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When you believe or are told that Jesus will protect you and that any admission of needing vaccination is an admission of lack of faith, dooming you to eternal lakes of fire, you gotta go with it. Delegating your thinking to others is not only stupid, it is cowardice.

'Unprecedented political interference': Bombshell House report finds Trump Admin 'undermined' COVID response A massive, bombshell report published Friday by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis reveals the Trump administration engaged in "unprecedented political interference" in the work of scientific experts, including at CDC, and "was responsible for a series of critical failures that undermined the nation’s ability to respond effectively to the coronavirus pandemic." One heading from the 46-page report reads: "The Trump Administration’s Persistent Political Interference in the Pandemic Response Contributed to One of the Worst Failures of Leadership in American History." In a devastating revelation the report adds that "Trump Administration officials purposefully weakened" CDC's "testing guidance to reduce the amount of testing being conducted and obscure how rapidly the virus was spreading across the country." The Select Committee finds administration officials "championed a dangerous 'herd immunity' strategy inside the White House—including by arranging a roundtable event between then-President Trump and a fringe group of herd immunity proponents—that would have placed millions of lives at risk." It alleges it has new evidence showing that "Trump White House officials blocked CDC briefings and media appearances, and attempted to sidestep CDC in finalizing coronavirus guidance. The Select Subcommittee also uncovered evidence showing that Trump White House officials neglected the pandemic response to focus on the 2020 presidential election and promote the Big Lie that the election results were fraudulent." But the Trump administration's failures date back to the very beginning of the pandemic, the reports reveals, with the administration ignoring warnings from its own officials to obtain critical supplies including PPE (personal protective equipment) which ultimately led to medical professionals including doctors and nurses being forced to wear trash bags and reuse medical-grade face masks for days and weeks at a time. The report often avoids accusing specific individuals but in one damning example it says career scientists were "instructed to destroy evidence of political interference." A "CDC official confirmed...she was instructed to destroy evidence of political interference by a Trump Administration political appointee. The CDC official told the Select Subcommittee that she understood this instruction—which 'seemed unusual' and made her 'uncomfortable'—came from then-CDC Director [Robert] Redfield. The report also delves in to massive fraud and waste, and while not using the word "corruption " offers concerning examples of the administration's interference in coronavirus programs. Trump White House officials were involved in the approval process of the Treasury' Department's approval of a $700 million loan to one trucking company. "Reports have raised serious doubts that [the trucking company] satisfied the criteria to be deemed 'critical' to national security and questioned its use of funds." That one loan represented 95 percent of the entire program's funding. 'Unprecedented political interference': Bombshell House report finds Trump Admin 'undermined' COVID response - Alternet.org

They’re Already Past the Peak in South Africa’s Omicron Ground Zero Reuters Even as the world panics over the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the health ministry in South Africa has delivered some encouraging news. On Friday, South Africa’s Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said that hospitalizations are down with Omicron cases compared to previous waves like the deadly Delta surge, and that people in the hospital rarely need oxygen and are less likely to die from the disease. Phaahla told reporters that the country’s hospital admission rate of COVID-19 patients “fell 90 percent in the second week of the current infection wave driven by the Omicron variant” as compared to the second week of the Delta wave. Boiling down the good-for-a-global-pandemic news further, he said that only 1.7 percent of all Omicron cases are being hospitalized, compared to 19 percent of Delta cases earlier in the year. Since the variant was first identified in South Africa just three weeks ago, it has already peaked in South Africa’s Gauteng province, according to national statistics, with hospitalizations falling sharply. He added that many milder cases were in the hospital because there was space, unlike in other waves when doctors had to choose who lived or died based on occupancy rates. “We have seen a decrease in a proportion of people who need to be on oxygen. They are at very low levels,” said Waasila Jassat, a researcher at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases told Bloomberg. “For the first time there are more non-severe than severe patients in hospital.” That’s encouraging news if it holds good, keeping in mind it is summer in the southern hemisphere and if anything is known about this pandemic so far, it is that winter weather makes things worse—and that nothing can be taken for granted on this horrific pandemic roller coaster. Australia, also enjoying warmer weather, is reporting a new surge in cases likely tied to Omicron, though fewer hospitalizations than in previous waves.

He has been very good on third-and-one plunges but that's about it.

