Today’s News: December 13, 2021

Kentucky Governor: Death Toll in Tornado Outbreak Will ‘Exceed More Than 100’

Epoch Times – The death toll from a tornado outbreak in Kentucky, which has left dozens of people dead over the weekend, is expected to rise, said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, as rescuers continued to comb through fields of wreckage to find survivors on Sunday morning.

“This is the deadliest tornado event we have ever had. I think it’s going to be the longest and deadliest tornado event in U.S. history,” he told CNN on Sunday, adding that at least 80 people died in severe weather conditions.

But that “number is going to exceed more than 100. This is the deadliest tornado event we’ve ever had,” Beshear continued. “We have half of some of our towns here in western Kentucky that are just gone. It’s hard to see,” Beshear added in a separate interview.

Starting on late Friday and into Saturday, tornadoes ripped through parts of Kentucky, which collapsed buildings, destroyed homes, and left thousands of people without power. One tornado that remained on the ground for hundreds of miles destroyed a candle factory, an Amazon distribution center, and a nursing home.

About 110 people were working at the candle factory in Mayfield when the tornado struck, but Beshear said Sunday that only about 40 people who were inside have been rescued. The governor said he’s skeptical that more people will be pulled out alive from the factory’s wreckage.

29 US States Have Confirmed Omicron Variant Cases, Mostly Among Vaccinated

Epoch Times  – Ohio and Rhode Island have become the 28th and 29th U.S. states to report cases of the Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Ohio officials announced on Dec. 11 that two cases of the variant were detected in the state, both of whom were fully vaccinated more than six months ago. Rhode Island officials confirmed one case of the variant on Dec. 11; that patient was fully vaccinated and had recently returned from New York.

More than half of the states in the country have confirmed cases of Omicron, a variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, through genomic sequencing.

Across 29 states, 110 cases have been reported as of Dec. 11.

Officials have disclosed the vaccination status of 66 of the infected individuals. Of those individuals, 52 were fully vaccinated. Some had even gotten vaccine booster shots.

Most of the Omicron cases in the United States have been among those vaccinated against COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a Dec. 10 update. Most patients have experienced mild symptoms. Some of them have recently returned from trips from Africa or have been in contact with somebody else who had done so.

No deaths from Omicron have been reported anywhere in the world, since the strain was identified by South African scientists in November.

UK Confirms 1st Death With Omicron COVID-19 Variant

Epoch Times – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with the Omicron variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the disease COVID-19.

Speaking during a visit to a vaccination clinic in west London, Johnson said that Omicron “is producing hospitalisations” and “sadly at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Omicron.”

The age and vaccination status of the individual is not known.

The prime minister said that Omicron now represents about 40 percent of COVID-19 cases in London and “tomorrow it’ll be the majority of the cases” in the capital.

The UK government has adopted a series of measures, known as “Plan B,” to slow the spread of the new variant, which was first detected in South Africa.

On Dec. 10, the government began enforcing a mask mandate in most indoor settings in England including cinemas, theatres, and churches. People have also been asked to work from home if they can from Monday, and vaccine passports will be introduced for large-scale events and nightclubs from Wednesday.

The new regulations will be put to a debate and vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday. With the support from the main opposition Labour Party, the measures are certain to be approved, despite the prospect of a large rebellion by Conservative backbench MPs.

Johnson said on Monday that MPs thinking of rebelling against Plan B measures needed to recognise there was “no room for complacency” in dealing with Omicron, as it “is a very serious risk to public health, and that it’s spreading very fast.”

He insisted that the measures are “balanced and proportionate.”

AI to track Covid patients – media

RT – In an effort to limit infections, South Korea is to trial an artificial intelligence (AI) facial recognition system to track Covid cases in one of its most densely populated cities, according to an official cited by Reuters.

The system, which will be funded nationally and tested in Bucheon, on the outskirts of Seoul, will begin operating in January. Using facial recognition and AI, it will take advantage of the city’s 10,820 security cameras to track the movements of active cases and their close contacts, and to determine whether they wore a mask.

Reuters reported on Monday that the city had submitted a 110-page business plan to South Korea’s Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology, which is seeking proposals to limit the spread of infection. Once the project is rolled out, South Korea will join China, India, Japan, Poland, Russia, and multiple US states in exploring the potential of facial recognition to keep a watchful eye on those who test Covid-positive.

