#in 2020-21 there was a campaign to get people vaccinated for COVID

[chicago-geniza]

This Call the Midwife episode reminded me that nurse af yidish is kranken-shvester. I love how many languages do just call nurses "Sickness Sister" or "Medicine Sister"

[befernandez1]

Journal Advertisement

By: Benjamin Eugene N. Fernandez, April 21, 2023 Advertisements, also commonly known as ads, are materials that companies, groups, or individuals use to promote a particular product or service and capture the attention of a target audience or consumer. Advertisers can easily promote their products by using different elements, such as visuals, music, and captions while providing entertainment to the viewers or target audience. In this blog, we tackle two advertisements that have gathered attention during this pandemic and how well they captured the eyes and hearts of the public.

Pfizer TV AD SPOT 0:30 'Got Booster?' with Martha Stewart

During the pandemic, many companies have innovated to promote their products with the help of online advertisements. One of the many companies that advertised their product is company Pfizer with their “Got Booster?” advertisement video. Pfizer's "Got Booster?" advertisement was created to encourage people to get a booster shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The ad showcased Martha Stewart as one of the endorsers for advertising. The video features Martha Stewart holding a samurai sword and slicing a pineapple. She also shows her shoulder with a bandage, meaning she already took her COVID-19 booster shot. As for the overall flow and elements used, Stewart is engaging yet somewhat intimidating in the entire video. Overall, the advertisement effectively conveys that a booster shot is required to maintain immunity against COVID-19. Stewart, a well-known public figure, helps generate interest in the campaign and expand the ad's reach. The mood of the advertisement is a combination of references from "Kill Bill" and "Top Chef." 

Introducing Elderflame // Skin Reveal Trailer - VALORANT

Another ad popularized during the pandemic is one of the early advertisements made by the game "Valorant." Valorant is an online multiplayer first-person shooter game that is available to play for free. It was developed and published by Riot Games and was initially released in June 2020. Since its release, the game has gained immense popularity, especially among the esports community. The ad presents the latest Elderflame skin collection, which consists of high-end cosmetic skins for the characters in the online multiplayer game "Valorant." The video includes an animated cinematic highlighting the new skin line, featuring a dragon-themed design that transforms the game's characters and weapons. The target audience of this ad is the players and fanbase community of the game. The skins or cosmetics in the game are intended to entertain the players by having flashy and cool designs on the weapons they use while playing. The video has thrilling action and eye-catching visuals, featuring intricate character design, animation, and special effects. Overall, the promotional video for the Elderflame Bundle serves as an efficient marketing strategy that showcases the skins in a visually appealing and entertaining manner. The video creates a sense of anticipation and enthusiasm among gamers interested in improving their gameplay with the exclusive Elderflame skins.

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

Covid UK sitrep 18/01/21

Been meaning to do one of these for a while, but my mental energy has been pretty low.

Cases going down a lot, and have been for at least 2 weeks. I think this is a genuine fall, and not just relating to lack of testing BUT it is worth noting that cases are about stable in 12-16yos (one vaccine dose) and rising in under 11s (unvaccinated and unmasked at school). If we remove controls in schools, we may see a similar situation to the summer where parents get infections from their children and then covid gets passed up the generations against.

I do think there is evidence the booster campaign has had an impact in reducing infection and severity of infection though, so that is a major positive.

Deaths appear to *maybe* have plateaued after a steep rise over the last month. Hopefully, with time and falling cases, these will fall again, but there have been hundreds if not thousands of preventable deaths in that time, which is just obscene.

Hospitalisations have definitely plateaued across the UK and are maybe starting to slowly fall in England, although more data is needed to confirm a trend. But hospitalisations and numbers in hospital remain very high, with 1768 people being admitted just yesterday.

Across the UK though, the number of people in hospital with covid remains very high, around 19,000- this is only slightly below the peak of the first wave, is higher than November 2020, although is about half of January 2021. We don't *yet* seem to be seeing the sharp fall of other waves, and this is a concern, because this is a huge burden on the NHS, even though omicron seems to not be causing people to need ventilators.

Things are improving, but we need to be cautious. If you're not boosted, get boosted, keep wearing your mask, and test whenever possible.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

SOS Brazil: science under attack

As of Jan 21, 2021, Brazil ranks second in number of deaths from COVID-19 and third in number of cases seen in any single country. As a scientist, I tend not to believe in coincidence. In March, 2020, President Jair Bolsonaro referred to COVID-19 as a “gripezinha”,1 a little flu. In April, 2020, he declared there were signs the pandemic was coming to an end. A month later, when asked by journalists about the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases, Bolsonaro responded “So what? What do you want me to do?”2 In response, the Editors3 suggested that “perhaps the biggest threat to Brazil's COVID-19 response is its president, Jair Bolsonaro”. More recently, Bolsonaro was, to the best of my knowledge, the only head of state worldwide to say he would not get vaccinated. He even discouraged the population from taking the vaccine by saying: “If you turn into a crocodile, it's your problem”.4

Although these statements are outrageous, Brazil's response to the pandemic is much worse. Testing rates are far below the world average.5 No national policy on contact tracing has been implemented. Social distancing has been discredited. In 4 weeks, Brazil had three ministers of health. Despite Brazilian scientists and research institutes, such as Butantan and Fiocruz, being heavily involved in the global vaccine run, supplies of syringes and needles were insufficient to start the immunisation campaign.6

Since the beginning of Bolsonaro's presidency in 2019, science has been attacked with budget cuts and negationism. Ricardo Galvão, director of the National Spatial Research Institute, was fired after presenting and commenting on data on deforestation. Former ministers of health, Luiz Henrique Mandetta and Nelson Teich, publicly disagreed with Bolsonaro by defending scientific recommendations to fight COVID-19. I never thought I would be next.

I am the principal investigator of EPICOVID-19, the largest epidemiological study of COVID-19 in Brazil. In its first three rounds of this countrywide study, we found marked regional, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, as well as a six-fold difference between official statistics and estimates on the real number of infected people.7 These findings were not well received by the ministry of health, and funding for the study was discontinued in July, 2020. Fortunately, EPICOVID-19 has received funding from other institutions and continued to provide information on the burden of COVID-19 in Brazil.

Brazil's tragic COVID-19 policy comes with a price. By Jan 21, 2021, 212 893 people have died from COVID-19. 

Continue reading.

[rfschatten]

It still the damn Mask, Stupid

“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” ~~~ Wayne Dyer

“May you live in interesting times”? Oh yes! We, the people have certainly been really cursed!

It may sound kind of stupid, but how many people have been vaccinated at one time or another in their life? Chances are …if you ever went to school …yes! Whether you liked it or not, you were vaccinated! And it wasn’t by choice, your parents knew what was best for you and so did medical authorities …they understood the seriousness of infecting others, which could lead to a serious epidemic.

It’s always been the norm, always! …until now, when politics decided for their own ugly sordid purpose, to stick their ugly head into all of this! If you want your kids to go to school, you get them vaccinated …and that has really never changed. The first mandatory school vaccinations occurred in the 1850s to protect children from Smallpox …and it’s been a requirement in all 50 States for both, childcare and kids entering school for the first time, ever since!

The primary vaccines administered usually starts around the ages of 6 years old: the DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, & Pertussis) Vaccine, the Polio Vaccine, Varicella Vaccine, MMR (Mumps, Measles, & Rubella) Vaccine, Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae type B) Vaccine, & Influenza (Flu) Vaccine. These are just a few …there’re between 8–16 different vaccines someone may end up taking during their lifetime, and that doesn’t include any of the newer ones …including Covid-19.

This is not just a school problem, the overwhelming majority of infections and deaths are from adults, and they’re acquiring all these new variants, too. The real problem is the moral issue …how much do you really care about your own child or another child’s health and welfare? How much do you really care about the health and welfare of your own community?

Every single human being growing up has been told; listen to your doctor! Every parent in the world has taken their children and/or themselves to a doctor at one time or another …if there’s access to one. So, what’s the big problem? The biggest problem is …we’re now living in a society dominated by sheer unadulterated ignorance!

Why do these parents don’t give a damn whether their children get sick? …or whether their children die? As long as they don’t have to wear a mask, everything is fine inside their own little bubble of reality …the sheer ignorance that has been politized by people who really don’t give a damn except gaining their supporter’s votes and especially their money …that’s all they really care about! Look how many kids are getting infected or dying in Ron DeSantis’ Florida death march and Glenn Abbot’s Texas genocide?

What does it take to convince some people that nothing is going to ever change back to any type of normal until those people start listening to Medical Authorities much more seriously than to Politicos?

What does it take to examine this pandemic and take a look at the numbers? More than 37 million people are already infected, with 600,00+ deaths …and predicting now to reach 660,000 by September …that’s more American deaths than WWI, WWII, Korea, & Vietnam combined! It’s more than the entire 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic that killed 650,000! …though some say it may have been up to 750,000!

