got one of two choices. Do I say we're staying? And do you think we would not have to put a hell of a lot more troops? B-- you know, we had hundreds-- we had tens of thousands of troops there before. Tens of thousands.
        Do you think we woulda -- that we would've just said, "No problem. Don't worry about it, we're not gonna attack anybody. We're okay"? In the meantime, the Taliban was takin' territory all throughout the country in the north and down in the south, in the Pasthtun area.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: So would you have withdrawn troops like this even if President Trump had not made that deal with the Taliban?
        BIDEN: I would've tried to figure out how to withdraw those troops, yes, because look, George. There is no good time to leave Afghanistan. Fifteen years ago would've been a problem, 15 years from now. The basic choice is am I gonna send your sons and your daughters to war in Afghanistan in perpetuity?
        STEPHANOPOULOS: That's--
        BIDEN: No one can name for me a time when this would end. And what-- wha-- wha-- what-- what constitutes defeat of the Taliban? What constitutes defeat? Would we have left then? Let's say they surrender like before. OK. Do we leave then? Do you think anybody-- the same people who think we should stay would've said, "No, good time to go"? We spent over $1 trillion, George, 20 years. There was no good time to leave.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: But if there's no good time, if you know you're gonna have to leave eventually, why not have th-- everything in place to make sure Americans could get out, to make sure our Afghan allies get out, so we don't have these chaotic scenes in Kabul?
        BIDEN: Number one, as you know, the intelligence community did not say back in June or July that, in fact, this was gonna collapse like it did. Number one.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: They thought the Taliban would take over, but not this quickly?
        BIDEN: But not this quickly. Not even close. We had already issued several thousand passports to the-- the SIVs, the people-- the-- the-- the translators when I came into office before we had negotiated getting out at the end of s-- August.
        Secondly, we're in a position where what we did was took precautions. That's why I authorized that there be 6,000 American troops to flow in to accommodate this exit, number one. And number two, provided all that aircraft in the Gulf to get people out. We pre-positioned all that, anticipated that. Now, granted, it took two days to take control of the airport. We have control of the airport now.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Still a lotta pandemonium outside the airport.
        BIDEN: Oh, there is. But, look, b-- but no one's being killed right now, God forgive me if I'm wrong about that, but no one's being killed right now. People are-- we got 1,000-somewhat, 1,200 out, yesterday, a couple thousand today. And it's increasing. We're gonna get those people out.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: But we've all seen the pictures. We've seen those hundreds of people packed into a C-17. You've seen Afghans falling--
        BIDEN: That was four days ago, five days ago.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: What did you think when you first saw those pictures?
        BIDEN: What I thought was we ha-- we have to gain control of this. We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: I-- I think a lot of-- a lot of Americans, and a l-- even a lot of veterans who served in Afghanistan agree with you on the big, strategic picture. They believe we had to get out. But I wonder how you respond to an Army Special Forces officer, Javier McKay (PH). He did seven tours. He was shot twice. He agrees with you. He says, "We have to cut our losses in Afghanistan." But he adds, "I just wish we could've left with honor."
        BIDEN: Look, that's like askin' my deceased son Beau, who spent six months in Kosovo and a year in Iraq as a Navy captain and then major-- I mean, as an Army major. And, you know, I'm sure h-- he had regrets comin' out of Afganista-- I mean, out of Iraq.
        He had regrets to what's-- how-- how it's going. But the idea-- what's the alternative? The alternative is why are we staying in Afghanistan? Why are we there? Don't you think that the one-- you know who's most disappointed in us getting out? Russia and China. They'd love us to continue to have to--
        STEPHANOPOULOS: So you don't think this could've been handled, this exit could've been handled better in any way? No mistakes?
        BIDEN: No. I-- I don't think it could've been handled in a way that there-- we-- we're gonna go back in hindsight and look, but the idea that somehow there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens. I don't know how that happened.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: So for you, that was always priced into the decision?
