Post by mhbruin on Dec 26, 2021 9:23:48 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 500 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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Happy Boxing Day!
I don't know what this British holiday is, either, but it's a slow news day.
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It's About Time the Previous Guy Did Something About Lazy People Who Live Off of Government Handouts
Donald Trump's golf courses and leisure businesses in Scotland claimed over £3m in UK government furlough money, newly-published accounts show.
Covid restrictions caused substantial losses at Trump resorts in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire with both companies reducing staff.
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Economists Like to Say the Stock Market is Efficient
A number of upstart electric vehicle makers' stock prices soared in recent years, as investors looked for the next company to shake up the car market. But all have struggled recently -- as has Tesla (TSLA) itself.
Lucid, which started trading on the Nasdaq in July after a SPAC deal, had its share of good news: Its first car, the Lucid Air, won MotorTrend Car of the Year honors and was certified as having a range of 520 miles on a single charge, the longest of any EV. But company has also disclosed it faces subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission about some of its claims and the SPAC deal, and shares are down from a November 16 peak.
Electric truck maker Rivian had a huge hit with its November IPO, and it also won MotorTrend Truck of the Year honors. Rivian won the race to be the first all-electric pickup to reach market. Shares shot up 29% from the IPO price on its first day of trading, and gained another 71% over the next week.
Rivian was briefly the third-most-valuable automaker on the planet, behind only Tesla and Toyota, despite having yet to report any sales when it went public. When it finally reported its first sales on December 16 they fell short of expectations, and the company cited the same chip and parts shortages dogging the rest of the auto industry. Shares closed Thursday down 44% from that pre-report high, and the sales report proved to be a headwind for Lucid shares as well.
Even Tesla, which earlier this year became only the sixth company to reach a $1 trillion market value, has encountered recent troubles. Shares sank as much as 27% from an all-time high set on November 4 through Tuesday -- before a late-week rally lifted it back above the $1 trillion mark. Still, it is trading 13% below its all-time peak.
Part of the recent problem for EV stocks is the apparent demise of the Biden administration's Build Back Better bill, which had a number of goodies for the EV industry, including enhanced tax credits for buyers that would have allowed automakers to charge more for the vehicles. Build Back Better also includes money for a network of rapid charging stations, which would have answered potential EV buyers' concerns about running out of juice while on the road.
Sometimes the Market is Just Dumb
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About Those New "Great" Anti-COVID Pills, Use Them With Caution.
As the omicron surge pummels a pandemic-weary nation, the first antiviral pills for Covid-19 promise desperately needed protection for people at risk of severe disease. However, many people prescribed Pfizer’s or Merck’s new medications will require careful monitoring by doctors and pharmacists, and the antivirals may not be safe for everyone, experts caution.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s Paxlovid for mild to moderate Covid in people as young as 12 who have underlying conditions that raise the risk of hospitalization and death from the coronavirus, such as heart disease or diabetes. However, one of the two drugs in the antiviral cocktail could cause severe or life-threatening interactions with widely used medications, including statins, blood thinners and some antidepressants. And the FDA does not recommend Paxlovid for people with severe kidney or liver disease.
Because of experts’ concerns about the potential side effects of Merck’s molnupiravir, the FDA has restricted its use to adults and only in scenarios in which other authorized treatments, including monoclonal antibodies, are inaccessible or are not “clinically appropriate.”
Plus, Most Doctors Won't Be Able to Spell "molnupiravir" for a Prescription.
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About Those New "Great" Anti-COVID Pills
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Maybe We Should Call the Previous Guy and His Followers "The Boys Named Sue, Sue, Sue"
Former President Donald Trump's current spokesman Taylor Budowich has sued the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol over access to his financial records.
Budowich said he complied with the committee, "including sitting for a four-hour deposition on December 22nd," and then returned home the following day to a notice from his bank, JPMorgan Chase, saying they’d be handing his records to the committee unless he is successful in legally blocking the subpoena by 5 p.m. on Dec. 24.
“Budowich complied with the subpoena, producing more than 1,700 pages of documents and providing roughly four hours of sworn testimony," states the lawsuit, filed Friday. It's unclear whether the bank has already turned over the records as the lawsuit came on the same day as JPMorgan Chase's deadline.
In addition to the panel, Budowich also sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and JPMorgan Chase, according to the lawsuit obtained by NBC News.
