1366: Pingdemic

Bobby Kenedy JR was of course top of the list, followed by a bunch of people I've never heard of.

The claim comes from a report put out by the Center on Countering Digital hate. The outfit goes

after climate change deniers, anti-vaxers, neo-nazis and antisemites. (hi google)

The center was started in 2018 and is directed by Imram Ahmed, a brit, who just so happens to also

sit on the steering committee for the Commission for Countering Extremism. The Commission for

Countering Extremism, in case you've forgotten (I had) is an agency of the British government

established by Theresa Maye in 2017 in the wake of the Manchester bombing! So you see what's

happening here: they establishd an outfit to attack US tech firms in the US using issues that unite

the left, in order to push censorship policy goals from the right. I see this as an attack on our

essential infrastructure from a foreign power that does not share our balues, and the cowards we

voted for are in on it!

Journalists could face up to 14 years in prison for stories embarrassing the Government under proposed changes to the Official Secrets Act that would treat them like foreign SPIES

Change to law would remove defence for reporters handed leaked documents

Home Office says it would 'undermine efforts to prevent damaging disclosures'

Maximum jail term for journalists could go from two to 14 years under proposal

Link

https://lawandcrime.com/ross-investigates/former-cia-officer-speaks-out-about-mysterious-illness-havana-syndrome/

when discussing the possible explanations the author writes "Some believe that the energy waves may have been emitted from Russian spyware due to a mishandled intelligence collection system." which is confirmed by the 'former' CIA agent: “That certainly is a possibility,” Polymeropoulus said of this conjecture. “I would never discount anything.”

https://www.tum.de/nc/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/details/33897

"Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a holographic imaging process that depicts the radiation of a Wi-Fi transmitter to generate three-dimensional images of the surrounding environment. Industrial facility operators could use this to track objects as they move through the production hall."

"generating holograms with the microwave radiation of a Wi-Fi transmitter requires merely one fixed and one movable antenna, as Dr. Friedenmann Reinhard and Philipp Holl report in the current issue of the renowned scientific journal Physical Review Letters"

(content posted to 8kun on 6/12/21, ~4 days before the above article, link: https://8kun.top/x/res/59753.html, complains of cars parked outside their house, their drives supposedly being scanned, no proof provided of course)

and now in the WSJ on 7/21/21 :):

https://www.wsj.com/articles/havana-syndrome-task-force-to-be-led-by-a-veteran-of-hunt-for-bin-laden-11626885816

additional element for consideration: the metal coils in beds used as resonators for the scans... impact on the sleeper = ?

Here's a video with a couple clips highlighting the covid protocols/madness with the extras. It was pretty fun, but

brutally hot. Most extras wearing wool suits or similar in the hot summer sun.

Everyone has to wear a mask until the directors are ready to shoot. At that time, they will say.... "MASKS OFF!"

then... the usual "action!"

When the day was done, they were bussing extras back to the main parking area to turn in their costumes and go home.

If you wanted to ride the bus, you also had to wear a face shield in addition to your mask.

Many passed up on that opportunity and chose to walk instead 🤣

The busses gave it a concentration camp kind of feeling. Partially because by the time you get to the end of the day, you feel like you have been run over by a truck.

Everyone has to test every day before going on the set.

Probably another gold mine for the covid testing industry.

Adam, We live in Southern Illinois. My fathers church has had a Rona out break. At the first choir practice since the start of Plandemic 15 people became ill and tested positive. My father said the majority of them had been vaccinated. It has since spread to about 25 people. I don't have any details but its a Southern Baptist church and it seems to be against the M5M narrative. Looks like vaxed, republican, Evangelicals are coming down with the Rona.

Also I'm a dude named Ben (field tech) working for a large coal operation. June 25 we were hit with ransomeware. It took about 16 days to get the majority of our systems up.

https://lawandcrime.com/ross-investigates/former-cia-officer-speaks-out-about-mysterious-illness-havana-syndrome/

when discussing the possible explanations the author writes "Some believe that the energy waves may have been emitted from Russian spyware due to a mishandled intelligence collection system." which is confirmed by the 'former' CIA agent: “That certainly is a possibility,” Polymeropoulus said of this conjecture. “I would never discount anything.”

https://www.tum.de/nc/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/details/33897

"Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a holographic imaging process that depicts the radiation of a Wi-Fi transmitter to generate three-dimensional images of the surrounding environment. Industrial facility operators could use this to track objects as they move through the production hall."

"generating holograms with the microwave radiation of a Wi-Fi transmitter requires merely one fixed and one movable antenna, as Dr. Friedenmann Reinhard and Philipp Holl report in the current issue of the renowned scientific journal Physical Review Letters"

(content posted to 8kun on 6/12/21, ~4 days before the above article, link: https://8kun.top/x/res/59753.html, complains of cars parked outside their house, their drives supposedly being scanned, no proof provided of course)

and now in the WSJ on 7/21/21 :):

https://www.wsj.com/articles/havana-syndrome-task-force-to-be-led-by-a-veteran-of-hunt-for-bin-laden-11626885816

additional element for consideration: the metal coils in beds used as resonators for the scans... impact on the sleeper = ?

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:16

66 Comments on '' Rules For Thee But Not For Me / Hugo Talks Some More #lockdown ''One rule for them..one for us'....

I can see the speaker point But if it's not needed in the House of Commons, Businesses should said the same thing if it's a rule for them 🐠it's a non rule for businesses and us peasants who will NEVER accept these passports anywhere.

Hope that makes sense

No rules for us more like and plenty for them our rules or there out cheek ðŸ‚

They're loving playing mind games with the public, and this is another example. They've been yo-yoing with these passports all year, and are carrying on with it.The, 'will they, won't they ' is just more psyops, confusing the public, keeping them guessing.They've been doing it with the vaccines too, first it was just the high risk, then, staff in contact with high risk patients at places like care homes.Now, it's moved through every Generation!Unfortunately, the public are very slow learners, and are taking time to catch up!Saying that, they've had the Euros, Wimbledon and now, Love Islands back!

I don't have tv but your last couple of sentences actually made me laugh out loud. Apart from that I agree with what you say.

Are we surprised? No doubt old queenie and her family don't need a passport either. They're really throwing it all at us before their summer hols.And scientists are now saying we will be most likely to be in lockdown before the end if August. Our window of opportunity is growing ever smaller.

Paid Stooges, that pretend to be Scientists!!

Real Scientist are saying it's all BS and the Jab's will kill most who take it by 2025!!

True enough. So paid stooge scientists are saying that but I think you knew I meant that anyway.

Never did understand the love of Royalty. Can't people see through their charade???

Unfortunately not. None so blind as those who don't want to see.

Bill Gates said at the very beginning of this so-called pandemic that it will take 18-months at the earliest before the world can be opened up again and only then through the use of health passports. Given that the year 2015 keeps cropping up, with the City of Westminster Council tendering for a temporary body storage facility the most chilling recent example, we can only assume that the tyranny will not be stopping any day soon.

LET'S TAKE OUR FREEDOM BACK

Agreed! This has got to end. These hypocrites need to answer the people for what they have done. A withdrawel of all this tyranny and an apology would be nice. I am not going to hold my breath though! I know some have taken out court cases under common law having been provided with evidence from well-respected doctors and scientists. The work is to persist in waking people up and more and more mass refusal to follow this rubbish.

Absolutely great comment thank you very much ðŸ'ªðŸ‘

Have nice day ðŸ...‹

I CAN'T FIND ANY OTHER NAME'...THEY ARE TERRORISTS'...

And some sheep still think it's about a deadly virus.

Now why on earth would members complain bitterly about having to prove they'd been double jabbed before entry into the house. Unless, heaven forbid, for some strange reason, most members had chosen to reject the jabs contrary to what they're falling over themselves to insist everyone else should accept?

The house has inadvertently exposed itself for the worst kinds of hypocrisy and at a lot more than just one level.

Agreed, it's littered with hypocrisy and double standard.Anyone that thinks this has been about a virus really needs medical attention.

That only applies to the Houses of Parliament, surely? An MP will still need to be jabbed to get into a nightclub'...

Would any decent nightclub want an MP on the premises?

Lol 🂠yes that's true& then having the experience of having to watch themDancing in their suits like they at the Private school , school disco 🥴ðŸ¤...''¸

CIVIL WAR CIVIL WAR CIVIL WAR!!!

Basically, damned if there stupid enough to get the jab, but surely everyone has to have it to stop the errrr oh I remember nothing, it doesn't doing anything virus wise, how could it, Covid is a Hoax!!

Upto recently I've been 2% maybe I'm wrong and I'm crazy, but I'm 100% here.

Diesel Shortages ?? 1 way to cripple the country lots of fuel stations around Birmingham without Diesel today, no Diesel no Lorries, no food deliveries!!

Agree but I think they'll only do partial food shortages to start. Total food shortage would certainly wake a few people up. Nothing like hunger to clear a few brains that have been dumbed down.

Hi 👋yes I noticed my local co op (smaller) shops not getting delivery s ,

But on a Brighter note tho ðŸ'ª we have near we're we,s live a lorry training centre & I have seen lot of drivers out training so ..GOOD ON THEM MEN & WOMEN ðŸ'ªðŸ'ªGood luck 🤞ðŸ>> ðŸ

Boris don't look short of a meal tho does he!She in Australia looks like a horse that will eat us allðŸ"They are pure mentalist's'...the lot of them.

CheersHave good day ðŸ...‹

Frozen food appears to be short round here or so they tell me. Hopefully your lorry drivers are all good as the general pass rate isn't that high.Beautiful day here, hope the same for you.Mind you, I set my mind to enjoying each day regardless of the madness swirling around us.Enjoy your day.

Hi 👋Never know 🤲..the people who take them out on their test could hear I called out today good luck to theses hard trying people, bless.Because I agree there is corrupt going on 👍because my family were in haulage some years back it was a struggle getting good , confident drivers through test, sometimes they would fail the ones who were or could been fantastic drivers but after a test of that kind it can knock confidence big time but we used tell them drivers 'get back on the bolted horse' ect.

Yes it's beautiful weather thank you ðŸŠI will say rain or shine I do what it takes to stay High Vibes within ðŸ'ª

Boris .klaus ..celebrities.. all of them is so horrible & basically back stabbing Greedy liars I refuse to let such vile people grind me totally down 👍ðŸ'ª

Have great day ðŸ...‹remember happiness is something they can't take from Us

It was Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky'... who said that people only revolt when there is hunger in the bellies. But the thing is most people in the UK have never felt hunger at least going by the size of most people's arses ðŸ The shops are awash with food. The shops can't shift it fast enough. Fill your trolleys. Buy one '' get two free ðŸ Eat, eat, eat, snack, snack, snack. Try fasting for a few days to feel what hunger is ðŸ And see how long you last before you 'crack' ðŸ

Trust me, I do know what real hunger is, like when you feel like your belly touches your backbone. An unfortunate moment in my life led me to 3 weeks of that.I'm pretty certain that your over confidence in your supermarkets is misplaced. Since my unfortunate episode I've slowly built up a rolling stock of supplies. You can mock all you want but those who laugh last laugh loudest. Luckily for people like you I wouldn't laugh, I'd share what I have.

Driving an HGV, bus or whatever isn't just a case of passing the test and getting behind the wheel of a truck. With an HGV the first thing you have to do is pass a medical. Also there is CPC '' Continuous Professional Competency i.e continuous testing, continuous medicals, tachographs and goodness what else red-tape, keeps-jobsworths-in-a-job crap to contend with. When you see what if entails most right-thinking people are going to think 'Nah, too much hassle, won't bother'.

I never said that I had any confidence in the supermarkets ðŸ And with the current madhouse we live in it is advisable to have a 'rolling stock' of essential supplies. 'Rotate and replace' as the 'preppers' would say ðŸ It is better to be 'bootstrapped' so that when a mad panic breaks out you don't have to do as much 'heavy lifting'. It is obvious that many I'm-all-right-Jack-and-Jills have huge stockpiles. Bottled water appears to be getting stockpiled at the moment. It is very EXPENSIVE though 'forward purchasing' months, years of food, diesel generators, refrigerators. And in no way is it a long-term solution. It would be like trying to 'beat inflation' by buying a lifetime's supply of baked beans in one go ðŸ As the toilet roll fiasco taught us if the shit does hit the fan it will be every man, woman and dog for themselves so act and prepare accordingly. Civilisation is only a 'veneer' and a thin one at that. Anyone who has read 'Lord of the Flies' will know what to expect ðŸ I do get the feeling that evil entities are trying to cripple the food supply, kind of like a battle is going on between those who are trying to keep the wagon on the road no matter how many arrows are being shot at it and those who are trying to knock the wheels of the wagon ðŸ Remember: beans, bullets and barbed wire ðŸ

Fair enough and I agree that things will go to hell in a handcart rapidly. I do wear a sensible hat sometimes which is why I don't talk about my ''supplies'' where I live.

I don't think the shops would shut down overnight. That would cause mass panic. But what could happen is that more and more foodstuffs will become unavailable until it is mostly only sweets and crisps and other low nutritional foodstuffs on offer ðŸ Back in the day, not even as far back as post World War II times there wasn't 100 different types of strawberry jam on offer. We would be caught in a slow and managed transition into the old Soviet system whereby we would queue around the block all day for a loaf of stale bread ðŸ All man-made of course. As Jaques Ellul said 'progress is a myth'. It will mean a reduction in living standards: can barely afford food/heat, can't travel anywhere, living in some 'eco-hut' growing spuds on your 'allotment' but you will be 'happy' ðŸ We must learn to enjoy our servitude as Aldous Huxley said ðŸ

Way things are going trev we will all be in that 'eco tent' you mentioned growing theses potatoes together that be fun '...I hope 🤞ðŸ>> there isn't a Antiperspirant shortage'....That would be outrageous!

ðŸŠðŸŠðŸŠ

Hugo, you're on fire and simply the best! You're definitely helping the mental health of your followers/population, never stop what you're doing please🏠I feel things are about to get challenging!

YES! he is keeping me sane through all this bs..turn to Christ sister/brother he is coming back and soon..

So let's get this right. It's about a deadly disease that's so terrifying we all need to stop at home and stop living. But parliament is so important that it doesn't apply there. They clearly aren't scared of it. They are either so brave (we know that isn't true) that they need to keep meeting to talk a load of bollocks about a load of shit, or they know it's a load of shit and they're a big pile of bollocks.

I wonder which is true?

Yep. It's like banging your head up a brick wall trying to point out the obvious to those who can't or rather don't want to see. All I get is '' oh they've always had different rules '' and other things like that. I just think now they don't want their cosy world view changed.

No way , can no body in that Par-lie-ment even see as to how they look. OH how I can see a new business idea once this would of been niche , not now though. Bonfire night purchasable life size effigies of your favourite representatives filled with a volatile mixture to help your bonfire go WOOOOOF.

We've lost guys. We are actually living out a more embarrasing Animal Farm,

Never give up hope my friend'... It ain't over till the Fat lady sings'... They will fail like all other empires before them!!

What's his problem? The virus is so virulent and the 'vaccine' so 'safe and effective' I'm sure everyone in the house has been double jabbed and will be only too willing to show their NHS passport, leading us public by example.

What is good for the goose is good for the gander. I will not comply with this tyrannical bullshit

I bet you not one of those politicians have had the poison then. If they are able to move freely without being asked for the vaccine passport.

Another way of looking at this is HOW MANY MPS are not jabbed its obviously enough to have created a panic about not being able to go to work ?

Thank you Hugo

You know what is most upsetting is the way Our lives out here are going down the shitter!And they are feckin laughing as they make decisions on humanity!

Omg ðŸ"They are like annoying bullies at school!!! ðŸ¤...''¸ðŸ¤...''¸ðŸ‚Twats!!!

Have great day Every one 👋

Meanwhile the oblivious sheep are still walking around in their masks.A part of me thinks the human race deserves what's coming to them but for the growing crowd of enlightened free spirits and critical thinkers.London Freedom march this Saturday needs to be the biggest yet.

ABSOLUTELY agree Paul!ðŸ'ªðŸ'ªðŸ'ªðŸ'ªðŸ'ªðŸ'ª

Let's keep getting out there & showing the numbers growing 👍

Come people around the world'...🎶 'GET UP STAND UP ..STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS!'🎵

Thank you 🏠Mr Marley 🎶ðŸ...‹

Take care Paul

I'm wondering about footballers and celebs, people like Sir Paul McCartney for example, the ones seen as rock royalty and sporting royalty. We know about Clapton, Brown, Corr and co, but will these others be excused, as seen with the passports in this clip? Surely, unless they're stupid, they won't want to be jabbed.

I predicted this ages ago ðŸ That they would force these 'vax-ceen passports' if they could get away with it and that there would be 'exemptions' for specific groups/people. Anyone want to buy a crystal ball '' in good working order ðŸ

Never needed a crystal ball.They have always been lying slags.

Have good day nowTake care

And if the infrastructure existed such as a barrier to enter a shop they would be issued with a pass/QR code to open the barrier without having to be jabbed. Just like happens with lots of other things ðŸ

Boris jonestown will still look fat, clammy and pink like he did yesterday from his press box at chequers or his piggy pen as it looks like his food and tyranny will never run out.Just like pigs in Goa he will have public toilets to feast his greedy piggy face on, so long as Bliar and his masters have a cubicle to shit on as they play and feed their pet pig Boris.As for the experiment my mate has seen a two faced pig in an experimental lab in a Wales facility when he was working on a flat roof and was curious enough to look inside the building he was working on.Now we are the experiment as the pigs in parliament are to precious to experiment on.

Hi 👋Yes they are getting up to some strange shite aren't they but'... they are going to feel Every bit of the desperation Us folks in this world who are not asleep! Are & have been feeling ..They have stepped to far.

Have great day ðŸ...‹

i saw through these career minded ,self centered,cuntsover 30 years ago,i am 68, and have not voted ever since then.people are fucking brainwashed and in general can,t see past the carrot that is dangled in front of their noses,just like donkey,s but you can,t get through to them.they should poke their jabs up their arses and stop blackmailing the gullible public.People are still sleeping on the streets,and if the powers that be,,actually gave a fuck then they should start there.instead of crawling up the arses of the mega rich, and lining their own pockets.

I enjoyed all the comments.

In God's name what sort of link is that? It leads nowhere but a '406 Not Acceptable' error ðŸ Unbelievable!

Seriously Anthony, do you actually tests links before you post them? ðŸ Where is Quality Control when you need it? ðŸ

So the majority can vote to get us stabbed with poison they won't take themslves and won't have it, will that apply to there wives, children, dogs, cats.None of us want to be potentialy killed off with substances with no long term data available, just like ''Members of the old boys club'' who coherse us to take it on a daily basis.

latest. there building mega prisons in the U.K. we know where this is going. Nazi Germany coming. scary shit. when history repeats itself. check out the one in wellingborough england. with the crematorium next to it. think they will be covid detention centres.

Fast track detention centres with the crematorium next door.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:12

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 10:58

''´¸Arc_Unreal : Due to the high volume of deaths related to the Covid vaccine, a company is developing a drug to try and prevent yo'... https://t.co/XES6m4FbaH

Wed Jul 21 03:44:02 +0000 2021

Simon Conway-Smith : @Arc_Unreal It's called IVERMECTIN (& also Hydroxychloroquine), which prevents you needing the vaccine in the first'... https://t.co/SNSy0KdINg

Thu Jul 22 10:55:20 +0000 2021

Thomas R. Moore : @Arc_Unreal @avoiceforchoice Shouldn't it be obvious that this video should not be retweeted? Aren't we made susp'... https://t.co/LacVK31AAx

Thu Jul 22 10:06:20 +0000 2021

Burrito : @Arc_Unreal Hope I don't get shit for this but it seems she jumbled up her words and meant to say ''19'' but instead'... https://t.co/t2DJDG8obb

Thu Jul 22 09:59:40 +0000 2021

FujiTom : @Arc_Unreal 元も子もなくã...草ã‚

Thu Jul 22 08:55:45 +0000 2021

Mark Eric Payne : @Arc_Unreal Wtf

Thu Jul 22 08:52:29 +0000 2021

Warfist1984 : @Arc_Unreal @333DESPIERTA Their solution is more profits for big pHARMa, could they be more obvious?. It's a conglo'... https://t.co/cNLsKp2YlU

Thu Jul 22 08:31:52 +0000 2021

Molls : @Arc_Unreal How about just avoiding it?

Thu Jul 22 08:23:51 +0000 2021

Nikki : @Arc_Unreal @Dreton9 More drugs to mask the symptoms of the previous drug!! Will people never see this never ending'... https://t.co/s0scxkNP0a

Thu Jul 22 08:16:07 +0000 2021

RTID🇬🇧 : @Arc_Unreal I'd rather risk Covid, I am on zero medication but if I take this vaccine I will be required to take fu'... https://t.co/U81jvf0wze

Thu Jul 22 08:12:35 +0000 2021

Sheriff ''¤¸''‹ðŸ>>ðŸ—🛠: @Arc_Unreal @StevenFr1991

Thu Jul 22 08:12:02 +0000 2021

Tom Fenn : @Arc_Unreal 'High volume of deaths'?? Why can't we have the whole clip instead of the tiny part here clearly taken out of context?

Thu Jul 22 08:11:59 +0000 2021

bobsmonkey : @Arc_Unreal @Teemcc2 https://t.co/7UwIExf4QH

Thu Jul 22 07:32:45 +0000 2021

Julia #refusenik : @Arc_Unreal I wouldn't trust this antidote anymore than the vax itself!! They are really trying to get you any which way they can!!

Thu Jul 22 07:29:58 +0000 2021

''¨ðŸ''ðŸ'žðŸ'ðŸ'🌟綺羅🌟ðŸ'ðŸ'ðŸ'žðŸ''''¨ : @Arc_Unreal ワクチãƒ"ä½ããªãã£ã...è(C)±ã‚なã‚'でã'うなるの''''''

Thu Jul 22 07:22:31 +0000 2021

RecalCitaat : @Arc_Unreal As long as #Biden & #KamalaHarris are in office, I'm not gonna take it.These Globalists viruses are on'... https://t.co/wAjpt2QItl

Thu Jul 22 07:20:54 +0000 2021

Robert : @Arc_Unreal @NarrativeNinja1 https://t.co/Nb583k6IDy

Thu Jul 22 07:07:23 +0000 2021

ʞɹɐๅê'› ʇuÇ'ê' : @Arc_Unreal https://t.co/CZONFVnHkd

Thu Jul 22 06:46:51 +0000 2021

David Turner Ph.D : @Arc_Unreal I got a better idea. Just don't take the damn thing.

Thu Jul 22 06:42:14 +0000 2021

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:49

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Archived Version

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:43

Brenda Fernandez has tried blocking off time on her calendar. She's tried to keep conversations focused. She still can't escape them.

''Everything becomes a meeting,'' the 29-year-old Miami copywriter told me. Her overwhelming feeling? ''This could have been an email.''

Then she excused herself to hop on a 7 p.m. call.

We are deep in the age of the never-ending check-in. Meetings have gotten shorter during the pandemic, according to researchers, with one paper finding the average length dropped 20% in spring 2020.

But meetings are multiplying. There's the 25-minute client touch-base, the general life catch-up with your manager, the bite-size performance feedback session, the meeting to prep for the meeting.

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''It just never ends,'' Ms. Fernandez says.

We were already on the road to meeting burnout before the pandemic. A shift from hierarchical organizations to de-layered, matrixed ones means more bosses and teams to coordinate with. Increasingly global business means invites for times when we'd normally be in bed. Caroline Kim Oh, a leadership coach based near New York City, says that in recent years, many of her clients have started feeling like meetings are just something that happens to them.

''You have no control over your workday,'' she says. ''They're just popping up.''

Working from home and living through a crisis seems to have made it worse. In an April survey from meeting scheduling tool Doodle, 69% of 1,000 full-time remote workers said their meetings had increased since the pandemic started, with 56% reporting that their swamped calendars were hurting their job performance.

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Constant check-ins have become some bosses' version of micromanaging, a way to keep tabs on workers they don't trust. Coordination that used to happen by swiveling your chair or walking across the hall now requires extra formality and time for everyone still spread out across home offices. Plus, there's the sense that empathetic leaders should stay in touch during moments of transition, whether that's as the world was shutting down last year or as we head back to headquarters now.

The message to managers is often, ''Hey, check in with your employees. See if they're OK. Care more,'' says Ms. Kim Oh, the executive coach. Sometimes caring more means saving a worker from one more Zoom, she adds.

What happens next? If we all go back to work five days a week, we might return to those efficient, in-person check-ins, says Raffaella Sadun, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied meeting loads before and during the pandemic. But organizations testing a hybrid set-up should brace for a mess.

There are now two kinds of interactions to manage, Dr. Sadun says. ''One is at the water cooler, one is on Zoom.'' If you make a decision with the colleague who sits one desk over, you still need to dial up the teammate who spends Tuesdays at home to make sure she's on board. Suddenly, all Zoom all the time doesn't seem so bad.

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Nonetheless, many employees are optimistic that things will get better. In the Doodle survey, 70% of respondents said they hope to have fewer meetings once they head back to the office. Angela Nguyen, an independent healthcare consultant in Boston, predicts workers will return to the good old days of back-to-back meetings, as opposed to the double- and triple-booked schedules she sees now.

''It's not sustainable,'' she says. She has watched clients attempt to divide and conquer, hopping on for 15-minute cameos or dispatching various team members to different video calls. Then they sync up after'--with another meeting.

Did we all just get used to having our professional contacts a click away for all these months, without travel time or personal plans as a natural boundary? Does loneliness play a role?

''I wonder if people just want to connect, just to chat, because they don't have an office to go to,'' Ms. Nguyen says.

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Overall, employees have been putting in five to eight additional working hours a week during the pandemic, says Rob Cross, a professor of global leadership at Babson College and author of the forthcoming book, ''Beyond Collaboration Overload.'' More meetings mean more tasks to catch up on at day's end, when we finally have a minute to take a look at our ballooning to-do lists. Plus, toggling between more, shorter meetings is hugely taxing on our brains.

''They've created work that they don't see,'' Dr. Cross says of organizations. ''That's crushing people.''

Becca Apfelstadt's team at marketing agency Treetree headed back to their Columbus, Ohio, office last month for two half-days a week. The CEO's verdict on meetings is: They're no worse than before. Early in the pandemic, workers complained they didn't have time to grab water or use the bathroom. ''It was like, we won't survive if we can't figure this out,'' she says.

The company moved some communication to messaging services such as Slack, trimmed meetings to 20 or 50 minutes and encouraged walk-and-talk conversations, using AI services to take notes.

The efforts helped, Ms. Apfelstadt says, and so far the shift to hybrid hasn't created any meeting creep. Still, there have been hiccups. The other week, she spotted three employees crammed onto a couch together, attempting to share one laptop camera for a video conference.

''They just had some tiny person in the middle, and she was just getting smushed any time someone would try to make a point,'' Ms. Apfelstadt says. She recommends companies keep the formal meeting schedule light as they transition back and lean into serendipitous conversations around the office.

Still, not everyone is craving those. Seanna Thompson, a physician and administrator with New York's Mount Sinai Health System, has loved her remote meetings over the last year-plus. The dread comes when she thinks about returning to those ad-hoc, meandering check-ins by the water cooler.

''I'm like, oh God, that just derailed my whole day,'' she says. ''I don't think what we were doing before was all that efficient.''

Write to Rachel Feintzeig at rachel.feintzeig@wsj.com

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:41

Amid England's reopening, UK Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has revealed that proof of full inoculation against Covid will soon be needed to enter clubs and big venues, and a booster shot programme is in the works.

Monday marked the long-anticipated reopening of England's bars and clubs, and the dropping of most of the coronavirus restrictions that had been in place since last year. However, the government will soon make vaccination mandatory to enter these establishments, Zahawi announced on Monday.

''Vaccination holds the key for doing the things we love,'' he told Parliament. ''We plan to make full vaccination a condition of entry to nightclubs and other venues where large crowds gather. Proof of a negative test will no longer be sufficient.''

Also on rt.com 'Unity Is Freedom': Anti-lockdown protesters rally in London as Covid-19 restrictions lifted in England (VIDEOS) By September, Zahawi stated, every adult in the UK will have been given the opportunity to get fully vaccinated.

Zahawi had a different opinion on so-called 'vaccine passports' only a few months ago. Back in February he called such passes ''discriminatory,'' and told the BBC: ''That's not how we do things. We do them by consent.''

In a BBC appearance shortly after Zahawi's speech, Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the vaccination-only policy official, repeating the minister's words verbatim.

"Proof of a negative test will no longer be enough"UK PM Boris Johnson says that after all over-18s have had the chance to get both Covid jabs, full vaccination will be required for entry into "nightclubs and other venues where large crowds gather"https://t.co/EZJkjkCXF1pic.twitter.com/q0UpIP3Hmr

'-- BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) July 19, 2021With the efficacy of vaccines against the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus being questioned in some countries, Zahawi also told lawmakers that the government is drawing up plans to administer vaccine booster shots. Trials for such shots are already underway, and before his resignation last month, then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that a nationwide programme of booster jabs will likely be rolled out in autumn.

For the moment, children will be exempt from vaccination unless they suffer from pre-existing conditions, Zahawi said on Monday.

''We will be offering even more vulnerable people the protection that a vaccine brings and we will all be safer as a result,'' he said, after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation released new guidance stating that only children with severe neurodisabilities, Down's syndrome, immunosuppression, and profound and multiple learning disabilities will be given the jab.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:25

In a rare move for a Hollywood star, Ashton Kutcher has issued a warning about China, saying Beijing could use TikTok to influence the minds of Americans when it comes to issues like Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Ashton Kutcher made the comments during a recent appearance on ''American Optimist,'' the YouTube channel run by entrepreneur and investor Joe Lonsdale.

''If I'm China and I want to create a problem in that area of the world, specifically a naval problem in that area of the world, in the South China Sea, I would probably want to utilize TikTok in order to influence the minds of Americans in a anti-U.S. propaganda, anti-Taiwanese propaganda effort in order to make any kind of war from the United States extraordinarily unpopular,'' Kutcher said.

Watch below:

TikTok is owned by China's'...

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:32

Grasshopper : These people exist, UNBELIEVABLE! https://t.co/iu6zmA5zee

Wed Jul 21 20:18:56 +0000 2021

XRPezas123 : @maybe60794885 A person that believes in the vaccine wouldn't refer to it as a jab would they lol

Thu Jul 22 02:21:01 +0000 2021

Trinibooster20 : @maybe60794885 Before they come to the door, people will make sure there is no police and army.

Thu Jul 22 02:11:43 +0000 2021

Mike_pal75 : @maybe60794885 Wonder what his 15 cats feel about it

Thu Jul 22 01:58:25 +0000 2021

Artdeco : @maybe60794885 Soyboy level infinity

Thu Jul 22 01:52:23 +0000 2021

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:30

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:28

Tom Elliott : Crushing it https://t.co/DI21CUSp7k

Thu Jul 22 00:11:54 +0000 2021

Henri Mack : @tomselliott https://t.co/nL2PVit305

Thu Jul 22 02:28:21 +0000 2021

Nook Inc. Fashion Designer : @tomselliott https://t.co/PFzXoe0mhO

Thu Jul 22 02:28:17 +0000 2021

Not4Work : @tomselliott Sounds like he was crushing Miller High Life's all afternoon

Thu Jul 22 02:27:29 +0000 2021

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 22:05

Intensive-care unit and lung doctor Dr. Vin Gupta told CNBC that he's already encouraging patients who received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine to get a Pfizer or Moderna booster shot amid the dramatic increase in delta variant cases across the U.S.

Gupta, a professor at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, told "The News with Shepard Smith" that "AstraZeneca, when combined with a Pfizer or Moderna booster, is showing tremendous levels of protection against delta, in terms of the antibody levels that are generated in patients."

"I do think that those one-shot J&Jer's should be given the opportunity, while we complete our clinical trial ... I'm already telling my patients to do it, if they can get access to it."

Gupta's comments come on the heels of a new study from a lab at New York University Tuesday that raises serious questions about the effectiveness of J&J's single-dose vaccine against the highly contagious delta variant. The NYU study is not yet peer reviewed, but found that the antibody levels in those who received the J&J shot may be low enough to be less protective.

CNBC correspondent Meg Tirrell interviewed the lead author of the study, Dr. Ned Landau, who told her that the study suggests, "one should at least consider a second vaccination, a second shot" with the J&J vaccine, either of the same vaccine, or one from Pfizer or Moderna.

J&J told CNBC that its own data showed the vaccine "generated strong, persistent activity against the delta variant and other highly prevalent variants."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNBC that it stands by its statement earlier this month about boosters that "Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster at this time."

Gupta furthered the case for administering a booster shot when he told host Shepard Smith that his "definition of fully vaccinated is two doses of a vaccine."

Smith asked for clarification on whether Gupta considers the nearly 13 million Americans who received the J&J dose were actually fully vaccinated.

"I think you're protected, likely from the hospital and severe outcomes from say, the delta variant, based on what data we do have," Gupta said. "I do not think you have the same level of protection to transmit the virus than somebody who received two doses of the vaccine like Pfizer or Moderna. I think that is pretty clear at this point."

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 22:04

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:56

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:56

Speaking to her Instagram followers earlier this week, former WNBA star Cappie Pondexter accused top NBA player Lebron James of engaging in human trafficking.

''I ain't confused. I ain't on that shit, that nigga tried to kill me for real,'' she said. ''I just fucking got outta that shit, I've been missing for almost like two years. I ain't even know where the fuck I was at.''

''I do not fuck with Lebron James, that nigga is a trafficker my nigga,'' Pondexter claimed. ''That nigga is a trafficker. He is a fucking trafficker. He traffick women in real-time. That nigga stole all my money out my bank account.''

About two years ago, Pondexter went missing, even prompting a tweet by the WNBA who asked for anyone with information about her whereabouts to contact the authorities.

We are sharing this out of concern for our fellow WNBPA sister, Cappie Pondexter. If you have any information, please contact authorities. Please help us spread the word and ensure that she is safe. Thank you. @cappa23

'-- WNBPA (@TheWNBPA) October 8, 2020After vanishing for about a week, Pondexter was found after it turned out she was in police custody for ''suspicion of battery'' and refused to identify herself.

Clearly, until there are legal proceedings providing evidence of her accusations, they are nothing more than wild claims.

The allegations also came right when Lebron's new blockbuster film Space Jam: A New Legacy was released, raking in over $30 million at the box office in its opening weekend.

However, in a leftist-run #MeToo world where we are to ''believe all women'' no matter what, it will be interesting to see if liberals call to investigate the establishment darling basketball star Lebron James.

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:51

Closing BellDr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Biden, joins 'Closing Bell' to talk about the efficacy of vaccines against the delta variant, whether universal mask mandates should be reinstated and if Americans will need vaccine booster shots anytime soon.

17:01

20 minutes ago

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:27

Tardigrade : @TPostMillennial https://t.co/cyO1LplcHN

Tue Jul 20 19:59:18 +0000 2021

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 20:56

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 20:50

CoronavirusIn this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Gregory Poland expands on how the highly transmissible delta variant continues to spread.

Written By:Mayo Clinic News Network | 12:00 pm, Jul. 15, 2021

Forum News Service illustration

The delta variant is being blamed for hot spots in the U.S. where cases of COVID-19 are on the rise. These hot spots account for most cases in the U.S. They are also the geographical areas that tend to have the lowest vaccination rates.

"It's no surprise that the two go together," says Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group.

"This (delta variant) is the bad actor that we predicted it would be," Poland says. "Our seven-day average is getting up to 19,000 cases a day in the U.S. We were down to 3,000. So we're starting to see, just as we predicted, a surge as people took masks off and as restrictions were lifted before we had achieved high rates of immunization."

In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Poland expands on how the highly transmissible delta variant continues to spread. He also talks about the possibility of COVID-19 vaccine boosters, explains how the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System works, and much more as he answers listener questions.

RELATED:

Hear more Mayo Clinic podcastsCheck out other Forum Communications podcasts

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 20:47

North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn ripped Dr. Anthony Fauci in a Newsmax segment on Tuesday. Cawthorn was reacting to Dr. Fauci's fiery exchange with Senator Rand Paul over 'gain-of-function' research that took place in the Senate earlier in the day.

The freshman Congressman did not mince words calling out the NIAID Director by referring to him as a ''punk'' and accusing him of ''not having the best interests of the American people at heart.''

''Heather, I apologize for the scowl I currently have on my face,'' Cawthorn said. ''But it really makes me incredibly angry to hear him say he does not want to retract his statements. Because he did lie to the American people. He did lie to Congress, which is a crime.''

''I normally have a great amount of respect for the people who work here on Capitol Hill, knowing that although we have different ideas on how to accomplish it, we are all trying to work for the betterment of the American people,'' Cawthorn said. ''But I will tell you right now, that is not the case with Anthony Fauci.''

''He is a punk who is trying to further his own career and make himself wealthy and famous,'' he continued. ''But let me tell you, he deserves neither wealth nor fame, because he has destroyed countless small businesses, he has taken years of development away from young children who are missing the best parts of their entire lives.''

''He has shackled entire states and destroyed their economies,'' he went on. ''All because of what? Because he wants to see his face on the news?''

''He should be charged for lying to Congress,'' Cawthorn added. ''I thank Rand Paul for bringing it up. And I will tell you right now, Anthony Fauci does not have the best interests of the American People at his heart. I believe he is a pawn for the Chinese government by giving them funding to do militaristic funding to try to figure out how they can make an animal virus more transmissible to humans.''

''It's disgusting. It's wrong. And four million are currently dead all around the world because of it,'' Cawthorn added.

Earlier in the day, Senator Rand Paul excoriated Dr. Fauci while presenting evidence that his agency had funded 'gain of function' research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

''Dr. Fauci, as you're aware, it is a crime to lie to Congress,'' Senator Paul said. ''Section 1001 of the U.S. Criminal Code creates a felony and a five-year penalty for lying to Congress.''

''On your last trip to our committee on May 11th, you stated that the NIH has not ever and has not now funded gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,'' Paul continued. ''And yet, gain of function research was done entirely in the Wuhan Institute by Dr. Shi and was funded by the NIH.''

''I'd like to ask unanimous consent, insert into the record that Wuhan virology paper entitled 'Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses','' he continued. ''Please deliver a copy of the journal article to Dr. Fauci. In this paper, Dr. Shi credits the NIH and lists the actual number of the grant that she was given by the NIH. In this paper, she took two bat Coronavirus genes, spike genes, and combined them with SARS-related backbone to create new viruses that are not found in nature. These lab-created viruses were then to show to replicate in humans.''

''These experiments combined genetic information from different coronaviruses that infect animals, but not humans, to create novel artificial viruses able to infect human cells,'' Paul added. ''Viruses that in nature only infect animals were manipulated in the Wuhan lab to gain the function of infecting humans. This research fits the definition of the research that the NIH said was subject to the pause in 2014-2017, a pause in funding on gain of function.''

''But the NIH failed to recognize this defines it away, and it never came under any scrutiny,'' he continued. ''Doctor Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist from Rutgers described this research in Wuhan as 'The Wuhan lab used NIH funding to construct novel, chimeric SARS-related coronaviruses able to infect human cells and laboratory animals. This is high-risk research that creates new potential pandemic pathogens, potential pandemic pathogens that exist only in the lab, not in nature. This research matches '-- these are Dr. Ebright's words '-- this research matches, indeed epitomizes, the definition of gain of function research done entirely in Wuhan, for which there was supposed to be a federal pause. Dr. Fauci, knowing that it's a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11th where you claimed that the NIH never funded gain of function research in Wuhan?'' he asked.

''Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress and I do not retract that statement,'' Fauci claimed.

The Congressional record and the evidence about the NIAID's funding of the Wuhan lab through a 'charity' organization suggest otherwise.

NOW READ:

Rand Paul Warns Fauci About Lying, Then Lights Him Up Over Funding Wuhan 'Gain of Function' Research

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 13:39

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 13:37

Paul : @Roman_Baber @adamcurry @THErealDVORAK we need higher rates of INFECTION!

Wed Jul 21 13:21:42 +0000 2021

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 10:20

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Tue, 20 Jul 2021 15:24

Brad Trainer : @EdwinVcity @DarthWinston @adamcurry

Tue Jul 20 13:34:20 +0000 2021

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Tue, 20 Jul 2021 13:04

President Biden took questions from the press after an event on Monday.

Facebook Comments

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Tue, 20 Jul 2021 12:41

Sheila D : @LHatesYouALot @adamcurry

Tue Jul 20 07:00:19 +0000 2021

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 17:46

President Joe Biden told reporters Monday that Facebook isn't killing people, just days after appearing to accuse the social media company of doing just that.

Biden spoke to reporters briefly on Friday as he left the White House and was asked if he had a message to platforms like Facebook regarding COVID-19 misinformation. The administration announced last week that it is working with Facebook to flag ''disinformation'' surrounding the virus and the vaccines.

''They're killing people,'' Biden said Friday. ''I mean, they're really '' Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they're killing people.''

The president appeared to backtrack on these comments Monday, telling reporters that ''Facebook isn't killing people.''

Biden suggested his Friday comments weren't specifically accusing Facebook of killing people, but rather were in reference to the 12 individuals allegedly responsible for the majority of COVID-19 misinformation. A report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) cited by the White House found that 65% of misinformation on Facebook comes from just 12 people.

''Facebook isn't killing people. These 12 people are out there giving misinformation, anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it,'' the president explained after giving remarks on the economy. ''It's killing people. It's bad information.'' (RELATED: REPORT: The DNC Wants Phone Companies To Police Text Messages For Vaccine Misinformation)

WATCH:

Biden said he hopes Facebook doesn't take ''it personally'' and instead chooses to ''do something'' to combat the misinformation. Facebook pushed back on Biden's earlier comments over the weekend and provided data it argued shows the platform isn't responsible for people not getting vaccinated and subsequently dying from the virus.

''While social media plays an important role in society, it is clear that we need a whole of society approach to end this pandemic,'' Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, wrote in a blog post Saturday. ''And facts '-- not allegations '-- should help inform that effort. The fact is that vaccine acceptance among Facebook users in the US has increased. These and other facts tell a very different story to the one promoted by the administration in recent days.''

Biden, when asked if Facebook has done enough in stopping the spread of alleged misinformation, said he wasn't sure. Rosen argued in the blog post that the social media company taken ''action against'' COVID-19 misinformation when it pops up.

''To be completely honest with you, I don't know that they did anything today, up to over the weekend, I don't think they had. But I don't know,'' Biden said.

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 16:28

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 15:39

8,313

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RFK jnr talks to Covid Vaxx Victim

DESCENTINTOSLAVERYGRIFFIN · 2 Views

19 Jul 2021

RFK jnr talks to Covid Vaxx Victim

DESCENTINTOSLAVERYGRIFFIN · 2 Views

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:19

Clarity Concerning the Mechanism Behind ''Havana Syndrome,'' Vulnerabilities Within U.S. Embassies/Consulates, and Russian/Chinese Exploitation of Vulnerabilities

In late 2016, U.S. Embassy staffers reported experiencing headaches, nausea, vomiting, and other symptoms believed to be caused by a sonic weapon of some sort. After a great deal of speculation along these lines, the leading theory shifted in the direction of mass hysteria induced by the staff's awareness of a single illness. More recently, after even more cases have emerged, evidence would seem to once again suggest a sonic weapon.

What possible motive could a state actor such as Russia or China have to induce sickness in employees of an embassy? Did they really believe that embassies would simply pack up and leave town, ceasing their spying operations just because a few people got sick? What sense would it make to operate a sonic weapon that would sicken operators more than the intended victims?

According to one report, a staffer become the most ill when in bed or when working in particular parts of the building, but not in others. The United States Government is not being forthright with regards to what it knows (or worse, what they don't know) concerning the phenomenon of ''Havana Syndrome.''

On April 5, 2017, the Technical University of Munich published a study demonstrating how EM emitted from a dual-band wireless router could be used, when combined with a router they had complete control over, to make a 3D map of the interior of a structure. See:

https://www.tum.de/nc/en/about-tum/news/press-releases/details/33897

U.S. Embassies notably are protected by a copper-wire mesh that prevents coherent EM energy from being emitted from within the secure facilities. Ostensibly, a technique identical to the one employed at the Technical University of Munich would not be viable. However, an alteration of this technique based upon a historical case of successful espionage could work successfully, with or without a copper-wire mesh surrounding a structure. It is my contention that Havana Syndrome can be traced to an attempt to exploit such an approach in order to generate 3D maps of the interior of embassies and consulates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_(listening_device)

From 1945 to 1952, the device was used successfully to spy on the U.S. Ambassador to the U.S.S.R. in his residential study. Where that device converted acoustical signals into EM signals using an external power source (an early predecessor to RFID) the technique now being employed by Russia and China take advantage of a security vulnerability introduced by the United States itself, without any subterfuge required on their part(s).

While existing security protocols within U.S. Embassies prohibit the use of wireless routers as such, using only hardwired configurations for their internal communications, U.S. Embassies use off-the-shelf routers with very little modification except to turn off 802.11 functionality. This means that U.S. Embassies have deliberately introduced multiple dipole antennae into their secure facilities. While a copper-wire mesh will effectively negate EM signals, it does nothing to stop acoustical energy from penetrating a wall.

Disclaimer: this post and the subject matter and contents thereof - text, media, or otherwise - do not necessarily reflect the views of the 8kun administration.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 11:59

Tres Genco, 21, of Hillsboro, Ohio, facing federal charges for plotting a mass shooting at an Ohio college campus

A self-identified 'incel' is facing federal charges for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at an Ohio college campus, where police say he sought to 'slaughter' thousands of women 'out of hatred, jealousy and revenge.'

Tres Genco, 21, of Hillsboro, Ohio, was arrested by federal agents on Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to commit a hate crime and illegally owning a machine gun, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Incel, meaning 'involuntarily celibate', refers to a group of mostly men who interact online about their hatred towards women. According to the Justice Department, 'Incels seek to commit violence in support of their belief that women unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention, to which they believe they are entitled.'

Genco started posting on an unspecified incel forum in July 2019, according to a federal indictment.

In one post, he allegedly described shooting a group of women with a water gun full of orange juice. Genco called it an 'extremely empowering action' and likened it to the same act committed by the infamous 'virgin killer,' Elliot Rodger, leading up to his mass shooting.

In 2014, Rodger shot and killed six people and injured 14 others outside of a sorority house at the University of California in Santa Barbara before killing himself.

Investigators allege that Genco started planning his own killing spree in January 2019, when he made an online purchase for tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a hoodie emblazoned with the word 'revenge,' cargo pants, a bowie knife, a skull facemask, two Glock 17 magazines, a 9mm Glock 17 clip and a holster clip concealed carry for a Glock.

In August 2019, he allegedly wrote a manifesto titled 'A Hideous Symphony a manifesto written by Tres Genco, the socially exiled Incel,' in which he detailed his plans to go to basic training with the U.S. military to learn how to kill.

Tres Genco, 21, pictured, was arrested by federal agents on Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to commit a hate crime and illegally owning a machine gun, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice

The suspect was a fan of the 'virgin killer' Elliot Rodger, pictured, who killed six people outside of a sorority house in California in 2014

A portion of the manifesto, published in the federal indictment, reads, 'I will slaughter out of jealousy, hatred, and revenge . . . I will take away the power of life that they withhold from me, by showing there is more than just happiness and fulfillment, there is all encompassing death, the great equalizer that will bear all of us into its seductively calm velvet of silence and serenity.'

Around the same time, Genco allegedly wrote a note singling out an unnamed Ohio college and writing the date he intended to carry out his plot as May 23, 2020, the gun he planned on using as an M-16 and even his desired kill count, which he wrote, 'needs to be huge! 3,000? Aim big then.'

Genco attended Army Basic Training at Ft. Benning, Georgia, that same month until December 2019, when he was discharged for poor performance and conduct.

On returning to Ohio, he allegedly wrote another manifesto called 'Isolated,' which he signed 'Your hopeful friend and murder.'

A portion of the text, as detailed in the indictment, reads, 'If you're reading this, I've done something horrible. Somehow you've come across the writings of the deluded and homicidal, not an easy task, and for that I congratulate you for your curiosity and willingness to delve into such a dark topic.'

The following month, he started skulking around Ohio State University, the indictment reads, and started searching topics online like 'how to plan a shooting crime' and 'when does preparing for a crime become attempt?'

That March, he searched for police scanner codes for Columbus and campus police at Ohio State University. Genco's Twitter page lists Ohio University in his bio, but University Spokeswoman Carly Leatherwood told The Daily Beast that he was never a student there.

Genco wrote a note with an unspecified location, date and gun he planned to use in his shooting. He also wrote that he hoped to have a kill count of 3,000

It wasn't until March 12, 2020, that Genco's alleged plans spilled out of the online incel community and caught the attention of police.

According to the indictment, an anonymous caller told police in Hillsboro, Ohio that Genco threatened them with a gun and cocked it, before locking himself in his bedroom.

Police say the caller claimed Genco had been 'erratic and somewhat violent over the past several months.'

Cops responded and ordered Genco to leave his room with his hands up, with he eventually did before he was taken into custody.

On searching Genco's car, police found a gun with a bump stock attached, several loaded magazines, body armor and boxes of ammunition. On searching his room, they found a Glock-style 9mm semiautomatic pistol hidden in his heating vent. The firearm had no manufacturer's marks or serial number.

The unidentified caller also read Genco's manifestos and told police that 'he was planning to hurt someone.'

Genco faces on charge of attempting to commit a hate crime involving murder, which could mean a life sentence. He also faces one count of illegally owning a machine fun, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 11:23

The entire supply of bitcoin will eventually go to the zealot DCA army, bringing enough fiat into BTC that fiat ceases to exist.

In a recent podcast episode with Stephan Livera, I made a claim that Bitcoin was the greatest charitable movement in history and that its ''donors'' were those who actively support Bitcoin on a daily basis through automated buying of Bitcoin, mining (''donors of last resort''), educating and promoting (i.e., ''stacking stackers'') and generally making Bitcoin more useful and accessible to others (development and building products). Until a better meme comes along, I will refer to these people as ''The DCA Army.''

In this piece, I will not talk about the why or the how of the Bitcoin charity (that will be a much longer piece coming soon), but will focus on the mechanics of how it is entirely possible to create permanent price growth and stability through a coordinated, mass charitable effort.

So, strap yourselves in, suspend disbelief for the next seven minutes, and allow me to show you an extreme example of how the wealthiest, most charitable 2% of the world's workforce '-- about 70 million people (less than 1% of the close to eight billion people alive today) '-- could very realistically create a permanently upwards sloping price floor for bitcoin, and drive the price toward a (relatively) stable price of $1 million per coin within a year or so.

I will first commence with the key definitions and assumptions, before diving into the hypotheticals and running the numbers.

Key DefinitionsFor me, DCA stands for ''daily charitable act,'' but it is sometimes confused for ''dollar-cost averaging,'' well known as an investment strategy. It should be understood that buying bitcoin automatically on a daily or weekly basis, regardless of price or reason, is not an investment, or anything to do with money really '-- it is simply guaranteeing prompt victory for Bitcoin, so that it's true charitable impact can be realized.

You may not be interested in the war, but the war is most definitely interested in you! We are, for better or worse, currently engaged in financial warfare against the legacy, proof-of-stake fiat system '-- ''army'' is a perfectly appropriate term.

Soldiers in the DCA army are fully on board with Bitcoin's core philosophical and economic principles, and are simply migrating away from the Legacy system with every paycheck. Words are nice, but even the founding fathers of the United States knew that money would have to be involved:

''And for the support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour'' - ''The Declaration Of Independence''

Just as the ability to speak does not make one intelligent, ownership of bitcoin does not make one a Bitcoiner. It is estimated that there are already over 70 million bitcoin owners, however, if you aren't buying every day or week, you can consider yourself a speculator.

Consider this; you have accepted Bitcoin for what it is and what it does. Why would you not slowly move all of your capital into bitcoin over time, then? Why would you buy bitcoin once, continue in wage slavery, keep bringing in fiat income and then not migrate a fixed portion of that fiat into the new parallel Bitcoin economy as soon as you receive it? It absolutely boggles the mind. I lose sleep over this question.

''Available for sale'' refers to any bitcoin that hasn't been bought by the DCA army and/or hasn't been lost. It is assumed that all ''non-soldiers'' are weak-handed speculators ready to dump bitcoin for fiat gain at any opportunity.

Although bitcoin is a finite currency, its inflation is quite high, and regardless of whether or not miners hold or sell newly-mined coins, the fact that they have been brought into existence needs to either be accounted for through the market cap or through the price.

Using large round numbers to illustrate, let's say we have 1 million BTC worth $1,000 each. The ''market cap'' for bitcoin in this case is $1 billion:

On schedule, another 10,000 bitcoin comes into existence. If the market cap is to remain $1 billion (i.e., no new coins have been purchased), then the price of bitcoin must reduce to $990.10. If the price is to remain at $1,000 (i.e., all new ones are bought), then the market cap must increase to $1.01 billion.As long as there is new supply, either market cap or price must adjust accordingly, whether new supply is actually sold or not.Key AssumptionsAll bitcoin bought by the DCA Army will reside on an exchange for a maximum of three months after initial purchase, and will be held for a minimum five-year period from date of purchase (minimal rehypothecation risk). Due to the popularity of auto DCA platforms that also enable Lightning withdrawals, such as Bitaroo (Australia), Bottlepay (U.K./EU), GetFlitz (EU) and Bipa (Brazil), all should be able to withdraw in a cheap and timely fashion. Other providers will adopt the Lightning Network or go bankrupt from competition. Sustained action from the Army for five years will mean the circular economy has been bootstrapped, and that the collateralized lending industry has flourished. It is likely that all coins bought by the Army will never see the fiat world again.

It is assumed that the DCA army is ''religious,'' and therefore tithes a tenth of its gross income to bitcoin, not dissimilar to the billions of the world's religious adherents. We will assume that the typical soldier matches the profile of the average Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) wage earner of $49,165 per year, or $134.7 per day. Let's just call it $10 per day for individuals, and $700 million per day for the entire army.

Coins exist on exchange for one reason, and one reason only '-- leverage gambling or simply selling. It is assumed that all two million coins on the top-12 exchanges are available for immediate sale, and can mostly be bought by stealth with no slippage (see next assumption).

It is assumed that, due to the size of the 70 million-strong army, that the time distribution of its automated purchases would average out over the day, so, $700 million / 86,400 seconds = about $8,100 per second.

Corporations and governments move way too slowly and will not be able to handle the extreme pace of change when an army is at the gates, relentlessly bringing $700 million per day, and increasing. Eventually, 10% of workers will save 10% of their wages, and you'll have $3.3 billion coming in daily. When you freak out about the numbers I've run for $700 million per day later in this piece, you can let your imagination run wild. Then imagine 20% of workers saving 10%.

Source

The current bitcoin supply at time of writing (block 691,385) is around 18.76 million BTC. I will assume that 90% of coins unmoved for over a decade are lost, and 70% of those unmoved between seven and 10 years are lost. It is unreasonable to assume that so few people with such immense wealth would not take advantage of migrating from a legacy wallet to a SegWit and/or multisignature wallet, or cash in on what would have also been immense wealth in the Bitcoin forks. I've made some other assumptions on loss in the table below, and take a guess that there are just over three million coins lost, with about 15.6 million up for grabs.

It is assumed that the majority of exchange activity is illegitimate, and most volume comes from wash trading, leverage and manipulation. The DCA army tends to buy bitcoin at spot, unleveraged, from smaller, Bitcoin-only vendors. The only critical element to watch is the absorption of daily inflation.

Running The NumbersMy assertion is that, with a well-funded DCA army, in long term equilibrium (i.e., when the entire available balance of bitcoin has been bought and self-custodied by the army), then the price will tend to $700 million per 900 coins per day, or, $777,777.77 (assuming no additional demand). Based on this logic, you can rationalize that today's ''stable'' price of $30,000 as a mere 2.7 million people migrating $10 worth per day, or 0.085% of the global workforce.

After the next halving in 2024, this will double to $1,555,555.55. This isn't exactly a miracle or anything '-- it's very basic supply and demand as illustrated very well by @Croesus in his piece, and in the diagram below:

Source

Instead of illustrating it with orange circles, I'll give a hypothetical scenario of what might possibly happen if Bitcoin were to suddenly be hit with $700 million per day, relentlessly, over a one year period. Glorified fan fiction, essentially. It will be split into two 24-week phases; phase one is the ''mobilization and victory phase,'' and phase two is the ''normalization'' phase. The calculation figures show price assumptions, as well as the total balance acquired by the DCA army.

The first two weeks is the stealth phase of the operation '-- $1.4 billion to play with. Due to incessant small spot orders, it is very difficult for the market to react and several sellers and shorts are caught off guard. Price would increase 10% per week over this fortnight, and the army will have stacked over 300,000 BTC, including all 12,600 BTC mined in this period.

With price recovering, deep insiders and exit scammers in the Bitcoin and altcoin worlds will see weeks three and four as potentially the last opportunities to get out before a prolonged bear market, so despite another $1.4 billion of buying power, price still only increases 10% week on week. The army now has over 550,000 BTC (up 250,000 BTC from last fortnight), with about 100,000 BTC due for withdrawal to self custody.

Weeks five and six see the continuation of the ''shitcoin waterfall,'' but now at the lower tiers, and therefore continued heavy selling. Despite that, price is still rising only 10% week on week. This fortnight, all 12,600 mined BTC were gobbled up, alongside another 200,000 coins for a total stash of over 750,000 BTC, of which 250,000 is now in self custody.

The next two weeks see traumatized at-time-high buyers and other bagholders selling violently at their breakeven price. This is followed by another two weeks of selling by corporations citing ''environmental concerns,'' but truly because they've secured their five-times fiat return, what most of them came here for, and now it's time to get out. Another two weeks of profit taking by people who simply can't believe that price has been consistently rising 10% per week follows that.

The end of week 12 sees the DCA army in offline custody of over 750,000 BTC, with an additional 400,000 BTC awaiting withdrawal from exchanges over the coming month.

Disaster. With so much spot buying going on, and so many bitcoin being withdrawn, the implosion of one of the world's largest, highest-leverage, least-regulated shitcoin casinos was all but guaranteed in unlucky week 13. The ''trading and crypto community'' has had billions in wealth evaporate, with the negative media over the following fortnight dropping the price by over 30%, and driving another some 220,000 BTC into the hands of the army.

More corporations exit in weeks 15 and 16, yet price just keeps going up by 10% per week and they are now out of a position. They hate Bitcoin now. The shorts are placed, and the financial-media complex starts to get warmed up, but it will be at least another two weeks before it has proper momentum. Week 18 ends with the Army in custody of 1.1 million BTC, with another 450,000 BTC waiting for withdrawal. Importantly, the week ended with Elon Musk having his final meltdown, and Tesla dumping its entire position on the open market.

With the price now back to $20,000 thanks to Musk and friends dumping mercilessly for a period of one month, The DCA army picked up an additional 800,000 BTC in weeks 19 to 22. With all speculative, weak-handed coins almost completely absorbed, the price bounces back very strongly, gaining 30% week on week in weeks 23 and 24. The old enemies of Bitcoin had now been dispatched, with all of their capital burnt on leveraged shorts. The new enemies are still figuring out how to manage their wave seven lockdowns. They will be distracted for a lot longer than it will take for bitcoin to reach $1 million. The DCA army now holds two million bitcoin, with 200,000 BTC pending withdrawal.

Over the next 24 weeks, nothing spectacular happens - hence the name ''normalization.'' Price simply goes up 10% per week, with the Army patiently stacking tens of thousands of coins per week '-- short sellers, institutions and general onlookers in disbelief. Even in week 48, when the 10% week-on-week growth has led to a price of $463,000, the DCA army is still absorbing the 900 coin daily supply, plus an extra 600 coins. Only nine more weeks of this price action would get the price to $1 million, but alas, the DCA army would only be able to provide a floor at $777,777.77 as explained in the introduction of the previous section. The army is in custody of three million coins at this point. You'd think that, after such a stellar year, and with so many tens of millions of people in the army, you might even say attracting new recruits would be easier than ever!

ConclusionWhile some of the above may happen, I will guarantee that none of it will happen at the pace or in the order described above. The above is merely illustrating that, with enough time, the entire available supply will eventually go into the hands of the religious zealot auto DCA army based on pure attrition alone. The above hypothetical left only 11 million coins available for sale at the end of only 48 weeks, and obviously, not all coins are available at all prices. The result is that in long-term equilibrium, the fiat-denominated price of bitcoin will be the amount of fiat brought to market daily by the army, divided by the miners' subsidy (mined coins plus fees). Eventually though, fiat will come into bitcoin in such astronomical quantities, that fiat will cease to exist.

Have you enlisted in the DCA army yet? See this tweet for all of the places in the world where you can arm yourself with the best defensive weapon ever conceived, Bitcoin!

This is a guest post by Hass McCook. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 11:20

Hospitalizations and cases of the coronavirus are continuing to rise in Austin and across the country. Austin-Travis County is currently in Stage 3 of Austin Public Health's risk-based guidelines, but on Monday night, the region reached levels that are likely to send it back into the stricter Stage 4 of Austin Public Health's risk-based guidelines, according to Austin Public Health officials.

More: Austin likely to revert to Stage 4 COVID guidelines as cases and hospitalizations continue to rise, officials say

But what does moving from Stage 3 to Stage 4 actually do? Here's a recap of the city's risk-based guidelines, and what they mean for Austinites:

What's the deal with these stages?

Back in May 2020, Austin Public Health unveiled a five-stage guideline system to help residents understand the level of coronavirus risk to the community and offer guidelines they should follow to avoid transmitting or contracting the disease. The numbers increase to indicate a more dangerous stage of the pandemic and trigger more restrictions accordingly, with Stage 1 being the safest and the Stage 5 being the riskiest.

What's the difference between Stage 3 and Stage 4?

Stages 1, 2 and 3 look almost identical in their mask-wearing guidance, the caveat being that in Stage 3, individuals who are high risk and unvaccinated should avoid all gatherings, dining, shopping and traveling '-- both indoors and outdoors '-- unless it's essential.

That changes in Stage 4. Unlike Stages 1, 2 and 3, vaccinated individuals are advised to put on masks when attending private gatherings, dining and shopping in Stage 4. Unvaccinated individuals are advised to avoid those activities altogether, unless they are essential.

What about businesses? Business owners under Stage 4 can still decide whether or not to require customers to wear masks. Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County health authority, said Friday that she had no immediate plans to attempt to reinstate the previous mask mandate that required businesses to have a masks-on policy.

What would trigger a shift from Stage 3 to Stage 4?

Austin-Travis County only officially shifts stages when public health officials say so, but the city has laid out certain thresholds that indicate it might be time to shift. The primary indicator is the seven-day average for new daily hospital admissions, but the city also takes into account the seven-day moving average of hospitalizations, number of patients in the ICU, ventilator usage, positivity rate, and the seven-day moving average of cases.

A shift from Stage 3 to Stage 4 is recommended when the city reaches a seven-day moving average for new daily hospital admissions of 30. Austin reached that average on Monday, according to the city's dashboard, but an official shift into Stage 4 has not been announced by officials yet.

Do COVID-19 restrictions apply to vaccinated people?

Yes '-- the guidelines for vaccinated and unvaccinated people are just different.

In all five stages, unvaccinated individuals should wear masks. Vaccinated individuals can forgo their masks, unless traveling, in Stages 1 through 3. In Stages 4 and 5, unvaccinated people should avoid all non-essential gatherings and outings, while vaccinated people can engage in them as long as they're masked.

What about herd immunity?

Austin Public Health officials say it will take between 70% to 90% of all eligible (currently those 12 years old and over) Austin and Travis County residents getting fully vaccinated to reach herd immunity. As of Wednesday, 53% of Travis County residents of all ages and 62% of Travis County residents 12 years old and over were fully vaccinated, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data.

Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a community are protected from getting a disease because they've already had the disease or they've been vaccinated. It's important because it even protects those who cannot be vaccinated, such as young children.

Note: This story has been updated to clarify that, according to Austin Public Health, herd immunity will be achieved when 70 to 90% of those eligible to receive a vaccine (currently residents 12 years and older) have done so. An earlier version of this story described herd immunity in terms of Travis County's total population.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 11:11

Somewhere, Matt Lauer must be laughing.

Recent ratings analysis shows that viewership for NBC's flagship morning news and chat show has reached its lowest point in 30 years.

According to Fox News, all the network morning shows are suffering, but Today has taken the brunt of the drop-off, shedding 10% of its audience so far this year.

''[It] has averaged 3.2 million viewers in 2021, a 10-percent drop from its 2020 total viewership. ABC's Good Morning America is also down nine percent but has averaged 3.4 million to edge Today for the most-watched morning show,'' the outlet reports. It goes on, ''While both shows have declined from last year, the historic low for Today has raised eyebrows as the show used to surpass 6 million viewers on a regular basis in its heyday. Today also lost to Good Morning America in the key demographic of adults age 25-54 by its largest margin since the week of December 21, 2015.''

Freelance media analyst Drew Holden suggested that the Peacock network is struggling to decide what to do with the program now that it can no longer focus on Donald Trump, something that Daily Wire analysis has shown is impacting most establishment TV news shows.

Said Holden, ''For years, Today invested in ginning up political outrage to grab eyeballs, at the expense of trying to understand the storylines and topics that people are actually interested in. Non-stop political coverage may've helped juice the numbers for a while, but at the end of the day, it isn't what people want from Today or most other shows like it.''

An anonymous insider revealed that the network's executives are, understandably, very unhappy. ''It's a total fiasco,'' the source told Fox. ''The show has lost its role [as a] cultural touchstone. There are obviously bigger industry trends at play but the show is a non-factor.''

Fox points out that this is hardly a good time for Today to be struggling as NBC is gearing up for its traditional coverage of the Olympic games. In the past, profiles of athletes and other feel-good stories have been a ratings bonanza for the network. But with the games going woke, as athletes kneel to show support for Black Lives Matter and biological males compete in women's sports, audiences are proving less interested.

The latest consumer research from Zeta Global shows viewers don't find the games as compelling as they have in the past. TV Technology reports, ''Based on responses from over 2000 respondents across the United States, [Zeta's] survey found that enthusiasm for the Tokyo Olympics is low. The majority of U.S. consumers are not looking forward to the Olympics this year: 45.2% of U.S. consumers surveyed are not looking forward to the Olympics, while 17.5% are undecided.''

Zeta predicted that audience disinterest will likely lead to the 2021 Tokyo Games being ''one of the lowest-watched Summer Olympic Games in the 21st century, to date.''

The Daily Wire is one of America's fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:47

From its headquarters just blocks from the White House, a small, high-powered team of former ambassadors, lawyers, and Obama appointees has spent the past few years solving problems for the world's biggest companies.

Less than six months into the Biden administration, more than 15 consultants from the firm WestExec Advisors have fanned out across the White House, its foreign policy apparatus, and its law enforcement institutions. Five, some of whom already have jobs with the administration, have been nominated for high-ranking posts, and four others served on the Biden-Harris transition team. Even by Washington standards, it's a remarkable march through the revolving door, especially for a firm that only launched in 2017. The pipeline has produced a dominance of WestExec alums throughout the administration, installed in senior roles as influential as director of national intelligence and secretary of state. WestExec clients, meanwhile, have controversial interests in tech and defense that intersect with the policies their former consultants are now in a position to set and execute.

The arrival of each new WestExec adviser at the administration has been met with varying degrees of press coverage '-- headlines for the secretary of state, blurbs in trade publications for the head of cybersecurity '-- but the creeping monopolization of foreign policymaking by a single boutique consulting firm has gone largely unnoticed. The insularity of this network of policymakers poses concerns about the potential for groupthink, conflicts of interest, and what can only be called, however oxymoronically, legalized corruption.

''The private sector can in essence co-opt the public sector.''

WestExec does not affirmatively share its clients, and public financial disclosure forms only offer broad outlines. Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, says that government ethics laws written decades ago aren't equipped to handle a situation in which a single firm launches 15 senior officials. ''Yes, they're employed by the government, I'll grant you that. But are they actually working for the American people or not? Where does their loyalty lie?'' said Clark. ''The private sector can in essence co-opt the public sector.''

''These White House officials are experienced government leaders whose prior private sector experience is part of a broad and diverse skill set they bring to government service,'' said a White House spokesperson in a statement. WestExec did not reply to a detailed list of questions for this story.

The firm describes one of its chief selling points as its ''unparalleled geopolitical risk analysis,'' now confirmed by the saturation of its employees in positions of power. WestExec has also succeeded in getting tech startups into defense contracts and helped defense corporations modernize with tech; it worked to help multinational companies break into China. One of its collaborators is the defense-centered investment group Pine Island Capital Partners, which launched a SPAC, or ''blank check'' company,'' last year. Tony Blinken advised Pine Island and was a part owner. (Mich¨le Flournoy, another WestExec co-founder, had her nomination to be secretary of defense nixed. President Joe Biden instead nominated Lloyd Austin, himself a former Pine Island partner but not a WestExec consultant.)

What makes WestExec ''boutique'' is the promise that its executives would have face time with its seasoned policymakers. ''We felt other firms brought people in for big names and never got to see the big names,'' said one WestExec co-founder in 2020. ''Tony is on client calls.''

The WestExec to Biden administration pipeline, part one.

Graphic: Soohee Cho/The Intercept

Blinken, now secretary of state, advised household names like telecommunications giant AT&T, defense contractor Boeing, shipping magnate FedEx, and the media company Discovery as a WestExec founding partner. He worked for Big Tech pillars Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Uber. He helped niche companies like speakers bureau GLG, art seller Sotheby's, and biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. Blinken also lists clients that are global investment firms and asset managers, like Blackstone, Lazard, Royal Bank of Canada, and the multinational conglomerate SoftBank '-- which does extensive business with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He even advised the consulting group McKinsey & Company. Though Blinken left WestExec in July 2020 '-- after The American Prospect inquired about the relationship '-- each of these businesses has an international profile that may impact his calculations as he implements Biden's foreign policy.

Blinken also brought several of his key staff members at the State Department with him from WestExec. His senior adviser Julianne Smith, who listed Boeing and SoftBank as clients, earned $34,000 as a WestExec consultant while holding down a full-time role at the think tank German Marshall Fund. Smith has been nominated to be permanent representative to NATO. (Blinken also brought WestExec executive assistant Sarah McCool to the State Department as his director of scheduling.) Barbara Leaf, a former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, worked for the firm and advised the National Basketball Association. She went on to serve as Biden's senior director for the Middle East at the National Security Council. Leaf awaits a vote to be the State Department's assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs. Meanwhile, consultant Daniel B. Shapiro, Obama's ambassador to Israel and a ''very busy'' early member of the firm, according to his colleague, is being floated as a Middle East envoy. The Prospect revealed last summer that one of WestExec's clients was Windward, an Israeli artificial intelligence company that specializes in ship tracking.

The firm also provided a comfortable place for Biden's most powerful intelligence chiefs to wait out the Trump administration. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines had her name scrubbed from WestExec's website early on, but she worked with the firm from October 2017 to July 2020, when she joined Biden's transition team as foreign policy lead. According to a questionnaire completed before her confirmation hearing, she delivered ''strategic advice'' on ''cyber norms; national security threats; and testing, evaluation, validation and verification of machine learning systems by the Department of Defense'' to clients like Facebook, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, and Open Philanthropy. Deputy Director of the CIA David S. Cohen was an early member of WestExec's ''core team'' alongside Haines and Blinken. But it's impossible to know who his clients were, because an exemption for the spy agencies' officials means that his disclosure is not publicly available.

''That exempts them from public accountability,'' said Clark, the ethics expert at Washington University, ''and that's a problem because we can't necessarily rely on internal controls and external, public disclosure.'' A CIA spokesperson declined to share the companies Cohen worked for at WestExec.

Then there's Chris Inglis, who the Senate recently approved as national cyber director. He earned $15,000 from the firm and worked for internet security outfit CrowdStrike and email encryption company Virtru.

Since its founding in 2017, WestExec's focus has been to enhance the capabilities of defense, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies. It partners with the Silicon Valley venture firm Ridgeline, which describes itself as ''mission-driven'' '-- meaning that unlike some tech investors, which avoid working with the military, Ridgeline seeks out military products. Both Cohen and Inglis appeared on Ridgeline's website, and through that partnership, Blinken invested in the venture group's many portfolio companies. The obscure startups have kooky names (Agolo, Doodle, Wallaroo, etc.) but are innovating advanced technologies like drones, artificial intelligence, and robots. The alumni of WestExec are deeply engaged in emerging tech, which could lead to conflicts of interest as they take on policymaking roles that affect the contracts the government greenlights.

One of the administration's most visible faces also worked at the firm. Jen Psaki, now the White House press secretary, was a senior adviser to WestExec, where she did crisis communications for the Israeli facial recognition software company AnyVision and advised the nonprofit Spirit of America.

The WestExec to Biden administration pipeline, part two. Not pictured: senior adviser to the domestic policy adviser Erin Pelton; director of scheduling for the secretary of state Sarah McCool; nominee for assistant secretary of defense Celeste Wallander; Biden-Harris transition team advisers Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Cristina Killingsworth, Jay Shambaugh, and Puneet Talwar; deputy director for the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission John Costello; and vice chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Robert O. Work .

Graphic: Soohee Cho/The Intercept

As companies faced the Covid-19 pandemic's massive challenges, Lisa Monaco joined Blinken on client calls. As a WestExec adviser, she worked for Boeing and SoftBank. Now Monaco is the U.S. deputy attorney general. Before Matt Olsen earned millions of dollars as a senior official at Uber, he worked early on as a principal for the firm. Biden has nominated Olsen to be assistant attorney general in the National Security Division.

Ely Ratner is developing China policy for the Defense Department as assistant secretary for Indo-Pacific security affairs. At WestExec, according to his Office of Government Ethics forms, ''Billable hours were for background white papers without identified clients and most income was passive retainer.'' Though he only earned $11,450 at WestExec, he did so while making more than $400,000 at the think tank Center for a New American Security.

Gabrielle Chefitz, a senior associate of WestExec, joined the Pentagon as special assistant to the under secretary of defense for policy. In June, Biden nominated WestExec senior adviser Celeste Wallander to be assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.

WestExec's consultants are so connected and pedigreed that they often hold down multiple jobs, appointments, and titles. That's how someone like Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former WestExec senior adviser, can join the Treasury Department as a senior official without much notice. At the end of May, Biden nominated Rosenberg to be Treasury's assistant secretary for terrorism financing. In her LinkedIn profile, she says she has managed federal initiatives to ''promote financial transparency.'' Her role at WestExec fell off the bio that the White House released publicizing the nomination.

The U.S. Agency for International Development administrator's office is also full of the firm's consultants. Colin Thomas-Jensen ''advised WestExec and its clients on due diligence and navigating political risk in Sub-Saharan Africa,'' and those clients included Boeing, SoftBank, and Delta Capital Management, a venture capital firm that specializes in financing litigation. In April, Thomas-Jensen joined USAID as national security director. That month, WestExec's Latin America expert Michael Camilleri began serving as senior adviser to Administrator Samantha Power and as executive director of the agency's Northern Triangle Task Force. As a WestExec consultant, he advised Blackstone, SoftBank, the Intel founder's multibillion-dollar nonprofit Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the mineral extraction company Rio Tinto.

And it's not just international policy that will be shaped by the firm. Erin Pelton, who works in the White House as a senior adviser on domestic policy, provided advisory services to WestExec. And the nominee to be the Department of Commerce's assistant secretary for industry and analysis, Grant Harris, has a connection to the firm. His personal consulting firm Connect Frontier, which advises companies and organizations working in developing markets, hired WestExec .

Even Bidenworld's backbenchers are entangled in the firm. The Biden-Harris transition team was advised by WestExec consultants Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Puneet Talwar, Jay Shambaugh, and Cristina Killingsworth. Further, the firm's members oversee influential nonpartisan federal commissions: Robert O. Work at the National Security Commission for Artificial Intelligence and John Costello at the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

''West Exec's advisors have worked together at the highest levels of government, navigating and anticipating the impact of international crises on decision making '-- we can provide the same insights and strategies to business leaders around the world,'' Blinken said in an early pamphlet advertising the firm.

A half-year after Blinken's return to government, the pamphlet is still featured on WestExec co-founder and managing partner Nitin Chadda's LinkedIn profile. It's a reminder to potential clients about the firm's enduring proximity to power.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:42

| July 19, 2021, 12:27 PM

TOKYO '-- Keigo Oyamada, a Japanese composer working on the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, resigned on Monday after coming under fire for bullying classmates during his childhood.

"I sincerely accept the opinions and advice I have received, express my gratitude, and will keep them in mind for my future actions and thoughts,'' he said on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

"I apologize from the bottom of my heart.''

Reports of his past abuse of classmates, including those with disabilities, surfaced online recently and sparked a backlash on social media plus demands for his resignation.

Games organizers said on Sunday that he would stay on because he had shown remorse. Hours after Oyamada submitted his resignation, they reversed their position and called his actions "absolutely unacceptable'', saying their earlier decision to let him stay on in light of his apology, and the short time left before the opening ceremony, was "wrong.''

"We offer our deepest apologies for the offence and confusion caused to so many during this time,'' organizers said.

Oyamada, 52, also known as Cornelius, apologized online last week.

Some critics had said he should hold a news conference and apologize in person. Others questioned why he hadn't apologized earlier.

Oyamada, whose works have been compared to the American rock musician Beck, talked about the abuse in Japanese magazine interviews he gave in the 1990s.

In a statement on Sunday, Atsuko Kubo, head of an association of families of the mentally disabled, "strongly protested'' against Oyamada's past actions and said it was disturbing he had targeted the disabled, who were less likely to fight back, and that he still bragged about it years later.

Earlier Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Oyamada's past bullying goes against government policy of achieving an inclusive society and "cannot be tolerated.''

Later Monday, organizers said a segment of the music Oyamada composed for Friday's opening ceremony will not be used, NHK public television and other Japanese media reported. He will also be removed from his planned role in the Paralympics opening ceremony, NHK said.

Friday's ceremony will be held without spectators in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus infections, although some officials, guests and media will attend.

The resignation comes as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government faces criticism for prioritizing the Olympics despite the public's health concerns amid the resurgence of the infections.

Oyamada's is the latest resignation to plague the Games. Yoshiro Mori resigned as organizing committee president over remarks perceived as sexist. Hiroshi Sasaki also stepped down as creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies after suggesting a Japanese actress should dress as a pig.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:35

Campbell Conroy & O'Neil reports the attack affected personal data including Social Security numbers, passport numbers, and payment card data for some individuals.Campbell Conroy & O'Neill, a law firm that represents hundreds of major organizations, has confirmed a data privacy incident related to a ransomware attack detected earlier this year.