        BIDEN: Yes. Now, exactly what happened-- is not priced in. But I knew that they're gonna have an enormous, enorm-- look, one of the things we didn't know is what the Taliban would do in terms of trying to keep people from getting out, what they would do.What are they doing now? They're cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, et cetera. But they're having-- we're having some more difficulty in having those who helped us when we were in there--
        STEPHANOPOULOS: And we don't really know what's happening outside of Kabul.
        BIDEN: Pardon me?
        STEPHANOPOULOS: We don't really know what's happening outside of Kabul.
        BIDEN: Well-- we do know generically and in some specificity what's happening outside of Kabul. We don't know it in great detail. But we do know. And guess what? The Taliban knows if they take on American citizens or American military, we will strike them back like hell won't have it.
        President Joe Biden speaks with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Aug. 18, 2021, in Washington, D.C. ABC NewsSTEPHANOPOULOS: All troops are supposed to be out by August 31st. Even if Americans and our Afghan allies are still trying to get out, they're gonna leave?
        BIDEN: We're gonna do everything in our power to get all Americans out and our allies out.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Does that mean troops will stay beyond August 31st if necessary?
        BIDEN: It depends on where we are and whether we can get-- ramp these numbers up to 5,000 to 7,000 a day coming out. If that's the case, we'll be-- they'll all be out.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: 'Cause we've got, like, 10,000 to 15,000 Americans in the country right now, right? And are you committed to making sure that the troops stay until every American who wants to be out--
        BIDEN: Yes.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: -- is out?
        BIDEN: Yes.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: How about our Afghan allies? We have about 80,000 people--
        BIDEN: Well, that's not the s--
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Is that too high?
        BIDEN: That's too high.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: How many--
        BIDEN: The estimate we're giving is somewhere between 50,000 and 65,000 folks total, counting their families.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Does the commitment hold for them as well?
        BIDEN: The commitment holds to get everyone out that, in fact, we can get out and everyone that should come out. And that's the objective. That's what we're doing now, that's the path we're on. And I think we'll get there.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: So Americans should understand that troops might have to be there beyond August 31st?
        BIDEN: No. Americans should understand that we're gonna try to get it done before August 31st.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: But if we don't, the troops will stay--
        BIDEN: If -- if we don't, we'll determine at the time who's left.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: And?
        BIDEN: And if you're American force -- if there's American citizens left, we're gonna stay to get them all out.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: You talked about our adversaries, China and Russia. You already see China telling Taiwan, "See? You can't count on the Americans." (LAUGH)
        BIDEN: Sh-- why wouldn't China say that? Look, George, the idea that w-- there's a fundamental difference between-- between Taiwan, South Korea, NATO. We are in a situation where they are in-- entities we've made agreements with based on not a civil war they're having on that island or in South Korea, but on an agreement where they have a unity government that, in fact, is trying to keep bad guys from doin' bad things to them.
        We have made-- kept every commitment. We made a sacred commitment to Article Five that if in fact anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we would respond. Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with-- Taiwan. It's not even comparable to talk about that.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah, but those--
        BIDEN: It's not comparable to t--
        STEPHANOPOULOS: --who say, "Look, America cannot be trusted now, America does not keep its promises--"
        BIDEN: Who-- who's gonna say that? Look, before I made this decision, I met with all our allies, our NATO allies in Europe. They agreed. We should be getting out.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Did they have a choice?
        BIDEN: Sure, they had a choice. Look, the one thing I promise you in private, NATO allies are not quiet. You remember from your old days. They're not gonna be quiet. And so-- and by the way, you know, what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna be putting together a group of the G-7, the folks that we work with the most-- to-- I was on the phone with-- with Angela Merkel today. I was on the phone with the British prime minister. I'm gonna be talking to Macron in France to make sure we have a coherent view of how we're gonna deal from this point on.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: What happens now in Afghanistan? Do you believe the Taliban have changed?
        BIDEN: No. I think-- let me put it this way. I think they're going through sort of an existential crisis about do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government. I'm not sure they do. But look, they have--
        STEPHANOPOULOS: They care about their beliefs more?
