Sun-NIL:Young Athletes Are Getting Screwed. Dr. Doom Speaks

Iran and China:  Lots of Unhappy People

Acts of dissent are not unusual in China.

Over the years, sudden, local explosions of defiance have been triggered by a range of issues - from toxic pollution to illegal land grabs, or the mistreatment of a community member at the hands of the police.

But this time it's different.

There is one subject at the forefront of Chinese people's minds, and many are increasingly fed up with it - prompting widespread pushback against the government's zero-Covid restrictions.

This has come in the form of residents smashing down barriers designed to enforce social distancing, and now large street protests in cities and university campuses across the country.

In a way, it is hard to explain just how shocking it is to hear a crowd in Shanghai calling for China's leader Xi Jinping to resign.

It is extremely dangerous here to publicly criticise the Communist Party's general secretary. You risk being put in prison.

And yet there they were on the Shanghai street (Wulumuqi Lu) which carries the name of the Xinjiang city where a fire had killed 10 residents, and zero-Covid restrictions were blamed for hampering the rescue effort.

One protester calls out: "Xi Jinping!"

And hundreds reply: "Step down!"

Again and again: "Xi Jinping! Step down! Xi Jinping! Step down!"

The chant also went out: "Communist Party! Step down! Communist Party! Step down!"

For a political organisation with no greater priority than remaining in power, this is as big a challenge as they come.

Expect Lots of Arrests and Torture

Maybe We Put the Masks Away Too Soon

Entering the holiday season last year, surging Covid-19 cases overwhelmed hospitals. This year, hospitals have been overwhelmed by a combination of Covid, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the flu. Along with RSV, the record number of flu cases pushing pediatric hospitals near to capacity is a worrisome signal that the current flu season will be the worst in years. Facing a particularly acute crisis, pediatric hospitals have called upon President Joe Biden to declare an emergency to provide more resources to respond to the current surges.

This “tripledemic” of flu, Covid and RSV is a reminder that even as the pandemic ends, the threat of seasonal respiratory viruses remains. Thankfully, our toolkit for tackling them is similar to what works to suppress Covid alone, starting with the most basic and flexible level of protection: masking. When and where respiratory viruses are surging, mask mandates should be reinstated.

It’s difficult for people to get adequate, high-quality information about risk and apply it in a society that has returned to pre-pandemic norms.

Masks work and, critically, they don’t need to work perfectly to have a positive impact. A recent study found that Boston school districts that had lifted mandates averaged 45 more Covid cases per 1,000 students and staff than those with mandates. Other evidence has suggested that masks are effective against influenza as well, with some scientists suggesting that widespread masking during the first two years of the pandemic contributed to the historically low rates of flu and RSV observed in those years.

RSV, a respiratory illness that causes coldlike symptoms and can be especially severe for young children and the elderly, spreads through the air like Covid but also through contact on surfaces. This means that RSV — for which a vaccine is still being developed — can be mitigated through both mask-wearing and hand-washing.

In a typical year, RSV causes up to 80,000 hospitalizations and 300 deaths among children under 5, and up to 10,000 deaths and 120,000 hospitalizations among adults age 65 and older. As with flu and now Covid, individual adverse outcomes are rare relative to the number of cases, but more spread and more infections means more people experience serious outcomes. Even with the pandemic receding, an average of 300 people are still dying from Covid every day. Unvaccinated people face six times the risk of death according to recent data, but many people dying now are vaccinated as well.

Unfortunately, as mask mandates and public health messaging have disappeared and complacency or resignation takes hold, the public’s voluntary compliance with healthy behaviors such as wearing masks and getting booster shots is waning, while businesses continue to roll back sick leave and remote work policies.

WTF, CDC?

Friday night news dumps seem to be a favorite of administrations trying to bury news that they know will infuriate people. The CDC and Biden administration did this, announcing in new guidelines that masking will now be optional in hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities where community transmission is not considered high.

Rationally, it’s not high now precisely because masking and other measures GOT it under control, following the early devastation. Hard to grasp how the CDC, an agency for science (presumably) would mistake well-controlled risk for inherent low risk.

This declaration is hardly fitting for an organization that is supposed to be concerned about disease prevention. The CDC has lost its mission. It is throwing the elderly, immunocompromised, and disabled under the bus in their buying into the "urgency of normal" crowd. They are ignoring that (as of September 1), 500 people in the US were still dying each day of COVID.

Just this past week, there were more than 400,000 cases and almost 3000 deaths. The cases are undoubtedly grossly underestimated probably because most patients are testing at home with rapid antigen test kits rather than being tested at a healthcare facility that might capture this data. The Institute for Health Metrics estimates that only 4%-5% of COVID cases are being reported…..

A Mistake By the Lake

Kari Lake has refused to concede in what she claims was a "botched" election, and has filed a number of lawsuits in a bid to overturn the result.

Her supporters organized a protest outside the state capitol at 9 a.m. MST, claiming "hundreds of patriot groups" would unite to "protest the uncertifiable results."

However, video from the scene, in a tweet by Ron Filipkowski, showed no more than 50 people turned up, including one man waving a large Confederate battle-standard.

NIL.  Young Athletes Are Getting Screwed

Over the summer, 16-year-old Georgia native T.A. Cunningham transferred to a powerhouse Southern California high school in pursuit of NFL dreams. His father wanted to cash in early with help from agents who boasted stars like Kansas City’s JuJu Smith-Schuster as clients.

The family believed Cunningham stood to earn big in sponsorships, even before he got to college. Instead, the coveted junior recruit was benched, due to a decision from the state’s governing body for high school sports.

“I was shocked,” said Cunningham. “And I think everyone involved with me was shocked too.”

The story rattled the world of college sports. It was the first career-damaging fall-out for a high school star since the NCAA’s decision to slash restrictions around athletes profiting from their fame after a Supreme Court loss in summer 2021.

A year after the rule change, so-called “NIL deals,” named after the initials for Name Image Likeness, have become increasingly common for elite student athletes like Cunningham, who can now begin profiting from their talent before they play a minute of pro sports.

But with that potential for great reward comes great risk. There are few guidelines for young athletes — kids — who are entering this chaotic new marketplace. Many are from low-income homes or difficult circumstances. In pursuit of their dreams or financial security for their families, they can wind up violating state-level restrictions that still pertain to high school athletes, and they can also find themselves exploited by adults who want to get rich off their skills.

NBC News has reviewed a dozen written offers to high schoolers that experts have described as exploitative, including marketing contracts claiming exorbitant commissions of up to 40 percent, and booster contracts with complex fee structures and legal jargon, reducing the athlete’s freedom to transfer or enter outside deals. One “contract” was actually just a $100,000 loan.

“One of the really surprising things is the amount of people and companies and people that have just come out of the woodwork that had absolutely no experience,” said Courtney Altemus, a former financial manager for professional athletes on Wall Street, who now educates athletes across the country through her company ADVANCE NIL.

‘There’s no rules. It’s crazy’: New money in NCAA recruiting leaves elite athletes ripe for exploitation