Campbell's client list includes prominent companies across industries including automotive, aviation, chemical, construction, energy, hospitality, insurance, medical devices, pharmaceutical, retail, and transportation. Past and current clients include Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Home Depot, and Exxon.

The firm learned of unusual activity on its network on February 27, 2021, officials confirmed in a release. An investigation revealed its network was hit with ransomware and prompted Campbell to hire third-party forensics investigators to determine the information affected.

While it cannot confirm if the attacker accessed or viewed any specific data, Campbell has reported the information present in the affected system included certain individuals' names, birthdates, driver's license numbers and state identification numbers, financial account data, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, payment card data, medical information, health insurance information, biometric data, and/or online account credentials.

Read the full release for more details.

Dark Reading's Quick Hits delivers a brief synopsis and summary of the significance of breaking news events. For more information from the original source of the news item, please follow the link provided in this article. View Full Bio

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:34

Dr. Henry Kissinger, who wrote: "Depopulation should be the highest priority of U.S. foreign policy towards the ThirdWorld." Research on population control, preventing future births, is now being carried out secretly by biotech companies. Dr. IgnacioChapela, a University of California microbiologist, discovered that wild corn in remote parts of Mexico is contaminated with lab altered DNA. That discovery made him a threat to the biotech industry. Chapela was denied tenure at UC Berkeley when he reported this to the scientific community, despite the embarrassing discovery that UC Chancellor Berdahl, who was denying him tenure, was getting large cash payments - $40,000 per year - from the LAM Research Corp. in Plano,Texas. Berdahl served as president of Texas A&M University before coming to Berkeley. During a presentation about his case, Chapela revealed that a spermicidal corn developed by a U.S. company is now being tested in Mexico. Males who unknowingly eat the corn produce non-viable sperm and are unable to reproduce. Depopulation, also known as eugenics, is quite another thing and was proposed under the Nazis during World War II. It is thedeliberate killing off of large segments of living populations and was proposed for Third World countries under President Carter's administration by theNational Security Council's Ad Hoc Group on Population Policy. National Security Memo 200, dated April 24, 1974, and titled "Implications of world wide population growth for U.S. security & overseas interests," says: "Dr. Henry Kissinger proposed in his memorandum to the NSC that "depopulation should be the highest priority of U.S. foreign policy towards the Third World." He quoted reasons ofnational security, and because `(t)he U.S. economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less-developed countries ... Wherever a lessening of population can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resources, supplies and to the economic interests of U.S. Depopulation policy became the top priority under the NSC agenda, Club of Rome and U.S. policymakers like Gen. Alexander Haig, Cyrus Vance, Ed Muskie and Kissinger. According to an NSC spokesman at the time, the United States shared the view of former World Bank President Robert McNamara that the "population crisis" is a greater threat to U.S. national security interests than nuclear annihilation.In 1975, Henry Kissinger established a policy-planning group in the U.S. StateDepartment's Office of Population Affairs. The depopulation "GLOBAL 2000" document for President Jimmy Carter was prepared. It is no surprise that this policy was established under President Carter with help from Kissinger and Brzezinski - all with ties to David Rockefeller. The Bush family, the Harriman family - the WallStreet business partners of Bush in financing Hitler - and the Rockefeller family are the elite of the American eugenics movement. Even Prince Philip of Britain, a member of the Bilderberg Group, is in favor ofdepopulation: "If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels" (Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, leader of the World Wildlife Fund, quoted in "Are You Ready for Our New Age Future?" Insiders Report, American Policy Center, December 1995). Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been proposing, funding and building Bio-Weapons Level 3 and Level 4 labs at many places around the U.S. even on university campuses and in densely populated urban locations. In a Bio-Weapons Level 4 facility, a single bacteria or virus is lethal. Bio-Weapons Level 4 is the highest level legally allowed in the continental U.S. For what purpose are these labs being developed, and who will make the decisions on where bio-weapons created in thesefacilities will be used and on whom? More than 20 world-class microbiologists have been murdered since 2002, mostly in the U.S. and the UK. Nearly all were working on development of ethnic-specific bio-weapons (see Smart Dust, Roboflies &). Citizens around the U.S. are frantically filing lawsuits to stop these labs on campuses and in communities where they live. Despite the opposition of residents living near UC Davis, where a Bio-Weapons Level 4 lab was planned, it had the support of the towns mayor. She suddenly reversed her position after a monkey escaped from a high security primate facility on the campus where the bio-weapons lab was proposed. Residents claimed that if UC Davis could not keep monkeys from escaping from their cages, they certainly could not guarantee that a single virus or bacteria would not escape from a test tube. The AWOL monkey killed the project (see Smart Dust, Roboflies&). Population is a political problem. The extreme secrecy surrounding the takeover of nuclear weapons, NASA and the space program and the development of numerous bio-weapons labs is a threat to civilsociety, especially in the hands of the military and corporations. The fascist application of all three of these programs can be used to achieve established U.S. government depopulation policy goals, which may eliminate 2 billion of the worlds existing population through war, famine, disease and any other methods necessary. Two excellent examples of existing U.S. depopulation policy are, first, the long-term impact on the civilian population from Agent Orange in Vietnam, where the Rockefellers built oil refineries and aluminum plants during the Vietnam War. The second is the permanentcontamination of the Middle East and Central Asia with depleted uranium, which,unfortunately, will destroy the genetic future of the populations living in those regions and will also have a global effect already reflected in increases in infant mortality reported in the U.S., Europe, and the UK. References Birth defects: The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm,Life photo-essay (1995), http://www.life.com /Life/essay/gulfwar/gulf01.html. Statement by Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, http://homepage.mac.com /kaaawa/iblog/C337802379/E1557478132/. Smart dust, roboflies, microbugs: UC is spying on youby Leuren Moret, San Francisco Bay View, Feb. 26, 2003, http://www.mindfully.org /Nucs/2003/Berkeley-Library-Classified22feb03.htm. San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper 4917 Third Street San Francisco California 94124 Phone: (415) 671-0789 Fax: (415) 671-0316 editor@sfbayview.co http://www.sfbayview.com /110304/ucregents110304.shtml

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:31

West Virginia Public Broadcasting | By Eric Douglas Published July 19, 2021 at 10:03 AM EDT

Wildlife management officials are trying to find out why birds across the mid-Atlantic are becoming sick and dying.

Original reports found birds in parts of West Virginia and other states experiencing eye swelling and crusty discharge, as well as neurological signs including tremors.

Wildlife officials recommended removing bird feeders as they suspected that was how the illness is spreading. But now that idea is coming into question.

Eric Douglas spoke with Ethan Barton, the wildlife disease specialist for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources by Zoom.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Douglas: We've been hearing a lot of these reports that started in what was mostly the Eastern Panhandle, Maryland and Northern Virginia. But now it seems like it's spread up to Wisconsin and Missouri and across Kentucky. Do we have any idea yet what's going on?

Barton: Not yet. Our first reports in West Virginia were in Berkeley and Jefferson counties at the beginning of June. At this point, we've had reports of somewhere between about 100 and 150 bird deaths with not all of those being related to this. So far, the bulk of the reports have still come from Berkeley and Jefferson counties. There's been a wide range of mortality that's been reported, but few large events seem to be related to this. So we've got a lot of ones and twos and threes. Still primarily young birds, with inflammation around eyes, crusty discharge around eyes, and similar species that the other states have been seeing '-- robins, grackles, European Starlings. We're still working with diagnostic labs and with partner agencies like the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) and other state agencies.

The latest news to come out is that this does not seem to be viral in origin, at least not a known virus. And there have also been some tests for salmonella, chlamydia, trichomonas, which is a parasite, and all negative.

Douglas: You said 100 to 150 bird deaths in West Virginia. It's in multiple states, but I assume the numbers are relatively small in all of those as well.

Barton: I don't think any of the other states have seen large scale mortality events. And it does seem to be a lot of penny packets '-- ones, and twos and threes at a given location.

Douglas: Is it because they're birds and they die in places where people aren't? Or is it just that it's just a really small incident?

Barton: At this point, in terms of scale, it's hard to put your finger on exactly how many birds are going to be involved. There was larger press involvement, and we see this with wildlife diseases, that people who are not well-versed in these things will suddenly start calling to report any dead bird they find '-- not necessarily just ones that are exhibiting the clinical signs. So it seems to be relatively widespread, but the actual mortality seems to be pretty diffuse and relatively low intensity.

Douglas: You don't think there are millions of birds falling out of the sky, but it's still something to be concerned about.

Barton: Yeah, that doesn't seem to be the case. The interesting part here is the really heavy involvement of younger birds. Younger birds don't have a fully-developed immune system yet. They're not going to be able to respond to a parasite or pathogen that may be innocuous to an adult bird. At this point, it doesn't seem like it's something as serious as say avian botulism, where you may find thousands of waterfowl dead in the same wetland.

Douglas: You seem to be talking about the larger song birds, the grackles, robins and blue jays.

Barton: Most of our reports have been those starlings, grackles, robins. We have had a few others like yellow billed cuckoo, and some other states have observed that as well. We weren't actually able to get good specimens of those to ship to the lab. The ones that had been found were pretty rotted up. And that's true when investigating avian mortality events, especially with small birds in the heat of the summer, little birds go bad, awfully fast.

Douglas: You talk about what it isn't. Do you have any possibilities of what is causing the problem?

Barton: Other states and ourselves, we started to get our first reports around the time that the 17-year brood 10 cicadas were starting to emerge. So I think the Smithsonian and a few others have floated some possible relationships there.

Douglas: The good news is the brood 10 cicadas are pretty much done now, right?

Barton: If it is cicada related, we and the other states around us should be seeing that subside pretty quickly. We have sent some of the brood 10 cicadas from West Virginia. I know Virginia collected a number and sent them. I think some other states did too, trying to run some toxicology on them. Thus far there's not been a whole lot of support for the idea and given the results, it doesn't seem to be toxin related. So far, they've been relatively clean.

But we're thinking that probably what's going on here with young birds being primarily the ones that are involved is that this may be multifactorial. We're doing our best to keep up with public calls, trying to triage those out, figure out what's related, what's not related, making records, identifying the species and then shipping out specimens as we can to try to get to the bottom of what's going on here.

Douglas: The fact that it's probably not viral means that it's probably not being transmitted at bird feeders and bird baths. But I assume for the short term, the recommendation is still to not feed for the summer.

Barton: Especially in those affected counties and the other counties in West Virginia, we've recommended that people think about good feeder hygiene. Best practice for bird feeders is that they should really be taken down and thoroughly cleaned every 10 to 14 days even in the absence of a unique event like what seems to be going on this year.

There are avian diseases that commonly are spread at bird feeders, especially in the warmer months. Things like trichomonas, which is a protozoan parasite, and you've got others like avian pox that may be spread there, salmonella may be spread there and is a pretty big killer of small birds. And then mycoplasma is a bacteria that can lead to similar symptoms to what we're seeing here. It's primarily known in house finches.

So regardless of whether or not this is viral, or what the origin of it is, it's still solid guidance for people to do their part for the resource that they care about and are feeding to try to keep them healthy.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:22

Attorney Thomas Renz and his network of Medical Freedom Fighters are fighting hard everyday to protect your Constitutional rights. He has dedicated his entire practice to fight Big Pharma Poison, Big Tech Censorship, Big Media Lies, and Big Gov Vaccine / Covid Propaganda.

This takes money. If you feel called to give please click the button below. We are grateful for every donation.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:20

image caption Abderrahmane Fadil receiving oxygen via CpapAs in many other hospitals, the number of patients being treated for Covid-19 in Bradford Royal Infirmary is sharply rising. About half of them had chosen not to be vaccinated, says Dr John Wright - which many now deeply regret.

"I was offered the vaccine, but I was arrogant," says Faisal Bashir, a super-fit 54-year-old.

"I was going to the gym, cycling, walking and running. Given that I was strong and healthy I didn't think I needed it. That also meant that if it turned out not to be safe I wouldn't have taken any risks.

"But the truth was that I couldn't avoid the virus. It still got me. I don't know how or where."

Faisal, who was discharged on Wednesday after a week in hospital receiving oxygen, is keen to warn others not to make his mistake.

"What I've experienced in hospital - the care and expertise - humbles me," he says.

"People are filling the hospitals by taking chances and it's wrong. I feel terrible. I feel so bad about it and I hope by speaking out it helps others avoid this."

He is one of the fourth wave of Covid patients in Bradford Royal Infirmary. Last month the number of patients in the hospital with Covid was down to single figures, for the first time since last summer. This week it is heading towards 50, as the Delta variant conquers all before it.

BRI

About half of the patients on the ward today haven't been vaccinated - I have stopped asking them why, as they are clearly embarrassed

This reflects the rising rates in the community - up by a third in the last week, to nearly 400 cases per 100,000. As has long been the case, it is young people who are driving this change, with rates in teenagers surpassing 750 per 100,000, and those in their 20s not far behind.

Although few of them end up in hospital, our patients are younger now on average than in earlier waves, with more in their 30s and 40s.

"Some have had two vaccines and so have had milder disease - they are alive on Cpap (non-invasive ventilation with oxygen) when without the vaccine they would probably be dead," my respiratory colleague Dr Abid Aziz told me after an exhausting six-hour ward round.

"Others have just had their first dose and so are not fully protected. Worryingly, about half of the patients on the ward today haven't been vaccinated. I have stopped asking them why, as they are clearly embarrassed."

Abderrahmane Fadil, a 60-year-old science teacher with two young children, also has many regrets.

Front-line diary

image copyright Pishdaad Modaressi Chahardehi

Prof John Wright, a doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio.

He was wary of the vaccines because of the speed at which they were rolled out. He ended up in intensive care for nine days - the first time he had spent a night in hospital since arriving from Morocco in 1985.

"It's so lovely to be alive," he says.

"My wife had the vaccine. I didn't. I was reluctant. I was giving myself time, I was thinking that in my life I've lived with viruses, bacteria, and I thought my immune system was good enough. And I'd had symptoms of Covid at the start of the pandemic and thought perhaps I'd had it. I thought my immune system would recognise the virus and I'd have defences.

"This was the biggest mistake in my life. It nearly cost me my life. I've made many silly decisions in my life, but this was the most dangerous and serious one."

I wish I could go to each and every person who refuses to have the vaccine and tell them, 'Look, this is a matter of life of death - do you want to live or die?'

Abderrahmane left hospital nearly a month ago, but still isn't well.

"I wish I could go to each and every person who refuses to have the vaccine," he says, "and tell them, 'Look, this is a matter of life of death. Do you want to live or die? If you want to live, then go and get the vaccine.'"

image caption Abderrahmane Fadil on the road to recoveryFor many of the patients who have not been vaccinated, being admitted with severe Covid is an alarm call to the deadly consequences of fake news about Covid and vaccines.

Faisal admits being influenced by conversations on social media, and the worries about the vaccine in the city's Asian community, as well as news reports about the extremely low risk of blood clots with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

About three-quarters of the adult population in Bradford have had a first dose of the vaccine, compared with 87% nationwide.

In the hospital we are deeply nervous about the easing of restrictions on Monday. Like everyone in the country we want to reclaim our previous lives, and while the link between infections and hospitalisations is clearly reduced, it remains ever present on our wards.

And although there are now many fewer deaths from Covid than before there are still some, and the number is growing again. So the tidal race between the vaccination wave and the spread of Sars-CoV-2 remains a matter of life and death.

If there is one lesson from the last year, it is to never underestimate this virus.

Follow @docjohnwright, radio producer @SueM1tchell on Twitter

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:19

Foto: Unsplash Waar eerst 'Dansen met Janssen' meer jongeren over de streep tot een vaccin moest trekken, verzon de GGD iets nieuws. 'Sjansen met Janssen' biedt vrijgezellen uit Haarlem de mogelijkheid om tijdens hun vaccinatie te daten.

Inwoners van Haarlem en omstreken kunnen vrijdagavond het nieuwe prikconcept uitproberen. Vrijgezelle deelnemers krijgen tijdens de wachttijd van het coronavaccin Janssen een korte blind date. Mensen moeten namelijk na een vaccinatie een kwartier wachten voordat ze weer naar huis kunnen. En dat kwartiertje wordt nu optimaal benut.

Lijkt een beetje too soon voor ludieke acties zoals SJANSEN MET JANSSEN..

'-- PJ (@nombelina) July 20, 2021

Van Dansen met Janssen naar Sjansen met JanssenDe vaccinatielocatie in het Kennemer Sportcenter wordt een heuse 'žromantische plek''. De GGD denkt dat mensen op deze manier elkaar op een laagdrempelige en coronaveilige manier kunnen ontmoeten. 'žVoor veel mensen zonder partner is de coronaperiode extra zwaar geweest'', stellen zij.

De slogan 'Dansen met Janssen' maakte de afgelopen tijd nogal wat los. Coronaminister Hugo de Jonge moedigde hiermee mensen aan een prik te nemen. Zodat konden zij na vaccinatie uitgaan. Achteraf bleek dit niet de meest slimme zet, doordat veel (voornamelijk jongeren) toch besmet raakten in het nachtleven. Het vaccin heeft namelijk tijd nodig om goed te werken.

Hahaha first dates met n gratis vaccinatie.. Sjansen met Janssen.. Hoe verzinnen ze het..

'-- Emiel (@LifeAsEmiel) July 20, 2021

Engeland feest er een nacht lang op los, coronamaatregelen verdwenen

Na vaccin pas na twee weken een nieuwe dateDaarom besloot het kabinet dat mensen twee weken moeten wachten na een Janssen-vaccin, voordat zij een geldig vaccinatiebewijs krijgen. Dit vaccinatiebewijs geeft men bijvoorbeeld toegang tot evenementen. Echter gaan deze evenementen de komende tijd niet door omdat het aantal coronabesmettingen explosief oploopt.

Maar het is niet de bedoeling dat de vrijgezellen elkaar na de prik direct in de armen vliegen. Nee, ook hier geldt dat men twee weken moet wachten. Dus dat betekent dat deelnemers tijdens de blind date zich nog aan de coronamaatregelen moeten houden. Bij een match wordt verwacht dat men pas na twee weken een vervolgdate inplant. Mocht er een vervolgafspraakje komen, dan krijgen deze tortelduifjes van de GGD Kennemerland een cadeautje.

Geweldige combi. Goed werk @ggdkennemerland Prikken en daten tegelijkðŸ'›#SjansenMetJanssen https://t.co/MDzF5Mmr47

'-- Carmen Kleinegris '--¸ ðŸ...' (@CarmenKleinegri) July 20, 2021

Over een week: Na het succes van 'Sjansen met Janssen' gaat GGD Kennemerland een stapje verder: "Een prikkie en een pikkie". Voor de gelegenheid wordt de vaccinatielocatie in Kennemer Sportcenter "omgetoverd tot een naughty parenclub".#Vaccinatie #hugodejonge pic.twitter.com/jXfqN6nYih

'-- Bob Kosse (@bob_kosse) July 20, 2021

Lapdance in ruil voor een vaccinatie? Amerika moedigt zo vaccin aan

Foutje gezien? Mail ons. Wij zijn je dankbaar.

Reageer op artikel:

Na Dansen met Janssen nu Sjansen met Janssen: 'Prik en date tegelijk'

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:16

A LEADING testing company has been accused of dumping thousands of returned Covid tests in the bin while issuing fit-to-fly certificates to customers.

RT Diagnostics has advertised the government-approved test kits for up to £79.

4

It is claimed the tests are left in boxes and not processed 4

Action Fraud '-- which works with the police '-- said it had received complaints about the firm, run by Labour councillor Faisal ShoukatBut a Sun investigation has uncovered claims that many of the tests are simply left lying around in boxes without being processed.

The Halifax-based firm is understood to be receiving as many as 10,000 per day as holidaymakers snap up the tests, which legally they need to let them go abroad.

One family said they received negative results for a Day 8 test before the date they were due.

And a shocked worker at the firm, claimed: ''The staff are not testing all the samples but people are being told their results are negative. This is very serious.

''Their customers could be spreading the virus around completely unaware.''

Last night former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt demanded an urgent probe.

4

The whistleblower claimed the unprocessed test kits are dumped 'put in black plastic bags and dumped at the back of the offices'He said: ''This is shocking and also highly dangerous in the battle against Covid. There needs to be an immediate investigation and, if appropriate, charges brought.''

Shocking video footage filmed by a whistle-blower appears to show thousands of testing kits piled high in cardboard boxes and dumped to one side without being opened.

ðŸ--µ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest updates

The worker claimed: ''They're then put in black plastic bags and dumped at the back of the offices.

''At one point the back looked like a landfill site, there were that many bags. It's appalling.''

Customers have told how they were left chasing their results for days before being sent certificates.

And staff handling the sensitive tests were filmed not wearing any personal protective equipment before tossing the tubes into boxes.

Action Fraud '-- which works with the police '-- said it had received complaints about the firm, run by Labour councillor Faisal Shoukat.

In total, the agency has sent 33 reports from customers of potential fake Covid test certificates to the Cabinet Office for review, although it is not clear how many relate to Mr Shoukat's firm.

Furious customers have set up a Facebook page with 450 members to share their complaints.

Shocking video footage filmed by a whistleblower appears to show thousands of testing kits piled high in cardboard boxes and dumped to one side without being opened

Natalie Barber wrote online: ''Very very concerning. I've sent off Day 2 test and have had a negative result. When checking they've also given us a negative result for Day 8 even though Day 8 (result) isn't due to be sent till Saturday???''

Tammy Ablitt said: ''We used RT Diagnostic recently and there's no way they could have received our Day 5 and Day 8 Covid tests as quickly as they gave us the results. Luckily, we were testing ourselves with NHS Covid tests at home to make sure we were Covid free.''

Deglan Holland added: ''The certificates themselves have no reference to the test samples and each one has the same document ID.''

Arianna Valentino claimed she got a negative Covid certificate just hours after registering her sample online. She told The Sun: ''It left me confused. It was very strange.'' In a major loophole, private test providers do not need to be accredited to operate.

They can fill out a written application which gives them permission to operate for four months before they can apply for full accreditation.

RT Diagnostics was set up by Mr Shoukat, 34, in April.

Although it has been acting legally, the UK Accreditation Service said the firm has never been a UKAS-accredited body. It added: ''They are no longer listed on the Department of Health and Social Care website as a private provider.''

Tony Cooke, of Cambridge Clinical Laboratories, said dozens of ''pop-up labs'' have been created amid a rise in summer holiday bookings. There are 400 approved providers on the government's website but only six private labs are fully approved for Covid testing.

He warned: ''Anyone could pop up, do tens of thousands of tests and disappear.''

The Sun confronted Mr Shoukat with the list of allegations. He said ''Turning up like this out of the blue is bang out of order. Have you got evidence?

''I would be very, very careful about what you're saying because that's not what we are doing. This is bang out of order.''

4

Furious customers have set up a Facebook page with 450 members to share their complaints about the firm RT Diagnostics which is selling test kits Credit: Darren Fletcher Photography Papers 'cooked up'

DOUBTFUL Joanna Szymbor is convinced RT Diagnostics sent her a dodgy certificate for her mum. Joanna, 37, above, reckoned they were ''cooking up'' papers when they edited a form and re-sent it in seconds.

Her concerns arose after she ordered a Day 2 and a Day 8 test when her mum, Irene, flew in from Poland to visit. The first arrived '-- after six days '-- but the second did not.

Joanna, of Wolverhampton, rang and spoke to a woman who claimed the certificate was ''on her desk'' '-- but she sent Joanna a Fit to Fly document instead. Joanna, seen right with her daughter Harley, said: ''I told her it was the wrong document and the lady said 'OK, one second, I will edit it and send it again'.

''Almost instantly another arrived by email and all she had done was edit a few boxes on Microsoft Word.''

NHS Test and Trace app pings neighbours through walls

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:13

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:10

Media top headlines July 19The White House getting blasted for supporting Big Tech 'collusion' on banning COVID 'misinformation' spreaders, a reporter's candid assessment of progressives on Cuba, and President Biden getting roasted on MSNBC round out today's media headlines.

The Washington Post, on Monday, highlighted Hunter Biden's numerous ethical scandals with a full-page of artwork in their op-ed section.

The op-ed promoted a fictional "art exhibition" by Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, that parodied recent scandals. Images within the piece included a framed photo reading "I Heart Burisma," referring to Hunter's time being on the board of the Ukrainian energy company despite his lack of experience in the industry. The feature also included an empty frame titled "Painters Who Would Appear in This Gallery if Not Named Biden."

Washington Post editor Glen Kessler shared the piece on his Twitter account.

"Wash Post op-ed page pulls no punches with biting and funny 'exhibition' of Hunter Biden's art via Meghan Kruger," Kessler tweeted.

OBAMA ETHICS CHIEF BLASTS SECRET HUNTER BIDEN ART SCHEME ARRANGED BY WHITE HOUSE

Kessler previously mocked any investigation or media references to Hunter Biden's ongoing scandals. In December, he referred to the investigation into Hunter's foreign dealings as simply "laptop stuff."

Kessler faced criticism for referencing Hunter Biden's scandals only through a "humorous" piece months after the 2020 election.

"It would be even more funny if the WaPo didn't call these same suggestions Russian disinformation to protect Biden during the election," one user wrote.

Another user tweeted, "Corruption makes me laugh almost as much as that time you used your fact check page to decide if Tim Scott's family had really experienced racism. Remember that one Glenn? Classic."

Mainstream media outlets largely underplayed Hunter Biden's scandals claiming that reporting on the contents of his laptop was based on "Russian disinformation." The New York Post, which first reported the Hunter Biden laptop story, faced unprecedent resistance from social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, both of whom were censoring the sharing of the story. In addition, the New York Post was locked out of its Twitter account for sharing the story.

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As for Hunter Biden's artwork, Obama's former ethics chief Walter Shaub previously denounced the White House's ethics plans surrounding it.

"So instead of disclosing who is paying outrageous sums for Hunter Biden's artwork so that we could monitor whether the purchasers are gaining access to government, the WH tried to make sure we will never know who they are," Shaub wrote. "That's very disappointing."

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:59

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:55

Privacy and free speech are under attack. Take back your internet freedom with

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Soros and Gates are a pair of billionaires who both share the goal of bringing more affordable testing for diseases, including COVID, to other parts of the world.

According to Forbes, the Soros Economic Development Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations have teamed up to buy a UK developer of COVID tests. The company named Mologic will be renamed Global Access Health as part of the acquisition.

While it's said other philanthropists are involved in the deal, Gates is named along Soros as leading the charge, buying Mologic for $41 million USD.

For the part of Gates' investment Mologic has a history. Back in 2016 the foundation gave the company a grant to fund ''lowering the cost of rapid-delivery healthcare.''

Speaking on behalf of their thinking was Dan Wattendorf. The director of innovative technology solutions for the Gates Foundation told Financial Times: ''Lack of community access to affordable, effective diagnostics for COVID'--or other high-risk diseases'--results in an inability to detect disease and direct resources to break chains of transmission.''

To put it more simply, the mindset here is getting back to basics. With the majority of the pandemic focus being on vaccines, working to further innovate in the testing department is still a priority.

The Chief Executive on the Soros side of the buyout called this a first for the foundation, describing it as a ''buyout for good.'' Their goal moving forward aims to improve the availability of testing in lower income countries. It's described that Mologic is involved in tests for diseases such as bilharzia, dengue and river blindness, beyond pandemic-related hardware.

However the importance of rapid ''lateral flow tests'' is highlighted, seen as an essential tool to help societies reopen and continue to monitor the spread of COVID.

Bill Gates had a chance to chat with some others of the world's wealthiest people earlier this month, as they gathered in Idaho for the Sun Valley conference.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:53

A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:46

Privacy and free speech are under attack. Take back your internet freedom with

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Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) told Sean Hannity on Fox News Tuesday night that he would be sending a criminal referral letter to the Department of Justice about Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Hannity reference Paul's comments earlier in the day during a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill about the COVID-19 pandemic and asked the Senator, "You kicked off your questioning of Dr. Fauci emphasizing federal law makes lying to Congress, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Is your belief based on the evidence Senator that he lied before Congress and broke the law?"

Paul replied, "Yes, and I will be sending a letter to the department of justice asking for a criminal referral because he has lied to Congress."

The Senator said on Fox News Primetime that medical experts who have differing opinions than Dr. Fauci regarding COVID-19 won't go public with their dissent fearing that it will affect their funding.

Paul said, "He's been there for 40 years, probably 39 years too long, but he controls all the funding, so people are deathly afraid of him."

"I get letters from scientists all the time. You can find them. They're very distrustful of what he's saying," Paul added regarding Fauci, who has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984. "They don't think he's making sense. They don't think he's reading the science accurately, but they're afraid to speak out because many of them are university scientists and they depend on NIH [National Institutes of Health] funds, and to cross him means it's the last money you'll ever get."

Paul is one of the most outspoke critics of Fauci. The two have frequently clashed during Senate hearings on the pandemic. Paul and Fauci engaged in another battle during a Congressional hearing earlier Tuesday, as the senator, an ophthalmologist, grilled the doctor on what he referred to as "gain of function" research at a Wuhan lab.

Paul detailed the evidence that he claims proves that experimentation on gain of function research was happening at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and quoted the doctor who did this work on both her work and on the amount of funding she received from the NIH.

Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Fauci spar over whether or not the NIH funded "gain of function research" in Wuhan. pic.twitter.com/SE3gCOekz6

'-- The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 20, 2021"Senator Paul," Fauci began, "I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement. This paper that you are referring to was judged by qualified staff up and down the chain as not being gain of function."

Paul interrupted, "You take an animal virus, and you increase its transmissibility to humans, you're saying that's not gain of function?" He asked incredulously.

"That is correct," Fauci defended, "and Senator Paul you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially: You do not know what you are talking about." Fauci took issue with what he perceived as Paul's insinuation that the "gain of function" research being discussed resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul clarified that "we don't know" that to be the case, with Fauci then asserting that it would be impossible.

Paul accused Fauci of obfuscating the truth, a charge which Fauci denied, saying "I want everyone to understand that if you look at those viruses, and that's judged by qualified virologists and evolutionary biologists, those viruses are molecularly impossible to result in SARS-COVID-2."

"No one is saying those viruses caused the pandemic," Paul clarified, "we're saying they are gain of function viruses because they were animal viruses that became more transmissible in humans, and you funded it. And you won't admit the truth."

"And you are implying," Fauci said, "that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals, and I totally resent that and if anybody is lying here, senator, it is you."

Paul first addressed to Fauci saying that it "is a crime to lie to congress." Paul went on, "On your last trip to our committee, on May 11, you stated that the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And yet, gain of function research was done entirely in the Wuhan Institute by Dr. Shi, and was funded by the NIH."

Paul entered a paper into the record for Congress, titled "Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus."

Here's the full exchange between Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Fauci. pic.twitter.com/cxlgIV6qJD

'-- The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 20, 2021Paul stated that in this paper Dr. Shi outlines her research, which Paul describes as "gain of function", the amount of funding from the NIH is noted, and the NIH is praised for having granted these funds for her research. Shi "took two bat coronavirus genes, spike genes, and combined them with a SARS related backbone to create new viruses that are not found in nature. The lab created viruses were then shown to replicate in humans," Paul read. It is this paper with which Fauci took issue.

"Viruses that in nature only impact animals," Paul said, "were manipulated in the Wuhan lab to gain the function of infecting humans. This research fits the definition of the research that the NIH said was subject to the 'pause' in 2014-2017, a pause in gain of function." Paul said, referencing the funding moratorium on gain of function research that was implemented in 2014 and lifted, by Fauci and others, in 2017.

Paul said that the NIH failed to recognize this, and it "never came under any scrutiny." Paul quoted other doctors who noted that this research into "novel coronaviruses was dangerous for humans." These were pathogens, Paul quoted, that these viruses are only found in the lab, and quoted a doctor saying that this practice "epitomizes gain of function research."

More credibility has been given to the theory that the coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology rather than forming in nature or transmission from animals to humans in recent months.

CNN has reported that an increasing number of White House officials support the ''lab leak theory.'' In May, President Joe Biden ordered intelligence agencies to conduct a 90-day review of all material regarding the origins of the pandemic.

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Archived Version

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:45

Last updated:

2021-06-30 Product: Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccinesIssue: Health Canada has updated the product monographs (labels) for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to describe very rare reports of myocarditis and pericarditis following vaccination.What to do: Seek medical attention immediately if you experience any of the following symptoms within several days of vaccination: chest pain, shortness of breath, or feelings of having a fast beating, fluttering or pounding heart.IssueWhat you should doWhat industry professionals should doMedia enquiriesPublic enquiriesIssue Health Canada has updated the product monographs (labels) for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to describe very rare reports of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart) following vaccination.

Cases of myocarditis and/or pericarditis following immunization with COVID-19 vaccines have been reported in a small number of people in Canada and internationally. These reports are very rare. Health Canada and other international regulators are continuing to investigate the potential relationship between COVID-19 vaccines and these rare events. Most reported cases to date have followed vaccination with an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) and, based on an analysis of international cases, have occurred more often after the second dose and in younger male adults and adolescents. The Canadian evidence is expected to evolve as more people in these populations are vaccinated. Available short-term follow-up data show that these events were typically mild and treatable; however, information on long-term outcomes is not yet available.

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, while pericarditis is an inflammation of the lining around the heart. Both conditions can result from an infection (including COVID-19), exposure to a toxic substance or radiation, or other health events. Symptoms can include chest pain, shortness of breath, or palpitations (feelings of having a fast-beating, fluttering or pounding heart). In many cases, these conditions are mild and require little to no treatment. However, more severe cases can lead to heart muscle damage.

Health Canada has updated the product labels for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to inform Canadians and healthcare professionals of these possible side effects and to provide information about the signs and symptoms and when to seek prompt medical attention following vaccination.

Health Canada will continue to work with manufacturers, as well as domestic and international partners, to gain a better understanding of the relationship between COVID-19 vaccines and these events. In addition, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada will continue to monitor Canadian and international reports of myocarditis and/or pericarditis, particularly as more adolescents and young adults are vaccinated and more second doses are administered. The Department will take appropriate action will be taken if any new safety issues are identified.

Health Canada reassures Canadians that COVID-19 vaccines continue to be safe and effective at protecting them against COVID-19. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines continue to outweigh their potential risks, as scientific evidence shows that they reduce deaths and hospitalizations due to COVID-19. The Government of Canada encourages people to get vaccinated and to complete their vaccine series as soon as they are eligible.

For further information on COVID-19 vaccines in Canada, please visit Health Canada's COVID-19 vaccines and treatments portal.

What you should do If you have received the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines: Seek medical attention immediately if you experience any of the following symptoms within several days of vaccination:

chest pain shortness of breath feelings of having a fast-beating, fluttering or pounding heart. Report any adverse events after immunization to your healthcare professional.

What industry professionals should do Be alert to the signs and symptoms of myocarditis and pericarditis when individuals present with chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations or other signs and symptoms following immunization with a COVID-19 vaccine. This could allow for early diagnosis and treatment. Cardiology consultation for management and follow-up should be considered. When deciding whether to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to an individual with a history of myocarditis or pericarditis, consider the individual's clinical circumstances. Report any event potentially related to a vaccine. To report a side effect to Health Canada contact your local health unit or visit Health Canada's Web page on Adverse Reaction Reporting for information on how to report online, by mail or by fax. Health Canada (613) 957-2983 hc.media.sc@canada.ca

Public enquiries (613) 957-2991 1-866 225-0709

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:41

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:40

/ Live news Issued on: 18/07/2021 - 21:34

The TV channel attack came after a large anti-vaccination demonstration outside the presidential palace Iakovos Hatzistavrou AFPNicosia (AFP)

Protesters against coronavirus measures and vaccines attacked a Cypriot television station and torched cars outside the building in Nicosia on Sunday evening, the station said.

Police confirmed the incident at Sigma TV and said around 2,500 protesters went to the network after a larger protest outside the presidential palace against a Covid "Safepass" and force vaccination.

"A cowardly attack took place on Sunday night outside our headquarters" in the capital Nicosia, Sigma TV said.

"Our headquarters was attacked by mobs who threw crackers and damaged our cars."

An AFP reporter saw thousands of people in the area near Sigma TV in the capital Nicosia, carrying placards against the "safepass" that has come into force earlier this week in the Republic of Cyprus.

Another saw broken glass around the building, several broken windows and four Sigma-branded cars in various states of damage, one completely burned-out.

Earlier in the evening around 5,000 people demonstrated outside the presidential palace and at the end of the protest about half of them went to the Sigma television building, police said.

A car at the network was set on fire and there was damage to the building, police said. There were no immdiate reports of arrests or injuries.

Sigma said the police had entered the building to protect those working there.

One of its presenters, Nestoras Vasiliou, published a video on social media showing cars burning in the car park and smashed up furniture apparently inside the building's lobby, with police sirens wailing in the background.

Vasiliou also tweeted "thank God we are all safe".

Sigma is seen as having a hardline stance against anti-vaccination campaigners and has been targeted in previous protests against anti-coronavirus measures.

An AFP reporter at the scene later on said calm had returned but a group of police officers were guarding the complex.

The Republic of Cyprus this week introduced a safe pass allowing only those vaccinated for Covid to enter supermarkets, malls, restaurants and other businesses.

It has also expanded its Covid vaccination rollout to include teenagers aged 16 and 17, following a new surge in cases, and has stepped up efforts to persuade young people to take the jabs.

Cyprus has recorded over 90,000 cases of coronavirus and 384 deaths.

(C) 2021 AFP

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Archived Version

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:36

An FBI agent at the center of the investigation into the plot to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is accused of smashing his wife's head against a nightstand and choking her after a dispute stemming from their attendance at a swingers' party, according to court records.

Special Agent Richard Trask, 39, of Kalamazoo, was charged Monday with assault with intent to do great bodily harm, less than murder following the alleged incident Sunday.

An affidavit filed by the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office in Kalamazoo County District Court said Trask's wife had bloody lacerations to the right side of her head and "blood all over chest, clothing arms and hand," as well as "severe" bruising to her neck and throat.

She told police she and her husband had several drinks at a swingers' party held at a hotel in the 2700 block of S. 11 Street in Oshtemo Township, just west of Kalamazoo, according to the affidavit. She added that she did not like the party and they argued about it on the way home.

Once they arrived home, Trask got on top of her in their bed and "then grabbed the side of her head and smashed it several times on the nightstand," according to the affidavit.

She attempted to grab his beard to free herself, and he began to choke her around the neck and throat with both hands, according to the affidavit. She ultimately grabbed Trask's testicles, which ended the altercation, the document notes, and Trask left the Oshtemo Township home in her vehicle.

'–ºRead more: Judge releases video, photos the Whitmer kidnap plot defense didn't want public to see

Trask, who was tracked down in the parking lot of a supermarket on Main Street in Oshtemo Township, refused to give a statement about the incident after he was read his Miranda rights, according to the affidavit.

Trask, 39, has worked for the FBI since 2011 and served as the FBI's public face in the Whitmer case, testifying in federal court about the investigation. He has worked on cases involving espionage, terrorism and domestic extremism investigations.

The FBI on Wednesday declined to comment. FBI spokeswoman Mara Schneider on Monday said the bureau is cooperating with the prosecutor's office. Trask's job status was unclear.

"In accordance with FBI policy, the incident is subject to internal review, and I cannot comment further at this time," she said in a statement.

Trask was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond following an arraignment in 8th District Court in Kalamazoo and faces a charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison. As part of his bond conditions, he is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Aside from his FBI duties, Trask opened a gym at his rural property in Oshtemo Township near Kalamazoo and offers CrossFit training, according to social media posts and state business filings. He filed state paperwork for BCB Health & Wellness last year and maintains an active Instagram account showing him exercising, flexing and posing shirtless.