A Bucheon official said the system would be an effective way to reduce the workload of the team charged with tracking Covid cases in the populous city. South Korea’s current tracking system already investigates credit card records, phone data, and other personal information to determine close contacts and limit potential outbreaks. However, the limitations of the existing system means working around the clock to control the spread of the virus.

Bucheon Mayor Jang Deog-cheon has previously publicly argued for an AI system, stating that “using facial recognition technology will enable that analysis in an instant,” instead of workers having to spend “hours analyzing a single [segment of] CCTV footage.”

The news of the AI system rollout comes after South Korea reported 1,030 new Covid infections on Sunday, marking the largest single-day increase and the second daily record in a row. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA) confirmed that 1,002 of those had been domestically transmitted.

Fauci Undermined Trump, Misled Americans on COVID; ‘I Was Stunned at What I Saw,’ Dr. Scott Atlas Says

Daily Signal – Dr. Scott Atlas had a front-row seat at the White House as a member of President Donald Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force. Now, he’s telling all in a new book, “A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America.”

“The American people need to know the level of incompetence, the lack of rigor, the lack of critical thinking. I was stunned at what I saw,” Atlas says of his time at the White House. “We had bureaucrats in charge of the policy and that policy was the restrictions and lockdowns. And it failed.”

Atlas blames three public health officials: Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator; Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about his time on Trump’s task force, President Joe Biden’s failures, and a new academy he founded at Hillsdale College. Watch the full interview, listen to the podcast, or read an abridged transcript below.

FDA Ordered Google to Remove Covid Videos from YouTube Because Agency Didn’t Like Their Message

Natural News –  It has come to light that back in April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a letter to a Google lobbyist demanding that a slew of videos on YouTube about the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) be censored and removed because the federal agency did not approve of their content.

The FDA’s director of social media, Brad Kimberly, complained about “misinformation” in the videos that detracted from the White House’s position concerning the plandemic. One of the videos talked about a monoclonal antibody treatment, which some people are using as a treatment for Chinese Germs.

“Overall, the video is very problematic when it comes to COVID misinformation,” Kimberly wrote in the letter about the video promoting monoclonal antibodies. “This video should[emphasis added] be pulled.”

The recipient of this email was Google lobbyist Jan Fowler Antonaros, who apparently did not initially comply with the demand. However, the video in question was later removed by someone over at Google.

“How often the FDA has made other censorship demands is unknown, because the agency is apparently hiding the existence of its efforts in response to Freedom of Information Act requests,” warned Alex Berenson on his Substack about this issue.

Berenson himself asked the FDA and several other government agencies back in October to disclose both their internal discussions about him, as well as their communications with social media companies like Twitter and YouTube.

“On Nov. 30, the FDA responded it had found some emails about me – mainly in response to questions I had asked in April and May for a story about VAERS, the federal vaccine adverse events reporting system,” Berenson reported.

“But FDA said it could not find any emails between its officials and social media companies that met my request.”

Interestingly, it was Berenson who appears to have accidentally received the email between Kimberly and Antonaros, which was mysteriously attached to the bottom of this email response from the FDA.

“… at the bottom of the emails containing the agency’s discussions about me was the email between Kimberly and Antonaros – apparently attached there by accident, as it had nothing to do with me,” Berenson explained.

The monoclonal antibody in question, known as leronlimab, had been under development by a small drug outfit called CytoDyn that currently trades at around $1 a share.

CDC: Influenza Virus Detections on the Rise Across US

Epoch Times – Influenza virus detections are rising across the United States, federal health officials said in their most recent influenza update.

In its weekly flu surveillance report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that influenza activity remains low but is on the rise.

“The number of influenza viruses detected by clinical and public health labs has increased in recent weeks. The majority of viruses detected are A(H3N2). Most influenza A(H3N2) infections have occurred among children and young adults ages 5-24 years; however, the proportion of infections occurring among adults aged 25 years and older has increased in recent weeks,” the CDC reported.

The percentage of outpatient visits over respiratory illness also trended higher, the CDC said.

“The percentage of outpatient visits due to respiratory illness has trended upwards in recent weeks and is now at the national baseline,” the agency wrote. “While influenza is contributing to levels of respiratory illness, other respiratory viruses are circulating. The relative contribution of influenza to respiratory illness varies by location.”

