WORLD NEWS
U.S. Has Ordered The Families Of Diplomats To Immediatly Leave Belarus
SHIFT Plan – The United States has ordered the families of US diplomatic staff to immediately evacuate Belarus. The State Department is warning of “concerning” Russian troop movements near the border with Ukraine and heightened tensions in Eastern Europe.
“Do not travel to Belarus due to the arbitrary enforcement of laws, the risk of detention, and unusual and concerning Russian military buildup along Belarus’ border with Ukraine,” Washington officials said in an advisory on Monday, as they ordered the departure of the relatives of US government employees.
Less than two weeks ago, the ruling class warned the citizens of the U.S. to prepare for a possible war with Russia.
Responding to the news of the orders to evacuate, Anatoly Glaz, a spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said the decision was “politicized” and insisted his country is “far safer and more hospitable than the US.” And he’s actually probably correct.
The move follows a similar decision last week when the State Department told the families of American diplomats in Ukraine to return home, citing the “continued threat of Russian military action.” US citizens were also strongly urged to avoid travel to the former Soviet Republic, according to a report by RT.
New US troop deployment in Europe revealed
RT – Washington to deploy 2,000 troops to Poland as more soldiers placed on high alert
The US will deploy around 2,000 troops to Poland as part of measures to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank in response to potential Russian military moves toward Ukraine, the head of Warsaw’s National Security Bureau revealed on Wednesday.
Speaking to Polskie Radio 24, the country’s national public-service broadcaster, Paweł Soloch announced that the American troops arriving in his country would be part of a more significant deployment of 8,500 soldiers being sent to Europe.
According to the Bureau head, the move’s aim is two-fold; to reinforce the bloc from a military standpoint, and, crucially, to strengthen and develop the mechanisms in place for the further transfer of troops in the future.
The reveal follows US President Joe Biden’s announcement last month that America had made plans to send soldiers to Eastern Europe, specifically to the countries in the Bucharest Nine, which includes Poland. The Bucharest Nine was founded in 2015, and is an organization made up of nations formerly part of the Warsaw Pact. The US announced that these troops would be mobilized and deployed to NATO’s eastern flank at European members’ request, or “in other situations,” which could potentially mean an incursion by Russia into Ukrainian territory.
Threats From China ‘More Brazen, More Damaging’ Than Ever Before: FBI Director
Epoch Times – The United States is facing a new level of threat from the Chinese regime that’s “more brazen, more damaging” than ever before, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Jan. 31.
“When we tally up what we see in our investigations, over 2,000 of which are focused on the Chinese government trying to steal our information or technology, there’s just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China,” Wray said during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California.
In fact, these theft incidents have been happening “literally every day,” he said, noting that the bureau is opening new cases to counter China’s intelligence operations about every 12 hours.
“They identify key technologies to target,” Wray said, pointing to China’s industrial blueprint known as “Made in China 2025.” “Then they throw every tool in their arsenal at stealing the technology to succeed in those areas.”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released the blueprint in 2015, a 10-year economic plan aimed at advancing 10 domestic tech manufacturing industries. These sectors include robotics, new energy vehicles, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, maritime vessels, and agricultural machinery and equipment.
To steal what it needs, the Chinese regime has unleashed “a massive, sophisticated hacking program that’s bigger than those of every other major country combined,” Wray said, adding that China’s own hackers often work with cybercriminals.
One such hacking incident was announced by the U.S. Department of Justice in July 2020 when it indicted two Chinese hackers who worked with CCP’s Ministry of State Security (MSS)—the regime’s chief intelligence agency. The two allegedly targeted hundreds of victims, including companies, government and nongovernmental organizations, and U.S.-based human rights activists, in a decade-long campaign.
A China-backed hacking group, with purported ties to the Chinese regime, was behind the 2021 cyberattack against Microsoft, in which it exploited vulnerabilities in the company’s Exchange Server software, compromising tens of thousands of systems globally.
Aside from hacking, Beijing also deploys its intelligence agents to co-opt individuals who can assist with operations such as by providing cover, spotting and assessing sources, and helping with the theft, Wray said.
He used the speech to highlight one particular criminal case—a Chinese MSS agent named Xu Yanjun who recruited a GE Aviation engineer—to say there are many similar Chinese operations.
