#north carolina coronavirus

[angelx1992]

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Coronavirus infections in the United States are up in December, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The week that ended Saturday, December 7, saw test positivity rates rise to 5.4 percent; higher than the last week of November (4 percent) and the week before (4.5 percent).

Rates of COVID-19 positivity—the percentage of people taking COVID-19 tests who have a positive result—were higher in states in the middle of the U.S. compared with states nearer the East or West coasts.

Texas and its bordering states, known as region 6, had the highest rates in the country at 6.4 percent, closely followed by region 5 (Minnesota to Ohio) at 6.1 percent.

Regions 7 (Nebraska to Missouri) and 8 (Montana to Colorado) had rates of 6 and 5.9 percent respectively.

In contrast, the area with the lowest rates of COVID positivity was in the Southeast, region 4 (Florida to Kentucky), with only 2.2 percent of COVID tests coming back positive.

(Follow the link for the interactive map!)

The percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as COVID has remained largely unchanged in recent weeks, at 0.6 percent—with the highest rates located in the Southwest: New Mexico at 1.8 percent and Arizona at 1.5 percent.

Deaths from COVID are highest in North Carolina, with 1.4 percent of deaths attributed to the virus.

California, Michigan, New York and Florida also have higher than average rates of COVID-related deaths, ranging from 1.2 percent in California to 0.6 percent in Florida.

These rates are low compared to the same month last year, according to data from the CDC's hospitalization surveillance network, called COVID-NET.

Preliminary data from COVID-NET indicates that 1.4 people per 100,000 were hospitalized with COVID in the U.S. during the week ending December 7.

That is much less than the 6.1 per 100,000 people that were hospitalized with COVID during the same week in 2023.

The same data shows that since October 2024, 19.1 per 100,000 people have cumulatively been hospitalized with COVID—compared to 48 per 100,000 during the same period in 2023.

The CDC recommends that everyone aged 6 months and older should get a COVID-19 vaccine this season, meaning from October 2024 to September 2025.

This is because vaccine protection decreases over time and because the vaccines are updated to give people the best protection against new strains.

The newest COVID-19 strain is called XEC, a subvariant of Omicron that is believed to be more transmissible, but milder than previous strains.

The CDC lists current likely symptoms of COVID-19 as:

Fever or chills Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Sore throat Congestion or runny nose New loss of taste or smell Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea

Many of these symptoms overlap with other illnesses, such as flu, which is why experts advise taking a test to find out what the illness is. These can be mailed to people's homes for free.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Asawin Suebsaeng, Tim Dickinson, and Ryan Bort at Rolling Stone:

Donald Trump — the twice impeached former president, Jan. 6 coup leader, convicted felon, adjudicated sexual abuser, and man who mismanaged the 2020 economic implosion and coronavirus disaster that killed more than 1 million people in this country — has convinced American voters to give him another term in the White House.

After a campaign marked by nativism, open bigotry, and aspiring authoritarianism, Trump triumphed over Vice President Kamala Harris, despite being denounced by several of those who worked most closely with him in his first term as a “fascist.” The 45th president will become the 47th in late January. Trump got out to an early lead on Tuesday and never looked back, securing North Carolina and Georgia before shattering the Democratic “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The race was called at 5:35 a.m. EST by the Associated Press after Trump earned 270 electoral college votes by winning Wisconsin. [...]

The stakes of a Trump victory could not be higher for many of the most vulnerable people living in this country. Trump’s central campaign promise has been to embark on the largest mass-deportation program in the nation’s history, a supercharged version of a racist Eisenhower-era program called “Operation Wetback.” Trump has promised to forcibly remove millions, and said that it will be a “bloody story.” He has vowed to employ local law enforcement, sheriffs, and, if necessary, the armed forces.

Trump has also vowed to use the Justice Department as an instrument of revenge on his political enemies, to crack down on media outlets that have criticized him, to hollow out the professional ranks of the federal government (and stock it full of his MAGA cronies), and to impose massive tariffs that will increase the cost of everything from avocados and automobiles to iPhones and apparel. 

America’s democracy has rarely been in a more fragile place. The country has chosen a leader who has promised to govern as a strongman, and who will not be held accountable for breaking the law, thanks to a ruling by his hand-selected, far-right Supreme Court majority that puts the presidency beyond the reach of criminal prosecution. This implausible victory — coming after a chaotic campaign that saw Democrats change candidates mid-election, and Trump galumph down the closing stretch with an increasingly bizarre series of stunts, including dressing up as a garbage man — also has huge stakes for Trump personally. 

As early as the summer of 2021, according to three sources familiar with the matter, longtime political operatives and GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill who had remained in direct contact with Trump were coalescing around a shared belief: If the criminal investigations into the former president keep ramping up, and especially if charges materialize, there is no way he doesn’t run for the presidency again. This conviction was based on conversations these Trump allies had been having with the ex-president at the time, when Trump’s fixation on, and barely veiled anxiety about, prosecution and potential prison sentences was already palpable. As time inched closer and closer to the 2022 midterm elections, Trump would, in discussions with close advisers about running again, increasingly ramble about the unique legal protections from prosecution that a sitting American president enjoys.

Two years, several history-making indictments of a former president, and billions of dollars later, those anxieties continued to fester in Trump’s brain. Over the 2024 election season, he and his allies had brainstormed and plotted numerous ways to shield him from dire legal consequences; earlier this year, the former president personally pressured multiple Republican lawmakers to pass legislation essentially designed to keep him out of prison forever. (This law did not pass, but stay tuned.)  Trump appears in the clear for at least another four years after voters handed him his long-coveted get-out-of-jail-free card on Tuesday. [...]

Trump won this year even though — and, surely in some cases, because — he ran on imposing upon the American people and global community an openly authoritarian regime concerned largely with score-settling. In addition to pledging mass deportations, militarized crackdowns, and disassembling and reconstructing the federal government around protecting and empowering himself, the former president loudly and explicitly ran on a platform of letting fellow Americans die if he doesn’t get his way or if your local leaders don’t bend to his will. Trump has recently threatened to deny potentially life-saving natural disaster aid to states whose leaders don’t bend to his wishes, threats that should be taken seriously given his history of withholding such aid for political reasons.

[...] Trump’s win demonstrates that the most powerful people in the country are indeed above the law. An elderly, foul-mouthed, racist game-show host can try, in broad daylight, while the TV cameras are fixed on him, to execute a coup d’état in our nation’s capital, people can die from it, and in a few short years be rewarded with the full-throated support of his political party, and now the keys to the White House.