In those days you didn’t have the lines of communication around the world between the medical communities, as you have today …it was just as new to many doctors, especially country doctors. Advance medical technology and general medical knowledge was not around as much, yet still they prevailed.

There’s no excuse whatsoever that 21 years into the 21st Century, more than 600,000 people have had to die! …and with all these new variants, it’s just getting worse as the numbers are spiking all over, again. How can people see all this and wonder why we don’t get back to normal? As I said in Nov. 2020, in my article; “It’s the Mask, Stupid!” …nothing will ever get back to normal until this pandemic gets completely under control! And it’ll never, ever get under control till people stop listening to politicos and demagogues …and start listening to medical professionals, period!

We’re going through a severe public health emergency! It’s going to get worse! It’s going to get a lot worse than the first giant surge …95% of all new cases with all these new variants are from unvaccinated people. And this time, the surge is also affecting children of all ages … children's hospitals are filling to capacity, pediatric ICUs are near capacity …children under 2 are becoming the latest victims!

While Covid-19 keeps spreading among the population, worse than ever …a vicious and methodical anti-vaxxer & anti-CDC insanity is being pushed by GOP politicos & social conservatives, all against the use of masks and vaccinations around the country …and it’s hindering the effort to keep this nation healthy and safe.

The undermining of the public’s health in name of political gains …by willfully endangering human lives with the use of systematic political projections, mass misinformation, continued lies 24/7, disingenuous rhetoric, cultivating ignorance, and deliberately creating massive obfuscation.

The schadenfreude of the entire GOP around the country …especially the extreme cruelty perpetrated against children by Ron DeSantis in Florida (better known these days as #DeathSantis), forcing children not to wear masks, while the “Sunshine State” has the highest rate of children hospitalized in the nation, and 25% of all cases in the United States! Texas’ Greg Abbott is literally competing for the same honor …all of Texas’ hospitals & ICUs …like in Florida …are currently running at full & overcapacity, with field hospitals in the parking lots & underground garages!

Meanwhile, the massive campaign to spread deliberate misinformation hasn’t worked too well for their own constituency of conservative Anti-Vaxxers. Ex-Newsmax & Fl. right-wing radio talk host Dick Farrell, who 10 days earlier, called Anthony Fauci a “power-tripping lying freak” and mocked the pandemic as a “scamdemic” …died of Covid! Then, not to be outdone …Texas GOP official H. Scott Apley, an anti-mask and anti-vaxxer who wrote an invitation to a “mask burning” and mocked Covid …died 5 days later, from Covid!

The unvaccinated, anti-vaxxers, and Covid deniers all over the country are now sick & dying right and left from Covid-19 …while totally incompetent super-spreading idiots like Rand Paul keep pushing his supporters to become bigger idiots than they already are, calling for “civil disobedience” and saying; “No one should follow the CDC mandate” “it’s time to ‘resist’ common sense health problems”!

And this, from the same man who for 16 months did not reveal an inside trade, accounting for a slew of stock he bought in a Covid treatment center …so, for Mr. Paul? the more people resist, the more people will get sick, and the more money Mr. Paul makes!

Resist “common sense”?!?! …if it comes down to believing that BS? Maybe it takes getting infected, intubated, and placed on a mechanical ventilator to change their tune …unfortunately, you still have those just too ignorant, who do get infected and still refuse to get vaccinated. Resist common sense? Something might be lost in translation, but if it comes down to that …they’ll deserve what they get!

If things are not bad enough? …now, we have the GOP promoting the excuse of “freedom of speech” rhetoric to allow their supporters to use threats of bodily harm …primarily, by the Proud Boys …shouting and threatening doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, in front of their own homes, telling them; “we know who you are, we’re going get you!”, as a way for them to stop treating the sick! Give them a break! …all they’re trying to do is save lives, probably, your own rotten life too.

An elementary school teacher was attacked by an angry parent for having the audacity of protecting his little daughter! More Proud Boys carrying MAGA Trump flags stabbed a pro-mask supporter at an Anti-Vaxxer rally, and beat up 2 news reporters …Frank Stoltze of NPR was repeatedly kicked and beaten up & Tina Desiree Berg was attacked, beaten, and had her mask torn off by her attacker, Tony Moon …another Jan. 6th Capital rioter, all caught on camera.

There’s really no excuse! …all this is not about your “Freedom”, free not to get vaccinated or not wear a mask, it’s not about mandates or requirements, it’s totally a sham perpetrated by Republicans using the pandemic to raise money for their own selfish non-medical gains …professional propagandist Tucker Carlson said the “US Government wants to ‘force’ us to get vaccinated, force us to take medicine, even force us to get ‘sterilized’ like in WWII Germany” …” no one owns my body”!

This is a man who says he’s against Anti-Fascism (Antifa) …which makes him a Pro Fascist! The same Fascists that believe in “forced sterilization”, and the belief in the use of Eugenics. “No one owns my body?” …except if that someone is a woman who wants an abortion, then, he believes in owning ‘her’ body for life!

Fact: there are no US Government mandates or requirements ordering anyone to get vaccinated or wear a mask, whatsoever! No one is forcing anyone to take any type of medicine! Yes, you do have the constitutional right to reject all medicines and vaccines …and yes, you also have the freedom and the right to die for not taking care of yourself or not listening to medical advice!

When will people understand just to follow some common sense! listen to medical professionals! listen to all those people tirelessly working their asses off in hospitals 24/7 for more than a year, risking their own lives while trying to save even just one life?…the life that might very well be you, someday! No one is more bipartisan than doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and others who are not looking at, and don’t give a damn what political party you belong to, what ideology you have, what color is your skin, or where you came from!

When will people understand the severity of this virus? 93% of all the Covid variants in the United States are Delta! …which is a highly transmissible variant. The newest Lambda variant is now coming out from South America, and it already arrived in California. All you have to do is listen! …the more people let these variants go rampant, the more these viruses are going to mutate, thus creating much worse and more dangerous strains!

All these unvaccinated anti-mask & anti-vaxxers, Covid deniers, all these enraged parents who keep having violent meltdowns because they and/or their children are being forced to wear a mask, they all need to understand It’s not just to protect yourself and your child …it’s to protect others. If you’re sick, or maybe even dying …why would you want to go to a hospital if you can’t trust those doctors for medical advice? You can’t have it both ways!

No one has said it any better than Arnold Schwarzenegger; “Screw your freedom! …with Freedom comes Obligation & Responsibility”!

Is it the right of a parent…in the name of “Freedom”…to endanger the life of his or her child? In any other time, that would be considered child abuse, and Child Enforcement would be knocking at your door quicker than you can say Dept. of Children & Families! And what about viewing it from the child’s mind? How much has their childhood social cognition, developed? Does he or she understand what this commotion is all about? and how do they feel about it? …or, if all they know and feel is; what the hell is going on?

As a parent, it’s your moral & legal obligation to take care of your kids …it’s your personal responsibility as a parent not to be a piece of shit, so your kids wouldn’t have to inherit that legacy.

As far as the grown-ups of all persuasions, all races, all colors, or creeds…grow up! As a citizen of this country, it’s your moral & legal obligation to work with your community to keep it safe for everyone! It’s your moral responsibility to protect your kids & your family, protect your neighbors’ kids and their families, and protect your community from a deadly disease …so get vaccinated! …and wear a damn mask!

Freedom? Sorry! You’re not going to be free in any way till this pandemic is completely under control …so live with it!

Will Rogers said; “You can’t legislate intelligence and common sense into people”

In the end, if you can’t convince ignorance …you just have to let them sink or swim on their own miseries and mistakes. You can be as compassionate & sympathetic as you can, but sooner or later …people are not going to give a damn about your freedom …or whether you live or die, anymore!

Meanwhile, screw others’ “freedom” and be smart …stay vaccinated and just keep wearing your mask!

[newstfionline]

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Canada scraps COVID-19 travel advisory; Ontario to end mask, vaccine rules by March (Reuters) Canada has scrapped an official advisory urging its citizens to shun non-essential foreign travel, given its successful campaign to inoculate people against COVID-19, the country’s top medical officer said on Friday. Hours later, Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, issued a timeline to lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions, with the aim of removing all proof of vaccination and mask requirements by March 2022. Canada’s travel warning was issued in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted. Ottawa removed the advice to avoid unnecessary travel late on Thursday, however it is still telling people to avoid cruise ship travel outside of the country.

US budget deficit hits $2.77 trillion in 2021, 2nd highest (AP) The U.S. budget deficit totaled $2.77 trillion for 2021, the second highest on record but an improvement from the all-time high of $3.13 trillion reached in 2020. The deficits in both years reflect trillions of dollars in government spending to counteract the devastating effects of a global pandemic. The Biden administration said Friday that deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was $360 billion lower than 2020, as a recovering economy boosted revenues, helping to offset government spending from pandemic relief efforts. The 2020 deficit was the highest in relation to the overall economy since World War II, when it hit 29.6% of GDP in 1943 as the United States was borrowing heavily to finance the war effort. Those figures remained elevated at 22.2% of GDP in 1944 and 21% of GDP in 1945 before beginning to retreat once the war was won.