Nationally, “influenza activity is still low overall” but there is a reported increase of influenza A(H3N2) viruses that have been detected in recent days, the federal health officials added. Most of these infections are occurring among younger adults, the CDC said.

The CDC said it is aware of influenza outbreaks in universities and colleges across several states, noting that influenza vaccination coverage is low.

Authorities at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor campus reported a flu outbreak, which is being investigated by state and federal officials. Around 528 cases of influenza were diagnosed at the University Health Service, the university said, with 77 percent being unvaccinated against the flu.

“Through prompt detection and collaboration with county and state health officials, as well as School of Public Health and Michigan Medicine researchers, we quickly identified these cases as influenza A(H3N2) virus infections,” said a statement from Lindsey Mortenson, the university’s medical director. “Partnering with the CDC will accelerate our understanding of how this flu season may unfold regionally and nationally in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The CDC says that influenza season generally runs from October to sometimes May, with activity usually peaking between December and February.

“In addition to flu viruses, several other respiratory viruses also circulate during flu season and can cause symptoms similar to those seen with flu infection,” the agency says. “These respiratory viruses include rhinovirus (one cause of the ‘common cold’) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is the most common cause of severe respiratory illness in young children as well as a leading cause of death from respiratory illness in those aged 65 years and older.”

Doctor Says He Was Fired for Trying to Treat COVID-19 Patients With Ivermectin

Epoch Times – A Mississippi doctor said he was fired for attempting to treat COVID-19 patients with ivermectin, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat parasites, although the hospital in question said he was not an employee but instead was an independent contractor.

Dr. John Witcher, an emergency room physician at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Yazoo City, said was “told not to come back” after taking several COVID-19 patients off Remdesivir, which is approved by the FDA to treat the virus, and allowed them to use ivermectin.

“I was very surprised that I was basically told to not come back at the end of the day,” Witcher said on the Stew Peters podcast. “These patients were under my direct care, and so I felt like taking them off Remdesivir and putting them on ivermectin was the right thing to do at the time.”

Baptist Memorial told news outlets that Witcher “no longer practices medicine as an independent physician” at the Yazoo City facility, adding that he was an independent contractor, not an employee at the facility.

The hospital system said that it follows “the standards of care recommended by the scientific community and our medical team in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19” such as vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments.

But Witcher said that he was working at the Baptist Memorial emergency room when three new COVID-19 patients arrived on Dec. 10. They were prescribed Remdesivir, but Witcher said that he has concerns about the drug.

“I was there at the hospital for three days straight in the ER and so I felt like this would be a good opportunity to try ivermectin on these inpatient patients that I had been following very closely and just see how well it worked,” Witcher remarked.

The hospital couldn’t prescribe ivermectin, he said, adding that he had to call a local pharmacy. The pharmacy, Witcher said, then delivered the drug to the hospital and switched their prescriptions from Remdesivir to ivermectin.

However, according to Witcher, Baptist Memorial severed ties with him before he could administer the ivermectin.

With Ivermectin in Hand, Wife Dies While Husband Begs Hospital to Administer

Epoch Times – David DeLuca of Sicklerville, New Jersey will never know if the Ivermectin prescribed by an out-of-state doctor for his wife would have saved her life. Colleen DeLuca, 62, died of COVID-19 on Oct. 10, at Jefferson Washington Township Hospital in Sewell, New Jersey, before he could get a court order to administer the drug.

Ivermectin has helped in some cases,  but across the United States, many hospitals don’t include it in their COVID protocol for treatment and refuse to use it, even as a last effort on a dying patient.

Buffalo, New York attorney Ralph Lorigo has spent the last 11 months handling cases where the family wants to try Ivermectin and must get a court order to force hospitals to allow the drug to be administered. DeLuca had Lorigo draw up papers for court, but because Lorigo doesn’t practice in New Jersey, he instructed DeLuca to find a New Jersey attorney to file the papers and handle the case. However, DeLuca couldn’t find an attorney willing to take on the case.

“They kept telling me the magistrates of New Jersey will never let this go through. Now I’ve got to go through the next 25 years without her,” grief stricken David DeLuca, 62, told The Epoch Times. “My 3-year-old granddaughter kisses her photo at night.”