For just the 2nd time in American history, A president who previously lost an election wins a 2nd non-consecutive term, as Grover Cleveland was the first to do so.

34x convicted felon, insurrection-inciter, adjudicated rapist, fascist, and vile bigot Donald J. Trump, who tried everything he could to sabotage his re-election bid, won the 2024 elections… this time with the popular vote to likely swing his way.

Assuming the 2-terms limit applies to consecutive and nonconsecutive terms, 2028 will be a wide open Presidential election for both parties (provided that America has free elections still at that point).

[liesmyteachertoldme]

In an October 2023 lecture, David E. Martin, Ph.D., detailed how we can know that SARS-CoV-2 is a manmade bioweapon that has been in the works for 58 years

The virus called “coronavirus” was first described in 1965. Two years later, the U.S. and U.K. launched an exchange program where healthy British military personnel were infected with coronavirus pathogens from the U.S. as part of the U.S. biological weapons program

In 1992, Ralph Baric at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, took a pathogen that used to infect the gut and lungs and altered it with a chimera to make it infect the heart, causing cardiomyopathy. This research was part of the efforts to produce an HIV vaccine

In November 2000, Pfizer patented its first spike protein vaccine. Between 2000 and 2019, vaccine trials using this technology proved it was lethal, yet in the summer of 2020, the clinical trials for the SARS-CoV-2 shots went straight into human trials

mRNA spike protein was publicly described as a bioweapon 18 years ago. In 2005, at a conference hosted by DARPA and The Mitre Corporation, the mRNA spike protein was hailed as a “biological warfare-enabling technology,” i.e., a biological warfare agent

[atomicwinnerdreamland]

I got my Florida hat recently (yay!) and then caught a good Florida moment in "WNR 7/29: Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV.":

Florida: [Trump] was just bragging about passing a test? What a nerd.

DC (old Gov): Weren't you just bragging about your coronavirus tests?

Florida: No no no, coronavirus isn't a test. It's a videogame and I have the high score.

North Carolina: Oh, is that why the Jacksonville part of the RNC was canceled?

Florida: Some people just can't handle hurricane season.

DC: I'm sorry, what exactly do you think this is now?

Florida: it's.... uh (glances at Loui to save him)

Louisiana: Person, woman, man, camera, TV.

Florida: Bonus points!

Florida definitely knew about the global pandemic, he just wanted to cause some more chaos (as if the pandemic wasn't enough lol). He's definitely smarter than he lets on, he just chooses to be the way he is probably because it's unpredictable and somewhat fun to him. And Louisiana definitely knows about this as well (bonus points if he's doing the same). Imagine if like surfer California or CHAZ, we get a version of FL that likes to study astrophysics & astronomy! (it might be a Texas/Austin type of relationship between astronomer FL and normal FL actually)

On a side note, North Carolina and Florida's sibling-like friendship is the best. They're always dragging each other and it's a lovely sight to see :D

[sataniccapitalist]

#thewaronyou

Another winter of death is now unfolding in the United States and across the Northern Hemisphere as the JN.1 variant of the coronavirus continues to surge globally. Wastewater data from the United States released Tuesday indicate that upwards of 2 million people are now being infected with COVID-19 each day, amid the second-biggest wave of mass infection since the pandemic began, eclipsed only by the initial wave of the Omicron variant during the winter of 2021-22.

There are now reports on social media of hospitals being slammed with COVID patients across the US, Canada and Europe. At a growing number of hospitals, waiting rooms are overflowing, emergency rooms and ICUs are at or near capacity, and ambulances are being turned away or forced to wait for hours to drop off their patients.

According to official figures, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Charlotte, North Carolina are now at their highest levels of the entire pandemic. In Toronto, Dr. Michael Howlett, president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, told City News, “I’ve worked in emergency departments since 1987, and it’s by far the worst it’s ever been. It’s not even close.” He added, “We’ve got people dying in waiting rooms because we don’t have a place to put them. People being resuscitated on an ambulance stretcher or a floor.”

Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, told the Today Show website: “The current strain right now seems to be packing a meaner punch than the prior strains. Some features of the current circulating strain probably (make it) a little bit more virulent and pathogenic, making people sicker than prior (variants).”

Indeed, two recent studies indicate that JN.1 more efficiently infects cells in the lower lung, a trait that existed in pre-Omicron strains which were considered more deadly. One study from researchers in Germany and France noted that BA.2.86, the variant nicknamed “Pirola” from which JN.1 evolved, “has regained a trait characteristic of early SARS-CoV-2 lineages: robust lung cell entry. The variant might constitute an elevated health threat as compared to previous Omicron sublineages.”https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/1MGIQxPf0Ig?rel=0An appeal from David North: Donate to the WSWS todayWatch the video message from WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North.DONATE TODAY

The toll on human life from the ongoing wave of mass infection is enormous. It is estimated that one-third of the American population, or over 100 million human beings, will contract COVID-19 during just the current wave. This will likely result in tens of thousands of deaths, many of which will not be properly logged due to the dismantling of COVID-19 testing and data reporting systems in the US. When The Economist last updated its tracker of excess deaths on November 18—before the JN.1 wave began—the cumulative death toll stood at 27.4 million, and nearly 5,000 people were continuing to die each day worldwide.

The current wave will also induce further mass suffering from Long COVID, which has been well known since 2020 to cause a multitude of lingering and often debilitating effects. Just last week, a pre-print study was published in Nature Portfolio showing that COVID-19 infection can cause brain damage akin to aging 20 years. The consequences are mental deficits that induce depression, reduced ability to handle intense emotions, lowered attention span, and impaired ability to retain information.

Other research indicates that the virus can attack the heart, the immune system, digestion and essentially every other critical bodily function. The initial symptoms of COVID-19 might resemble those of the flu, but the reality is that the virus can affect nearly every organ in the body and can do so for years after the initial infection. While vaccination slightly reduces the risks of Long COVID, the full impact of the virus will be felt for generations.

The latest winter wave of infections and hospitalizations takes place just eight months after the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Biden administration ended their COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) declarations without any scientific justification. This initiated the wholesale scrapping of all official response to the pandemic, giving the virus free rein to infect the entire global population ad infinitum.

