Claude Monet The Manneporte at Étretat 1886
Gestetner
Low-vaccinated India has now 60% less Coronavirus deaths than the same week last year.
Mid-vaxxed US is up 39% from last year.
Highly-vaccinated Israel and Canada are up 100% and 200% respectively.
I don’t know why it’s so.
Here is Fauci March 2020:pic.twitter.com/iZO6JArhmp
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) September 5, 2021
India
Kory/Ivory
Lies and rumors about the “i” word: Dr. @PierreKory, top ivermectin researcher, dispels the myths and answers the questions my viewers submitted. Full 27 minute interview here: https://t.co/5A1uzu6h5U pic.twitter.com/FxFEJ6WJhn
— Ivory Hecker (@IvoryHecker) September 13, 2021
Great source that references tons of studies.
• Clearing Up Misinformation About The Spike Protein And Covid Vaccines (Joomi)
The spike protein is a type of protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that helps the virus infect cells. The COVID vaccines available in the U.S. work by getting the body to produce this protein (with some modifications) so that the body will generate neutralizing antibodies to it. It turns out that the spike protein by itself, even without the rest of the virus present, has been shown to cause harm to the body. In Part I of this article I’ll summarize some of the studies that show this. This is not really controversial at this point. However, what is controversial is that some people have asked: if spike is dangerous, might we be endangering people by giving them vaccines that make the body produce spike?
Fact-checking articles that try to shoo away this concern usually refer to the fact that the spike encoded by the vaccines are different from “wild-type” spike (spike from the virus), and for this reason, they are safe. They also state that there is no evidence that the vaccine spike is harmful. In Part II, I’ll look into the evidence that shows that vaccine-encoded spike is not harmless. In Part III, I’ll discuss how most responses to concerns about vaccine-encoded spike usually misconstrue the concern, or don’t actually back up their statements with any real data. In Part IV, I’ll argue that we should consider the possibility that vaccine-encoded spike protein can cause lasting harm even in people that don’t have obvious or serious “adverse events” from the vaccine. In Part V, I’ll link to statements from other scientists or doctors who have concerns about the vaccines.
Before we go any further: I am not anti-vax. I am double-vaxed with Moderna. I used to be a biologist. I believe vaccines have saved many lives. However, not all vaccines are the same. And not all vaccines are equally safe, and we need to be able to have an open and honest discussion about this.
“It is my opinion that SARS-CoV-2 causes an infection in humans that results in robust, complete, and durable immunity,..”
• Risks of Vaccines for Those Recovered from COVID-19 (McCullough)
There is recent research on the fact that the COVID-19 vaccine is dangerous for those who have already had COVID-19 and have recovered with inferred robust, complete, and durable immunity. These patients were excluded from the FDA-approved clinical trials performed by Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J. From these trials, the safety profile was unknown when the products for approved for Emergency Use Authorization in 2020. There has been no study demonstrating clinical benefit with COVID-19 vaccination in those who have well documented or even suspected prior COVID-19 illness.
A medical study of United Kingdom healthcare workers who had already had COVID-19 and then received the vaccine found that they suffered higher rates of side effects than the average population. Rachel K. Raw, et al., Previous COVID-19 infection but not Long-COVID-19 is associated with increased adverse events following BNT162b2/Pfizer vaccination, medRxiv (preprint), (last visited June 21, 2021).
The test group experienced more moderate to severe symptoms than the study group that did not previously have COVID-19. The symptoms included fever, fatigue, myalgia-arthralgia, and lymphadenopathy. Id. Raw found that in 974 individuals who received the BNT162b2/Pfizer vaccine, those with a prior history of SARS-CoV-2 or those who had positive antibodies at baseline had a higher rate of vaccine reactions than those who were COVID-19 naive. Mathioudakis et al. reported that in 2020 patients who underwent vaccination with either mRNA-based or vector-based COVID-19 vaccines, COVID-19-recovered patients who were needlessly vaccinated had higher rates of vaccine reactions. Krammer et al. reported on 231 volunteers for COVID-19 vaccination, 83 of whom had positive SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at the time of immunization.