4 States Call in National Guard to Deal With Health Care Staffing Crisis

Epoch Times – At least four states in recent weeks have called in members of the National Guard to deal with health care staffing issues amid COVID-19 vaccine mandates for hospital and nursing home workers.

Late last week, Indiana became the latest state to deploy the National Guard to hospitals. The Indiana Department of Health confirmed to local media that Guard members were sent to 13 facilities after officials with Indiana University Health, the state’s largest hospital system, made the request.

Indiana University officials said it’s dealing with “all-time highs” of both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. Earlier this year, about 125 Indiana University health care workers were fired for not complying with the system’s vaccine mandate, although the hospital said at the time that most fired workers were part-time.

“As COVID cases continue to increase and hospitalization of COVID and non-COVID patients reach all-time highs, the demand and strain on IU Health’s team members, nurses and providers has never been greater,” Indiana University Health said over the weekend, adding that it “will leverage all available resources and enlist members of Indiana’s National Guard, in conjunction with the Indiana Department of Health, to assist in areas of critical need.”

Six-person National Guard teams with both clinical and nonclinical members will be sent to Indiana University hospitals in two-week intervals, officials said.

Navy Commander Fired for ‘Failing to Abide by Lawful Order’

Epoch Times – A U.S. Navy commander was relieved of his duties as executive officer of a warship for “failing to abide by lawful order,” officials said.

The Naval service on Friday relieved Cmdr. Lucian Kins, the executive officer of USS Winston S. Churchill, said the Naval Surface Force Atlantic in a brief statement.

“On December 10, 2021, Commander, Naval Surface Squadron 14, Capt. Ken Anderson, relieved Cmdr. Lucian Kins as executive officer of USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) due to loss of confidence in Kins’ ability to perform his duties,” Lt. Cmdr. Jason Fischer said.

A Navy official told USNI that Kins was relieved of his duties for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine and refusing to be tested for the disease. The Epoch Times has contacted the U.S Navy for comment.

Kins was reassigned to the staff of Naval Surface Squadron 14, Fischer added in the statement. Lt. Cmdr. Han Yi, the ship’s plans and tactics officer, will serve as the USS Winston S. Churchill’s executive officer until a replacement is named, said Fischer.

The Pentagon announced in August that COVID-19 shots would be mandatory for all U.S. service members, while the Navy gave its personnel until November to either request an exemption or get the vaccine.

Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby on Friday told reporters that each individual military service will have to determine how to enforce the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate.

Chris Wallace Announces He’s Joining CNN Amid Recent Network Controversies

Epoch Times – After announcing Sunday he’s leaving Fox News, anchor Chris Wallace and CNN confirmed he’s joining the network despite recent controversies surrounding former anchor Chris Cuomo and the recent arrest of a CNN producer on alleged sex crimes.

Wallace will join CNN+, the news organization’s streaming product that’s launching next year, and will host a show that interviews celebrities, politicians, business leaders, and sports figures, according to CNN in a news release.

“I am thrilled to join CNN+. After decades in broadcast and cable news, I am excited to explore the world of streaming. I look forward to the new freedom and flexibility streaming affords in interviewing major figures across the news landscape—and finding new ways to tell stories,” Wallace said in a statement provided by CNN.

During his past several years at Fox News, Wallace was criticized by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, for showing an alleged bias against conservatives.  Wallace also recently objected to Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s “Patriot Purge,” a documentary that offers an alternative to the dominant narrative on Jan. 6 Capitol breach; two longtime Fox News contributors resigned recently over Carlson’s documentary.

On Sunday, Wallace told viewers that “after 18 years—this is my final Fox News Sunday … it is the last time—and I say this with real sadness—we will meet like this.”

“Eighteen years ago, the bosses here at Fox promised me they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked. And they kept that promise,” Wallace, the son of CBS correspondent Mike Wallace, added in his on-air announcement. “I have been free to report to the best of my ability, to cover the stories I think are important, to hold our country’s leaders to account.”

Fox News, meanwhile, said that it would use a rotating slate of hosts to replace Wallace on Sundays.

Rep. Tiffany: ‘Open Borders’ a Huge National Security Risk

Epoch Times – The lax enforcement of the United States’ southern border presents a major national security risk, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) says.

“That’s the thing that I’ve really been emphasizing to my colleagues here in Congress, is that this is a huge opening for national security concerns, with bad people that can come into the United States very easily at this point,” Tiffany, a member of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, told NTD’s “Capitol Report.”