A virtual blackout of any mention of the coronavirus in the corporate media accompanied the swan song of official reporting. From then on, if illnesses at hospitals or among public figures were referenced at all, it was always with the euphemism “respiratory illness.” The words COVID, coronavirus and pandemic have been all but blacklisted, and the facts about the dangers of the disease have been actively suppressed.

Summarizing the cumulative results of this global assault on public health, the WSWS International Editorial Board wrote in its New Year 2024 statement:

All facts and data surrounding the present state of the pandemic are concealed from the global population, which has instead been subjected to unending lies, gaslighting and propaganda, now shrouded in a veil of silence. There is a systematic cover-up of the real gravity of the crisis, enforced by the government, the corporations, the media and the trade union bureaucracies. Official policy has devolved into simply ignoring, denying and falsifying the reality of the pandemic, no matter what the consequences, as millions are sickened and thousands die globally every day.

In response to the latest wastewater data, there have only been a handful of news articles, most of which have sought to downplay the severity of the current wave and largely ignored the deepening crisis in hospitals.

The official blackout has given rise to an extraordinary contradiction in social life. The reality of mass infection means that everyone knows a friend, neighbor, family member or coworker who is currently or was recently sick, or even hospitalized or killed, by COVID-19. Yet the unrelenting pressure to dismiss the danger of the pandemic means that shopping centers, supermarkets, workplaces and even doctor’s offices and hospitals are full of people not taking the basic and simple precaution of masking to protect themselves. Every visit outside one’s home carries the risk of being infected, with unknown long-term consequences.

As the pandemic enters its fifth year, it is critical to draw the lessons of this world historical experience. The past four years have demonstrated unequivocally that capitalist governments are both unwilling and incapable of fighting this disease. Their primary concern has always been to ensure the unabated accumulation of profits by corporations, no matter the cost in human lives and health.

The real solution to the coronavirus is not to ignore it, but to develop a campaign of elimination and eradication of the virus worldwide. To do so requires the implementation of mask mandates, mass testing and contact tracing, as well as the installation of updated ventilation systems and the safe deployment of Far-UVC technology to halt the spread of the virus. The resources for this global public health program must be expropriated from the banks and financial institutions, which are responsible for the mass suffering wrought by the pandemic.

All of these measures cut directly across the profit motive and the real disease of society: capitalism. As such, the struggle against the coronavirus is not primarily medical or scientific, but political and social. The international working class must be educated on the real dangers of the pandemic and mobilized to simultaneously stop the spread of the disease and put an end to the underlying social order that propagates mass death. This must be developed as a revolutionary struggle to establish world socialism.

[berniesrevolution]

CATALYST JOURNAL

While the uptick in strike activity in 2021 is heartening, its influence should not be exaggerated. The number and extent of job actions was noticeable but still very small by historical standards, and union density continued to decline. A significant labor upsurge might be in the works, but it is not in evidence yet.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis spoke movingly of the workers keeping the world turning in dark times:

People who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines or on the latest television show, yet in these very days are surely shaping the decisive events of our history. Doctors, nurses, storekeepers and supermarket workers, cleaning personnel, caregivers, transport workers, men and women working to provide essential services and public safety, volunteers, priests, men and women religious, and so very many others. They understood that no one is saved alone.1

These workers have done everything we’ve asked of them and more. They have been through hell, particularly those who have risked their health and well-being to care for the sick, educate the young, feed the hungry, and deliver the things the rest of us need to get through this period of grinding uncertainty. Employers, politicians, and talking heads have lauded them as essential workers, but the stark gap between the praise and the grim realities of working life in the United States — which was already miserable for millions before the pandemic — have pushed many to the breaking point. Indeed, record numbers of American workers have quit their jobs in what the media has dubbed the Great Resignation. According to the US Labor Department, 4.5 million workers voluntarily left their jobs in November 2021. The number of monthly quits has exceeded three million since August 2020, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down.2 Job switchers span the employment ladder, but turnover has been largely concentrated in the low-wage service sector, where workers are taking advantage of the very tight labor market to get a better deal for themselves. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, workers with high school diplomas are currently enjoying a faster rate of wage growth than workers with bachelor’s degrees, a remarkable situation that has not occurred in decades.3

Worker discontent is not only finding expression in the form of quitting and job switching. In 2021, we witnessed a modest increase in the frequency and visibility of collective action in the workplace. Tens of thousands of workers, union and nonunion alike, challenged employers through protests and strikes across sectors and in many different geographical regions. Workers in health care and social assistance, education, and transportation and warehousing led the way, but they were joined by workers in hotels and food services, manufacturing, and other industries. Protests and strikes tended to be concentrated in states where labor is relatively stronger, namely California, New York, and Illinois, but some states with low union density, like North Carolina, saw an uptick in labor action, too. Pay increases were easily the most common demand, but health and safety, staffing, and COVID-19 protocols were high on the agenda as well.

The year 2021 was less a strike wave than a strike ripple, and it has not yet resulted in any appreciable increase in unionization. A few trends stand out. The first is that labor protest and strike action were heavily concentrated among unionized groups of workers. Unionized groups of workers accounted for nearly 95% of all estimated participants in labor protests and more than 98% of all estimated participants in strikes. The second is that protests and strikes were concentrated by industry — namely health care and education, which together accounted for roughly 60% of all labor actions. Finally, protests and strikes were heavily concentrated geographically. Just three states with relatively high levels of union density — California, New York, and Illinois — accounted for more than half the total estimated participants in protests and strikes. In short, collective workplace action is by and large taking place where organized labor still retains residual sources of strength. In this context, spreading protest and strike action beyond its current industrial and regional confines depends on unionization in new places.

Conditions conducive to labor action — rising inflation, pandemic-related pressures, and a tight labor market — are likely to persist into 2022, and the Biden administration’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been meaningfully supportive of worker organizing. US labor is probably not on the verge of a historic breakthrough, but in this context, workers may have an opportunity to make modest material and organizational gains.

