#Coronavirus expansion

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 6, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Nov 06, 2024

Yesterday, November 5, 2024, Americans reelected former president Donald Trump, a Republican, to the presidency over Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. As of Wednesday night, Trump is projected to get at least 295 electoral votes to Harris’s 226, with two Republican-leaning states still not called. The popular vote count is still underway.

Republicans also retook control of the Senate, where Democrats were defending far more seats than Republicans. Control of the House is not yet clear. 

These results were a surprise to everyone. Trump is a 78-year-old convicted felon who has been found liable for sexual assault and is currently under indictment in a number of jurisdictions. He refused to leave office peacefully when voters elected President Joe Biden in 2020, instead launching an unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes, and said during his campaign that he would be a “dictator” on his first day in office.  

Pollsters thought the race would be very close but showed increasing momentum for Harris, and Harris’s team expressed confidence during the day. By posting on social media—with no evidence—that the voting in Pennsylvania was rigged, Trump himself suggested he expected he would lose the popular vote, at least, as he did in 2016 and 2020. 

But in 2024, it appears a majority of American voters chose to put Trump back into office. 

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, offered a message of unity, the expansion of the economic policies that have made the U.S. economy the strongest in the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and the creation of an “opportunity economy” that echoed many of the policies Republicans used to embrace. Trump vowed to take revenge on his enemies and to return the country to the neoliberal policies President Joe Biden had rejected in favor of investing in the middle class.

When he took office, Biden acknowledged that democracy was in danger around the globe, as authoritarians like Russian president Vladimir Putin and China’s president Xi Jinping  maintained that democracy was obsolete and must be replaced by autocracies. Russia set out to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that enforced the rules-based international order that stood against Russian expansion. 

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who overturned democracy in his own country, explained that the historical liberal democracy of the United States weakens a nation because the equality it champions means treating immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women as equal to men, thus ending traditionally patriarchal society.

In place of democracy, Orbán champions “illiberal democracy,” or “Christian democracy.” This form of government holds nominal elections, although their outcome is preordained because the government controls all the media and has silenced opposition. Orbán’s model of minority rule promises a return to a white-dominated, religiously based society, and he has pushed his vision by eliminating the independent press, cracking down on political opposition, getting rid of the rule of law, and dominating the economy with a group of crony oligarchs. 

In order to strengthen democracy at home and abroad, Biden worked to show that it delivered for ordinary Americans. He and the Democrats passed groundbreaking legislation to invest in rebuilding roads and bridges and build new factories to usher in green energy. They defended unions and used the Federal Trade Commission to break up monopolies and return more economic power to consumers. 

Their system worked. It created record low unemployment rates, lifted wages for the bottom 80% of Americans, and built the strongest economy in the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, setting multiple stock market records.  But that success turned out not to be enough to protect democracy. 

In contrast, Trump promised he would return to the ideology of the era before 2021, when leaders believed in relying on markets to order the economy with the idea that wealthy individuals would invest more efficiently than if the government regulated business or skewed markets with targeted investment (in green energy, for example). Trump vowed to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations and to make up lost revenue through tariffs, which he incorrectly insists are paid by foreign countries; tariffs are paid by U.S. consumers. 

For policies, Trump’s campaign embraced the Project 2025 agenda led by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which has close ties to Orbán. That plan calls for getting rid of the nonpartisan civil service the U.S. has had since 1883 and for making both the Department of Justice and the military partisan instruments of a strong president, much as Orbán did in Hungary. It also calls for instituting religious rule, including an end to abortion rights, across the U.S. Part of the idea of “purifying” the country is the deportation of undocumented immigrants: Trump promised to deport 20 million people at an estimated cost of $88 billion to $315 billion a year. 

That is what voters chose.

Pundits today have spent time dissecting the election results, many trying to find the one tweak that would have changed the outcome, and suggesting sweeping solutions to the Democrats’ obvious inability to attract voters. There is no doubt that a key factor in voters’ swing to Trump is that they associated the inflation of the post-pandemic months with Biden and turned the incumbents out, a phenomenon seen all over the world.

There is also no doubt that both racism and sexism played an important role in Harris’s defeat. 

But my own conclusion is that both of those things were amplified by the flood of disinformation that has plagued the U.S. for years now. Russian political theorists called the construction of a virtual political reality through modern media “political technology.” They developed several techniques in this approach to politics, but the key was creating a false narrative in order to control public debate. These techniques perverted democracy, turning it from the concept of voters choosing their leaders into the concept of voters rubber-stamping the leaders they had been manipulated into backing. 

In the U.S., pervasive right-wing media, from the Fox News Channel through right-wing podcasts and YouTube channels run by influencers, have permitted Trump and right-wing influencers to portray the booming economy as “failing” and to run away from the hugely unpopular Project 2025. They allowed MAGA Republicans to portray a dramatically falling crime rate as a crime wave and immigration as an invasion. They also shielded its audience from the many statements of Trump’s former staff that he is unfit for office, and even that his chief of staff General John Kelly considers him a fascist and noted that he admires German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

As actor Walter Masterson posted: “I tried to educate people about tariffs, I tried to explain that undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes and are the foundation of this country. I explained Project 2025, I interviewed to show that they supported it. I can not compete against the propaganda machines of Twitter, Fox News, [Joe Rogan Experience], and NY Post. These spaces will continue to create reality unless we create a more effective way of reaching people.” 

X users noted a dramatic drop in their followers today, likely as bots, no longer necessary, disengaged. 

Many voters who were using their vote to make an economic statement are likely going to be surprised to discover what they have actually voted for. In his victory speech, Trump said the American people had given him an “unprecedented and powerful mandate.” 

White nationalist Nick Fuentes posted, “Your body, my choice. Forever,” and gloated that men will now legally control women’s bodies. His post got at least 22,000 “likes.” Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson, previously funded by Russia, posted: “It is my honor to inform you that Project 2025 was real the whole time.” 

Today, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would launch the “largest mass deportation operation” of undocumented immigrants, and the stock in private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic  jumped 41% and 29%, respectively. Those jumps were part of a bigger overall jump: the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 1,508 points in what Washington Post economic columnist Heather Long said was the largest post-election jump in more than 100 years. 

As for the lower prices Trump voters wanted, Kate Gibson of CBS today noted that on Monday, the National Retail Federation said that Trump’s proposed tariffs will cost American consumers between $46 billion and $78 billion a year as clothing, toys, furniture, appliances, and footwear all become more expensive. A $50 pair of running shoes, Gibson said, would retail for $59 to $64 under the new tariffs.

U.S. retailers are already preparing to raise prices of items from foreign suppliers, passing to consumers the cost of any future tariffs. 

Trump’s election will also mean he will no longer have to answer to the law for his federal indictments: special counsel Jack Smith is winding them down ahead of Trump’s inauguration. So he will not be tried for retaining classified documents or attempting to overthrow the U.S. government when he lost in 2020. 

This evening, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán posted on social media that he had just spoken with Trump, and said: “We have big plans for the future!” 

This afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at her alma mater, Howard University, to concede the election to Trump. 

She thanked her supporters, her family, the Bidens, the Walz family, and her campaign staff and volunteers. She reiterated that she believes Americans have far more in common than separating us.

In what appeared to be a message to Trump, she noted: “A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle as much as any other distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny, and anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it. At the same time in our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God. 

“My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fuels this campaign, the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people, a fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up.”

Harris urged people “to organize, to mobilize and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.” She told those feeling as if the world is dark indeed these days, to “fill the sky with the light of a billion brilliant stars, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service,” and to let “that work guide us, even in the face of setbacks, toward the extraordinary promise of the United States of America.” 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[mariacallous]

Less than two weeks before his 2020 election defeat, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration rolled out a document that purported to promote women’s health and rights while declaring that there was “no international right to abortion.”

“It’s the first time that a multilateral coalition has been built around the issue of defending life,” then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a signing ceremony, conducted virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda joined the United States in sponsoring the nonbinding directive, called the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family. Another 28 countries, many with authoritarian governments that repress women’s rights, signed it.

Abortion is one of the most pivotal issues that will determine whether Trump returns to the Oval Office. The Republican nominee routinely brags about his role—via three Supreme Court nominations—in overturning Roe v. Wade in a 2022 court ruling that inevitably limited abortion access for millions of people in the United States. Less known is the work that Trump and his appointees did to prevent women in other countries from obtaining the procedure.

The Geneva Consensus Declaration, which encourages governments to improve women’s health care without abortion, is one slice of Trump’s work to impose anti-abortion values on people overseas. It has garnered fewer concrete results than his expansion of the Mexico City policy, a perennial Republican rule that prevents foreign organizations that accept U.S. assistance from providing abortions or related services. But if Trump is elected, the declaration is expected to have renewed vigor. In fact, it could loom over all U.S. foreign assistance.

While the one-page document—with its emphasis on health and human rights for women—presents as nonthreatening, detractors assert that a Trump victory on Nov. 5 could make it very threatening indeed.

“I mean, sorry—to be brutal about it, women are going to die,” said Swetha Sridhar, a senior global policy research officer for Fòs Feminista, an international alliance that promotes sexual and reproductive health and justice. “That’s what we’re going to see.”

President Joe Biden withdrew the United States from the declaration upon assuming the presidency in 2021 because, his administration said, it “promotes anti-LGBTQI sentiment and undermines women’s health.” But Washington’s rejection of a document that it produced did not kill it. The declaration has been kept alive largely through the work of one former Trump administration official, Valerie Huber, who is known as its “architect.”

Sridhar and other abortion and gender rights advocates say that the Geneva Consensus Declaration represents a long-term, conservative attempt to create new international standards grounded in faith-based views of abortion and family structures.