Hat trick!

No team is going to fight to sign McGuire, if his performance this year was any indication. He should consider himself fortunate if the Bombers want him back.

The probability is that the producers got wind of this long before it became public and may have even convinced (read:paid) the complainants to hold off until they got their strategies figured out.

From credible reports, she was very self-destructive when in the depths of her partying, which triggered the parental involvement. You may have noticed that in none of the reports, were there any mention of funds being misused or inappropriately taken. That would have been embezzlement.

You don't suppose the two things are connected, do you?

Ack Ack. Ackackack! We need Slim Whitman on standby.

We're just plebians and they are the patricians, so..... different rules. One projection I saw indicated that when the Omicron variant peaks, we could be up to as high as 1000 new cases per day in Manitoba. Thank God that its not as lethal as its predecessors.

And Gweneth Paltrow is selling a perfume that apparently smells like her orgasm. I do not want to go into this news item more than this.

Bethel Thompson might become available. I am not sure he would take the pay cut but behind a decent O-line and good receivers, he ought to be serviceable.

The insanity and violence has not gotten any better since summertime, so I would not be surprised if he and his family decided to stay put here for awhile.

This sounds like an epitaph.

Fauci: COVID-19 Boosters Are Enough To Fight Omicron Variant Data shows that boosters are effective in preventing serious illness from the new variant. But effectiveness drops for those who haven't received an extra shot. A vaccine specifically targeting the omicron coronavirus variant is not needed so long as individuals are entirely caught up on their vaccines, including their booster shot, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday, citing recent data on vaccine longevity. “Our booster regimens work against omicron,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said at a White House press briefing that featured supporting data from the agency, as well as from vaccine maker Pfizer-BioNTech, Rockefeller University in New York, and South African clinical studies. “At this point, there is no need for a variant-specific booster.” The data presented, some of which was preliminary, showed that individuals continue to have substantial omicron-fighting antibodies weeks after receiving a booster shot, with one study showing a 38-fold increase in neutralizing activity. But this wasn’t the case for those who had received only two doses of an mRNA vaccine, such as the ones produced by Pfizer and Moderna. Fauci: COVID-19 Boosters Are Enough To Fight Omicron Variant | HuffPost Latest News

Apparently not all that imminent.

Thanks for the deference. WOW! He had best start planning what to do with the pending load of manure coming his way.

It really bothers me that our provincial government and Department of Health keep rolling out the numbers all the while wringing their hands and spouting platitudes. People are dying, dammit! Even more worrisome is that projections show this wave peaking in late January, and that is providing that no new variants appear. Apparently restricting the movements of the unvaccinated and people in general is not being considered as is severe prosecution of scofflaws.

As the cream rises to the top, it gets skimmed off. Inevitable.

Isn't that the very definition of a good defence and good defensive players?

I suspect that because of the dramatic win following a 1 year hiatus of the CFL, it will feel like a long, long time before 2022 training camp opens, despite the late ending of the current season. I don't know about others, but I can't wait.

Pfizer Study Confirms COVID Pill's Results, Potency Versus Omicron Pfizer said Tuesday that its experimental COVID-19 pill appears effective against the omicron variant. The company also said full results of its 2,250-person study confirmed the pill’s promising early results against the virus: The drug reduced combined hospitalizations and deaths by about 89% among high-risk adults when taken shortly after initial COVID-19 symptoms. Separate laboratory testing shows the drug retains its potency against the omicron variant, the company announced, as many experts had predicted. Pfizer tested the antiviral drug against a man-made version of a key protein that omicron uses to reproduce itself. The updates come as COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalization are all rising again and the U.S. hovers around 800,000 pandemic deaths. The latest surge, driven by the delta variant, is accelerating due to colder weather and more indoor gatherings, even as health officials brace for the impact of the emerging omicron mutant. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to soon rule on whether to authorize Pfizer’s pill and a competing pill from Merck, which was submitted to regulators several weeks earlier. If granted, the pills would be the first COVID-19 treatments that Americans could pickup at a pharmacy and take at home. Pfizer Study Confirms COVID Pill's Results, Potency Versus Omicron | HuffPost Latest News

But we have been told by the Minister of Health that this administration is well prepared to handle the pandemic and its consequences. Surely, she and they wouldn't lie to us, would they?