Xu was convicted in November 2021 after his failed attempt to obtain GE Aviation’s trade secrets through the recruited engineer. According to Wray, Xu is just “one Chinese intelligence officer working for an entire unit dedicated solely to stealing aviation secrets.”
Wray also spoke about a case involving Chinese wind turbine maker Sinovel Wind Group, to show the devasting effect China’s theft has had on U.S. businesses. According to Wray, U.S.-based firm AMSC, after seeing its proprietary codes on wind turbine stolen by Sinovel, became a smaller company with about 600 fewer employees.
Sinovel was convicted of federal charges in January 2018 for stealing from AMSC, which resulted in losses of over $800 million for the company.
“The Chinese government also makes investments and partnerships to position their proxies to take valuable technology,” Wray said.
The Chinese regime also is known for requiring foreign companies to enter joint ventures with Chinese companies, many of them backed by the communist regime, in order to obtain the foreign firm’s know-how, technology, and intellectual property.
Tonga goes into first-ever lockdown after five COVID cases
Community transmission and lockdown deal another blow to Tonga, as it deals with the aftermath of a catastrophic volcanic eruption.
Al Jazeera – Disaster-hit Tonga has gone into lockdown after detecting its first community transmissions of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
The lockdown began at 05:00 GMT on Wednesday, days after the Pacific island nation began receiving foreign aid in the wake of a deadly volcanic eruption that also generated huge tsunami waves around the Pacific.
Quebec Abandons Policy of Taxation on the Unvaccinated
Breitbart – The Quebec government has abandoned its proposed plan to implement a ‘Health Contribution’ tax on unvaccinated residents as the government looks to relax Wuhan coronavirus restrictions this month.
The government of the French-speaking Canadian province led by Premier François Legault of the conservative Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) has dropped the proposal to tax residents not vaccinated against the coronavirus after the measure was proposed last month.
U.S. NEWS, POLITIC & GOVERNMENT
Democratic Senators Unveil Legislation to Change Electoral Count Act
Epoch Times – A group of Democratic and Democratic-aligned senators on Tuesday unveiled a bill that would make several changes to the 1887 Electoral Count Act (ECA), which Democrats hope will be more acceptable to some GOP moderates.
The draft of the bill was unveiled by Democrat-aligned Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) in conjunction with Rules Committee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
“As leaders on the Senate Rules Committee with jurisdiction over federal elections and members of Senate Democratic leadership, we have been working with legal experts and election law scholars to develop legislation that would modernize the framework of the Electoral Count Act of 1887,” wrote King, Klobuchar, and Durbin in a statement on the proposal.
Amid ongoing contention over potential fraud in the 2020 election, President Donald Trump tried to persuade Vice President Mike Pence to use his role under the original ECA to challenge the results in several state elections that posed the highest risk of widespread fraud. Pence refused, allowing Joe Biden to be confirmed as the president-elect by the Senate.
The updated ECA would change federal law to significantly lessen the vice president’s role over elections.
In addition, the bill would significantly raise the requirements for members of the House or Senate to object to certifying election results.
Under the 1887 law, only one member of the House and one member of the Senate need object before the objection is moved to a floor vote in the chamber. Under the new draft of the bill, this would be raised to one-third of the Senate before an objection could be moved to a floor vote.
The bill would also narrow the list of potential objections lawmakers can make to certifying a slate of electors.
During the 2020 election, disputes over election results in various states continued well into December. Under the ECA revision, future state-level election disputes would need to be resolved by a set deadline.
Through these changes, contended the trio of lawmakers, the new proposal would “[serve] as a foundational outline for key reforms that address the shortcomings of the 1887 law.”
The proposal is considered by Democrats to be more palatable to Republicans, if less wide-reaching than Democrats had hoped for. There have been some indications that an ECA reform would indeed be more acceptable to Republicans.
A separate group of lawmakers, including swing-votings Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have spent the past several weeks working on their own draft of an ECA revision.
Epoch TImes – News Analysis
A supplemental court filing by special counsel John Durham confirms previous reporting that Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz concealed crucial information from Durham in connection with two separate investigations—the ongoing prosecution of former Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann and the criminal leak investigation of former FBI General Counsel James Baker.
The Jan. 28 filing by Durham updated the court on precisely when Durham first learned of two cellphones that had been used by Baker while he was with the FBI. The existence of these phones was first mentioned in a Jan. 25 filing, in which Durham claimed that the Inspector General’s Office (OIG) had failed to disclose its possession of two FBI cellphones belonging to Baker.