Group clings to faith as US works on Haiti kidnapping case (AP) A U.S. religious organization whose 17 members were kidnapped in Haiti asked supporters on Friday to pray and share stories with the victims’ families of how their faith helped them through difficult times as efforts to recover them entered a sixth day. Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries issued the statement a day after a video was released showing the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang threatening to kill those abducted if his demands are not met. “You may wonder why our workers chose to live in a difficult and dangerous context, despite the apparent risks,” the organization said. “Before leaving for Haiti, our workers who are now being held hostage expressed a desire to faithfully serve God in Haiti.” “Pray that their commitment to God could become even stronger during this difficult experience,” Christian Aid Ministries said. Weston Showalter, spokesman for the religious group, has said the families of those kidnapped are from Amish, Mennonite and other conservative Anabaptist communities in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ontario, Canada. He read a letter from the families, who weren’t identified by name, in which they said, “God has given our loved ones the unique opportunity to live out our Lord’s command to love your enemies.”

Winter Crisis Raises Prospect of Energy Blockades in Europe (Bloomberg) Europe’s heading into winter facing an unprecedented energy squeeze, and politicians are trying to figure out how to stop their citizens freezing. If the shortages worsen, European governments could resort to curbing sales of natural gas and power to other regions. An even more extreme scenario could see them halt flows to one another, triggering a political and economic crisis. “If it gets very cold, even within Europe you will see countries say: ‘I have the gas inside my borders and I am going to pass an urgent safety measure that no one can export for the next two weeks’,” said Marco Alvera, chief executive officer of Italian energy-infrastructure company Snam SpA. “I have been threatened in several countries over the last 20 years. Political priority is to keep your constituency.” The European Union’s gas tanks are around 77% full. That is way below what’s normal for this time of year and leaves members especially vulnerable if the winter is severe.

Ukraine shuts schools as coronavirus death toll hits new record (Reuters) Ukraine shut schools in coronavirus hotspots on Friday and announced a requirement for vaccine certificates or negative tests to access public transport in the capital, after COVID-19 deaths hit a record high. Schools in the capital Kyiv were ordered to close for a two-week holiday. In other “red zone” areas of high infection, schools would be permitted to reopen only if all teachers are vaccinated. In a bid to combat vaccine hesitancy, Ukraine has made vaccinations compulsory for some government employees such as teachers. The unvaccinated face restrictions on access to restaurants, sports and other public events.

Turkey’s Erdogan declares 10 ambassadors ‘persona non grata,’ escalating tensions with Western allies (Washington Post) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday declared ambassadors from 10 Western countries, including the United States, "persona non grata" in Turkey over a letter from the countries' embassies calling for the release from Turkish prison of Osman Kavala, a prominent philanthropist and civil society activist. It was not clear whether Turkey intended to immediately expel the ambassadors, including representatives from France and Canada, but in a speech Saturday, Erdogan said he had instructed his foreign minister to declare the ambassadors persona non grata—meaning unwelcome—“as soon as possible.” It came five days after a public statement by the 10 embassies criticizing Turkey over Kavala’s years-long detention and delays in his trial, which had “cast a shadow over respect for democracy, the rule of law and transparency in the Turkish judiciary system,” the statement said. Kavala’s long legal odyssey—involving accusations human rights groups have derided as farcical—has come to symbolize the incessant crackdown by Erdogan on opposition figures, dissidents and other perceived enemies in the years since a failed coup against his government in 2016. Erdogan’s attack on the ambassadors—several NATO allies among them—also threatened to further damage his government’s foundering efforts to repair Turkey’s economy and stabilize the local currency, a strategy Ankara has pursued in part by trying to improve relations with the United States and Europe.

Dozens missing in Nepal as floods, mudslides kill over 100 (AP) Nepalese authorities on Friday searched for dozens of people missing in this week’s heavy rains, floods and landslides, as survivors complained they were yet to receive any government help. The death toll has crossed 100 in the country’s eastern and western parts, said police spokesperson Basanta Bahadur Kunwar. At least 40 others have been injured by landslides and house collapses, and another 41 people were missing, Kunwar said. Heavy rains also caused havoc in neighboring India this week, killing at least 88 people and flooding roads, destroying bridges and causing landslides that washed away several homes.

Otters are taking over Singapore (Washington Post) Pollution and deforestation drove away Singapore’s otter population in the 1970s. But as the country cleaned up its waters and reforested land in recent years, otters came back in full force, integrating into urban spaces and learning to navigate one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. Today, to the annoyance of some and the joy of others, the island is home to more than 10 otter romps, or families. In the Marina Bay area, known for architecturally audacious ­hotels and for one-bedroom apartments that sell for $1.8 million, otters bop in the water and the crunch of fish bones echoes along the boardwalk. Using drainpipes as highways, the carnivorous mammals traverse the city, sometimes popping up in rush-hour traffic, or racing through university campuses. Otters pushed out of the local rivers and bays by rival families dig homes between buildings. They visit hospital lobbies and condominium pools, hunting for koi fish and drinking from fountains. As the otter population has boomed, so has otter mania. Otter watchers spend days tracking the whereabouts of different families, documenting their rivalries, love stories and territorial clashes on social media.

Israel designates Palestinian civil society groups as terrorists, U.N. ‘alarmed’ (Reuters) Israel on Friday designated six Palestinian civil society groups as terrorist organisations and accused them of funnelling donor aid to militants, a move that drew criticism from the United Nations and human rights watchdogs. The groups include Palestinian human rights organisations Addameer and Al-Haq, which document alleged rights violations by both Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. The designations authorise Israeli authorities to close the groups’ offices, seize their assets and arrest their staff in the West Bank, watchdogs Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement. Addameer and another of the groups, Defense for Children International—Palestine, rejected the accusations as an “attempt to eliminate Palestinian civil society.”

Ethiopian airstrikes in Tigray force UN flight to turn back (AP) Ethiopian military airstrikes on Friday forced a United Nations humanitarian flight to abandon its landing in the capital of the country’s Tigray region, and a government spokesman said authorities were aware of the inbound flight. It appeared to be a sharp escalation in intimidation tactics authorities have used against aid workers amid the intensifying, year-long Tigray war. Further U.N. flights have been suspended to Mekele, the base of humanitarian operations in Tigray, the World Food Program told The Associated Press. U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said: “The U.N. had not received any prior warning of the attacks on Mekelle and had received the necessary clearances for the flight.” He expressed “grave concern” for civilians facing airstrikes in Mekele and insufficient humanitarian assistance into Tigray, and alarm at the worsening toll of fighting on civilians in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions.

[verycleverboy]

The Phantom Stockpile

Who wants one final disaster-causing lie from the Trump administration for the road? Show of hands, please.

(Sigh...)

The governors of several states accused the Trump administration on Friday of deception in pledging to immediately distribute millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses from a stockpile that the U.S. health secretary has since acknowledged does not exist.

Confusion over a vaccine supply windfall that was promised to governors but failed to materialize arose as scattered shortages emerged on the frontlines of the most ambitious and complex immunization campaign in U.S. history, prompting at least one large New York healthcare system to cancel a slew of inoculation appointments.

Just 10.6 million Americans have received a shot since federal regulators last month granted emergency approval to two vaccines, one from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech and a second from Moderna Inc, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

That tally falls far short of the 20 million vaccinations the Trump administration had promised to administer by the end of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged virtually unchecked with ever-increasing record numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines each require an initial dose and a booster shot given about three weeks apart.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had said on Tuesday that the administration would release millions of doses it had been holding in reserve for booster shots in order to help spur a sluggish rollout of first doses to those most in need of the vaccine.

Azar said then that the administration was confident enough in the supply chain to release its stockpile, and urged states to use the additional supply to open inoculations to everyone aged 65 and over.

Many states obliged, but on Friday a number of governors said they were dismayed to learn that no stockpile existed.

“Last night I received disturbing news, confirmed to me directly by General (Gustave) Perna of Operation Warp Speed: states will not be receiving increased shipments of vaccines from the national stockpile next week, because there is no federal reserve of doses,” Oregon Governor Kate Brown said on Twitter.

“This is a deception on a national scale,” Brown added, demanding an explanation from the outgoing administration.

(continue reading)

Most of what follows explaining why the concept of holding vaccine doses in reserve wasn’t the worst idea in the world was written up after a story came out that the Biden administration was going to release what we were convinced was still a very real stockpile to get the country back into gear. Something kept me from posting it, and now that the full story is out, credit for that goes to the little voice in my head that says “Fuck you for taking any information from this administration at face value.“

Both of the approved vaccines are 95% effective after two full doses administered several weeks apart. The Pfizer-BioNTech interval between doses is 21 days, while the Moderna vaccine is administered in a 28 day interval. An exact interval and an exact amount. It’s painfully important not to half-ass it.

