Jan 262022
 
 January 26, 2022  Posted by at 9:24 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  88 Responses »


Johannes Vermeer The soldier and the laughing girl 1657

 

Clinical Outcomes Among Patients With Omicron In Southern California (medRxiv)
Omicron Covid Strain Evolved In Mice – Chinese Study (RT)
Ivermectin: An Uncomfortable Truth (Uncut)
FDA Prohibits Florida From Using Monoclonal Antibody Treatments (PM)
Welcome to VEI Hell? (Denninger)
Expert Panel Backs Fourth COVID Vaccine Dose for Israelis 18 and Over
Thousands Needed To Try A New Covid Antiviral Treatment (BBC)
Patient Removed From Heart Transplant List For Being Unvaccinated (DM)
in praise of lawn darts (el gato)
The Neocons’ Primary War Tactic (Greenwald)
Let’s Not Have A War (Taibbi)
Russia May Not Be Poised To Invade Ukraine – Pentagon (RT)
Biden Approval Rating Tanks To New Low (NYP)
Assange Hearing Day Oh God It Never Ends (Murray)

 

 

Julian Nobel

 

 

 

 

Nun refuses vaccine

 

 

Malone: they’re not working

 

 

A Second Opinion

On January 24, 2022 Senator Ron Johnson invited a group of world renowned doctors and medical experts to the U.S. Senate to provide a different perspective on the global pandemic response, the current state of knowledge of early and hospital treatment, vaccine efficacy and safety, what went right, what went wrong, what should be done now, and what needs to be addressed long term. This 38 minute video highlights the 5-hour discussion.

 

 

Fair sized study: “52,297 cases with SGTF (Omicron) and 16,982 cases with non-SGTF (Delta [B.1.617.2]) infections..”

Omicron: 1 death, no mechanical ventilations.
Delta: 14 deaths, 11 mechanical ventilations.

Delta is some 45x deadlier?!

Clinical Outcomes Among Patients With Omicron In Southern California (medRxiv)

We analyzed clinical and epidemiologic data from cases testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection within the Kaiser Permanente Southern California healthcare system from November 30, 2021 to January 1, 2022, using S gene target failure (SGTF) as assessed by the ThermoFisher TaqPath ComboKit assay as a proxy for Omicron infection. We fit Cox proportional hazards models to compare time to any hospital admission and hospital admissions associated with new-onset respiratory symptoms, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, mechanical ventilation, and mortality among cases with Omicron and Delta (non-SGTF) variant infections. We fit parametric competing risk models to compare lengths of hospital stay among admitted cases with Omicron and Delta variant infections.


[..] Our analyses included 52,297 cases with SGTF (Omicron) and 16,982 cases with non-SGTF (Delta [B.1.617.2]) infections, respectively. Hospital admissions occurred among 235 (0.5%) and 222 (1.3%) of cases with Omicron and Delta variant infections, respectively. Among cases first tested in outpatient settings, the adjusted hazard ratios for any subsequent hospital admission and symptomatic hospital admission associated with Omicron variant infection were 0.48 (0.36-0.64) and 0.47 (0.35-0.62), respectively. Rates of ICU admission and mortality after an outpatient positive test were 0.26 (0.10-0.73) and 0.09 (0.01-0.75) fold as high among cases with Omicron variant infection as compared to cases with Delta variant infection. Zero cases with Omicron variant infection received mechanical ventilation, as compared to 11 cases with Delta variant infections throughout the period of follow-up (two-sided p<0.001). Median duration of hospital stay was 3.4 (2.8-4.1) days shorter for hospitalized cases with Omicron variant infections as compared to hospitalized patients with Delta variant infections, reflecting a 69.6% (64.0-74.5%) reduction in hospital length of stay.

[..] Among patients with Omicron variant infections, 7 received intensive care (including 5 whose infections were first identified in outpatient settings), 1 died, and none received mechanical ventilation, as compared to 23 ICU-admitted patients, 14 deceased patients, and 11 ventilated patients among those with Delta variant infections. The observed number of patients meeting each of these endpoints was inadequate for multivariate analyses due to the absence of counts within multiple covariate strata. Unadjusted hazard ratios of ICU admission and mortality associated with Omicron variant infection were 0.26 (0.10-0.73) and 0.09 (0.01-0.75), respectively, among cases whose infections were first ascertained in outpatient settings. Additionally, the daily risk of mechanical ventilation among patients with Delta variant infections was significantly higher than among patients with Omicron variant infections (0.04 vs 0 per 1000 persondays at risk following a positive outpatient test; 2-sided p<0.001).