“It has a big impact when you have these established global norms,” said Serra Sippel, the executive director of the Brigid Alliance, which provides logistical support for people who need to travel to obtain abortions within the United States. “Anti-gender, anti-rights folks can use this consensus as a tool to try to get countries to pass laws,” Sippel added.

The effort to export anti-abortion policies to other countries did not start under Trump. The Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), an organization with ties to the Catholic Church, worked for 24 years to create a declaration, said its president—Austin Ruse—in a statement issued the day of the signing ceremony. In a summation of the declaration’s principles, Ruse said: “There is no international right to abortion. There is no international obligation to fund abortion. The United Nations has no business interfering in sovereign decisions when it comes to protecting life in the womb.”

C-Fam did not make anyone available for an interview for this story.

Huber, the declaration’s most visible proponent and a former U.S. special representative for global women’s health in the Trump administration, has spent the past few years traveling the globe, sometimes working with foreign first ladies to bring more countries on board. Huber also founded the Institute for Women’s Health, which “identifies high-impact solutions to promote women’s health and thriving,” according to its website. The institute created a framework called Protego to partner with countries that sign the declaration and provide guidance as they implement “high-impact, low-cost interventions” to meet the needs of women and their families, Huber said in two statements issued in response to an interview request.

“The tenet of the GCD [Geneva Consensus Declaration] regarding abortion points to the sovereignty of nations to chart their own path on this issue—therefore, GCD coalition nations have differing laws regarding abortion,” Huber wrote. “The GCD accurately states that abortion is not an international right, but rather it is up to the country to decide on its own abortion policies—without external pressure.”

Of course, countries already have the ability to pass and enforce their own laws on abortion. Opponents of the Geneva Consensus Declaration, however, argue that the document would allow governments to ignore international accords related to abortion, such as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, better known as the Maputo Protocol. That 2003 treaty recognizes abortion rights in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, life-threatening fetal anomalies, and situations in which continuing a pregnancy would endanger the pregnant woman’s life or her mental and physical health.

Nevertheless, a handful of the countries that ratified the agreement do not permit abortion under any circumstances.

“The Maputo Protocol is an African instrument for Africans, created by Africans. No external pressure,” said Kemi Akinfaderin, who leads global advocacy work for Fòs Feminista and is based in Lomé, Togo.

To date, the Geneva Consensus Declaration does not appear to have many real-world consequences for women, according to abortion rights advocates in the United States and abroad. It is not an official treaty and, therefore, has no teeth. It also has had no consistent overseer, the secretariat having been passed from the United States to Brazil and then, after new leaders emerged in those countries, to Hungary.

But its trajectory—and implications for women worldwide—could change rapidly if Trump wins a second presidential term in the Nov. 5 election, abortion rights advocates who spoke with Foreign Policy said.

Trump, who has courted abortion opponents in his three presidential runs, has pledged to rejoin the coalition that signed the declaration, now numbering 39 countries (despite withdrawals from Brazil, Colombia, and the United States). In addition, Project 2025, a document seen by many in the United States as the blueprint for a new conservative presidency, proposes that U.S. foreign policy should align with the declaration’s tenets on abortion and the family.

“As soon as the next president is elected, we will reveal our priorities for the next four years,” Huber said in her statement.

For women in some of the world’s poorest countries, a return of Trump could signal real danger, according to abortion rights advocates in the U.S. and abroad.

Sridhar, who is based in Mumbai, might sound hyperbolic when she predicts an increase in deaths, but her fear is based on Trump’s track record. During his four-year term, he greatly expanded the Mexico City policy, forcing medical providers that received U.S. money to make a choice: Either they stopped providing abortions and related services, such as counseling or referrals—even if they were subsidized by non-U.S. money—or they lost what was often the bulk of their funding. Many clinics that provided a full array of services, including HIV/AIDS testing and treatment, closed.

A report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that Trump’s reinstatement of the policy between 2017 and 2021 led to 108,000 maternal and child deaths and 360,000 new HIV infections.

Project 2025, which was drafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank with the help of Trump administration alumni, including Huber, would expand the Mexico City policy considerably further. Starting with former President Ronald Reagan in 1984, every Republican president has invoked the policy, dubbed the “global gag rule” by opponents, and applied it to foreign assistance for family planning services. (Every Democratic president has rescinded the policy.)

Trump extended it to all health care aid and changed the policy’s name to the “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” policy. Project 2025 would extend the practice to apply it to all foreign assistance, including humanitarian aid.

Layered on top of that would be the Geneva Consensus Declaration. Project 2025 proposes applying the anti-abortion, pro-family doctrine not only to foreign nongovernmental organizations and governments, but also to large international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO), which have programs that support reproductive rights and health.

Lynn Morgan, a professor emeritus of anthropology at Mount Holyoke College and an expert on the declaration, said that Trump could use it to undermine the work of U.N. agencies and the WHO, which sets international standards for health care.

“It’s going to empower a coalition of countries who might want to say, ‘We don’t want to participate in the World Health Organization anymore. We’re going to stop funding the World Health Organization because of their advocacy around abortion,’” Morgan said.

The declaration would gain potency if Trump made it a condition of foreign assistance, said Gillian Kane, the director of policy and advocacy at Ipas, an international organization that supports access to contraception and abortion. “I think what the Trump administration could do is say, ‘Hey, if you don’t sign onto this, or if you sign off of this, you’re not going to get foreign aid,’” Kane said. “I think this can be a real cudgel and sort of force people to align to this ideology.”

Huber said in her statement that no matter who becomes president, the Institute of Women’s Health seeks to build consensus. “We don’t want anything to stand in the way of improved health and wellbeing for women and families,” she wrote.

But it’s difficult to fathom Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, working with Huber and other proponents of the declaration. Harris has been outspoken in her support of abortion rights, and advocates say that they hope she will go further than Biden has to promote access abroad.

Although Biden rescinded Trump’s version of the Mexico City policy and withdrew from the Geneva Consensus Declaration, abortion rights advocates said his administration was slow to communicate with foreign aid recipients. Akinfaderin, of Fòs Feminista, said that some U.S. agencies were implementing Trump’s restrictions well into Biden’s term.

Akinfaderin said that she would like a Harris administration to view reproductive rights and justice “more holistically” to include such issues as infertility, comprehensive sex education, and maternal mortality. And, she said, Harris should stop conservatives from “rolling back everything that we’ve done—every single thing that we’ve done.”

Beirne Roose-Snyder, the director of the Preclusion Project, an independent legal organization that supports gender rights, said that supporters of abortion and gender rights would relish working with a President Harris, whom she described as “a very public advocate on reproductive rights and sexual orientation and gender identity.”

“This is not someone who is going to take to the creation of fake documents particularly well,” Roose-Snyder said in reference to the declaration. “So I think we would expect to see continued distance and maybe even further engagement with other countries about diminishing the role and power of the future of the Geneva Consensus Declaration. I think we’d expect to see that.”

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

"Just a cold" that could potentially cause cancer.

By Jo Cavallo

It’s not news that some viruses, including human papillomavirus, human immunodeficiency virus, Epstein-Barr, and hepatitis B, can cause or accelerate the development of cancer. But a recent story in The Washington Post about rare cancers being diagnosed in individuals who had previously been infected by the coronavirus has raised the specter of whether acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS–CoV-2) could also be an instigator in the initiation of cancer.1

Although the devastating short-term severe impact of SARS–CoV-2 is evidenced by the more than 7,000,000 reported coronavirus-related deaths worldwide since the outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, in 2020,2 the long-term implications on health are just starting to be investigated.

According to Afshin Beheshti, PhD, President of the COVID-19 International Research Team and Professor of Surgery and Computational and Systems Biology, Director of the Space Biomedicine Program, and Associate Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, it is hypothesized that SARS–CoV-2 may have long-term, life-threatening complications, including the acceleration of cancer, but these cancer-related effects may take several years to manifest. In this interview with The ASCO Post, Dr. Beheshti discussed how SARS–CoV-2could be a risk factor in cancer development.

Mechanisms of COVID That May Lead to Cancer Development

Reports are starting to emerge about a possible link between the coronavirus and the acceleration of the development of cancers. Is severe SARS–CoV-2 an oncogenic agent? Could the virus be implicated in causing cancer?

All we have right now is preliminary and indirect evidence of a potential causal link between SARS–CoV-2 and cancer. When there is an injury to the body or an infection, there may be short-term cancer-related signals that go up, but they dissipate quickly. What we are seeing in some patients with long COVID is that these cancer-related signals, such as inflammatory factors and mitochondrial dysfunction, are persistent. This makes us hypothesize that SARS–CoV-2 may be an oncogenic type of virus. But if so, we don’t know whether it is an initiator of cancer or a driver of cancer progression.

There is a good study in preprint showing a connection between respiratory viral infections and the awakening of dormant metastatic breast cancer cells in the lungs.3 In this study, the researchers infected mice with SARS–CoV-2 or the influenza virus to understand the mechanisms that disrupt the quiescence of dormant disseminated cancer cells that may lead to metastatic progression. What they found is that both the influenza virus and SARS–CoV-2 increased breast disseminated cancer cell expansion in the lungs after infection. When the researchers expanded their findings to human observational data, they observed that cancer survivors who had contracted SARS–CoV-2 infection had a substantially increased risk of lung metastatic progression and cancer-related death compared with cancer survivors who had not developed SARS–CoV-2.3

So, in a sense, maybe SARS–CoV-2 creates a different landscape in the lungs, in this case, to make the cancer more susceptible to progress or for the dormant cells to become active. My colleague, Kashyap Patel, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates, is seeing rare and lethal cancers popping up in his patients after they have contracted the coronavirus, so he has a strong suspicion—but no hard evidence—that there is a link between the virus and the development of cancer.1 We are working together to figure out whether the virus is causing dormant tumors to become reactivated, or it is causing an initiation. We want to bring attention to this issue before it’s too late.