        BIDEN: Well, they do. But they also care about whether they have food to eat, whether they have an income that they can provide for their f-- that they can make any money and run an economy. They care about whether or not they can hold together the society that they in fact say they care so much about.
        I'm not counting on any of that. I'm not cou-- but that is part of what I think is going on right now in terms of I-- I'm not sure I would've predicted, George, nor would you or anyone else, that when we decided to leave, that they'd provide safe passage for Americans to get out.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Beyond Americans, what do we owe the Afghans who are left behind, particularly Afghan women who are facing the prospect of subjugation again?
        BIDEN: As many as we can get out, we should. For example, I had a meeting today for a couple hours in the Situation Room just below here. There are Afghan women outside the gate. I told 'em, "Get 'em on the planes. Get them out. Get them out. Get their families out if you can."
        But here's the deal, George. The idea that we're able to deal with the rights of women around the world by military force is not rational. Not rational. Look what's happened to the Uighurs in western China. Look what's happening in other parts of the world.
        Look what's happenin' in, you know, in-- in the Congo. I mean, there are a lotta places where women are being subjugated. The way to deal with that is not with a military invasion. The way to deal with that is putting economic, diplomatic, and national pre-- international pressure on them to change their behavior.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the threat to the United States? Most intelligence analysis has predicted that Al Qaeda would come back 18 to 24 months after a withdrawal of American troops. Is that analysis now being revised? Could it be sooner?
        BIDEN: It could be. But George, look, here's the deal. Al Qaeda, ISIS, they metastasize. There's a significantly greater threat to the United States from Syria. There's a significantly greater threat from East Africa. There's significant greater threat to other places in the world than it is from the mountains of Afghanistan. And we have maintained the ability to have an over-the-horizon capability to take them out. We're-- we don't have military in Syria to make sure that we're gonna be protected--
        STEPHANOPOULOS: And you're confident we're gonna have that in Afghanistan?
        BIDEN: Yeah. I'm confident we're gonna have the overriding capability, yes. Look, George, it's like asking me, you know, am I confident that people are gonna act even remotely rationally. Here's the deal. The deal is the threat from Al Qaeda and their associate organizations is greater in other parts of the world to the United States than it is from Afghanistan.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: And th-- that tells you that you're-- it's safe to leave?
        BIDEN: No. That tells me that-- my dad used to have an expression, George. If everything's equally important to you, nothing's important to you. We should be focusing on where the threat is the greatest. And the threat-- the idea-- we can continue to spend $1 trillion and have tens of thousands of American forces in Afghanistan when we have what's going on around the world, in the Middle East and North Africa and west-- I mean, excuse me-- yeah, North Africa and Western Africa. The idea we can do that and ignore those-- those looming problems, growing problems, is not-- not rational.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Final question on this. You know, in a couple weeks, we're all gonna commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The Taliban are gonna be ruling Afghanistan, just l-- like they were when our country was attacked. How do you explain that to the American people?
        BIDEN: Not true. It's not true. They're not gonna look just like they were we were attacked. There was a guy named Osama bin Laden that was still alive and well. They were organized in a big way, that they had significant help from arou-- from other parts of the world.
        We went there for two reasons, George. Two reasons. One, to get Bin Laden, and two, to wipe out as best we could, and we did, the Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. We did it. Then what happened? Began to morph into the notion that, instead of having a counterterrorism capability to have small forces there in-- or in the region to be able to take on Al Qaeda if it tried to reconstitute, we decided to engage in nation building. In nation building. That never made any sense to me.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: It sounds like you think we shoulda gotten out a long time ago--
        BIDEN: We should've.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: --and-- and accept the idea that it was gonna be messy no matter what.
        BIDEN: Well, by the-- what would be messy?
        STEPHANOPOULOS: The exit--
        BIDEN: If we had gotten out a long time ago-- getting out would be messy no matter when it occurred. I ask you, you want me to stay, you want us to stay and send your kids back to Afghanistan? How about it? Are you g-- if you had a son or daughter, would you send them in Afghanistan now? Or later?
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Would be hard, but a lot of families have done it.