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The "Texas Civil Rights Project" Is to Help White People? White People Can Get Screwed, Too.
The Cavazos family got an early present at the beginning of December, when land seized by the previous administration for its border wall was returned to them by the Biden administration.
The land, located along the Rio Grande near Mission, Texas, had belonged to the family for generations when it was taken from them by the previous administration in 2018, Border Report said.
“The family thought that Trump leaving office meant this legal battle would end, but their property was still seized earlier this year for border wall construction,” the report continued. But finally this December, the land was returned by the Biden administration, Texas Civil Rights Project said. The organization has represented the family in court.
“Now that we have successfully stopped the construction of a needless and wasteful border wall on their property, Ms. Cavazos and her family will be able to continue their quiet and fulfilling life beside the Rio Grande,”
They Stole This Land From the Indigenous, Fair and Square!
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You Can't Pick Your Family
My nephew, who isn't vaccinated, had a fever. He went to a Christmas party and did nothing to protect his QANON wife or his college-age daughter who got vaccinated in secret. They all have COVID.
I am having a hard time wishing him well.
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Like I Said, Vaccines Don't Provide Immunity. They Provide Resistance to the Disease.
Readministration of influenza vaccine has become an annual event for much of the population, in response to both waning immunity and the appearance of variants, termed antigenic drift, necessitating updated vaccines. Even when there is no substantial drift, revaccination is recommended because of waning immunity. But antigenic drift is a constant issue and is monitored globally, with vaccine composition updated globally twice a year on the basis of recommendations from a World Health Organization consultation….Vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed symptomatic infection is never higher than 50 to 60%, and in some years it is much lower. Thus, the value of influenza vaccines, now given to as many as 70% of people in some age groups, lies not in eliminating outbreaks but in reducing them and preventing severe complications.
Though there may be similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza, there are also meaningful differences. The most obvious difference is the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, which is currently much higher than we can achieve with influenza vaccines. Whether that degree of efficacy will continue is one of the many open questions that can only be answered over time. It is clear, however, that revaccination will be necessary, for the same reasons that influenza revaccination is necessary: antigenic variation and waning immunity. Data on the frequency of reinfection with seasonal coronaviruses may not be relevant, but they suggest that protection is relatively short term even after natural infection.5 Revaccination frequency and consequences will need to be determined.
Let us hope that certain problems with the influenza vaccine — such as the failure of vaccination, in some years, to produce the desired increase in protection in previously vaccinated people — do not occur with the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Other issues, such as the variant to be targeted by vaccines, will need to be addressed. The successful public–private collaboration in selecting influenza strains offers a model for dealing with such issues. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines will be used globally, and the strain or strains contained in future vaccines will need to be chosen globally, in consultation with the manufacturers.
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It's Not Only Taylor Swift Who Leaves Her Christmas Lights Up 'Til January
It’s high time we stop judging people who leave their Christmas trees up long after Jan. 1. In fact, if you’re a traditionalist, you’ll leave that tree up for nearly two weeks after Christmas Day.
In fact, you don’t have to take it down until Jan. 6.—not the day you’re thinking of, but Feast of Epiphany or Dia de Los Reyes Magos.
Just think about the song, “The 12 Days of Christmas.” Contrary to what most people think, that 12 days doesn’t actually start until Dec. 25, Christmas Day. The last day is Jan. 6, marking the day when the three kings (aka the three wise men) arrived in Bethlehem and brought the baby Jesus gifts.
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A Liar? The Previous Guy Would Be Proud of Him
A Central Point, Oregon father of four who wished President Joe Biden and the first lady a wonderful Christmas and added “Let’s go, Brandon,” at the end of a live streamed Santa tracker call told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he didn’t intend his parting message to be vulgar.
“At the end of the day, I have nothing against Mr. Biden, but I am frustrated because I think he can be doing a better job,” said Jared Schmeck, 35, who works for an electric company and was previously a Medford police officer for six years until he resigned in July 2018. “I mean no disrespect to him.”
Schmeck said he’s not a “Trumper,” but described himself as “free-thinking American and follower of Jesus Christ.”
