Taking out the trash
[KXAN] A Louisiana truck driver who severely abused his 2-year-old daughter for weeks in 2002, then killed her by slamming her head repeatedly against a truck's windows and dashboard, was put to death Friday night in the second federal execution carried out this week.
Alfred Bourgeois, 56, was pronounced dead at 8:21 p.m. Eastern time at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. His lawyers had argued he had an IQ that put him in the intellectually disabled category, saying that should have made him ineligible for the death penalty.
In his last words, Bourgeois, strapped to a gurney, offered no apology and instead struck a deeply defiant tone, insisting that he neither killed nor sexually abused his baby girl.
"I ask God to forgive all those who plotted and schemed against me, and planted false evidence," he said. He added: "I did not commit this crime."
Later, the girl's relatives released a joint statement calling Bourgeois "a monster."
"None of us thought she would return from (visiting Bourgeois) in a casket," it said. "It should not have taken 18 years to receive justice for our angel."
#6
I just cannot understand why the State incurrs all the expenses of lethal injections when there are perfectly good cleared ground areas with stakes waiting to meet matches at a very low cost.
[NEWS.YAHOO] A rookie police officer shot and maimed a woman in suburban Milwaukee after the woman began pounding on the officer's squad car with a wooden post, authorities said Friday, marking another potentially incendiary incident in a city recovering from protests over another police shooting earlier this year.
The latest incident occurred Thursday evening in Wauwatosa after officers responded to a report of a 35-year-old woman attacking another woman with a stick, police said in a statement. Investigators later determined the two women did not know each other and the attack appears to have been random.
A 23-year-old female officer with nine months of experience located the attacker nearby. The woman charged at her squad car and started hitting the windshield with a wooden post, the statement said. The woman refused to comply with commands and advanced on her with the post, prompting the officer to open fire, according to the police statement.
Even after she was shot, the woman continued to hit the squad car with the post, the statement said. It took several officers to take her into custody. She was transported to a hospital where she underwent surgery, police said. She was in stable, pH balanced condition Friday.
"We understand that any use of force can be concerning to our citizens," the statement said. "Police officers train to control individuals with the least amount of force necessary. Any time there is an officer involved shooting, we understand the community has many concerns. No police officer wants this to happen."
The department did not release the names or races of the woman or the officer. The statement did not say if the officer fired from inside the squad car or got out to confront the woman.
The Wauwatosa Common Council earlier this year voted to equip every officer with a body camera by the end of 2020, but the police statement said no such footage of the shooting exists. Police did not elaborate. The department did release a blurry photo from the squad car's dashboard camera that shows a woman standing in front of the car with what appears to be a stick or pole.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
Woman beating on your car with a post? Shoot her dead and let the coroner sort it out. Was she black by any chance? Haven't heard of any riots breaking out yet.
#5
Excerpt says "shot and maimed" which I found interesting as maimed has long term implications. The article at the link says "shot and wounded" Why use a loaded term if you don't want to cause trouble? Yes they changed it but journalists are the enemy.
[NEWS.YAHOO] A Texas man released from prison after his sentence was commuted by former President Barack Obama How much damage could he do in four years?... Eight, then... has again been indicted on federal drug trafficking charges, according to Department of Justice officials.Hilario Nieto, 41, of San Antonio, is among eight people indicted on charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine and heroin in the San Antonio area, federal officials announced Thursday.
John Convery, who is representing Nieto, said it is early in the case and there is no additional information he can provide but presumes his client innocent.
Nieto was sentenced in 2004 to more than 20 years in federal prison on drug charges, according to the federal officials. He was scheduled for release in 2021.
Obama commuted Nieto's sentence in 2016, the Justice Department said, and he was released in 2018.
"It is truly appalling that a man whose sentence the President previously commuted chose to flout that generous gift after being released from federal prison by resuming gang-related drug dealing in the San Antonio community," U.S. Attorney Gregg Sofer said in a statement.
All of the defendants are in federal custody. Those charged face 10 years to life in federal prison for the methamphetamine charges and up to 20 years in federal prison for the heroin-related charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
I can't get too excited about someone dealing drugs. "Conspiracy to possess and distribute"....Big f'in deal. As long as no violence is involved. War on drugs is a joke.