Tiffany has made multiple trips this year to see the crisis firsthand, first to Texas, and then to Panama, where migrants must traverse to get to the United States.

“When I made that trip to McAllen, Texas, the Border Patrol said, ‘You really need to look deeper. You need to look deeper than just Mexico or the Northern Triangle in Central America, that there are people we are stopping, they’re coming from all over the world. If you really want to see it, go down to Panama,’” Tiffany recalled. “And so that was the genesis of making the trip down there, and really seeing what’s happening.”

Migrants must go on a 7- to 10-day walk through the Darien Gap, an inhospitable jungle in Panama and Colombia, on their way north.

Roughly 10 percent don’t survive, investigative journalist Michael Yon told The Epoch Times earlier this year.

DeSantis Proposes $8 Million in Budget to Relocate Illegal Immigrants to Delaware, Martha’s Vineyard

Epoch Times – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis set $8 million in his 2022–23 budget to transport illegal immigrants out of The Sunshine State.

He proposed the spending in the Freedom First Budget (pdf) to protect against harms resulting from illegal immigration. The spending may include the transportation of unauthorized aliens located within Florida to other states or the District of Columbia.

“In yesterday’s budget, I put in $8 million for us to be able to transport people illegally [in the United States] out of the state of Florida,” he said during a press conference on Friday.

The Republican governor listed Delaware, President Joe Biden’s hometown state, and Martha’s Vineyard, where former President Barack Obama owns a mansion, as potential destinations to relocate the illegal immigrants.

“If you sent [illegal immigrants] to Delaware or Martha’s Vineyard or some of these places, that border would be secure the next day,” he said.

The White House and The Obama Foundation didn’t respond immediately to requests for comments from The Epoch Times.

DeSantis also encouraged more counties to participate in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) 287(g) program, under which individuals who have been arrested on criminal charges and are being booked into the county jails are asked about their immigration status.

Other proposed measures to reduce the harms of illegal immigrants include listing convicted illegal aliens on a public website.

Mayor Declares Emergency in Arizona City Rocked by Illegal Immigration

Epoch  Times – The mayor of an Arizona border city that has nearly 100,000 residents declared a state of emergency on Dec. 9 due to the soaring numbers of illegal immigrants flooding in from Mexico.

Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls said he issued the declaration “due to the unprecedented numbers of migrants entering the city prior to being processed and released by Border Patrol.”

The action enables the city to receive state and federal funding to try to combat the crisis.

Apprehensions of illegal immigrants in Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector have shot up since President Joe Biden took office in January.

Border agents in the sector made about 8,800 arrests in fiscal year 2020, which ended in September 2020. They made over 114,000 arrests in fiscal year 2021 and 21,623 arrests in the month of October alone.

In the past week, Yuma has been inundated with illegal immigrants as thousands crossed the border. Some got tired of waiting by the border fence to be picked up by Border Patrol, so they walked into the city.

On Dec. 4 when the latest influx began, the 911 dispatch center was tied up for hours with calls from illegal aliens asking for transport, food, and clothing, Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot told The Epoch Times.

Around 300 were turning up at the hospital every day, he said—not for medical assistance—but to request transport and supplies. Others wandered around looking for the Border Patrol station.

Law enforcement is “overwhelmed,” Wilmot said.

Facebook tech guru questions fight against misinformation

RT – Attempts to turn social media into an exclusive club where only elites have a right to speak in the name of rooting out dangerous misinformation are fundamentally wrong, a senior Meta official said.

Andrew Bosworth, who leads technological research at Meta and is set to become the tech giant’s CTO next year, pushed back against critics who accuse social media like Facebook of harming society by failing to police speech on their platforms.

“If your democracy can’t tolerate the speech of people, I’m not sure what kind of democracy it is,” he said in an interview with ‘Axios on HBO’, which was previewed on Sunday. He was responding to a statement by host Ina Fried that some people think tools like Facebook should not exist at all because they are “fundamentally unsafe”.

CNN Staffer Charged with Trying to Entice Young Girls to Engage in Illegal Sexual Activity

Epoch Times – A CNN staff member based in Connecticut has been charged with attempting to entice minor girls to engage in sexual activity.