Following the Jan. 25 filing, Horowitz’s office apparently told Durham that the existence of one of the cellphones may have been mentioned on a conference call that took place four years ago.
“The OIG Special Agent had a conference call with members of the investigative team, including Mr. Durham, during which the cellphones likely were discussed,” reads the Jan. 28 court filing.
However, Durham states in the filing that he not only doesn’t recall the conference call, but also that he had no knowledge of Horowitz’s possession of Baker’s cellphones before being informed of their existence by a separate investigative team within the FBI on Jan. 6.
Notably, Horowitz is unable to say with certainty that Baker’s phone was even mentioned on the Feb. 12, 2018, conference call. Moreover, at the time of the conference call, Horowitz’s office was not in possession of either of Baker’s cell phones.
While Horowitz did gain possession of Baker’s phone several days later, on Feb. 15, 2018, there’s no record that he informed Durham. Nor is there any record of subsequent communications between Howowitz’s office and Durham regarding the Baker phone. This despite the fact that Durham was conducting a criminal leak investigation into Baker at around the same time that Horowitz gained access to Baker’s cellphone.
Although it isn’t currently known when Horowitz took possession of a second Baker cellphone, there appears to have been no follow-up from either Horowitz or Durham at the time, suggesting that neither of the phones had ever been mentioned to Durham. This is further supported by the fact that as recently as Jan. 5, Durham was seeking Baker’s “call log data” from the FBI’s Inspection Division, suggesting he didn’t know about Horowitz’s possession of Baker’s phones.
While Horowitz’s objection to Durham’s Jan. 25 filing may have been intended to deflect from his office’s disclosure failures, the latest filing raises further questions.
Even if Horowitz’s new claims about the alleged 2018 conference call were true, this wouldn’t have absolved him from disclosing this information in 2021, when he was formally requested by Durham to do so.
However, the most significant revelation contained in the supplemental filing is that Horowitz didn’t object to the other assertions made by Durham in his Jan. 25 filing.
That filing highlighted Horowitz’s failure to cooperate with Durham’s special counsel investigation. In addition to not disclosing the existence of Baker’s cellphones, Horowitz also failed to disclose that he and his general counsel had personally met with Sussmann regarding a “cyber matter” in March 2017, and Horowitz may have failed to disclose the identity of a Hillary Clinton-connected individual who provided the underlying data to Sussmann that led to the in-person meeting.
All of these undisclosed facts are crucial to Durham’s case against Sussmann.
Notably, Durham didn’t learn about this information from Horowitz, but rather from other sources, including Sussmann himself.
3 Babbitt Shooting Witnesses Removed from FBI Most-Wanted List
Epoch Times – Three witnesses who were in the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby of the U.S. Capitol when Ashli Babbitt was shot were once wanted by the FBI, but their photos have disappeared from the FBI’s January 6 Most Wanted page.
The men, including one who tried to administer first aid to Babbitt while she lay bleeding on the floor, were initially listed on the most wanted page on April 16, 2021. They were assigned numbers 310, 311, and 312.
On April 29, sometime after 6:45 p.m., their photos were scrubbed from the FBI list, according to an archived version of the FBI.gov website stored by the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive. It is not clear why the photos were removed.
The listing of “wanted” photos now skips from 309 to 313.
It has been the FBI’s practice to leave photos on the page and label them with a red banner that says “ARRESTED” any time a person is taken into custody.
North Carolina Agrees to Release Records Showing Foreigners Voted
Epoch Times – Records that show foreigners registered to vote—and actually voted in North Carolina elections—will be disclosed by the state’s board of elections as a result of its legal settlement with an electoral integrity group.
The Jan. 31 announcement that a settlement (pdf) had been reached came weeks after Garbant Piquant of Garner, N.C., was arrested and charged with falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen in order to register to vote, voting by an alien, and passport fraud.
Authorities say the Bahamas native, who is not a U.S. citizen, voted in every primary and general election from 2018 through 2020, as The Epoch Times previously reported.
The legal complaint against the North Carolina State Board of Elections and its executive director Karen Brinson Bell was filed June 17, 2019, and later amended.
According to the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), which brought this lawsuit in federal court in North Carolina, the settlement is a victory for transparency in elections.