[Spokesman] After a bomb threat and arson at the Spokane County Democrats headquarters Wednesday, Washington party officials are calling for leaders to condemn the act.
Mayor Nadine Woodward did not release a statement Wednesday. When asked if the mayor had a statement, her spokesperson Brian Coddington said over email: "No. It’s a law enforcement matter."
Nicole Bishop, chair of the local Democrats, said she wasn’t at the office Wednesday, but a volunteer told her a man came in and handed her a piece of paper.
He asked the volunteer whether she knew what it meant and she said she didn’t, Bishop said. The man then said, "it’s a manifesto and I have a bomb," Bishop said.
The volunteer could see wires coming from his bag, Bishop said.
While one volunteer called 911, the man went into another’s office and said he would "blow the place up," according to a Spokane Police Department news release.
When the man left the building on his own, police detained him. Smoke was billowing from the office, the release said.
The SPD bomb squad did not find an explosive device, but it seemed the man had started a fire, according to the release.
"They’re all physically safe but they’re certainly shaken up," Bishop said.Bishop, in a Spokane County Democrats meeting Wednesday, said police had indicated to her the man was acting alone.
"When I say he’s acting alone, I don’t mean he’s acting without influence," Bishop said.
State Sen. Andy Billig pointed out that government leaders were not quick to condemn the attack.
"It’s not just about the violent rhetoric, it’s about the people who are silent," Billig said.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said in a statement Wednesday evening she was thankful no one was hurt and that "no one should be targeted with violence because of their political beliefs."
"As I have said many times before, we must all unite in standing against hate and violence of any kind," she said.
Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs in a statement Wednesday said he condemns "anyone who uses fear and violence to accomplish a political goal."
"Spokane is stronger than fear," Beggs said. "Together we stand for peace, justice and a thriving community."
Remember the FAKE Pipe bombs and the guy that played the bomber perfectly and neatly lined up decal on his VAN?.
All in the weeks before the last election ....
We were fed a story claiming that he sent various Democrat leaders pipe bombs via USPS. Despite the commonly known steps taken for Congressional Mail and Packages scanning after the 2001 Anthrax dustings.
Yep the Political Party that cried wolf for attention.
#6
“Something Vimes had learned as a young guard drifted up from memory. If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat.
They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.
So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.”
[Hot Air] It’s here, it’s on its way, and it has FDA approval. The emergency-use authorization came late tonight, followed immediately by an Oval Office announcement from Donald Trump, who hailed the achievement of his Operation Warp Speed project:
#1
Everybody should get the vaccine so when it doesn't work (St. Fauxi already said it won't work but get it anyway) it will be whitey and Trump's fault.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/12/2020 14:57 Comments ||
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#2
Deck chairs on the Titanic, SCOTUS cowardice was the last peaceful chance to save the Republic. That states have no standing to argue that other states, with more electoral votes, can have a crooked voting system that allows them to elect a fraud of their choice to rule us all is judicial psychobabble.
#3
The doesn’t care about the citizens so the converse is true.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/12/2020 13:40 Comments ||
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#4
Commenter #1 distilled it nicely.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/12/2020 13:48 Comments ||
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#5
Regarding the "little people". Had dinner in doors at a large restaurant in a Republican state and the young waiters and waitresses were getting great tips from customers for Christmas.
Terrible to think what is happening with young people in Dimocrat states that won't let the "little people" make money for Christmas while the politicians still get paid fat checks while staying home from tax payer dollars.
[AnNahar] Two international aid agencies on Friday said four staff members were killed during last month's fighting in Æthiopia's troubled northern Tigray region.
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) reported the deaths of three security guards, while the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said one of its staff members had been killed.
An estimated 600,000 people in Tigray were dependent on food aid before the fighting began, including 96,000 refugees from neighbouring Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered troops into Tigray on November 4, following alleged attacks by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) forces, aid workers were left stranded and vulnerable.
A communications blackout imposed by the government combined with tight restrictions on access to Tigray has made it very difficult for aid agencies to confirm the whereabouts and safety of their staff in the area.