Another Freeloader
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Maybe Gerry (Mander) and the District Makers Hasn't Been So Bad
The Democratic House majority was supposed to die in redistricting. For months now, pundits and political forecasters have predicted that Republicans could win back the House next year without flipping a single voter. After all, the GOP controls far more state governments than the Democrats, and this is a post-Census year, when states redraw their congressional maps. Republicans boast sole authority over the boundaries of 193 congressional districts, while Democrats command just 94. Given the slimness of Nancy Pelosi’s majority, several analyses projected that GOP cartographers would generate enough new, safe “red” seats to retake the House through gerrymandering alone.
The new House map is more than half finished. And in many states where maps haven’t been finalized, the broad outlines are already visible. Taken together, the emerging picture is far more favorable for Democrats than most anticipated. As of this writing, it looks like the new House map will be much less biased in the GOP’s favor than the old one. And according to at least one analyst, there is actually an outside chance that the final map will be tilted, ever so slightly, in the Democrats’ favor.
Voter Suppression is the Big Issue
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Who Lost the Year?
Mark Meadows, originally agreeing to some cooperation with the Jan. 6th committee – then reneging and facing contempt charges – but not before providing the committee with much incriminating documentation
The Fox ‘news’ network, losing its bid to dismiss the $1.8 billion Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit over election coverage … and unless overturned, face the possibility of having to go through discovery
Robert Scott Palmer, receiving the longest January 6th sentence after telling the judge he was “mortified” to seeing himself on film (shown on the Rachel Maddow show) and now realizing Trump “lied” to supporters about the election
Donald Trump, for being forced out of the White House after the riots failed
Mike Lindell, who has invested his company name and money to “re-instate” Trump … yet unsuccessfully
The January 6th rioters who have been apprehended less due to FBI shoe leather and analysis … and more due to self-promotion and the taking of selfies in the Capitol
The Trump Organization, forced to put its Washington marquee hotel on the market to raise cash to stem losses
Donald Trump – on general principles
The KrakenPot Legal Team, nominally headed by Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, both facing possible legal action by their respective state bar associations who have them under review
Corey Lewandowski, first fired as manager of a Trump Super PAC after allegations he made aggressive sexual advances toward a female Trump donor, then dumped as an advisor to Gov. Kristi Noem
Rudy Giuliani, whose law license has been suspended in both New York and Washington D.C. for his false election claims, and facing multiple civil lawsuits
Donald Trump and his associates (including Roger Stone and the Proud Boys) as seven Capitol police who were assaulted on January 6th sue them (using an anti-Klan law) for inspiring the violence
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as authorities investigating alleged sex trafficking by GOP have secured the cooperation of the congressman's ex-girlfriend … and receiving little (public) support from FormerGuy
Tom Barrack, longtime friend of 45 and chair of his inaugural committee, was arrested Tuesday on charges he acted as an agent of the government of the United Arab Emirates without registering as a foreign agent
Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, indicted on tax fraud charges: to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes by compensating employees with lavish perks in addition to their regular pay
Steve Bannon, criminally charged with contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena issued by a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol
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Another Story That Seems To Have Escaped The Media
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It's Here! It's There! It's Every-F-Ing Where!
In what they describe as the most comprehensive analysis to date of the virus’s distribution and persistence in the body and brain, scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health said they found the pathogen is capable of replicating in human cells well beyond the respiratory tract.
The results, released online Saturday in a manuscript under review for publication in the journal Nature, point to delayed viral clearance as a potential contributor to the persistent symptoms wracking so-called long Covid sufferers. Understanding the mechanisms by which the virus persists, along with the body’s response to any viral reservoir, promises to help improve care for those afflicted, the authors said.
“This is remarkably important work,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, who has led separate studies into the long-term effects of Covid-19. “For a long time now, we have been scratching our heads and asking why long Covid seems to affect so many organ systems. This paper sheds some light, and may help explain why long Covid can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease.”
The findings haven’t yet been reviewed by independent scientists, and are mostly based on data gathered from fatal Covid cases, not patients with long Covid or “post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2,” as it’s also called.
Full Story
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Unbalanced? Absolutely!
The wife of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was arrested on Christmas Eve on a domestic violence charge the rightwing provocateur said stemmed from a “medication imbalance”.
Sheriff’s deputies booked Erika Wulff Jones into an Austin jail around 8.45pm on Friday. Jail records showed the 43-year-old faced misdemeanor charges of assault causing bodily injury to a family member and resisting arrest, search or transport. By the afternoon of Christmas Day, she had not received a bond.