Making new organizational gains is critical to the fortunes of the labor movement and the reviving US left. The vast majority of the workers involved in strikes and labor protests last year were already members of unions, not unorganized workers looking to unionize. This is why it is so concerning that last year’s uptick in labor action occurred amid a further decline in union density in 2021. The overall rate of union membership stands at 10.3% of the total labor force, while the total number of union members, just over fourteen million in 2021, continues its long decline.4 While some have argued that treating union density as the key measure of labor’s strength is a mistake, it seems clear that, at least in the US context, where union density and union coverage almost entirely overlap, it does provide an effective measurement of working-class power.5

Boosting the level of union density should therefore be among the leading priorities of progressives and socialists in the United States. As the power resources school of welfare state scholars has long argued, the relative strength of the labor movement and its affiliated political parties has been the single most important factor shaping welfare state development over time and across countries. Here in the United States, where we have never had a nationwide social democratic party aligned with a strong labor movement, the weakness of working-class organization is clearly reflected in the fragmentation and stinginess of our welfare state. The state-level wave of attacks on organized labor that began in 2010 have made it that much harder for unions to defend working-class interests and reduce inequality. But the fact that they were able to meaningfully mitigate the growth of inequality, even during the period of neoliberal retrenchment, shows that rebuilding the labor movement needs to be a chief priority of any progressive political agenda.6 The Biden administration’s pro-union stance suggests it understands this. But if it’s unable to act decisively to boost union membership, all the pro-union rhetoric it can muster will ultimately amount to little.

TRACKING LABOR ACTION

Researchers at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) began documenting strikes and labor protests in late 2020. Their ILR Labor Action Tracker provides a database of workplace conflict across the United States, based on information collected from government sources, news reports, organizational press releases, and social media. It counts both strikes and labor protests as “events” but distinguishes between the two. The major distinction between strikes and labor protests, according to this methodology, is whether the workers involved in the event stopped work. If they did, the event is defined as a strike; if they did not, it is defined as a labor protest. The Labor Action Tracker also collects data on a number of additional variables, including employer, labor organization (if applicable), local labor organization (if applicable), industry, approximate number of participants, worker demands, and more.7

ACTION TYPES

In 2021, there were 786 events with 257,086 estimated participants.8 Over 60% of the events were labor protests, while less than 40% were strikes (there was one recorded lockout). Roughly one-third of the estimated number of workers participated in labor protests, while roughly two-thirds participated in strikes. Further, the average number of estimated workers per labor protest (188) was significantly smaller than the average number of estimated workers per strike (553, see Table 1 for details).

DURATION

Neither labor protests nor strikes tended to last very long, which tracks with the generally sharp decline in strike duration in recent decades.9 Labor protests in particular were very short affairs. Of the labor protests with a start and end date, 96% lasted for just one day or less. Strikes also tended to have a short duration, but they typically did not end as quickly as protests. Of the strikes with a start and end date, one-third lasted for one day or less. Roughly two-thirds of strikes (68%) ended within a week, and over 90% ended within thirty days. One strike stands out for its unusually long duration: a 701-day strike by United Auto Workers (UAW) members against a metallurgical company in Pennsylvania, which began in September 2019 and ended in August 2021.

INDUSTRIES

An informed observer will not be surprised by which industries saw the largest number of labor action events (Table 2). The leading two industries by far were health care and social assistance and education, which are both highly unionized and have been subjected to enormous pressures during the pandemic. Together, they accounted for nearly 40% of the total labor protests and strikes. These industries also comprised over 60% of the overall number of estimated labor action participants — health care with 41.5% of the estimated participants, education with 18.8%. The overrepresentation of health care and education workers becomes even starker when we compare this to their employment shares in the overall labor force. In 2020, these two industries accounted for 16.3% of total nonfarm employment — health care with a 13.8% share and education with 2.3%.10 Put another way, the share of health care workers in 2021 labor actions was roughly three times larger than their share in the nonfarm labor force, while the share of education workers was more than eight times as large.

These two pace-setting industries were followed by a second tier of industries including transportation and warehousing, accommodation and food services, and manufacturing. It is not surprising to see these listed among the most turbulent industries, as they contain a mix of highly unionized employers and nonunion employers that have become a major focus of labor organizing activity, namely Amazon — the most frequently targeted employer, with twelve total labor actions — which was the target of twice as many labor actions as McDonald’s, the second-most targeted employer.

The industrial distribution of labor protests generally follows the overall distribution of labor action, with the notable exception of manufacturing, which saw far more strikes than protests. While the health care industry did not experience the largest number of strikes, it accounts for more than half of estimated strike participants (53%). Workers in education (12.4%) and manufacturing (16%) also accounted for outsize shares of the estimated number of participants.

(Continue Reading)

[raleigh-in-the-garden]

Eight more people have died of the flu in North Carolina, bringing the season total to 30 flu deaths.

[mint-moon25]

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MOISTURE - WEATHER - LIKE - 175 - DEGREES FL -

HEAT - SHORT - BURSTS - OF - STRESS EXAMPLE -

INTERMITTENT - FASTING

ONCE - PER - DAY - 12P - UNTIL - 6P

WHEN - U - EAT - NOT - WHAT - YOU - EAT

START - 12P - AS - MUCH - AS - U - CAN - 2

18 HRS - OF - FASTING - REMOVAL - OF -

POISON - FR - OUR - BODIES - TOXINS -

REMOVED - ANOTHER - STRESS - THE -

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I'M - MADE - A - DECISION - GOING - 2B -

ALSO - AN - ARCHITECT - AS - WE - ARE -

GBC - FILM - TV - STUDIOS

TAKESHI - FILM - TV - STUDIOS

PLACES - THAT - NEED - BUILT MY PART

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PARIS - FRANCE - CITY OVER - 2,000 -

YEARS OLD - MAKATI - EST - 67,000 -

YEARS - WE'RE - GOING - BACK - IN -

TIME - JOSEON - OVER - 125 YRS - AGO -

GOREA - OVER - 1,000 YRS - OLD - YES -

THE - ARCHITECT - OF - THEIR HOUSES -

PALACES - BUT - HISTORICALLY - MORE -

ACCURATE - PARIS - FRANCE - SEWERS -

MOST - AUTHENTIC CLOTHES - LIKE -

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VIOLENT SHOOTERS - FR PUBLIC SCHOOLS -

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MIAMI - FLORIDA - FL

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SNOW - AREAS - STRESSORS - UNDER

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MIAMI - LOWS - OF - 27 DEGREES BOTH