DRC said it was "deeply saddened to confirm the death of three colleagues," adding that its "workers are at the forefront of the humanitarian imperative to provide assistance to those in need.
"Sadly, due to the lack of communications and ongoing insecurity in the region, it has not yet been possible to reach their families," a statement said.
In another statement, IRC said it "regrets to confirm the killing of a staff member in Hitsats Refugee Camp in Shire".
"Our in-country staff are the very heart of our work and are key in our ability to provide support and assistance to our clients," it said.
"Communication with the area is extremely difficult and we are still working to gather and confirm the details surrounding the events."
Despite Abiy's declaration of victory on November 28, the UN and aid agencies have said fighting continues.
[ENGLISHBETA.ALARABIYA.NET] South Africa’s chief justice on Friday vehemently defended a prayer he made against "satanic" COVID-19 vaccines, seeming to refer to a conspiracy theory that they could "infuse 666" into people’s DNA.
Mogoeng Mogoeng, a devout Christian, came under strong criticism on social media following the prayer at an event in Johannesburg on Thursday to honor people who died from COVID-19 in Africa’s hardest-hit country.
"I lockout every demon of COVID-19, I lock out any vaccine that is not of you, if there be any vaccine that is of the devil meant to infuse 666 in the lives of people, meant to corrupt your DNA," he said in the prayer.
On Friday he told a media conference that he would not be dissuaded from speaking against or praying against possible "satanic" vaccines.
"You can’t say we must, as Christians, just fold our arms and say ’whatever people come with’ is fine. No. We can’t," he said.
"If there is a vaccine with 666, I want God to destroy it. If there is any vaccine meant to corrupt the DNA of people, I’m asking God to interrupt it. Any clean vaccine, they must produce it quickly," he said.
On Wednesday South Africa declared that it had entered a second wave of the pandemic as the number of new infections surged, with nearly 837,000 cumulative cases and more than 22,700 deaths.
The government has warned against spreading misinformation about the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague) ...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men... , as it waits to secure its first vaccine doses through the COVAX global distribution scheme.
But Mogoeng said he was unfazed by any backlash and that nothing stopped him from commenting on any issues because of his judicial responsibilities.
"This is a free country. I’m not going to be silenced. I don’t care about the consequences," he said.
In June this year the judge sparked an outcry for remarks seen as pledging support for Israel.
"I cannot, as a Christian, do anything other than love and pray for Israel," he said then.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2020 01:03 ||
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#1
seeming to refer to a conspiracy theory that they could "infuse 666" into people’s DNA.
[ENGLISHBETA.ALARABIYA.NET] Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his top critic Alexei Navalny’s near-death poisoning is not a reason to open a criminal probe.
Germany, France and Britain have accused Russian authorities of “involvement and responsibility” in the poisoning of Kremlin critic Navalny with Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied responsibility and some top officials suggested that the top Russian opposition leader might have been poisoned in Germany where he was taken for treatment after falling violently ill in Siberia in August.
“If a person nearly dies this does not mean that it’s necessary to open a criminal probe at any given opportunity,” Putin said at a meeting of rights experts, according to the Kremlin transcript released on Friday.
Prominent journalist Nikolai Svanidze, who raised the issue with Putin, said: “But the man nearly died.”
“I understand,” Putin replied.
Taking to Twitter, Navalny said: “Simply incredible.”
The Russian president said Russian officials were looking into the incident and reiterated that the West refused to cooperate with Russia over the high-profile case, refusing again to mention his critic Navalny by name.
“There are no official materials,” Putin said at the meeting that took place on Thursday. “What should we do?”
Posted by: Fred ||
12/12/2020 01:07 ||
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Is Putin a Democrat?
Because he sure is sounding like the US Liberal Socialist Democrat Talking heads we have here regarding Calls to Forensically Audit the Dominion Voting systems.
[DW] A rights group found evidence of 2,000 women, including some 200 minors, in Germany last year who underwent female genital mutilation in the past and were in need of treatment, calling that figure the tip of an iceberg.