        BIDEN: They've done it because, in fact, there was a circumstance that was different when we started. We were there for two reasons, George. And we accomplished both ten years ago. We got Osama bin Laden. As I said and got criticized for saying at the time, we're gonna follow him to the gates of hell. Hell, we did--
        STEPHANOPOULOS: How will history judge the United States' experience in Afghanistan?
        BIDEN: One that we overextended what we needed to do to deal with our national interest. That's like my sayin' they-- they're-- they-- they b-- b-- the border of Tajikistan-- and-- other-- what-- does it matter? Are we gonna go to war because of what's goin' on in Tajikistan? What do you think?
        Tell me what-- where in that isolated country that has never, never, never in all of history been united, all the way back to Alexander the Great, straight through the British Empire and the Russians, what is the idea? Are we gonna s-- continue to lose thousands of Americans to injury and death to try to unite that country? What do you think? I think not.
        I think the American people are with me. And when you unite that country, what do you have? They're surrounded by Russia in the north or the Stans in the north. You have-- to the west, they have Iran. To the south, they have Pakistan, who's supporting them. And to the-- and-- actually, the east, they have Pakistan and China. Tell me. Tell me. Is that worth our national interest to continue to spend another $1 trillion and lose thousands more American lives? For what?
        STEPHANOPOULOS: I know we're outta time. I have two quick questions on COVID. I know you're gonna make-- be makin' an announcement on booster shots today. Have you and the first lady gotten your booster shots yet?
        BIDEN: We're gonna get the booster shots. And-- it's somethin' that I think-- you know, because we g-- w-- we got our shots all the way back in I think December. So it's-- it's-- it's past time. And so the idea (NOISE) that the recommendation-- that's my wife calling. (LAUGH) No. (LAUGH) But all kiddin' aside, yes, we will get the booster shots.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: And-- and finally-- are you comfortable with Americans getting a third shot when so many millions around the world haven't had their first?
        BIDEN: Absolutely because we're providing more to the rest of the world than all the rest of the world combined. We got enough for everybody American, plus before this year is-- before we get to the middle of next year, we're gonna provide a half a billion shots to the rest of the world. We're keepin' our part of the bargain. We're doin' more than anybody.
        STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, thanks for your time.
        BIDEN: Thank you.
      VIDEO - FABLED ENEMIES - Teaser #1 - Sen. Joe Biden - YouTube
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      VIDEO - ð'† on Twitter: "@chrwallg @BMartinovski @adamcurry" / Twitter
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        ð'† : @chrwallg @BMartinovski @adamcurry
        Fri Aug 20 09:07:37 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Everything's FINE on Twitter: "@stevec121 @FemaRegion33 @gawjus_g @adamcurry No one knows what sludge you pricked with, FOI requests fail as its confidential. They can now inject anything at will....no comeback on anyone." / Twitter
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        Everything's FINE : @stevec121 @FemaRegion33 @gawjus_g @adamcurry No one knows what sludge you pricked with, FOI requests fail as its c'... https://t.co/lq1dIPeIyR
        Fri Aug 20 09:38:16 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - E.B. Hamsterdam on Twitter: "@punditclass @adamcurry" / Twitter
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        E.B. Hamsterdam : @punditclass @adamcurry
        Fri Aug 20 12:31:10 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - ValGlass2.0 on Twitter: "Another forbidden thing in Victoria: ðŸŒž do not watch sunsets ðŸŒž '... as it's not within the ''rules'' of #dictatordan The message is clear: stop living! #tippingpoint #letherrip https://t.co/clRrVScPw4" / Twitter
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        ValGlass2.0 : Another forbidden thing in Victoria: ðŸŒž do not watch sunsets ðŸŒž'... as it's not within the ''rules'' of #dictatordan'... https://t.co/IGM7ZxaNaK
        Fri Aug 20 02:11:10 +0000 2021
        Troy : @AussieVal10 @adamcurry
        Fri Aug 20 04:12:16 +0000 2021
        nedðŸŽ²ðŸŽ²ðŸ‡...ðŸ‡ºðŸ‡®ðŸ‡¹77 : @AussieVal10 Some one needs to bring this up at a press conference https://t.co/UvhUMEKjOe https://t.co/SgrS05qXhZ
        Fri Aug 20 04:12:05 +0000 2021
        Daniel Porta : @AussieVal10 #wewillrise #FreeAustralia https://t.co/8ZfzrxPSVI
        Fri Aug 20 04:11:01 +0000 2021
        Morpheus : @AussieVal10 When did this change?? Outdoors on a beach FFShttps://t.co/7pHMUPtqoh
        Fri Aug 20 04:10:58 +0000 2021
        kerryn bull : @AussieVal10 Sorry. My only time out of the house yesterday was for an hour from 6pm to 7pm and YES I took a photo'... https://t.co/q7bRynCg3W
        Fri Aug 20 04:06:49 +0000 2021
        QWAIDY : @AussieVal10 So it's not law then.