The authors found: “Vaccine recipients with preexisting immunity experience systemic side effects with a significantly higher frequency than antibody naïve vaccines (e.g., fatigue, headache, chills, fever, muscle or joint pains, in order of decreasing frequency, P < 0.001 for all listed symptoms, Fisher’s exact test, two-sided).” To my knowledge, there are no studies that demonstrate the clinical benefit of COVID-19 vaccination in COVID-19 survivors or those with suspected COVID-19 illness or subclinical disease who have laboratory evidence of prior infection. It is my opinion that SARS-CoV-2 causes an infection in humans that results in robust, complete, and durable immunity, and is superior to vaccine immunity which by comparison has demonstrated massive failure including over 10,000 well-documented vaccine failure cases as reported by the CDC before tracking was stopped on May 31, 2021.
There are no studies demonstrating the clinical benefit of COVID-19 vaccination in COVID-19 survivors, and there are three studies demonstrating harm in such individuals. Thus, it is my opinion that the COVID-19 vaccination is contraindicated in COVID-19 survivors, many of whom may be in the student population. Multiple laboratory studies conducted by highly respected U.S. and European academic research groups have reported that convalescent mildly or severely infected COVID-19 patients who are unvaccinated can have greater virus-neutralizing immunity—especially more versatile, long-enduring T- cell immunity—relative to vaccinated individuals who were never infected.
BMJ, September 2020. T cells and vitamin D. A year later, the UK still recommends 400 IU per day, which guarantees people will get very sick. Fauci takes 6,000 IU.
“When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signalling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D..”
• Do Many People Have Pre-Existing Immunity? (BMJ)
All this should have shifted the focus of efforts towards T-cells at an early stage – the real question is why mainstream media and others continued to focus efforts and narrative on antibodies. Is it because vaccines are good at provoking antibody responses but not so great at generating T-cells? Some of the vaccines presently under trial do elicit some T-cells but it seems that neither the quantity nor variety are hugely impressive. Does this matter? Apparently so: Research establishments including Yale found that in mild or asymptomatic cases, many T-cells are produced. These were highly varied, responding not just to parts of the Spike, S protein or Receptor Binding Domain but to many other parts of the virus [1, 4-6]. Notably, in these mild cases there were few or no detectable antibodies.
Conversely, the severely ill produced few T-cells with less variety but had plenty of antibodies. What is also of interest is that men produced fewer T-cells than women, and unlike women, their T-cell response reduced with age [7]. So why are some people unable to mount a good protective T-cell response? The key to this question might be a 10-year-old Danish study led by Carsten Geisler, head of the Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Copenhagen [8]. Geisler noted that “When a T cell is exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signalling device or ‘antenna’ known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D,”, and if there is an inadequate vitamin D level, “they won’t even begin to mobilize.”
In other words, adequate vitamin D is critically important for the activation of T-cells from their inactive naïve state. The question of whether T-cells might also need a continuing supply of vitamin D to prevent the T-cell exhaustion and apoptosis observed in some serious COVID-19 cases [9] deserves further research. High levels of vitamin D are also critical for first line immune defences including physical mucosal defences, human antiviral production, modulating cytokines, reducing blood clotting and a whole host of other important immune system functions [10]. The obese, diabetics and people of BAME origin are far more deficient in vitamin D and men have lower levels than women.
Another intriguing clue is that Japan has the highest proportion of elderly on the planet but despite lack of lockdowns, little mask wearing and high population densities in cities, it escaped with few COVID deaths. Could this, at least in part, be because of extraordinarily high vitamin D levels of over 30 ng/ml in 95% of the active elderly [11]? By comparison, UK average levels are below 20ng/ml [10]. Vitamin D is made in the skin from the action of UV sunlight, food usually being a poor source, but the Japanese diet includes unusually high levels. Sunny countries near the equator (e.g. Nigeria, Singapore, Sri Lanka) also have very low COVID related deaths.