‘God knows how many guns’: Police warn of huge arsenal amassed from train robberies
WND – Following the revelation that dozens of guns were stolen by thieves in the rampant train thefts in Los Angeles County, a longtime Los Angeles Police Department officer is citing California’s draconian gun laws as enabling criminals to become more well-armed than law-abiding citizens.
Local police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have identified at least 82 guns stolen in train thefts since the summer of 2021, as trains docked in the Lincoln Heights yards have been pilfered by thieves.
Authorities have made five arrests in the heists, recovering only a small portion of the firearms that were stolen from trains.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
US Debt Hits $30 Trillion For The First Time
ZeroHedge – Congratulations, America: it took just over 245 years but as of the last day of January, the country’s debt just crossed above $30 trillion for the first time ever, hitting $30,012,386,059,238.29.
While it was always guaranteed that this historic milestone of civilizational greatness would fall at some point, we can safely say that thanks to the global financial crisis, thanks to covid (and the response – AP Ed.) and thanks to MMT, the golden age of US debt came about twice as fast as it would have otherwise.
Farming Insider Warns The Coming Food Shortages Are Going To Be Far Worse Than We’re Being Told
ZeroHedge -The information that I am about to share with you is extremely alarming, but I have always endeavored to never sugarcoat things for my readers. Right now, there are shortages of certain items in grocery stores across the United States, and food supplies have gotten very tight all over the globe. I have repeatedly warned that this is just the beginning, but I didn’t realize how dire things have already gotten until I received an email from a farming insider that I have corresponded with over the years. I asked him if I could publicly share some of the information that he was sharing with me, and he said that would be okay as long as I kept his name out of it.
According to this farming insider, dramatically increased costs for fertilizer will make it impossible for many farmers to profitably plant corn this year. The following is an excerpt from an email that he recently sent me…
“Things for 2022 are interesting (and scary). Input costs for things like fertilizer, liquid nitrogen and seeds are like triple and quadruple the old prices. It will not be profitable to plant this year. Let me repeat, the economics will NOT work. Our plan, is to drop about 700 acres of corn off and convert to soybeans (they use less fertilizer, and we also have chicken manure from that operation). Guess what? We are not the only ones with those plans. Already there is a shortage of soybean seeds, so we will see how that will work out. The way I see it, there will be a major grain shortage later in the year, especially with corn. I mean, we are small with that. What about these people in the midwest who have like 10,000 acres of corn? This will not be good.”
Once I received that message, I wrote him back with some questions that I had.
In response, he expanded on his comments in a subsequent email…
As for the farming, I see it getting bad. Things like fertilizer and liquid nitrogen have tripled and quadrupled in price. Yes commodity prices are up, but that certainly wont cover the new increased input costs. We are in NC, so while certainly not like the midwest, we still grow grain. The midwest of course will have these same higher input costs as well.
Corn for example, typically takes about 600 pounds of fertilizer per acre, plus 50 gallons of liquid nitrogen. Times that by many acres and thats a lot of money. Soybeans take much less. The plan for us, and most others around here, is to drastically cut corn acres and switch to soybeans. Problem is, there is apparently a soybean seed shortage because others have this plan as well. We were lucky enough to pre buy enough to do it. However, most people, especially younger farmers, or farmers where that is all they do, probably don’t have the money to front like that.
The way I see it, a corn shortage will come. I guess there could possibly be a glut of soybeans, but remember that could depend on the seed being available. I guess there are other alternatives, maybe milo, oats, or barley. Of course the corn market is much larger. Think animal feed and ethanol. I mean for animals, soybeans are used too, but its a mix. What happens to the animal producers who depend on reasonably priced corn? I just don’t see how it can end well. I mean, even if we end up with plenty of soybeans, even a glut, then you have a busted market for that. I don’t know. There just isnt much history to base any of this on. I just see it hurting both grain farmers, and animal farmers, and also translating to more shortages and price increases for consumers who buy the end products.
I was stunned when I first read that.
Corn is one of the foundational pillars of our food supply.
Economic Collapse Blog- I am going to try to make as much noise about this crisis as I can, because we have never faced anything like this in modern times. Global fertilizer prices have tripled, and we are being warned that this is going to have a catastrophic impact on food production all over the world. On Monday, an article that I wrote about this went viral all over the Internet. On Zero Hedge alone, my article has been viewed more than a quarter of a million times. The reason why the article is so popular is because the corporate media in the United States is largely ignoring this story. But it should be front page news all over the country, because this is going to affect every man, woman and child on the entire planet.