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Of Mice and Men.

Omicron Covid Strain Evolved In Mice – Chinese Study (RT)

The study into Omicron, published in the Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity, found that “coronavirus slowly accumulated mutations over time in mice” before the virus was then “transmitted back to humans by reverse zoonotic.” The research, led by Dr. Xu Jianguo, who works for the National Institute for Communicable Diseases Control and Prevention of China, has identified mice as the “most likely intermediate host.” Researchers established that the “mutations profile” of the strain “shows that the virus has adapted to infect the cells of mice.”


While scientists have established Omicron developed from a strain that circulated in mid-2020, they have been seeking an explanation for the lack of an intermediate version of Omicron within humans, raising the potential that it evolved within an animal. The discovery could “pose new challenges in the prevention and control of the epidemic,” as the risk of new Covid strains circulating within the animal kingdom creates added uncertainty in the fight against the virus. Proposing possible solutions to the issue of Covid strains circulating within non-human species, researchers called for greater “surveillance of animals, especially rodents,” due to their close proximity with humans.

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Tess Lawrie.

Ivermectin: An Uncomfortable Truth (Uncut)

The reported leak of United States Military documents, which appear to validate ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19, should re-ignite the debate over whether this well-established drug was buried in favour of new multi-billion-dollar experimental vaccines. The documents, authored by Marine Corps Major Joseph Murphy and obtained by the American organisation Project Veritas (projectveritas.com) contained this assessment: “Ivermectin, identified as a curative in April 2020, works throughout all phases of illness because it both inhibits viral replication and modulates the immune response.” Project Veritas claims Major Murphy’s report was for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and also included information that ivermectin and other drugs had been suppressed.


Accordingly, six Members of Congress have written to the US Secretaries of Defence and Health and Human Services stating: “Millions of Americans suffered as curatives were hidden for unknown reasons. To what extent, if any, was there any attempt to suppress potential curatives identified in Major Murphy’s report?” Watch this space. [..] These latest developments will resonate in the Georgian city of Bath, 3500 miles from Capitol Hill. It was in here, over Christmas 2020, that a highly respected scientist was confident – even elated – that a treatment for the virus had been identified. Little did Dr Tess Lawrie know that this would bring only rejection, frustration and mistrust within the science community. And in common with other leading scientists who questioned the ‘official’ Covid narrative, she received a suspension from Twitter, presumably under the blanket ‘spreading misinformation’.

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Who has what authority?

FDA Prohibits Florida From Using Monoclonal Antibody Treatments (PM)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) closed Florida’s monoclonal antibody treatment sites on Monday after the federal government abruptly removed the treatments from Emergency Use Authorizations. The Florida Department of Health released a statement on Monday evening condemning the “abrupt” decision to take away treatments that can prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death in high-risk patients who have contracted or been exposed to COVID-19. “This evening, without any advanced notice, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)…The revised EUAs do not allow providers to administer these treatments within the United States,” the statement reads.

“Unfortunately, as a result of this abrupt decision made by the federal government, all monoclonal antibody state sites will be closed until further notice…Florida disagrees with the decision that blocks access to any available treatments in the absence of clinical evidence.” The FDA said Monday the antibody drugs from Regeneron and Eli Lilly should no longer be used because the treatments are unlikely to be effective against the omicron variant, The Associated Press reports. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has heavily promoted antibody drug treatments as a signature part of his administration’s COVID-19 response, setting up infusion sites and lauding them at news conferences, while also encouraging Floridians to get vaccinated.

Last September, DeSantis slammed the Biden administration for withholding monoclonal antibody treatments from the state, telling Floridians that he will fight “come hell or high water” to get those treatments for his residents. DeSantis explained that when it became apparent that the treatment was working, the Biden administration took over control of the supply of Regeneron, one of the monoclonal antibody treatments, and cut Florida’s supply.

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“If you keep trying to play for another month or two of “protection” that is followed by six months of enhanced infectivity you are eventually going to lose on that dice roll..”