Alex Jones, an Austin resident and founder of the rightwing media group Infowars, declined to say if he had been injured or to elaborate on what happened beyond that he believed it was related to a recent change of medication.
Maybe She Was Taking Some of the Quack Cures He Pushes
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CDC doesn't do a good job of reporting around holidays.
Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People 2 or More Doses | New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Dec 27 | |||||
| Dec 26 | No Data | ||||
| Dec 25 | No Data | ||||
| Dec 24 | No Data | ||||
| Dec 23 | 1,189,954 | 241,520,561 | 204,740,321 | ||
| Dec 22 | 1,283,244 | 241,583,543 | 204,818,717 | 176,097 | 1,213 |
| Dec 21 | 1,542,936 | 241,132,288 | 204,578,725 | 161,261 | 1,223 |
| Dec 20 | 1,554,261 | 241,881,712 | 204,098,982 | 149,331 | 1,188 |
| Dec 19 | 1,558,720 | 241,571,084 | 203,926,479 | 132,659 | 1,169 |
| Dec 18 | 1,562,366 | 241,205,528 | 203,727,446 | 127,445 | 1,182 |
| Dec 17 | 2,065,555 | 240,775,382 | 203,479,206 | 125,775 | 1,182 |
| Dec 16 | 2,043,207 | 240,321,022 | 203,159,327 | 122,296 | 1,179 |
| Dec 15 | 1,795,384 | 239,975,167 | 202,748,005 | 119,546 | 1,187 |
| Dec 14 | 1,904,464 | 239,553,956 | 202,504,037 | 117,950 | 1,143 |
| Dec 13 | 1,951,329 | 239,274,656 | 202,246,698 | 117,890 | 1,147 |
| Dec 12 | 1,984,721 | 239,008,166 | 201,975,235 | 116,742 | 1,131 |
| Dec 11 | 2,020,853 | 238,679,707 | 201,688,550 | 116,893 | 1,131 |
| Dec 10 | 1,721,570 | 238,143,066 | 201,279,582 | 118,575 | 1,146 |
| Dec 9 | 1,583,662 | 237,468,725 | 200,717,387 | 118,052 | 1,089 |
| Dec 8 | 1,611,831 | 237,087,380 | 200,400,533 | 118,515 | 1,092 |
| Dec 7 | 1,781,389 | 236,363,835 | 199,687,439 | 117,488 | 1,097 |
| Dec 6 | 1,780,807 | 236,018,871 | 199,313,022 | 117,179 | 1,117 |
| Dec 5 | 2,264,301 | 235,698,738 | 198,962,520 | 103,823 | 1,154 |
| Dec 4 | 2,009,864 | 235,297,964 | 198,592,167 | 105,554 | 1,150 |
| Dec 3 | 1,700,056 | 234,743,864 | 198,211,641 | 106,132 | 1,110 |
| Dec 2 | 1,428,263 | 234,269,053 | 197,838,728 | 96,425 | 975 |
| Dec 1 | 1,116,587 | 233,590,555 | 197,363,116 | 86,412 | 859 |
| Nov 30 | 1,152,647 | 233,207,582 | 197,058,988 | 82,846 | 816 |
| Nov 29 | 937,113 | 232,792,508 | 196,806,194 | 80,178 | 804 |
| Nov 28 | No Data | 72,008 | 719 | ||
| Nov 27 | No Data | 72,139 | 721 | ||
| Nov 26 | No Data | 73,962 | 742 | ||
| Nov 25 | No Data | 82,440 | 887 | ||
| Nov 24 | 898,833 | 231,367,686 | 196,168,756 | 93,931 | 989 |
| Nov 23 | 1,126,545 | 230,669,289 | 195,973,992 | 94,266 | 982 |
| Nov 22 | 1,521,815 | 230,732,565 | 196,398,948 | 93,668 | 1,009 |
| Nov 21 | 1,774,196 | 230,298,744 | 196,284,442 | 91,021 | 985 |
| Feb 16 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 72.8% | 61.7% | 31.5% |
| % of Population 12+ | 83.0% | 70.9% | 34.2% |
| % of Population 18+ | 85.0% | 72.6% | 46.2% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 87.5% | 56.6% |
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Happy Boxing Day!
I don't know what this British holiday is, either, but it's a slow news day.