Trask's arrest comes at a critical juncture in the criminal case against five men charged in federal court with plotting to kidnap Whitmer. Defense lawyers last week leveled a broad attack on the foundation of the high-profile case and suggested a second FBI agent was trying to sabotage defense teams.

''It's the last thing you want for a major case like this,'' said Andrew Arena, former special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit office. ''Any time you give the defense any ammunition it's not good.''

The internal review would include an investigation by FBI internal affairs, Arena said.

''Depending on the severity, it could be a suspension until things are ironed out one way or another,'' Arena said.

Trask was arrested one week after defense lawyers provided the clearest view of how they plan to attack the kidnapping plot case.

Court filings revealed a defense strategy that involves suppressing evidence, attacking the work of FBI agents and claiming FBI informants entrapped men accused in the conspiracy. Five men are awaiting an October trial in federal court in Grand Rapids, though one defendant has asked U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker to move the trial out of Michigan, arguing media conduct and coverage had "corrupted the potential trial atmosphere."

The arrest is the second potential problem in the case to emerge in recent months.

In March, prosecutors indicted an informant who sources say helped the FBI infiltrate the alleged conspiracy, a rare legal development. The indictment of Wisconsin resident Stephen Robeson after a prolonged period of cooperation suggests the relationship between Robeson and the FBI is destroyed and that prosecutors do not plan on using him at trial, legal experts said.

But defense lawyers can try to call him as a witness and attack Robeson's credibility.

Trask testified in federal court in January against Delaware resident Barry Croft, an accused plotter who is portrayed as the group's bomb maker. Trask identified Croft as the national leader of the 3 Percenters, a small militia that participated in the Jan. 6 insurgence at the U.S. Capitol.

During the court hearing, Trask helped provide context about multiple undercover recordings that included Croft. At the time, prosecutors wanted Croft held without bond, saying he was a violent extremist.

Defense lawyers have portrayed their clients as tough talkers who were exercising their First Amendment rights who never carried out any kidnapping plot.

bwilliams@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @oralandar_dn

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 02:35

Hacking. Disinformation. Surveillance. CYBER is Motherboard's podcast and reporting on the dark underbelly of the internet.

It finally happened. After years of warning from researchers, journalists, and even governments, someone used highly sensitive location data from a smartphone app to track and publicly harass a specific person. In this case, Catholic Substack publication The Pillar said it used location data ultimately tied to Grindr to trace the movements of a priest, and then outed him publicly as potentially gay without his consent. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the outing led to his resignation.

The news starkly demonstrates not only the inherent power of location data, but how the chance to wield that power has trickled down from corporations and intelligence agencies to essentially any sort of disgruntled, unscrupulous, or dangerous individual. A growing market of data brokers that collect and sell data from countless apps has made it so that anyone with a bit of cash and effort can figure out which phone in a so-called anonymized dataset belongs to a target, and abuse that information.

"Experts have warned for years that data collected by advertising companies from Americans' phones could be used to track them and reveal the most personal details of their lives. Unfortunately, they were right," Senator Ron Wyden told Motherboard in a statement, responding to the incident. "Data brokers and advertising companies have lied to the public, assuring them that the information they collected was anonymous. As this awful episode demonstrates, those claims were bogus'--individuals can be tracked and identified."

In short, The Pillar says that Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill, who was the general secretary of the U.S. bishops' conference (USCCB) before his resignation, visited gay bars and other locations while using gay dating app Grindr.

"An analysis of app data signals correlated to Burrill's mobile device shows the priest also visited gay bars and private residences while using a location-based hookup app in numerous cities from 2018 to 2020, even while traveling on assignment for the U.S. bishops' conference," the outlet wrote. The Pillar says the location data is "commercially available records of app signal data," and that it obtained the records from "a data vendor" and then authenticated them with a data consulting firm.

Do you know about any other abuses of location data? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.

The data itself didn't contain each mobile phone user's real name, but The Pillar and its partner were able to pinpoint which device belonged to Burill by observing one that appeared at the USCCB staff residence and headquarters, locations of meetings that he was in, as well as his family lake house and an apartment that has him listed as a resident. In other words, they managed to, as experts have long said is easy to do, unmask this specific person and their movements across time from an supposedly anonymous dataset.

A Grindr spokesperson told Motherboard in an emailed statement that "Grindr's response is aligned with the editorial story published by the Washington Post which describes the original blog post from The Pillar as homophobic and full of unsubstantiated inuendo. The alleged activities listed in that unattributed blog post are infeasible from a technical standpoint and incredibly unlikely to occur. There is absolutely no evidence supporting the allegations of improper data collection or usage related to the Grindr app as purported."

It is not clear what Grindr sees as "infeasible from a technical standpoint." In January the Norwegian Data Protection Authority fined Grindr $11.7 million for providing its users' data to third parties, including their precise location data. Almost prophetically, Norwegian authorities said at the time that Grindr users could be targeted with this sort of information in countries where homosexuality is illegal.

Researchers have repeatedly shown that it is possible to figure out who a phone in an allegedly anonymized set of location data belongs to sometimes with a few points of reference, such as their home or place of work. The spokesperson did not respond to a request to elaborate on what Grindr believes is technically infeasible.

"The research from The Pillar aligns to the reality that Grindr has historically treated user data with almost no care or concern, and dozens of potential ad tech vendors could have ingested the data that led to the doxxing," Zach Edwards, a researcher who has closely followed the supply chain of various sources of data, told Motherboard in an online chat. "No one should be doxxed and outed for adult consenting relationships, but Grindr never treated their own users with the respect they deserve, and the Grindr app has shared user data to dozens of ad tech and analytics vendors for years."

Journalists have also used location data in similar ways before in their reporting. In February, The New York Times' opinion section married location and advertising data to reveal the movements and identities of specific people who attended the January 6 Capitol riots.

"While there were no names or phone numbers in the data, we were once again able to connect dozens of devices to their owners, tying anonymous locations back to names, home addresses, social networks and phone numbers of people in attendance. In one instance, three members of a single family were tracked in the data," the piece read.

Last week, Motherboard reported on the so-called "identity resolution" industry, in part by posing as a customer looking to buy sensitive data. These companies promise to match mobile advertising IDs'--unique codes assigned to mobile phones by their operating systems, and which tech companies have repeatedly assured consumers are anonymous, or at least pseudonymous'--to real-world identities. This makes unmasking people in datasets even easier; why bother trying to figure out which phone belongs to who when you can just buy that information instead.

"Anyone and everyone who has a phone and has installed an app that has ads, currently is at risk of being de-anonymized via unscrupulous companies," Edwards told Motherboard at the time when presented with our findings.

Senator Wyden called for the Federal Trade Commission to act on the data broker industry.

"Last year, I led a bipartisan letter to the FTC calling for a broad probe of the industry. The FTC needs to step up and protect Americans from these outrageous privacy violations, and Congress needs to pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation," he added.

Motherboard has also shown how wide spanning the customer base for this sort of location data is, with the U.S. military and various law enforcement agencies also purchasing it, skirting the need to obtain a warrant. And although the data was based on that generated by telecom networks and not apps, we also previously spoke to Ruth Johnson, a woman who was stalked and harassed by someone who gained access to her phone's location. Johnson said T-Mobile put her "life in danger." Motherboard also tied black market location data to the spot of a triple murder.

Subscribe to our cybersecurity podcast, CYBER.

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 00:44

For much of the Covid-19 pandemic, Laura G. Bustamante longed for the weekend nights when she used to drive into Manhattan to meet friends, often at karaoke bars in the Koreatown neighborhood.

She's now fully vaccinated, and many New York City bars and restaurants have reopened. Yet Ms. Bustamante says she doesn't feel ready to return to her pre-pandemic jaunts to the city, and she is only comfortable meeting friends there one-on-one, preferably outdoors.

''You look at social media, and you see some people out there having all that fun,'' says the 49-year-old product-management consultant in suburban Rockland County, N.Y. ''I can't picture myself in that picture.''

Ever since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the all-clear for vaccinated people to gather indoors without masks and resume pre-pandemic activities, many have eagerly returned to dining inside restaurants, attending parties and flying to see friends and family. (And plenty of people already were doing so before.) Yet for others, returning to their former lives'--and much of the outside world'--is proving tough after more than a year of relative isolation.

Instead of feeling freedom, many say they fear plunging back into socializing'--and are awkwardly declining invitations out, avoiding throngs of people and dreading, or even putting off, the return to workplaces.

The phenomenon is common enough that it has come to be called ''cave syndrome'' on social media and in some psychiatry circles. ''Cave syndrome really means that people are just nervous about going out because they're going to be infected,'' says Coral Gables, Fla., psychiatrist Arthur Bregman. He coined the nonmedical term earlier this year after some of his patients expressed sometimes crippling fears of going out in society though they are fully vaccinated.

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Dr. Bregman says cave syndrome ranges in degree, from vaccinated individuals who are cautious but take part in limited social interaction to those who choose not to go outside at all. He distinguishes between immunocompromised people who aren't able to reap the full protective effects of the vaccine and remain vulnerable to Covid-19 and those who, data show, have considerable protection from the vaccine.

The growing spread of the Delta variant has been substantial enough for places including Los Angeles and Israel to reinstate indoor mask requirements in recent weeks, prompting more anxiety among those already uneasy about re-entering society. And in contrast to the CDC's guidance, the World Health Organization also recently reiterated its world-wide guidance that everybody should wear a mask indoors.

Constantly changing information about Covid-19 as well as shifting and sometimes contradictory guidance from government health officials have likely exacerbated fears, Dr. Bregman says. Although data show that vaccinated individuals who catch the Delta variant are very unlikely to need hospitalization, ''there's still this monumental fear and distrust that people have that they're going to get sick, and so they stay inside,'' he says.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 restrictions continue to be dismantled in many places, adding to the confusion many feel about what's safe social practice. This week, England officially dropped almost all coronavirus restrictions, including mask requirements and size limits on gatherings, in a bet by the government that mass vaccination will stop another deadly Covid-19 wave. Canada said Monday that it would allow fully vaccinated Americans to enter the country for tourist activities beginning Aug. 9, more than a year after closing the border to most travelers.

Studies suggest many people will need time to adjust to newly reopened society. In a June survey by Ipsos and the World Economic Forum, the majority of 12,497 adults in nine countries'--including the U.S., France, Japan, Mexico and the U.K.'--said they would likely continue social distancing and wearing a mask in public after being vaccinated.

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In a March study by the American Psychological Association, nearly half of 3,013 adult Americans surveyed by Harris Poll said they felt uneasy about adjusting to in-person interaction once the pandemic ends. Vaccinated adults were just as likely as those who weren't vaccinated to say they were uneasy.

Andrew Ruiz, a 32-year-old technology analyst who lives in Fort Myers, Fla., has been fully vaccinated since April. He says he remains socially cautious and in October plans to skip New York Comic Con, which he has attended since 2014.

''It's just knowing how it's in an enclosed space,'' he says. ''I want to play it safe and not be in a big crowd.'' Plus, he isn't ready to get on a plane, he says, especially with news of the Delta variant's spread. ''It's probably best for me to just wait another year and see if things die down then,'' he says.

Fear of the virus alone isn't keeping some from re-entering society. Some holdouts got used to living in their bubbles and are reluctant to give up some of the positive aspects of spending more time at home, says Paul S. Appelbaum, professor of psychiatry, medicine and law at Columbia University.

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''That has become a comfortable pattern reinforced by the fear of the unknown out there,'' he says. '''Won't it feel weird when I get back on the subway? Won't it feel strange when I walk into the office?' The familiar feels safe, and the unfamiliar always carries a little bit of anxiety.''

Eoin Hamilton says he ''had a knot in my stomach the entire time'' while celebrating his 43rd birthday with family at a hotel in Dublin in early July. It marked the first time Mr. Hamilton, a graphic designer, had been in a crowd after spending the past 18 months of the pandemic mostly at home with his wife and children in Ballivor, a small village about an hour from Ireland's capital.

''Everybody else seemed to be absolutely fine, but inside I was just losing it,'' says Mr. Hamilton, who has been vaccinated for months. ''I had a feeling it might be a bit weird, but I was not expecting it to be that bad.''

More than the virus itself, ''it's the anxiety of being around people again because you've been conditioned to stay away from people,'' he says, adding that the experience made him vow to continue social distancing. ''I used to love being in a massive group of people, having a few pints, but now I don't want to be around people anymore.''

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Eileen Ybarra, a 44-year-old librarian in Los Angeles, got her second vaccination shot in April and started to shop in-person again and see some family members. But she still isn't comfortable going to movie theaters or dining indoors.

''It's a mix of I don't want to get sick in general, and perhaps I feel maybe more than a little traumatized from the past year,'' she says. ''I'm giving myself time to get back into basically more or less normal life.''

She has recently been ''in the slowly re-entering phase,'' she says, eating indoors for the first time earlier this month for a family birthday celebration. But Los Angeles's recent orders to mask up in most indoor spaces again has once more undermined her confidence in venturing out.

''Now I feel kind of like, Well, I guess?'' she says. ''It's kind of strange.''

Write to Ray A. Smith at ray.smith@wsj.com

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Thu, 22 Jul 2021 00:01

Of the 700 physicians responding to an internet survey by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), nearly 60 percent said they were not ''fully vaccinated'' against COVID.

This contrasts with the claim by the American Medical Association that 96 percent of practicing physicians are fully vaccinated. This was based on 300 respondents.

Neither survey represents a random sample of all American physicians, but the AAPS survey shows that physician support for the mass injection campaign is far from unanimous.

''It is wrong to call a person who declines a shot an 'anti-vaxxer,''' states AAPS executive director Jane Orient, M.D. ''Virtually no physicians are 'anti-antibiotics' or 'anti-surgery,' whereas all are opposed to treatments that they think are unnecessary, more likely to harm than to benefit an individual patient, or inadequately tested.''

The AAPS survey also showed that 54 percent of physician respondents were aware of patients suffering a ''significant adverse reaction.'' Of the unvaccinated physicians, 80 percent said ''I believe risk of shots exceeds risk of disease,'' and 30% said ''I already had COVID.''

Other reasons for declining the shot included unknown long-term effects, use of aborted fetal tissue, ''it's experimental,'' availability of effective early treatment, and reports of deaths and blood clots.

Of 560 practicing physicians, 56 percent said they offered early treatment for COVID.

Nonphysicians were also invited to participate in the survey. Of some 5,300 total participants, 2,548 volunteered comments about associated adverse effects of which they were aware. These included death, amputation, paralysis, stillbirth, menstrual irregularities, blindness, seizures, and heart issues.

''Causality is not proven. However, many of these episodes might have resulted in a huge product liability or malpractice award if they had occurred after a new drug,'' stated Dr. Orient. ''Purveyors of these COVID products are protected against lawsuits.''

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has represented physicians in all specialties since 1943. Its motto is omnia pro aegroto, everything for the patient.

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 22:08

Several of the men accused of planning to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer say they were entrapped by the FBI, with government documents suggesting that at least 12 undercover informants played major roles in the scheme.

A lengthy investigation by BuzzFeed News '' published on Tuesday and based on court filings, text and audio transcripts, and more than two dozen interviews with sources close to the case '' claimed that the 12 informants and undercover agents ''played a far larger role'' in the kidnapping plot than was previously known.

''Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the suspects. Instead, they had a hand in nearly every aspect of the alleged plot, starting with its inception,'' the outlet reported, noting that the scope of their involvement ''raises questions as to whether there would have even been a conspiracy without them.''

The feds call it a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan's governor, but a BuzzFeed News investigation shows that FBI informants had a hand in almost every aspect of the plan. https://t.co/eWUbospoXj

'-- BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 20, 2021So far, one of the 14 suspects in the case has formally accused the government of entrapment, saying the FBI actively drove the plot forward and helped to assemble its key planners, while lawyers for two others say they plan to raise similar claims in the future.

All but one of the 14 defendants '' six of whom were slapped with federal counts, while eight others were charged under Michigan's terrorism laws '' have pleaded not guilty, insisting there was no serious plan to kidnap Whitmer. One defense attorney deemed the plot ''big talk'' between ''crackpots'' and ''military wannabes.''

In the FBI's original criminal complaint issued on October 6, 2020, the bureau acknowledged that it ''relied on information provided by Confidential Human Sources (CHS) and Undercover Employees (UCE) over several months,'' saying that, while all the informants were not present with the plotters at all times, ''at least one '... was usually present during the group meetings.''

The bureau mentioned only four undercover sources, however, including two actual agents, in its initial complaint '' far fewer than the 12 ultimately revealed in later filings. The FBI also did not disclose the full extent of their involvement in the plot, though did note that some informants were paid for their work.

One of them, named as 'CHS-2' in the complaint, was paid at least $14,800, which the FBI says included ''reporting and expenses,'' while a source labeled 'CHS-1' was paid $8,600. It did not specify a reason for that payment.

Also on rt.com 'Weapons of mass destruction': Trio accused in Michigan governor kidnap plot planned to blow up bridge, new indictment says Though not included in the initial affidavit, it was later revealed that another informant, identified only as 'Dan' in government documents, was paid around $6,000 for ''reimbursement for expenses'' and another $24,000 for his ''services'' as a source. The bureau also purchased him a new car, deeming it a ''witness protection expense.''

An Iraq War veteran, 'Dan' would become so deeply involved with the group of alleged kidnappers that he eventually rose to be its ''second-in-command,'' according to BuzzFeed. For around six months, he collected hundreds of hours of recordings of the group using a wire, encouraging suspects to collaborate with one another and ''prodding'' the ringleader to ''advance his plan.'' At times, he even paid to transport group members to meetings, as did another Wisconsin-based informant.

Last week, an attorney for one defendant filed a motion citing texts from an FBI agent to 'Dan,' saying they showed the bureau directed him to recruit specific people into the kidnapping conspiracy. The lawyer is now requesting all messages exchanged between the two, suggesting they could bolster an entrapment defense.

The group also arranged plans to purchase bomb-making materials from an undercover agent, as the FBI affidavit notes that four suspects planned to ''meet with a UCE on October 7, 2020, to make payment on explosives and exchange tactical gear.'' They were arrested before that meeting could happen, and the full extent of the agent's involvement in the plot remains unclear.

While the US Department of Justice declined BuzzFeed's requests for comment, the Michigan attorney general's office downplayed the defendants' claims, saying they were ''not indisputable facts,'' and that officials would ''counter and correct these issues in court.''

Also on rt.com Media hushes up report suggesting FBI involvement in Capitol riot, as White House turns anti-terrorism efforts on American people The alleged plotters were arrested in October 2020, with many held without bail ever since. Authorities claim the group began preparing for the kidnapping in June of last year after months of discussions online, in which members frequently criticized Whitmer's policies, namely Michigan's draconian Covid-19 lockdowns. The group was said to have held several military-style training sessions and gathered thousands of dollars in weapons and gear for Whitmer's abduction.

Though the government is likely to challenge the entrapment allegations, the FBI has come under fire for its questionable use of confidential informants in the past, particularly in cases linked to terrorism. In one high-profile case that culminated in 2012, members of another Michigan militia group accused of planning to kill a police officer were acquitted after the defense successfully argued the conspiracy was instigated by embedded FBI informants.

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:24

In 2018 the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (DOJ-OIG) highlighted numerous FBI officials who accepted bribes from multiple media outlets including: ''tickets to sporting events'', ''golf outings'', ''drinks and meals'' as well as exclusive invitations and admission to ''nonpublic social events'' {Go Deep}.

Today the OIG expanded on the investigation that stemmed from that original outline, and published new findings. Within the latest two page summary [pdf here], the ''senior FBI official'' is unnamed; however, prior research indicates it was former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe:

[Source pdf]

It is very frustrating to see that nothing is done to hold these corrupt FBI officials to account for such gross abuses of power and position. The dual system of justice in the United States is creating a very serious collapse in credibility for multiple institutions of government.

In my opinion, the larger accountability issue is intentionally being handled this way as part of the ''fundamental change'' objective of the radical group behind the installation of Obama. This is one continuum, and the lack of accountability is by design in the effort to perpetrate one ever-increasing, intentionally created crisis. The erosion of institutional credibility is a feature, not a flaw.

We are in a very precarious time, and must be careful as we are inundated by the openness of the corruption in the system. The radicals want a reaction; they want a strong -perhaps violent- reaction; as that plays into their larger objective. Misplaced anger toward the visibility of the corruption can be weaponized against us.

Michael Isikoff highlighted just how enmeshed media was/is with the FBI, DOJ and Fusion-GPS team in February 2018, when he admitted his reporting was being used by the DOJ and FBI to advance the political objectives of the intelligence community.

Additionally, FBI investigator Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page were shown in their text messages to be leaking stories from the Clinton Investigation, the Trump investigation and the Mueller investigation to journalists at Politico, The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. ''SEE HERE''

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was busted by the Inspector General leaking stories to the media and then lying about it to INSD and IG investigators. FBI Director James Comey admitted to leaking stories to the New York Times, and even hired his friend Andrew Richman (off-the-books), gave him access to FBI and NSA databases, and then leaked information to Richman along with another friend Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare blog.

Lest we forget, the original IG report on how the FBI handled the Clinton investigation revealed that dozens of FBI officials were actually taking bribes from the media for information:

Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez and Carl Bernstein were coordinating the attack against President Trump through Jake Tapper's show on CNN. The FBI small group were well aware of what the CNN crew were planning. This was a collaboration.

FBI Spokesperson Mike Kortan was coordinating the narrative on behalf of the FBI team. The FBI knew the underlying premise was entirely false, and likely so too did the CNN crew as we outlined in ''The Anatomy of a Political Smear.''

I'm not going to waste time going over the issues again. {Go Deep Here '' Go Deep Here} At this point, highlighting the accuracy of the past holds no value. Suffice to say the larger American electorate, 'We The People', just need to train ourselves how to spot this stuff when it happens. As long as people continue to believe in the U.S. media apparatus, it will be more difficult to break the cycle of abuse.

Our nation deserves better. We deserve better.

Perhaps the most alarming evidence of the FBI abuses of power and media collusion was found in a 2019 Buzzfeed story, when the Mueller team was at its apex. Buzzfeed News outlined how FBI agents assigned to Robert Mueller's team actually leaked documents from their investigation to the media.

This admission is stunning. At the time of publication, I did not think Buzzfeed realized what they were admitting to. It's in these paragraphs (emphasis mine):

(Buzzfeed) ['...] I'd also like to share an accounting of how we came to our characterization, to give our audience and people who reasonably raised questions about our reporting as much information as possible about how the story came to be.

Our story was based on detailed information from senior law enforcement sources. That reporting included documents '-- specifically, pages of notes that were taken during an interview of [Michael] Cohen by the FBI.

In those notes, one law enforcement source wrote that ''DJT personally asked Cohen to say negotiations ended in January and White House counsel office knew Cohen would give false testimony to Congress. Sanctioned by DJT. Joint lawyer team reviewed letter Cohen sent to SSCI about his testimony about Trump Tower moscow, et al, knowing it contained lies.''

The law enforcement source also wrote: ''Cohen told OSC'' '-- the Office of Special Counsel '-- ''he was asked to lie by DJT/DJT Jr., lawyers.'' At the time, the sources asked reporters to keep the information confidential, but with the publication of Mueller's report they have permitted its release. (read more)

Do you realize what Buzzfeed is saying right there? The FBI agents on the Muller team gave copies of their FD-302 reports (investigative notes) to Buzzfeed news !!

Notice the use of the plural ''reporters''; specifically the way ''reporters'' is used in the paragraph, infers that multiple media outlets were given the same FBI leaked documents. Tell me again about the honorable ''rank and file'''... I digress.

Misplaced corrective action -regardless of intent- is not wise or prudent and may make things worse. We must start by understanding what the primary objective is for the radicals underneath the ''fundamental change'' agenda. Act locally to protect your family, your community and your state; but at the same time be engaged and connected to the larger American community that are also battling on their local levels.

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:22

Johnson & Johnson's single-dose coronavirus vaccine is much less effective against the highly contagious Delta variant than it is against the original virus, new research claims.

"The message that we wanted to give was not that people shouldn't get the J&J vaccine, but we hope that in the future, it will be boosted with either another dose of J&J or a boost with Pfizer or Moderna," study author Nathaniel Landau, a virologist at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine, told The New York Times.

The troubling news came the same day that Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told lawmakers that the Delta variant now accounts for 83% of new coronavirus cases in this country.

"This is a dramatic increase, up from 50% for the week of July 3," Walensky said during a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.

As worrying as the J&J vaccine findings are, they came from experiments on blood samples in a laboratory, and may not reflect the vaccine's performance in the real world, theTimes reported. But mounting evidence is suggesting that the 13 million Americans who have gotten the J&J vaccine may need a second dose.

Experts noted that all of the vaccines seem to work better when given in two doses.

"I have always thought, and often said, that the J&J vaccine is a two-dose vaccine," John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, told the Times.

Moore added that several studies in monkeys and people have shown greater efficacy with two doses of the J&J vaccine. He noted the new study was particularly credible because it was published by a team with no ties to any of the vaccine makers.

The latest conclusions do run counter to those from smaller studies published by the company in early July that suggested a single dose of the vaccine works against the variant up to eight months after the shot is administered, the Times reported.

The new study was published online on the preprint server BioRxiv and has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal. But it jibes with observations that a single dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine'--which is similar to J&J's shot'--shows only about 33 percent efficacy against symptomatic disease caused by the Delta variant.

In the study, Landau and his colleagues looked at blood samples taken from 17 people who had been immunized with two doses of an mRNA vaccine and 10 people with one dose of the J&J vaccine.

The J&J vaccine started out with a lower efficacy than the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) and showed a bigger drop in efficacy against the Delta variant. "The lower baseline means that what's left to counter Delta is very weak," Moore said. "That is a substantial concern."

While using the J&J shot in a second dose may be enough to counter the variant, there's evidence that using an mRNA vaccine for the second shot, rather than another J&J shot, may work even better. According to the Times, a number of studies have shown that combining one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine with a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines raises the immune response more effectively than two doses of AstraZeneca.

Even as some vaccines falter against the Delta variant, U.S. vaccination rates have stalled. Less than half of the country's population is fully vaccinated, according to CDC data, and the majority of those who are not vaccinated are not likely to get vaccinated, according to a poll published Tuesday by Axios-Ipsos.

If many of those who are holding out do not get a vaccine, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, the country can expect a "smoldering" outbreak for "a considerable period of time."

U.S. issues toughest travel alert for Britain as cases surge there

The U.S. government issued its most dire warnings against travel to Britain this week as coronavirus cases surged in that country while nearly all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in an effort to restart the economy.

Both the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Level 4 travel alerts and urged all Americans to avoid visiting the U.K.

"Even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants," the CDC said in its updated notice.

In its advisory, the State Department delivered an even stronger warning: "Do not travel to the United Kingdom due to COVID-19," the advisory said.

The new warnings are not binding, but they were issued as Britain struggles with a surge in new infections fueled by the Delta variant that brought India to its knees this past spring.

Still, the British government forged ahead with plans to abandon most social distancing measures in England on so-called "Freedom Day" on Monday.

But after videos circulated widely of thousands of revelers jammed into bars and night clubs on Monday night, the British government said it would issue new rules to require people to provide proof of vaccination to enter nightclubs and other crowded venues, the Washington Post reported.

Those restrictions will not take effect until the end of September, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a news conference, after residents over the age of 18 are offered the chance to be vaccinated.

"I don't want to have to close nightclubs again," Johnson said, the BBC reported. "But it does mean nightclubs need to do the socially responsible thing."

Britain is now reporting a seven-day average of roughly 45,000 daily new cases, according to Our World in Data. Some of the country's top leadership'--including Johnson'--are in quarantine after Health Secretary Sajid Javid tested positive for the virus over the weekend, the Post reported.

More than half of Britain's population has received two doses of coronavirus vaccine, a level of immunization that officials say has helped curb hospitalizations and deaths.

Still, hospitalizations have risen nearly 40 percent over the past week, although Patrick Vallance, Britain's chief scientific adviser, said 60 percent of new COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.

More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19.

Copyright (C) 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 20:55

Five Michigan counties are allegedly moving ahead with guidance from the state that is likely to erase all activities on the voting machines in the county. A Cease and Desist order was mailed to the counties but these few counties may move forward anyways.At least five counties in Michigan are reportedly moving ahead with the destruction of data from the 2020 Election on the voting equipment they used in the election. The problem with this is that the procedure that the vendor is performing reportedly removes all data from the machines but federal law states that information related to the 2020 Election is to be maintained in safekeeping for 22 months after the election. Also, all the counties in the state have been provided a 'cease and desist' order preventing them from removing the data from the machines.

EXCLUSIVE: Michigan Sec. of State Benson Allows Vendor 'Election Source' to 'Remove Batteries' from Voting Machines '' Possibly Illegal and Renders Machines Uncertified

According to Kagbro88 on Twitter, at least five counties have said they are moving ahead with the request from the state to remove the batteries in the machines which would also remove all memory from the machines.

TRENDING: Get Woke-Go Broke: US Women's National Soccer Team Gets Skunked in 3-0 Loss to Sweden in Olympic Opening - Devastating Blow

Midland and Manistee Counties are two of the counties moving forward with the state's request.

Jill from Manistee County agrees with Ann. pic.twitter.com/35gAt8j2jV

'-- kagbro88 (@kagbro88) July 20, 2021

Lake County says they are waiting for their attorney's opinion while Dickinson is moving ahead with the 'maintenance'.

These next responses are much more concerning. (For context read the Cease and Desist letter)

Carol of Dickinson County states ''I have not and the maintenance is going ahead as scheduled.'' pic.twitter.com/e1d1orRu3A

'-- kagbro88 (@kagbro88) July 20, 2021

Iron County is planning on going ahead with the state's request as well.

Julie at Iron County admits, ''Iron County is also going ahead with the maintenance as scheduled.'' pic.twitter.com/R0pTPxjSgn

'-- kagbro88 (@kagbro88) July 20, 2021

These counties are risking a lot due to their actions. Removing batteries from their machines will likely erase data that is residing on the machines and the law requires all data to be kept intact for 22 months after the election. Also, removing the battery will make the machines out of compliance and they will have to be recertified as a result.

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 20:25

British funeral director John O'Looney has revealed to architect and film producer Robin Monotti how he experienced this ''fake pandemic. ''Mortality was at normal levels and was even slightly lower than 2019,'' he wrote in a message on Telegram.O'Looney said many of his colleagues turned off their refrigerators around Christmas because ''nobody died. ''We started vaccinating here on January 6, and then almost immediately the number of deaths went through the roof. I have never experienced such a high mortality rate in 15 years as a funeral director.''

He posted this message on YouTube under a video about corona. It was liked over 300 times after which his YouTube account was deleted without warning for allegedly violating policy.

At the beginning of the ''corona pandemic,'' O'Looney, who lives in Milton Keynes, made headlines when he warned that bodies might remain in hospitals because next of kin could not afford a funeral or cremation due to the lockdown.

He told the BBC that all the focus was on increasing cooling capacity in mortuaries while no consideration was given to people who could not arrange a funeral due to financial difficulties.

source

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 19:45

Will COVID shots drive the mutation of SARS-CoV-2, creating ever more variants? Or are the mutations primarily occurring in unvaccinated people? In the video report above, The Last American Vagabond host dives into the scientific research to find out.

As noted by The Vagabond, unvaccinated Americans are actually in the majority, still, despite what you're hearing on the news. Those saying "no" to participating in a medical gene modification experiment are not a small fringe group.

We are the majority, at just over half (51%) of the United States population over the age of 18, as of July 12, 2021. (More specifically, 56% have received one dose, and 49% are fully vaccinated, which for Moderna and Pfizer means having received two doses.1 )

Based on the scientific evidence, the narrative that unvaccinated people are viral factories for more dangerous variants is simply false. Worse, it's the complete opposite of the truth and hides the fact that mass vaccination may be putting us all in a far direr situation than necessary.

Vaccines Drive Viruses to MutateAs explained in "Vaccines Are Pushing Pathogens to Evolve," published in Quanta Magazine,2 "Just as antibiotics breed resistance in bacteria, vaccines can incite changes that enable diseases to escape their control."

The article details the history of the anti-Marek's disease vaccine for chickens, first introduced in 1970. Today, we're on the third version of this vaccine, as within a decade, it stops working. The reason? The virus has mutated to evade the vaccine. The virus is also becoming increasingly deadly and more difficult to treat.

A 2015 paper3 in PLOS Biology tested the theory that vaccines are driving the mutation of the herpesvirus causing Marek's disease in chickens. To do that, they vaccinated 100 chickens and kept 100 unvaccinated. All of the birds were then infected with varying strains of the virus. Some strains were more virulent and dangerous than others.

Over the course of the birds' lives, the unvaccinated ones shed more of the least virulent strains into the environment, while the vaccinated ones shed more of the most virulent strains. As noted in the Quanta Magazine article:4

"The findings suggest that the Marek's vaccine encourages more dangerous viruses to proliferate. This increased virulence might then give the viruses the means to overcome birds' vaccine-primed immune responses and sicken vaccinated flocks."

Vaccinated People Can Serve as Breeding Ground for MutationsAs noted by Reilly, before 2021, it was quite clear that vaccines push viruses to mutate into more dangerous strains. The only question was, to what extent? Now all of a sudden, we're to believe conventional science has been wrong all along.

Here's another example: NPR as recently as February 9, 2021, reported that "vaccines can contribute to virus mutations." NPR science correspondent Richard Harris noted:5

"You may have heard that bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics and, in a worst-case scenario, render the drugs useless. Something similar can also happen with vaccines, though, with less serious consequences.

This worry has arisen mostly in the debate over whether to delay a second vaccine shot so more people can get the first shot quickly. Paul Bieniasz, a Howard Hughes investigator at the Rockefeller University, says that gap would leave people with only partial immunity for longer than necessary."

According to Bieniasz, partially vaccinated individuals "might serve as sort of a breeding ground for the virus to acquire new mutations." This is the exact claim now being attributed to unvaccinated people by those who don't understand natural selection.

It's important to realize that viruses mutate all the time, and if you have a vaccine that doesn't block infection completely, then the virus will mutate to evade the immune response within that person. That is one of the distinct features of the COVID shots '-- they're not designed to block infection. They allow infection to occur and at best lessen the symptoms of that infection. As noted by Harris:6

"This evolutionary pressure is present for any vaccine that doesn't completely block infection '... Many vaccines, apparently, including the COVID vaccines, do not completely prevent a virus from multiplying inside someone even though these vaccines do prevent serious illness."

In short, like bacteria mutate and get stronger to survive the assault of antibacterial agents, viruses can mutate in vaccinated individuals who contract the virus, and in those, it will mutate to evade the immune system. In an unvaccinated person, on the other hand, the virus does not encounter the same evolutionary pressure to mutate into something stronger. So, if SARS-CoV-2 does end up mutating into more lethal strains, then mass vaccination is the most likely driver.

COVID Variants Are More Similar Than You ThinkNow, the fearmongering over variants is just that: fearmongering. So far, while some SARS-CoV-2 variants appear to spread more easily, they are also less dangerous. The Delta variant, for example, is associated with more conventional flu-like symptoms like runny nose and sore throat than the hallmark COVID-19 symptoms involving shortness of breath and loss of smell.7

In an interview for the documentary "Planet Lockdown,"8 Michael Yeadon, Ph.D., a life science researcher and former vice-president and chief scientist at Pfizer, pointed out the fraud being perpetrated with regard to variants. He actually refers to them as "simians," because they're near-identical to the original. And, as such, they pose no greater threat than the original.

"It's quite normal for RNA viruses like SARS-CoV-2, when it replicates, to make typographical errors," Yeadon explains. "It's got a very good error detection, error correction system so it doesn't make too many typos, but it does make some, and those are called 'variants.'

It's really important to know that if you find the variant that's most different from the sequence identified in Wuhan, that variance '... is only 0.3% different from the original sequence.

I'll say it another way. If you find the most different variance, it's 99.7% identical to the original one, and I can assure you '... that amount of difference is absolutely NOT possibly able to represent itself to you as a different virus."

Your immune system is a multifaceted system that allows your body to mount defenses against all sorts of threats. Parasites, fungi, bacteria and viruses are the main threat categories. Each of these invades and threatens you in completely different ways, and your immune system has ways of dealing with all of them, using a variety of mechanisms.

Whether you're going to be susceptible to variants has very little to do with whether or not you have antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, because antibodies are not your primary defense against viruses, T cells are. What this means then, is that getting booster shots for different variants is not going to help, because these shots do not strengthen your T cell immunity.

The importance of T cells has been known for a long time, and their role in COVID-19 was confirmed early on in the pandemic. Scientists wanted to find out if patients who recovered from SARS-CoV-1, responsible for the SARS outbreak some 17 years ago, might have immunity against SARS-CoV-2. As it turns out, they did.

They still had memory T cells against SARS-CoV-1, and those cells also recognized SARS-CoV-2, despite being only 80% similar. Now, if a 20% difference was not enough to circumvent the immune system of these patients, why should you be concerned with a variant that is at most 0.3% different from the original SARS-CoV-2?

"When your government scientists tell you that a variant that's 0.3% different from SARS-CoV-2 could masquerade as a new virus and be a threat to your health, you should know, and I'm telling you, they are lying," Yeadon says.

"If they're lying, and they are, why is the pharmaceutical industry making top-up [booster] vaccines? '... There's absolutely no possible justification for their manufacture."

Mutations Are Good for Vaccine BusinessOf course, by pushing fear of variants, vaccine makers ensure a steady supply of people willing to participate as guinea pigs in their for-profit business scheme. Pfizer plans to ask for EUA authorization for a third COVID booster shot in August 2021, Bloomberg reports.9

According to Pfizer's head of research, Dr. Mikael Dolsten, initial data suggest a third dose of the current Pfizer shot can raise neutralizing antibody levels by anywhere from fivefold to 10-fold.10 The company is also working on variant-specific formulations.

Dolsten points to data from Israel, where Pfizer's mRNA injection was used exclusively, which shows a recent uptick in breakthrough cases. This suggests protection starts to wane around the six-months mark. For now, the FDA is not recommending boosters,11 but that can change at any moment, and most likely will.

Pfizer recently announced it intends to raise the price on its COVID shot once the pandemic wanes,12 and during a recent investor conference, Pfizer's chief financial officer Frank D'Amelio said there's "significant opportunity" for profits once the market shifts to annual boosters.13

In an April 2021 article, The Defender reported expected profits from current COVID shots and boosters in coming years:14

Pfizer expects a minimum revenue of $15 billion to $30 billion in 2021 aloneModerna expects sales of $18.4 billion in 2021; Barclays analyst Gena Wang forecasts the company's 2022 revenue to be somewhere around $12.2 billion and $11.4 billion in 2023Johnson & Johnson expects sales of $10 billion in 2021Vaccine Treadmill AheadThe way things have been going, it seems inevitable that we're facing a vaccine treadmill, where new variants will "necessitate" boosters on a regular basis. Boosters will also drive the "need" for vaccine passports to keep track of it all. As reported by The Defender:15

"Annual COVID booster shots are music to the ears of investors. But some independent scientists warn16 that trying to outsmart the virus with booster shots designed to address the next variant could backfire, creating an endless wave of new variants, each more virulent and transmissible than the one before '...

According to Rob Verkerk Ph.D., founder, scientific and executive director of Alliance for Natural Health International, variants can become more virulent and transmissible, while also including immune (or vaccine) escape mutations if we continue on the vaccine treadmill '-- trying to develop new vaccines that outsmart the virus.