John Griffin, 44, of Stamford, was arrested Friday on three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to entice minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

Griffin from April to July of last year used messaging applications Kik and Google Hangouts to communicate with people who presented themselves as parents of young girls, prosecutors said.

Griffin “sought to persuade parents to allow him to train their daughters to be sexually submissive,” according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Vermont.

In one case, Griffin transferred over $3,000 to a woman with 9- and 13-year-old daughters so the mother and her 9-year-old could fly from Nevada to Boston, Massachusetts.

Griffin picked the pair up from the airport and drove them to a home in Ludlow, Vermont that he acquired in February 2020 for the purpose of hosting mothers and their minor daughters for “sexual training,” according to court papers.

At the home, “the child was directed to engage in and did engage in illegal sexual activity,” the indictment states.

Roadmap for Prosecuting COVID Crimes

Mercola – The Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 imposes fines and prison sentences on anyone who “knowingly develops, produces, stockpiles, transfers, acquires, retains or possesses any biological agent, toxin or delivery system for use as a weapon”  The problem we face today is that our federal government has been captured by forces that seek to destroy the U.S. from within. As such, we cannot trust the federal judiciary to prosecute and hold those responsible for the pandemic and the toxic COVID shots accountable  To circumvent the corrupted federal judiciary, we need to focus on locally elected prosecutors instead. Depending on the state, they may go by titles such as district attorney, state attorney, prosecuting attorney or county attorney  Organize locally to find people willing, as a group, to call on your local, elected district attorney to convene a grand jury and indict the individuals suspected of being involved in the creation of SARS-CoV-2, and those responsible for the COVID shots  The charge that applies is “murder and conspiracy to commit murder.” For starters, 15 researchers listed on a key paper can be indicted, plus those who funded the research. Those to be indicted in relation to the COVID shots include the chief executive officers, chief operating officers and chief scientific officers of Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson

Outpatient Treatments for COVID-19 Reviewed

Mercola – From the start of the COVID pandemic, doctors were told they could not use any treatment that had not undergone randomized controlled trials. Most all clinical successes have been ignored and vehemently opposed

The Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) was among the first to publish COVID treatment guidance. They have since developed protocols for prevention, early at-home treatment, in-hospital treatment and maintenance guidance for long-haul COVID syndrome that are updated as more becomes known

Corticosteroids can be an effective tool for reducing inflammation in general, but they appear particularly important for advanced COVID infection. Steroids should not be used early on, but can be lifesaving after you develop signs of lung dysfunction and increased oxygen requirement

Ivermectin has antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and is beneficial in all stages of COVID-19, from prevention to advanced illness

Other effective protocols include the AAPS protocol, Tess Laurie’s World Council for Health protocol and the America’s Frontline Doctors’ protocol

Metabolic Inflexibility Is Key Risk Factor for COVID-19

Mercola – While SARS-CoV-2 is a rampant virus that can cause severe problems in vulnerable individuals, the real pandemic — the underlying cause that makes people susceptible to complications from the infection in the first place — is poor metabolic health

Aside from old age, obesity has been identified as one of the primary risk factors for being hospitalized with COVID-19 — doubling the risk of hospitalization in patients under the age of 60 in one study

One hypothesis for why obesity is worsening COVID-19 has to do with the fact that obesity causes chronic inflammation. Having more proinflammatory cytokines in circulation increases your risk of experiencing a cytokine storm

Insulin resistance is another top risk factor for COVID-19 that worsens outcomes and increases your risk of death

There are five primary parameters of metabolic health: waist circumference, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and triglyceride and HDL levels. Having three or more abnormal parameters is indicative of metabolic syndrome

‘Follow the Science’ a Potent Source of Authority for Politicians

Epoch Times – News Analysis

To hear the way some politicians talk, when it comes to COVID-19, they’re all “Following the Science,” not to mention “the Data.”

“Look at the data. Follow the science. Listen to the experts. Be smart,” now-former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote on Twitter in May 2020, after “Two Weeks to Flatten the Curve” had fully transitioned to “The New Normal.”

“We’ve been operating on facts and data and science from the very beginning,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in a campaign ad titled simply “Follow The Science.”

President Joe Biden has frequently appealed to “the Science.” In an executive order announcing a vaccine mandate for federal workers, for instance, he said his administration used “the best available data and science-based public health measures.” In an article criticizing Biden’s move to push vaccine boosters in September of this year, StatNews’s Lev Facher described “Follow the Science” as “a mantra” for the administration.