The results of the first vitamin D intervention double blind RCT for COVID was published on 29 August by researchers in Córdoba, Spain. This very well conducted study produced spectacular outcomes for the vitamin D group (n=50), virtually eliminating the need for ICU (reducing it by 96%) and eliminating deaths (8% in the n=26 control group). Although this was a small trial, the ICU results are so dramatic that they are statistically highly significant [12]. Substantially more vitamin D is required for optimal immune function than for bone health. It seems Dr Fauci is not ignorant of this, having apparently confirmed on TV and by email that he takes 6,000 IU daily! (see Dr John Campbell on YouTube Vitamin D and pandemic science, 16 September 2020). Meanwhile the US’s health body continues to recommend only 600-800 IU and the UK’s, only 400 IU.
“By vaccinating the unvaccinated, increasing our testing and masking, and protecting the vaccinated, we can end the pandemic. That’s exactly what we are committed to doing.” – Kamala Harris
Never before in history has there been a need to “protect the vaccinated.” There isn’t one now unless the jabs not only don’t work, in some percentage of people who took them they make infection worse — and they know it.”
• Yes, They Are Insane (Denninger)
While you can excuse Biden for being a demented old coot and unable to think before his mouth opens you can’t make that argument for Kamala. Her statement above is proof that what Biden said the other day was not an accident. Indeed, he was likely reading off a teleprompter and it is an official position of the US Federal Government at all levels. This in turn implies they know the vaccines not only have failed they are potentiating infections instead of protecting against them. Why else would you “protect the vaccinated”? But wait: Who caused all these people to be put in the position where they are more likely to get ****ed? That would be the CDC, NIH, Fauci personally and both the Trump and Biden Administrations. What might be scaring the crap out of them? Perhaps data like this:
Add to that anecdotal reports so far about people who were fully vaccinated not only winding up in the hospital and dying but crashing very rapidly — somethin that hasn’t happened throughout the time we’ve had Covid-19 here in the United States and which isn’t happening in unvaccinated persons. Gee, isn’t that something — especially when on the data we also know, and even Fauci has admitted it, that being previously infected and recovered is extraordinarily good protection — far better than that afforded by these vaccines. He refused to answer said question in a presser the other day. In other words for the previously-infected the jabs only offer risk, no benefit, exactly as does a HPV shot for a nun, who is in fact celibate and virginal, in a convent. Now that “potential risk” from not collecting the data before jabbing a huge number of Americans appears to be on the verge of turning into very real and lethal risk!
There is no way to know whether those currently-anecdotal reports will turn into an unavoidable cascade of cases that absolutely nobody will be able to ignore. Don’t you think we should have figured all of this out before we went on a stabby spree with lightly tested technology that you cannot turn around and undo if it goes badly? We would have found out and halted what may well be an incipient disaster if we didn’t proceed with “Warp Speed” and instead went through the regular process of gathering that long-term data while allowing the use of these jabs only by those at the highest degree of individual “bad outcome” infection risk (such as residents of nursing homes who have, on average, six months of remaining life and thus long-term risks are, for most of them, irrelevant.) They tried to kill you and got jabs into 200 million American arms — although whether it was intentional or simply stupidity and greed that drove what happened is up for debate — and now they’re trying to cover it up.
Mercola has already taken this down again, as he does standard now, I’m sorry. We should save his pieces in their entirety.
Fleming: “The ultimate argument is that you can’t kill somebody more than dead … they can’t do worse than kill the patient. And we’ve already seen what doing nothing does. It kills the patient.”
• Is COVID-19 a Bioweapon? (Mercola)
In his book, “Is COVID-19 a Bioweapon? A Scientific and Forensic Investigation,” Dr. Richard Fleming documents evidence showing SARS-CoV-2 is a bioweapon created over the past two decades. Once you conclude that SARS-CoV-2 is a bioweapon, you must also recognize that the COVID shots are nothing more than the genetic reproduction of that bioweapon. In other words, they are bioweapons too. The same people involved in the funding of this bioweapon are the same people who have interfered with doctors providing treatment to patients, and the same people who have been involved in the development of these COVID shots. Health care workers are injecting people with something they cannot possibly give informed consent for, which means health care workers are violating their Hippocratic Oath.