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WE - HAVE - THE - SOLUTION

VOLCANIC - MOISTURE - WEATHER OF

PILIPINAS - LOTS - OF - SWEAT - BUT

DURING - AND - AFTER - OR - BEFORE

COCONUT - JUICE - WITHOUT - PULP

AFTER - WITH - PULP

COV-ID 19 - OUR - WEATHER - AND -

COCONUTS - THE - SOLUTION BUT -

WHAT - DID - OTHERS - ADD - 2 - US -

WE - HAVE - DEATHS - ALSO -

6 FT - SOCIAL - DISTANCING -

THAT - WAS - WHAT - WE - JUST -

LEARNED - THAT's - IT

SO - BAHAY - KUBO - MUST - HAVE -

ALSO - SAUNA - SO - WE - STAY YES -

INDOORS - 4 - THE - POOR - GO OUT -

THERE - SO - WHEN - EVERYONE -

TOLD - U 2 - STAY - INDOORS - IN -

AIR CONDITIONING - AND - AC - ALSO -

PRODUCES - ASTHMA - HARD - 2 - YES -

BREATHE

STAYING - INDOORS - AS - PILIPINAS -

WAS - THE - WORST - ORDER - FOR A -

SAUNA - WAS - THE - SOLUTION AND -

AS - RICH - ALL - KIDS - HAVE - THEIR -

OWN - BATHROOM - 4 - THOSE - WITH -

COV-ID 19 - MUST - HAVE - THEIR OWN -

DAHIL - CONTAGEOUS

SO - DURING - WORLD - PANDEMIC -

6 FT - SOCIAL - DISTANCING - YES -

BUT - REMAINING - OUTDOORS - 2 -

SWEAT - FR - INTENSE - VOLCANIC -

HEAT - DRINKING - COCONUT JUICE -

WITHOUT PULP - THEN - AFTER -

WITH - PULP - WAS - SOLUTION -

CORONAVIRUS - UNDER BIBLE -

'LEADERS - INSTEAD - OF - FOLLOWERS -

OF - NATIONS' - LARGE - POPULATIONS -

USA - OVER - 333 MILLION - THEIR YES -

DEATHS - OVER - 1 MILLION

BRICKELL - CITY - CENTRE - SAID

'YOU'RE - NOT - ALLOWED - 2 TAKE -

SHOWER - IN - THEIR - RESTROOM' -

'PRIVATE - PROPERTY'

WHEN - AMERICANS - WHY - THEY -

DIED OF CORONAVIRUS - BECAUSE -

AS - INDEPENDENT - FR - FAMILIES -

THEY - NEVER - SHOWERED - IN THE -

APTS - THEY - LIVED - IN - ILLEGALLY -

THEY - WENT - 2 - WORK - WITHOUT -

SHOWERING - ONLY - EVENTUALLY -

DID - BECAUSE - ITCHINESS - THEN -

THEY - SHOWERED - THAT - IS - WHY -

DIED - OF - COV-ID 19 - THEIR LACK -

OF - SHOWER - SO - THEY - SAID - I -

TOOK - SHOWER - IN - THEIR - RESTROOM -

BLK - MALE - SECURITY - SAID - BECAUSE -

I - BROUGHT - LUGGAGE - AS - PILIPINAS -

THEY - HAVE - TUMI - LUGGAGE - FIRST -

FLOOR - BECAUSE - DIDN'T - BUY - THAT -

I - WAS BANGED - ON - RESTROOM -

DISABLED - BECAUSE - 'PRIVATE -

PROPERTY' - SAID - 9P - CLOSED -

GOOGLE - SEARCH

MALICE - SLANDER - PERJURY -

$750,000 - MAX - FINE - AND OR -

IMPRISONMENT

TACOLOGY

CUBAN - CUISINE

SUSHI

CLOSES - 1A EDT

CMX - FILM - THEATRE - 10:30P - FINAL - SHOW

CASA - TUA - CUCINA - ITALIAN

9:30A - 10:30P - DAILY - THEY'VE

GOT - OWN - RESTROOMS

SO - BRICKELL - CITY - CENTRE

PRAY - DEUT 28 - CURSES - FOR

UNWELCOMING - PHILIPPINES I

ALREADY - SHOOK - DUST FROM

MY - FEET - 2023 - LAST - YEAR

OF - 67,000 - MEDICAL HISTORY

NOW - TOPLESS - DANCERS

TOPLESS - SINGERS

TOPLESS - VEILED - BELLY DANCER

TOPLESS - COCKTAIL - WAITTRESS

WHY LESBIANS - LESBIANS - WARNING

MEN - MARRIED - 2 - MEN - WHY - WHY

GOD - CREATED - US - NAKED - WHEN

WE - WERE - BORN

ADAM - AND - EVE - NAKED - CLOUDS

COVERED - THEIR - BODIES

WATER - CONSERVATION - WHEN

NAKED - BECAUSE - FEMALES - R

MOST - BEAUTIFUL - AS - NAKED

CLOTHES - ALSO - COVERS OUR

BEAUTY - WHILE - WE'RE - YOUNG

AND - BREATHTAKING - ALSO OUR

BODIES - NEED - 2 - BREATHE - SO

BEING - SINGLE - HOLIEST - LIVING

TOPLESS - JOBS - IS - A - RELEASE

FROM - COVERED - BY - EVIL - YES

HUMANS - HARRASSING - AND OR

DEGRADING - FEMALE - RACE - AS

UNITED STATES

TYRANT - OPPRESSIVE

NOT - 'LIFE - LIBERTY - AND PURSUIT

OF - HAPPINESS'

UNITED STATES - AGE 245

'LIES - LIES - LIES'

'LAND - OF - THE - FREE'

'HOME - OF - THE - AMERICAN INDIAN

BRAVE' - TORTURE - ABUSE - LIFE - IN

THE - UNITED STATES - THEY - TRIED 2

SHOOT - ME - AFTER - MY - BIRTHDAY

TODAY - AT - BRICKELL - CITY CENTRE

MIAMI - FLORIDA - FL - EIGHT STREET

DR JOSE RIZAL

MANILA - 3 BOILED EGGS - LAST MEAL

EXECUTED BY SPAIN - RIFFLE - SHOTS

NOT - A - NATIONAL - HERO OF THE

REPUBLIC - OF - THE - PHILIPPINES

[americanmysticom]

Covid-19 was an act of biological warfare perpetrated on the human race

THIS WAS PREMEDITATED DOMESTIC TERRORISM!

THIS IS AN ACT OF BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL WARFARE!

ADMITTED TO, IN WRITING, THAT THIS WAS A FINANCIAL HEIST, FINANCIAL FRAUD

THE PATENT WAS FILED IN 1990 !