“The Science” emerged long before 2020 as a potent source of authority for politicians. Yet while the scientific method is a powerful tool for advancing human potential, the belief that it alone can guide us is an example of “scientism.”

Scientism is, in the words of public intellectual Scott Masson, “the belief that moral or evaluative judgments are merely subjective and that only the ‘hard’ sciences—think physics, chemistry, or biology—furnish legitimate objective knowledge.” While few American politicians would openly endorse this position, the actions many have taken during the COVID-19 pandemic reflect scientism in deed, if not in word.

Scientism lets politicians off the hook for their decisions. They didn’t really make a decision—they merely “Followed the Science.”

As a scientistic credo, “Follow the Science” doesn’t just abrogate leaders’ accountability as decision-makers. It also does violence to the nature of science, which seldom offers the clear-cut, politically useful conclusions that politicians want.

The Truth of Biden’s Fraudulent Democracy Summit

CATO Institute – Washington’s much‐​ballyhooed virtual democracy summit on December 9 and 10 is already generating justifiable criticism. Centering U.S. foreign policy on democracy promotion —rhetorically, if not substantively—brings back memories of George W. Bush’s ill‐​fated effort. Playing the democracy card has also exacerbated already serious tensions between the Biden administration and Russia and China. Both powers interpret the summit as an effort to enlist other nations in a hostile, containment policy directed against them.

The worst feature of the summit, though, is the brazen hypocrisy of U.S. policy on democracy. True, this has been a long‐​standing, embarrassing characteristic of Washington’s foreign policy. Many of the “Free World” allies that U.S. leaders embraced, funded, and armed throughout the Cold War were actually brutal and corrupt tyrants. What mattered to U.S. officials was that those regimes were reliably anti‐​communist and especially anti‐​Soviet. The nature of their domestic rule could be—and usually was—overlooked. The invitation list to Biden’s summit underscores that the U.S. double standard on democracy is alive and well.

Although the administration excluded all of the governments that are obvious, indisputable autocracies, some of the invitees warranted a reaction of surprise, if not outright disgust, from people truly committed to democratic norms. Despite the State Department’s own reports confirming that Pakistan and the Philippines are frequently guilty of “ extrajudicial killings” and other civil liberties abuses, representatives of both governments will participate in the summit. Likewise, India and Brazil are given the honor of providing input on democracy promotion, despite their own dramatic backsliding into authoritarian practices in recent years. Kosovo also made the invitation list, even though key members of the country’s political elite face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity before an international tribunal. Charges in this case include the systematic murder of prisoners of war to sell their organs on the international black market.

A clear pattern emerges regarding inclusions and exclusions, especially in murky or marginal cases. Two types of governments make the invitation list even when there are serious questions about their own commitment to democracy. In the first category are the significant geopolitical players that Washington is courting for strategic objectives. This category is why there was almost no chance India or Brazil would be snubbed. 

U.S. leaders want India to become an active member of a containment policy directed against China. Both the Trump and Biden administrations lobbied aggressively to convert the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly known as the Quad, which has Japan, Australia, India, and the United States as members, into a military alliance for that purpose. Although the Quad has conducted a growing number of joint military exercises, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has thus far refrained from making that policy commitment, but Washington’s courtship continues. Brazil is a key economic and political player in the Western Hemisphere, and Washington is especially concerned about President Jair Bolsonaro’s government and its growing economic ties with Russia and China. Given this geopolitical context, Biden administration officials will not allow defects in either country’s domestic governance to be an obstacle for strategic objectives.

What I’ve Learned Rescuing My Daughter From Her Transgender Fantasy

Daily Signal –  My daughter’s story is no longer novel. Stories like it are occurring in your state, your town, and perhaps even on your street. Gender dysphoria—the incongruence between the mind and the body—moves stealthily and quickly to invade girls and boys alike.

But this isn’t a cautionary tale. It’s a warning.

My daughter was an ultrafeminine girl since birth. She insisted that her room be painted pink, and she refused to wear anything but dresses until third grade. She avoided her older brother’s toys and sports, choosing tea sets and Shopkins, a series of tiny, collectible toys.