Welcome to VEI Hell? (Denninger)

Note that the Federal Government has just pulled the EUAs for monoclonals. These are drugs that are, effectively, the “final product in the body” of being jabbed. They know damn well what the risk is — not just that the drugs are worthless against Omicron but could end up boosting the infection, making it worse. Since these drugs are, basically, the product of the jabs the obvious risk that the same thing has or will happen with the jabs either with Omicron or what may evolve from it should be clear to anyone with an IQ greater than their shoe size. At present we do not know. Its possible that the negative effectiveness of the jabs will wear off. That would be excellent but it will only wear off if people stop taking jabs.

If you keep trying to play for another month or two of “protection” that is followed by six months of enhanced infectivity you are eventually going to lose on that dice roll and get screwed. Of course all the pharma CEOs (who’s primary purpose in life is to make money) plus the government agencies (who’s primary purpose in life at this point is to keep you from hanging them for conning you into doing something stupid) are telling you to play for that extra couple of months. At present we do not know and there is no way to find out for an extended period of time. Anyone who tells you they know any, say much less all of these things and thus can compute this out and make a recommendation based on a reasoned evaluation is lying. The first of these conditions is bad enough and over time we will learn more about it, but by then Omicron will likely be gone, having infected damn near everyone.

Omicron and the vaccine negative effectiveness against it, which is now in full evidence, is a warning. A warning that included a wildly lucky draw from the evolutionary deck in that materially less virulence in the lungs doesn’t provide much in the way of evolutionary advantage, never mind that the curious absence of visible precursors in public data, even though everyone has been looking for the last two years, strong suggests that it wasn’t an evolutionary accident at all in the first place. Whether the risk bucket for those who can get screwed will shrink to any material degree with time is not known. Only time with no more jabs will answer that question. Since coronaviruses have animal reservoirs the odds of this virus entirely disappearing approach zero. We can’t go back and un-jab those who did it. If what happened turns out to be a permanent enhancement in infective risk and the short straw comes up in evolution there’s nothing anyone can do about it now.

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“Helps” for two weeks?

Expert Panel Backs Fourth COVID Vaccine Dose for Israelis 18 and Over (Haaretz)

The expert panel advising the Health Ministry on the coronavirus recommended Tuesday offering a fourth shot to Israelis aged 18 and above, on condition that five months have passed since they received a third shot or recovered from the disease. The recommendation, which will expand Israel’s limited fourth vaccine rollout for Israelis above 60 and at-risk adults, still awaits approval by the Health Ministry director-general before implementation. The panel cited data showing that a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine given to people over 60 in Israel made them three times more resistant to serious illness than triple-vaccinated people in the same age group.

This figure is based on a comparison with people in the same age group who received a third dose at least four months earlier. The ministry said its analysis was based on statistics of some 400,000 people who had received a fourth shot and 600,000 who had received a third shot. Last week a study by Sheba Medical Center found that a fourth shot of the COVID-19 vaccine boosts antibodies to even higher levels than the third jab, but it likely is not enough to prevent omicron infections. The study, led by Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, included 270 staffers who received the fourth dose and a control group of employees who were not given a second booster.

Prof. Regev-Yochay, who is not on the advisory panel which made the recent recommendation, criticized the decision and said that the number of young Israelis in “serious condition or on ECMO machines” is still low and that therefore offering a fourth shot to “young people is wrong.”

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First you licence it, then you do the trials.

Thousands Needed To Try A New Covid Antiviral Treatment (BBC)

Over-50s and younger adults with underlying health conditions are being urged to participate in a study of a life-saving treatment for Covid-19. The study is open to those who test positive for Covid and had symptoms develop in the previous five days. Volunteers will be given pills to take at home. The study will help decide how antiviral drugs will be used, Prof Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said. Health Secretary Sajid Javid asked everyone eligible to “step forward” and “help us to learn more about medicines which could save thousands of lives”.


Antivirals were “part of our approach as we learn to live with Covid, by preventing the most vulnerable from being hospitalised”, he said. The pill being used in the Panoramic trial is called Molnupiravir and is made by Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD). It was licensed by UK regulators in November after trials showed promising results at reducing the risk of serious illness or death. The study will give doctors an idea of the potential benefits to vaccinated patients – and help the NHS plan how the drug can be used. Launched in December, it already has 4,500 people signed up but needs 6,000 more as soon as possible.

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How does a hospital value a human life?