Some experts did warn us about this in advance. For example, a European CEO told the media the following all the way back in November…
“I want to say this loud and clear right now, that we risk a very low crop in the next harvest,” said Svein Tore Holsether, the CEO and president of the Oslo-based company. “I’m afraid we’re going to have a food crisis.”
Holsether says that a food crisis is coming because the cost to produce a ton of ammonia has gotten nearly ten times higher…
In Europe, the natural-gas benchmark hit an all-time high in September, with the price more than tripling from June to October alone. Yara is a major producer of ammonia, a key ingredient in synthetic fertilizer, which increases crop yields. The process of creating ammonia currently relies on hydropower or natural gas.
“To produce a ton of ammonia last summer was $110,” said Holsether. “And now it’s $1,000. So it’s just incredible.”
In order to fix this, we need to solve the global energy crisis.
Unfortunately, as I have been repeatedly warning my readers, the global energy crisis is only going to get worse.
So we have a really, really big mess on our hands.
In Africa, many farmers are not going to be able to afford fertilizer at all this year, and it is being projected that this will reduce production by enough “to feed 100 million people”…
With prices tripling over the past 18 months, many farmers are considering whether to forgo purchases of fertilizers this year. That leaves a market long touted for its growth potential set to shrink by almost a third, according to Sebastian Nduva, program manager at researcher group AfricaFertilizer.Org.
That could potentially curb cereals output by 30 million tons, enough to feed 100 million people, he said.
To make sure that their people won’t starve, African governments will need to import massive amounts of food from elsewhere…
“We are likely to see a scenario where yields are depressed and this will mean that either the government will have to readjust their budgets and import food or there will be food shortages,” Nduva said.
But agricultural production is going to be way down all over the globe.
So almost everyone is going to be looking to import food, and there won’t be a lot of exporters.
Economic Collapse Blog – In fact, Bloomberg has reported that Biden is going to issue a cryptocurrency executive order as soon as next month…
The Biden administration is readying an executive order for release as early as next month that will outline a comprehensive government strategy on cryptocurrencies and ask federal agencies to determine their risks and opportunities, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.
Barron’s has also had a White House source tell them that this executive order is on the way…
The Biden administration is preparing to release an executive action that will task federal agencies with regulating digital assets such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a matter of national security, a person familiar with the White House’s plan tells Barron’s.
If you actively trade cryptocurrencies, it is officially time to starting freaking out, because this could change everything.
We are being told that the Biden administration intends to impose a “cohesive regulatory framework” for the sake of “national security”…
The order is set to come under the umbrella of national security efforts as the administration seeks to analyze cryptocurrencies and employ a cohesive regulatory framework that would cover Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and NFTs, Barron’s reported Thursday.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Punxsutawney Phil makes Groundhog Day prediction
Six more weeks of winter is on the way. Punxsutawney Phil made his prediction around 7:25 a.m. ET Wednesday at Gobbler’s Knob.
Phil’s “inner circle” summoned him from his tree stump to learn if he saw his shadow. According to folklore, there will be six more weeks of winter if he sees his shadow. If he doesn’t, spring comes early.
The event took place virtually last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, depriving the community, which is about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, of a boost from tourists.
It was streamed live and seen by more than 15,000 viewers worldwide at one point. About 150 cardboard cutouts of fans were there to “watch.”
Thousands returned in person this year.
The annual event has its origin in a German legend about a furry rodent.
According to records dating back to 1887, Phil has predicted winter more than 100 times. Ten years were lost because no records were kept, organizers said.
Ice and snow threatens more than 100 million people in the US
CNN- A mammoth storm hitting the eastern US starting Wednesday threatens to paralyze parts of the Midwest and South with ice, snow, dangerously cold temperatures and possible power outages.
More than 100 million people are under winter weather alerts stretching from the Rockies to New England.
COVID RELATED NEWS
New Study on Ivermectin ‘Should Convince Any Naysayer’: Dr. Pierre Kory
Epoch Times – A recently published study indicating the anti-parasitic ivermectin worked well as a prophylactic against the virus that causes COVID-19 should help sway critics of the drug, according to Dr. Pierre Kory, president of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC).
“That should convince any naysayer,” Kory told The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders.” “What they found was astounding.”