Lingering Coronavirus Fragments and Long-Term Immune Responses

Is it possible that the coronavirus, rather than disappearing from the body after it infects an individual, lingers, potentially initiating cancer?

That is one of the concerns in patients who have had long COVID infection. So far, we have not seen the virus replicating in the body 15 or 20 days after infection. But researchers studying the impact of long COVID on the body have found that fragments of SARS–CoV-2 left behind after infection may continue to trigger immune responses.4 Whether that triggers cancer mechanisms is a hypothesis we should look into.

Focusing Research on SARS–CoV-2 and the Risk for Cancer Development

What are you learning about how COVID, especially long COVID, impacts the body in terms of prematurely aging tissue? Could that process spark the development of cancer?

We don’t know the answers to those questions. Emerging evidence has pointed to mitochondrial dysfunction or mitochondria suppression as a potential underpinning mechanism contributing to the persistence of long-COVID symptoms.5 That could mean there is a long-term impact on how cells transform energy.

In cancer development, malignant cells produce energy in a unique way that supports their rapid growth and spread. Known as the Warburg effect, this process could potentially play a role in the increased risk of cancer in patients with long COVID, because their cells may experience changes that make it easier for cancer to develop and thrive.

There is also long-lasting immune activation present in patients with long COVID, which can go on for 2 to 3 years after active infection. We know that consistent upper respiratory inflammation in the body can cause cancer progression.

A lot of the research underway now in long COVID is not yet focused on cancer development and the potential for SARS–CoV-2 to cause cancer, but it’s a question researchers should investigate.

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Beheshti is on the advisory board for Tevogen Bio.

REFERENCES

1. Cha AE: ‘Unusual’ cancers emerged after the pandemic. Doctors ask if covid is to blame. The Washington Post, June 6, 2024.

2. Worldometer: Coronavirus Death Toll. Available at www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-toll. Accessed November 18, 2024.

3. Chia SB, Johnson BJ, Hu J, et al: Respiratory viral infection promotes the awakening and outgrowth of dormant metastatic breast cancer cells in lungs. Res Sq [Preprint] rs.3.rs-4210090, 2024.

4. Doctrow B: SARS–CoV-2 fragments may cause problems after infection. National Institutes of Health, February 27, 2024. Available at www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/sars-cov-2-fragments-may-cause-problems-after-infection. Accessed November 18, 2024.

5. Molnar T, Lehoczki A, Fekete M, et al: Mitochondrial dysfunction in long COVID: Mechanisms, consequences, and potential therapeutic approaches. GeroScience 46:5267-5286, 2024.

[serpentinesheldonserpentine]

Attention Teacher’s Union: They’re not coming back. Hope you had fun on your extended COVID vacation.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, public-school enrollment has declined by about a million students, and researchers attribute the drop to families switching to private schools—aided by an expansion of voucher programs in many red and purple states—and to homeschooling, which has seen especially strong growth. In addition, as of last year, an estimated fifty thousand students are unaccounted for—many of them are simply not in school.

…In September, 2020, as many public schools in Democratic-leaning states started the new academic year with remote learning, I asked Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, whether she worried about the long-term effects on public education. What if too many families left the system in favor of homeschooling or private schools—many of which had reopened—and didn’t come back?

She wasn’t concerned about such hypotheticals.

[yourreddancer]

Heather Cox Richardson 11.6.24

Heather Cox Richardson 11.6.24

Yesterday, November 5, 2024, Americans reelected former president Donald Trump, a Republican, to the presidency over Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. As of Wednesday night, Trump is projected to get at least 295 electoral votes to Harris’s 226, with two Republican-leaning states still not called. The popular vote count is still underway.

Republicans also retook control of the Senate, where Democrats were defending far more seats than Republicans. Control of the House is not yet clear. 

These results were a surprise to everyone. Trump is a 78-year-old convicted felon who has been found liable for sexual assault and is currently under indictment in a number of jurisdictions. He refused to leave office peacefully when voters elected President Joe Biden in 2020, instead launching an unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes, and said during his campaign that he would be a “dictator” on his first day in office.  

Pollsters thought the race would be very close but showed increasing momentum for Harris, and Harris’s team expressed confidence during the day. By posting on social media—with no evidence—that the voting in Pennsylvania was rigged, Trump himself suggested he expected he would lose the popular vote, at least, as he did in 2016 and 2020. 

But in 2024, it appears a majority of American voters chose to put Trump back into office. 

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, offered a message of unity, the expansion of the economic policies that have made the U.S. economy the strongest in the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and the creation of an “opportunity economy” that echoed many of the policies Republicans used to embrace. Trump vowed to take revenge on his enemies and to return the country to the neoliberal policies President Joe Biden had rejected in favor of investing in the middle class.

When he took office, Biden acknowledged that democracy was in danger around the globe, as authoritarians like Russian president Vladimir Putin and China’s president Xi Jinping  maintained that democracy was obsolete and must be replaced by autocracies. Russia set out to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that enforced the rules-based international order that stood against Russian expansion. 

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who overturned democracy in his own country, explained that the historical liberal democracy of the United States weakens a nation because the equality it champions means treating immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women as equal to men, thus ending traditionally patriarchal society.

In place of democracy, Orbán champions “illiberal democracy,” or “Christian democracy.” This form of government holds nominal elections, although their outcome is preordained because the government controls all the media and has silenced opposition. Orbán’s model of minority rule promises a return to a white-dominated, religiously based society, and he has pushed his vision by eliminating the independent press, cracking down on political opposition, getting rid of the rule of law, and dominating the economy with a group of crony oligarchs. 

In order to strengthen democracy at home and abroad, Biden worked to show that it delivered for ordinary Americans. He and the Democrats passed groundbreaking legislation to invest in rebuilding roads and bridges and build new factories to usher in green energy. They defended unions and used the Federal Trade Commission to break up monopolies and return more economic power to consumers. 

Their system worked. It created record low unemployment rates, lifted wages for the bottom 80% of Americans, and built the strongest economy in the world in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, setting multiple stock market records.  But that success turned out not to be enough to protect democracy. 

In contrast, Trump promised he would return to the ideology of the era before 2021, when leaders believed in relying on markets to order the economy with the idea that wealthy individuals would invest more efficiently than if the government regulated business or skewed markets with targeted investment (in green energy, for example). Trump vowed to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations and to make up lost revenue through tariffs, which he incorrectly insists are paid by foreign countries; tariffs are paid by U.S. consumers. 

For policies, Trump’s campaign embraced the Project 2025 agenda led by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which has close ties to Orbán. That plan calls for getting rid of the nonpartisan civil service the U.S. has had since 1883 and for making both the Department of Justice and the military partisan instruments of a strong president, much as Orbán did in Hungary. It also calls for instituting religious rule, including an end to abortion rights, across the U.S. Part of the idea of “purifying” the country is the deportation of undocumented immigrants: Trump promised to deport 20 million people at an estimated cost of $88 billion to $315 billion a year. 

That is what voters chose.

Pundits today have spent time dissecting the election results, many trying to find the one tweak that would have changed the outcome, and suggesting sweeping solutions to the Democrats’ obvious inability to attract voters. There is no doubt that a key factor in voters’ swing to Trump is that they associated the inflation of the post-pandemic months with Biden and turned the incumbents out, a phenomenon seen all over the world.

There is also no doubt that both racism and sexism played an important role in Harris’s defeat. 

But my own conclusion is that both of those things were amplified by the flood of disinformation that has plagued the U.S. for years now. Russian political theorists called the construction of a virtual political reality through modern media “political technology.” They developed several techniques in this approach to politics, but the key was creating a false narrative in order to control public debate. These techniques perverted democracy, turning it from the concept of voters choosing their leaders into the concept of voters rubber-stamping the leaders they had been manipulated into backing. 

In the U.S., pervasive right-wing media, from the Fox News Channel through right-wing podcasts and YouTube channels run by influencers, have permitted Trump and right-wing influencers to portray the booming economy as “failing” and to run away from the hugely unpopular Project 2025. They allowed MAGA Republicans to portray a dramatically falling crime rate as a crime wave and immigration as an invasion. They also shielded its audience from the many statements of Trump’s former staff that he is unfit for office, and even that his chief of staff General John Kelly considers him a fascist and noted that he admires German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

As actor Walter Masterson posted: “I tried to educate people about tariffs, I tried to explain that undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes and are the foundation of this country. I explained Project 2025, I interviewed to show that they supported it. I can not compete against the propaganda machines of Twitter, Fox News, [Joe Rogan Experience], and NY Post. These spaces will continue to create reality unless we create a more effective way of reaching people.” 

X users noted a dramatic drop in their followers today, likely as bots, no longer necessary, disengaged. 

Many voters who were using their vote to make an economic statement are likely going to be surprised to discover what they have actually voted for. In his victory speech, Trump said the American people had given him an “unprecedented and powerful mandate.” 

White nationalist Nick Fuentes posted, “Your body, my choice. Forever,” and gloated that men will now legally control women’s bodies. His post got at least 22,000 “likes.” Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson, previously funded by Russia, posted: “It is my honor to inform you that Project 2025 was real the whole time.” 

Today, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would launch the “largest mass deportation operation” of undocumented immigrants, and the stock in private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic  jumped 41% and 29%, respectively. Those jumps were part of a bigger overall jump: the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 1,508 points in what Washington Post economic columnist Heather Long said was the largest post-election jump in more than 100 years. 