Patient Removed From Heart Transplant List For Being Unvaccinated (DM)

An unvaccinated and gravely ill 31-year-old father-of-two has been taken off the donor list for a heart transplant by a Boston hospital because he ‘does not believe’ in the COVID vaccine. DJ Ferguson, who has a hereditary heart condition that causes his lungs and heart to fill with blood and fluid, was denied the life-saving organ transplant by Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The hospital said it removed Ferguson from the donor list because all transplant recipients need to get the vaccine in order to ‘create both the best chance for successful operation and also the patient’s survival after transplantation.’

However, Ferguson’s father, David, said getting vaccinated is ‘kind of against his basic principles’ and that his son ‘doesn’t believe in it.’ ‘I think my boy is fighting pretty damn courageously and he has integrity and principles he really believes in and that makes me respect him all the more… It’s his body. It’s his choice.’ The hospital, which has a list of protocols for transplant candidates that includes a ban on lifestyle choices like smoking and alcohol, said requiring the COVID vaccine is common at many medical center’s throughout the country. The mortality rate for transplant recipients who fall ill with COVID is more than 20 percent, according to UCHealth.

‘It’s a policy they are enforcing and so because he won’t get the shot, they took him off the list of a heart transplant,’ David told CBS Boston. ‘My son has gone to the edge of death to stick to his guns and he’s been pushed to the limit.’ Ferguson’s family is considering transferring him to another hospital, but his wife said that he may be too weak to move. ‘At this point DJ is unable to leave the hospital until he gets the heart surgery he needs. Without the surgery his lungs and heart will continue to fill up with blood and fluid (on top of everything else that’s going on),’ said Ferguson’s wife, Heather Dawson, on Facebook.

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“..every game was taught to them by someone instead of invented..”

in praise of lawn darts (el gato)

we must be free to scrawl our own designs upon the world. we must face the difficulty of doing so, the responsibility for failure, the lessons of losing, and the triumphs of getting stuff right. that is the most important lesson in all of growing up. not piano or soccer or interpretive headstand watercolor painting and certainly not indoctrination into the grievance cults of wokedom: what must be learned is how to become self-governing. and it has been stolen from our children. it has been stolen by overbearing structure and supervision. every edge has been dulled, every pointy part wrapped in 4 layers of padding, every head helmeted, every scary image and idea painted over or hidden from view while every need, no matter how performative indulged.

everyone gets a trophy. we have taken from them not just the glories of doing it yourself and winning despite difficulty, but the actual skillset prerequisite to undertake such things. and that is the true damage. every game was taught to them by someone instead of invented. it was supervised by authority figures: parents, teachers, coaches, referees. disputes were resolved by these authority figures. and THAT is a serious, serious problem. system creation and dispute resolution are skills. they need to be learned, they need to be practiced. so does resilience. it’s stuff you have to figure out and grow into. a child of the 70’s would be shunned for the dire moral sin of “tattling.” it simply was not done. you rat the other kids out to an adult, you’re done here.

being the wussie kid was as low as low status got. sure, it’s tough. it can be nasty and unfair and everyone got bullied and beat up at some point. but, consider the alternative: every kid yells “MOM!” at the first sign of trouble and mom wades in and regulates. so no one ever learns anything except how to yell for help in more compelling fashion than the other kids. no one ever toughens up or gains the skills that allow independence. instead, they cultivate helplessness and stunted dependence. they do not learn to solve their own problems, they learn to rely upon authority figures to order and regulate their lives and engage in performative behavior to curry favor with the umpires. it’s a tattle tale arms race and it lasts a lifetime. he who tattles first usually wins and that’s a rotten incentive set.

then they go off to college and mom is no longer in yelling range. so they learn to yell “DEAN!” then they graduate and learn to yell “BOSS!” or “GOVERNMENT!” what choice do they have? they never learned to do this themselves, to handle and adapt to a plurality of views, to learn compromise and respect and conflict resolution. every disagreement is a threat you cannot assess or resolve. and so, you start to drown. worse, you start to adopted ever more absurd poses and positions to gain leverage in the “battle of tattle” and get to punch first or declare “no punchbacks.” we’ve all seen how THAT is going.

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“..in a bid to return to the driver’s seat of American foreign policy.”