Health care workers who give these COVID shots are also violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Treaty, the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki and other legal statutes. Helping you take control of your health in these crazy times is Dr. Richard Fleming, a prolific author in addition to being a physicist, a nuclear cardiologist, researcher and attorney. Here, we discuss his latest book “Is COVID-19 a Bioweapon? A Scientific and Forensic Investigation,” slated for release September 7, 2021. It’s currently available for preorder on Amazon. It’s an incredibly well-documented book and contains history that many of us aren’t aware of. As it turns out, the creation of this virus goes back not a year or two but two decades.
[..] “You see real efforts to produce viruses, coronaviruses, in particular. Spike proteins of coronaviruses to be even more specific, as I show in the book, paid for by the federal government by people who say they were not involved in gain-of-function research. Well, their fingerprints are on the documents, or on the published papers or on the grants or on the patents. You can’t say that you’re not involved in things when the documents show differently. They show the work and the money that came out of the federal government that went to Peter Daszak at EcoHealth, that went to Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina, Shi Zhengli at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other places. For me, as a researcher, obviously, once I start to investigate something, the only way you can stop me from doing that is to put a bullet in my head.
Otherwise, I’m going to stay after it. There are things that are not in the book that are going to come out in international criminal court, things I’m saving for that, because this virus is, by definition, a biological weapon. It violates the biological weapons convention treaty. You just have to look at the definitions. It provides nothing useful to humanity. It’s dangerous. When Fort Detrick is involved and the Department of Defense is involved … and you see these monies and you see the people that are involved, you realize that … the United States was playing China, China was playing the United States, and you saw who got caught in between. And they’re still playing the game. For lack of a better term, this book is an indictment.
That’s now my attorney hat going on saying that I have provided in this book evidence that I would take to a grand jury … I’m not somebody who is going to give up on having these people dealt with, because all the freedoms that we have lost, and the rights that we have lost as individuals, not to mention just the numbers of people who have died. My argument is … the reason why they died is because they didn’t get treatment for the inflammation and the blood clotting that I and other doctors have shown works. The ultimate argument is that you can’t kill somebody more than dead … they can’t do worse than kill the patient. And we’ve already seen what doing nothing does. It kills the patient.
At no other time in American history have doctors looked at patients and said, ‘We can’t do anything for you. Go home and come back when you get sicker.’ We have always treated people with breathing problems with medications for breathing problems. We’ve always treated people with clotting problems with medicines to stop the clotting. And so, the reason why this is so critical to understand is because the same people who were involved in the funding of this bioweapon are the same people who have interfered with doctors providing treatment to patients, and the same people who have been involved in the development of these vaccines.”
Twitter thread. “Could this be a vax escape lineage?”
• Variant Heads-up To The Virologist Community (Roemer)
A new delta sublineage AY.33 has been designated that (to me) appears to be the most critical delta sublineage designated so far. (journos please don’t yet write about it, this has not been scrutinised by the science community) The defining Spike mutation is S:Q613H, a mutation that has already been studied in the context of other variants due to it’s closeness to the mutation S:D614G which got fixed last summer. The other spike substitutions on top of standard Delta are S:T29A, S:T250I, S:T299I. This lineage grabbed my attention not because of its high growth rate but because of its high number of extra spike mutations that is a clear outlier on the current delta tree (see screenshot).
The lineage is most common in Belgium but also growing in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland and has already been observed in more than 25 countries. The first observation was in Japan mid-June in a traveller from Morocco. The second observation was in Morocco. Using timetree, the lineage seems to have arisen in April/ May. Belgium has strong ties to Morocco so it’s plausible that the lineage is widespread in North Africa where unfortunately there is very little sequencing activity (last sequences is 3mo old and this precise lineage). At this point in time, it’s difficult to estimate growth advantage because in no country has this lineage reached more than 10% and we only have a few weeks of data. But using naive methods, it’s plausible that the transmission advantage could be between 10-70%.