As for the lower prices Trump voters wanted, Kate Gibson of CBS today noted that on Monday, the National Retail Federation said that Trump’s proposed tariffs will cost American consumers between $46 billion and $78 billion a year as clothing, toys, furniture, appliances, and footwear all become more expensive. A $50 pair of running shoes, Gibson said, would retail for $59 to $64 under the new tariffs.

U.S. retailers are already preparing to raise prices of items from foreign suppliers, passing to consumers the cost of any future tariffs. 

Trump’s election will also mean he will no longer have to answer to the law for his federal indictments: special counsel Jack Smith is winding them down ahead of Trump’s inauguration. So he will not be tried for retaining classified documents or attempting to overthrow the U.S. government when he lost in 2020. 

This evening, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán posted on social media that he had just spoken with Trump, and said: “We have big plans for the future!” 

This afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at her alma mater, Howard University, to concede the election to Trump. 

She thanked her supporters, her family, the Bidens, the Walz family, and her campaign staff and volunteers. She reiterated that she believes Americans have far more in common than separating us.

In what appeared to be a message to Trump, she noted: “A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle as much as any other distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny, and anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it. At the same time in our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God. 

“My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fuels this campaign, the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness and the dignity of all people, a fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up.”

Harris urged people “to organize, to mobilize and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice and the future that we all know we can build together.” She told those feeling as if the world is dark indeed these days, to “fill the sky with the light of a billion brilliant stars, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service,” and to let “that work guide us, even in the face of setbacks, toward the extraordinary promise of the United States of America.” 

—

[coochiequeens]

Leaders in Bulgaria are letting women be killed instead of updating laws against domestic violence

SOFIA -- On March 9, Kristina Blagoeva, a 32-year-old woman from Bulgaria's capital, contacted the Animus Association, an NGO that offers counseling and support to victims of domestic violence. She told the organization that the previous day the man she was having a relationship with had threatened to kill her.

Less than a month later, her body was found in the trunk of a car, with two bullets in her chest. On April 7, her partner, Kaloyan Kaymakchiyski, was charged with her murder. The prosecutor's office said the most likely motive was that Blagoeva had ended the relationship. The case has reignited a debate in Bulgaria about the country's domestic violence law, which rights activists and legal experts say needs modernizing to better protect women and has resulted in the deaths of dozens of women. But despite efforts to change the law, conservative factions in parliament have blocked any changes that would bring EU member Bulgaria in line with European norms, citing "gender ideology" and "traditional Christian values." The major flaw in Bulgaria's legislation, activists say, is that while restraining orders can protect women from being stalked or abused, they can't be obtained by women like Blagoeva, who are neither married nor living with their partners.

Yulia Andonova from Bulgaria's PULSE Foundation, which supports victims of domestic violence, says the current domestic violence law "isn't working" and is an "outdated" understanding of human relationships that does not correspond to current realities. The existing law considers domestic violence to be "any act of physical, sexual, mental, emotional, or economic violence…committed against persons who are related, who are or have been in a family relationship or in a de facto marital partnership." That definition is not expansive enough, say those calling on lawmakers to amend the law. "Think about how many people there are in such a situation. They have boyfriends but do not live together, whether because they are young and still live with their parents, or they are divorced and have children and an independent lifestyle, or they just live separately, work a lot, and spend only the weekend together," Andonova says. While there are no official, agreed-upon statistics in Bulgaria on the number of domestic violence victims, Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said this month that cases were escalating. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, there was an increase in the number of domestic violence incidents reported worldwide.

In a November 2022 survey by the National Statistics Institute, 20 percent of Bulgarian women between the ages of 18 and 74 said they had experienced sexual, physical, or psychological violence by their current or former partner. One third of women aged 18 to 29 said they had experienced violence from an intimate partner.

After Blagoeva's killing, questions were asked in public and in the media about why the Animus Association hadn't reported the case to the police. Both the Animus Association and the PULSE Foundation said that if they had flagged the case to the Interior Ministry, Blagoeva probably would not have received the protection she needed -- and almost certainly not in time.

"If Kristina [Blagoeva] had filed such an application [for a restraining order], it is unlikely that any court would have allowed it to be considered at all," Katya Krastanova from the Animus Association told RFE/RL. Given that Blagoeva wasn't living with her partner, her case wouldn't be considered domestic violence under Bulgarian law.

Without being able to obtain a restraining order, the only other way for someone like Blagoeva to seek protection is to go to the police and report death threats and stalking. But both Krastanova and Andonova say that generally this is not effective. Unlike a restraining order in a domestic violence case, which is usually issued on the spot in Bulgaria, prosecutors would need to collect evidence to build a case before filing charges -- and that process can typically take months, too long for those, like Blagoeva, who are in acute need.

"In [Blagoeva's] case, she was a victim of psychological harassment, surveillance, and stalking, and of indirect threats to her life. These facts are extremely difficult to prove, and it takes a long time for the police [to investigate]," Krastanova said.

Bulgaria's approach is at odds with the main document that regulates protection against domestic violence in Europe, the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention. The convention, which Sofia has signed but not ratified due to cross-party concerns about recognizing a third gender and same-sex marriage, defines domestic violence as any act of violence "between former or current spouses or partners, regardless of whether the perpetrator lives or has lived together with the victim."

The 37 European countries that have signed and ratified the Istanbul Convention are required to implement a number of measures in order to prevent crimes, protect victims, and prosecute offenders.

Changes were proposed to Bulgaria's domestic violence law in 2022. Under the pro-Western government of Kiril Petkov, who served as prime minister from December 2021 to August 2022, the Justice Ministry launched a working group, including judges and NGO representatives. Among the proposed changes to the law was getting rid of the concept of "de facto marital cohabitation" and replacing it with an "intimate relationship," which would expand the scope of the law to include partners who did not live together.

The proposed change, however, was left out of the final version of the bill. The PULSE Foundation told RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service that the proposal had been rejected by the ruling coalition partners, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the populist There Is Such A People party, because people in homosexual relationships would be included in the concept of "intimate relationships" and also given the right to protection.

RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service asked both the Bulgarian Socialist Party and There Is Such A People about their positions on the proposed amendments but did not receive a response.

Since 2020, Bulgaria has been governed mainly by caretaker governments and has seen five parliamentary elections in the past two years.

Former Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova from the Democratic Bulgaria electoral alliance, a member of Petkov's coalition government, was among the submitters of the bill in the parliament. She declined to comment to RFE/RL on which of the then coalition partners were opposed to the law being amended. She did confirm, however, that opponents of the proposal said the possible inclusion of same-sex couples in the legislation was an issue but not the only one.

"The main problem was how to divide the genuinely long-term relationships from those that are short-term, random, and do not involve a lasting commitment," Yordanova told RFE/RL's Bulgarian Service.

In the end, parliament never passed the bill. In January, invoking "traditional Christian values" and "gender ideology," lawmakers from the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the center-right GERB party, the nationalist Bulgarian Rise party, and the far-right Revival party rejected the planned changes to the legislation.

Yordanova told RFE/RL that Democratic Bulgaria will attempt again in the future to have the law amended in parliament, with a new approach being worked on to satisfy "conservative" factions of society.

For women like Blagoeva, though, it all comes too late.

"It's absolute nonsense," says the PULSE Foundation's Andonova to reject a bill aimed at helping women because of vague fears of gender ideology. "We don't have a working law. Obviously, there is no political will for people to live with dignity in this country," Andonova said. "That's the ugly truth."

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Lula’s Out to Get Brazil’s Global Mojo Back

Like Biden, Brazil’s old-new president inherited a mess on the international stage.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula, stepped into his third term ready to rebuild Brazil’s international image, which had been largely diminished by his predecessor. And Lula has a guidebook to follow, not only from his two prior terms, but also from U.S. President Joe Biden’s ascension. From the Jan. 8 riots in Brasília to both countries reentering international organizations, Biden and Lula have fought—and will continue to fight—eerily similar battles. 

“Both Lula and Biden are presidents that are positioning themselves as leaders in the democratic world, defending democracy in the region, and with clear priorities on the agenda,” said Bruna Santos, director of the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center.

During his first two terms as president, between 2003 and 2010, Lula set Brazil up as a major economic and political player on the world stage. Lula was a founding member of BRICS—a geopolitical bloc including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—and attended its first formal summit in 2009, and Brazil was one of the leading voices calling for U.N. Security Council expansion during the Lula administration. Brazil’s relationships with its neighbors had never been better, with a wave of Lula allies elected into office throughout the region, including Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

But things may not be so straightforward this time around. Despite the recent wave of leftist governments echoing the political tides of the early 2000s, instability has rocked Latin America in recent years, with worsening situations in Nicaragua and Venezuela, violent protests in Peru, and the devastating economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The new “pink tide” will be far more turbulent than the first.

“It’s very early on to see how successful he’s going to be, but it’s not going to be the easy ride he had on the first pink tide, when everyone was on better terms,” said Cecilia Tornaghi, the senior director of policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas.

Continue reading.

[gemsofgreece]

https://www.lifo.gr/culture/vivlio/rontrik-mpiton-i-ennoia-toy-ellinismoy-itan-pantote-reysti-kai-eyelikti

Found this article and i am curious about this British professor. He has knowledge of Greece's history and politics in detail, but the theme he presented he Hellenism confused me a bit.

What i mean is, is he one of those who believe that Hellenism is not bound only with ethnicity but woth how many people speak it? Could be wrong but he dragged too much about the expansion of greek language and the ways.

I read his interview and an older one with great interest. I agree with him to some considerable degree but not in everything. He says that an ethnicity is a human concept, which is technically true, both for Greeks as well as all other ethnicities. He clarifies that he believes the same for all ethnicities including his own, so it's fair enough.