The Neocons’ Primary War Tactic (Greenwald)

One of the most bizarre but important dynamics of Trump-era U.S. politics is that the most fanatical war-hungry neocons, who shaped Bush/Cheney militarism, have become the most popular pundits and thought leaders in American liberalism. They have not changed in the slightest — they are employing the same tactics they have always invoked, and for the same causes — but they have correctly perceived that their agenda is better served by migrating back to the Democratic Party which originally spawned their bloodthirsty ideology. The excuse offered by Democrats for their embrace of neocons — we did it only as a temporary coalition of convenience to oppose Trump — is false for many reasons.

This unholy alliance pre-dated Trump. In 2014 — long before anyone envisioned Trump descending down an escalator on his path to the White House — the journalist Jacob Heilbrunn wrote a New York Times op-ed entitled “The Next Act of the Neocons.” He predicted, correctly as it turned out, that “the neocons may be preparing a more brazen feat: aligning themselves with Hillary Rodham Clinton and her nascent presidential campaign, in a bid to return to the driver’s seat of American foreign policy.” The corporate media outlets consumed most voraciously by liberals are filled to the brim with war-loving neocons. Liberals catapult their books to the top of best-seller lists, spread their viral tweets, build their credibility into contracts with CNN and NBC News or stints as columnists for The New York Times and The Washington Post, and giddily applaud their cover stories for The Atlantic and The New Yorker.

Bill Kristol’s frequent appearances on MSNBC are due to his high levels of popularity among its liberal audience. One of the most beloved hosts on that network is the former spokesperson of the Bush/Cheney White House and 2004 Bush campaign, Nicolle Wallace. The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson and Steve Schmidt went from producing commercials in 2002 accusing War on Terror critics of being on the side of Al Qaeda to wallowing in “generational wealth” from gullible liberal donors giddy over their similar Trump-era ads accusing their enemies of being Kremlin agents and traitors. Two of The Washington Post’s most popular-among-liberal columnists are Jennifer Rubin and supreme war advocate (from a safe distance for him and his family) Max Boot.

Security state officials like former CIA Director John Brennan, former Bush CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden, and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper became liberal TV stars with their endless accusations that various Trump supporters were unpatriotic and treasonous. And on and on and on. But perhaps the most influential and beloved pundit in U.S. liberal political life now is former Bush White House speechwriter David Frum, now at The Atlantic and CNN. His cover stories for that magazine warning that Trump is an unprecedented evil (which has the convenient benefit of absolving him and the rest of the D.C. establishment of all their past sins) were passed around and celebrated as if they were this generation’s Dead Sea scrolls.

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“..the playbook prescribes responses to different events, and these responses tend to be militarized responses…”

Let’s Not Have A War (Taibbi)

In 2013, Ukraine was proceeding down a path of integration into the E.U. Paul Manafort client Viktor Yanukovich, always described in America as an outright puppet of Moscow, was actually a proponent of Euro-integration at this point. “Yanukovich cajoled and bullied anyone who pushed for Ukraine to have closer ties to Russia” is how Reuters correspondent Liz Piper described his attitude, quoting him as saying to those wanting to go back to Russia’s arms, “Forget about it.. forever!” But Putin’s ferocious tactics, including intense economic and military threats, pushed Yanukovich to back out of the EU deal, and take instead an economic trade package with Russia that included $15 billion and the lowering by a third the price the country paid for natural gas from Russia.

This, in turn, spurred a Western response via the “Maidan revolution,” really a U.S.-backed coup, in which Yanukovich was replaced with someone more suitable to our foreign policy geniuses. “Yats is our guy” is how our current undersecretary for political affairs Victoria Nuland put it, insisting that Arseniy Yatsenuk be Ukraine’s next leader, even though Ukrainians might have preferred former boxer Vitaly Klitschko. When apprised some of the E.U. countries were uncomfortable with a coup, Nuland famously said, “Fuck the E.U.” Forget gunboats, here was F-bomb diplomacy!

Putin responded by annexing Crimea, which in turn led to the moment when Barack Obama made his decision to drop the bluff and stop the escalation. His reasoning was simple: Ukraine was always going to matter more to Russia than to the United States, and when push came to shove, he, Obama, wasn’t going to war over it. Moreover, because the hawks in Washington would never come out and say they would, either – “If there’s somebody in this town that would claim that we would consider going to war with Russia over Crimea and eastern Ukraine, they should speak up and be very clear about it,” he challenged – the issue instead would keep being presented as an improper defiance of consensus:

“There’s a playbook in Washington that presidents are supposed to follow… And the playbook prescribes responses to different events, and these responses tend to be militarized responses… You are judged harshly if you don’t follow the playbook, even if there are good reasons.”