We have no idea if either vaccine is going to be effective if you draw out the distance between shots, but the FDA is clear about the consequences of assuming one shot has you covered:

Using a single dose regimen and/or administering less than the dose studied in the clinical trials without understanding the nature of the depth and duration of protection that it provides is concerning, as there is some indication that the depth of the immune response is associated with the duration of protection provided. If people do not truly know how protective a vaccine is, there is the potential for harm because they may assume that they are fully protected when they are not, and accordingly, alter their behavior to take unnecessary risks.

We know that some of these discussions about changing the dosing schedule or dose are based on a belief that changing the dose or dosing schedule can help get more vaccine to the public faster. However, making such changes that are not supported by adequate scientific evidence may ultimately be counterproductive to public health.

Even if it does mean a slower rollout, holding back half of what’s on hand would’ve guaranteed that the people in the early phases of the rollout got the recommended dosage on schedule. Releasing the full amount at once and assuming that manufacturing capacity will cover for the back end is a huge gamble. If the choice is between doing it fast or doing it right, pump the brakes and keep everyone safe.

Sitting on a stockpile to make sure the rollout was done the right way would’ve been one of the Trump administration’s best ideas in the history of the COVID-19 crisis...assuming they were able to do that, or that they even tried at all. Instead, the Washington Post reported that the Feds tapped out their stockpile in late December, long before Azar opened his big, stupid mouth and made a promise he couldn’t keep. 

On a certain level, I kind of hope Azar was intentionally lying, because if he didn’t have the first clue about how far off the mark his promise was, what good is he as head of Health and Human Services?

So now I’m in the regretful position of suggesting that you make absolutely sure that you’re going to be able to get the second shot before you make an appointment for the first one.

[jessicalky]

Public Health Campaigns & Communities

Nowadays, most of the citizens are care for their health especially the spread of pandemic Covid-19 in 2019. Through this pandemic, everyone around the world take 100% serious on their health. To maintain the healthiness of society, the governments around the world take their responsibilities on their action to tell the society wear mask and make sure the social distance. However, the number of case Covid-19 still increases continuously until today. Although the number of pandemic still increasing, but the government took social media as their platform to share the information include the way providing the pandemic and the latest news about it.

Public Health

Public health is formed to maintain and protect the health of society and its communities (CDC Foundation 2021).

Public health is also defined as the science of protecting the safety and improving the health of communities through education, policy making and research for disease and injury prevention (University of Pittsburgh 2021).

Public health disseminates and keeps the society’s health and the environment where they live and work. When doctors treat patients, their public health department staff work hard to prevent patients from getting sick or injured. They also promote health by encouraging healthy behaviors.

The individuals from the public health work hard to ensure the society’s health when guiding the systematic research to instructing about health. This means protecting children and adults to avoid the spread of disease or educating them about the health risks associated with alcohol and tobacco use. Public health sets the standards on the workplace safety to protect the workers and establishes school nutrition programs to ensure that children receive their healthy food.

Public health can include many aspects including laws that promote indoor smoke-free and seat belt, disseminate information on ways to maintain health, and provide scientifically based solutions to deal with some diseases. It also help society to save money, improve the life quality, help children grow and alleviate human suffering (APHA.org 2021).

Relationship between Public Health Campaigns and Social Media

Government or even societies often use the social media to spread the information about Covid-19. The Malaysian Government Agency that communicates to the public about Covid-19 on Facebook is the Ministry of Health Malaysia. Its role is to assist an individual in achieving and sustaining as well as maintaining a certain level of health status besides updating the number of Covid-19 positive and death cases in Malaysia (Sipalan 2021).

Other than that, Sarawak Disaster Information is also a Malaysian Government Agency that communicates to the public about Covid-19 on Facebook. Its role is to update the latest information about Sarawak entry, the new clusters occurring in Sarawak and the implementation of strict SOP in certain high-risk places (Sarawak Disaster Information 2021).

The first Politician that communicates to the public about Covid-19 on Facebook is Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, a Malaysia Health Director-General. He updates the number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, the new clusters and the clusters that had no more cases after 28 days daily and also updates the vaccination progress daily (Chong 2021).

Hashtag #KitaJagaKita is a Covid-19 hashtag trend in Malaysia. The citizens and artists use the kitajagakita hashtag to spread the covid-19 awareness on Facebook (Nadirah H. Rodzi 2020).

There are some people who use this hashtag to remind the others to stay safe and recently, those people who got vaccinated also use this hashtag to promote others to register for vaccination (Nadirah H. Rodzi 2020).

Hope Eveyone Can Stay Safe and Take Care of Each Other!!!

References

APHA.org 2021, What is public health?, viewed 23 April 2021, < https://www.apha.org/what-is-public-health>.

CDC Foundation 2021, What is public health, viewed 20 April 2021, < https://www.cdcfoundation.org/what-public-health>.

Chong, JH 2021, ‘Dr Noor Hisham: 40 healthcare workers infected after completion of Covid-19 vaccination’, The Edge Markets, 17 April, viewed 24 April 2021, < https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/dr-noor-hisham-40-healthcare-workers-infected-after-completion-covid19-vaccination>.

Nadirah H. Rodzi 2020, ‘Coronavirus: Two Malaysia hashtags, including #StayAtHome, trending amid govt curbs’, The Straits Times, 19 March, viewed 24 April 2021, <https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/coronavirus-two-malaysia-hashtags-including-stayathome-trending-amid-govt-curbs>.

Sarawak Disaster Information 2021, SarawakDisasterinfo, viewed 25 April 2021, < https://www.facebook.com/SarawakDisasterInfo >.

Sipalan, J 2021, ‘Malaysia mulls shutdown of Selangor amid COVID-19 surge’, ABS CBN News, 17 May, viewed 21 May 2021, < https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/05/17/21/malaysia-mulls-shutdown-of-selangor-amid-covid-19-surge?fbclid=IwAR0H6zTaXRmE0xiGUbixnmcpk1zeJxHu3-yvDVcKK3R2QbDix_m96h12e94 >.

University of Pittsburgh 2021, What is the definition of public health?, viewed 22 April 2021, < https://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/careers/what-is-public-health>.

[albonium]

I was tagged by @f1fantrash, who also happens to be the first person who followed me ! (it took me two days to realise I had not posted it but left it in the drafts, sorry)

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag blogs you want to get to know better

Tagging (only if you want to <3):  @dhyamn @becometheknifemaster and @f1neline

1. Name/nickname: Julie, friends call me Juju or Ju, my nickname in uni was mamie (grandma)

2. Gender: female

3. Star sign: cancer

4. Height: 180 cm / 5′10

5. Time: 23:25

6. Birthday: July 4th

7.Favorite bands/groups: My taste in music evolved a lot these last few years, if I had to say favorite bands ever then red hot chili peppers (they’re my most listened to artist according to spotify), muse, linkin park, public service broadcasting, m83 and acdc (another thing I picked up from my dad along with F1). These days I listen to a lot of enter shikari and breton.

8. Favorite solo artists: same as before, my tastes evolve a lot over time. Favorite ever I’d say Lorde and Francis Cabrel (old french singer). I listened to nombe on repeat in 2020

9. Song stuck in your head: fire burning by Sean Kingston

10. Last movie: I don’t remember the name but it was a terrible french movie, I watched it because my grandma wanted to.

11. Last show: I think it was star trek discovery ?

12. When did I create this blog: sometime mid-season but I actually began using it after it ended

13. What do I post: I can’t write, draw or do edits (I don’t have enough patience to learn and do stuff), so most of the time I have to find the balance between posting every dumb thing that goes through my mind and nothing.

14. Last thing I googled: “mediapart vaccin naufrage”, I searched for an article about how the french government fucked up and lied once again in their handling of covid 19, this time regarding how they did not prepare enough to begin the vaccination campaign

15. Other blogs: None active but I still have my first tumblr from 2012.

16. Do I get asks: only once, the rest so far has been spam

17. Why I chose my url: I love dogs, F1 and Toto Wolff boom

18. Following: 63

19. Followers: 31

20. Average hours of sleep: depends, normally 6 hours but in these days of endless lockdown who knows ???

21. Lucky number: i’m not superstitious but if i have to pick a number then it’s always 4, both my sister and I were born on the 4th

22. Instrument: guitar

23. What am I wearing: gray joggers, white polka dot tshirt and a black hoodie

24. Dream job: R&D lab tech (pretty much what I did last year, the dream part would be to find a company that I’d love working for. I first wanted to work in aerospace but turns out that any company that works with space has at least a tiny bit of military/weaponry involvement and that’s a big no no. I’m currently thinking that the dream would be either something in the medical domain or working for the CNRS which is the french national scientific research organisation)

25. Dream trip: I don’t think I really have one big dream trip (I have loads of them). Hawaii would be nice. Beaches, awesome wildlife,  beautiful scenery to go hiking. I’d love to see an active volcano and maybe even an eruption. There’s a lot of history and culture there too and I love learning about the places I visit. Only downside is that it’s really touristic and I don’t feel good in places with too much people. I’m planning on going to french Guyana to see a rocket launch once COVID magically disappears or something. With the way things are going I won’t see Ariane 5 but Ariane 6...

