Tracker

Everything we know about the mu variant, the latest coronavirus mutation A study published last month established that Americans, after years of being pounded with creationist propaganda, had decisively rejected pseudoscience and accepted evolution. While the shift in public opinion had been years in the making, there was a certain poetry to the timing of that study's release. We have watched with bated breath as SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that brought the world to its knees by causing the COVID-19 pandemic — has evolved over and over again into something more effective at spreading through the human population. We have had the delta variant and the lambda variant and the hybrid B.1.429, to name only a few. Whenever a new strain pops up, public health officials try to strike a note between caution and reassurance. Now we come to the mu variant, also known as B.1.621. On Monday the World Health Organization (WHO) officially labeled the mu variant as a "variant of interest," a designation that indicates a need for further study about possible dangers while falling short of the more serious classification, "variant of concern." Variants of concern are regarded as a top priority because they are more immunity-resistant, contagious or deadly than other strains. Currently the WHO considers four strains to meet those criteria: alpha, beta, gamma and delta (the variant most prevalent in the United States). The WHO reports that the earliest documented samples of the mu variant came from Colombia in January; the strain now makes up 39 percent of all the cases there. It has also been detected in dozens of other countries, most commonly popping up in the United States, Mexico, Spain and Ecuador. A British risk assessment released last month suggests that the mu variant could be at least as resistant to vaccine-based immunity as the beta strain, although more research needs to be done. The mu variant contains several mutations that have been associated with resistance to immunity, such as E484K and K417N, as well a mutation known as P681H that has been linked to accelerated transmission. "This variant has a constellation of mutations that suggests that it would evade certain antibodies, not only monoclonal antibodies, but vaccine- and convalescent serum-induced antibodies," President Joe Biden's COVID-19 adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters on Thursday. "But there isn't a lot of clinical data to suggest that. It is mostly laboratory in-vitro data." Everything we know about the mu variant, the latest coronavirus mutation | Salon.com

I agree. We're scrooged.

Peterman looking like a primo receiver. Davis looking better than I ever remember him. Huh.

Time for RedBlacks to invoke their safe word.

Prediction: in the 4th quarter, the Alouettes will kick sand in the faces of the RedBlacks.

SHHHH!! You'll ruin it for the rest of us.

Dedmon running.

Looks like half of the Village People.

That's what you have when a team doesn't have a training camp. They didn't did they? Only by comparison.

Angry Men With Zip-Ties Ambush School Principal After COVID Masking Request Police arrested a 40-year-old Arizona dad after he stormed into an elementary school principal’s office with a friend wielding plastic handcuffs, insisting the administration broke the law by asking his child and six others to wear a mask and quarantine after being in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. “I can tell you the end result of that incident was we did make one arrest for trespassing,” Sgt. Richard Gradillas of the Tucson, Arizona, Police Department told The Daily Beast, identifying the dad arrested as Rishi Rambaran. Two men accompanied Rambaran on Thursday as he ambushed Principal Diane Vargo while she sat with another educator at the Mesquite Elementary School in Tucson. One of the men, Kelly Walker, livestreamed the incident on Instagram, explaining that Rambaran, who is also known as “Reese,” had called him and asked him to be there in case he needed backup. The third man, who has not been identified, stood in the doorway of Vargo’s office with a fistful of “law enforcement-grade” zip ties at the ready—as the trio was prepared to make a citizen’s arrest, Walker said. “When this kind of coercion and bullying is perpetrated by school administrators, breaking the law, a citizens’ arrest is an option worth looking into,” Walker wrote on Facebook. Gradillas told the Beast that in his 14 years on the force, he’s “never seen a citizens’ arrest.” The Vail School District’s COVID policy follows public health guidance issued by Pima County, which requires students to quarantine at home for at least a week after exposure. The school in fact was abiding by Pima’s rules, and had not violated any laws by asking the students to mask up or quarantine. Arizona Dad Rishi Rambaran Arrested After Angry Trio Threatens to Zip-Tie Principal Over COVID Rules (thedailybeast.com)

Remington Subpoenas Report Cards Of Children Killed At Sandy Hook Remington Arms subpoenaed the report cards, attendance and employment records for five children and four educators killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School as part of a lawsuit brought by the victims’ families. Lawyers for the families filed a motion to seal the information on Thursday, citing a previous order that kept Remington’s proprietary business information from being shared in the course of the proceedings. The filing argues that sharing the records ― which the school district has released to Remington’s lawyers ― amounts to an insensitive invasion of privacy. “We have no explanation for why Remington subpoenaed the Newtown Public School District to obtain the kindergarten and first-grade academic, attendance and disciplinary records of these five school children,” the families’ lead attorney, Josh Koskoff, said in a statement to HuffPost. Remington Subpoenas Report Cards Of Children Killed At Sandy Hook | HuffPost

No matter how much chicken feathers they give you, it ain't gonna be chicken salad.

No, I did not.

After watching the brief interview with Adams, I have to downgrade my opinion of his smarts.

I recall Spaavital being a very gentlemanly person in radio interviews, referring to his players as "young men". Accurate, but a bit Scarlett O'Hara-ish.

This is sort of like the ugly child being fawned over at family gatherings to make him feel better.

If they sack-strip Adams in the Montreal end zone, then yes. Otherwise, no.

That's all gonna come in handy when the Taliban moves on to Iraq.

Fox News host complains vaccinated are 'otherizing' anti-vaxxers: 'Next step' is putting unvaccinated into camps' The anti-vaxx movement continues to co-opt language used by liberals, declaring "my body, my choice" – not when it comes to abortion but to vaccines. Now they're taking that one step further, imposing victimization status on those who refuse to get vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus that has killed at least 650,000 Americans and is transmissible by just breathing. Fox News personality Will Cain, who co-hosts the weekend version of "Fox & Friends," on Wednesday's episode of "The Five" told Geraldo Rivera that Americans who are vaccinated are "otherizing" the unvaccinated, as Media Matters reports. "Otherizing" is a term used to describe how white majorities dehumanize minorities, often immigrants, as "others." Continuing the anti-immigrant framing, Cain declared, "We're veering dangerously close to exterminationist language." "Exterminationism" is exactly what it sounds like: genocide, especially of ethnic minorities. The anti-vaxxers are now pretending their lives are being threatened, not by a deadly virus, but by the socially-responsible who chose to get vaccinated to protect themselves, their loved ones, neighbors, and co-workers. Finally, Cain goes even further, walking a very close line to horrific historic events, either like the Japanese internment camps the U.S. created during World War II, or the camps Hitler where sent Jews to their deaths during the Holocaust. "We're veering dangerously close to exterminationist language. Otherizing –" Cain told Rivera. "Exterminationist?" Rivera responded. "Absolutely," Cain claimed. "That's the next step. Putting the unvaccinated into someplace else, camps. Whatever it may be." Fox News host complains vaccinated are 'otherizing' anti-vaxxers: 'Next step' is putting unvaccinated into camps' - Alternet.org

Welcome to the forum. If you are driving to Regina, hang up about 6 air fresheners in the car when you get close.