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Don’t tell Blinken.

Russia May Not Be Poised To Invade Ukraine – Pentagon (RT)

US officials appear to have backtracked on claims that Moscow could be on the verge of ordering an invasion of neighboring Ukraine, while warning that the risk of escalation remains high. Speaking to reporters at a press briefing on Monday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that “obviously we’re mindful of things that the Russians could do that would potentially give us indications of some sort of imminent incursion.” However, he went on, “we’re not there yet, but we are watching for those indicators very, very closely.” At the same time, the official reiterated Washington’s assertions that Russia is seeking to “threaten its neighbor further and potentially violate further Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”

“It’s very clear that the Russians have no intention right now of de-escalating,” Kirby went on, adding that Washington wants to deter Moscow from attacking. The Pentagon has placed around 8,500 troops on higher alert on Monday in response to the tensions in Eastern Europe, while NATO simultaneously announced that it had put more forces on standby and sent additional ships and jet fighters to the region. The US, UK, and Australian embassies in Kiev were advised to evacuate non-essential staff and family members over the weekend as NATO continues to accuse Russia of gearing up to invade its neighbor. Moscow has repeatedly denied planning to attack Ukraine, with the Kremlin insisting that it forces are no threat.

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov also appeared to downplay the risk of a larger conflict earlier this week. “As of today, we don’t see any grounds for statements about a full-scale offensive on our territory. It’s even physically impossible,” he said on Monday. Danilov added that Kiev was tracking the movement of Russian forces. “Maybe, [seeing Russian troops] is an oddity to our foreign partners who finally saw that there are Russian forces and they move a certain way,” Danilov said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed a similar message in a televised address, urging the public not to panic. The comments come after US President Joe Biden warned during a press conference last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin could “move in,” adding that “he has to do something.”

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As long as Kamala polls even lower, 10% for the big guy.

Biden Approval Rating Tanks To New Low (NYP)

President Biden’s approval rating has tanked to a new low of just 39 percent as his administration contends with a number of domestic and global concerns, a new poll shows. The abysmal rating was derived from the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll that was shared exclusively with The Hill. “This is a new low for President Biden as he struggles to solve a myriad of issues,” pollster Mark Penn said, according to the report. The White House is grappling with soaring inflation, the pandemic, rising crime in big cities, an inability to pass signature legislation and an escalating situation overseas with a Russian threat to invade Ukraine.


The poll began computing Biden’s approval rating in March. The newest tally is six points less than Biden’s November rating of 45 percent. Just 18 percent of the 1,815 registered voters surveyed in the latest poll said they strongly approved of Biden’s work, the report said. 53 percent of those polled indicated they somewhat or strongly disapproved of the way the president is handling the job.

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“..the Supreme Court can refuse extradition on the one point now certified by the High Court”

Assange Hearing Day Oh God It Never Ends (Murray)

Now some of the appeal points which the High Court refused to certify as arguable and of general public interest, were important. One point was that the diplomatic assurances by the United States promised not to engage in certain illegal practices amounting to torture, but made that assurance conditional on Assange’s future behaviour. Now, legally prohibited treatment of prisoners does not become lawful if the prisoner does something wrong. That ought to have been a slam-dunk argument, even without the fact that the decision on Assange’s future behaviour would be made by precisely the same authorities who plotted to kidnap or murder him. All of which was not certified as an arguable point of law of general public interest.


What is certified and going forward is the simple question of whether the diplomatic assurances were received too late… By introducing them only at the appeal stage, the United States had evaded all scrutiny of their validity… This is very important, because it may be the screen behind which the British Establishment is sidling slowly towards the exit. ...the Supreme Court can refuse extradition on the one point now certified by the High Court, and it can be presented as nothing to do with anything bad about the USA and its governance, purely a technical matter of a missed deadline. Apologies all round, never mind old chap, and let’s get to the claret at Simpson’s. Can there really be an end in sight for Julian? Is the British Establishment quietly sidling to the exit?

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Risch
https://twitter.com/i/status/1485877003727380481

Kheriaty

Berenson

 

 

 

 

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