        Fri Aug 20 04:05:41 +0000 2021
        #panquake #FreeAssange : @AussieVal10 @GillianMcKeith @Partisangirl @21WIRE @AlexBerenson @BreesAnna @AnnadeBuisseret @FatEmperor @NickHudsonCT @MichaelPSenger
        Fri Aug 20 04:05:17 +0000 2021
        bosscrow : @AussieVal10 https://t.co/5XfhvJxHTf
        Fri Aug 20 04:05:16 +0000 2021
        nedðŸŽ²ðŸŽ²ðŸ‡...ðŸ‡ºðŸ‡®ðŸ‡¹77 : @AussieVal10 What happens when a Slug Dictator tries to rule your private life.DRINK MORE https://t.co/cDKshfNiXF
        Fri Aug 20 04:04:55 +0000 2021
        Brad Freake : @AussieVal10 What if all the people were Victorians that are fully vaccinated?
        Fri Aug 20 04:03:16 +0000 2021
      VIDEO - Palantir buys $50M worth of gold bars to counter 'black swan event'
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        Data analytics firm Palantir, best known for its secretive work with the Central Intelligence Agency and other government bodies, has bought $50 million worth of gold bars in preparation for another ''black swan event.''
        The Colorado-based company purchased $50.7 million worth of 100-ounce gold bars sometime in August, Palantir said in a short note buried in its 93-page second-quarter earnings report last week.
        ''Such purchase will initially be kept in a secure third-party facility located in the northeastern United States and the Company is able to take physical possession of the gold bars stored at the facility at any time with reasonable notice,'' it added.
        Bloomberg also reported that Palantir will accept payment from its customers in gold.
        The company previously announced that it would accept bitcoin as a form of payment, though it hasn't said that it's invested in any bitcoin yet, unlike some other companies including Elon Musk's electric car firm Tesla.
        Shyam Sankar, Palantir's chief operating officer, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the shift toward gold ''reflects more of a worldview.''
        ''You have to be prepared for a future with more black swan events,'' he said, referring to major unexpected events that can have negative consequences.
        Investing in gold is seen as a way to hedge against negative events in the future as well as inflation, as proponents see gold retaining its inherent value throughout any economic downturn.
        Data analytics firm Palantir, best known for its work with the CIA, has bought $50 million worth of gold bars in preparation for a ''black swan event.'' Arnd Wiegmann/REUTERSThe price of an ounce of gold shot past $2,000 for the first time ever last year as concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic spiked.
        But while some investors have recently voiced confidence in gold as inflation spiked in recent months, the price of the precious metal is down about 7 percent since Jan. 1.
        The purchase of gold bricks is just one of Palantir's unusual investment strategies.
        In its latest quarter, the company also began buying up stakes in its customers, which increasingly include privately held startups as well as companies that have recently gone public through mergers with SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies.
        Shares of Palantir, which was co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel and CEO Alex Karp, have fared much better. The stock was up almost 5 percent in midday trading Wednesday and its up about 150 percent since its IPO in September.
      VIDEO - Gov. Andy Beshear - Briefing on COVID-19 in Kentucky - 8.17.2021 - YouTube
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      VIDEO - LUKAS LION - 1984 - YouTube
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