26. Favorite food: call me basic but I love pizza

27. Nationality: french

28. Favorite song: The same one since I was a child : I will survive by Gloria Gaynor, but the version made for the 1998 football world cup. My parents and my grandparents had the CD and it was the only thing I wanted to listen to. I had a weird obsession with Zidane too and had a shirt with his face on it.

29. Last book read: the end of everything (astrophysically speaking) by Katie Mack

30. Top three fictional worlds: I’m not sure with this one but I’d say star trek ? I can’t think of any where things are good in general.

[egal-aboosta]

What exactly are we to make of the protests against the current shutdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic?

For one thing, they’re small and unrepresentative: The vast majority of U.S. citizens say they support the shutdown policy, and that support is if anything growing. Political scientist John Sides has the data. “Cancel all meetings or gatherings of more than 10 people, like sports events, concerts, conferences, etc.” has 87% of the public’s support. “Restrict all non-essential travel outside the home" has 86% support, while 88% agree that we should “Encourage people to stay in their homes and avoid socializing with others." Sides adds that strong support for these and similar measures is at 64%, which is up a bit from March.

“Small demonstrations against the coronavirus restrictions are getting inordinate media time. Why?“ Apr 20 2020 in Bloomberg Opinion

While protesters in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and other states claim to speak for ordinary citizens, many are also supported by street-fighting rightwing groups like the Proud Boys, conservative armed militia groups, religious fundamentalists, anti-vaccination groups and other elements of the radical right.

On Wednesday in Lansing, Michigan, a protest put together by two Republican-connected not-for-profits was explicitly devised to cause gridlock in the city, and for a time blocked the entrance to a local hospital.

“The rightwing groups behind wave of protests against Covid-19 restrictions“ Apr 17 2020 in The Guardian

The organisers behind these protests have largely been conservative, pro-Trump and pro-gun activists. US media have described many of these demonstrations as reminiscent of Trump campaign events, with pro-Trump banners, t-shirts, and signs aplenty. 

...

A Pew Research Center survey last week found 66% of Americans are concerned that restrictions will be lifted too quickly, as opposed to 32% who are worried they will not be lifted soon enough. In addition, the survey found most of the country - regardless of party affiliation - believes the worst of the pandemic is yet to come.

“Coronavirus lockdown protest: What's behind the US demonstrations?“ Apr 21 2020 from BBC

I don’t think the strategy will work, but also consider reading https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/how-fox-news-is-supercharging-the-coronavirus-protests/

[aakhatrint-blog]

Federal Supporting Small Business Program, a Big Cake for Trump’s Evangelical Allies

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the US economy has been severely damaged, with many companies laying off workers and many people losing their jobs. US Federal Government and all state governments, including some of the biggest companies, are actively seeking relief. Especially, US Federal Government has taken a series of massive actions to stable and stimulate economy. For example, two acts have been passed to allocate funds to federal agencies for vaccine development, free virus testing, paid leave for affected people, additional Medicaid funding and food aid. On 27 March 2020, President Trump signed a larger Economic Relief Package, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (the “CARES Act”) into law. It is an economic stimulus act that includes direct cash payments to tax-paying residents, unemployment insurance expansion, state aid and loans to businesses. Some of the money will be used for loans to small businesses.

Federal Supporting Small Businesses Program, a Big cake for Evangelical Allies

On July 8, the Associated Press reported that evangelical Allies of President Trump have received loans from the Federal Supporting Businesses Program while the churches of evangelical advisers connected to President Trump have received at least $17.2 million in loans, including the City of Destiny by Paula White, President Trump’s personal pastor and White House faith adviser. According to figures released by the US Treasury Department, the City of Destiny received about $350,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) clearly stipulates that eligible applicants are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees (more than 500 in individual industries, according to SBA guidance) directly affected by COVID-19 since 31 January, including self-employed, contract workers and self-employed, small agricultural cooperatives and small aquaculture enterprises, and many of the affected restaurants, hair salons, gyms, renovation companies, even start-ups (non-venture capitalists), self-employed people, Uber drivers, real estate agents, and so on are eligible to apply.

According to reporters Karl Russell and Stacy Cowley from New York Times, “A centerpiece of the federal government’s economic relief plan is to provide billions in forgivable loans to small businesses struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. But analyses of government data show that the lending program, which is overseen by the Small Business Administration, allowed many of the earliest funds to go to parts of the country that were not as hard-hit by the coronavirus as well as to a small number of companies seeking millions in assistance.”

The relief program has been criticized since its inception. Although the program focuses on supporting small businesses, the rules of the first lending round allowed large businesses to apply for loans of up to $10 million, and later evangelicals occupied massive loans. All these sparked the anger among small business owners. There is also the uneven distribution of funds across regions.

“The challenge most feared by small businesses has really happened,” said Brad Close, President of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small business industry group. A lot of disaster loans went to the bigwigs and their Allies. “Small businesses in the US are on the edge of a cliff and are doing everything they can to take care of employees, reopen their businesses. The Trump administration has let them down and the smallest businesses that want to participate in the PPP are the most disadvantaged.”

President Trump and his evangelical allies             

On June 21, 2016, in the midst of an uncertain battle for the republican presidential nomination, property magnate Donald J. Trump and his campaign team decided to form the Evangelical Advisory Board, which would be one of the high-end policy advisory boards after he has won the election. This loose, mystical political advisory body was originally composed of 26 members, who are mainly evangelical leaders and megachurch ministers. After Trump was elected President, these “evangelical advisers” naturally became regular visitors to the White House, supported President Trump on many occasions and became one of the representative symbols of President Trump’s affinity with Christian evangelicals. After the Racism incident in Charlottesville, Virginia, occurred on August 12, 2017, President Trump’s inappropriate remarks drew widespread criticism and led to the disbanding of several political advisory bodies in other areas of the Trump administration, but the Evangelical Advisory Board continued to function and some members even defended him, causing controversy.

With the political awakening and participation of Evangelical Christians in politics, the large number of evangelical Christians has become a competitive voter resource for the two major Parties in the United States. They usually set up their own religious outreach organizations or projects in political elections, especially before American Presidential Election, and these organizations or projects are responsible for winning the votes of religious voters, especially evangelical voters. However, such organizations or projects usually disbanded after election and did not become a permanent establishment of the ruling Party or the new administration.

In the 2016 election, Donald Trump, a businessman, a political nerd and a religious novice, was once considered the least religious or the least religious reliable one among all presidential candidates. A key turning point of evangelical leaders’ attitude toward Donald Trump came on June 21, 2016, when Trump met with about 900 evangelical leaders at a special meeting of Christian leaders in New York, and some of those who attended the closed-door meeting were persuaded by him to believe that Trump would qualify for obtaining their support. On the same day, the Trump campaign team announced the creation of a 26-member “Evangelical Advisory Board” headed by Michelle Backmann, a former Minnesota congresswoman. The Board became Trump’s primary campaign arm for mobilizing evangelical voters to support Trump and became his official religious advisory team after he took office. In a statement, the Trump campaign team said the mission of the Evangelical Advisory Board was “to advise Mr. Trump on issues of vital importance to Evangelicals and other religious adherents in the US because he “wants to get the sagacious advice of these (Evangelical) leaders”.

Paula white, an evangelical icon, has a way of accumulating wealth

Paula White at the New Destiny Christian Center in Florida, a member of the Evangelical Advisory Board, is referred by Donald Trump as his old friend and personal pastor for many years. When Trump ran for President in 2016, he turned to her to boost his evangelical support. The White House later confirmed that Ms. White had joined the administration to advise Trump’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative, which aims to give religious groups more of a voice in government programs devoted to issues like defending religious liberty and fighting poverty.

Also in 2016, Paula White made a donation persuasion with great inducement during the Easter Sunday service: ”There’s someone that God is speaking to, to click on that donation button by minimizing the screen. And when you do to sow $1,144,” she told the crowd. “It’s not often I ask very specifically but God has instructed me and I want you to hear. This isn’t for everyone but this is for someone. When you sow that $1,144 based on John 11:44 I believe for resurrection life. ”You say, Paula, I just don’t have that, then sow $144. I don’t have that. Sow $44 but stand on John Chapter 11:44.” She emphasizes: “For those who cannot afford to the required sum, I encourage them to make a smaller donation. You say, Paula, I just don’t have that, then sow $144. I don’t have that. Sow $44 but stand on John Chapter 11:44.” In 2019, White says in an appeal for money at her website: “I Prophetically Decree and Declare Deliverance & Prosperity are Yours in 2019. This is the Year YOU Inherit YOUR Promised Land!” White adds: With obedience to this first-fruits instruction and your faith, I believe your purpose, your year, your prosperity, and power will release blessing upon your entire year! Amen!” This exhortation is equivalent to a divine command for believers: if you have money, give more; if you have no money, give less. But each believer has to give a little anyway, and each has its own price, which seems reasonable. In March, after the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, White used a televised sermon to urge evangelicals to donate money, and was forced to stop after being accused of cashing in via the epidemic.