THE SCIENCE IS THAT VACCINES DO NOT WORK AGAINST CORONAVIRUS

INFECTIOUS REPLICATION WEAPONIZED AND PATENTED IN 2002, A VIRUS DEVELOPED IN NORTH CAROLINA

This is the most important video you will watch this year.

Millions were killed with Covid-19 for profit. “Covid-19 was an act of biological warfare perpetrated on the human race. It was a financial heist. Nature was hijacked. Science was hijacked.”

Kim Dotcom@kimdotcomowns

https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1661698114917646336?s=20

View on CloudDrive; https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZ4UVEVZx8LnaTJeI5F6iX10KPiTOhsIyJIV

[Nuremberg never saw these numbers. Where is Nuremberg today?]

https://www.secretdonttell.com/shop/

[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.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Coronavirus vaccines, once free, are now pricey for uninsured people - Published Sept 3, 2024

As updated coronavirus vaccines hit U.S. pharmacy shelves, adults without health insurance are discovering the shots are no longer free, instead costing up to $200.

The federal Bridge Access Program covering the cost of coronavirus vaccines for uninsured and underinsured people ran out of funding. Now, Americans with low incomes are weighing whether they can afford to shore up immunity against an unpredictable virus that is no longer a public health emergency but continues to cause long-term complications and hospitalizations and kill tens of thousands of people a year.

The program’s elimination marks the latest tear in a safety net that once ensured people could protect themselves against the coronavirus regardless of their financial situation. Health experts worry that the paltry 22 percent rate of adults staying up-to-date on vaccines will erode further. And they fear that the roughly 25 million people without health insurance in the nation will be especially vulnerable to covid because they tend to be in poorer health and avoid medical care when sick.

Nicole Savant, a 33-year-old part-time paralegal and dog walker, lost her Medicaid benefits last year when her income rose. She wants the latest shot because she knows people who died of covid before the vaccines became available and because she faces a higher risk of severe disease being overweight.

She was floored when she was quoted $201.99 at an appointment to receive the vaccine at a St. Louis-area CVS. She wasn’t sure if she even had that much money in her bank account.

“I have so little money, and I have other needs as well, like monthly medications,” said Savant, who doubts she will get the vaccine if she has to pay out of pocket. “I would hope for the best, which I really don’t want to do.”

At least 34 million doses of last year’s vaccine were administered to adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 1.5 million were funded through the Bridge Access Program, which was originally set to end this December, allowing vaccinations ahead of the usual winter wave.

But it expired ahead of schedule because Congress rescinded $6.1 billion in coronavirus emergency spending authority as part of a deal to avert a government shutdown. Congress also declined to fund the Biden administration’s proposal for a Vaccines for Adults program that could provide routine immunizations, including for the coronavirus, for free, similar to an existing Vaccines for Children program.

Private insurers, along with the Medicare and Medicaid government programs, are required to pay for coronavirus vaccines. The Bridge Access Program offered a backup option for people encountering insurance snags.

The CDC said it identified an additional $62 million to buy coronavirus vaccines targeting the latest variants for distribution through state and local health agencies — which local officials say is a sliver of the overall need. CDC spokeswoman Jasmine Reed said the partnership with state and local officials can provide shots to 1 million insured and underinsured Americans.

Raynard Washington, who leads the Mecklenburg County health department in North Carolina, said it’s difficult for financially strapped health agencies to tap their own funds for coronavirus vaccines. Under CDC contracts, health officials spend $78 a dose for the vaccine from the drug company Moderna and pay $100 for the version from Pfizer-BioNTech, compared with $15 to $20 for flu shots.

Washington, who also leads the Big Cities Health Coalition, an organization representing metropolitan health departments, said vaccine manufacturers should charge health departments less to help vaccinate more people without insurance.

“What’s at stake is we are reverting back to a system where a person’s financial ability to be able to pay will determine their ability to be healthy,” Washington said.

Pfizer and Moderna said their vaccines would be available through patient assistance programs that offer free vaccines, but spokespeople did not offer details on the scope and eligibility of those programs. Novavax, whose vaccine was approved by regulators last week, said it does not have a patient assistance program for the upcoming fall season. Moderna and Novavax did not respond to questions about the rate they charge health officials. Pfizer defended its pricing practices.

“Pfizer has priced the vaccine to ensure the price is consistent with the value delivered and with the goal of uninterrupted access for every American,” the company said in a statement provided by spokesman Kit Longley.

Community health centers that often provide low-cost care to uninsured people administered 24 million shots when the federal government provided them, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers. Now, the facilities will have to scale back those programs and rely on local health officials for vaccines, some of whom would have little to share, said Luis Padilla, the association’s chief health officer.

“This country doesn’t provide enough for public health infrastructure and resources,” Padilla said.

The approval of updated coronavirus vaccines on Aug. 22 sent some Americans dashing to get shots before the end of the month. The CDC webpage about the Bridge Access Program, until Friday, said it ended in August without making clear it funded only the previous vaccines, which could no longer be administered after the new shots were authorized.

Adrianna Ruiz, 32, and their girlfriend showed up Wednesday to a CVS appointment in Atlanta hoping to get vaccinated before a Labor Day weekend cross-country road trip to California to help a friend with cancer move their belongings.

Ruiz lost insurance after getting laid off from a nonprofit job in July but believed the vaccine would be free based on the CDC website. But a CVS employee confirmed the program was no longer in effect. Ruiz gets about $300 in weekly unemployment benefits.

“If I want to eat and pay bills, then I can’t afford to pay $200,” Ruiz said.

Instead of getting new shots, Ruiz looked up options to enroll in subsidized insurance plans during the road trip. And the precautions they are embracing on the journey, including taking a PCR test before embarking, wearing N95 respiratory masks at gas stations and packing lunches to eat on picnic blankets in parks, have become more urgent.

Shannon Donnell, a critical care nurse in New York, plans to eat the out-of-pocket costs of an updated coronavirus vaccine. She works on contract without health benefits and said the plans she qualified for through the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace were too costly with $500 monthly premiums and a $5,000 deductible.

She believes in the urgency of vaccines after watching covid patients die while she worked in Manhattan during the devastating surge in spring 2020 and later cared for unvaccinated patients struggling to breathe in a Texas covid intensive care unit right as the shots arrived. Coronavirus patients no longer flood the intensive care units where she now works, but when they arrive, they are often immunocompromised or unvaccinated.

“It feels like health-care workers are still being left to fend for ourselves in many ways,” Donnell, 48, said. “No one is stepping up to say, ‘Hey, I’ll cover that for you’ before you go into your shift of covering covid patients.”