Her favorite activity was to slip into my closet and don my few sparkly clothes and shiniest of heels. She rejected sports in favor of art and sewing.

That all abruptly changed when she turned 12. As her body matured into young womanhood, she stopped begging for a bikini and avoided any clothing that accentuated her figure. She hid her breasts under men’s extra-large sweatshirts.

I remembered doing similar things as my body changed, so I didn’t worry at first.

Then, my daughter immersed herself into anime art and cosplaying, the hobby of dressing like fantastical characters. I supported her creative side.

I didn’t know that anime and cosplaying can overwhelm a young mind. I didn’t know that anime and cosplaying involved gender-bending themes and that the community crosses into pedophilic and sexual themes.

I also didn’t know that the older cosplay community groomed the younger cohorts. 

During that same time period, my daughter went through Teen Talk—a Manitoba, Canada-based program that says it provides “youth with accurate, [nonjudgmental] information” on “sexuality, reproductive health, body image, substance use awareness, mental health, issues of diversity, and anti-violence issues”—at her public school.

She came home with a whole new language. She and all her girlfriends discussed their labels—polyamorous, lesbian, pansexual. None of the five girls chose “basic,” their term for a straight girl. 

Now, I was worried.

She distanced herself from her old friends and spent more time online. I checked her phone, but I was not astute enough to know that she had set up “appropriate” fake social media accounts for my viewing.

An older girl showed romantic interest in her. I barred that girl from our home.  I learned later that she had molested my daughter.

When my daughter was in the eighth grade, as a Christmas gift, I took her to SacAnime, an anime convention in Sacramento, California. There, she met a girl three years her senior, but light years more mature. That girl mesmerized my daughter with her edginess or magnanimous personality. 

The older girl went by “they.” After their meeting, my daughter got a boy’s haircut, stopped shaving, and asked for boys’ underwear. My daughter parroted everything about the older teen.

She started making gross TikTok videos, her language became vulgar, and she redecorated her room to look like a cave. She self-pierced her nose with one of those bull rings. She broke every family rule. She was morphing into an emo-Goth-vampirelike creature.  She was unrecognizable. Her personality descended into anger and rudeness. 

The summer before ninth grade, she announced that she was transgender. Post-announcement, she began to threaten suicide. She sunk into deep depression.

I managed to get all of her passwords to all of her social media accounts. What I saw was jaw-dropping.  

Almost everyone that she was conversing with was a stranger, except for the SacAnime friend, who sent her a self-made masturbation video. The discussions on the Discord platform online involved fetishistic sexual conversations. Kids were sending each other erotica, including involving incest and pedophilia.

Older girls were instructing younger girls how to sell nude photos of themselves to men for money.

Girls bragged about their different mental illnesses. They talked about which drugs do what. They talked about how they are really boys, not girls. They discussed “top surgery” (that is, having their breasts removed) and “packers” that create a bulge in one’s pants to imply the presence of a penis.

My daughter’s electronic devices were filled with TikTok videos and YouTubers talking about how great they feel now that they had “transitioned.”

There were messages in which strangers told her to kick my head in because I was a “transphobe” for refusing to call her a male name.

I went nuclear. I took the phone and stripped it of all social media—YouTube, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, Pinterest, Twitter. I even blocked her ability to get to the internet. I deleted all of her contacts and changed her phone number.

I sat next to her while she “attended” school online via Zoom. I deleted YouTube from the smart TVs and locked up the remotes. I took every anime book from her room. I threw away all of her costumes. I banned any friend who was even the slightest bit unsavory.

I involved the police about the porn. I printed out the law and informed her that if anyone sent her porn, I would not hesitate to prosecute.

She hated me like an addict hates the person preventing her drug fix. I held my ground, despite the constant verbal abuse.

After going through seven mental health professionals, I found an out-of-state psychiatrist who was willing to examine the causality for my daughter’s sudden trans identity.

I immersed myself in reading everything on the issue, talking to other parents and other professionals. I worked unceasingly to re-create the bond she and I used to share. 

After a year and half of utter hell, my daughter is finally returning to her authentic self—a beautiful, artsy, kind and loving daughter.

I am not sure what the actual ingredients for the magic potion were for alleviating gender dysphoria in my daughter. The formula will vary, but what I did was, after a very brief misstep of using a male name, our family and all of the adults in my child’s life only used her birth name and corresponding pronouns.