--------------
It's About Time the Previous Guy Did Something About Lazy People Who Live Off of Government Handouts
Donald Trump's golf courses and leisure businesses in Scotland claimed over £3m in UK government furlough money, newly-published accounts show.
Covid restrictions caused substantial losses at Trump resorts in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire with both companies reducing staff.
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Economists Like to Say the Stock Market is Efficient
A number of upstart electric vehicle makers' stock prices soared in recent years, as investors looked for the next company to shake up the car market. But all have struggled recently -- as has Tesla (TSLA) itself.
Lucid, which started trading on the Nasdaq in July after a SPAC deal, had its share of good news: Its first car, the Lucid Air, won MotorTrend Car of the Year honors and was certified as having a range of 520 miles on a single charge, the longest of any EV. But company has also disclosed it faces subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission about some of its claims and the SPAC deal, and shares are down from a November 16 peak.
Electric truck maker Rivian had a huge hit with its November IPO, and it also won MotorTrend Truck of the Year honors. Rivian won the race to be the first all-electric pickup to reach market. Shares shot up 29% from the IPO price on its first day of trading, and gained another 71% over the next week.
Rivian was briefly the third-most-valuable automaker on the planet, behind only Tesla and Toyota, despite having yet to report any sales when it went public. When it finally reported its first sales on December 16 they fell short of expectations, and the company cited the same chip and parts shortages dogging the rest of the auto industry. Shares closed Thursday down 44% from that pre-report high, and the sales report proved to be a headwind for Lucid shares as well.
Even Tesla, which earlier this year became only the sixth company to reach a $1 trillion market value, has encountered recent troubles. Shares sank as much as 27% from an all-time high set on November 4 through Tuesday -- before a late-week rally lifted it back above the $1 trillion mark. Still, it is trading 13% below its all-time peak.
Part of the recent problem for EV stocks is the apparent demise of the Biden administration's Build Back Better bill, which had a number of goodies for the EV industry, including enhanced tax credits for buyers that would have allowed automakers to charge more for the vehicles. Build Back Better also includes money for a network of rapid charging stations, which would have answered potential EV buyers' concerns about running out of juice while on the road.
Sometimes the Market is Just Dumb
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About Those New "Great" Anti-COVID Pills, Use Them With Caution.
As the omicron surge pummels a pandemic-weary nation, the first antiviral pills for Covid-19 promise desperately needed protection for people at risk of severe disease. However, many people prescribed Pfizer’s or Merck’s new medications will require careful monitoring by doctors and pharmacists, and the antivirals may not be safe for everyone, experts caution.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s Paxlovid for mild to moderate Covid in people as young as 12 who have underlying conditions that raise the risk of hospitalization and death from the coronavirus, such as heart disease or diabetes. However, one of the two drugs in the antiviral cocktail could cause severe or life-threatening interactions with widely used medications, including statins, blood thinners and some antidepressants. And the FDA does not recommend Paxlovid for people with severe kidney or liver disease.
Because of experts’ concerns about the potential side effects of Merck’s molnupiravir, the FDA has restricted its use to adults and only in scenarios in which other authorized treatments, including monoclonal antibodies, are inaccessible or are not “clinically appropriate.”
Plus, Most Doctors Won't Be Able to Spell "molnupiravir" for a Prescription.
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About Those New "Great" Anti-COVID Pills
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Maybe We Should Call the Previous Guy and His Followers "The Boys Named Sue, Sue, Sue"
Former President Donald Trump's current spokesman Taylor Budowich has sued the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol over access to his financial records.
Budowich said he complied with the committee, "including sitting for a four-hour deposition on December 22nd," and then returned home the following day to a notice from his bank, JPMorgan Chase, saying they’d be handing his records to the committee unless he is successful in legally blocking the subpoena by 5 p.m. on Dec. 24.
“Budowich complied with the subpoena, producing more than 1,700 pages of documents and providing roughly four hours of sworn testimony," states the lawsuit, filed Friday. It's unclear whether the bank has already turned over the records as the lawsuit came on the same day as JPMorgan Chase's deadline.
In addition to the panel, Budowich also sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and JPMorgan Chase, according to the lawsuit obtained by NBC News.
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The "Texas Civil Rights Project" Is to Help White People? White People Can Get Screwed, Too.
The Cavazos family got an early present at the beginning of December, when land seized by the previous administration for its border wall was returned to them by the Biden administration.