Comparing transmission advantages it’s interesting to see that the growth rate seems to be higher in countries with higher vaccination rate Spain: advantage ~70% (left)
Denmark: ~30%
Belgium: ~30%
Germany: ~20%
Switzerland: ~10% (right)
Could this be a vax escape lineage?
If I was a lab scientist, I’d take a close look at this lineage and study neutralising antibody titers. Any comments are very welcome! If you think there’s something fishy going on that could explain this, please comment! 8/
“..that will mean a lot more people have to be fired, adding to the soup lines at a time when soup shelves are growing bare..”
• Biden’s Tax & Vax Plan May be The Final Straw (GRB)
Joe Biden is looking a little Grinchy, having decided to fire the unvaccinated across America as we head toward the holidays. Even though the end of enhanced unemployment benefits has not brought back millions of former employees who’ve held out since the COVID lockdown, Biden decided it would be wise to fire a lot more people, mandating last week that all businesses with more than 100 employees terminate any employees who continue to refuse the government’s experimental, warp-speed vaccine. While President Biden may think he’s going to strong-arm people who don’t want to get vaccinated into a strong shot in the arm by punishing them with poverty and the threat of losing their homes as we enter the holiday season, he may find he find he has just enraged them and increased their willingness to take a stand against forced medication.
If so, that will mean a lot more people have to be fired, adding to the soup lines at a time when soup shelves are growing bare. I don’t know about where you live, but where I live, I see a number of small businesses already running fewer hours due to lack of employees and running with reduced menus or partially empty shelves due to unattainable supply. Has Jumpin’ Joe not stopped to think that an additional major drain of employees to run shops and move products around the nation does not add up to the kind of holiday retail season that can put companies in the black and may be all it takes to shove an already fading economy into a black winter hole? Will major trucking companies like Swift being forced by the nation’s ruler-by-decree to lay off hundreds of Trump-loving truckers help the nation with its widespread shortages?
Step 1.
• New York City Teacher’s Union Wins Battle Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate (ET)
New York City’s largest teacher’s union has won a battle to keep teachers and other educators employed if they suffer from certain medical conditions and don’t want to comply as a result with the Big Apple’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. An arbitrator ruled late Friday that teachers with certain documented medical afflictions must be offered assignments outside of classrooms and be kept on the city’s payroll. Other educators who don’t want a COVID-19 vaccine must be offered unpaid leave that keeps in place their health coverage or a severance package. City officials announced last month that all 148,000 Department of Education employees would have to get a COVID-19 vaccine, with limited exemptions.
The city planned to remove people who were granted an exemption from the payroll, infuriating the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the city’s largest teacher’s union. “That was it for us,” Michael Mulgrew, the union’s president, said on NY 1 this week. That prompted pushback, which ultimately resulted in the arbitration decision, even after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio seemed to publicly reverse the stance in a press conference on Wednesday. De Blasio said that few cases of medical or religious exemptions being granted are expected, “but they will be honored” if approved. “Those folks will continue to work for us in some capacity, in some location. We got to work that through,” he added, referring to the arbitration.
Mulgrew said the pushback from the union resulted in the reversal. “After our demand for independent arbitration, the city backed off its initial position that all unvaccinated personnel be removed from payroll, and will offer out-of-classroom work for those with certified medical or other conditions,” he said in a statement after the arbitrator’s decision was released.
Step 2.
• LA Cops Sue Over Vaccine Mandate, Police Across CA Threaten To Resign (G.)
Los Angeles police department (LAPD) employees have sued over requirements they get vaccinated for Covid-19, alleging that the department has created a “hostile work environment” for the unvaccinated and that the mandate violates employees’ privacy and civil rights. The suit is one of several aggressive challenges to vaccine mandates by police unions and officers across California, some of whom have threatened mass resignations in response to new rules. It comes as staff at law enforcement agencies remain unvaccinated at disproportionately high rates. LA’s vaccine mandate requires city employees to be vaccinated by 20 October unless they are approved for a specific religious or medical exemption.