It is not the same DNA or an exact same ancestral place of origin but the presumption that one has that this is the case and that a certain culture is part of their identity. This is the widely accepted definition of ethnicity, so it's not Beaton's idea.

Given how much Greeks spread their cultural influence and how seamlessly they incorporated foreign cultural elements to their own identity, it makes it twice as hard to create borders / gatekeep hellenism on a historical level. I mean, Greeks were an extroverted people: travelling, sailing, migrating, communicating their culture. Thus Roderick Beaton means the hellenized people of the Alexandrian, the Roman and the Byzantine Empires and all places of Greek influence. Maybe even the Ottoman empire, for some of the Christian Orthodox populations only. The Greek element was primary in the first three and considerable in some parts of the fourth, thus hellenizing some people from originally non-ethnic Greek families. In short, Beaton considers all the heavily hellenized people of those empires - the Greek speakers - as Greeks, who enjoyed access but also contributed to the Greek heritage. The hellenism as a strict definition of the Greek nation living or coming from the modern Greek state's borders is a very new concept after all. 

Besides, Greeks have gone through so much that it is true that there is nothing more robust to rely on for their self-identification than the Greek language. Many things have changed but the language hasn’t (by comparison) and it is unique to the people who identify as Greek. Beaton is right in my opinion to use the language as the axis of his study.

Of course, Beaton does not mean people who learned a word or two or Greek is their fifth language or read Hades and Persephone fanfiction as Greeks. He means people for whom Hellenism had a pivotal presence and (positive) impact on their entire life, shaping of character and perhaps sense of identity, regardless of the origin of their ancestors. Then again, he almost calls himself a Greek and basically says "we" at some point when he refers to Greeks lol, but oh well he's an academic who has spent all his life studying the Greek language and complete history, and he comes here every year or something. So... he might as well feel like that, I guess? Not as a Greek by descent obviously but as a participant in the heritage, who has earned this right to the participation with a lifetime's dedication to it.

Having said that, I haven't read his book so I can't be entirely sure he doesn't fall into the trap of appropriation. It's interesting though that his book is one of the very first now that span 3000 years: the book starts from the Bronze Age and ends with coronavirus! Some more sceptical reviews in Goodreads say that he didn't avoid the typical Western decline of historiographic quality once he moves from Roman to Byzantine era and onwards (weird, given that he is a Byzantinologist), however for a westerner it's still very novel to explore Hellenism through a unifying perspective and without picking out his favourite type of Greeks, and for this alone I have this book in my wishlist. It might not be perfect but it is a start.

Imagine if the point of the book is: "Modern Greeks are Greeks because we are all Greeks anyway" XD eh hopefully not!

[le-velo-pour-dru]

[ID 1: A tweet by Friends of Trevor United (@/FriendsOfTrevor) that says, "@/TrevorProject is UNION BUSTING. We want to make that really clear. Today @/TrevorProject announced layoffs effective immediately while our @/CWAUnion reps were in an ACTIVE BARGAINING SESSION. Read our full statement here:". An Instagram link is then provided, but part of it is cut off.

ID 2: The first graphic attached to the tweet. Against a purple background that fades to red, white text reads, "THE TREVOR PROJECT JUST ANNOUNCED MASS LAYOFFS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY... WHILE OUR UNION WAS IN AN ACTIVE BARGAINING SESSION. HERE ARE THE FACTS". The words "active bargaining" are underlined. A purple seal is below this. In the middle is a deep purple arc interrupted by four stars. Below this are the words, "FRIENDS OF TREVOR UNITED", and even further below this are the words, "CWA LOCAL 1180". There are hands on either side. Around the edge are the words, "LAYOFFS ARE UNION BUSTING".

ID 3: The next graphic attached in the tweet. These next three images all say, "THE TREVOR PROJECT IS UNION BUSTING" at the top, and they're all cream colored with navy blue text. A version of the same seal from the previous image is also on each of these images in the bottom right corner, now in cream, navy blue, and orange colors. This slide reads, "At 9:15 am pst, as many of our members and overnight staff were still sleeping, The Trevor Project announced layoffs effective immediately... while our union representative were in an active bargaining session regarding the terms of these layoffs." The words "in an active bargaining session" are bolded.

ID 4: This slide reads, "Trevor lawyers threatened to proceed with layoffs and withhold severance in order to pressure our representatives into accepting a lesser package. This is bad-faith bargaining and blatant union busting." The words "withhold severance" and the last sentence are bolded.

ID 5: This slide reads, "Our union made every attempt to bargain in good faith. We gave Trevor leadership an opportunity to demonstrate care, compassion, and basic decency in this process, and they refused." The words "and they refused" are bolder.

ID 6: A bulleted list of various LGBTQ+ resources. It reads,

"Q Chat Space is a bully-free online community of LGBTQ teens that can chat with other LGBTQ teens and trained staff from LGBTQ centers around the country.

You can access Q Chat Space at www.qchatspace.org

Gender Spectrum Lounge is a global online community for gender-expansive teens, their families and support professionals to connect, collaborate and find resources.

You can access the Gender Spectrum Lounge at genderspectrum.org/lounge

National Runaway Safeline is a federally designated national communication system for runaway and homeless youth, available 24/7/365, providing access to resources and listening professionals.

You can call NRS at 1-800-RUNAWAY or at 1800runaway.org

Trans Lifeline Hotline is a peer support service run by trans people located all over the US and Canada, for trans and questioning callers.

You can call Trans Lifeline Hotline at 877-565-8860 translifeline.org/hotline

The LGBT National Help Center offers a talkline and weekly chatrooms for youth, providing confidential peer-support, information, local resources and community.

You can call the LGBT National Youth Talkline at 800-246-7743

You can access the Weekly Youth Chatrooms at lgbthotline.org/youthchatrooms

True Colors United has created an online COVID-19 Action & Resource center providing the most up-to-date resources for youth and adults experiencing homelessness. They include resources for folks working in the field, advocates making a difference, and young people looking for help.

You can access the Action & Resource center at truecolorsunited.org/coronavirus-action-resource-center/

Many PFLAG chapters are meeting virtually or providing 1:1 virtual support as requested for parents/guardians or LGBTQ youth. Go to pflag.org/find to look up the PFLAG chapter in your area and reach out by phone, email or on social media to learn more about their virtual support options." /end ID]

Incredibly disappointing behavior made all the more cynical by it happening just after Pride Month

[didanawisgi]

Therapeutic Potential of Bioactive Compounds from Edible Mushrooms to Attenuate SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Some Complications of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

Abstract

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a highly infectious positive RNA virus, has spread from its epicenter to other countries with increased mortality and morbidity. Its expansion has hampered humankind’s social, economic, and health realms to a large extent. Globally, investigations are underway to understand the complex pathophysiology of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) induced by SARS-CoV-2. Though numerous therapeutic strategies have been introduced to combat COVID-19, none are fully proven or comprehensive, as several key issues and challenges remain unresolved. At present, natural products have gained significant momentum in treating metabolic disorders. Mushrooms have often proved to be the precursor of various therapeutic molecules or drug prototypes. The plentiful bioactive macromolecules in edible mushrooms, like polysaccharides, proteins, and other secondary metabolites (such as flavonoids, polyphenols, etc.), have been used to treat multiple diseases, including viral infections, by traditional healers and the medical fraternity. Some edible mushrooms with a high proportion of therapeutic molecules are known as medicinal mushrooms. In this review, an attempt has been made to highlight the exploration of bioactive molecules in mushrooms to combat the various pathophysiological complications of COVID-19. This review presents an in-depth and critical analysis of the current therapies against COVID-19 versus the potential of natural anti-infective, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antithrombotic products derived from a wide range of easily sourced mushrooms and their bioactive molecules.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Matt Wuerker

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 2, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 3, 2023

In a speech yesterday in Northfield, Minnesota, President Joe Biden explained his economic vision to rural Americans. “Over the past 40 years or so, we’ve had a practice in America—an economic practice called trickle-down economics, and it hit rural America especially hard,” he said. “It hollowed out Main Street, telling farmers the only path to success was to get big or get out.” At the same time, he said, “[t]ax cuts for big corporations encouraged companies to grow bigger and bigger, move jobs and production overseas for cheaper labor, and undercut local small businesses. Meat-producing companies and the retail grocery chains consolidated, leaving farmers [and] ranchers with few choices about where to sell their products, reducing their bargaining power. Corporations that sell seed, fertilizer, and even farm equipment used their outsized market power to change farmers and charge them and ranchers unfair prices.”

Biden noted that the U.S. has lost more than 400,000 family farms in the past 40 years, an area of more than 140 million acres of farmland, equivalent to an area the size of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota combined. Family farms have failed, and as they did so, small businesses, hospitals, schools, and communities also suffered. 

Young people feel they have no choice but to leave home “in search of good-paying jobs and a chance at the American Dream.” 

Biden explained that his plan to invest in America would create new and better markets and new income streams to help rural areas thrive. He noted that $20 billion of the Inflation Reduction Act will go to helping farmers and ranchers adjust to climate change by changing cover crops and managing nutrients and grazing, while urging farmers to diversify from single crops and sell in local markets. 

Biden emphasized that the administration is promoting competition in agricultural markets, noting that currently just four big corporations control more than half the market in beef, pork, and poultry. If just one of their processing plants goes offline, it can cause massive supply chain disruptions (as the closing of a baby formula plant did in 2022). “[T]here’s something wrong,” he said, “when just 7% of the American farms get nearly 90% of the farm income.” 