In 2004 and 2007, the Finance Committee of the U.S. Senate conducted two investigations on Paula White, Randy white and their Evangelical Church and did not found Paula White violated the church tax exemption, but questioned Paula White’s financial condition. For example, between 2004 and 2007 the church paid a total of $2.755 million in compensation to their relatives, including Paula’s son Brad Knight and Randy’s two children, father, and sister. In addition, Randy and Paula also reportedly received $5 million a year in compensation from their church, and purchased a $3.5 million condo in Trump Tower in New York City, according to Senate documents. Furthermore, from 2004 to 2013, the U.S. federal tax office also investigated Paula White and Randy White’s personal and church finance, mainly investigating whether Paula White’s personal income and church’s financial sources violated the US federal tax law. After 2016, the U.S. government did not investigate Paula White any longer.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Global Gas Crisis and winter prices (Bloomberg) Shortages of natural gas in Europe and Asia are boosting demand for oil, deepening what was already a sizable supply deficit in crude markets, the International Energy Agency said. Crude has surged above $80 a barrel, the highest in three years, as traders anticipated that record gas prices would stimulate consumption of other fuels, particularly for power generation. That’s already happening. “The surge in prices has swept through the entire global energy chain,” the IEA said. / (NPR) This winter, residential consumers should expect to pay more for heat, but officials say the type of fuel you use will determine how much extra you’ll have to shell out. Nearly half of U.S. households heat their homes with natural gas, and they will pay 30% more on average this winter, while homes warmed with electricity will pay 6% more, according to the Energy Information Administration’s “Winter Fuels Outlook.”

Seattle police staffing woes prompt emergency dispatch plan (AP) Seattle’s police department is sending detectives and non-patrol officers to respond to emergency calls because of a shortage of patrol officers. The department on Wednesday moved to the emergency officer dispatching scenario because of the staffing crunch. The police union leader said he fears things will get worse because of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. KOMO reports the department has lost more than 300 officers over the past year. Nearly 300 more could face termination if they do not comply with an Oct. 18 deadline to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. “We can’t afford to lose one, that’s how desperate we are to hold onto to people,” said police union president Mike Solan. “If we lose more officers, the public safety situation will become that much more untenable here.”

From condiments to condoms: new California laws bring change (AP) California Gov. Gavin Newsom spent the summer campaigning to keep his job and, with a landslide victory in hand, he’s continued pushing progressive California further left. In the four weeks after beating back a recall attempt, the Democrat signed laws that require gender-neutral displays of children’s toys and toothbrushes in large department stores, made it illegal to remove a condom without consent during intercourse and cleared the way for a nation’s first ban on the sale of new gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers. He also made it illegal to film someone near an abortion clinic for the purpose of intimidation, banned secret employment settlements involving harassment or discrimination and limited the use of rubber bullets by police during protests. He even prohibited restaurants from handing out ketchup packets and other disposable condiments unless customers ask for them. California is among the deepest blue states in the country—Democrats control all statewide offices and have super majorities in the Legislature, which nowadays often acts as a laboratory for liberal policies that would not get to a vote in many other states. The governor wields immense power over what becomes law because California lawmakers rarely override vetoes.

In Britain, childlessness seems likely to return to 1920s levels (Economist) Anybody mulling a career as a midwife or nursery manager might want to reconsider. On October 14th the Office for National Statistics reported that in 2020 the fertility rate in England and Wales, which is expressed as the number of children per woman, fell to 1.58, the lowest since records began in 1938. Babies are particularly scarce in inner London. Just 5,442 were born in the borough of Newham last year, down from 6,426 in 2012. And almost all were conceived before covid-19 made the prospect of going into hospital unappealing. The tally for 2021 may well be lower. If the current pattern holds, John Ermisch, an Oxford University sociologist, reckons that 21% of women will have no children—back to the level of the cohort born in 1920. One study of Britons born in 1970 found that the two most important reasons for remaining childless, among both men and women, were that they did not particularly want children or did not meet the right partner. That hints at a broad change in norms and expectations.

India reopens for foreign tourists as virus infections ebb (AP) India reopened to fully vaccinated foreign tourists traveling on chartered flights on Friday in the latest easing of its coronavirus restrictions as infection numbers decline. Foreign tourists on regular flights will be able to enter India starting Nov. 15. It is the first time India has allowed foreign tourists to enter the country since March 2020 when it imposed its first nationwide coronavirus lockdown. It is unclear whether arriving tourists will have to quarantine but they must be fully vaccinated and test negative for the virus within 72 hours of their flight.

India’s Democratic Backslide (Foreign Policy) Last Sunday, members of the far-right Hindu-nationalist organization Bajrang Dal confronted four Muslim men at a social event in the central Indian city of Indore. Clashes broke out, and the Bajrang Dal members turned the Muslim men over to the police, who arrested them to “restore peace.” The Hindu nationalists had accused the men of so-called love jihad, a conspiracy theory that alleges Muslim men seek to marry Hindu women and forcibly convert them to Islam. Such bigotry is an unfortunately frequent occurrence in today’s India—and it plays out against a backdrop of democratic backsliding. The state has detained nearly 9,000 people under a colonial-era anti-terrorism law in the last five years, many of them government critics. New Delhi also seeks to increase its access to private information and its control over social media, prompting disputes with WhatsApp and Twitter. Since taking power, the BJP has implemented a Hindu-nationalist agenda accompanied by demonizing rhetoric. The Biden administration has made democracy promotion a pillar of its foreign policy, but it has not decried rights violations in India.      If the Biden administration makes an issue out of India’s democratic backsliding, it could increase tensions at a significant moment for the U.S.-India partnership. Competition with Beijing has taken center stage, and Washington sees New Delhi as an essential actor to counter China’s power. President Joe Biden can’t risk angering an Indian government that is deeply sensitive to outside criticism about domestic matters. But the Biden administration’s selective approach to democracy promotion—dial it up with rivals, dial it down with partners—could strengthen a long-standing criticism that U.S. foreign policy is inconsistent and hypocritical.

The death of A.Q. Khan (Foreign Policy) Abdul Qadeer Khan, the nuclear scientist who helped develop Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, died last Sunday. For many Pakistanis, he was a great hero. Islamabad gave him the honor of a state funeral—despite the fact that he also shared nuclear secrets with North Korea, Iran, and Libya. Khan’s death highlights the issue of who gets to be a hero in Pakistan and who doesn’t. Malala Yousafzai, who survived an attack by the Pakistani Taliban to become a global advocate for girl’s education and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is despised by ultra-nationalist Pakistanis. Abdus Salam, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, was disowned by his own country because he was a member of the Ahmadi religious minority.

China’s hit war epic doesn’t fit Hollywood script (Washington Post) Dozens of warplanes are reflected in the aviator sunglasses of the American general, who promises a speedy victory over the North Korean army. While U.S. troops tuck into a buffet of roasted chicken, frost-covered Chinese soldiers gnaw on frozen potatoes to fend off hunger. “The American army we are about to face is the best-equipped in the world,” a Chinese People’s Volunteer Army commander tells a train car full of fresh-faced men. Later, as they charge into battle through knee-deep snow, a cry goes up: “Resist American aggression and aid Korea—protect your home and country!” In a climate of ascendant nationalism tinged with anti-American sentiment, it’s easy to see why “The Battle at Lake Changjin” is a hit in China, where it has capitalized on demand for gory action movies that celebrate the Chinese Communist Party’s rise. More than that, strong official support has made it taboo to strongly criticize the movie. Chinese police have arrested commentators who questioned the film’s vainglorious portrayal of a military campaign in which, by official counts, nearly 200,000 Chinese died, including 4,000 who froze to death at Lake Changjin. Set during a pivotal battle between U.S.-led U.N. forces and the Chinese troops that entered the Korean War to support North Korea, the epic has broken China’s records for most viewings in a single day and may be 2021’s top box office earner globally by the end of its run. War epics showing the victories of the People’s Liberation Army have become increasingly common in China.

Durian fruit sparks Canberra ‘gas leak’ emergency (AFP) Canberra firefighters rushed to a store in Australia’s capital Friday after reports of a gas leak—only to find the smell was caused by the penetrating waft of durian fruit. Grown across tropical Southeast Asia, fans love the “king of fruits” for its bittersweet flavours and creamy texture. But those less fond of the pungent produce compare its odour to rotting garbage—or in this instance a gas leak—and it is banned from many hotels and on public transport.

[liesmyteachertoldme]

DAVID MARTIN CATEGORICALLY STATES

1). There is no SARS-CoV-2. There is a bioweapon, that in 1999 was paid for by Anthony Fauci, was patented by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2002. It was the Recombinant Coronavirus that was actually the bioweapon created by NIAID for this very moment. That bioweapon was an infectious replication-defective clone of coronavirus.