Six LAPD employees over the weekend asserted in a federal complaint that that policy and its implementation infringed on their rights to “bodily integrity” and constituted “coerced medical treatment”. The complaint says that officials have threatened to lay off thousands of officers who refuse to get the jab. The lawsuit comes amid increasingly fraught debates over employer vaccination mandates in America, which escalated last week after Joe Biden announced the government would temporarily mandate that employers with more than 100 employees require workers to get vaccinated or be tested weekly.
The federal government and California have had public sector mandates in place for months, but some cities have adopted stricter requirements – that employees must be vaccinated and cannot submit to regular testing as an alternative. The LA suit, which was brought against the city, the police chief and several other government officials, claims that weekly testing is “highly intrusive”. It alleges that officers have not been given enough time to apply for exemptions, after a Monday deadline.
“Dr Marion Gruber is the director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review at FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER).”
As such, her voice was essential in approving the Pfizer vaccine. That happened on August 23. On August 30, she resigned. What’s going on?
• FDA Senior Officials Say No Evidence Fully Vaccinated Need Booster Shots (DM)
A group of senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials – including two who announced they will soon resign – have authored a report disagreeing with the White House’s plan to roll out COVID-19 vaccine boosters next week. In a report published in in The Lancet on Monday, the 18 officials write that there is no evidence supporting the need for boosters because fully vaccinated people still have high levels of protection against hospitalization or death. Instead, they say, vaccine doses should be donated to areas with lower vaccination rates to prevent the emergence of more COVID-19 variants. Although the administration is ready to roll out boosters starting September 20, President Joe Biden said last week that any decisions – including when to authorize boosters and who should receive them – will be left up to the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The group of FDA authors of the new report include Dr Marion Gruber and Dr Philip Krause, who plan to step down in the coming months due to disagreements over the rollout of vaccines. ‘Although the idea of further reducing the number of COVID-19 cases by enhancing immunity in vaccinated people is appealing, any decision to do so should be evidence-based and consider the benefits and risks for individuals and society,’ the officials wrote in the report. ‘COVID-19 vaccines continue to be effective against severe disease, including that caused by the Delta variant. ‘Most of the observational studies on which this conclusion is based are, however, preliminary and difficult to interpret precisely due to potential confounding and selective reporting.’
[..] Last month, health officials announced the those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine would be eligible for a third shot eight months after receiving their second, starting September 20. The move was pending approval from the regulators like the FDA, though, and it appears they will not be approved by the planned roll out date next Monday. Gruber and Krause were frustrated by the decision from the White House to make the public announcement for the shots before approval, leading to the pair – who are crucial to the FDA’s process of approval of vaccines – announcing they will soon resign. Gruber is the director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review at FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Krause is the deputy director of CBER.
The office is responsible for regulating ‘biological products for human use under applicable federal laws,’ according to the FDA. In essence, the office is largely responsible for making final decisions regarding things like vaccines, and making sure they are safe for human consumption. Gruber is one of the most important figures in the approval of vaccines. Now with senior officials choosing to publicly oppose the measure, the White House’s plans could be in turmoil.
100s of people and a $1 million fund.
• Sweden Proposes Law to Compensate Those Injured by Covid Vaccines
The Swedish government has announced a new proposal that would see those who have taken coronavirus vaccines and have been injured as a result will be entitled to compensation. The Swedish government announced the new proposal on Thursday, with Social Minister Lena Hallengren commenting: “Serious side effects of vaccines against COVID-19 are uncommon, but as an individual, you should be sure that financial compensation is paid in the event of injury.” “With this bill, the state takes it upon itself to pay the compensation for damage due to approved vaccines against COVID-19, in cases where a vaccine is not covered by Pharmaceutical Insurance or if the Pharmaceutical Insurance money is not enough,” Hallengren added.