Verkerk said 'if we put all our eggs' in the basket of vaccines that target the very part of the virus that is most subject to mutation, we place a selection pressure on the virus that favors the development of immune escape variants."

Vaccinologist Dr. Geert Vanden Bosche,17 whose resume includes work with GSK Biologicals, Novartis Vaccines, Solvay Biologicals and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, published an open letter18 to the World Health Organization, March 6, 2021, in which he warned that implementing a global mass vaccination campaign during the height of the pandemic could create an "uncontrollable monster" where evolutionary pressure will force the emergence of new and potentially more dangerous mutations.

"There can be no doubt that continued mass vaccination campaigns will enable new, more infectious viral variants to become increasingly dominant and ultimately result in a dramatic incline in new cases despite enhanced vaccine coverage rates. There can be no doubt either that this situation will soon lead to complete resistance of circulating variants to the current vaccines," Bossche wrote.19

Will COVID-19 Shots Save Lives? Probably NotAs noted in the BMJ paper20 "Will COVID-19 Vaccines Save Lives? Current Trials Aren't Designed to Tell Us," by associate editor Peter Doshi, while the world is betting on gene modification "vaccines" as the solution to the pandemic, the trials are not even designed to answer key questions such as whether the shots will actually save lives.

In an October 23, 2020, response21 to that paper, Dr. Allan Cunningham, a retired pediatrician, provided a summary of papers dating back to 1972, showing vaccines have been notoriously ineffective. In many cases, deaths have actually risen in tandem with increased vaccination rates, suggesting they may actually have a net negative effect on mortality.

Cunningham also lists studies arguing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has exaggerated flu mortality statistics in an effort to increase uptake of the flu vaccine. They're clearly doing the same thing with COVID-19 mortality statistics. If people had not been so misled by government authorities about the true lethality of COVID-19, half the country would not have rolled up their sleeves to take an experimental gene modification injection. As noted by Cunningham:22

"2020: A 14-year study finds that influenza vaccines are associated with an 8.9% increase in the risk of all-cause mortality in elderly men '... During six A/H3N2-predominant seasons their all-cause mortality increase was 16.6%! '...

The unfortunate history of influenza vaccines should warn us against repeating the process with Covid-19 vaccines. Peter Doshi may be understating the case when he suggests that influenza vaccines have not saved lives. The foregoing history and other observations suggest that in whole populations over the long run seasonal flu campaigns have actually cost lives '...

This idea is hard to grasp in the face of massive publicity and reports of 'vaccine effectiveness.' The vaccines provide modest short-term protection against seasonal flu, but the VE studies completely ignore adverse effects (e.g. high fever, seizures, narcolepsy, oculo-respiratory syndrome, Guillain-Barre syndrome) '... We don't need another vaccine treadmill that could do more harm than good."

Natural Selection Will WinAs we move forward, it's really important that we not cast aside hard-won science lessons in favor of politically-driven propaganda. The propaganda is not science. Do not confuse the two.

If you don't have these pathogens evolving in response to vaccines, then we really don't understand natural selection. ~ Evolutionary Biologist Paul Ewald, University of Louisville

If there's a silver lining to this whole mess, it's that more and more people are starting to get educated about health, biology, virology and vaccinology. These are heady topics, but to begin to tease out truth from fiction, many are now taking the time to listen to doctors and scientists who are explaining the science behind it all.

The obvious and blatant lies and propaganda and over-the-top censorship is starting to wake up tens of millions of people in the U.S. about the vaccine frauds; not only the COVID jabs but the whole lot of them. It's getting easier by the day to tell the quacks from the real McCoy, because the truth tellers will actually explain how things work, whereas the propagandists juggle catchphrases and attack those who ask questions.

In closing, here are two more excerpts from articles detailing the inevitability of vaccines driving the mutation of viruses through natural selection. Quanta Magazine writes:23

"Recent research suggests '... that some pathogen populations are adapting in ways that help them survive in a vaccinated world '... Just as the mammal population exploded after dinosaurs went extinct because a big niche opened up for them, some microbes have swept in to take the place of competitors eliminated by vaccines.

Immunization is also making once-rare or nonexistent genetic variants of pathogens more prevalent, presumably because vaccine-primed antibodies can't as easily recognize and attack shape-shifters that look different from vaccine strains.

And vaccines being developed against some of the world's wilier pathogens '-- malaria, HIV, anthrax '-- are based on strategies that could, according to evolutionary models and lab experiments, encourage pathogens to become even more dangerous.24 Evolutionary biologists aren't surprised that this is happening.

A vaccine is a novel selection pressure placed on a pathogen, and if the vaccine does not eradicate its target completely, then the remaining pathogens with the greatest fitness '-- those able to survive, somehow, in an immunized world '-- will become more common.

'If you don't have these pathogens evolving in response to vaccines,' said Paul Ewald, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Louisville, 'then we really don't understand natural selection.'"

Similarly, Alliance for Natural Health International points out:25

"'Mutants of concern' are clearly on most of our radars. An important question is: are they growing or declining in frequency? In some countries, including ones where vaccinations have occurred at a high rate '... they are increasing and have already become dominant '... That should be a very large, flappy, red flag to anyone who has a reasonable grasp of evolutionary selection pressure on viruses with pathogenic capacity.

More infection '-- including more silent infection among asymptomatic people (even if reduced by vaccination) '-- provides more opportunities for mutation. If we continue to drag out the time it takes for the virus to just become another endemic component of our virosphere, there will be more opportunities and more mutations. Not dissimilar to a game of Russian roulette '-- so why don't we start counting our chances?

If variants become both more transmissible and more virulent, while also including immune (or vaccine) escape mutations '-- all trends we are witnessing in some parts of the world '-- we could be in deep trouble down the road.

At the very least, we stay on the vaccine (or monoclonal antibody) treadmill, trying to develop new vaccines (or monoclonal antibody therapies) that outsmart the virus when we should know better; that the virus will continue to outsmart us if we maintain such intense selection pressure on it '...

Let me throw in one more concept that is ecological in nature: herd immunity. The base equation used by government scientists that estimates around 70% of the population need to be vaccinated or exposed to the virus to achieve herd immunity is flawed.

It is predicated on a number of assumptions that don't apply: equal mixing of populations and successful sterilization of the virus in vaccinated people and those exposed to wild virus being just two. This just isn't the case. In the real world, the situation is much more complex than in an idealized model.

Randolph and Barreiro remind us in their review26 in the journal Immunity that '[e]pidemiological and immunological factors, such as population structure, variation in transmission dynamics between populations, and waning immunity, will lead to variation in the extent of indirect protection conferred by herd immunity.'

For vaccinated people, antigen-specific antibodies bind firmly to virus particles and competitively oust natural antibodies, giving vaccinated people potentially less cross-immunity to mutant variants that are more infectious and the wave of infectivity continues."

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 19:35

CraigMartin : @drsimonegold @CChampion_Z06 @adamcurry CDC promoting lower PCR cycle counts for vaccinated vs unvaccinated

Wed Jul 21 17:06:10 +0000 2021

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 19:25

A man refuels his car in Paris in 2020. Men spend their money on greenhouse gas-emitting goods and services at a much higher rate than women, researchers found. Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images A man refuels his car in Paris in 2020. Men spend their money on greenhouse gas-emitting goods and services at a much higher rate than women, researchers found.

Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images When it comes to climate change, male consumers may get a bit more of the blame than their female counterparts. Men spend their money on greenhouse gas-emitting goods and services, such as meat and fuel, at a much higher rate than women, a new Swedish study found.

Published this week in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, the study looked at consumer-level spending patterns rather than the climate impact of producers and manufacturers to see if households could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by buying different products and services.

"The way they spend is very stereotypical '' women spend more money on home decoration, health and clothes and men spend more money on fuel for cars, eating out, alcohol and tobacco," study author Annika Carlsson Kanyama, at the research company Ecoloop in Sweden, told The Guardian.

The authors analyzed Swedish government data through 2012 on the spending habits of households, single men and single women, as well as other more updated consumer pricing data. They said a "large proportion" of people in affluent countries, such as those in the European Union, live in single-person households.

Single Swedish men didn't spend much more money than single Swedish women in total '-- only about 2% more '-- but what they bought tended to have a worse impact on the environment, according to the study.

In fact, men spent their money on things that emitted 16% more greenhouse gases than what women bought. For example, men spent 70% more money on "greenhouse gas intensive items" such as fuel for their vehicles.

There were also differences between men and women within categories, such as spending on food and drinks. Men bought meat at a higher rate than women, though women purchased dairy products at a greater clip than men. Both meat and dairy production result in high greenhouse gas emissions.

The study found that men also outspent women when it came to travel, both on plane tickets and "package tours" as well as on vacations by car.

The authors suggested that people could lower their carbon emissions by 36% to 38% by switching to plant-based foods, traveling by train instead of in planes or cars and buying secondhand furnishings or repairing or renting some items.

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 10:19

Journalists could face prison sentences of up to 14 years for stories that embarrass the Government under plans to reform the Official Secrets Act.

Under a consultation run by Priti Patel's Home Office, which closes later this week, reporters who handle leaked documents would not have a defence if charged under new laws designed to clamp down on foreign agents.

The 1989 act is being updated to take into account the impact of the internet age, especially in the area of speedy data transfer.

Human rights organisations and the Law Commission, which drew up the proposals, say there should be a 'public interest defence' included to prevent the prosecution of journalists who receive leaked documents.

But in a paper released for the consultation, the Home Office said such a move would 'undermine our efforts to prevent damaging unauthorised disclosures, which would not be in the public interest'.

Critics suggested that if the rules were in place now it could have led to a prosecution of the journalists who revealed this month that Matt Hancock was breaking Covid rules by having an affair with his married aide, because it relied on leaked CCTV footage.

The revelation prompted his resignation and the end of his marriage. But last week the Information Commissioner's Office faced criticism for searching two homes as part of an investigation into how the material emerged and found its way onto the Sun's front page.

Under a consultation run by Priti Patel's Home Office, which closes later this week, reporters who handle leaked documents would not have a defence if charged under new laws clamping down on foreign agents.

Critics suggested that if the rules were in place now it could have led to a prosecution of the journalists who revealed this month that Matt Hancock was breaking Covid rules by having an affair with his married aide, because it relied on leaked CCTV footage.

Among those who have criticised the new laws are the Index on Censorship and the Open Rights Group, who view it as an attack on whistleblowers.

A spokeswoman for the National Union of Journalists said: 'Existing legislation distinguishes provisions and penalties between those who leak or whistleblow, those who receive leaked information, and foreign spies.

'The government proposes to eliminate or blur these distinctions. The government also wants to increase the maximum penalties that journalists might suffer for receiving leaked material from two to 14 years....

'The NUJ has long argued that where whistleblowers believe that they have acted in the public interest, they should be able to make this case in court, and if a jury agree with them, be protected.'

But the Home Office document argues: 'Since the passage of the Act in 1989, there have been unprecedented developments in communications technology (including data storage and rapid data transfer tools) which in our view, means that unauthorised disclosures are now capable of causing far more serious damage than would have been possible previously.

'As a result, we do not consider that there is necessarily a distinction in severity between espionage and the most serious unauthorised disclosures, in the same way that there was in 1989.

'Although there are differences in the mechanics of and motivations behind espionage and unauthorised disclosure offences, there are cases where an unauthorised disclosure may be as or more serious, in terms of intent and/or damage.

'For example, documents made available online can now be accessed and utilised by a wide range of hostile actors simultaneously, whereas espionage will often only be to the benefit of a single state or actor.

'In severe cases, the unauthorised disclosure of the identities of agents working for the UK intelligence community, for example, could directly lead to imminent and serious threat to life.'

It comes just days after the UN demanded closer regulation of surveillance tech following extensive revelations of phone hacking targeting journalists, activists and politicians.

They have been spied on using cellphone malware developed by a private Israeli firm, it emerged on Sunday.

The use of the software, called Pegasus and developed by Israel's NSO group, was exposed in a data leak containing 50,000 phone numbers that belong to people targeted by NSO's clients since 2016.

Among those clients are some of the world's most-repressive government regimes, including Hungary, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Freedom of press is an integral part of the UK's democratic processes and the government is committed to protecting the rights and values that we hold so dear.

'It is wrong to claim the proposals will put journalists at risk of being treated like spies and they will, rightly, remain free to hold the government to account.

'We will introduce new legislation so security services and law enforcement agencies can tackle evolving state threats and protect sensitive data.

'However, this will be balanced to protect press freedom and the ability for whistleblowers to hold organisations to account when there are serious allegations of wrongdoing.'

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Wed, 21 Jul 2021 01:54

New York (CNN Business)Jeff Bezos, the Amazon ( AMZN ) founder and world's wealthiest man, said Tuesday after flying to the edge of space that he planned to award $100 million each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jos(C) Andr(C)s.

Bezos said that Jones and Andres were free to do "what they want" with the money.

"They can give it all to their own charity," Bezos said at a press conference after his trip to space. "Or they can share the wealth. It is up to them."

The money, Bezos said, was tied to a "surprise" philanthropic initiative he wanted to announce called the Courage and Civility Award.

The award aims to honor those who have "demonstrated courage" and tried to be a unifier in a divisive world, Bezos added.

"We need unifiers and not vilifiers," Bezos said. "We need people who argue hard and act hard for what they believe. But they do that always with civility and never ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is too often not the case. But we do have role models."

Jones, accepting the award, said that "sometimes dreams come true."

"You bet on me and I appreciate it," Jones told Bezos, later adding that it was money for him to "give to others who have a similar spirit."

Andr(C)s, who has poured his efforts into feeding those in need around the world, said that the award itself "cannot feed the world on its own."

"But," Andr(C)s added, "this is a start of a new chapter for us."

Anderson Cooper, who was anchoring CNN's special coverage on Tuesday, said on-air after Bezos announced the award that it was "quite a surprise."

"None of us knew anything about it," Cooper said.

The philanthropic initiative from Bezos comes as he and fellow billionaires such as Richard Branson, the Virgin Galactic investor,

face criticism for spending their wealth on space tourism. Bezos has previously been criticized for not contributing more to philanthropy, but has donated billions of dollars in recent years to causes including

climate change and

food banks.

Critics have said that the world's richest people should work to improve the conditions for people here on Earth, instead of flying off into space. Bezos and supporters of the space programs, however, have countered that both are possible.

"Well, I say they're largely right. We have to do both," he said in an interview with CNN Monday. "You know, we have lots of problems here and now on Earth and we need to work on those, and we always need to look to the future. We've always done that as a species, as a civilization. We have to do both."

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Tue, 20 Jul 2021 12:58

Vaccinated tourists will not be allowed to enter Israel on August 1, as had been previously planned, Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash said Sunday, also announcing that the authorities will discuss measures to restrict all travel.

''We are postponing the date for the entry of tourists; it is not going to happen on August 1,'' he said, adding that a new date has not been set. ''Unfortunately, the current situation does not permit us to allow tourists to enter.''

The director-general also warned the public that with the Delta variant raging around the world, this is not a time to fly abroad. He said the authorities are examining how to restrict travel, either by expanding the list of countries under the travel ban or severe travel warning, or by other means.

Channel 12 reported that health official are considering several options for a recommendation to bring before the cabinet, including shutting the airport for non essential traveling and requiring all travelers to enter isolation regardless of their immunization status and the country they fly from. However, according to the report, the most likely recommendation will be to significantly expand the list of countries under travel ban or travel warning - in both cases all returnees have to quarantine, for the first group Israelis are prohibited from visiting unless they obtain a permission from the devoted special governmental committee.

Explanation of the Israeli coronavirus flight restrictions. (Credit: Health Ministry)

Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister

Naftali Bennett met with ministers and officials to work on stepping up the enforcement of coronavirus regulations, which since last week has fallen under the Public Security Ministry's responsibility.

The authorities are working to ensure the enforcement system will combine the use of technological means as well as police officers and local inspectors.

''Our goal is to establish sensible guidelines, alongside aggressive and effective enforcement against violators,'' Bennett said. ''Anyone who violates the guidelines endangers his health and the health of the rest of the citizens of Israel. We will not allow this. The Delta variant is soaring all over the world; implementing regulations in the field is a critical element in fighting the pandemic to defeat the mutation.''

It was decided that verified coronavirus carriers who breach isolation will be criminally charged.

In addition, Bennett instructed the ministry and the attorney-general to regulate the legal aspect of employing technological tools to monitor those in quarantine, including allowing the police to verify the location of individuals in isolation through an SMS system.

It was announced that priority in enforcement will be given to weddings and other events considered to be a high risk of spreading infections.

Starting from Wednesday, access to indoor weddings and parties with more than 100 participants will be limited only to individuals who are vaccinated, recovered or have a negative corona test, or holders of what the government has dubbed a ''

Happy Badge.''

Ash said that in the upcoming days, they will recommend that the cabinet bring back the full green pass system. Until the end of May, the system was used for several venues and activities, including restaurants, synagogues and gyms.

In addition, he said they are preparing for the school year, and hope that rapid testing will be an essential element of the outline to keep schools operating safely.

Also on Sunday, the Health Ministry announced that participants in summer camps will be asked to show a green passport, a recovery certificate or a negative coronavirus test taken within the previous 72 hours. The requirement applies also to outdoor programs.

As more and more people need to be tested, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced that the number of testing stations around the country will increase and their operating hours expanded.

While at the moment the only widely available tests are PCR tests, the government is also working on making rapid tests '' also known as antigen '', as well as at-home tests, easily available.

Earlier in the day, Horowitz said the possibility of another lockdown exists, but the government is not considering it as of now and the goal is to avoid it.

''Of course it is possible that there will be another lockdown, but we are not discussing it now,'' Horowitz told Army Radio. ''Everyone can understand that if there is a huge outbreak here, including in serious morbidity, we will get there. We are taking measures so that we are not going to need it.''

Some 430 new virus carriers were identified on Saturday, with 1.47% of the 33,000 tests processed returning a positive result. The previous day, there were 1,120 cases out of 76,000 tests '' the highest since March.

At the beginning of June, Israel was registering 10-20 new cases per day. The new outbreak apparently started in some schools and quickly spread.

While the increase in serious morbidity '' which is considered to be the most important parameter '' has remained limited, the number of patients in serious condition is nonetheless on the rise. Sixty-three patients were in serious conditions on Sunday morning. Four weeks ago, there were 19.

At the peak of the pandemic in January, there were about 1,200 patients in serious condition, a number that placed an unprecedented strain on the country's health system. Months before, experts were suggesting that hospitals could handle up to 700-800 serious patients without compromising the quality of the care.

Ash said the number of serious patients is expected to further increase.

On Friday, Bennett said the Pfizer vaccine is less effective against the Delta variant, which currently represents the vast majority of cases in Israel.

''We do not know exactly to what degree the vaccine helps, but it is significantly less,'' he noted.

Israel is conducting research to understand what is causing the drop in efficacy, Ash said, and whether the time elapsed since receiving the two shots is the central elements or other factors '' like age or background diseases '' have a significant role.

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Tue, 20 Jul 2021 12:55

A lawyer for an accused bombmaker charged in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping case raised questions Sunday about whether the FBI is trying to sabotage defense teams ahead of a landmark trial.

A filing by the attorney for Delaware resident Barry Croft revealed the existence of a recording Sunday in which the lead investigator, FBI Special Agent Henrik Impola, discussed creating "disarray and chaos" for defense lawyers, whom he labeled "paid liars."

Defense lawyer Josh Blanchard included excerpts from the recording in a court filing Sunday that asked U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker to have prosecutors produce a witness list by late August.

The request comes despite concerns about the safety of confidential informants and undercover FBI agents who helped infiltrate the alleged plot last fall '-- and whose names would be expected to appear on a witness list.

Defense lawyers are not entitled to witness lists in federal court though judges have discretion to demand the lists be shared before trial.

View | 14 Photos

Blanchard cited an audio recording of Impola and an unidentified informant who described being afraid of his identity being made public. The recording was made in December during an apparent strategy session, Blanchard wrote.

"Having done this with a lot of sources, we can cloud the water," Impola told the informant. "And it can be completely '-- we can send everybody into disarray and chaos where the last thing they're worried about is (the informant's name)."

It was unclear how defense lawyers obtained the audio and whether it was provided by the government along with evidence collected during the investigation.

Adam Fox, the accused ringleader of what the FBI calls a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, is being arraigned. Here he is with an 800,000-volt stun gun prosecutors say was going to be used in the kidnapping pic.twitter.com/OKLE8BVdaf

'-- Robert Snell (@robertsnellnews) December 17, 2020In another excerpt Sunday, the FBI agent was quoted saying the ''best chance is to create utter confusion and chaos'' and also told the informant defense lawyers involved in the case were "paid liars" whose job was to ''take the truth and portray it in a different sense."

An FBI spokeswoman could not be reached immediately for comment Sunday.

There is no indication the agent's intention to create "chaos and disarray" is shared by federal prosecutors, Blanchard wrote.

"However, it appears that his behavior has infected the discovery produced by the government as demonstrated by the disorganized and highly duplicative way it was produced," Blanchard wrote.

He pointed to certain files being shared with defense lawyers 16 times.

"One 40-minute audio recording was produced 15 times with 15 different file names," Blanchard wrote.

The request is the latest legal development in a high-profile case that has focused attention on anti-government extremism in Michigan amid fallout from lockdown orders aimed at stemming the spread of COVID-19.

The FBI thwarted what it described as a plot to kidnap and kill Whitmer last fall. Five men are awaiting an October trial in federal court in Grand Rapids while eight others are facing charges in state court.

The criminal case relies heavily on undercover FBI agents and informants who recorded audio and video of accused plotters training to kidnap Whitmer and attack her bodyguards.

Croft, 45, of Bear, Delaware, is portrayed as the group's bombmaker and a ringleader. On Oct. 8, agents in Delaware seized a brand of "Dr. Atomic's Exploding Targets," boxes of rifle primers, propane canisters, a box of 6,000 ball bearings and containers of smokeless powder.

"He was the prime mover behind the group's construction, testing and detonation of weapons of mass destruction," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler wrote in a court filing.

Croft and others were simply airing grievances and lacked a plot, Blanchard has said. Other defense lawyers have portrayed their clients as tough talkers who were exercising their First Amendment rights who never carried out any kidnapping plot. They also suggested federal agents and informants entrapped their clients.

One informant, identified only as "Dan," testified in state court in March about his safety concerns.

"Dan" testified he sold his home at a loss after agreeing to work with the FBI, as well as a vehicle due to concerns about his safety.

"If they're wanting to seek out law enforcement, what would they do to me?" Dan testified.

Last year, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Berens issued a protective order barring the disclosure of witness identities beyond members of the defense team. The order was prompted by a request from prosecutors who feared the premature identification of informants and undercover agents could lead to witness tampering or worse.

The Detroit News identified one informant in March after federal prosecutors indicted him on a gun charge, a rare legal development and the first sign of trouble with the high-profile counterterrorism case.

The indictment of Wisconsin resident Stephen Robeson, 58, after a prolonged period of cooperation suggests the relationship between Robeson and the FBI is destroyed and that prosecutors do not plan on using him at trial, legal experts said.

Without Robeson, prosecutors have secured the conviction of plotter Ty Garbin of Hartland Township and compiled a voluminous amount of evidence. The evidence includes hundreds of hours of secretly recorded audio and video, approximately 23,000 electronic files, and more than 13,000 text messages and social media posts, though criminal charges against a confidential informant could be exploited by defense lawyers.

The lawyer for another accused ringleader, Adam Fox, 38, of Potterville, is framing the case around the First Amendment.

''This case presents a complex mixture of social and political speech and advocacy for action in the indefinite future (both legal and illegal) that is protected by the First Amendment,'' Fox lawyer Christopher Gibbons wrote Sunday.

He wants the judge to require prosecutors prove that violent or unlawful action was imminent to support a conviction for conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.

rsnell@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @robertsnellnews

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Tue, 20 Jul 2021 12:50

A Johnson & Johnson building is shown in Irvine, California, U.S., January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake

July 19 (Reuters) - U.S. state attorneys general are expected this week to unveil a $26 billion settlement resolving claims that three major drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson helped fuel a nationwide opioid epidemic, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Distributors McKesson Corp (MCK.N), Cardinal Health Inc (CAH.N) and AmerisourceBergen Corp (ABC.N) would pay a combined $21 billion, while Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) would pay $5 billion. New York on Tuesday is expected to announce the distributors have agreed to a $1 billion-plus settlement with the state, a source said.

The ultimate settlement pricetag could fluctuate depending on the number of states and political subdivisions that agree to the deal or reject it and pursue litigation on their own in hopes of a bigger payout down the line.

More than 40 states are expected to support the nationwide settlement, two sources said. States will have 30 days to decide whether to join the global accord then more time to try to convince their cities and counties to participate in the deal, the sources said.

McKesson has previously said that of the $21 billion the three distributors would pay over 18 years, more than 90% would be used to remediate the opioid crisis while the rest, about $2 billion, would be used to pay plaintiffs' attorney fees and costs.

Several states have passed laws or reached agreements with their political subdivisions to govern how settlement proceeds would be allocated in the event of a nationwide settlement.

The financial terms are in line with prior disclosures by the three distributors and J&J about what they expected to have to pay following long-running settlement talks.

"There continues to be progress toward finalizing this agreement and we remain committed to providing certainty for involved parties and critical assistance for families and communities in need," J&J said in a statement.

McKesson and Cardinal Health had no comment while AmerisourceBergen said it does not comment on "rumor and speculation." They have all previously denied wrongdoing.

Nearly 500,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States from 1999 to 2019, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The opioid crisis appeared to worsen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CDC last week said provisional data showed that 2020 was a record year for drug overdose deaths with 93,331, up 29% from a year earlier. Opioids were involved in 74.7%, or 69,710, of those overdose deaths.

The distributors were accused of lax controls that allowed massive amounts of addictive painkillers to be diverted into illegal channels, devastating communities, while J&J was accused of downplaying the addiction risk.

Governments have said the money will be used to fund addiction treatment, family support programs, education and other health initiatives to address the crisis.

Other settlements are also being negotiated, with the opioid makers Purdue Pharma and Mallinckrodt Plc (MCDG.MU) now working through the bankruptcy courts to secure support for settlements worth more than $10 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.

The distributors have been in the midst of two trials nationally in the litigation, one in New York and one in West Virginia. They have now agreed to resolve the New York case, a person briefed on the matter said.

The deal with New York Attorney General Letitia James and the populous Long Island counties of Nassau and Suffolk comes three weeks into the first jury trial accusing companies of profiting from a flood of addictive painkillers that devastated communities.

Closing arguments are expected in the West Virginia trial next week. Local West Virginia communities had opted out of the proposed nationwide deal to pursue one on their own.

The New York trial will continue against three drugmakers accused of deceptively marketing their painkillers - Endo International Plc (ENDP.O), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) and AbbVie Inc's (ABBV.N) Allergan unit.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Sandra Maler, Bill Berkot and Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Tue, 20 Jul 2021 12:45

                      S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________                                     416                         2021-2022 Regular Sessions                            I N  A S S E M B L Y                                 (PREFILED)                               January 6, 2021                                ___________  Introduced  by M. of A. PERRY -- read once and referred to the Committee   on Health  AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation  to  the  removal  of   cases,  contacts  and carriers of communicable diseases who are poten-   tially dangerous to the public health   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:    Section  1.  The  public health law is amended by adding a new section 2120-a to read as follows:   § 2120-A. REMOVAL AND DETENTION OF CASES, CONTACTS  AND  CARRIERS  WHO ARE OR MAY BE A DANGER TO PUBLIC HEALTH; OTHER ORDERS. 1. THE PROVISIONS OF  THIS  SECTION  SHALL  BE  UTILIZED  IN  THE  EVENT THAT THE GOVERNOR DECLARES A STATE OF HEALTH EMERGENCY DUE TO AN EPIDEMIC OF ANY  COMMUNI- CABLE DISEASE.   2.  UPON  DETERMINING BY CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE THAT THE HEALTH OF OTHERS IS OR MAY BE ENDANGERED BY A  CASE,  CONTACT  OR  CARRIER,  OR SUSPECTED  CASE, CONTACT OR CARRIER OF A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE THAT, IN THE OPINION OF THE GOVERNOR, AFTER CONSULTATION WITH THE  COMMISSIONER,  MAY POSE  AN  IMMINENT AND SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH RESULTING IN SEVERE MORBIDITY OR HIGH MORTALITY, THE GOVERNOR OR HIS OR HER  DELE- GEE,  INCLUDING,  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO THE COMMISSIONER OR THE HEADS OF LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENTS, MAY ORDER THE REMOVAL AND/OR DETENTION OF SUCH A PERSON OR OF A GROUP OF SUCH PERSONS BY ISSUING A SINGLE ORDER,  IDEN- TIFYING  SUCH  PERSONS  EITHER  BY  NAME  OR  BY  A  REASONABLY SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIVIDUALS OR GROUP BEING DETAINED. SUCH  PERSON  OR GROUP OF PERSONS SHALL BE DETAINED IN A MEDICAL FACILITY OR OTHER APPRO- PRIATE  FACILITY  OR  PREMISES  DESIGNATED BY THE GOVERNOR OR HIS OR HER DELEGEE AND COMPLYING WITH SUBDIVISION FIVE OF THIS SECTION.   3. A PERSON OR GROUP REMOVED OR DETAINED BY ORDER OF THE  GOVERNOR  OR HIS  OR HER DELEGEE PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION SHALL BE   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.                                                            LBD04443-01-1 A. 416                              2  DETAINED FOR SUCH PERIOD AND IN SUCH MANNER AS THE DEPARTMENT MAY DIRECT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS SECTION.   4. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY INCONSISTENT PROVISION OF THIS SECTION:   (A) A CONFIRMED CASE OR A CARRIER WHO IS DETAINED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVI- SION  TWO  OF  THIS  SECTION SHALL NOT CONTINUE TO BE DETAINED AFTER THE DEPARTMENT DETERMINES THAT SUCH PERSON IS NO LONGER CONTAGIOUS.   (B) A SUSPECTED CASE OR SUSPECTED CARRIER WHO IS DETAINED PURSUANT  TO SUBDIVISION  TWO OF THIS SECTION SHALL NOT CONTINUE TO BE DETAINED AFTER THE DEPARTMENT DETERMINES, WITH THE EXERCISE OF DUE DILIGENCE, THAT SUCH PERSON IS NOT INFECTED WITH OR HAS NOT BEEN EXPOSED TO SUCH  A  DISEASE, OR  IF  INFECTED WITH OR EXPOSED TO SUCH A DISEASE, NO LONGER IS OR WILL BECOME CONTAGIOUS.   (C) A PERSON WHO IS DETAINED  PURSUANT  TO  SUBDIVISION  TWO  OF  THIS SECTION AS A CONTACT OF A CONFIRMED CASE OR A CARRIER SHALL NOT CONTINUE TO  BE  DETAINED  AFTER THE DEPARTMENT DETERMINES THAT THE PERSON IS NOT INFECTED WITH THE DISEASE OR THAT SUCH  CONTACT  NO  LONGER  PRESENTS  A POTENTIAL DANGER TO THE HEALTH OF OTHERS.   (D)  A  PERSON  WHO  IS  DETAINED  PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION AS A CONTACT OF A  SUSPECTED  CASE  SHALL  NOT  CONTINUE  TO  BE DETAINED:   (I)  AFTER  THE  DEPARTMENT DETERMINES, WITH THE EXERCISE OF DUE DILI- GENCE, THAT THE SUSPECTED CASE WAS NOT INFECTED WITH SUCH A DISEASE,  OR WAS  NOT CONTAGIOUS AT THE TIME THE CONTACT WAS EXPOSED TO SUCH INDIVID- UAL; OR   (II) AFTER THE  DEPARTMENT  DETERMINES  THAT  THE  CONTACT  NO  LONGER PRESENTS A POTENTIAL DANGER TO THE HEALTH OF OTHERS.   5.  A  PERSON  WHO  IS  DETAINED  PURSUANT  TO SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION SHALL, AS IS APPROPRIATE TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES:   (A) HAVE HIS OR HER MEDICAL CONDITION AND NEEDS ASSESSED AND ADDRESSED ON A REGULAR BASIS, AND   (B) BE DETAINED  IN  A  MANNER  THAT  IS  CONSISTENT  WITH  RECOGNIZED ISOLATION  AND  INFECTION  CONTROL  PRINCIPLES  IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE THE LIKELIHOOD OF TRANSMISSION OF INFECTION TO SUCH PERSON AND TO OTHERS.   6. WHEN A PERSON OR GROUP IS ORDERED TO BE DETAINED PURSUANT TO SUBDI- VISION TWO OF THIS SECTION FOR A PERIOD  NOT  EXCEEDING  THREE  BUSINESS DAYS,  SUCH  PERSON  OR  MEMBER  OF  SUCH  GROUP SHALL, UPON REQUEST, BE AFFORDED AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEARD.  IF  A  PERSON  OR  GROUP  DETAINED PURSUANT  TO SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION NEEDS TO BE DETAINED BEYOND THREE BUSINESS DAYS, THEY SHALL BE PROVIDED WITH AN  ADDITIONAL  COMMIS- SIONER'S ORDER PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISIONS TWO AND EIGHT OF THIS SECTION.   7. WHEN A PERSON OR GROUP IS ORDERED TO BE DETAINED PURSUANT TO SUBDI- VISION  TWO  OF THIS SECTION FOR A PERIOD EXCEEDING THREE BUSINESS DAYS, AND SUCH PERSON OR MEMBER OF SUCH GROUP REQUESTS RELEASE,  THE  GOVERNOR OR  HIS  OR  HER  DELEGEE  SHALL  MAKE  AN APPLICATION FOR A COURT ORDER AUTHORIZING SUCH DETENTION WITHIN THREE BUSINESS DAYS AFTER SUCH REQUEST BY THE END OF THE FIRST BUSINESS DAY FOLLOWING SUCH SATURDAY, SUNDAY, OR LEGAL HOLIDAY, WHICH APPLICATION SHALL INCLUDE A REQUEST  FOR  AN  EXPE- DITED  HEARING.  AFTER ANY SUCH REQUEST FOR RELEASE, DETENTION SHALL NOT CONTINUE FOR MORE THAN FIVE BUSINESS DAYS IN  THE  ABSENCE  OF  A  COURT ORDER  AUTHORIZING  DETENTION. NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING PROVISIONS, IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY PERSON BE DETAINED FOR MORE THAN SIXTY DAYS  WITH- OUT A COURT ORDER AUTHORIZING SUCH DETENTION. THE GOVERNOR OR HIS OR HER DELEGEE  SHALL SEEK FURTHER COURT REVIEW OF SUCH DETENTION WITHIN NINETY DAYS FOLLOWING THE INITIAL COURT ORDER AUTHORIZING DETENTION AND  THERE- AFTER  WITHIN  NINETY DAYS OF EACH SUBSEQUENT COURT REVIEW. IN ANY COURT PROCEEDING TO ENFORCE AN ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR OR HIS OR HER DELEGEE FOR A. 416                              3  THE REMOVAL OR DETENTION OF A PERSON OR GROUP ISSUED  PURSUANT  TO  THIS SUBDIVISION  OR  FOR  REVIEW  OF  THE CONTINUED DETENTION OF A PERSON OR GROUP, THE GOVERNOR OR HIS OR HER DELEGEE SHALL PROVE THE PARTICULARIZED CIRCUMSTANCES CONSTITUTING THE NECESSITY FOR SUCH DETENTION BY CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE.   8.  (A)  A  COPY  OF ANY DETENTION ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR OR HIS OR HER DELEGEE ISSUED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION TWO  OF  THIS  SECTION  SHALL  BE GIVEN  TO  EACH  DETAINED INDIVIDUAL; HOWEVER, IF THE ORDER APPLIES TO A GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS AND IT IS IMPRACTICAL TO PROVIDE INDIVIDUAL COPIES, IT MAY BE POSTED IN A CONSPICUOUS PLACE IN THE DETENTION  PREMISES.  ANY DETENTION  ORDER  OF THE COMMISSIONER ISSUED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION SHALL SET FORTH:   (I) THE PURPOSE OF THE DETENTION AND THE LEGAL AUTHORITY  UNDER  WHICH THE  ORDER  IS ISSUED, INCLUDING THE PARTICULAR SECTIONS OF THIS ARTICLE OR OTHER LAW OR REGULATION;   (II) A  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CIRCUMSTANCES  AND/OR  BEHAVIOR  OF  THE DETAINED  PERSON OR GROUP CONSTITUTING THE BASIS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF THE ORDER;   (III) THE LESS RESTRICTIVE ALTERNATIVES THAT WERE ATTEMPTED  AND  WERE UNSUCCESSFUL  AND/OR THE LESS RESTRICTIVE ALTERNATIVES THAT WERE CONSID- ERED AND REJECTED, AND THE REASONS SUCH ALTERNATIVES WERE REJECTED;   (IV) A NOTICE ADVISING THE PERSON OR GROUP BEING  DETAINED  THAT  THEY HAVE   A   RIGHT  TO  REQUEST  RELEASE  FROM  DETENTION,  AND  INCLUDING INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW SUCH REQUEST SHALL BE MADE;   (V) A NOTICE ADVISING THE PERSON OR GROUP  BEING  DETAINED  THAT  THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO BE REPRESENTED BY LEGAL COUNSEL AND THAT UPON REQUEST OF SUCH PERSON OR GROUP ACCESS TO COUNSEL WILL BE FACILITATED TO THE EXTENT FEASIBLE UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES; AND   (VI)  A  NOTICE  ADVISING THE PERSON OR GROUP BEING DETAINED THAT THEY MAY SUPPLY THE ADDRESSES AND/OR  TELEPHONE  NUMBERS  OF  FRIENDS  AND/OR RELATIVES  TO  RECEIVE  NOTIFICATION OF THE PERSON'S DETENTION, AND THAT THE DEPARTMENT SHALL, AT THE DETAINED PERSON'S REQUEST AND TO THE EXTENT FEASIBLE, PROVIDE NOTICE TO A REASONABLE NUMBER OF SUCH PEOPLE THAT  THE PERSON IS BEING DETAINED.   (B)  IN  ADDITION,  AN  ORDER  ISSUED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISIONS TWO AND SEVEN OF THIS SECTION, REQUIRING THE DETENTION OF A PERSON OR GROUP  FOR A PERIOD EXCEEDING THREE BUSINESS DAYS, SHALL:   (I) ADVISE THE PERSON OR GROUP BEING DETAINED THAT THE DETENTION SHALL NOT  CONTINUE  FOR  MORE  THAN  FIVE  BUSINESS  DAYS AFTER A REQUEST FOR RELEASE HAS BEEN MADE IN THE ABSENCE OF A COURT ORDER  AUTHORIZING  SUCH DETENTION;   (II)  ADVISE  THE  PERSON OR GROUP BEING DETAINED THAT, WHETHER OR NOT THEY REQUEST RELEASE FROM DETENTION, THE GOVERNOR OR HIS OR HER  DELEGEE MUST  OBTAIN  A  COURT  ORDER  AUTHORIZING  DETENTION  WITHIN SIXTY DAYS FOLLOWING THE COMMENCEMENT OF DETENTION AND THEREAFTER MUST FURTHER SEEK COURT REVIEW OF THE DETENTION WITHIN NINETY DAYS OF SUCH COURT ORDER AND WITHIN NINETY DAYS OF EACH SUBSEQUENT COURT REVIEW; AND   (III) ADVISE THE PERSON OR GROUP BEING DETAINED  THAT  THEY  HAVE  THE RIGHT  TO REQUEST THAT LEGAL COUNSEL BE PROVIDED, THAT UPON SUCH REQUEST COUNSEL SHALL BE PROVIDED IF  AND  TO  THE  EXTENT  POSSIBLE  UNDER  THE CIRCUMSTANCES,  AND  THAT  IF  COUNSEL IS SO PROVIDED, THAT SUCH COUNSEL WILL BE NOTIFIED THAT THE PERSON OR GROUP HAS REQUESTED LEGAL  REPRESEN- TATION.   9.  A PERSON WHO IS DETAINED IN A MEDICAL FACILITY, OR OTHER APPROPRI- ATE FACILITY OR PREMISES, SHALL NOT CONDUCT  HIMSELF  OR  HERSELF  IN  A A. 416                              4  DISORDERLY MANNER, AND SHALL NOT LEAVE OR ATTEMPT TO LEAVE SUCH FACILITY OR PREMISES UNTIL HE OR SHE IS DISCHARGED PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION.   10.  WHERE  NECESSARY  AND  FEASIBLE UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS AND PERSONS SKILLED IN COMMUNICATING WITH VISION AND  HEAR- ING IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS SHALL BE PROVIDED.   11.  THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL NOT APPLY TO THE ISSUANCE OF ORDERS PURSUANT TO § 11.21 OF THE NEW YORK CITY HEALTH CODE.   12. IN ADDITION TO THE REMOVAL OR  DETENTION  ORDERS  REFERRED  TO  IN SUBDIVISION  TWO  OF THIS SECTION, AND WITHOUT AFFECTING OR LIMITING ANY OTHER AUTHORITY THAT THE COMMISSIONER MAY OTHERWISE HAVE,  THE  GOVERNOR OR  HIS  OR  HER  DELEGEE  MAY, IN HIS OR HER DISCRETION, ISSUE AND SEEK ENFORCEMENT OF ANY OTHER ORDERS THAT HE OR SHE DETERMINES ARE  NECESSARY OR  APPROPRIATE  TO  PREVENT DISSEMINATION OR TRANSMISSION OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OR OTHER ILLNESSES THAT MAY POSE A THREAT TO THE PUBLIC  HEALTH INCLUDING,  BUT  NOT  LIMITED TO, ORDERS REQUIRING ANY PERSON OR PERSONS WHO ARE NOT IN THE CUSTODY OF THE DEPARTMENT TO BE EXCLUDED;  TO  REMAIN ISOLATED OR QUARANTINED AT HOME OR AT A PREMISES OF SUCH PERSON'S CHOICE THAT  IS  ACCEPTABLE TO THE DEPARTMENT AND UNDER SUCH CONDITIONS AND FOR SUCH PERIOD AS WILL PREVENT TRANSMISSION OF THE  CONTAGIOUS  DISEASE  OR OTHER  ILLNESS; TO REQUIRE THE TESTING OR MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF PERSONS WHO MAY HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO OR INFECTED BY A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE OR  WHO MAY  HAVE  BEEN  EXPOSED  TO  OR  CONTAMINATED WITH DANGEROUS AMOUNTS OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS OR TOXIC CHEMICALS; TO REQUIRE AN  INDIVIDUAL  WHO HAS  BEEN  EXPOSED TO OR INFECTED BY A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE TO COMPLETE AN APPROPRIATE, PRESCRIBED COURSE OF TREATMENT,  PREVENTIVE  MEDICATION  OR VACCINATION,  INCLUDING  DIRECTLY  OBSERVED THERAPY TO TREAT THE DISEASE AND FOLLOW INFECTION CONTROL PROVISIONS FOR THE DISEASE; OR  TO  REQUIRE AN INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS BEEN CONTAMINATED WITH DANGEROUS AMOUNTS OF RADIO- ACTIVE  MATERIALS OR TOXIC CHEMICALS SUCH THAT SAID INDIVIDUAL MAY PRES- ENT A DANGER TO OTHERS, TO  UNDERGO  DECONTAMINATION  PROCEDURES  DEEMED NECESSARY  BY  THE  DEPARTMENT.    SUCH  PERSON  OR  PERSONS SHALL, UPON REQUEST, BE AFFORDED AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEARD, BUT THE  PROVISIONS  OF SUBDIVISIONS  TWO  THROUGH  ELEVEN  OF  THIS SECTION SHALL NOT OTHERWISE APPLY.   13. THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO PERMIT OR REQUIRE THE FORCIBLE ADMINISTRATION OF ANY MEDICATION  WITHOUT  A  PRIOR COURT ORDER.   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately the addition, amendment  and/or repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed on or before such date.