The land, located along the Rio Grande near Mission, Texas, had belonged to the family for generations when it was taken from them by the previous administration in 2018, Border Report said.
“The family thought that Trump leaving office meant this legal battle would end, but their property was still seized earlier this year for border wall construction,” the report continued. But finally this December, the land was returned by the Biden administration, Texas Civil Rights Project said. The organization has represented the family in court.
“Now that we have successfully stopped the construction of a needless and wasteful border wall on their property, Ms. Cavazos and her family will be able to continue their quiet and fulfilling life beside the Rio Grande,”
They Stole This Land From the Indigenous, Fair and Square!
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You Can't Pick Your Family
My nephew, who isn't vaccinated, had a fever. He went to a Christmas party and did nothing to protect his QANON wife or his college-age daughter who got vaccinated in secret. They all have COVID.
I am having a hard time wishing him well.
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Like I Said, Vaccines Don't Provide Immunity. They Provide Resistance to the Disease.
Readministration of influenza vaccine has become an annual event for much of the population, in response to both waning immunity and the appearance of variants, termed antigenic drift, necessitating updated vaccines. Even when there is no substantial drift, revaccination is recommended because of waning immunity. But antigenic drift is a constant issue and is monitored globally, with vaccine composition updated globally twice a year on the basis of recommendations from a World Health Organization consultation….Vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed symptomatic infection is never higher than 50 to 60%, and in some years it is much lower. Thus, the value of influenza vaccines, now given to as many as 70% of people in some age groups, lies not in eliminating outbreaks but in reducing them and preventing severe complications.
Though there may be similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza, there are also meaningful differences. The most obvious difference is the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, which is currently much higher than we can achieve with influenza vaccines. Whether that degree of efficacy will continue is one of the many open questions that can only be answered over time. It is clear, however, that revaccination will be necessary, for the same reasons that influenza revaccination is necessary: antigenic variation and waning immunity. Data on the frequency of reinfection with seasonal coronaviruses may not be relevant, but they suggest that protection is relatively short term even after natural infection.5 Revaccination frequency and consequences will need to be determined.
Let us hope that certain problems with the influenza vaccine — such as the failure of vaccination, in some years, to produce the desired increase in protection in previously vaccinated people — do not occur with the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Other issues, such as the variant to be targeted by vaccines, will need to be addressed. The successful public–private collaboration in selecting influenza strains offers a model for dealing with such issues. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines will be used globally, and the strain or strains contained in future vaccines will need to be chosen globally, in consultation with the manufacturers.
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It's Not Only Taylor Swift Who Leaves Her Christmas Lights Up 'Til January
It’s high time we stop judging people who leave their Christmas trees up long after Jan. 1. In fact, if you’re a traditionalist, you’ll leave that tree up for nearly two weeks after Christmas Day.
In fact, you don’t have to take it down until Jan. 6.—not the day you’re thinking of, but Feast of Epiphany or Dia de Los Reyes Magos.
Just think about the song, “The 12 Days of Christmas.” Contrary to what most people think, that 12 days doesn’t actually start until Dec. 25, Christmas Day. The last day is Jan. 6, marking the day when the three kings (aka the three wise men) arrived in Bethlehem and brought the baby Jesus gifts.
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A Liar? The Previous Guy Would Be Proud of Him
A Central Point, Oregon father of four who wished President Joe Biden and the first lady a wonderful Christmas and added “Let’s go, Brandon,” at the end of a live streamed Santa tracker call told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he didn’t intend his parting message to be vulgar.
“At the end of the day, I have nothing against Mr. Biden, but I am frustrated because I think he can be doing a better job,” said Jared Schmeck, 35, who works for an electric company and was previously a Medford police officer for six years until he resigned in July 2018. “I mean no disrespect to him.”
Schmeck said he’s not a “Trumper,” but described himself as “free-thinking American and follower of Jesus Christ.”
Another Freeloader
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Maybe Gerry (Mander) and the District Makers Hasn't Been So Bad
The Democratic House majority was supposed to die in redistricting. For months now, pundits and political forecasters have predicted that Republicans could win back the House next year without flipping a single voter. After all, the GOP controls far more state governments than the Democrats, and this is a post-Census year, when states redraw their congressional maps. Republicans boast sole authority over the boundaries of 193 congressional districts, while Democrats command just 94. Given the slimness of Nancy Pelosi’s majority, several analyses projected that GOP cartographers would generate enough new, safe “red” seats to retake the House through gerrymandering alone.
