Tracker

HYGIENE TIP OF THE DAY:

Fani Willis Signals August Georgia Indictment For Trump’s Crew In a new letter, Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis signaled an August timeline for indictments of Trump’s gang that tried to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis hinted that she might seek indictments in early to mid-August in her long-running inquiry of former President Donald Trump and his allies. The timetable was disclosed in a Thursday letter to Ural Glanville, Fulton Superior Court’s chief judge, and 20 other county officials. Willis listed 10 days between July 31 and August 18 in which she plans to direct a large percentage of her staff to work remotely. “This remote work will reduce the number of Fulton County District Attorney’s office staff in the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Center by approximately 70%,” Willis noted, adding that only her leadership team, armed investigators and a couple of other teams will be working in the building those days. The Georgia indictments will come in the same month as the first 2024 Republican primary debate. Donald Trump has already threatened to skip the debate which will be hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

And I want a Ferrari.

Long-sought universal flu vaccine: mRNA-based candidate enters clinical trial. The phase I trial will test safety and efficacy in a small number of people. An mRNA-based flu vaccine designed to offer long-lasting protection against a broad range of influenza viruses is now in a phase I clinical trial, the National Institutes of Health announced this week. The trial brings the remarkable success of the mRNA vaccine platform to the long-standing efforts to develop a universal flu vaccine. Currently, health systems around the globe battle the seasonal scourge with shots that have to be reformulated each year to match circulating strains. This reformulation happens months before typical transmission, providing manufacturers time to produce doses at scale but also giving the strain in circulation chances to shift unexpectedly. If the year's shot is a poor match for the strains that circulate in a given season, efficacy against infection can be abysmal. Still, even when the shot is well-matched, people will need another shot next year. "A universal influenza vaccine would be a major public health achievement and could eliminate the need for both annual development of seasonal influenza vaccines, as well as the need for patients to get a flu shot each year," Hugh Auchincloss, acting director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a news release. "Moreover, some strains of influenza virus have significant pandemic potential. A universal flu vaccine could serve as an important line of defense against the spread of a future flu pandemic." A successful design has been elusive. Flu vaccines often generate immune responses to fast-evolving bits of proteins on the outside of flu virus particles, hemagglutinin (Ha or H) and neuraminidase (Na or N). These proteins are responsible for helping the virus break into and out of human cells, respectively, during an infection. Both proteins look a little like lollipops stuck to the outside of the virus particle, with their tops evolving and being prime targets for potent antibodies against the virus. For the universal vaccine design, NIH researchers have targeted not the tops of these proteins but a portion of the Ha protein's stem—a highly conserved part of the protein that doesn't evolve as quickly. Human antibodies that target this conserved region will likely target Ha proteins from a range of different flu strains in the same class. And, because this section doesn't evolve as quickly, the vaccine could induce long-term immunity. With this design, the mRNA-based vaccine will include a snippet of genetic code in the form of mRNA that gives human cells the blueprints for this conserved stem region. From there, the immune system can learn to target it. There's already data to suggest this target could work. Before NIH researchers used an mRNA-based design, they developed a similar HA-stem targeting vaccine that appeared safe and effective in a phase I trial. The vaccine uses stabilized protein fragments of the Ha stem stuck to a nanoparticle. Last month, NIH researchers published results showing that this nanoparticle vaccine induced cross-reacting neutralizing antibodies against influenza viruses in the same virus group (H1). And those neutralizing antibodies stuck around for more than a year after vaccination. The vaccine candidate has advanced to a second trial. The researchers are hopeful that having multiple platforms in the works will increase their chances of getting a successful vaccine. For now, the mRNA-based vaccine is starting with a small trial of just 50 people recruited through partners at Duke University. Three groups of 10 volunteers will get different vaccine doses to find the optimal dose. Once that's found, 10 more will be vaccinated, and their responses will be compared to a 10-person control group that will be given a standard annual flu vaccine. https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/05/experimental-universal-flu-vaccine-with-an-mrna-based-design-enters-trial/

Like the Bible?

As well as a very brief movie career (Ice Station Zebra).

No doubt she is self-serving but maybe, just maybe, some light is creeping into the GOP that they are beginning to realize that Trump and his sycophants will lead them into obscurity. All journeys begin with a single step.

The alternative is to accept that we are already approaching the precipice at a gallop with no chance of stopping. My background as a sociology major (back in the stoned age) leads me to believe that history does show that people are capable of great growth and selflessness, particularly if a leader presents an ideal.

Any federal government could, in theory, force interest rates down by fiat. The problem with that currently would be that capital would flee to any country with significantly higher interest rates and the economy would flatline due to inabilities to borrow for mortgages and so forth. The answer tot hat which will never happen is for a capital transfer tax but that would have to be initiated by most, if not all G7 countries.