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Archived Version

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 12:37

Show caption The investigation by the Guardian and 16 other media organisations suggests widespread and continuing abuse of NSO's hacking spyware. Illustration: Guardian Design

The Pegasus projectSpyware sold to authoritarian regimes used to target activists, politicians and journalists, data suggests

Human rights activists, journalists and lawyers across the world have been targeted by authoritarian governments using hacking software sold by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, according to an investigation into a massive data leak.

The investigation by the Guardian and 16 other media organisations suggests widespread and continuing abuse of NSO's hacking spyware, Pegasus, which the company insists is only intended for use against criminals and terrorists.

Pegasus is a malware that infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators of the tool to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones.

The leak contains a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers that, it is believed, have been identified as those of people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016.

Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based nonprofit media organisation, and Amnesty International initially had access to the leaked list and shared access with media partners as part of the Pegasus project, a reporting consortium.

The presence of a phone number in the data does not reveal whether a device was infected with Pegasus or subject to an attempted hack. However, the consortium believes the data is indicative of the potential targets NSO's government clients identified in advance of possible surveillance attempts.

Quick Guide What is in the Pegasus project data?

What is in the data leak?

The data leak is a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers that, since 2016, are believed to have been selected as those of people of interest by government clients of NSO Group, which sells surveillance software. The data also contains the time and date that numbers were selected, or entered on to a system. Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based nonprofit journalism organisation, and Amnesty International initially had access to the list and shared access with 16 media organisations including the Guardian. More than 80 journalists have worked together over several months as part of the Pegasus project. Amnesty's Security Lab, a technical partner on the project, did the forensic analyses.

What does the leak indicate?

The consortium believes the data indicates the potential targets NSO's government clients identified in advance of possible surveillance. While the data is an indication of intent, the presence of a number in the data does not reveal whether there was an attempt to infect the phone with spyware such as Pegasus, the company's signature surveillance tool, or whether any attempt succeeded. The presence in the data of a very small number of landlines and US numbers, which NSO says are ''technically impossible'' to access with its tools, reveals some targets were selected by NSO clients even though they could not be infected with Pegasus. However, forensic examinations of a small sample of mobile phones with numbers on the list found tight correlations between the time and date of a number in the data and the start of Pegasus activity '' in some cases as little as a few seconds.

What did forensic analysis reveal?

Amnesty examined 67 smartphones where attacks were suspected. Of those, 23 were successfully infected and 14 showed signs of attempted penetration. For the remaining 30, the tests were inconclusive, in several cases because the handsets had been replaced. Fifteen of the phones were Android devices, none of which showed evidence of successful infection. However, unlike iPhones, phones that use Android do not log the kinds of information required for Amnesty's detective work. Three Android phones showed signs of targeting, such as Pegasus-linked SMS messages.

Amnesty shared ''backup copies'' of four iPhones with Citizen Lab, a research group at the University of Toronto that specialises in studying Pegasus, which confirmed that they showed signs of Pegasus infection. Citizen Lab also conducted a peer review of Amnesty's forensic methods, and found them to be sound.

Which NSO clients were selecting numbers?

While the data is organised into clusters, indicative of individual NSO clients, it does not say which NSO client was responsible for selecting any given number. NSO claims to sell its tools to 60 clients in 40 countries, but refuses to identify them. By closely examining the pattern of targeting by individual clients in the leaked data, media partners were able to identify 10 governments believed to be responsible for selecting the targets: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, India, and the United Arab Emirates. Citizen Lab has also found evidence of all 10 being clients of NSO.

What does NSO Group say?

You can read NSO Group's full statement here. The company has always said it does not have access to the data of its customers' targets. Through its lawyers, NSO said the consortium had made ''incorrect assumptions'' about which clients use the company's technology. It said the 50,000 number was ''exaggerated'' and the list could not be a list of numbers ''targeted by governments using Pegasus''. The lawyers said NSO had reason to believe the list accessed by the consortium ''is not a list of numbers targeted by governments using Pegasus, but instead, may be part of a larger list of numbers that might have been used by NSO Group customers for other purposes''. After further questions, the lawyers said the consortium was basing its findings ''on misleading interpretation of leaked data from accessible and overt basic information, such as HLR Lookup services, which have no bearing on the list of the customers' targets of Pegasus or any other NSO products ... we still do not see any correlation of these lists to anything related to use of NSO Group technologies''.

What is HLR lookup data?

The term HLR, or home location register, refers to a database that is essential to operating mobile phone networks. Such registers keep records on the networks of phone users and their general locations, along with other identifying information that is used routinely in routing calls and texts. Telecoms and surveillance experts say HLR data can sometimes be used in the early phase of a surveillance attempt, when identifying whether it is possible to connect to a phone. The consortium understands NSO clients have the capability through an interface on the Pegasus system to conduct HLR lookup inquiries. It is unclear whether Pegasus operators are required to conduct HRL lookup inquiries via its interface to use its software; an NSO source stressed its clients may have different reasons '' unrelated to Pegasus '' for conducting HLR lookups via an NSO system.

Forensics analysis of a small number of phones whose numbers appeared on the leaked list also showed more than half had traces of the Pegasus spyware.

The Guardian and its media partners will be revealing the identities of people whose number appeared on the list in the coming days. They include hundreds of business executives, religious figures, academics, NGO employees, union officials and government officials, including cabinet ministers, presidents and prime ministers.

The list also contains the numbers of close family members of one country's ruler, suggesting the ruler may have instructed their intelligence agencies to explore the possibility of monitoring their own relatives.

The disclosures begin on Sunday, with the revelation that the numbers of more than 180 journalists are listed in the data, including reporters, editors and executives at the Financial Times, CNN, the New York Times, France 24, the Economist, Associated Press and Reuters.

The phone number of a freelance Mexican reporter, Cecilio Pineda Birto, was found in the list, apparently of interest to a Mexican client in the weeks leading up to his murder, when his killers were able to locate him at a carwash. His phone has never been found so no forensic analysis has been possible to establish whether it was infected.

NSO said that even if Pineda's phone had been targeted, it did not mean data collected from his phone contributed in any way to his death, stressing governments could have discovered his location by other means. He was among at least 25 Mexican journalists apparently selected as candidates for surveillance over a two-year period.

Without forensic examination of mobile devices, it is impossible to say whether phones were subjected to an attempted or successful hack using Pegasus.

NSO has always maintained it ''does not operate the systems that it sells to vetted government customers, and does not have access to the data of its customers' targets''.

In statements issued through its lawyers, NSO denied ''false claims'' made about the activities of its clients, but said it would ''continue to investigate all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action''. It said the list could not be a list of numbers ''targeted by governments using Pegasus'', and described the 50,000 figure as ''exaggerated''.

The company sells only to military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies in 40 unnamed countries, and says it rigorously vets its customers' human rights records before allowing them to use its spy tools.

The Israeli minister of defence closely regulates NSO, granting individual export licences before its surveillance technology can be sold to a new country.

Last month, NSO released a transparency report in which it claimed to have an industry-leading approach to human rights and published excerpts from contracts with customers stipulating they must only use its products for criminal and national security investigations.

There is nothing to suggest NSO's customers did not also use Pegasus in terrorism and crime investigations, and the consortium also found numbers in the data belonging to suspected criminals.

However, the broad array of numbers in the list belonging to people who seemingly have no connection to criminality suggests some NSO clients are breaching their contracts with the company, spying on pro-democracy activists and journalists investigating corruption, as well as political opponents and government critics.

That thesis is supported by forensic analysis on the phones of a small sample of journalists, human rights activists and lawyers whose numbers appeared on the leaked list. The research, conducted by Amnesty's Security Lab, a technical partner on the Pegasus project, found traces of Pegasus activity on 37 out of the 67 phones examined.

Q&A What is the Pegasus project?

The Pegasus project is a collaborative journalistic investigation into the NSO Group and its clients. The company sells surveillance technology to governments worldwide. Its flagship product is Pegasus, spying software '' or spyware '' that targets iPhones and Android devices. Once a phone is infected, a Pegasus operator can secretly extract chats, photos, emails and location data, or activate microphones and cameras without a user knowing.

Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based nonprofit journalism organisation, and Amnesty International had access to a leak of more than 50,000 phone numbers selected as targets by clients of NSO since 2016. Access to the data was then shared with the Guardian and 16 other news organisations, including the Washington Post, Le Monde, Die Zeit and S¼ddeutsche Zeitung. More than 80 journalists have worked collaboratively over several months on the investigation, which was coordinated by Forbidden Stories.

The analysis also uncovered some sequential correlations between the time and date a number was entered into the list and the onset of Pegasus activity on the device, which in some cases occurred just a few seconds later.

Amnesty shared its forensic work on four iPhones with Citizen Lab, a research group at the University of Toronto that specialises in studying Pegasus, which confirmed they showed signs of Pegasus infection. Citizen Lab also conducted a peer-review of Amnesty's forensic methods, and found them to be sound.

The consortium's analysis of the leaked data identified at least 10 governments believed to be NSO customers who were entering numbers into a system: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Analysis of the data suggests the NSO client country that selected the most numbers '' more than 15,000 '' was Mexico, where multiple different government agencies are known to have bought Pegasus. Both Morocco and the UAE selected more than 10,000 numbers, the analysis suggested.

The phone numbers that were selected, possibly ahead of a surveillance attack, spanned more than 45 countries across four continents. There were more than 1,000 numbers in European countries that, the analysis indicated, were selected by NSO clients.

The presence of a number in the data does not mean there was an attempt to infect the phone. NSO says there were other possible purposes for numbers being recorded on the list.

Rwanda, Morocco, India and Hungary denied having used Pegasus to hack the phones of the individuals named in the list. The governments of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the UAE and Dubai did not respond to invitations to comment.

The Pegasus project is likely to spur debates over government surveillance in several countries suspected of using the technology. The investigation suggests the Hungarian government of Viktor Orbn appears to have deployed NSO's technology as part of his so-called war on the media, targeting investigative journalists in the country as well as the close circle of one of Hungary's few independent media executives.

The leaked data and forensic analyses also suggest NSO's spy tool was used by Saudi Arabia and its close ally, the UAE, to target the phones of close associates of the murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the months after his death. The Turkish prosecutor investigating his death was also a candidate for targeting, the data leak suggests.

Claudio Guarnieri, who runs Amnesty International's Security Lab, said once a phone was infected with Pegasus, a client of NSO could in effect take control of a phone, enabling them to extract a person's messages, calls, photos and emails, secretly activate cameras or microphones, and read the contents of encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.

By accessing GPS and hardware sensors in the phone, he added, NSO's clients could also secure a log of a person's past movements and track their location in real time with pinpoint accuracy, for example by establishing the direction and speed a car was travelling in.

Viktor Orbn accused of using Pegasus to spy on journalists and critics The latest advances in NSO's technology enable it to penetrate phones with ''zero-click'' attacks, meaning a user does not even need to click on a malicious link for their phone to be infected.

Guarnieri has identified evidence NSO has been exploiting vulnerabilities associated with iMessage, which comes installed on all iPhones, and has been able to penetrate even the most up-to-date iPhone running the latest version of iOS. His team's forensic analysis discovered successful and attempted Pegasus infections of phones as recently as this month.

Apple said: ''Security researchers agree iPhone is the safest, most secure consumer mobile device on the market.''

NSO declined to give specific details about its customers and the people they target.

However, a source familiar with the matter said the average number of annual targets per customer was 112. The source said the company had 45 customers for its Pegasus spyware.

Additional reporting: Dan Sabbagh in London, Shaun Walker in Budapest, Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and Martin Hodgson in New York.

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Archived Version

Tue, 20 Jul 2021 12:32

By Jonathan Maze of Restaurant Business,

Supply chain problems continue to plague the restaurant industry, leading big chains Taco Bell and Starbucks to warn consumers on Monday that some items may not be available.

Starbucks told customers on its app that "due to supply shortages, some items are temporarily unavailable."

That echoed warnings that have persisted at the chain's locations for months. Consumers have complained on social media channels about periodic shortages of items such as green tea.

At Taco Bell, customers are complaining about a lack of hot sauce. The Mexican fast-food chain's website warns customers that not all items are available at the moment.

"Sorry if we can't feed your current crave. Due to national ingredient shortages and delivery delays, we may be out of some items," an orange banner with bold lettering read on the top of Taco Bell's website.

The company, owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands, blamed transportation problems for the shortages.

"Due to national transportation delays happening throughout most of the industry, we may be temporarily out of some items," the company said in a statement. "Apologies for the inconvenience and we hope to feed fans' current Taco Bell cravings again soon."

Restaurants have faced shortages of everything from sauces to pickles to chicken wings in recent months due to a host of issues'--including weather problems in Texas and intense demand from consumers coupled with supply limitations.

But transportation issues have made matters worse. An economywide lack of drivers has made it difficult for companies to deliver goods to their destination.

Rick Cardenas, president of Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants, told investors last month that any supply chain issues his company has is over warehousing and transportation problems and not an actual shortage of supplies.

"The few spot outages we have are due to warehouse staffing and driver shortages, not product availability," Cardenas said, according to a transcript on the financial services site Sentieo.

* * *

... and, of course, those who frequent Taco Bell have been all over social media voicing their outrage at how they can't purchase their favorite menu items.

"Taco Bell employee told me there was a 'national shortage of everything right now,' and I have decided to get my economic news exclusively from drive-thru employees from now on," tweeted one patron.

taco bell employee told me there was a "national shortage of everything right now," and i have decided to get my economic news exclusively from drive thru employees from now on

'-- bryan (@CopBroughtPizza) July 19, 2021"Taco Bell has a 'district-wide shortage of hot sauce...times are tough," tweeted a customer.

This pandemic has brought on a lot of shortages that I've been able to live with.Today however'...my Taco Bell told me there's a mild sauce shortage and they ran out. That's one product shortage too many. Now it's serious. pic.twitter.com/2NuqrZSsxm

'-- Stephen Johnson (@Stephen_Roto) July 13, 2021Another said:

for anyone craving taco bell tonight, i'll save you the drive, they don't have chicken or beef, national shortage or something. i just ate black beans in a hard shell. was not worth it

'-- jenna (@jenuhh124) July 12, 2021"Due to national ingredient shortages and delivery delays, we may be out of some food and beverage items," a sign at a Taco Bell drive-thru read.

Also, a "shredded cheese shortage"?

Is @tacobell on a shredded cheese shortage? It's pretty bad when you can count the strands! pic.twitter.com/gOSBx5QhkP

'-- Michael Robinson (@RobinsonMikeD) July 16, 2021Others say they're "about to freak out."

If there's a worldwide cheese shortage I'm about to FREAK OUT 🂠@tacobell pic.twitter.com/eZW3VzmqAM

'-- I A N 🖤 T H O M A S (@ianthomasdj) July 16, 2021Rough times in America when consumers are used to the instant gratification of obtaining almost any item or service at their fingertips. Shortages are pushing some to the edge of insanity over petty things, like fast-food tacos.

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Archived Version

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 17:00

On the morning of 11 September 2001, Klaus Schwab sat having breakfast in the Park East Synagogue in New York City with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, former Vice President for the World Jewish Congress and close associate of the Bronfman and Lauder families. Together, the two men watched one of the most impactful events of the next twenty years unfold as planes struck the World Trade Center buildings. Now, two decades on, Klaus Schwab again sits in a front row seat of yet another generation-defining moment in modern human history.

Always seeming to have a front row seat when tragedy approaches, Schwab's proximity to world-altering events likely owes to his being one of the most well-connected men on Earth. As the driving force behind the World Economic Forum, ''the international organization for public-private cooperation,'' Schwab has courted heads of state, leading business executives, and the elite of academic and scientific circles into the Davos fold for over 50 years. More recently, he has also courted the ire of many due to his more recent role as the frontman of the Great Reset, a sweeping effort to remake civilization globally for the express benefit of the elite of the World Economic Forum and their allies.

Schwab, during the Forum's annual meeting in January 2021, stressed that the building of trust would be integral to the success of the Great Reset, signalling a subsequent expansion of the initiative's already massive public relations campaign. Though Schwab called for the building of trust through unspecified ''progress,'' trust is normally facilitated through transparency. Perhaps that is why so many have declined to trust Mr. Schwab and his motives, as so little is known about the man's history and background prior to his founding of the World Economic Forum in the early 1970s.

Like many prominent frontmen for elite-sponsored agendas, the online record of Schwab has been well-sanitized, making it difficult to come across information on his early history as well as information on his family. Yet, having been born in Ravensburg, Germany in 1938, many have speculated in recent months that Schwab's family may have had some tie to Axis war efforts, ties that, if exposed, could threaten the reputation of the World Economic Forum and bring unwanted scrutiny to its professed missions and motives.

In this Unlimited Hangout investigation, the past that Klaus Schwab has worked to hide is explored in detail, revealing the involvement of the Schwab family, not only in the Nazi quest for an atomic bomb, but apartheid South Africa's illegal nuclear programme. Especially revealing is the history of Klaus' father, Eugen Schwab, who led the Nazi-supported German branch of a Swiss engineering firm into the war as a prominent military contractor. That company, Escher-Wyss, would use slave labor to produce machinery critical to the Nazi war effort as well as the Nazi's effort to produce heavy water for its nuclear program. Years later, at the same company, a young Klaus Schwab served on the board of directors when the decision was made to furnish the racist apartheid regime of South Africa with the necessary equipment to further its quest to become a nuclear power.

With the World Economic Forum now a prominent advocate for nuclear non-proliferation and ''clean'' nuclear energy, Klaus Schwab's past makes him a poor spokesperson for his professed agenda for the present and the future. Yet, digging even deeper into his activities, it becomes clear that Schwab's real role has long been to ''shape global, regional and industry agendas'' of the present in order to ensure the continuity of larger, much older agendas that came into disrepute after World War II, not just nuclear technology, but also eugenics-influenced population control policies.

A Swabian StoryOn 10 July 1870, Klaus Schwab's grandfather Jakob Wilhelm Gottfried Schwab, referred to later as simply Gottfried, was born in a Germany at war with its French neighbours. Karlsruhe, the town where Gottfried Schwab was born, was located in the Grand Duchy of Baden, ruled in 1870 by the 43 year old Grand Duke of Baden, Frederick I. The following year, the aforementioned Duke would be present at the proclamation of the German Empire which took place in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. He was the only son-in-law of the incumbent Emperor Wilhelm I and, as Frederick I, was one of the reigning sovereigns of Germany. By the time Gottfried Schwab turned 18 years old, Germany would see Wilhelm II take the throne upon the death of his father, Frederick III.

In 1893, a 23 year old Gottfried Schwab would officially depart from Germany giving up his German citizenship and leaving Karlsruhe in order to emigrate to Switzerland. At the time, his occupation was noted as being that of a simple baker. Here, Gottfried would meet Marie Lappert who was from Kirchberg near Bern, Switzerland and who was five years his junior. They would marry in Roggwil, Bern, on 27 May 1898 and the following year, on 27 April 1899, their child Eugen Schwab was born. At the time of his birth, Gottfried Schwab had moved up in the world, having become a Machine Engineer. When Eugen was around one year old, Gottfried and Marie Schwab decided to return to live in Karlsruhe and Gottfried reapplied for German citizenship again.

Eugen Schwab would follow in the footsteps of his father and also become a Machine Engineer and in future years, he would advise his children to do the same. Eugen Schwab would eventually begin working at a factory in a town in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-W¼rttemberg.

The factory where he would forge his career was the German branch of a Swiss company named Escher Wyss. Switzerland had many long standing economic ties to the Ravensburg area, with Swiss traders in the early 19th century bringing in yarn and weaving products. In the same period, Ravensburg delivered grain to Rorschach until 1870, alongside breeding animals and various cheeses, deep within the Swiss Alps. Between 1809 and 1837, there were 375 Swiss people living in Ravensburg, though the Swiss population had dropped to 133 by 1910.

In the 1830s, skilled Swiss workers set up a cotton factory with an incorporated bleaching and finishing plant owned and maintained by the Erpf brothers. The Ravensburg horse market, created in around 1840, also attracted many people from Switzerland, especially after the 1847 opening of the railway line from Ravensburg to Friedrichshafen, a town situated on nearby Lake Constance on the borderlands of Switzerland and Germany.

Rorsach grain traders would make regular visits to the Ravensburger Kornhaus and eventually this cross-border cooperation and trade also led to a branch of the Zurich machine factory, Escher-Wyss & Cie, opening in the city. This feat was made plausible once a train line connecting the Swiss to the German route network was completed between 1850 and 1853. The factory was set up by Walter Zuppinger between 1856 to 1859 and would begin production in 1860. In 1861, we can see the first official patent of the manufacturers Escher-Wyss in Ravensburg of ''peculiar facilities on mechanical looms for ribbon weaving''. At this time, the Ravensburg branch of Escher Wyss would be directed by Walter Zuppinger, and would be where he developed his tangential turbine and where he gained a number of additional patents. In 1870, Zuppinger along with others would also founded a paper mill works in Baienfurt close to Ravensburg. He retired in 1875 and devoted all his energies to the further advance of turbines.

Founding Document of the Escher-Wyss Ravensburg Factory, dated 1860.At the turn of the new century, Escher-Wyss had put the ribbon weaving to one side and begun to concentrate on much bigger projects like the production of large industrial turbines and, in 1907, they sought an ''approval and concession procedure'' for the construction of a hydropower plant near Dogern am Rhein, which was reported in a Basel brochure from 1925.

By 1920, Escher-Wyss found themselves embroiled in serious financial difficulties. The treaty of Versailles had restricted the military and economic growth of Germany following the Great War, and the Swiss Company found the downturn in neighbouring national civil engineering projects too much to bear. The parent branch of Escher-Wyss was located in Zurich and dated back to 1805 and the company, which still benefited from a good reputation and a history lasting more than a century, was deemed too important to lose. In December 1920, a reorganization was carried out by writing down the share capital from 11.5 to 4.015 million French Francs and which was later increased again to 5.515 million Swiss Francs. By the end of the financial year of 1931, Escher-Wyss was still losing money.

Yet, the plucky company continued to deliver large scale civil engineering contracts throughout the 1920s as noted in the official correspondence written in 1924 from Wilhelm III Prince of Urach to the company Escher-Wyss and to the asset manager of the House of Urach, accountant Julius Heller. This document discusses the ''General Terms and Conditions of the Association of German Water Turbine Manufacturers for the Delivery of Machines and Other Equipment for Hydropower Plants''. This is also confirmed in a brochure on the ''Conditions of the Association of German Water Turbine Manufacturers for the Installation of Turbines and Machine Parts within the German Reich'', printed on March 20, 1923 in an advertising brochure from Escher-Wyss for a universal oil pressure regulator.

After the Great Depression in the early 1930s had laid waste to the global economy, Escher-Wyss announced, ''as the catastrophic development of the economic situation in connection with the currency declines; The company [Escher-Wyss] is temporarily unable to continue its current liabilities in various customer countries.'' The company also revealed that they would apply for a court deferral to the Swiss newspaper Neue Z¼rcher Nachrichten, which reported on 1 December 1931 that, ''the company Escher-Wyss has been granted a stay of bankruptcy until the end of March 1932 and, acting as curator in Switzerland, a trust company has been appointed.'' The article stated optimistically that, ''there should be a prospect of continuing operations.'' In 1931, Escher-Wyss employed around 1,300 non-contracted workers and 550 salaried employees.

By the mid-1930s, Escher-Wyss had again found itself in financial trouble. In order to rescue the company this time, a consortium was brought on board to save the ailing engineering firm. The consortium was partly formed by the Federal Bank of Switzerland (which was coincidently headed by a Max Schwab, who is of no relation to Klaus Schwab) and further restructuring took place. In 1938, it was announced that an engineer at the firm, Colonel Jacob Schmidheiny would become the new President of the Board of Directors at Escher-Wyss. Soon after the outbreak of war in 1939, Schmidheiny was quoted as saying, ''The outbreak of war does not necessarily mean unemployment for the machine industry in a neutral country, on the contrary.'' Escher-Wyss, and its new management, were apparently looking forward to profiting off the war, paving the way for their transformation into a major Nazi military contractor.

A Brief History of Jewish Persecution in RavensburgWhen Adolf Hitler came to power, many things changed in Germany, and the story of the Jewish population of Ravensburg during that era is a sad one to tell. Yet, it was hardly the first time that anti-Semitism had first been recorded as having reared its ugly head in the region.

In the Middle Ages, a synagogue, mentioned as far back as 1345 was located at the centre of Ravensburg, serving a small Jewish community which can be traced from 1330 to 1429. At the end of 1429 and through 1430, the Jews of Ravensburg were targeted and a horrific massacre ensued. In the nearby settlements of Lindau, 'berlingen, Buchhorn (later renamed Friedrichshafen), Meersburg and Konstanz, there were mass arrests of Jewish residents. The Jews of Lindau were burnt alive during the 1429/1430 Ravensburg blood libel, in which members of the Jewish community were accused of ritually sacrificing babies. In August 1430, in 'berlingen, the Jewish community was forced to convert, 11 of them did so and the 12 who refused were killed. The massacres which took place in Lindau, 'berlingen and Ravensburg happened with the direct approval of the ruling King Sigmund and any remaining Jews were soon expelled from the region.

Ravensburg had this ban confirmed by Emperor Ferdinand I in 1559 and it was upheld, for example, in an 1804 instruction issued for the city guard, which read: ''Since the Jews are not allowed to engage in any trade or business here, no one else is allowed to enter the city by post or by carriage, The rest, however, if they have not received a permit for a longer or shorter stay from the police office, are to be removed from the city by the police station.''

Not until the 19th century were Jews able to settle legally in Ravensburg again and, even by then, their number remained so small that a synagogue was not rebuilt. In 1858, there were only 3 Jews recorded in Ravensburg and, in 1895, this number peaked at 57. From the turn of the century until 1933, the numbers of Jews living in Ravensburg had steadily decreased until the community was only made up of 23 people.

By the start of the 1930s, there were seven main Jewish families living in Ravensburg, including the Adler, Erlanger, Harburger, Herrmann, Landauer, Rose and Sondermann families. After the National Socialists seized power, some of the Ravensburg Jews were initially forced to emigrate, while others would later be murdered in Nazi concentration camps. Leading up to World War II, there were many public displays of hatred towards the small community of Jews in and around Ravensburg.

As early as March 13, 1933, about three weeks before the nationwide Nazi boycott of all Jewish shops in Germany, SA guards posted themselves in front of two of the five Jewish shops in Ravensburg and tried to prevent potential buyers from entering, putting up signs on one shop stating ''Wohlwert closed until Aryanization''. Wohlwert's would soon become ''Aryanised'' and would be the only Jewish-owned shop to survive the Nazi pogrom. The other owners of the four large Jewish department stores in Ravensburg; Knopf; Merkur; Landauer and Wallersteiner were all forced to sell their properties to non-Jewish merchants between 1935 and 1938. During this period, many of the Ravensburg Jews were able to flee abroad before the worst of the National Socialist persecution began. While at least eight died violently, it was reported that three Jewish citizens who lived in Ravensburg survived because of their ''Aryan'' spouses. Some of the Jews who were arrested in Ravensburg during Kristallnacht were forced to march through the streets of Baden-Baden under SS guard supervision the following day and were later deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Horrific Nazi crimes against humanity took place in Ravensburg. On 1 January 1934, the ''Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases'' came into force in Nazi Germany, meaning people with diagnosed illnesses such as dementia, schizophrenia, epilepsy, hereditary deafness, and various other mental disorders, could be legally forcibly sterilised. In the Ravensburg City Hospital, today called Heilig-Geist Hospital, forced sterilisations were carried out beginning in April 1934. By 1936, sterilisation was the most performed medical procedure in the municipal hospital.

In the pre-war years of the 1930s leading up to the German annexation of Poland, Ravensburg's Escher-Wyss factory, now managed directly by Klaus Schwab's father, Eugen Schwab, continued to be the biggest employer in Ravensburg. Not only was the factory a major employer in the town, but Hitler's own Nazi party awarded the Escher-Wyss Ravensburg branch the title of ''National Socialist Model Company'' while Schwab was at the helm. The Nazis were potentially wooing the Swiss company for cooperation in the coming war, and their advances were eventually reciprocated.

Escher-Wyss Ravensburg and the WarRavensburg was an anomaly in wartime Germany, as it was never targeted by any Allied airstrikes. The presence of the Red Cross, and a rumoured agreement with various companies including Escher-Wyss, saw the allied forces publicly agree to not target the Southern German town. It was not classified as a significant military target throughout the war and, for that reason, the town still maintains many of its original features. However, much darker things were afoot in Ravensburg once the war began.

Eugen Schwab continued to manage the ''National Socialist Model Company'' for Escher-Wyss, and the Swiss company would aid the Nazi Wermacht produce significant weapons of war as well as more basic armaments. The Escher-Wyss company was a leader in large turbine technology for hydroelectric dams and power plants, but they also manufactured parts for German fighter planes. They were also intimately involved in much more sinister projects happening behind the scenes which, if completed, could have changed the outcome of World War II.

Nazi officials in front of the Ravensburg Town Hall in 1938, Source: Haus der Stadtgeschichte RavensburgWestern military intelligence were already aware of Escher-Wyss' complicity and collaboration with the Nazis. There are records available from western military intelligence at the time, specifically Record Group 226 (RG 226) from the data compiled by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which shows the Allied forces were aware of some of the Escher-Wyss' business dealings with the Nazis.

Within RG 226, there are three specific mentions of Escher-Wyss including:

File number 47178 which reads: Escher-Wyss of Switzerland is working on a large order for Germany. Flame-throwers are despatched from Switzerland under the name Brennstoffbehaelter. Dated Sept. 1944.File number 41589 showed that the Swiss were allowing German exports to be stored in their country, a supposedly neutral nation during World War II. The entry reads: Business relations between Empresa Nacional Calvo Sotelo (ENCASO), Escher Wyss, and Mineral Celbau Gesellschaft. 1 p. July 1944; see also L 42627 Report on collaboration between the Spanish Empresa Nacional Calvo Sotelo and the German Rheinmetall Borsig, on German exports stored in Switzerland. 1 p. August 1944.File number 72654 claimed that: Hungary's bauxite was formerly sent to Germany and Switzerland for refining. Then a government syndicate built an aluminium plant at Dunaalmas on the borders of Hungary. Electric power was provided; Hungary contributed coal mines, and equipment was ordered from the Swiss firm Escher-Wyss. Production began in 1941. 2 pp. May 1944.Yet, Escher-Wyss were leaders in one blossoming field in particular, the creation of new turbine technology. The company had engineered a 14,500 HP turbine for the Norsk Hydro industrial facility's strategically important hydroelectric plant at Vemork, near Rjukan in Norway. The Norsk Hydro plant, part powered by Escher Wyss, was the only industrial plant under Nazi control capable of producing heavy water, an ingredient essential for making plutonium for the Nazi atomic bomb program. The Germans had put all possible resources behind the production of heavy water, but the Allied forces were aware of the potentially game-changing tech advances by the increasingly desperate Nazis.

During 1942 and 1943, the hydro plant was the target of partially successful British Commando and Norwegian Resistance raids, although heavy water production continued. The Allied forces would drop more than 400 bombs on the plant, which barely affected the operations at the sprawling facility. In 1944, German ships attempted to transport heavy water back to Germany, but the Norwegian Resistance were able to sink the ship carrying the payload. With help from Escher-Wyss, the Nazis were almost able to change the tides of war and bring about an Axis victory.

Back in the Escher-Wyss factory in Ravensburg, Eugen Schwab had been busy putting forced labourers to work at his model Nazi company. During the years of World War II, nearly 3,600 forced labourers worked in Ravensburg, including at Escher Wyss. According to the city archivist in Ravensburg, Andrea Schmuder, the Escher-Wyss machine factory in Ravensburg employed between 198 and 203 civil workers and POWs during the war. Karl Schweizer, a local Lindau historian, states that Escher-Wyss maintained a small special camp for forced labourers on the factory premises.

The use of masses of forced labourers in Ravensburg made it necessary to setup one of the largest recorded Nazi forced labour camps in the workshop of a former carpenter's at Ziegelstrasse 16. At one time, the camp in question accommodated 125 French prisoners of war who were later redistributed to other camps in 1942. The French workers were replaced by 150 Russian prisoners of war who, it was rumoured, were treated the worst out of all the POWs. One such prisoner was Zina Jakuschewa, whose work card and work book are held by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Those documents identify her as a non-Jewish forced labourer assigned to Ravensburg, Germany, during 1943 and 1944.

Eugen Schwab would dutifully maintain the status quo during the war years. After all, with young Klaus Martin Schwab having been born in 1938 and his brother Urs Reiner Schwab born a few years later, Eugen would have wanted to keep his children out of harm's way.

Klaus Martin Schwab '' International Man of MysteryBorn on 30 March 1938 in Ravensburg, Germany, Klaus Schwab was the eldest child in a normal nuclear family. Between 1945 and 1947, Klaus attended primary school in Au, Germany. Klaus Schwab recalls in a 2006 interview with the Irish Times that:''After the war, I chaired the Franco-German regional youth association. My heroes were Adenauer, De Gasperi and De Gaulle.''

Klaus Schwab and his younger brother, Urs Reiner Schwab, were both to follow in the footsteps of their grandfather, Gottfried, and their father, Eugen, and would both initially train as machine engineers. Klaus's father had told the young Schwab that, if he wanted to make an impact on the world, then he should train as a Machine Engineer. This would only be the beginning of Schwab's University credentials.

Klaus would begin studying his plethora of degrees at Spohn-Gymnasium Ravensburg between 1949 and 1957, eventually graduating from the Humanistisches Gymnasium in Ravensburg. Between 1958 and 1962, Klaus began working with various engineering companies and, in 1962, Klaus completed his mechanical engineering studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich with an engineering diploma. The following year, he also completed an economics course at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. From 1963 until 1966, Klaus worked as Assistant to the Director-General of the German Machine-building Association (VDMA), Frankfurt.

In 1965, Klaus was also working on his doctorate from the ETH Zurich, writing his dissertation on: ''The longer-term export credit as a business problem in mechanical engineering''. Then, in 1966, he received his Doctorate in Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich. At this time, Klaus's father, Eugen Schwab, was swimming in bigger circles than he had previously swam. After being a well known personality in Ravensburg as the Managing Director of the Escher-Wyss factory from before the war, Eugen would eventually be elected as President of the Ravensburg Chamber of Commerce. In 1966, during the founding of the German committee for Spl¼gen railway tunnel, Eugen Schwab defined the founding of the German committee as a project ''that creates a better and faster connection for large circles in our increasingly converging Europe and thus offers new opportunities for cultural, economic and social development''.

In 1967, Klaus Schwab gained a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland as well as a Master of Public Administration qualification from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in the United States. While at Harvard, Schwab was taught by Henry Kissinger, who he would later say were among the top 3-4 figures who had most influenced his thinking over the course of his entire life.