Almost 2,000 patients in Germany last year were diagnosed with genital mutilation in need of treatment, a women's rights group said on Friday, demonstrating a sharp increase in recent years.
The figure is up almost 40% compared with 2016, when around 1,300 diagnoses of people who had previously undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) and were in need of treatment were made, according to The TaskForce for effective prevention of FGM.
The TaskForce conducted a survey of German physicians associations and the results showed that roughly 200 of those diagnosed were minors — half of whom were younger than 12.
The research included females who received outpatient care by statutory health insurance providers. Cases discovered during inpatient stays in hospitals, or during private medical treatment, were not included.
‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG'
"What we see from these figures is only the tip of the iceberg and represents perhaps 2 to 5% of the actual mutilation victims who live in our country, because politicians do not want complete data collection," TaskForce's founder, Ines Laufer, said of the current situation in Germany.
The rights group estimates more than 20,000 girls may have undergone FGM because they or their parents "come from countries with an FGM rate of over 75% such as Egypt, Æthiopia, Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... , Sudan, Mali and Somalia and others" the TaskForce website states.
The unusually large numbers of migrants colonists allowed into Germany from the Middle East and Africa in 2015 and 2016 is thought to help explain the uptick in known FGM numbers in Germany in recent years.
FGM, also known as female genital cutting (FGC), is a practice that involves the partial or total removal of the female genital organs, such as the clitoris or labia, for non-medical reasons.
As well as severe bleeding, FGM can cause a variety of health issues, from infections and cysts to infertility and complications in childbirth. It can also result in an increased risk of newborn deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
[NPR] The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday night rejected an eleventh hour challenge to Joe Biden's election as president.
The court's action came in a one-page order, which said the complaint was denied "for lack of standing."
"Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections," the court wrote.
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote that in their view the court does "not have discretion to deny the filing of a bill of complaint in a case that falls within our original jurisdiction."
"I would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on any other issue," Alito wrote.
On Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued four states where Biden had been certified the winner: Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. The suit, filed directly in the Supreme Court, was styled as "an original" case, pitting one state against another.
#3
I am disappointed in the decision to not take the case and to debate it, but I do not like use of the term "death warrant" because it implies a threat.
Only muslims are allowed to seek their own revenge. I believe there may be other remedies.
#4
#1 They have signed their the American Republic's death warrant
What do we have left of the Constitution? What's left of our democratic rights and core institutions?
Our elections are a disgrace.
Our newsmedia makes Pravda look evenhanded and professional.
Our security services are corrupt and our incoming president is a demented old fart who's probably been turned by the Chinese Communist Party.
Our retarded local and state officials persist in destroying our businesses while they themselves ignore their own BS restrictions, all the while knowing that the risk the virus poses to them and their livelihoods is next to zero.
Coping strategies, sure. Losers' consolations. Therapy of the sort extended to victims of rape.
But no remedies for the atrocities and attempted atrocities of the past 4+ years.
They finally did it: they lied cheated stole and trashed our rights to the point where they will finally hustle their Prince o Darkness out of the White House.
They got away with it.
If we accept it, we are admitting that we are less than men.
If we fight it, we are admitting that we are no longer citizens of a Republic but partisans fighting against an illegitimate, corrupt, brutally stupid nomenklatura. Partisans are at least men.
#7
Not exactly a shocking revelation or wild-eyed scenario, we've seen them lunging on the leash for years. Plugs has already indicated his intentions with regard to the 2nd Amendment. Whatever scheme he and his cohorts decide to implement, they will need local law enforcement (LE) for support. I am satisfied they do NOT have that support. In urban areas possibly, elsewhere, not so much.
Absolute, total control (which is the desired end-state) cannot be achieved if the population is armed. Without LE support and the support of local politicians, his gun grab goes nowhere. Local LE and local governance must be supplanted if the weapons are to be taken away. Compliance can be phased, but must eventually be universal.
Control will likely come as some sort of sweeping anti-crime program partnered with new, more onerous taxes and ownership permits. Funding for reparations must come from somewhere. A further militarization of the BATF/FBI/FEMA is also likely. All alleged violations must end up as Federal issues and resolved in Federal courts. Blue States will likely herald the initial legislative prototypes. Buy-back or amnesty programs could administered by FEMA. (Federal 'Emergency Management'.....).