The new law comes after the Swedish Board of Pharmaceutical Insurance made moves in December of last year to limit insurance liability in the case of injuries caused by vaccines during the Wuhan virus pandemic. “Due to the limitation of Pharmaceutical Insurance, there is weaker protection for possible serial damage caused by vaccines against COVID-19 than for other medicines. The government, therefore, considers that there is a need for the State to supplement Pharmaceutical Insurance in this regard,” the government stated in a press release. The new law would come into force in December but retroactively grant compensation to anyone injured as a result of the vaccines prior to that date. The government has also proposed to set aside 10 million Swedish kronor (£837,761/$1,159,443) to fund the initiative.
Compensation for injuries related to the vaccine is harder to access in other countries — like the United States, where lawyers have told prospective clients they may be unable to claim any compensation. Lawyer Altom Maglio told news service Reuters in July that his firm had been contacted by around a hundred people but said that despite his firm representing many people with vaccine-related injuries in the past, those looking to get compensation regarding the coronavirus vaccines were out of luck. Earlier this year, the Canadian federal government opened a vaccine injury compensation programme but stated only those with “a serious and permanent injury” would be eligible for any compensation.
“senator Ron Johnson, who has falsely claimed that natural immunity is better than vaccine immunity..”
The Guradian changes tack, from dewormer to a more ‘reasonable’ approach.
• Ivermectin Frenzy: The Advocates, Anti-vaxxers And Telehealth Companies (G.)
Despite outstanding questions over Ivermectin’s efficacy, several advocacy organizations have been on a nearly year-long campaign to mainstream the drug. Two of the most prominent groups backing Ivermectin as a Covid-19 treatment are the UK-based British Ivermectin Recommendation Development (Bird) and the US-based Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC). The FLCCC started as a non-profit network of doctors attempting to establish protocols for Covid-19 patient care in the initial days of the pandemic. The group became an early advocate for the use of steroids in treatment, and in late 2020 shifted its focus to Ivermectin, arguing the drug was a low cost option that could both treat and prevent the virus while vaccines were not widely available.
Bird, a non-profit group of doctors in the UK, took on a similar advocacy role. Its members published analyses promoting the drug, and the group started a now-defunct GoFundMe to “help us get life-saving drug approved for Covid-19”. The fund had raised around $44,000 as of last month. The FLCCC also solicits donations on its website, and in July it received a $100,000 award from a Malaysian charitable trust. Doctors in both groups have been on a media blitz during the last year, publishing protocols and promotional material on Ivermectin, giving interviews to news outlets, holding panels and appearing on major podcasts. But other doctors have cautioned the groups have relied on weak data, ignored studies that show Ivermectin is not effective and made numerous misleading claims in their push for the drug – such as FLCCC tweeting last month that “this could all be over by the end of August” and one founding member comparing restrictions on Ivermectin to genocide.
[..] Co-founder and president of FLCCC, pulmonary care specialist Dr Pierre Kory, has also found allies among influential politicians and media figures who have spoken critically of Covid-19 vaccines. At a December 2020 hearing chaired by senator Ron Johnson, who has falsely claimed that natural immunity is better than vaccine immunity and made misleading statements about vaccinations causing death, Kory called Ivermectin “the solution to Covid-19”. The appearance boosted Kory’s online following and led to appearances on several popular podcasts that have questioned vaccinations. In June, Kory was a guest on Joe Rogan’s top-rated podcast, telling Rogan’s millions of listeners that his “dream is that every household has ivermectin in the cupboard” while suggesting that technology companies were censoring discussion of the drug.
All I can see in this is utter madness.
• US Bankruptcy Judge Approves Purdue Pharma’s $7 Mln Executive Bonus Plan (R.)
Purdue Pharma, the bankrupt maker of the OxyContin painkiller, on Monday obtained court approval to pay up to $7.1 million in incentive payments for five top executives if they meet certain goals, despite opposition from U.S. government lawyers. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, signed off on the executive incentive plan at the conclusion of a virtual hearing. His ruling comes about two weeks after he said he would approve Purdue’s reorganization plan, which rests on a $10 billion settlement of opioid-related litigation. read more The judge said repeatedly during Monday’s hearing that he does not consider the incentive payments “bonuses” because even if they are paid out in full, the executives would still only fall in the middle of the total compensation range for executives at major pharmaceutical companies.