In addition to the existing national investments in power grids and broadband that will help rural communities, Biden announced $1 billion to fix aging rural infrastructure systems like electricity, water, and waste water systems that haven’t been updated in decades; $2 billion to help farmers fight climate change; $145 million for clean energy technologies like solar panels that will help lower electric bills; and $274 million for rural high-speed internet expansion.

The administration’s vision for rural America appears to be part of a larger vision for restoring competition to the U.S. economy and thus is closely tied to the administration’s push to break up monopolies. In July 2021, Biden promised to interpret antitrust laws in the way they had been understood traditionally, not as the U.S. government began to interpret them in the 1980s. Then, following the argument advanced by the solicitor general of the United States at the time, Robert Bork, the government concluded that economic consolidation was fine so long as it promoted economic efficiencies that, at least in the short term, cut costs for consumers. 

Biden vowed to return to the traditional understanding of antitrust principles championed by presidents all the way back to Theodore Roosevelt at the turn of the last century, arguing that protecting economic competition protects workers, promotes innovation, and keeps consumer prices down. To that, the coronavirus pandemic added an awareness of the need to protect supply chains. 

“Bidenomics is just another way of saying ‘the American Dream,’” Biden said. “Forty years ago, trickle-down economics limited the dream to those at the top. But I believe every American willing to work hard should be able to get a job, no matter where they live—in the heartland, in small towns—to raise their kids on a good paycheck and keep their roots where they grew up.” 

In contrast to Biden’s outreach to farmers, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing a dilemma over the nation’s next farm bill, which must be passed by the end of the year. According to Clark Merrefield of The Journalist’s Resource, Congress usually debates and renews the farm bill every five years, and the last one passed in 2018. 

Farm bills include price support for farm products, especially corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, peanuts, dairy, and sugar. It also includes crop insurance, conservation programs, and a wide variety of other agricultural programs, making the farm bill hugely popular in rural areas that focus on farming. 

Also included in the measure are nutritional programs for low-income Americans, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. SNAP serves 41 million low-income Americans, but as a member of the far-right Republican Study Committee, Johnson called for cutting SNAP benefits. Now his far-right colleagues are echoing his position, saying that the need to renew the farm bill is a great opportunity to make significant cuts to SNAP, especially since the farm bill is expected to bear a price tag of more than $1 trillion for the first time in our history. 

“I can’t imagine the Mike Johnson that we know would pass up the opportunity to secure as many conservative wins as possible in this farm bill,” a Republican aide told Meredith Lee Hill of Politico, “[a]nd that means serious SNAP reforms.” 

But even some Republicans—primarily those who hail from agricultural states—object to loading the farm bill up with the poison pill of SNAP cuts, knowing such a tactic would repel Democrats, whose votes will be necessary to pass the measure as far-right Republicans balk. 

It will take a deft hand to get the measure through Congress, and its failure at Johnson’s hands will infuriate hard-hit rural areas. It is one more thing to add to the new speaker’s to-do list, as the deadline for funding the government is looming. The continuing resolution funding the government at 2023 levels, the measure that cost Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) his speakership, expires in just over two weeks, on November 17.

Johnson’s willingness to load bills with poison pills that his conference likes showed today in the House’s passage of Republicans’ aid bill for Israel—Ukraine aid had been cut away—along with dramatic cuts to funding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a provision that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned would add to the deficit rather than reducing it. Knowing that the measure will not pass the Senate, a number of Democrats voted for it, likely to avoid attacks from conservative opponents. 

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says the Senate won’t even take up the House bill. Instead, the Senate continues to work on its own strongly bipartisan bill that ties together aid to Israel and Ukraine. 

As Kate Riga of Talking Points Memo put it, if the Senate continues to work in this bipartisan way, we will continue to see the same pattern we’ve seen throughout this Congress: “Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans and House Democrats all supporting more or less the same thing, with a chunk of House Republicans out on a branch alone.”

After an angry fight last night over Senator Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) holds on military promotions, in which Republican senators joined Democrats in confronting him, the Senate today confirmed General David Allvin to be Air Force chief of staff and Admiral Lisa Franchetti as chief of naval operations, by votes of 95 to 1. Franchetti is the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Wednesday’s fight appears to have been prompted by the hospitalization of acting Marines Commandant General Eric Smith after an apparent heart attack. Smith was holding down two high-level positions at once owing to Tuberville’s holds, and he had warned his schedule was “not sustainable.” Although the Pentagon says Tuberville is endangering national security, Tuberville insists that his hold on almost 400 military promotions is not hurting the military. 

The new additions mean there are no vacancies on the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the first time since July. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[mariacallous]

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula, stepped into his third term ready to rebuild Brazil’s international image, which had been largely diminished by his predecessor. And Lula has a guidebook to follow, not only from his two prior terms, but also from U.S. President Joe Biden’s ascension. From the Jan. 8 riots in Brasília to both countries reentering international organizations, Biden and Lula have fought—and will continue to fight—eerily similar battles. 

“Both Lula and Biden are presidents that are positioning themselves as leaders in the democratic world, defending democracy in the region, and with clear priorities on the agenda,” said Bruna Santos, director of the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center.

During his first two terms as president, between 2003 and 2010, Lula set Brazil up as a major economic and political player on the world stage. Lula was a founding member of BRICS—a geopolitical bloc including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—and attended its first formal summit in 2009, and Brazil was one of the leading voices calling for U.N. Security Council expansion during the Lula administration. Brazil’s relationships with its neighbors had never been better, with a wave of Lula allies elected into office throughout the region, including Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

But things may not be so straightforward this time around. Despite the recent wave of leftist governments echoing the political tides of the early 2000s, instability has rocked Latin America in recent years, with worsening situations in Nicaragua and Venezuela, violent protests in Peru, and the devastating economic and social impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The new “pink tide” will be far more turbulent than the first.

“It’s very early on to see how successful he’s going to be, but it’s not going to be the easy ride he had on the first pink tide, when everyone was on better terms,” said Cecilia Tornaghi, the senior director of policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas. 

Deep political polarization was laid bare in two of the Western Hemisphere’s largest democracies during the violent Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in Washington and the Jan. 8, 2023, riots in Brasília. For both Biden and Lula, who each began their time in office amid the wreckage of stormed government buildings, this became an opportunity for further cooperation on strengthening democratic institutions. The United States will be hosting the second Summit for Democracy this month, which is focused on developing an agenda for democratic renewal, which Lula welcomed in his meeting with Biden in February.

“It’s a very positive initiative on the part of both to recognize the similarities and the threats to democracy, and their willingness to cooperate,” said James Green, a professor of Latin American history and Brazilian studies at Brown University. “It’s still to be determined how that will actually play out in practice.” 

But Lula’s image is also not the same as it once was. Lula was handed a 12-year jail sentence for a massive corruption scandal that took place during his first two terms in office. Although the sentence was short-lived and Lula maintains his innocence, the baggage of jail time has become a major point of concern for leaders who may not want to be associated with Lula’s past scandals.

“All the people that see him as a criminal or a former criminal will continue to,” Tornaghi said. “There’s nothing he can say that will change their views, so he doesn’t even try.”

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro turned their respective countries into pariahs on the international stage, causing tension with neighbors and turning their backs on multilateral organizations that did not flatter their nationalistic approaches to governing. If Bolsonaro and Trump were often compared while in office, what they left behind is also similar.

Both Bolsonaro and Trump threatened to withdraw from the World Health Organization at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, touting anti-COVID conspiracy theories and discouraging mask use. U.S. and Brazilian standing on the world stage suffered under the two leaders, with Trump and Bolsonaro ignoring—and sometimes railing against—climate issues. Bolsonaro’s threats to withdraw from the Paris climate accord followed Trump’s official withdrawal from the agreement in 2020, citing his “America First” policy.

One of Biden’s first acts as president was to re-enter the Paris Agreement, signaling U.S. commitment to environmental policies and a return to international engagement. Climate change, too, has been at the heart of Lula’s international strategy. Lula visited Washington in his first trip outside of Latin America in early February, following which Lula signaled that the United States is expected to join the Brazilian Development Bank-led Amazon Fund, which raises and directs investments to prevent and combat deforestation in the Amazon. 

“I think President Lula is prioritizing the right thing that can be the hook for the international community to work with Lula and to bring back Brazil as a leader in global affairs,” said Valentina Sader, Brazil lead at the Atlantic Council. “And that angle is climate.”

Brazil is home to 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon is a crucial carbon sink, which helps regulate both local and global climate. Under Bolsonaro, deforestation reached a record high, sparking concerns that the forest would never recover from the accelerating large-scale deforestation.

Within the region, Bolsonaro’s withdrawal from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), despite Brazil’s historic leadership in the organization, over criticism of leftist authoritarian countries within the organization, including Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, further isolated Brazil.

Lula has already taken a different approach, showing his willingness to engage with its traditional allies, strengthen cooperation in the region, and keep the door open to bring leaders such as Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to the table.

“Lula is being Lula,” Tornaghi said. “What was the first thing he did? He went to CELAC in Argentina. He was celebrated like a rockstar in Argentina—concerts and everything, in his honor. Then he went to Uruguay, a center-right country, and had a great conversation with President Lacalle Pou.”

Santos also believes, given his strong democratic and diplomatic record, that “Lula might be an important moderator in the region when it comes to coordinating and moderating conversations with Venezuela and Nicaragua.” 

“Brazil has a clear path in foreign policy that went a little bit off track with Bolsonaro,” Santos said. “But there is a path of valuing multilateral organizations, regional dialogue, and finding diplomatic solutions for peace. Those are important values for Brazil’s foreign policy.”

That was reflected in Lula’s statements on the Russia-Ukraine war. He expressed his desire for a peaceful end to the conflict and has left the door open to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin—much to the chagrin of Western leaders who are trying to ratchet up military support for Ukraine from the so-called global south.