Bottom line, look for anti-2nd Amendment issues and measures to top the list of the new regime. Gun store ammo and firearm inventories have been reduced to historical levels for a reason. We all know what the reason is.
What to do about it? Heck if I know. I only have one vote, and in Georgia it appears my vote has recently been pi**ed away. You'll have to consult with someone much smarter and more politically astute than me for the answers.
#13
Not sure how Texas can tell another sovereign state how to run its business. So if in 2022 Texas decides to shrewd all democrat ballots and only count Republican ballots and then ignore all laws or lawsuits; then so be it?
#14
#11 - Texas was asking the Court to rule that other states must follow the US Constitution, as well as their own. Apparently, the consequences of such a ruling were too difficult to comprehend.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/12/2020 8:35 Comments ||
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#15
Strange when it comes to water rights, states vs states, the court has no problem playing the standing game.
#19
Texas should announce that Texas elected Trump as president. Since they have no standing in elections in other states, what other states do in their elections has no standing in Texas. Then declare that any attempt to foist Biden off on Texas as president is an act of war and as the Supreme Cowards no longer act as an arbiter between states, none of their rulings now matter.
#20
The Republic is gone alright. The question now is can we reclaim it or do we allow a loud minority to dictate every detail of our lives into feudal servitude.
#23
I'm not a lawyer, but there seems to be precedent for the feds intervening in state election rules where there were biases (e.g. racial disqualifiers). This would seem to be a similar sort of intervention, and either both are valid or neither is.
OTOH, I don't know the cases well enough to know if elections were ever voided after the fact. Since there always seem to be shenanigans somewhere, if an election can be voided by lawsuit we have a horrible mess waiting for us in the future. It's going to be bad enough with automatic impeachment proceedings.
This looks like a no-win for SCOTUS. There were red flags all over the place, but voting and counting procedures seem almost to have been designed to make it impossible to actually prove the fraud.
BTW, where can one find that 14-hour video of the State Farm Center ballot counting room?
Posted by: James ||
12/12/2020 10:51 Comments ||
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#24
Interstate Commerce Commission.
One page. I'd receive an F on that in 7th grade civics. Was it on a cocktail napkin?
#26
Since there always seem to be shenanigans somewhere, if an election can be voided by lawsuit we have a horrible mess waiting for us in the future
Except this time there were anywhere from 5x to 10x the number of mail-in ballots, a process which everyone agrees is rife with fraud.
Those ballots were necessary, we were told, by the same people who have deliberately manipulated a Chinese flu strain to crater the economy and spread yet more disinformation about a president whose economic policies were astonishingly successful.
And this follows four years of brazen media lies and disinformation about that president as well as something we have never seen in our history, the near-total suppression of stories unfavorable to that president's challenger.
There is no other conclusion: this was a fraudulent election aimed at getting rid of a man who our elites decided was intolerable.
The only way that we can swallow this outrage is to create the fairy-tale that Trumo was a one-off and therefore the elites will never pull this shit again.
Aside from the fact that cheating and intimidation are now proven to work - and will now be adopted by every candidate everywhere - the problem with that rationalization is that Trumpism, not Trump, is what really bothers our elites.
They are bought by China, cowed by racial extortionists, addicted to forever wars abroad and unwilling to defend our borders or protect our culture and our working class here at home.
They are literally destroying our livelihoods and our children's lives in order to avoid admitting that they have no fucking clue how to deal with batflu, which, by their own behavior, they show us again and again, poses no threat at all to our kids and next to no threat to normal people under 60.
If you're OK with such disgusting corruption and gross incompetence, then fine, look the other way.
Posted by: Ho Chi Panda6086 ||
12/12/2020 12:14 Comments ||
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#27
At the bar playing foosball, a certain level of bump and push jostling is to be expected.
#28
Deck chairs on the Titanic, SCOTUS cowardice was the last peaceful chance to save the Republic. That states have no standing to argue that other states, with more electoral votes, can have a crooked voting system that allows them to elect a fraud of their choice to rule us all is judicial psychobabble.