Henry Kissinger and his former pupil, Klaus Schwab, welcome former- UK PM Ted Heath at the 1980 WEF annual meeting. Source: World Economic ForumIn the previously mentioned Irish Times article of 2006, Klaus talks about that period as being very important to the formation of his present idealogical thinking, stating: ''Years later, when I came back from the US after my studies at Harvard, there were two events that had a decisive triggering event on me. The first was a book by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, The American Challenge '' which said Europe would lose out against the US because of Europe's inferior management methods. The other event was '' and this is relevant to Ireland '' the Europe of the six became the Europe of the nine.'' These two events would help shape Klaus Schwab into a man who wanted to change the way people went about their business.

That same year, Klaus's younger brother Urs Reiner Schwab graduated from ETH Zurich as a mechanical engineer, and Klaus Schwab went to work for his father's old company, Escher-Wyss, soon to become Sulzer Escher-Wyss AG, Zurich, as Assistant to the Chairman to aid in the reorganisation of the merging companies. This leads us towards Klaus's nuclear connections.

The rise of a technocratSulzer, a Swiss company whose origins date back to 1834, had first risen to prominence after starting to build compressors in 1906. By 1914, the family-run firm had become part of ''three joint-stock companies,'' one of which was the official holding company. In the 1930s, Sulzer's profits would suffer during the Great Depression and, like many businesses at the time, faced disruption and industrial actions from their workers.

World War II may not have affected Switzerland as much as her neighbours, but the economic boom that was to follow led to Sulzer growing in power and market dominance. In 1966, just before the arrival of Klaus Schwab at Escher-Wyss, the Swiss turbine manufacturers signed a cooperation agreement with the Sulzer brothers in Winterthur. Sulzer and Escher-Wyss would begin to merge in 1966, when Sulzer purchased 53% of the company shares. Escher-Wyss would officially become Sulzer Escher-Wyss AG in 1969 when the last of the shares were acquired by the Sulzer brothers.

Once the merger had started, Escher-Wyss would begin to be restructured and two of the existing Board Members would be the first to find their service to Escher-Wyss coming to an end. Dr. H. Schindler and W. Stoffel would resign from the Board of Directors now headed by Georg Sulzer and Alfred Schaffner. Dr. Schindler had been a member of the Escher-Wyss Board of Directors for 28 years and had worked alongside Eugen Schwab throughout much of his service. Peter Schmidheiny would later take over as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Escher-Wyss, continuing the Schmidheiny family rule over the company's executives.

During the restructuring process, it was decided that Escher-Wyss and Sulzer would concentrate on separate areas of machine engineering with the Escher-Wyss factories primarily work on hydraulic power plant construction, including turbines, storage pumps, reversing machines, closing devices and pipelines, as well as steam turbines, turbo compressors, evaporation systems, centrifuges and machines for the paper and pulp industry. Sulzer would concentrate on the refrigeration industry as well as steam boiler construction and gas turbines.

On 1 January 1968, the freshly reorganised Sulzer Escher-Wyss AG was rolled out publicly and the company had become streamlined, a move deemed necessary because of several large acquisitions. This included a close collaboration with Brown Boveri, a group of Swiss electric engineering companies who had also worked for the Nazis, supplying the Germans with some of their U-boat technology used during World War II. Brown Boveri was also described as ''defence-related electrical contractors'' and would find the conditions of the Cold War arms race to be beneficial to their business.

The merger and reorganisation of these Swiss mechanical engineering giants saw their collaboration pay off in unique ways. During the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, Sulzer and Escher-Wyss used 8 refrigeration compressors to create tonnes of artificial ice. In 1969, the two firms combined to help in the building of a new passenger ship named ''Hamburg'', the first ship in the world to be fully air-conditioned thanks to the Sulzer Escher-Wyss combination.

In 1967, Klaus Schwab officially burst onto the scene of the Swiss business community and took a lead in the merger between Sulzer and Escher-Wyss, as well as forming profitable alliances with Brown Boveri and others. In December 1967, Klaus would speak at a Zurich event to the top Swiss machine engineering organisations; the Employers Association of Swiss Machine and Metal Manufacturers and the Association of Swiss Machine Manufacturers.

In his talk, he would correctly predict the importance of incorporating computers into modern Swiss machine engineering, stating that:

''In 1971, products that are not even on the market today are likely to account for up to a quarter of sales. This requires companies to systematically research possible developments and identify gaps in the market. Today, 18 of the 20 largest companies in our machine industry have planning departments that are entrusted with such tasks. Of course, everyone has to make use of the latest technological advances, and the computer is one of them. The many small and medium-sized companies in our machine industry take the path of cooperation or use the services of special data processing service providers.''

Computers and data were obviously seen as important to the future, according to Schwab, and this was further projected in the reorganisation of Sulzer Escher-Wyss during their merger. Sulzer's modern website reflects this noteworthy change in direction, stating that, in 1968: ''Material technology activities are intensified [by Sulzer] and form the basis for medical technology products. The fundamental change from a machine-building company to a technology corporation starts to become apparent.''

Klaus Schwab was helping to turn Sulzer Escher-Wyss into something more than just a machine building giant, he was transforming them into a technology corporation driving at high speed into a hi-tech future. It should also be noted that Sulzer Escher-Wyss changed another focus of their business to help them ''form the basis for medical technology products,'' an area not previously mentioned as a target industry for Sulzer and/or Escher-Wyss.

But technological advancement wasn't the only upgrade Klaus Schwab wanted to introduce at Sulzer Escher-Wyss, he also wanted to change how the company thought about their business managerial style. Schwab and his close associates were pushing an entirely new business philosophy which would allow ''all employees to accept the imperatives of motivation and to ensure at home a sense of flexibility and manoeuvrability.''

It is here in the late 1960s where we see Klaus begin to emerge as a more public figure. At this time, the Sulzer Escher-Wyss company also became more interested in engaging with the press than ever before. In January 1969, the Swiss giants setup a public advisory session entitled the ''Press Day of the Machine Industry'', which mainly concerned questions on company management. During the event, Schwab would state that companies using authoritarian styles of business management are ''unable to fully activate the 'human capital''', an argument he would use on many separate occasions during the late 1960s.

Plutonium and PretoriaEscher-Wyss were pioneers in some of the most important tech in power generation. As the US Department of Energy points out in their paper on Supercritical CO2 Brayton Cycle Development (CBC), a device used in hydro and nuclear power plants, ''Escher-Wyss was the first company known to develop the turbomachinery for CBC systems starting in 1939.'' Going on to state that 24 systems were built, ''with Escher-Wyss designing the power conversion cycles and building the turbomachinery for all but 3''. By 1966, just before the entrance of Schwab into Escher-Wyss and the start of the Sulzer merger, the Escher-Wyss helium compressor was designed for the La Fleur Corporation and continued the evolution of the Brayton Cycle Development. This technology was still of importance to the arms industry by 1986, with nuclear powered drones being equipped with a helium-cooled Brayton cycle nuclear reactor.

Escher-Wyss had been involved with manufacturing and installing nuclear technology at least as early as 1962, as shown by this patent for a ''heat exchange arrangement for a nuclear power plant'' and this patent from 1966 for a ''nuclear reactor gas-turbine plant with emergency cooling''. After Schwab left Sulzer Escher-Wyss, Sulzer would also help to develop special turbocompressors for uranium enrichment to yield reactor fuels.

When Klaus Schwab joined Sulzer Escher-Wyss in 1967 and started the reorganisation of the company to be a technology corporation, the involvement of Sulzer Escher-Wyss in the darker aspects of the global nuclear arms race became immediately more pronounced. Before Klaus became involved, Escher-Wyss had often concentrated on helping design and build parts for civilian uses of nuclear technology, e.g. nuclear power generation. Yet, with the arrival of the eager Mr. Schwab also came the company's participation in the illegal proliferation of nuclear weapons technology. By 1969, the incorporation of Escher Wyss into Sulzer was fully completed and they would be rebranded into Sulzer AG, dropping the historic name Escher-Wyss from their name.

It was eventually revealed, thanks to a review and report carried out by the Swiss authorities and a man named Peter Hug, that Sulzer Escher-Wyss began secretly procuring and building key parts for nuclear weapons during the 1960s. The company, while Schwab was on the board, also began playing a critical key role in the development of South Africa's illegal nuclear weapons programme during the darkest years of the apartheid regime. Klaus Schwab was a leading figure in the founding of a company culture which helped Pretoria build six nuclear weapons and partially assemble a seventh.

In the report, Peter Hug outlined how Sulzer Escher Wyss AG (referred to post-merger as just Sulzer AG) had supplied vital components to the South African government and found evidence of Germany's role in supporting the racist regime, also revealing that the Swiss government ''was aware of illegal deals but 'tolerated them in silence' while supporting some of them actively or criticised them only half-heartedly''. Hug's report was eventually finalised in a work entitled: ''Switzerland and South Africa 1948-1994 '' Final Report of the NFP 42+ commissioned by the Swiss Federal Council'' which was compiled and written by Georg Kreis and published in 2007.

By 1967, South Africa had constructed a reactor as part of a plan to produce plutonium, the SAFARI-2 located at Pelindaba. SAFARI-2 was part of a project to develop a reactor moderated by heavy water which would be fuelled by natural uranium and cooled using sodium. This link to developing heavy water for the creation of uranium, the same technology which had been utilised by the Nazis also with the help of Escher-Wyss, may explain why South Africans initially got Escher-Wyss involved. But by 1969, South Africa abandoned the heavy water reactor project at Pelindaba because it was draining resources from their uranium enrichment program that had first begun in 1967.

A South African nuke in storageIn 1970, Escher-Wyss were definitely deeply involved with nuclear technology, as seen in a record available in the Landesarchivs Baden-W¼rttemberg. The record shows details of a public procurement process and contains information about award talks with specific companies involved in the procurement of nuclear technology and materials. The companies cited include: NUKEM; Uhde; Krantz; Preussag; Escher-Wyss; Siemens; Rheintal; Leybold; Lurgi; and the infamous Transnuklear.

The Swiss and South Africans had a close relationship through this period of history, when it was hardly easy for the brutal South African regime to find close allies. By 4 November 1977, the United Nations Security Council had enacted resolution 418 which imposed a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa, an embargo that wouldn't be fully lifted until 1994.

Georg Kreis pointed out the following in his detailed assessment of the Hug report:

''The fact that the authorities assumed a laisse-faire attitude even after May 1978 comes to the fore in an exchange of letters between the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the DFMA in October/December 1978. As the study by Hug explicates, the Anti-Apartheid Movement of Switzerland pointed to German reports according to which Sulzer Escher-Wyss and a company called BBC had supplied parts for the South African uranium enrichment plant, and to repeated credits to ESCOM, which also included considerable contributions by Swiss banks. These assertions led to questions of whether the Federal Council '' in light of fundamental support of the UN embargo, ought not to instigate the National Bank to stop authorising credits for ESCOM in the future.''

Swiss banks would help to fund the South African race to nukes and, by 1986, Sulzer Escher-Wyss were successfully producing special compressors for uranium enrichment.

The Founding of the World Economic ForumIn 1970, the young upstart, Klaus Schwab wrote to the European Commission and asked for help in setting up a ''non-commercial think tank for European business leaders''. The European Commission would sponsor the event as well, sending French politician Raymond Barre to act as the forum's ''intellectual mentor''. Raymond Barre, who was at that time European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, would later go on to become French PM and would be accused of making anti-Semitic comments while in office.

So, in 1970, Schwab left Escher Wyss to organise a two-week business managerial conference. In 1971, the first meeting of the World Economic Forum '' then called the European Management Symposium '' convened in Davos, Switzerland. Around 450 participants from 31 countries would take part in Schwab's first European Management Symposium, mostly made up of managers from various European companies, politicians, and US academics. The project was recorded as organised by Klaus Schwab and his secretary Hilde Stoll who, later the same year, would become Klaus Schwab's wife.

Klaus's European symposium was not an original idea. As writer Ganga Jey Aratnam stated quite coherently in 2018:

''Klaus Schwab's ''Spirit of Davos'' was also the ''Spirit of Harvard''. Not only had the business school advocated the idea of a symposium. Prominent Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith championed the affluent society as well as capitalism's planning needs and the rapprochement of East and West.''

It was also true that, as Aratnam also pointed out, this was not the first time Davos had hosted such events. Between 1928 and 1931, the Davos University Conferences took place at the Hotel Belv(C)d¨re, events which were co-founded by Albert Einstein and were only halted by the Great Depression and the threat of looming war.

The Club of Rome and the WEF The most influential group that spurred the creation of Klaus Schwab's symposium was the Club of Rome, an influential think tank of the scientific and monied elite that mirrors the World Economic Forum in many ways, including in its promotion of a global governance model led by a technocratic elite. The Club had been founded in 1968 by Italian industrialist Aurelio Peccei and Scottish chemist Alexander King during a private meeting at a residence owned by the Rockefeller family in Bellagio, Italy.

Among its first accomplishments was a 1972 book entitled ''The Limits to Growth'' that largely focused on global overpopulation, warning that ''if the world's consumption patterns and population growth continued at the same high rates of the time, the earth would strike its limits within a century.'' At the third meeting of the World Economic Forum in 1973, Peccei delivered a speech summarizing the book, which the World Economic Forum website remembers as having been the distinguishing event of this historical meeting. That same year, the Club of Rome would publish a report detailing an ''adaptive'' model for global governance that would divide the world into ten, inter-connected economic/political regions.

The Club of Rome was long controversial for its obsession with reducing the global population and many of its earlier policies, which critics described as influenced by eugenics and neo-Malthusian. However, in the Club's infamous 1991 Book, The First Global Revolution, it was argued that such policies could gain popular support if the masses were able to link them with an existential fight against a common enemy.

To that effect, The First Global Revolution contains a passage entitled ''The common enemy of humanity is Man'', which states the following:

''In searching for a common enemy against whom we can unite, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like, would fit the bill. In their totality and their interactions these phenomena do constitute a common threat which must be confronted by everyone together. But in designating these dangers as the enemy, we fall into the trap, which we have already warned readers about, namely mistaking symptoms for causes. All these dangers are caused by human intervention in natural processes, and it is only through changed attitudes and behaviour that they can be overcome. The real enemy then is humanity itself.''

In the years since, the elite that populate the Club of Rome and the World Economic Forum have frequently argued that population control methods are essential to protecting the environment. It is thus unsurprising that the World Economic Forum would similarly use the issues of climate and environment as a way to market otherwise unpopular policies, such as those of the Great Reset, as necessary.

The Past is PrologueSince the founding of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab has become one of the most powerful people in the world and his Great Reset has made it more important than ever to scrutinize the man sitting on the globalist throne.

Given his prominent role in the far-reaching effort to transform every aspect of the existing order, Klaus Schwab's history was difficult to research. When you start to dig into the history of a man like Schwab, who sits aloft other shadowy elite movers and shakers, you soon find lots of information has been hidden or removed. Klaus is somebody who wants to stay hidden in the shadowy corners of society and who will only allow the average person to see a well-presented construct of their chosen persona.

Is the real Klaus Schwab a kindly old uncle figure wishing to do good for humanity, or is he really the son of a Nazi collaborator who used slave labour and helped the Nazi efforts to obtain the first atomic bomb? Is Klaus the honest business manager who we should trust to create a fairer society and workplace for the common man, or is he the person who helped push Sulzer Escher-Wyss into a technological revolution that led to its role in the illegal creation of nuclear weapons for South Africa's racist apartheid regime? The evidence I have looked at does not suggest a kindly man, but rather a member of a wealthy, well-connected family that has a history of helping create weapons of mass destruction for aggressive, racist governments.

As Klaus Schwab said in 2006 ''Knowledge will soon be available everywhere '' I call it the 'googlisation' of globalisation. It's not what you know any more, it's how you use it. You have to be a pace setter.'' Klaus Schwab considers himself to be a pace setter and a top table player, and it must be said that his qualifications and experience are impressive. Yet, when it comes to practising what you preach, Klaus has been found out. One of the three biggest challenges on the priority list for the World Economic Forum is the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, yet neither Klaus Schwab nor his father Eugen lived up to those same principles when they were in business. Quite the opposite.

In January, Klaus Schwab announced that 2021 is the year that the World Economic Forum and its allies must ''rebuild trust'' with the masses. However, if Schwab continues to hide his history and that of his father's connections to the ''National Socialist Model Company'' that was Escher-Wyss during the 1930s and 1940s, then people will have good reason to distrust the underlying motivations of his overreaching, undemocratic Great Reset agenda.

In the case of the Schwabs, the evidence doesn't point at simply poor business practices or some sort of misunderstanding. The story of the Schwab family instead reveals a habit of working with genocidal dictators for the base motives of profit and power. The Nazis and the South African apartheid regime are two of the worst examples of leadership in modern politics, yet the Schwabs obviously couldn't or wouldn't see that at the time.

In the case of Klaus Schwab himself, it appears that he has helped to launder relics of the Nazi era, i.e. its nuclear ambitions and its population control ambitions, so as to ensure the continuity of a deeper agenda. While serving in a leadership capacity at Sulzer Escher Wyss, the company sought to aid the nuclear ambitions of the South African regime, then the most Nazi adjacent government in the world, preserving Escher Wyss' own Nazi era legacy. Then, through the World Economic Forum, Schwab has helped to rehabilitate eugenics-influenced population control policies during the post-World War II era, a time when the revelations of Nazi atrocities quickly brought the pseudo-science into great disrepute. Is there any reason to believe that Klaus Schwab, as he exists today, has changed in anyway? Or is he still the public face of a decades-long effort to ensure the survival of a very old agenda?

The last question that should be asked about the real motivations behind the actions of Herr Schwab, may be the most important for the future of humanity: Is Klaus Schwab trying to create the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or is he trying to create the Fourth Reich?

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 16:57

Posted by Gareth Icke - memes and headline comments by David Icke Posted on 25 February 2021Is the real Klaus Schwab a kindly old uncle figure wishing to do good for humanity, or is he really the son of a Nazi collaborator who used slave labour and aided Nazi efforts to obtain the first atomic bomb? Johnny Vedmore investigates.

On the morning of 11 September 2001, Klaus Schwab sat having breakfast in the Park East Synagogue in New York City with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, former Vice President for the World Jewish Congress and closely associate of the Bronfman and Lauder families. Together, the two men watched one of the most impactful events of the next twenty years unfold as planes struck the World Trade Center buildings. Now, two decades on, Klaus Schwab again sits in a front row seat of yet a generation-defining moment in modern human history.

Always seeming to have a front row seat when tragedy approaches, Schwab's proximity to world-altering events likely owes to his being one of the most well-connected men on Earth. As the driving force behind the World Economic Forum, ''the international organization for public-private cooperation,'' Schwab has courted heads of state, leading business executives, and the elite of academic and scientific circles into the Davos fold for over 50 years. More recently, he has also courted the ire of many due to his more recent role as the frontman of the Great Reset, a sweeping effort to remake civilization globally for the express benefit of the elite of the World Economic Forum and their allies.

Schwab, during the Forum's annual meeting in January 2021, stressed that the building of trust would be integral to the success of the Great Reset, signalling a subsequent expansion of the initiative's already massive public relations campaign. Though Schwab called for the building of trust through unspecified ''progress,'' trust is normally facilitated through transparency. Perhaps that is why so many have declined to trust Mr. Schwab and his motives, as so little is known about the man's history and background prior to his founding of the World Economic Forum in the early 1970s.

Like many prominent frontmen for elite-sponsored agendas, the online record of Schwab has been well-sanitized, making it difficult to come across information on his early history as well as information on his family. Yet, having been born in Ravensburg, Germany in 1938, many have speculated in recent months that Schwab's family may have had some tie to Axis war efforts, ties that, if exposed, could threaten the reputation of the World Economic Forum and bring unwanted scrutiny to its professed missions and motives.

Read more: Schwab Family Values

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 16:27

Toyota Motor Corp's logo on Estima Hybrid model is pictured at its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, February 6, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO, July 19 (Reuters) - Tokyo 2020 sponsor Toyota (7203.T) will not air Olympics-related TV commercials, the daily Yomiuri reported a senior company executive as saying on Monday.

"The Olympics is becoming an event that has not gained the public's understanding," the report quoted the executive as saying. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda is expected to skip attending the opening ceremony, according to the report.

The Games will open on Friday amid a rise in coronavirus infections in the host city Tokyo.

Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Himani Sarkar

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 16:24

Since roughly 99% of COVID deaths in the USA in July so far were preventable '-- the vaccines have now been available pretty much everywhere on a same-day basis for a couple of months; at my local Safeway you can walk in, get one immediately, and then get 10% off your groceries '-- that means that about 3,844 of the COVID deaths in this country this month so far can be laid directly at the feet of the people who are most responsible for continuing vaccine ''hesitancy.''

Here at LGM we're going to keep a running count of how many people Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, Alex Berenson & the rest of the anti-vax crew have, ethically if not legally speaking, murdered in the weeks and months since COVID deaths in America should have dropped to close to zero. (It should always be pointed out that all these people are themselves vaccinated).

The current number is going to skyrocket, because cases are skyrocketing. The US is trailing the UK by about three weeks in regard to the spread of the Delta variant, and daily case rates are going vertical there, even though 80% of the adult population is at least partially vaccinated, as opposed to 67% in the USA. "Despite UK daily case rates of more than 40,000 '-- a figure that before the vaccines rollout would have led to about 800 deaths a day '-- the current daily tally is about 50."'-- Eric Topol (@EricTopol) July 18, 2021

By the end of the coming winter we could well have seen an excess of 100,000 or more completely preventable COVID deaths in the USA, despite the fact that one of the greatest historical achievements of medical science could and should have saved almost every one of those lives.

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 16:00

T4 Medical Killing ProgramThe camouflage organization created for the medical killing of adults was known as the Reich Work Group of Sanatoriums and Nursing Homes (Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft Heil- und Pflegeanstalten, or RAG). It operated from the Berlin Chancellery, at Tiergarten 4, hence the ''T4'' code name.

In time, word of the Nazi T4 program (medical killing on a vast scale) filtered down into the general population, and resistance began to emerge. In time, after scathing denouncements by clergy, and even Werner Moelders, a Catholic Luftwaffe pilot and war hero (who threatened to return his decorations if the `euthanasia' program was not halted), the decision was made to respond'....

''Nazi leaders faced the prospect of either having to imprison prominent, highly admired clergymen and other protesters '' a course with consequences in terms of adverse public reaction they greatly feared '' or else end the program.''

The latter was essentially the recommendation of Himmler, who noted that the secret was no longer a secret, though added,

''If operation T4 had been entrusted to the SS, things would have happened differently, 'because when the Fuehrer entrusts us with a job, we know how to deal with it correctly, without causing useless uproar among the people.''

Early in 1941, T4 leader Bouhler agreed to let Himmler use T4 personnel and facilities to rid the camps of `excess' prisoners '' notably those most seriously ill,' physically and mentally. Sometimes called `prisoner euthanasia' or (by prisoners) `Operation Invalid,' the resultant program was officially `Operation [or Special Treatment] 14f13.'*

The designation came from the reference number for the operation in documents of the Concentration Camp Inspectorate.**

That spring, `experimental psychiatrists' from T4 were sent to the camps, assured that their work in selecting out `asocial' elements had scientific importance. Their work, as in T4, was based on prior questionnaires.

For this purpose, however, they were shorter, asking after a prisoner's name, race, and `health' (that is, whether incurable). ***

The short form was explained by the T4 doctors' lack of time, although camp commandants or camp doctors did the initial screening. To camouflage procedures, those selected were told that they were being sent to a `rest home.'

(In fact, people apparently volunteered until it was realized what was happening when personal effects, but no rested' prisoners, returned.)

As low as T4 standards were, those in 14f13 were worse. `Examinations' by T4 doctors were perfunctory or non-existent, and the questionnaires frequently contained no medical information at all, but only a list of an inmate's ostensible crimes and political deviations.

Ordinary SS camp personnel could construe political beliefs or rude comments about the Fuehrer as `mental deficiency' or `psychological aberration,' and the visiting doctors' commission almost never objected to an SS request for transfer' (to a killing facility). Whatever the travesty of medicine, inmates observed that `the doctors were dressed in white coats,' although other prisoners apparently assumed that they were Gestapo in disguise.

Hitler apparently gave Brandt a verbal order on or about 24 August 1941 to end or at least `stall' operation T4. But the killing of mental patients did not end: mass murder was just beginning. What was discontinued was only the visible dimension of the project: the large-scale gassing of patients.

T4 officially ceased as a program, but that turned out to be still another deception. Widespread killing continued in a second phase, sometimes referred to in Nazi documents as `wild euthanasia' because doctors _ encouraged, if not directed, by the regime_ could now act on their own initiative concerning who would live or die.

While the regime ordered most of the gas chambers dismantled (to be reassembled, as it turned out, in the East), it did nothing to stop the ideological and institutional momentum of medical killing. The regime's clear message, in fact, was that the killings were to go on, but more quietly.

And more quiet killing meant more isolated, individual procedures. Doctors acted on their personal and ideological inclinations, along with their sense of the regime's pulse. That pulse emanated no longer from the Chancellery, which bowed out along with T4 itself, but from the Reich Interior Ministry and its national medical subdivision.

There were changes in geographical location, but the regime continued to make transportation arrangements, required that patients' deaths be recorded centrally, and in some cases maintained T4 experts in a partially supervisory role. Patients were now killed not by gas but by starvation and drugs, the latter method in particular rendering the killing still more `medical.' The children's program was not included under the T4 `halt.'

Killing methods did not have to be changed: drugs and starvation, and not gas, had been employed from the beginning. The killing of children had been considerably less visible, taking place as it did on wards in smaller facilities without the telltale evidence of noxious smoke and odors that stemmed from large-scale gassing.

The programs had been based more on presumed eugenic and scientific grounds than on direct economic ones (the children did not work and ate less) and had not created the degree of public controversy that adult killing had. If anything, the reporting methods for ostensible abnormalities became more systematic. Research efforts, mostly post-mortem studies, also became more systematic, as sometimes happened in adult `wild euthanasia.'

Not only did the regime remain closely involved, but the greater part of the killing of children took place after the official ending of the `euthanasia' project. What did become more `wild' was the method of deciding which children should be killed.

Now even the pretense of review boards of `expert opinion' was abandoned: any child considered in some way impaired, and sent though the administrative system to any of the `special pediatric units' of the original project, was still fair game. Beyond that, institutional doctors could proceed according to their own inclinations.

Adult `wild euthanasia' involved more radical changes for psychiatrists. No longer operators of gas chambers, they returned to the familiar terrain of syringes, oral medications, and dietary prescriptions of achieving the same end. From the regime's medical bureaucracy came the continuing message that mental patients were `useless eaters,' burdens on the state and its war effort, `life unworthy of life.'

Permission to kill was clear enough, even if a little indirect. As one psychiatrist later testified, `In conversation with other participants in the program I learned that there would be no fuss if some physician or other in an institution stood ready to kill a patient by injection or overdose, if he was convinced that the patient's extinction was desirable.' And there was a partial merger of child and adult `euthanasia' programs as the age limit of the children's program was raised to sixteen years: `to some extent this expansion was to offer a substitute for the canceled program.'

There were, in fact, documented cases of patients of about that age who had managed to survive the official end of the adult `euthanasia' program only to be fatally reclassified as a child.

Hefelmann testimony, 6-15 September 1960, Heyde Trial, pp. 681-82. See also p. 680 Ernst Klee, ''Euthansie'' im NS-Staat: Die ''Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens'' (Frankfurt/M: S. Fischer, 1983, p. 440) Friedrich Mennecke, quoted in Alexander Mitscherlich and Fred Mielke, ''Doctors of Infamy:The Story of the Nazi Medical Crimes'' (New York:n Henry Schuman, 1949) p. 116

Extracted from THE NAZI DOCTORS: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide.Lifton, Robert Jay, London: Papermac, 1986 (Reprinted 1990)__pp.95-97

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 14:49

T he United States suffered through two lethal waves of contagion in the past year and a half. The first was a viral pandemic that killed about one in 500 Americans'--typically, a person over 75 suffering from other serious conditions. The second, and far more catastrophic, was a moral panic that swept the nation's guiding institutions.

Instead of keeping calm and carrying on, the American elite flouted the norms of governance, journalism, academic freedom'--and, worst of all, science. They misled the public about the origins of the virus and the true risk that it posed. Ignoring their own carefully prepared plans for a pandemic, they claimed unprecedented powers to impose untested strategies, with terrible collateral damage. As evidence of their mistakes mounted, they stifled debate by vilifying dissenters, censoring criticism, and suppressing scientific research.

If, as seems increasingly plausible, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 leaked out of a laboratory in Wuhan, it is the costliest blunder ever committed by scientists. Whatever the pandemic's origin, the response to it is the worst mistake in the history of the public-health profession. We still have no convincing evidence that the lockdowns saved lives, but lots of evidence that they have already cost lives and will prove deadlier in the long run than the virus itself.

One in three people worldwide lost a job or a business during the lockdowns, and half saw their earnings drop, according to a Gallup poll. Children, never at risk from the virus, in many places essentially lost a year of school. The economic and health consequences were felt most acutely among the less affluent in America and in the rest of the world, where the World Bank estimates that more than 100 million have been pushed into extreme poverty.

The leaders responsible for these disasters continue to pretend that their policies worked and assume that they can keep fooling the public. They've promised to deploy these strategies again in the future, and they might even succeed in doing so'--unless we begin to understand what went wrong.

T he panic was started, as usual, by journalists. As the virus spread early last year, they highlighted the most alarming statistics and the scariest images: the estimates of a fatality rate ten to 50 times higher than the flu, the chaotic scenes at hospitals in Italy and New York City, the predictions that national health-care systems were about to collapse. The full-scale panic was set off by the release in March 2020 of a computer model at the Imperial College in London, which projected that'--unless drastic measures were taken'--intensive-care units would have 30 Covid patients for every available bed and that America would see 2.2 million deaths by the end of the summer. The British researchers announced that the ''only viable strategy'' was to impose draconian restrictions on businesses, schools, and social gatherings until a vaccine arrived.

This extraordinary project was swiftly declared the ''consensus'' among public-health officials, politicians, journalists, and academics. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, endorsed it and became the unassailable authority for those purporting to ''follow the science.'' What had originally been a limited lockdown'--''15 days to slow the spread'''--became long-term policy across much of the United States and the world. A few scientists and public-health experts objected, noting that an extended lockdown was a novel strategy of unknown effectiveness that had been rejected in previous plans for a pandemic. It was a dangerous experiment being conducted without knowing the answer to the most basic question: Just how lethal is this virus?

The most prominent early critic was John Ioannidis, an epidemiologist at Stanford, who published an essay for STAT headlined ''A Fiasco in the Making? As the Coronavirus Pandemic Takes Hold, We Are Making Decisions Without Reliable Data.'' While a short-term lockdown made sense, he argued, an extended lockdown could prove worse than the disease, and scientists needed to do more intensive testing to determine the risk. The article offered common-sense advice from one of the world's most frequently cited authorities on the credibility of medical research, but it provoked a furious backlash on Twitter from scientists and journalists.

The fury intensified in April 2020, when Ioannidis followed his own advice by joining with Jay Bhattacharya and other colleagues from Stanford to gauge the spread of Covid in the surrounding area, Santa Clara County. After testing for Covid antibodies in the blood of several thousand volunteers, they estimated that the fatality rate among the infected in the county was about 0.2 percent, twice as high as for the flu but considerably lower than the assumptions of public-health officials and computer modelers. The researchers acknowledged that the fatality rate could be substantially higher in other places where the virus spread extensively in nursing homes (which hadn't yet occurred in the Santa Clara area). But merely by reporting data that didn't fit the official panic narrative, they became targets.

Other scientists lambasted the researchers and claimed that methodological weaknesses in the study made the results meaningless. A statistician at Columbia wrote that the researchers ''owe us all an apology.'' A biologist at the University of North Carolina said that the study was ''horrible science.'' A Rutgers chemist called Ioannidis a ''mediocrity'' who ''cannot even formulate a simulacrum of a coherent, rational argument.'' A year later, Ioannidis still marvels at the attacks on the study (which was eventually published in a leading epidemiology journal). ''Scientists whom I respect started acting like warriors who had to subvert the enemy,'' he says. ''Every paper I've written has errors'--I'm a scientist, not the pope'--but the main conclusions of this one were correct and have withstood the criticism.''

Mainstream journalists piled on with hit pieces quoting critics and accusing the researchers of endangering lives by questioning lockdowns. The Nation called the research a ''black mark'' for Stanford. The cheapest shots came from BuzzFeed, which devoted thousands of words to a series of trivial objections and baseless accusations. The article that got the most attention was BuzzFeed's breathless revelation that an airline executive opposed to lockdowns had contributed $5,000'--yes, five thousand dollars!'--to an anonymized fund at Stanford that had helped finance the Santa Clara fieldwork.

The notion that a team of prominent academics, who were not paid for their work in the study, would risk their reputations by skewing results for the sake of a $5,000 donation was absurd on its face'--and even more ludicrous, given that Ioannidis, Bhattacharya, and the lead investigator, Eran Bendavid, said that they weren't even aware of the donation while conducting the study. But Stanford University was so cowed by the online uproar that it subjected the researchers to a two-month fact-finding inquiry by an outside legal firm. The inquiry found no evidence of conflict of interest, but the smear campaign succeeded in sending a clear message to scientists everywhere: Don't question the lockdown narrative.

I n a brief interlude of journalistic competence, two veteran science writers, Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee, published an article in Scientific American decrying the politicization of Covid research. They defended the integrity and methodology of the Stanford researchers, noting that some subsequent studies had found similar rates of fatality among the infected. (In his latest review of the literature, Ioannidis now estimates that the average fatality rate in Europe and the Americas is 0.3 to 0.4 percent and about 0.2 percent among people not living in institutions.) Lenzer and Brownlee lamented that the unjust criticism and ad hominem vitriol had suppressed a legitimate debate by intimidating the scientific community. Their editors then proceeded to prove their point. Responding to more online fury, Scientific American repented by publishing an editor's note that essentially repudiated its own article. The editors printed BuzzFeed's accusations as the final word on the matter, refusing to publish a rebuttal from the article's authors or a supporting letter from Jeffrey Flier, former dean of Harvard Medical School. Scientific American, long the most venerable publication in its field, now bowed to the scientific authority of BuzzFeed.

Editors of research journals fell into line, too. When Thomas Benfield, one of the researchers in Denmark conducting the first large randomized controlled trial of mask efficacy against Covid, was asked why they were taking so long to publish the much-anticipated findings, he promised them as ''as soon as a journal is brave enough to accept the paper.'' After being rejected by The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, and JAMA, the study finally appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the reason for the editors' reluctance became clear: the study showed that a mask did not protect the wearer, which contradicted claims by the Centers for Disease Control and other health authorities.

Stefan Baral, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins with 350 publications to his name, submitted a critique of lockdowns to more than ten journals and finally gave up'--the ''first time in my career that I could not get a piece placed anywhere,'' he said. Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist at Harvard, had a similar experience with his article, early in the pandemic, arguing that resources should be focused on protecting the elderly. ''Just as in war,'' Kulldorff wrote, ''we must exploit the characteristics of the enemy in order to defeat it with the minimum number of casualties. Since Covid-19 operates in a highly age specific manner, mandated counter measures must also be age specific. If not, lives will be unnecessarily lost.'' It was a tragically accurate prophecy from one of the leading experts on infectious disease, but Kulldorff couldn't find a scientific journal or media outlet to accept the article, so he ended up posting it on his own LinkedIn page. ''There's always a certain amount of herd thinking in science,'' Kulldorff says, ''but I've never seen it reach this level. Most of the epidemiologists and other scientists I've spoken to in private are against lockdowns, but they're afraid to speak up.''

To break the silence, Kulldorff joined with Stanford's Bhattacharya and Sunetra Gupta of Oxford to issue a plea for ''focused protection,'' called the Great Barrington Declaration. They urged officials to divert more resources to shield the elderly, such as doing more tests of the staff at nursing homes and hospitals, while reopening business and schools for younger people, which would ultimately protect the vulnerable as herd immunity grew among the low-risk population.

They managed to attract attention but not the kind they hoped for. Though tens of thousands of other scientists and doctors went on to sign the declaration, the press caricatured it as a deadly ''let it rip'' strategy and an ''ethical nightmare'' from ''Covid deniers'' and ''agents of misinformation.'' Google initially shadow-banned it so that the first page of search results for ''Great Barrington Declaration'' showed only criticism of it (like an article calling it ''the work of a climate denial network'') but not the declaration itself. Facebook shut down the scientists' page for a week for violating unspecified ''community standards.''

The most reviled heretic was Scott Atlas, a medical doctor and health-policy analyst at Stanford's Hoover Institution. He, too, urged focused protection on nursing homes and calculated that the medical, social, and economic disruptions of the lockdowns would cost more years of life than the coronavirus. When he joined the White House coronavirus task force, Bill Gates derided him as ''this Stanford guy with no background'' promoting ''crackpot theories.'' Nearly 100 members of Stanford's faculty signed a letter denouncing his ''falsehoods and misrepresentations of science,'' and an editorial in the Stanford Daily urged the university to sever its ties to Hoover.

The Stanford faculty senate overwhelmingly voted to condemn Atlas's actions as ''anathema to our community, our values and our belief that we should use knowledge for good.'' Several professors from Stanford's medical school demanded further punishment in a JAMA article, ''When Physicians Engage in Practices That Threaten the Nation's Health.'' The article, which misrepresented Atlas's views as well as the evidence on the efficacy of lockdowns, urged professional medical societies and medical-licensing boards to take action against Atlas on the grounds that it was ''ethically inappropriate for physicians to publicly recommend behaviors or interventions that are not scientifically well grounded.''

But if it was unethical to recommend ''interventions that are not scientifically well grounded,'' how could anyone condone the lockdowns? ''It was utterly immoral to conduct this society-wide intervention without the evidence to justify it,'' Bhattacharya says. ''The immediate results have been disastrous, especially for the poor, and the long-term effect will be to fundamentally undermine trust in public health and science.'' The traditional strategy for dealing with pandemics was to isolate the infected and protect the most vulnerable, just as Atlas and the Great Barrington scientists recommended. The CDC's pre-pandemic planning scenarios didn't recommend extended school closures or any shutdown of businesses even during a plague as deadly as the 1918 Spanish flu. Yet Fauci dismissed the focused-protection strategy as ''total nonsense'' to ''anybody who has any experience in epidemiology and infectious diseases,'' and his verdict became ''the science'' to leaders in America and elsewhere.

F ortunately, a few leaders followed the science in a different way. Instead of blindly trusting Fauci, they listened to his critics and adopted the focused-protection strategy'--most notably, in Florida. Its governor, Ron DeSantis, began to doubt the public-health establishment early in the pandemic, when computer models projected that Covid patients would greatly outnumber hospital beds in many states. Governors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan were so alarmed and so determined to free up hospital beds that they directed nursing homes and other facilities to admit or readmit Covid patients'--with deadly results.

But DeSantis was skeptical of the hospital projections'--for good reason, as no state actually ran out of beds'--and more worried about the risk of Covid spreading in nursing homes. He forbade long-term-care centers to admit anyone infected with Covid and ordered frequent testing of the staff at senior-care centers. After locking down last spring, he reopened businesses, schools, and restaurants early, rejected mask mandates, and ignored protests from the press and the state's Democratic leaders. Fauci warned that Florida was ''asking for trouble,'' but DeSantis went on seeking and heeding advice from Atlas and the Great Barrington scientists, who were astonished to speak with a politician already familiar with just about every study they mentioned to him.