(Finally, A Break in the Trump-GOP wall) 'You pay the price': Nikki Haley denounces Jan. 6 during Iowa visit Republican 2024 hopeful and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley made an opposing view against former President Donald Trump clear Thursday by denouncing the Jan. 6 insurrection, NBC News reports. During CNN's town hall with the former president earlier this month, Trump continued to push the 2020 election fraud lies that ultimately led to the attack, and vowed to pardon rioters found guilty. According to NBC, the former governor was asked during an Ankeny, Iowa town hall event about "how she could ensure a 'fair and speedy' trial for those charged over their alleged actions on Jan. 6." Haley replied, "It was not a beautiful day, it was a terrible day, and we don't ever want that to happen again. I don't know enough about each individual [rioter] but that's my rule: If you break the law, you pay the price. And so I think that's the way we need to look at it." NBC notes soon after the insurrection took place "Haley said the former president's 'actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history,' telling "Politico in January 2021 'he went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn't have followed him, and we shouldn't have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again." https://www.alternet.org/you-pay-the-price-nikki-haley-denounces-jan-6-during-iowa-visit/

My favourites:

PP has nothing to offer except feigned outrage and that will wear thin in time. And yes, he has no concept about the division of powers in government.

Personal hygiene products are finally being able to sold over the counter in Regina.

Introducing the X-65! The #xplane we're developing to fly without traditional, exterior-moving flight controls received its official designation. CRANE aims to build an experimental uncrewed aircraft that maneuvers by controlling the air flow around it.

I've heard that to make customers happier, they have on staff a fungi.

It is not hyperbole when you consider the attacks on LGBTQ people, natives, and Asians by the right wingers as well as their tacit and sometimes overt promotion of "Christian" values as well as their alleged adherence to Biblical rules. Even in Canada, the right-wingers have sought to muzzle independent media, conduct their governance in secret and even engage in election-fixing. Hatred ultimately creates violence as evinced by the increases in explicit threats and physical attacks on abortion clinics and staff, mosques and offices of progressives. This rhetoric created Donald Trump and Pierre Poilievre. The FBI in 2020 called right-wing extremism the greatest threat to America. Ignore the obvious much?

I am properly chastised.

That will not save his butt.

And three FBI agents and one supervisor have been suspended for colluding with Jan. 6 rioters, being at the Capitol that day as part of the crowd or reporting to the Trump organization. They are also accused of providing privileged information to, among others, the Jim Jeffries committee.

Kremlin’s ‘Presidential Academy’ Gets Hit With a Mass Purge A prestigious Kremlin-funded university that trains up Russia's top civil servants is about to fire all of its employees living abroad, according to current and former employees, in what appears to be Moscow’s latest wartime attempt to secure a vice-like grip around possible dissent. The Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of Russia (RANEPA) is targeting employees who left during Russia’s war in Ukraine in 2022 and 2023, in addition to those who have been living elsewhere for longer, according to a report from Agentsvo, or The Agency. Sources told the outlet that “the order came from above,” without specifying further. The firing spree follows a series of crackdowns on liberal elements of the university. Yulia Galyamina, a former professor in the Department of the Theory and Practice of Media Communications at RANEPA, was fired in recent months after she called for protests against the war last year. Russia alleged she was a foreign agent. The school’s former rector, economist Vladimir Mau, left the university after being accused of embezzlement and being interrogated for several days. Although he had signed a letter in support of Russia’s war, he had reportedly stopped trying to fit into the system, Meduza reported. Instead, he had tried to reform the system from within, according to the Financial Times. Authorities have also recently searched the homes of Mau and Maxim Dulinova, the head of RANEPA’s Federal Education Development Institute. The moves comes as the Kremlin is searching for alternative ways to clamp down on any appearance of disintegrating support for the war in Ukraine. According to a new intelligence assessment released this week, the Kremlin is likely banning senior officials from leaving their posts—an apparent effort save face as Russian forces fail to make significant gains in the war. https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-purges-russian-presidential-academy-after-major-crackdowns-on-dissent?ref=home?ref=home

Which makes me wonder about Winston Rose.

Anyone who detests these movies and criticizes the actors should remember, the dictum:" Let he who is without sin stone the cast first">

For those who have not been following Russian war effort/politics, these men were primarily responsible for developing the Kinzal (dagger) missiles which were promised to be hypersonic and so fast that defending against them would be impossible. Turns out that they were fast but not fast enough to avoid being shot down by conventional anti-aircraft missile systems- like the US Patriot system. Apparently massive amounts of rubles have disappeared from R&D programs in Russia, but these clowns were somehow not smart enough to get the hell out of Russia before bring discovered.

For some, their depravity is an abyss- a bottomless pit.