The Bridge Access Program also extended an opportunity for free coronavirus vaccines to international visitors and undocumented immigrants, who have limited health insurance options.

Vasu, a 56-year-old undocumented and uninsured immigrant in Chicago, hoped to get vaccinated again after hearing about friends getting sick, including one in his 30s whose symptoms lasted for months, and after the outbreak at the Democratic National Convention. A friend offered to pay for her vaccine when Vasu lamented in a Facebook message that the end of the Bridge Access Program left her “screwed.”

“We are talking about a large group of people who are going to lose access or are too nervous about accessing vaccines,” said Vasu, who spoke on the condition she be identified only by a middle name to avoid the scrutiny of immigration authorities. “The government keeps saying it’s your responsibility to be vaccinated. But you are not making it easy.”

The changing landscape for the coronavirus vaccine stands in stark contrast to 2021 and 2022 when free shots were widely distributed. But the urgency of vaccination has subsided as the virus’s toll lessens now that nearly every American has built up immunity from previous infections or shots and hospitals are no longer overwhelmed. People 65 and older, who are at the highest risk of severe illness and death, qualify for free vaccines through Medicare.

Still, health officials recommend young and middle-aged adults receive updated coronavirus vaccines because most Americans have risk factors for complications and because the vaccine reduces the threat of the lingering debilitating symptoms of long covid.

Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs at the National Association of County and City Health Officials, said the success of the early distribution of coronavirus vaccines “showed us what can be done when you make vaccines accessible and easy to get.”

“But that shifted now,” she added. “We are back to the traditional health-care system we’ve had, and the struggles we’ve had in that health-care system.”

[newstfionline]

Monday, November 25, 2024

Large Swath of US Faces Power Supply Risk During Extreme Cold (Bloomberg) The entire US Northeast faces an elevated threat of electricity shortages this winter in case of extreme cold weather, in part due to limited capacity on natural gas pipelines that supply power plants. All US regions have sufficient electricity supplies to meet their needs in normal weather conditions, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said Thursday in its annual winter reliability assessment. But harsh weather could threaten energy reserves across a broad swath of the country, from the Northeast to the Midwest and Texas. Prolonged cold can cause power plants to break down even as electricity demand soars, while short days with low winds can slash renewable generation. The Northeast, according to NERC, faces the added problem of limited natural gas pipeline capacity hampering the ability of power plants to burn more of the fuel when needed. In last year’s winter assessment, only New England was flagged for pipeline constraints—now, the problem extends as far west as Chicago and as far south as North Carolina.

The rising price of paying the national debt is a risk for Trump’s promises on growth and inflation (AP) Donald Trump has big plans for the economy—and a big debt problem that will be a hurdle to delivering on them. Trump has bold ideas on tax cuts, tariffs and other programs, but high interest rates and the price of repaying the federal government’s existing debt could limit what he’s able to do. Not only is the federal debt at roughly $36 trillion, but the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will easily exceed spending on national security. The higher cost of servicing the debt gives Trump less room to maneuver with the federal budget as he seeks income tax cuts. It’s also a political challenge because higher interest rates have made it costlier for many Americans to buy a home or new automobile. And the issue of high costs helped Trump reclaim the presidency in November’s election.

Can RFK Jr make America's diet healthy again? (BBC) Robert F Kennedy Jr has set his sights on changing how Americans eat and drink. From the dyes in Fruit Loops cereal to seed oils in chicken nuggets, Kennedy—who is President-elect Trump's choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services—has long spoken out against ingredients that he says hurt Americans' health. “We are betraying our children by letting [food] industries poison them,” Kennedy said at a rally in November, after he had ended his independent presidential bid and backed Donald Trump. But if Kennedy hopes to target junk food, he will first have to shake up the country's food regulations—and run up against Big Food. “What he's suggesting is taking on the food industry,” said former New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle. “Will Trump back him up on that? I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Afraid of losing the US-Canada trade pact, Mexico alters its laws and removes Chinese parts (AP) Mexico has been taking a bashing lately for allegedly serving as a conduit for Chinese parts and products into North America, and officials here are afraid a re-elected Donald Trump or politically struggling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could try to leave their country out of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement. Mexico’s ruling Morena party is so afraid of losing the trade deal that President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday the government has gone on a campaign to get companies to replace Chinese parts with locally made ones. While Sheinbaum claimed Mexico had been working on that effort since t he 2021 global supply chain crisis—when factories around the world were stalled by a lack of parts and particularly computer chips from Asia—it appears to be an uphill battle. Even the United States has faced big challenges in moving chip production back home despite billions in subsidies and incentives.

Haiti wonders what’s next as gang violence surges and UN peacekeeping mission flops (AP) When Kenyan police arrived in Haiti as part of a U.N.-backed mission earlier this year to tackle gang violence, hopes were high. Coordinated gang attacks on prisons, police stations and the main international airport had crippled the country’s capital and forced the prime minister to resign, plunging Haiti into an unprecedented crisis. But the crisis has only deepened since the international policing contingent arrived. The main international airport closed for the second time this year after gangs opened fire on commercial flights in mid-November, striking a flight attendant. Gunmen also are attacking once-peaceful communities to try and seize control of the entire capital, taking advantage of political infighting that led to the abrupt dismissal of the prime minister earlier this month. Now, a new prime minister is tasked with turning around a nation that sees no escape from its troubles as Haitians wonder: How did the country reach this point?

US bribery and fraud charges are a big test yet for India’s Adani, one of Asia’s richest men (AP) Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, one of Asia’s richest men, may be facing his biggest challenge yet with an indictment by U.S. prosecutors for alleged fraud and bribery. But it’s unclear just how the case will affect his businesses and own future—as well as the Indian economy and government. Adani, a major power player in India perceived as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was charged Wednesday with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud at a court in Brooklyn, New York. The test for the tycoon and his multibillion dollar empire spawning everything from energy and ports to media and agriculture, comes just after the 62-year-old founder and his sprawling business empire had bounced back after losing more than $60 billion in market value in early 2023 following allegations of stock price manipulation and fraud by the short-selling firm Hindenburg Research. It also raises questions about corporate governance and crony capitalism in India’s economy, which Modi has vowed to make the world’s third largest, intensifying scrutiny on the outsized influence of large, family-run conglomerates. Asia’s richest man is another Indian billionaire, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries.