He says, “This bioweapon was engineered to destroy humanity. And if we started talking about a bioweapon and not a vaccine or a virus, we’d get a lot of progress.”

2). There is no COVID-19. There is influenza-like illness. When the World Health Organization invented the notion of COVID-19, it was the first disease in human history to have no clinical diagnostics. It was diagnosed by committee and symptom – and then they made up the term “asymptomatic carrier”, which does not exist.

3). There is no vaccine. There’s a bioweapon that’s being injected, which was engineered to generate tons of money for Big Pharma.

ARCHITECTS OF THE PLANDEMIC

David says that Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance and Anthony Fauci were the architects of the pandemic and of the plan to profit on the forced-vaccination of everybody on the planet, which goes back to at least 2016 in a document titled “Developing Medical Countermeasures (MCMs) for Coronavirus”, which is part of the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.

Daszak wrote to Fauci, “We need to increase the public understanding of the need for medical countermeasure, such as a pan-coronavirus vaccine. A key driver is the media and the economics will follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage to get to the real issues. Investors will respond when they see profit at the end of the process.”

David says the above statement is “An admission of 5 felonies in the United States…and not a single governor, not a single Department of Justice member, not a single US attorney, not a single attorney general, not a single elected official in this country will actually allow this quote to go into the public record.

A HARD TRUTH

On September 18, 2019…the World Health Organization, in their Global Preparedness Monitoring Board gathering, got together and said that we need to create a global simulation of the release of a respiratory pathogen, which was going to go from September of 2019 to September of 2020. A global campaign.

“The day after that document was published, President Donald Trump signed this Executive Order [13887] and I want you to read what’s in this Executive Order. These vaccine platform technologies include DNA, mRNA, virus-like S-particles, vector-based and self-assembling nanoparticle vaccines.

“The day after the Chinese, the NIAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in criminal conspiracy, in interlocking directorates, in racketeering, declared��war on the world, Donald Trump signed an executive order actually mandating that the toxin be released on the public. Right there it is, in his Executive Order.

“Now, listen to what I have to say: Did he premeditate that Executive Order? No. But we must be careful, People, because it doesn’t matter which one among us stands in positions of authority. We must embrace the reality that if we are not accountable for every word that we say, every action we take, we open up ourselves to compromise and if we are going to win the campaign for the hearts and minds and livelihood and soul of this country, we must commit ourselves to absolute integrity. No exceptions. Zero exceptions.

THE COVID TREASONOUS ACTS

Criminal

18 USC §2339C – et seq. – Funding and conspiring acts of terror

18 USC §2331 §§802 – Acts of domestic terrorism resulting in deaths of American citizens

18 USC §1001 – Lying to Congress

15 USC §1-3 – Conspiring to criminal commercial activity

15 USC §8 – Market manipulation and allocation

15 USC §19 – Interlocking directorates

Civil

35 USC §206 – Disclosure of government interest

35 USC §101 – Patenting nature

21 CFR §50.24 et seq. – It is unlawful to conduct medical research (even in the case of emergency) without an independent institutional review board approved protocol including informed consent free of coercion.

15 USC §45 §§5(a) –  “Unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”

[xtruss]

FDA OKs Mixing COVID Vaccines; Backs Moderna, J&J Boosters

— By Matthew Perrone and Lauran Neergaard | AP | Thursday October 21, 2021

This Dec. 23, 2020 file photo shows a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in the first round of staff vaccinations at a hospital in Denver. Federal regulators are expected to authorize the mixing and matching of COVID-19 booster shots this week in an effort to provide flexibility for those seeking to maintain protection against the coronavirus. The upcoming announcement by the Food and Drug Administration is likely to come along with authorization for boosters of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Wednesday signed off on extending COVID-19 boosters to Americans who got the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine and said anyone eligible for an extra dose can get a brand different from the one they received initially.

The Food and Drug Administration’s decisions mark a big step toward expanding the U.S. booster campaign, which began with extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine last month. But before more people roll up their sleeves, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will consult an expert panel Thursday before finalizing official recommendations for who should get boosters and when.

The latest moves would expand by tens of millions the number of Americans eligible for boosters and formally allow “mixing and matching” of shots — making it simpler to get another dose, especially for people who had a side effect from one brand but still want the proven protection of vaccination.

Specifically, the FDA authorized a third Moderna shot for seniors and others at high risk from COVID-19 because of their health problems, jobs or living conditions — six months after their last shot. One big change: Moderna’s booster will be half the dose that’s used for the first two shots, based on company data showing that was plenty to rev up immunity again.

For J&J’s single-shot vaccine, the FDA said all U.S. recipients, no matter their age, could get a second dose at least two months following their initial vaccination.

The FDA rulings differ because the vaccines are made differently, with different dosing schedules — and the J&J vaccine has consistently shown a lower level of effectiveness than either of the two-shot Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

As for mixing and matching, the FDA said it’s OK to use any brand for the booster regardless of which vaccination people got first. The interchangeability of the shots is expected to speed the booster campaign, particularly in nursing homes and other institutional settings where residents have received different shots over time.

FDA officials said they wanted to make the booster guidance as flexible as possible, given that many people don’t remember which brand of vaccine they received.

“Being able to interchange these vaccines is a good thing — it’s like what we do with flu vaccines,” FDA’s Dr. Peter Marks told reporters Wednesday evening. “Most people don’t know what brand of flu vaccine they received.”

Still, he added that many people will decide to get a booster from the same company as their initial vaccination.

The agency’s mix-and-match decision was based on preliminary results from a government study of different booster combinations that showed an extra dose of any type revs up levels of virus-fighting antibodies. That study also showed recipients of the single-dose J&J vaccination had a far bigger response if they got a full-strength Moderna booster or a Pfizer booster rather than a second J&J shot. The study didn’t test the half-dose Moderna booster.

Health authorities stress that the priority still is getting first shots to about 65 million eligible Americans who remain unvaccinated. But the booster campaign is meant to shore up protection against the virus amid signs that vaccine effectiveness is waning against mild infections, even though all three brands continue to protect against hospitalization and death.

“Today the currently available data suggest waning immunity in some populations of fully vaccinated people,” said FDA’s acting commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock. “The availability of these authorized boosters is important for continued protection against COVID-19 disease.”

The Moderna booster decision essentially matches FDA’s ruling that high-risk groups are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine, which is made with the same technology.

FDA recommended that everyone who’d gotten the single-shot J&J vaccine get a booster since it has consistently shown lower protection than its two-shot rivals. And several independent FDA advisers who backed the booster decision suggested J&J’s vaccine should have originally been designed to require two doses.

Experts continue to debate the rationale of the booster campaign. Some warn that the U.S. government hasn’t clearly articulated the goals of boosters given that the shots continue to head off the worst effects of COVID-19, and wonder if the aim is to tamp down on virus spread by curbing, at least temporarily, milder infections.

FDA regulators said they would move quickly to expand boosters to lower age groups, such as people in their 40s and 50s, if warranted.

“We are watching this very closely and will take action as appropriate to make sure that the maximum protection is provided to the population,” said Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official.

In August, the Biden administration announced plans for an across-the-board booster campaign aimed at all U.S. adults, but outside experts have repeatedly argued against such a sweeping effort.

On Thursday an influential panel convened by the CDC is expected to offer more specifics on who should get boosters and when. Their recommendations are subject to approval by the CDC director.

The vast majority of the nearly 190 million Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have received the Pfizer or Moderna options, while about 15 million have received the J&J vaccine.

Associated Press writer Mike Stobbe contributed to this story from New York.

[opedguy]

Woodward Pushes New Book, “Rebel”

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Sept. 21, 2021.--Pushing his new book “Rebel” in anti-Trump media, 78-year-old former Washington Post-Watergate-famed journalists Bob Woodward completed his metamorphosis into Democrat political hack. Woodward 2020 book, “Rage,” gave Democrats their fake campaign talking points that Trump knew everything about the deadly novel coronavirus before his chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and Director-General of the World Health Organization [WHO] Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyseus, who said Jan. 14, 2020 in Geneva there was no human-to-human transmission in Wuhan, China.  But Woodward said on every anti-Trump radio and TV that Trump knew everything about the virus Jan. 28, 2020 when he interviewd him for his book.  Yet that’s all Democrats needed to prosecute the 2020 campaign against Trump:  He botched the Covid-19 response.      

       Woodward’s book “Rage” was not about telling the truth or fidelity to ethical journalism, it was about preventing Trump from getting a second term. Turns out, Covid-19 was the nation’s biggest campaign issue, right next to the May 25, 2020 suffocation murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin.  Democrats and the press linked Trump with Chauvin, or, more generally, to white supremacy, white nationalism and white fragility all driving four months of riots, looting, arson and anarchy in the Summer of 2002, leading up to the Nov. 8 election.  So, by the time the election rolled around, Trump was blamed for the Covid-19 crisis and race riots around the country.  Voters  overwhelmingly rejected Trump because Democrats and the media did such a good job demonizing the president.  When you add to that universal mail-in ballots, Trump was defeated badly.     