“Brazil and Brazilian diplomacy tends to not take a side unless they absolutely have to,” Sader said. “The approach that the Lula administration is taking—and Bolsonaro had this kind of approach as well—is that we defend and want peace, but that needs to be done through diplomatic means.”

Trade is another area where Lula can mark a contrast to Bolsonaro. Brazil is one of the biggest forces inside the Mercosur trading bloc, which also includes Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Since 2019, the bloc’s Association Agreement with the European Union has been pending, and ratification is one of Lula’s foreign-policy priorities. After a 20-plus-year process, ratification must take place in both Europe and Mercosur member states to finally come into force. Despite holdouts like France, Lula’s Amazon-friendly stance may make ratification easier. Ratification has also taken on new urgency after Lula floated the idea of an agreement with South America’s largest trading partner, China, an attempt to soothe the rift among Mercosur leaders after Uruguay toyed with a bilateral deal with Beijing.

“Mercosur and the EU treaty are definitely the low-hanging fruit that he can show his chops on,” Tornaghi said.

But in order to achieve his objectives within Latin America, Lula will have to reckon not only with his own baggage and the debris left by the Bolsonaro administration, but with Brazil’s complicated role in Latin America as well. Many of its neighbors are wary of being engulfed by Brazil due to its massive territory, economy, and geopolitical influence. Linguistic differences have also long set Portuguese-speaking Brazil apart from the rest of the region. 

“Brazil needs to reconcile its soft power in the region,” Santos said. “Because of the language and recent history of our foreign policy in the region, we have to get that back on track and establish clearly that we are prioritizing the relationship of democratic nations that are committed to sustainable development in the Americas.”

[global-research-report]

From Concept to Cure: Transforming Antibody Production Through Expertise

The global antibody contract manufacturing market size is expected to reach USD 31.76 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 10.1% from 2025 to 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rise in demand for the production of therapeutic antibodies is the main factor that will drive the growth of the market during the forecast period. Antibodies are the leading biopharmaceutical products that precisely target abnormal cells. Thus, many biopharmaceutical companies have begun to focus on the development of advanced antibodies for the treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer, arthritis, and rheumatic heart disease. The impact of COVID-19 has boosted the market growth, with the application of monoclonal antibodies therapy used as a treatment for COVID-19 patients.

A surge in the R&D budget for the production of antibodies by key players is also driving the growth of the market. For the ongoing fight against COVID-19, Monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy is proven to be an effective treatment. The aim of this treatment is to prevent hospitalizations, decrease viral loads, and minimize symptom severity.

During the coronavirus outburst, the supply chain of biopharmaceutical companies remained robust and was largely unaffected worldwide. Similarly, antibody contract manufacturers are observing a rise in demand for the production of antibodies that will be used for treatments related to the COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics. Thus, the future holds numerous opportunities for the antibody contract manufacturing market. For instance, in December 2021, an agreement was formed between Samsung Biologics and AstraZeneca to manufacture Evusheld, which is an amalgamation of binary antibodies in development for the potential treatment of COVID-19.

The growth of CMOs is greatly dependent on favorable opportunities offered by the biopharmaceutical industry. Expansion and increasing robustness of venture capital investments for the life science sector are two important opportunities that are anticipated to drive the market. For instance, in 2022, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies announced an expansion in North Carolina; with this expansion, the company will increase skilled positions including researchers and scientists by 2024 to generate strong commercial processes

Antibodies Contract Manufacturing Market Report Highlights

Monoclonal antibodies-based antibody contract manufacturing captured the largest market share about 76.42% in 2024, owing to the high penetration of mammalian expression systems for biologics development

Based on the source offered in this market, the mammalian segment contributed the largest share of 57.52% in 2024, as they are considered a more reliable, robust, and relatively mature technology

Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the fastest-growing regional market during forecast period, owing to developing economies such as India, South Korea, and China incorporating developments to sustain the competition

Segments Covered in the Report

This report forecasts revenue growth and provides an analysis of the latest trends in each of the sub-segments from 2018 to 2030. For this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global antibody contract manufacturing market based on product, source, end-use, and region:

Antibody Contract Manufacturing Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Monoclonal Antibodies

Polyclonal Antibodies

Others

Antibody Contract Manufacturing Source Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Mammalian

Microbial

Antibody Contract Manufacturing End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Biopharmaceutical Companies

Research Laboratories

Others

Antibody Contract Manufacturing Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

North America

US

Canada

Mexico

Europe

UK

Germany

France

Italy

Spain

Denmark

Sweden

Norway

Asia Pacific

India

China

Japan

South Korea

Australia

Thailand

Latin America

Brazil

Argentina

Middle East and Africa (MEA)

South Africa

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Kuwait

Order a free sample PDF of the Antibody Contract Manufacturing Market Intelligence Study, published by Grand View Research.

[onenettvchannel]

'The Henry Resort' lights up for 'Paskong Pinoy Tree Lighting Programme' in Dumaguete City [#FirstOnOneNETnews] (updated as final!!!)

(Written by Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong / Freelance News Writer, Online Media Reporter and News Presenter of OneNETnews)

(2nd and FINAL UPDATE) DUMAGUETE, NEGROS ORIENTAL -- As the holiday season commences, 'The Henry Hotels and Resorts' recently kickstarting the celebration with the much-awaited 'Paskong Pinoy Tree Lighting Programme' on Saturday night at 6pm (November 30th, 2024 -- Dumaguete local time). The event is at 'The Henry Resort: Dumaguete' (THRD), located right at the T-junction of East Rovira Drive via Flores Avenue in Brgy. Bantayan, then another left to go on foot like a paperclip-style U-Turn road, and fronting the white fences over Escaño Beach.

The Henry Hotels and Resorts, founded by the one and only 'Mr. Henry "Hanky" Lee III', is a boutique hotel chain that boasts of its unique combination of modern comfort and classic design aesthetics. The said boutique hotel chain has expanded to various destinations across the country, including Dumaguete City, Boracay and more. The Henry Resort Dumaguete, in particular, is a sprawling 32-room boutique resort that offers a perfect escape with its lush gardens and heritage artwork sourced from different parts of the Philippines.

The 'Paskong Pinoy Tree Lighting Programme' will have a 35-feet tree, made of Filipiniana using indigenous materials. Tree lighting is a symbol for the beginning of the holiday season and the welcoming of Christmas, a tradition very much ingrained in the Filipino culture. The activity aims to celebrate the spirit of Christmas, spread joy and bring the community together in Negros Oriental.

We met with the Sales and Events team at THRD to OneNETnews, being named to 'Mr. Gian Paolo Castro Dacanay' and 'Ms. Chenie Nicole Alviola'. 'The Henry Hotels and Resorts' had been catering to guests for various events, not just at the hotel itself, but also outside the grounds. It indeed showed the Christmas spirit of 'The Henry' when the tree lighting took place a little past 7pm on a said delay for an hour, where guests and members of the Provincial Tourism Office (PTO) in Negros Oriental -- came together to celebrate the festive season.

When asked about the history of 'The Henry Hotels and Resorts' in Dumaguete, Chenie was candid to admit that it has officially began its local operations prior to the global pandemic of Coronavirus Disease-19 (CoViD-19) around December 2019, or perhaps the same month in 2020. The first major flagship boutique hotel of 'The Henry Hotel' is in Cebu, with plans for nationwide expansion, although the Cebu branch is currently on hold due to a recent typhoon in the country, either during the 2nd or the 3rd quarter of this year.

For potential guests looking to book a stay at 'The Henry Hotel' in Dumaguete City, Gian Paolo explained the differences to us, between the Villa Suite (VS) and Premiere Villa Suites (PVS). The former offers a larger restroom, while the latter includes a kitchen for longer stays. Price per night for VS costs PHP9,000 (USD 153.40), and PVS also cost PHP 9,500 (USD 161.92), both have breakfast meals for two are included.

Chenie also stated that 'The Henry Hotel' caters to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and Senior Citizens (SC) with a 20% discount on the original booking price, which is mandated under the national law. Guests as clients can book their stay online through the official hotel's website at "dumaguete.thehenryhotel.com". As 'The Henry Hotels and Resorts' expands to more locations in the future, especially for the re-opening of its flagship hotel in Cebu in 2025, the focus will be on unique experiences and quality services on both sides of guest and clients.

For Negrosanons and local, regional, or international visitors alike, this tree lighting programme is just one of a series of holiday activities and offerings at THRD. Guests can expect holiday packages, festive decorations and various events – meant to make the holiday even more memorable time of the year.

In a final statement to online viewers nationwide and worldwide, where it previously broadcasted on our video game broadcasting platform 'Twitch', Gian Paolo had invited guests to visit 'The Henry Resort' in Dumaguete, especially during the Christmas season. Guests are encouraged to book a room and reach out with any concerns or inquiries they may have.

Overall, 'The Henry Hotels and Resorts' continues to shine bright and will be a great place that offers exceptional experiences for both clients and guests. This certainly makes it a must-visit destination in and out of our country, for those looking for an unforgettable stay during the Christmas season, New Year's Eve, and beyond.