[NIH] Thalidomide was a widely used drug in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the treatment of nausea in pregnant women. It became apparent in the 1960s that thalidomide treatment resulted in severe birth defects in thousands of children. Though the use of thalidomide was banned in most countries at that time, thalidomide proved to be a useful treatment for leprosy and later, multiple myeloma. In rural areas of the world that lack extensive medical surveillance initiatives, thalidomide treatment of pregnant women with leprosy has continued to cause malformations. Research on thalidomide mechanisms of action is leading to a better understanding of molecular targets. With an improved understanding of these molecular targets, safer drugs may be designed. The thalidomide tragedy marked a turning point in toxicity testing, as it prompted United States and international regulatory agencies to develop systematic toxicity testing protocols; the use of thalidomide as a tool in developmental biology led to important discoveries in the biochemical pathways of limb development. In celebration of the Society of Toxicology's 50th Anniversary, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of thalidomide from the market, it is appropriate to revisit the lessons learned from the thalidomide tragedy of the 1960s.
#1
I went to school, 3rd and 4th, with a Thalidomide kid. We were the same age. Mom explained it to me and I was horrified, seared in my life the distrust of the medical community and their "We know best" attitude. Later I was among the first in DOD to get the Anthrax vaccine. I was sick for a year after that, bone aches, low grade fevers, and lung infections. Docs said it was unrelated until about ten years ago when they said the vaccine had flaws. So the people that say we have nothing to worry about with this new vaccine, that was rushed to market, I can only quote history and refuse to relive it. Those who try to shame us into it are acting out of propagandized fear or just plain stupid.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/12/2020 10:16 Comments ||
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#2
/\ Thanks for sharing. Horrible. That anthrax vaccine was an abomination and a slap in the face to our military members. Rear Admiral Crowe made his millions off of that, IIRC.
Some accounts about school children with autism and ADD thanks to "mandatory" vaccines or other pharmaceuticals. The pharmaceutical-industrial complex is no less dangerous than its close relative MIC.
#5
/\ Interesting. Sounds like some women who aren't too bright. Tobacco use is a definite no-no. I imagine they aren't too high on the socio-economic latter.
LONDON (Reuters) - Five key genes are linked with the most severe form of COVID-19, scientists said on Friday, in research that also pointed to several existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat people who risk getting critically ill with the pandemic disease.
Researchers who studied the DNA of 2,700 COVID-19 patients in 208 intensive care units across Britain found that five genes involving in two molecular processes - antiviral immunity and lung inflammation - were central to many severe cases.
"Our results immediately highlight which drugs should be at the top of the list for clinical testing," said Kenneth Baillie, an academic consultant in critical care medicine at Edinburgh University who co-led the research.
The genes - called IFNAR2, TYK2, OAS1, DPP9 and CCR2 — partially explain why some people become desperately sick with COVID-19, while others are not affected, Baillie said.
The findings, published in the journal Nature, should help scientists speed up the search for potential drugs for COVID-19 by conducting clinical trials of medicines that target specific antiviral and anti-inflammatory pathways.
Among those with the most potential, he said, should be a class of anti-inflammatory drugs called JAK inhibitors, which includes the arthritis drug baricitinib, made by Eli Lilly.
Baillie's team also found that a boost in the activity of the INFAR2 gene could create protection against COVID-19, because it is likely to mimic the effect of treatment with interferon.
Various existing drugs are being explored in clinical trials for their potential against COVID-19 including interferon-beta-1a, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist and Sanofi's arthritis drug Kevzara.
So far, a steroid called dexamethasone and a newly developed antiviral called remdesivir, made by Gilead, are the only drugs authorised around the world to treat COVID-19 patients - although remdesivir is not recommended for severe cases of the disease and has had mixed results in trials.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly's antibody drug for COVID-19, bamlanivimab, for patients who are not hospitalized but are at risk of serious illness because of their age or other conditions.
#1
I do hope somebody will check that the products of these genes normally do - before they start using their inhibitors. I also hope they'll try these inhibitors on mice first.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