        Woodward’s no back at it trying to prevent Trump from running again in 2024, something’s that’s been bandied about in the press.  While Trump hasn’t said what he plans to do, Woodward wants to make sure that there’s no nostalgia left over the Trump presidency, only the same contempt from Covid-19 and Floyd’s public suffocation lynching.  Now Woodward tells MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough that Trump wants to be president to be Trump.  Meaning, Trump has no agenda other than his own self-aggrandizement. “And the answer is to be Donald Trump,” Woodward told Scarborough.  “And that’s not an agenda.  That does not connect to the need of people in the country,” Woodward said, speaking fir the American public.  Woodward speaks for the Democrat Party that seeks rule in the United State by only one Party, rule by oligarchy.  

           Woodward’s book “Rage,” served as the Democrat overarching campaign strategy, sticking Trump with the deadly novel coronavirus national crisis.  Woodward, like Scarborough, gave Trump zero credit for working with his Operation Warp Speed to develop today’s Covid-19 vaccines.  Woodward and Democrats said in the 2020 campaign that you can never trust a vaccine developed under Trump’s watch.  President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris warned voters in the 2020 campaign about taking any vaccine developed under Trump’s watch.  Then, once they won the 2020 presidential election, they were all in on vaccines.  Pfizer announced the first vaccine one week after the 2020 election, on the same timeline given by Trump.  But Biden told voters not to trust the vaccines.  Now Biden’s the biggest vaccine advocate, mandating vaccines running afoul with the Constitution.   

          Whatever happens in the 2024, it’s doubtful Republicans can run Trump without the same hue-and-cry, galvanizing the anti-Trump public to oppose his candidacy.  While every Republicans running in 2024 would be demonized, it would give Democrats a big, fat target in the 2024 campaign to run Trump. Woodward’s co-author, Robert Costa, thinks there growing interest in Trump running again in 2024.  Judging by Biden’s abysmal approval ratings, in some ways worse than Trump’s, it’s not likely that an 82-year-old Biden would seek a second term.  He’s already making so many gaffes to the press that his Press Secretary Jen Psaki does everything possible to deny the White House press pool access to the president.  With the press on Biden’s side, they minimize egregious mistakes made in foreign policy, where he’s made enemies out of foes and traditional U.S. allies like France.    

         Woodward’s books are sucked up in the anti-Trump media with a built-in audience to spread disinformation and propaganda, as long as it demonizes Trump.  When California Gavin Newsom faced a recall election Sept. 14, the Washington establishment went to his rescue, bringing out the big guns like former President Barack Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden, all a complete waste because Newsom would have won anyway.  Democrats enjoy and two-to-one registration advantage in the state, making the recall a real long-shot.  When it comes Woodward, the wants to do anything possible to prevent Trump from running for president, despite knowing the Democrats nationwide also have an at least 25% registration advantage.  Demonizing Trump or the Republican Party is Woodward’s mission until 2024. 

About the Author  

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

[tinyshe]

Make a really loud noise:’ Grassroots org rallies Canadians to take on COVID-19 ‘tyranny’ ‘Write your senators, write your elected officials, write whoever you need to... stop wearing the mask, don’t be part of the oppression,’ said Tanya Gaw, founder of Action4Canada. 

Mon Aug 9, 2021 - 4:16 pm EDT  

BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada (LifeSiteNews) — What began as a simple letter-writing campaign by a British Columbia (BC) mom has turned into a grassroots movement uniting Canadians across the country to push back against government overreach in a tangible way.

Six years after writing a letter to members of parliament and two years after founding her nonprofit Action4Canada in 2019, mother and BC resident Tanya Gaw has now partnered with a constitutional lawyer to pursue legal action against the BC government and the federal government of Canada.

Rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition that built Canada’s political system, Action4Canada has angled itself in opposition to abortion, the radical LGBTQ agenda, globalization, and legalized recreational drug use. Now, the organization will go after the federal and BC governments for their COVID-19 policies which they argue have crippled the economy and deprived Canadians of their civil liberties.

In a podcast interview published June 29, Gaw detailed the history of her organization and the steps now being taken to fight for Canadians’ faith, freedom, and families.

According to Gaw, she became concerned about the direction her country was headed after now-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched his bid for the office in 2015.

“Leading up to the election I kind of saw the writing on the wall and what was to come,” she said.

Gaw argued that Trudeau’s election has “proven to be the worst thing that could ever have happened to Canada,” noting that she had two children finishing up high school at the time and became increasingly worried about direction of politics and the culture.

To air her grievances, the concerned mom wrote a letter addressed to Canada’s members of parliament (MPs), hoping to make her voice heard. She began to encourage her friends to write letters as well, or even to copy her letters and sign their names to get the word out.

The effort turned into a letter-writing campaign which, over the years, developed into Action4Canada, founded in August 2019.

But Canada’s increasingly radical politics took on a new flavor early last year when COVID-19 struck, and was met with an unprecedented flurry of “totalitarian” policies which Gaw says stripped Canadians of their essential liberties and kneecapped the economy.

“When COVID hit we’d already been uniting with incredible people and organizations across the nation, going against the legislation, fighting hard in the last election,” Gaw said, adding that after lockdowns and mandates were introduced, “we were really seeing communism heading into Canada, like at warp-speed.”

“Within a matter of a few days, I thought, ‘this is not about a virus,’” she said. “This is the next step in their strategy.’”

Gaw observed that the lockdown measures “made millions of people reliant on the government to survive,” a situation which led Gaw to use her organization to commence “legal action against the BC and federal government.”

In October 2020 Action4Canada partnered with Italian-born Canadian constitutional lawyer Rocco Galati to mount a defense of Canadians’ Charter Rights and Freedoms in opposition to Bill C-19 (a sweeping measure to overhaul Canadian elections to make it “safer” to vote in the era of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions) and the other extraordinary measures enacted in response to the spread of COVID-19.

The fundraising page of the site asks supporters to pitch in to help the organization “hold our corrupt governments responsible for the devastation they have caused this nation.”

By December 2020 the group had raised 50% of its funding goals for its legal action. According to a July 21 update on Action4Canada’s website, the organization has now received 96% of its financial goal, thanks in large part to a $25,000 donation from Vaccine Choice Canada.

“[W]e are getting closer to the day we have all been waiting for,” the update read, noting that a significant amount of work has gone into “preparing a rock solid case.”

“A constitutional challenge is costly but we believe this is the best way forward,” the website noted. “Whether you live in BC or not, this affects all Canadians.”

In the podcast interview Gaw said one of the primary undertakings of her organization, in addition to its constitutional challenge, is publicizing and distributing “vaccine notice of liability” documents to help people who are being coerced into taking the COVID-19 experimental jab to provide documentation to support their decision to refrain from getting the shot.

“We’re continuing to fight hard to facilitate Canadians with the tangible resources to protect their rights and their freedoms and their children,” Gaw said.

The first version of the notice was sent out to educators, administrators, and others, after COVID-19 shots were offered to children ages 12-17 without parental consent, Gaw said.

Versions of the notices are now also available to parents, elected officials, and employees whose employers have made COVID-19 vaccination a condition of employment.

The language in the employee notice form informs the employer that since he or she is “not a medical professional,” and that the employer is accordingly “unlawfully practising medicine by prescribing, recommending, and/or using coercion to insist employees submit to the experimental medical treatment for Covid-19, namely being injected with one of the experimental gene therapies commonly referred to as a ‘vaccine.’”

The heavily-sourced comprehensive document cites a litany of studies, statistics, and quotes from experts illuminating the known and unknown risks of COVID-19 injections and the rights of citizens to refuse medical treatment.

Among its many references the document cites the Nuremberg Code, which states that individuals cannot be coerced into participating in a medical experiment, and lists numerous reports suggesting that the PCR tests used to identify COVID-19 cases are inherently faulty and routinely deliver false positives.

Just above the signature line, the document reads: “I hereby notify you [the employer] that I will hold you personally liable for any financial injury and/or loss of my personal income and my ability to provide food and shelter for my family if you use coercion or discrimination against me based on my decision not to participate in the COVID-19 experimental treatments.”

As of Action4Canada’s July 21 update, constitutional lawyer Rocco Galati is reportedly reviewing and finalizing the most recent draft of the organization’s Statement of Claim in its provincial and federal litigation.

It remains to be seen what success the group will have in its ambitious legal challenge. Gaw has thanked donors for their generosity and asked supporters to get involved and make their voices heard.

“We want to give you a voice, and it’s really about getting involved,” Gaw said in the podcast interview. “Write your senators, write your elected officials, write whoever you need to. Join people on the streets. Make sure you’re out there and you’re being seen. Stop wearing the mask. Don’t be part of the oppression.”

“In Biblical times the wall of Jericho fell down by making a loud noise,” Gaw remarked, noting that while she certainly asks for donations to her organization and its legal fund, “we also want people to make a really loud noise.”

LifeSiteNews has produced an extensive COVID-19 vaccines resources page. View it here.