PHOTO COURTESY: Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong (Freelance Photojournalist & News Presenter of OneNETnews)

SOURCE: *https://dumaguete.thehenryhotel.com/ *https://ph.linkedin.com/in/hanky-lee-32789012a *https://www.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/spotlight/03/19/23/meet-hanky-lee-the-visionary-behind-the-henry-hotels *https://www.facebook.com/100063716749406/posts/233495888038461 *https://www.facebook.com/100063716749406/posts/378864226834959 *https://www.facebook.com/100063716749406/posts/396134488441266 *https://www.facebook.com/100063716749406/posts/437277027660345 and *https://pastebin.com/raw/PZtVb3pD

-- OneNETnews Online Publication Team

FINAL UPDATE (as of December 3rd, 2024 at 3am, Dumaguete local time): We finally interviewed on both officials of the Sales & Events Team at The Henry Hotel in Dumaguete City last Sunday night. You can watch our full interview on-demand, exclusively on our FB page at OneNETtv Channel. A big special thanks to 'The Henry Hotels and Resorts' for inviting us there in our full internet media coverage.

[latestmarketresearchnews]

Biomaterials Market Growth Opportunities and Trends by Leading Manufacturers 2030

The global biomaterials market size is expected to reach USD 488.70 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 15.6% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The application of biomaterials represents a fast-growing field in biomedical research. Recent advances in the improvement of bioactivity, compatibility, and mechanical properties of biomaterials have introduced new opportunities for their application in tissue engineering, immune engineering, and drug delivery systems.

Biocompatibility, low toxicity, and renewable nature of polymeric biomaterials make them potent drug delivery agents in controlled and targeted drug delivery, thus providing lucrative opportunities for the market growth. The advent of improved drug delivery approaches, such as PEG-coated liposomes, biopolymer-coated liposomes, and nanomaterials drug delivery, further expands the prospects of these biopolymers in the pharmaceutical and medical industries.

Use of biomaterials has greatly benefited the regeneration of the cardiopulmonary system. These materials provide physical support and physiological and chemical cues to seeded cells to assist the tissue regeneration process. Integration of biomaterials with nanotechnology techniques also stimulates the regeneration of damaged cardiomyocytes’ extracellular matrix, thus replacing the traditional organ transplantation procedures.

Gather more insights about the market drivers, restrains and growth of the Global Biomaterials Market

Biomaterials Market Report Highlights

High availability of natural and synthetic degradable polymers and their wide usage as surgical sutures and implants resulted in the largest revenue share of the polymers product segment

Natural products have gained immense popularity as a source of novel bioactive substance for the development of novel drugs, leading to fastest growth of this segment

Increasing incidence of chronic skeletal and musculoskeletal conditions is expected to raise the demand for biomaterials for orthopedics application at a large scale

The infection from coronavirus, that is, SARS-COV-2 can be detected using existing biomedical devices which are based on either Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) or Non-PCR methods

Improvement in the surface modification of silicone breast implants to prevent capsular contracture is one of the factors driving the biomaterial usage in the plastic surgery segment at the fastest rate

Biosensor, is an analytical device that is used to detect analytes such as biomolecules or biological elements of species produced by micro-organisms, that is tissues, enzymes, and organelles

North America is expected to dominate the market in terms of revenue share owing to the presence of public and private agencies promoting biomaterial usage by hosting events and funding initiatives

Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace owing to the presence of several local manufacturers developing low-cost biomaterial products, mainly in China

Prominent players operating in the market include Medtronic, Evonik, DSM, BASF, Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials, Covalon Technologies, and Zimmer Biomet Holdings

Companies are engaged in several strategic growth initiatives, such as novel product developments, partnerships, and regional expansion to reinforce their market presence

For instance, in March 2022, Medtronic announced a collaboration with Vizient to add Touch Surgery Enterprise to Vizient's portfolio, which is an AI-powered video management and analytical platform that provides surgical teams with simple access to procedural recordings and insights

Browse through Grand View Research's Biotechnology Industry Research Reports.

Next-generation Sequencing Data Analysis Market: The global next-generation sequencing data analysis market size was valued at USD 999.4 million in 2024 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 23.10% from 2025 to 2030.

Stem Cell Therapy Market: The global stem cell therapy market size was estimated at USD 456.0 million in 2024 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.23% from 2025 to 2030.

Biomaterials Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global biomaterials market on the basis of product, application, and region:

Biomaterials Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Metallic

Natural

Ceramics

Polymers

Biomaterials Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Cardiovascular

Sensors

Stents

Guidewires

Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators

Pacemakers

Vascular Grafts

Others

Ophthalmology

Synthetic Corneas

Intraocular Lens

Contact Lens

Ocular Tissue Replacement

Others

Dental

Tissue Regeneration Materials

Dental Implants

Bone Grafts & Substitutes

Dental Membranes

Others

Orthopedic

Joint Replacement Biomaterials

Orthobiologics

Bioresorbable Tissue Fixation Products

Viscosupplementation

Spine Biomaterials

Others

Wound Healing

Fracture Healing Device

Adhesion Barrier

Skin Substitutes

Internal Tissue Sealant

Surgical Hemostats

Others

Tissue Engineering

Plastic Surgery

Facial Wrinkle Treatment

Soft Tissue Fillers

Craniofacial Surgery

Bioengineered Skins

Peripheral Nerve Repair

Acellular Dermal Matrices

Others

Neurology

Neural Stem Cell Encapsulation

Shunting Systems

Hydrogel Scaffold For CNS Repair

Cortical Neural Prosthetics

Others

Others

Biomaterials Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East and Africa (MEA)

Order a free sample PDF of the Biomaterials Market Intelligence Study, published by Grand View Research.

[researchreportinsight]

Biomaterials Market Product Analysis, Share by Types and Region till 2030

The global biomaterials market size is expected to reach USD 488.70 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 15.6% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The application of biomaterials represents a fast-growing field in biomedical research. Recent advances in the improvement of bioactivity, compatibility, and mechanical properties of biomaterials have introduced new opportunities for their application in tissue engineering, immune engineering, and drug delivery systems.

Biocompatibility, low toxicity, and renewable nature of polymeric biomaterials make them potent drug delivery agents in controlled and targeted drug delivery, thus providing lucrative opportunities for the market growth. The advent of improved drug delivery approaches, such as PEG-coated liposomes, biopolymer-coated liposomes, and nanomaterials drug delivery, further expands the prospects of these biopolymers in the pharmaceutical and medical industries.

Use of biomaterials has greatly benefited the regeneration of the cardiopulmonary system. These materials provide physical support and physiological and chemical cues to seeded cells to assist the tissue regeneration process. Integration of biomaterials with nanotechnology techniques also stimulates the regeneration of damaged cardiomyocytes’ extracellular matrix, thus replacing the traditional organ transplantation procedures.

Gather more insights about the market drivers, restrains and growth of the Global Biomaterials Market

Biomaterials Market Report Highlights

High availability of natural and synthetic degradable polymers and their wide usage as surgical sutures and implants resulted in the largest revenue share of the polymers product segment

Natural products have gained immense popularity as a source of novel bioactive substance for the development of novel drugs, leading to fastest growth of this segment

Increasing incidence of chronic skeletal and musculoskeletal conditions is expected to raise the demand for biomaterials for orthopedics application at a large scale

The infection from coronavirus, that is, SARS-COV-2 can be detected using existing biomedical devices which are based on either Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) or Non-PCR methods

Improvement in the surface modification of silicone breast implants to prevent capsular contracture is one of the factors driving the biomaterial usage in the plastic surgery segment at the fastest rate

Biosensor, is an analytical device that is used to detect analytes such as biomolecules or biological elements of species produced by micro-organisms, that is tissues, enzymes, and organelles

North America is expected to dominate the market in terms of revenue share owing to the presence of public and private agencies promoting biomaterial usage by hosting events and funding initiatives

Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace owing to the presence of several local manufacturers developing low-cost biomaterial products, mainly in China

Prominent players operating in the market include Medtronic, Evonik, DSM, BASF, Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials, Covalon Technologies, and Zimmer Biomet Holdings

Companies are engaged in several strategic growth initiatives, such as novel product developments, partnerships, and regional expansion to reinforce their market presence

For instance, in March 2022, Medtronic announced a collaboration with Vizient to add Touch Surgery Enterprise to Vizient's portfolio, which is an AI-powered video management and analytical platform that provides surgical teams with simple access to procedural recordings and insights

Browse through Grand View Research's Biotechnology Industry Research Reports.

Next-generation Sequencing Data Analysis Market: The global next-generation sequencing data analysis market size was valued at USD 999.4 million in 2024 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 23.10% from 2025 to 2030.

Stem Cell Therapy Market: The global stem cell therapy market size was estimated at USD 456.0 million in 2024 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.23% from 2025 to 2030.

Biomaterials Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global biomaterials market on the basis of product, application, and region:

Biomaterials Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Metallic

Natural

Ceramics

Polymers

Biomaterials Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Cardiovascular

Sensors

Stents

Guidewires

Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators

Pacemakers

Vascular Grafts

Others

Ophthalmology

Synthetic Corneas

Intraocular Lens

Contact Lens

Ocular Tissue Replacement

Others

Dental

Tissue Regeneration Materials

Dental Implants

Bone Grafts & Substitutes

Dental Membranes

Others

Orthopedic

Joint Replacement Biomaterials

Orthobiologics

Bioresorbable Tissue Fixation Products

Viscosupplementation

Spine Biomaterials

Others

Wound Healing

Fracture Healing Device

Adhesion Barrier

Skin Substitutes

Internal Tissue Sealant

Surgical Hemostats

Others

Tissue Engineering

Plastic Surgery

Facial Wrinkle Treatment

Soft Tissue Fillers

Craniofacial Surgery

Bioengineered Skins

Peripheral Nerve Repair

Acellular Dermal Matrices

Others

Neurology

Neural Stem Cell Encapsulation

Shunting Systems

Hydrogel Scaffold For CNS Repair

Cortical Neural Prosthetics

Others

Others

Biomaterials Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East and Africa (MEA)

Order a free sample PDF of the Biomaterials Market Intelligence Study, published by Grand View Research.