The incentive payments, he said, are essentially part of the executives’ salaries, he added. “It’s easy — too easy in fact — to say that an incentive program is always a bonus,” Drain said. “No doubt my ruling will be construed by some as authorizing large bonuses to executives. I do not believe that is in fact the case here,” he added. “A bonus is something you get over and above median compensation.” He rejected an argument from the U.S. Department of Justice’s bankruptcy watchdog, the U.S. Trustee, that Purdue failed to show that the 2021 incentive plan is truly incentivizing, rather than a bonus for executives who are simply showing up to work. The U.S. Trustee frequently objects to bonuses for executives of companies that are in bankruptcy.
[..] Drain approved Purdue’s reorganization plan on Sept. 1, but the process of implementing it is ongoing. The plan rests on a $10 billion settlement that resolves thousands of lawsuits accusing the company and its owners, the Sackler family, of fueling the opioid crisis through deceptive marketing of its products. The Sacklers contributed approximately $4.5 billion to the settlement in exchange for the release of future opioid-related litigation. Under the plan, Purdue will reorganize as a public-benefit company with profits steered toward victims of the crisis through opioid abatement programs. A handful of states that opposed the settlement have already filed appeals. More than 500,000 Americans have died since 1999 from opioid overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Xi is taking a big risk not bailing them out.
• Evergrande Hires Bankruptcy Advisors As Investors Protest Imminent Default (ZH)
It took Evergrande less than a day to go from denying “rumors” of bankruptcy (as per a statement posted on its website earlier today), to confirming that a bankruptcy is imminent. In a filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday, Evergrande which was busy trying to convince angry Chinese mobs that they will get their money and/or apartments and that it has no plans of default, the company all but conceded that a bankruptcy is imminent when it said it has hired notable bankruptcy advisors Houlihan Lokey and Admiralty Harbour Capital as joint FAs to “assess the firm’s capital structure”, a well-known euphemism of “prepare to file for bankruptcy.” And just so there was no doubt as to what is coming next, the company said if it’s unable to repay debts on time or get creditors to agree to extensions or alternative arrangements, it may lead to cross-default.
It quickly went downhill from there, with the company saying that it expects “significant continuing decline” in contract sales in September, resulting in “continuous deterioration” of cash collection, according to the statement. That will place “tremendous pressure” on the group’s cashflow and liquidity. Finally, guaranteeing that a default is just a matter of days if not less, the company admitted that it has failed to make “material progress” on the sale of stakes in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd. and Evergrande Property Services Group Ltd., while the sale of its office building in Hong Kong hasn’t been completed within the expected timetable.
In short a total disaster, and all this is happening a tens of thousands of Chinese are starting to feel insurrectiony – the real thing, not that January 6 tourist trap – and if they suffer losses, and in a company with $300BN in debt they will suffer major losses, their protests which have been largely peaceful to date will turn quite violent. As we reported this morning, police descended on Evergrande’s Shenzhen headquarters late Monday after dozens of people gathered to demand repayments on overdue wealth management products. Protesters numbered in the hundreds on Sunday, Caixin reported. In addition to equity investors who are about to lose everything, the company is also facing angry homebuyers, creditors and even its own employees… who are also about to lose everything.
“It looks like they are working on debt restructuring after no concrete results on asset disposals, and the first task is to stabilize the holders of wealth management products which could be a social issue,” said Daniel Fan, a credit analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “It seems the developer is working on rescheduling pretty much all onshore debt, and the next step is to do the same for offshore investors. Translation: a bond default is imminent, and the only question is what will creditors get in return.
Hesitancy
Wondering who fueled vaccine hesitancy? Watch this.pic.twitter.com/xsPzWXDhVo
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 14, 2021
Cat
https://twitter.com/i/status/1437071028744867842
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Home › Forums › Debt Rattle September 14 2021