Russia says US using Taiwan to stir crisis in Asia (Reuters) The United States is using Taiwan to provoke a serious crisis in Asia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told TASS news agency in remarks published on Sunday, reiterating Moscow's backing of China's stance on Taiwan. "We see that Washington, in violation of the 'one China' principle that it recognises, is strengthening military-political contacts with Taipei under the slogan of maintaining the 'status quo', and increasing arms supplies," Rudenko told the state news agency. "The goal of such obvious U.S. interference in the region's affairs is to provoke the PRC (People's Republic of China) and generate a crisis in Asia to suit its own selfish interests." China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim that Taiwan's government rejects.

Israeli Strike in the Heart of Beirut Kills at Least 20 (NYT) An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Beirut killed at least 20 people on Saturday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, part of an intensifying Israeli military campaign that appears aimed at pressuring Hezbollah into a cease-fire deal. The strike was an attempt to assassinate a top Hezbollah military commander, Mohammad Haidar, according to three Israeli defense officials who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations. Hezbollah officials on Saturday afternoon said that none of the group’s leaders were at the site of the airstrike, and later in the day, one of the Israeli officials said Mr. Haidar was not killed. The death toll in the latest strike was expected to rise, and at least 66 people were injured, according to the Health Ministry. The strike came just after 4 a.m., jolting Beirut residents awake with thundering explosions that left much of the city enveloped in acrid smoke. It was the third strike this week in central Beirut, an area that had largely been spared since the war between Hezbollah and Israel escalated.

War fatigue deepens in Israel as deaths mount and fighting expands (Washington Post) Ari Krauss, a reservist in the Israeli military’s elite Golani Brigade, said he spent his days inside Gaza exploding underground tunnels. At night, he recalled, he would join the other fathers in uniform on a sandy hill, trying to get enough cellphone bars to FaceTime his infant daughter. His day job seemed like a distant memory. Early in the war, the brigade sent a letter to his company apologizing for drafting him but committing to no date for his full return. Being a soldier, the letter made clear, was now his main calling. Krauss’s situation, or some version of it, is shared by some 80,000 Israeli reservists who are planning to leave, or have already left, families, jobs and studies to serve on the front lines of Israel’s grinding wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Increasingly, some are choosing not to report for duty, putting further strain on an overextended military amid an ever-widening regional war. Nadav Shoshani, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said in a briefing last week that the army’s enlistment numbers are down by about 15 percent since the period after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. More than 800 soldiers have been killed since October 2023. “Wherever you look—the economic crisis, the toll on the reservists and their families, and of course the dead and the wounded—Israeli society is definitely at the edge of its capacity,” said Gayil Talshir, a political analyst at Hebrew University.

More aid workers have been killed in 2024 than in any other year, UN says (AP) More aid workers, health care staffers, delivery personnel and other humanitarians have been killed in 2024 than in any other single year, the United Nations reported Friday. Bloodshed in the Middle East has been the single-biggest cause of the 281 deaths among humanitarians globally this year, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Humanitarians “are working courageously and selflessly in places like Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon, Ukraine and so on. They show the best humanity has to offer, and they are getting killed in return—in record numbers,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said. A total of 268 of the humanitarians killed—including from non-U.N. organizations like the Red Cross and Red Crescent—were national staff, while 13 were international staff.

Giving thanks (AP) It’s the season of giving thanks, and being in the mood for gratitude shapes who we are as a species and how we connect with the people around us. “This is something that is part of our human DNA,” said Sarah Schnitker, a psychologist at Baylor University. “It is a glue, in a sense, that holds us together.” Giving thanks might be good for you, too: A 2016 study found that people who wrote letters of gratitude reported better mental health and saw changes in their brain activity—even months down the line. But researcher Jenae Nelson pointed out that recognizing the giver, not just the gift, is key. So, if Thanksgiving has you in a mood for gratitude, she suggested focusing on thanking the people in your life, rather than just making “gratitude lists” of the stuff you have. “It’s not just about stuff and materialism,” Nelson said. “It’s about relationships, and the things that people do for you, and then the things that you can in turn do back for other people.”

[pscottm]

NYTimes: Armed Man Arrested After Reportedly Threatening FEMA Workers

Armed Man Arrested After Reportedly Threatening FEMA Workers https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/us/fema-threats-arrest-north-carolina.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/us/fema-threats-arrest-north-carolina.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

A person with Mr. Parsons’ name and age has faced misdemeanor criminal charges in the past, court records show, including a charge in 2004 of communicating threats, which North Carolina prosecutors later dropped. Social media pages that appear to be run by Mr. Parsons feature messages supporting Mr. Trump and opposing coronavirus vaccines. One of the posts from 2020 shows the logo of the Three Percenters right-wing militia group and the message “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion is order.”

[stevishabitat]

CNN: Waffle House employee killed after customer becomes irate, police say

A Waffle House employee was shot and killed after a customer became angry while waiting for his food to be prepared, police said.

The customer became “agitated and verbally abusive” toward employees at a Waffle House in Laurinburg, North Carolina, on Friday night, according to a police statement posted on Facebook.

After the customer was given his food, he started walking toward his car, before turning around and firing two shots, police said.The man then fled, authorities said.

Police are still searching for the suspect.

An 18-year-old Waffle House employee was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead, the statement said.

This incident follows a number of disputes that have turned fatal at restaurants.

A Subway worker was shot and killed in 2022 after a dispute over too much mayo, authorities said at the time. A McDonald’s employee was also shot in 2020 after telling a customer to leave due to coronavirus restrictions at the time.

[raleighwaterproofinginc]

How COVID-19 Impacts The Waterproofing Industry in North Carolina

The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted various sectors, including the waterproofing industry in North Carolina. As health and safety become top priorities, companies like Raleigh Waterproofing, Inc. are adapting to ensure employee and customer well-being.

While immediate effects on waterproofing projects may be minimal, delays could arise from workforce availability and supply chain disruptions. The pandemic’s impact on the construction industry could potentially affect building supply deliveries, particularly for imported goods.

Despite these challenges, the need for waterproofing remains essential. With the real estate market experiencing a temporary slowdown, now might be an opportune time to address waterproofing needs before selling or purchasing property. Lower interest rates make it a favorable period for scheduling projects.

Raleigh Waterproofing, Inc. is committed to providing top-notch waterproofing services while prioritizing safety.

Visit: The Waterproofing Industry in North Carolina.