''DeSantis was an incredible outlier,'' Atlas says. ''He dug up the data and read the scientific papers and analyzed it all himself. In our discussions, he'd bounce ideas off me, but he was already on top of the details of everything. He always had the perspective to see the larger harms of lockdowns and the need to concentrate testing and other resources on the elderly. And he has been proven correct.''

If Florida had simply done no worse than the rest of the country during the pandemic, that would have been enough to discredit the lockdown strategy. The state effectively served as the control group in a natural experiment, and no medical treatment with dangerous side effects would be approved if the control group fared no differently from the treatment group. But the outcome of this experiment was even more damning.

Florida's mortality rate from Covid is lower than the national average among those over 65 and also among younger people, so that the state's age-adjusted Covid mortality rate is lower than that of all but ten other states. And by the most important measure, the overall rate of ''excess mortality'' (the number of deaths above normal), Florida has also done better than the national average. Its rate of excess mortality is significantly lower than that of the most restrictive state, California, particularly among younger adults, many of whom died not from Covid but from causes related to the lockdowns: cancer screenings and treatments were delayed, and there were sharp increases in deaths from drug overdoses and from heart attacks not treated promptly.

If the treatment group in a clinical trial were dying off faster than the control group, an ethical researcher would halt the experiment. But the lockdown proponents were undeterred by the numbers in Florida, or by similar results elsewhere, including a comparable natural experiment involving European countries with the least restrictive policies. Sweden, Finland, and Norway rejected mask mandates and extended lockdowns, and they have each suffered significantly less excess mortality than most other European countries during the pandemic.

A nationwide analysis in Sweden showed that keeping schools open throughout the pandemic, without masks or social distancing, had little effect on the spread of Covid, but school closures and mask mandates for students continued elsewhere. Another Swedish researcher, Jonas Ludvigsson, reported that not a single schoolchild in the country died from Covid in Sweden and that their teachers' risk of serious illness was lower than for the rest of the workforce'--but these findings provoked so many online attacks and threats that Ludvigsson decided to stop researching or discussing Covid.

Social-media platforms continued censoring scientists and journalists who questioned lockdowns and mask mandates. YouTube removed a video discussion between DeSantis and the Great Barrington scientists, on the grounds that it ''contradicts the consensus'' on the efficacy of masks, and also took down the Hoover Institution's interview with Atlas. Twitter locked out Atlas and Kulldorff for scientifically accurate challenges to mask orthodoxy. A peer-reviewed German study reporting harms to children from mask-wearing was suppressed on Facebook (which labeled my City Journal article ''Partly False'' because it cited the study) and also at ResearchGate, one of the most widely used websites for scientists to post their papers. ResearchGate refused to explain the censorship to the German scientists, telling them only that the paper was removed from the website in response to ''reports from the community about the subject-matter.''

The social-media censors and scientific establishment, aided by the Chinese government, succeeded for a year in suppressing the lab-leak theory, depriving vaccine developers of potentially valuable insights into the virus's evolution. It's understandable, if deplorable, that the researchers and officials involved in supporting the Wuhan lab research would cover up the possibility that they'd unleashed a Frankenstein on the world. What's harder to explain is why journalists and the rest of the scientific community so eagerly bought that story, along with the rest of the Covid narrative.

W hy the elite panic? Why did so many go so wrong for so long? When journalists and scientists finally faced up to their mistake in ruling out the lab-leak theory, they blamed their favorite villain: Donald Trump. He had espoused the theory, so they assumed it must be wrong. And since he disagreed at times with Fauci about the danger of the virus and the need for lockdowns, then Fauci must be right, and this was such a deadly plague that the norms of journalism and science must be suspended. Millions would die unless Fauci was obeyed and dissenters were silenced.

But neither the plague nor Trump explains the panic. Yes, the virus was deadly, and Trump's erratic pronouncements contributed to the confusion and partisanship, but the panic was due to two preexisting pathologies that afflicted other countries, too. The first is what I have called the Crisis Crisis, the incessant state of alarm fomented by journalists and politicians. It's a longstanding problem'--humanity was supposedly doomed in the last century by the ''population crisis'' and the ''energy crisis'''--that has dramatically worsened with the cable and digital competition for ratings, clicks, and retweets. To keep audiences frightened around the clock, journalists seek out Cassandras with their own incentives for fearmongering: politicians, bureaucrats, activists, academics, and assorted experts who gain publicity, prestige, funding, and power during a crisis.

Unlike many proclaimed crises, an epidemic is a genuine threat, but the crisis industry can't resist exaggerating the danger, and doomsaying is rarely penalized. Early in the 1980s AIDS epidemic, the New York Times reported the terrifying possibility that the virus could spread to children through ''routine close contact'''--quoting from a study by Anthony Fauci. Life magazine wildly exaggerated the number of infections in a cover story, headlined ''Now No One Is Safe from AIDS.'' It cited a study by Robert Redfield, the future leader of the CDC during the Covid pandemic, predicting that AIDS would soon spread as rapidly among heterosexuals as among homosexuals. Both scientists were absolutely wrong, of course, but the false alarms didn't harm their careers or their credibility.

Journalists and politicians extend professional courtesy to fellow crisis-mongers by ignoring their mistakes, such as the previous predictions by Neil Ferguson. His team at Imperial College projected up to 65,000 deaths in the United Kingdom from swine flu and 200 million deaths worldwide from bird flu. The death toll each time was in the hundreds, but never mind: when Ferguson's team projected millions of American deaths from Covid, that was considered reason enough to follow its recommendation for extended lockdowns. And when the modelers' assumption about the fatality rate proved too high, that mistake was ignored, too.

Journalists kept highlighting the most alarming warnings, presented without context. They needed to keep their audience scared, and they succeeded. For Americans under 70, the probability of surviving a Covid infection was about 99.9 percent, but fear of the virus was higher among the young than among the elderly, and polls showed that people of all ages vastly overestimated the risk of being hospitalized or dying.

The second pathology underlying the elite's Covid panic is the politicization of research'--what I have termed the Left's war on science, another long-standing problem that has gotten much worse. Just as the progressives a century ago yearned for a nation directed by ''expert social engineers'''--scientific high priests unconstrained by voters and public opinion'--today's progressives want sweeping new powers for politicians and bureaucrats who ''believe in science,'' meaning that they use the Left's version of science to justify their edicts. Now that so many elite institutions are political monocultures, progressives have more power than ever to enforce groupthink and suppress debate. Well before the pandemic, they had mastered the tactics for demonizing and silencing scientists whose findings challenged progressive orthodoxy on issues such as IQ, sex differences, race, family structure, transgenderism, and climate change.

''The less educated lost jobs so that professionals at minimal risk could feel safer as they kept working at home on their laptops.''

And then along came Covid'--''God's gift to the Left,'' in Jane Fonda's words. Exaggerating the danger and deflecting blame from China to Trump offered not only short-term political benefits, damaging his reelection prospects, but also an extraordinary opportunity to empower social engineers in Washington and state capitals. Early in the pandemic, Fauci expressed doubt that it was politically possible to lock down American cities, but he underestimated the effectiveness of the crisis industry's scaremongering. Americans were so frightened that they surrendered their freedoms to work, study, worship, dine, play, socialize, or even leave their homes. Progressives celebrated this ''paradigm shift,'' calling it a ''blueprint'' for dealing with climate change.

T his experience should be a lesson in what not to do, and whom not to trust. Do not assume that the media's version of a crisis resembles reality. Do not count on mainstream journalists and their favorite doomsayers to put risks in perspective. Do not expect those who follow ''the science'' to know what they're talking about. Science is a process of discovery and debate, not a faith to profess or a dogma to live by. It provides a description of the world, not a prescription for public policy, and specialists in one discipline do not have the knowledge or perspective to guide society. They're biased by their own narrow focus and self-interest. Fauci and Deborah Birx, the physician who allied with him against Atlas on the White House task force, had to answer for the daily Covid death toll'--that ever-present chyron at the bottom of the television screen'--so they focused on one disease instead of the collateral damage of their panic-driven policies.

''The Fauci-Birx lockdowns were a sinful, unconscionable, heinous mistake, and they will never admit they were wrong,'' Atlas says. Neither will the journalists and politicians who panicked along with them. They're still portraying lockdowns as not just a success but also a precedent'--proof that Americans can sacrifice for the common good when directed by wise scientists and benevolent autocrats. But the sacrifice did far more harm than good, and the burden was not shared equally. The brunt was borne by the most vulnerable in America and the poorest countries of the world. Students from disadvantaged families suffered the most from school closures, and children everywhere spent a year wearing masks solely to assuage the neurotic fears of adults. The less educated lost jobs so that professionals at minimal risk could feel safer as they kept working at home on their laptops. Silicon Valley (and its censors) prospered from lockdowns that bankrupted local businesses.

Luminaries united on Zoom and YouTube to assure the public that ''we're all in this together.'' But we weren't. When the panic infected the nation's elite'--the modern gentry who profess such concern for the downtrodden'--it turned out that they weren't so different from aristocrats of the past. They were in it for themselves.

John Tierney is a contributing editor of City Journal, a contributing science columnist for the New York Times, and coauthor of The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It.

Photo: A New York restaurant workers' rally in Times Square (LEV RADIN/ZUMAPRESS/NEWSCOM)

City Journal is a publication of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (MI), a leading free-market think tank. Are you interested in supporting the magazine? As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations in support of MI and City Journal are fully tax-deductible as provided by law (EIN #13-2912529). DONATE

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 14:34

The spectrum is generally divided into seven regions in order of decreasing wavelength and increasing energy and frequency. The common designations are radio waves,microwaves, infrared (IR), visible light, ultraviolet (UV), X-rays and gamma-rays.

Ultraviolet (UV) light falls in the range of the EM spectrum between visible light and X-rays. 

As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.

I honestly am still pondering the video below of a Britisher mum shining  a black light on her vax site and her veins and their glowing. The vax site looks under the skin and when the little girl is shining the light on the mum's hand, the veins on the side are glowing too which makes the evidence more plausible.

Black light is what makes ultra violet become visible.  It is a high frequency light wave in the violet scale, hence beyond violet or ultra violet, compared to the other end of the spectrum in red and infra red.Ultraviolet Waves | Science Mission DirectorateThis is similar to how a dog can hear the sound  of a whistle just outside the hearing range of humans. ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT  FROM OUR SUN. The Sun is a  ...

https://www.quora.com/If-sound-is-made-of-waves-where-do-they-fall-in-the-ultraviolet-to-infrared-range-of-wavelengthsIf sound is made of waves, where do they fall in the ultraviolet to ...The shortest of wavelength of Electromagnetic waves is gamma rays  whose wavelength is less than diameter of an atom and sound waves  still cannot go below 1 ...

https://www.livescience.com/50326-what-is-ultraviolet-light.htmlWhat Is Ultraviolet Light? | Live ScienceSep 15, 2017 ...  Ultraviolet light  is a type of electromagnetic radiation. These high-frequency waves  can damage living tissue.

My reason for pondering this is, giving this glower some thought is, this is electromagnetic radiation. This is like the magnets and metal objects sticking to people who were vaxed. This would fit, in changing the human frequency to evolve it to a SYNform or synthetic form which would have to exist at a higher frequency like Angels and demons to become immortal. While high frequency kills humans, perhaps the 3rd strand DNA, the Mogrellons fibers, the nano particles and yes injections now called for every month for this Covid to boost this synthetic evolution, would produce such an evolved human.

I always go back to David John Oates on Rense.com, in reverse speech of the Australian Prime Minister. From the start of this, he mentioned a SCAB, which seems odd, but in the Bible the mark of the beast develops flesh rot. I believe a 100% that the Oz PM knows what the projections of this vax are, because this vax was in the works form 2004 AD in the year of our Lord. This prion has been tested and retested. People have been harmed, died and disappeared with the evidence as this operation did not just happen and it is more than must about money and control. The 1% are not going to release anything that has the remotist chance of catching them immortal rot.

In logical progression of this, the scab could very well be the stick to scare people to get the carrot of additional vaxes to keep them from rotting. Think of it as, "Hey Mate, we meant well, but the good news is this mRNA reprogrammed you to a healthier and longer life...........the not so good news is your body's DNA has not evolved with it enough, so you are going to get these scabs like a cancer, but don't worry chum, as you take a series of vaxes and your body's DNA will fix it as you are now at a longevity frequency like the gods".

The same vax herd which ran for this injection will believe this and bend over to make their butts look like pin cushions.

They (Light) all pass through to different depths and it’s all related to the energy of the photon. E=hf = hC/lambda. The other formula is work done by a photon through photoelectric effect which releases an electron and it is hf = W + Ek. All this shows is that in a metal, a higher energy photon will release more electrons therefore doing work. That means that the electromagnetic energy was spent on making electrons move instead of going through the wall. In the case of UV, it has a very short wavelength which according the the equation has a very high energy, this high energy is actually very good at breaking double bonds and is used in Biochemistry for spectroscopy called UV-Vis. 

To phrase that in layman's terms, Ultra Violet radiation has a purpose, besides giving you sunburns, in biochemistry or biological chemistry of the chemicals which provide life in your body, it breaks double bonds or in molecular structures like Oxygen, O2, it breaks the union. I will explain this in the next quote, but in nature everything is always built by God in polar and non polar molecules and a strong bond is one which is hard to break, while a weak bond is easier, because most molecules are always looking to give or get energy. Oxygen is one of those energies for example as Oxygen has something to give. Hydrogen Peroxide, Magnesium Oxide, etc... are all compounds made because Oxygen has a molecule to give.

For example, in the photochemical decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, the weak  \ c e O − O \ceO−O  bond is broken by UV light. Ultraviolet light can also dissociate relatively strong bonds such as the double oxygen bond ( \ c e O = O \ceO=O ) in molecular oxygen ( \ c e O 2 \ceO2 ) and the double  \ c e C = O \ceC=O  bond in carbon dioxide ( \ c e C O 2 \ceCO2 ). My question is, how does this process occur? How exactly does UV light break bonds?

7 bronze badges 1 UV breaks bonds in a fashion similar to heat.  – Nisarg Bhavsar Jun 27 at 6:52 1 @NisargBhavsar please elaborate. I know what dissociation energies are and that stability is inversely proportional to a species's energy, but that doesn't answer my question.  – Brian Blumberg Jun 27 at 6:55 4 UV is just another way of providing energy to the system. It is used because sometimes it is inconvenient to heat stuff or it is very slow to do so. Amount of energy provided per package can also be controlled in case of UV and thus prevents side reactions.  – Nisarg Bhavsar Jun 27 at 7:02 4 Briefly an electronically excited state is produced (distinct from the ground state) and if the uv energy is sufficient it is produced above its dissociation energy , which is less than in the ground state. Alternatively in the excited state there is another excited state that the energy from the first one crosses over into and this dissociates.  – porphyrin Jun 27 at 7:29   2 All starts with quantum interaction of electrons and photons. An UV photon passes enough energy to a bond electron to break a bond, frequently together with ionisation of fragments.  –  Poutnik  Jun 27 at 9:28 The last anwers is the one which is most readily understood.  Picture you have a Lego set snapped together and it keeps getting longer. All of a sudden you put a chandelier at the bottom of this chain and it breaks apart from the weight.   

That is what is being explained in the above. There are compounds like Hydrogen Peroxide which are stable enough, but here comes UV radiation which is handing out free energy and a bond electron grabs for it, just like we do for Stimulus handouts, and once that electron which is binding the compound together is overcharged, it opens just like a timed lock.

So with that in mind, let us return to the glower with the bright veins. We know the vax is transforming people's DNA in genetic therapy. We know people are magnetized in this electro magnetic spectrum.

Now we discover in this that a woman is glowing in her vax site and veins, which does not make sense, unless you remember that it was the inside of veins that this vax was changing as has been covered here. In why people had heart problems.

The human body was designed by God to function with double helix and triple helix DNA. The triple was removed it has been stated, and is now being reintroduced.  This God design is not synthetic but that is what these SYNforms are in the vax, so do you have to break some eggs to make an olmlet? Yes you do, so maybe an electro magnetic pulse which is registering, is also a wave length of Ultra Violet which in nature breaks bonds so that new bonds of more complex origins could be formed by nano particles.

We are witnessing something. It could be fraud or it could be geniune. The Lame Cherry in analyzing this data though has assembled a logical reason why a woman would be UV glowing as this would be a reasonable scientific projection of what would be used to make a SynForm human.

Remember Jesus in the Shroud of Turin, His image was burned into that cloth without heat. That was light energy and probably UV radiation when He became reanimated or rose from the dead. The same process would be the basis of vax evolving humans.

The science is there and would fit the evidence provided.

Chemo And Radiation In Moderna's Own Patent!

Confirmed - MRNA Released In Exosomes

This is once again, another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.

Daryl Hall & John Oates - Did It In A Minute (Official Video) - YouTube"Did It In A Minute ," performed by Daryl Hall & John Oates from the album Private Eyes. Listen to Hall & Oates on Spotify ...

Nuff Said

agtG

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 14:10

As Germany mourns after deadly floods devasted swaths of the country, the cleanup operation goes on. The situation remains tense in some areas. Follow DW for more.

At least 165 people have been reported dead across western Germany, with many more fatalities across Europe Chancellor Angela Merkel says government will work to tackle climate change and rebuild Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is visiting affected areas in North Rhine-Westphalia One dam burst has still not been ruled out The flooding has also impacted eastern Germany and Austria This article was last updated at 13:50 UTC

Piles of wreckage left in flood-hit townDW correspondent Benjamin Alvarez shared a video on Twitter showing the scenes after the initial stages of the clean-up in the town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler that was hit particularly badly by Saturday's flooding.

The video shows piles of debris left by the flood, laid out along the mud-covered street.

Kramp-Karrenbauer pays tribute to victims German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer commemorated the victims of the floods and praised the emergency efforts of the Bundeswehr soldiers.

"We think of those who have lost their lives, those who have lost loved ones [and] those who are left without possessions. But we also think of those who have helped and are still helping in the last days," Kramp-Karrenbauer said.

Germany's floods: Help is on the way One of the worst natural disasters in Germany's living memoryOver 100 people have been reported dead and scores more are missing after torrential rain and floods swept across Western Europe, with Germany bearing the brunt of one of its biggest natural disasters in recent decades. Rescue operations continue in the country's hardest-hit cities and towns. Over a thousand citizens are still missing and many more remain trapped in flooded buildings.

Germany's floods: Help is on the way Houses turning into deathtrapsSome districts in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) are still underwater, others are assessing damage as floodwaters recede. Leaking gas pipes and structural damage to buildings across the state have turned some sites into death traps and authorities have warned people not to go looking for missing relatives on their own but to leave it to rescue workers.

Germany's floods: Help is on the way Clearing the way for rescuersWith the death toll climbing higher almost hourly, thousands of volunteers, firefighters and some 900 army personnel have joined the clean-up and salvage operations. There are fears that more victims could be found as waters recede and begin to reveal the true toll the storm took on everything in its path.

Germany's floods: Help is on the way Rescuing residents stranded in flooded buildingsPeople trapped in buildings likely to collapse at any second are in urgent need of help. In towns such as Schuld and Heimerzheim floodwaters destroyed roads and railroad tracks, cutting off residents from the outside world. In extreme cases, police, fire and rescue, and armed forces units had to airlift residents from rooftops by helicopter.

Germany's floods: Help is on the way Flood tourists not welcomeWhile rescue workers are exhausted from grueling and deadly round-the-clock work, police have warned against "flood tourism" '-- telling outsiders to stay away. "They make affected residents feel like they are in a zoo," as Lars Brummer of the Koblenz Police Department told regional public broadcaster SWR. "They can also hinder rescue workers."

Germany's floods: Help is on the way Help underwayHundreds of families have lost everything and become displaced. The cities of Cologne and Bonn in North Rhine-Westphalia have set up emergency accommodations for evacuees and aid organizations have begun collecting donations and recruiting volunteers for what will be massive repair operations.

Germany's floods: Help is on the way Immense financial lossLocal media have reported catastrophic damage to infrastructure, public property and private businesses. Rhineland-Palatinate Finance Minister Doris Ahnen promised tax waivers to flood victims. At a time when the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate the livelihood of many families in Germany, some victims might need much more than that to get back on their feet again.

Author: Monir Ghaedi

Seehofer rebuffs flood criticismGerman Interior Minister Horst Seehofer hit out at criticism that the federal government had not done enough to warn locals in the flood-hit areas of the country.

The former Bavarian premier said flood warnings were up to local authorities. "It would be completely inconceivable for such a catastrophe to be managed centrally from any one place. You need local knowledge," he told journalists during a visit to the Steinbach Reservoir in western Germany.

"I have to say that some of the things I'm hearing now are cheap election rhetoric,'' Seehofer said at the site, where authorities say they no longer fear a dam breach. "Now really isn't the hour for this."

Flood death toll climbs to 165The death toll from Germany's worst floods in living memory rose to 165 on Monday, authorities said.

Emergency services are continuing to search decimated towns in the west of the country for the dozens of people still missing.

A deluge of rain fell over western Germany over two days last week, sending torrents of water rushing down streets, sweeping away trees, cars and sheds, and destroying swathes of housing.

German cabinet set to approve '‚¬400m in flood aidSenior German government sources have told the DPA news agency that the cabinet will approve a '‚¬400 million ($470 million) aid package for the flood-hit regions of the country.

The emergency funding and a longer-term reconstruction program is expected to be signed off later on Wednesday, DPA reports.

Fears over Cologne dam subsideCologne authorities say that the Steinbach Dam is no longer a risk to nearby towns and villages.

"A dam breach is now no longer to be feared," the local government said in a statement.Officials are set to organize "an orderly return" of residents to Swisttal and Rheinbach, who had been evacuated for safety reasons.

The heavy rains had led to water overflowing the top of the dam close to the town of Euskirchen.

Greens' choice warns of more extreme eventsAnnalena Baerbock, the Green Party's candidate to take over from Chancellor Angela Merkel in September's election, has told ARD's Morgenmagazin that climate change will spark more natural disasters like the recent floods.

"These extreme weather events will increase," she told the German broadcaster.

Baerbock said the flooding highlighted the need to bring in climate protection measures more quickly.

If she became chancellor, Baerbock said she would massively expand wind power and other renewable energies.

Water collects through narrow valleysAt the center of the floods is the Eifel region, a low mountain range that stretches across eastern Belgium and western Germany, bordering the Rhine and Mosel rivers. In Germany, the Eifel lies in both federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The area is home to usually gentle, picturesque rivers that run through the towns. These are the rivers that burst their banks, flooding and laying to waste entire villages.

Heavy rain in such mountainous terrain is particularly dangerous because water collects in the valleys instead of spreading evenly across other surfaces. This is what happened in the Ahr region, a particularly narrow valley, where a sudden rise in water levels would leave residents with little chance to escape the flood.

The small towns affected in the Eifel area benefit mainly from tourist economic activity, which had slowed down significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The floods are likely to be a terrible setback for the region.

Altenahr mayor fears for drinking water supplies.The mayor of Altenahr in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate fears that drinking water supplies could be limited for a long time after the devastating floods.

"It looks as if the infrastructure has been so badly damaged that there may be no drinking water in some places for weeks or even months," Cornelia Weigand told the Bild newspaper.

Weigand, who is an independent, said emergency water supplies would be required until the repairs were complete.

She also questioned whether all residents would return once the water had subsided. "Who's going to move back there where a flood of the century is going to be exceeded by a factor of three?"

German flood death toll rises furtherThe number of people to have died in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate from the flooding has risen to 117, Koblenz police said on Monday.

Authorities had reported the previous day that 112 people had lost their lives, with nearly 750 people injured.

Floods are a 'wake-up call' on climate, says CSU's S¶derBavarian premier Markus S¶der has said that Germany needs to speed up its fight against climate change.

The leader of the Christian Social Union, the sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU, was speaking to the broadcaster ARD.

"After all, this was a wake-up call," he said.

S¶der said that he would bring forward new legislation to tackle the problem, which was already planned before the recent flooding.

Some areas of Bavaria have also been hit by high water levels, particularly in the Berchtesgaden area close to the border with Austria.

Dozens of people have been evacuated from their homes there.

Civil protection chief rejects criticism of warning systems

The head of Germany's federal office for civil protection and disaster assistance, Armin Schuster, has rejected criticism that more needs to be done to improve the country's warning system for extreme weather.

"The warning infrastructure has not been our problem, but how authorities and the population react sensitively to these to these warnings," Schuster told Deutschlandfunk radio on Monday.

He said the organization, known by its German acronym BBK, issued 150 such warnings between Wednesday and Saturday.

Floods are result of climate 'procrastination'German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze, a Social Democrat (SPD) lawmaker, said the recent floods are "the consequences of procrastination and hesitation" in fighting climate change.

She vowed that if the SPD won September's election, the center-left party would bring in tougher policies to help cut emissions.

Schulze pointed to expanding renewable energy sources, including wind and solar plants, adding that a stricter speed limit on Germany's autobahn network was also necessary.

"It immediately leads to lower CO2 emissions and costs us nothing," she said in an interview with RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.

State minister denies 'fundamental problems'North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul, a CDU lawmaker, said the state needed to improve how it responds to major disasters, but he rejected claims that its approach was fundamentally flawed.

"Not everything that could have worked 100 percent did so. Because in that, there would not have been any fatalities," Reul told the Bild newspaper.

But he added that the state's disaster response policy had "no major fundamental problems", while admitting there was "probably still work to be done" on coordinating relief efforts.

Aerial view of the floodingBefore and after footage of the Ahr valley show just how much water was carried by the small river, spilling into the entire town and the dramatic devastation that followed.

The before and after shots show the extent of the flooding in Altenburg in Altenahr

For more before and after shots, click here.

Disaster not over yet, warns CDU's LaschetArmin Laschet, the Christian Democratic candidate for this year's general election, has warned that the rebuilding from the damage caused by the floods "will take months, even years."

The state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia said "the disaster is not over yet" because thousands of homes across the flood-hit region are without power or running water.

He added that all levels of government were moving "as quickly as possible" to disburse aid to the victims of the extreme weather.

Police contact 700 missing personsCologne police said in a statement on Sunday that they had managed to reach 700 people who had been declared missing. There are now just 150 people who they have not yet been able to get hold of in the regions around Cologne and Bonn.

Weather agency defends itselfA spokesperson for the German Meteorological Service (DWD) defended its role saying the agency had "done what it was supposed to do."

The DWD warned local authorities of the expected weather pattern, but often these messages were not passed on, the spokesperson told German broadcaster ZDF.

In Germany, local districts are responsible for deciding relevant measures, not the DWD.

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 14:06

WASHINGTON '-- The Biden administration on Monday blamed China for a hack of Microsoft Exchange email server software that compromised tens of thousands of computers around the world earlier this year.

The administration and allied nations also disclosed a broad range of other cyberthreats from Beijing, including ransomware attacks from government-affiliated hackers that have targeted companies with demands for millions of dollars. China's Ministry of State Security has been using criminal contract hackers, who have engaged in cyber extortion schemes and theft for their own profit, according to a senior administration official. That official briefed reporters about the investigation on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department on Monday announced charges against four Chinese nationals who prosecutors said were working with the Ministry of State Security in a hacking campaign that targeted dozens of computer systems, including companies, universities and government entities.

The announcements highlighted the ongoing cyberthreat posed by Chinese government hackers even as the administration has been consumed with trying to curb ransomware attacks from Russia-based syndicates that have targeted critical infrastructure, including a massive fuel pipeline. Even though the finger-pointing was not accompanied by any sanctions of Beijing, a senior administration official who disclosed the actions to reporters said that the U.S. has confronted senior Chinese officials and that the White House regards the multination public shaming as sending an important message.

That hackers affiliated with the Ministry of State Security carried out a ransomware attack was surprising and concerning to the U.S. government, the senior administration official said. But the attack, in which an unidentified American company received a high-dollar ransom demand, also gave U.S. officials new insight into what the official said was ''the kind of aggressive behavior that we're seeing coming out of China.''

The European Union and Britain also pointed the finger at China. The EU said malicious cyber activities with ''significant effects'' that targeted government institutions, political organizations and key industries in the bloc's 27 member states could be linked to Chinese hacking groups. The U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre said the groups targeted maritime industries and naval defense contractors in the U.S. and Europe and the Finnish parliament.

In a statement, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the hacking was ''conducted from the territory of China for the purpose of intellectual property theft and espionage.''

The Microsoft Exchange cyberattack ''by Chinese state-backed groups was a reckless but familiar pattern of behaviour,'' U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

The majority of the most damaging and high-profile recent ransomware attacks have involved Russian criminal gangs. Though the U.S. has sometimes seen connections between Russian intelligence agencies and individual hackers, the use of criminal contract hackers by the Chinese government ''to conduct unsanctioned cyber operations globally is distinct,'' the official said.

The Microsoft Exchange hack was first identified in January and was rapidly attributed to Chinese cyber spies by private sector groups. An administration official said the government's attribution to hackers affiliated with China's Ministry of State Security took until now in part because of the discovery of the ransomware and for-profit hacking operations and because the administration wanted to pair the announcement with guidance for businesses about tactics that the Chinese have been using.

An advisory Monday from the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency laid out specific techniques and ways that government agencies and businesses can protect themselves.

The White House also wanted to line up an international coalition of allies to call out China, according to the official, who said it was the first time NATO had condemned Beijing's hacking operations.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, asked about the Microsoft Exchange hack, has previously said that China ''firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms'' and cautioned that attribution of cyberattacks should be based on evidence and not ''groundless accusations.''

Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 08:40

Cars make their way toward downtown Los Angeles on the 110 freeway on April 22. | Mario Tama/Getty Images

House Democrats are trying to use a massive climate and infrastructure bill to change how Americans get around '-- by breaking states' decades-old fondness for building highways.

Legislation the House passed this month is the biggest advance yet in Democrats' efforts to bake climate policies into transportation, addressing the largest single contributor to the United States' greenhouse gas output. It would also represent an historic shift away from the roads-first approach to federal transportation spending that has reigned since Dwight Eisenhower created the Interstate Highway System.

AdvertisementBut the bill is riling up opposition from two potential allies of the Democrats' big-spending infrastructure initiatives: state transportation departments and the road-building lobby. That creates an awkward dynamic for supporters of the House bill, which faces a perilous path through the evenly divided Senate.

Critics say the five-year, $549 billion bill would represent one-size-fits-all Washington meddling at its worst.

''There are 50 different states with 50 different sets of transportation challenges. What is right for one may not be right for another," said Dave Bauer, CEO of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, which supports many of the bill's provisions and principles. "It's really hard to determine that five years at a time from Washington, D.C.''

The bill's supporters say the old system is unsustainable.

Advertisement"We have to begin to look at alternatives,'' House Transportation Chair and bill sponsor Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) told POLITICO in the run-up to the bill's passage in June. "You can't pave over the whole country."

The bill, H.R. 3684 (117), would erect new bureaucratic hurdles for states seeking to spend federal money on laying asphalt, while steering them to more climate-friendly options like transit. It also would give cities more power over selecting and funding transportation projects '-- boosting the leverage of Democratic-led enclaves in red states such as Texas, where Houston is engaged in a high-profile fight with the state's DOT over a highway expansion local pols don't want.

The bill is, for now, is separate from a compromise infrastructure bill backed by the Biden administration and key GOP senators, which would provide $579 billion in new spending, as well as a $3.5 trillion go-it-alone proposal that Democrats hope to approve by party-line votes. These chess pieces are separate for now, but portions of all three could end up blended together into whatever Congress ends up enacting.

DeFazio said state DOTs have reflexively built highways instead of looking at other alternatives '-- a habit that needs to change. As a rare exception, he pointed to Virginia's efforts to expand passenger rail service to combat perennially snarled traffic on Interstate 95.

Advertisement''I'm not saying you can't ever add [highway] capacity. But I'm saying first you have to look at the range of alternatives,'' DeFazio said.

A sea of highwaysStates have tended to use one primary strategy to tackle congestion: adding new highways or expanding existing ones.

From 1993 to 2017, states laid down 30,511 new miles of freeway lanes in the hundred largest urbanized areas '-- a 42 percent increase in highway capacity. Typically when it comes to federal transportation funding, about 80 percent of federal transportation goes to highways, and 20 percent to transit.

Urban planners and transportation researchers say it's impossible to pave the way to free-flowing traffic. In fact, they say new lanes often increase congestion, a phenomenon that economists call induced demand, in which creating a greater supply of something just makes people want to use it more. And more traffic brings more pollution. A recent study by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a sustainability research organization, found that Colorado's plans to add 200 new lane-miles over the next decade would have the same impact on carbon emissions as adding 70,000 cars to the roads.

The Democrats' bill won't be able to undo decades of feverish highway building overnight, but its backers say it represents a huge shift in mindset.

The bill, called the INVEST in America Act, would set limits on how states use money from one of the biggest pots of federal highway cash, the National Highway Performance Program, by requiring them to consider whether an "operational improvement or transit project" would be more cost-effective than expanding capacity for single-occupancy vehicles.

As part of that analysis, states would also have to consider the cost to maintain a project that would increase highway capacity, and prove that their modeling of travel demand has a documented record of accuracy.

It would also give more money and power to cities by granting them more authority over project selection and access to funds previously reserved for states. For example, the bill would require states to give local governments more money through an existing block grant fund than is the case at present, and create a new pot of money to go directly to Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

Advertisement"These changes represent a long-needed shift to ensure that the federal transportation program enhances, rather than undermines, safety and sustainability efforts at the local level," said Corinne Kisner, executive director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

It would also force states to spend a higher proportion of their federal funds on bridges, intended as another way of ensuring they repair existing infrastructure before building anew.

The bill would probably force the greatest changes in red states, which spend proportionally more than blue states do on building new highway capacity, according to data tabulated by the pro-transit group Transportation for America from 2009 to 2014, the most recent available. Mississippi topped the list.

Exceptions exist, though: Republican-led Nebraska spent vastly more on repairs than new highways in those same years. And some Democrat-led states, such as Washington, have often shunned critical highway repairs, contributing to the wear that lawmakers say they want to fix.

States cool to the ideaThe trade group that represents state DOTs in Washington responded to the bill with a carefully worded statement that praised the legislation's policy goals but said the best way to meet them is by giving states more, not less, flexibility.

''We very much appreciate that the House bill addresses so many important priorities '--including equity, greenhouse gas reduction, resilience, [electric vehicle] charging, and more,'' said the statement from Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. ''We firmly believe that if the federal program can provide maximum flexibility rather than prescriptive requirements, states can deliver the policy outcomes envisioned by the House while also advancing each state's own unique priorities."

The group Associated General Contractors of America took a harder tone, warning in a letter last week that "restrictions on states to build new highway capacity would have a negative economic effect on the roadway construction industry," particularly small firms.

But some policy veterans, such as former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Jim Aloisi, the effort doesn't go far enough.

Advertisement''Federal largesse has been responsible in large part for the automobility-centric society that we have today that most of us understand is not sustainable,'' Aloisi said in an interview. ''And what Congress giveth, Congress can reduce or take away. For me, the House bill represents, to be perfectly candid, a modest effort, almost a timid effort in the right direction.''

'Look, it's our money'The House bill's odds for success become more fraught in the Senate, where lawmakers will have to combine it with either its Senate committee counterpart or with the massive bipartisan infrastructure package that President Joe Biden supports.

Both the Senate bill and the larger infrastructure proposal would pump money into state DOTs with minimal restrictions on what they do with it '-- largely maintaining a highway-friendly status quo.

Even if the House proposal becomes law, state transportation agencies are probably already figuring out how to continue funding their traditional priorities as if nothing had changed, Aloisi said.

''State DOTs across the board will be very good, and their private allies and supporters, at figuring out how to navigate their way through the language that the House passed,'' he said, adding that there are likely already ''consultants working overtime.''

But he said changing the states' ways is a necessary goal and praised Congress for starting to try.

''I think the federal government has every right to say look, it's our money, and we are now in the process of redirecting and transitioning from a 1950s approach to something that more clearly reflects not just the moment, but the future,'' Aloisi said.

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Mon, 19 Jul 2021 01:27

Inside the village project held their Community Resource Fair Saturday. It's a mental health clinic that is African American focused. It's the first monthly gathering since the COVID-19 lockdown. Their goal is to provide resources to people who have been impacted by the pandemic. We have a myriad of uh families that come to us and individuals that have been out of work and need fuding food, clothing and so on and so forth. And so um we're bringing community together today and it's not only for african americans, it's for anyone, but specifically the african american community who is suffering tremendously with regards to all over the country not getting inoculated. And that is really important because we want to send a message that let's all get inoculated because it will save our lives and our family members lives. Mhm.CENTRAL COAST COUNTIES ARE NOW IN THE YELLOW TIER...### IN SEASIDE... THE VILLAGE PROJECT HELD THEIR COMMUNITY RESOURCE FAIR SATURDAY.... IT'S A MENTAL HEALTH CLINIC THAT IS AFRICAN- AMERICAN FOCUSED.. IT'S THEIR FIRST MONTHLY GATHERING SINCE THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN.. THEIR GOAL IS TO PROVIDE RESOURCES TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN IMPACTED BTHY E PANDEMIC..## <1:13 - 1:24 "WE HAVE A MYRI AD OF FAMILIES THAT COME TO US AND INDIVIDUALS THAT HAVE BEEN OUT OF WORK AND ND EE FOOD, CLOTHING AND SO ON A ND SO FORTH. AND SO WE'RE BRINGING COMMUNITY TOGETHER TODAY." BUTT TO 2:02-2:23 "IT'S NOT ONLY FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN S, IT'S FOR ANYONE, BUT SPECIFICALLY THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY WHO IS SUFFERING TREMENDOUSLY WITH REGARDS TO ALL OVER THE COUNTRY NOT GETTING INOCULATED. AND TH AT IS REALLY IMPORTA NT BECAUSE WE WANT TO SENA D MESSAGE THAT LET'S ALL GET INOCULATED BECAUSE IT

Northern California county changes COVID-19 death reporting

A Northern California county has changed its methodology to record coronavirus deaths, causing its fatality figures to decrease by 25%.The official COVID-19 death count in Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay Area, fell from 1,634 to 1,223 after officials changed the criteria for fatalities to match state and national definitions, the county's public health department said in a news release.The county will now only report deaths as coronavirus-related fatalities when people died as a direct result of COVID-19, or had the virus as a contributing cause of death as well as people for whom COVID-19 could not be ruled out as a cause of death.Previously, the county had included any person who died while infected with the virus. For example, if someone had died in a car crash but had tested positive for COVID-19, they were counted as part of the county's virus deaths - though they would not be included in the state's figures, T he Mercury News reported.The county's methodology change does not disproportionally impact reported deaths for any specific race, ethnic group or ZIP code, the public health department said.Statewide, more than 62,000 people have died from the coronavirus.

DUBLIN, Calif. '--A Northern California county has changed its methodology to record coronavirus deaths, causing its fatality figures to decrease by 25%.

The official COVID-19 death count in Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay Area, fell from 1,634 to 1,223 after officials changed the criteria for fatalities to match state and national definitions, the county's public health department said in a news release.

The county will now only report deaths as coronavirus-related fatalities when people died as a direct result of COVID-19, or had the virus as a contributing cause of death as well as people for whom COVID-19 could not be ruled out as a cause of death.

Previously, the county had included any person who died while infected with the virus. For example, if someone had died in a car crash but had tested positive for COVID-19, they were counted as part of the county's virus deaths - though they would not be included in the state's figures, T he Mercury News reported.

The county's methodology change does not disproportionally impact reported deaths for any specific race, ethnic group or ZIP code, the public health department said.

Statewide, more than 62,000 people have died from the coronavirus.