The new House map is more than half finished. And in many states where maps haven’t been finalized, the broad outlines are already visible. Taken together, the emerging picture is far more favorable for Democrats than most anticipated. As of this writing, it looks like the new House map will be much less biased in the GOP’s favor than the old one. And according to at least one analyst, there is actually an outside chance that the final map will be tilted, ever so slightly, in the Democrats’ favor.
Voter Suppression is the Big Issue
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Who Lost the Year?
Mark Meadows, originally agreeing to some cooperation with the Jan. 6th committee – then reneging and facing contempt charges – but not before providing the committee with much incriminating documentation
The Fox ‘news’ network, losing its bid to dismiss the $1.8 billion Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit over election coverage … and unless overturned, face the possibility of having to go through discovery
Robert Scott Palmer, receiving the longest January 6th sentence after telling the judge he was “mortified” to seeing himself on film (shown on the Rachel Maddow show) and now realizing Trump “lied” to supporters about the election
Donald Trump, for being forced out of the White House after the riots failed
Mike Lindell, who has invested his company name and money to “re-instate” Trump … yet unsuccessfully
The January 6th rioters who have been apprehended less due to FBI shoe leather and analysis … and more due to self-promotion and the taking of selfies in the Capitol
The Trump Organization, forced to put its Washington marquee hotel on the market to raise cash to stem losses
Donald Trump – on general principles
The KrakenPot Legal Team, nominally headed by Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, both facing possible legal action by their respective state bar associations who have them under review
Corey Lewandowski, first fired as manager of a Trump Super PAC after allegations he made aggressive sexual advances toward a female Trump donor, then dumped as an advisor to Gov. Kristi Noem
Rudy Giuliani, whose law license has been suspended in both New York and Washington D.C. for his false election claims, and facing multiple civil lawsuits
Donald Trump and his associates (including Roger Stone and the Proud Boys) as seven Capitol police who were assaulted on January 6th sue them (using an anti-Klan law) for inspiring the violence
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as authorities investigating alleged sex trafficking by GOP have secured the cooperation of the congressman's ex-girlfriend … and receiving little (public) support from FormerGuy
Tom Barrack, longtime friend of 45 and chair of his inaugural committee, was arrested Tuesday on charges he acted as an agent of the government of the United Arab Emirates without registering as a foreign agent
Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, indicted on tax fraud charges: to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes by compensating employees with lavish perks in addition to their regular pay
Steve Bannon, criminally charged with contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena issued by a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol
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Another Story That Seems To Have Escaped The Media
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It's Here! It's There! It's Every-F-Ing Where!
In what they describe as the most comprehensive analysis to date of the virus’s distribution and persistence in the body and brain, scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health said they found the pathogen is capable of replicating in human cells well beyond the respiratory tract.
The results, released online Saturday in a manuscript under review for publication in the journal Nature, point to delayed viral clearance as a potential contributor to the persistent symptoms wracking so-called long Covid sufferers. Understanding the mechanisms by which the virus persists, along with the body’s response to any viral reservoir, promises to help improve care for those afflicted, the authors said.
“This is remarkably important work,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, who has led separate studies into the long-term effects of Covid-19. “For a long time now, we have been scratching our heads and asking why long Covid seems to affect so many organ systems. This paper sheds some light, and may help explain why long Covid can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease.”
The findings haven’t yet been reviewed by independent scientists, and are mostly based on data gathered from fatal Covid cases, not patients with long Covid or “post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2,” as it’s also called.
Full Story
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Unbalanced? Absolutely!
The wife of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was arrested on Christmas Eve on a domestic violence charge the rightwing provocateur said stemmed from a “medication imbalance”.
Sheriff’s deputies booked Erika Wulff Jones into an Austin jail around 8.45pm on Friday. Jail records showed the 43-year-old faced misdemeanor charges of assault causing bodily injury to a family member and resisting arrest, search or transport. By the afternoon of Christmas Day, she had not received a bond.
Alex Jones, an Austin resident and founder of the rightwing media group Infowars, declined to say if he had been injured or to elaborate on what happened beyond that he believed it was related to a recent change of medication.
Maybe She Was Taking Some of the Quack Cures He Pushes
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