The Brazilian city of Itajaí launched a program that gave ivermectin to any residents that wanted any. The period that was studied was from July 7, 2020, to December 2, 2020.
Researchers found that the program, which had over 100,000 residents participate, was linked to a 44 percent drop in COVID-19 cases.
Approximately 3.7 percent of ivermectin users contracted the illness during the trial period, compared to 6.6 percent of residents who didn’t take the drug.
The program was also associated with a statistically significant decrease in hospitalization and mortality.
The peer-reviewed study was published in Cureus on Jan. 15.
“Ivermectin MUST be considered as an option, particularly during outbreaks,” Dr. Flavio Cadegiani, one of the study’s authors and a founding member of FLCCC, told The Epoch Times in an email.
FLCCC focuses on early treatment of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. The group has recommended ivermectin since early 2020.
Kory said the lack of reporting on the study despite it being peer-reviewed highlights how some scientific developments are ignored by many media outlets and scientists.
New Drug for Seriously Ill COVID-19 Patients Shows Promise Under Right to Try Act
Epoch Times – New information collected under the federal Right to Try Act shows promise for the new drug ZYESAMI, now in clinical trials for the treatment of serious cases of COVID-19.
The information was collected by a hospital in the U.S. southwest, drug developer NRx announced in a news release Jan. 26.
ZYESAMI, developed by the Radnor, Pennsylvania-based pharmaceuticals company, currently is being tested with patients as part of the approval process of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The company hopes to earn emergency-use authorization (EUA) that would allow widespread use of the drug in the treatment of COVID-19.
For now, the drug has progressed far enough in the process to be used by more patients under the federal Right to Try Act. That law allows the use of investigational drugs for patients diagnosed with life-threatening diseases or conditions, who have tried all approved treatment options, and who cannot participate in a clinical trial to access certain unapproved treatments.
The hospital reported that 16 of the 19 patients treated with ZYESAMI for COVID-19 respiratory failure “survived the ICU,” NRx announced. ZYESAMI is the brand name of aviptadil, a synthetic version of a natural chemical made in the human body called human vasoactive intestinal polypeptide.
The hospital’s report said there were no serious adverse events associated with the use of the drug, according to the company’s statement. Patients were treated during the Omicron surge at the first onset of respiratory failure, after first trying remdesivir and other approved therapies.
Under Right to Try, NRx currently provides the drug for just the cost to overnight it to the patient, company spokesman Jack Hirschfield told The Epoch Times. Requests can be made through the form on the company’s website. The only catch is that the request must be made by the patient’s doctor.
And that can keep patients from actually trying it.
COVID-19-Infected HIV Patient Developed 21 Mutations: Study
Epoch TImes – A South African woman suffering from “poorly controlled” HIV who also had COVID-19 for nine months saw the CCP virus develop at least 21 mutations while in her body, a recent preprint study found.
The woman, 22, was able to overcome the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus which causes COVID-19, within six to nine weeks after she started taking anti-retroviral medication that is used to treat HIV, according to researchers at Stellenbosch and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
They concluded that “increased vigilance is warranted” among HIV patients who contract COVID-19 to “prevent the emergence” of COVID-19 variants. Notably, the Omicron variant was first discovered in South Africa in November 2021, and U.S. health officials say it’s now the dominant strain across the United States.
“This case, like others before, describes a potential pathway for the emergence of novel variants,” the scientists said in the pre-print study, adding that it is still a hypothesis and much more data is needed. “Our experience reinforces previous reports that effective anti-retroviral treatment is the key to controlling such events.”
South Africa has the world’s largest HIV epidemic. About 8.2 million out of its 60 million population is infected with the virus.
According to the researchers, the patient observed in the study had developed around 10 mutations on the CCP virus spike protein, which allows it to bind to cells, along with 11 other mutations. Some of the mutations were similar to those seen in the Omicron and Lambda variants, whereas others were consistent with mutations that allow the virus to bypass antibodies.
“Once again our experience reinforces previous reports that effective [anti-retroviral drugs are] the key to controlling such events. Once HIV replication is brought under control and immune reconstitution commences, rapid clearance of [the CCP virus] is achieved, probably even before full immune reconstitution occurs,” they said. “This underscores the broader point that gaps in the HIV care cascade need to be closed which will benefit other conditions and public health problems, too, including COVID-19.”
Meanwhile, after weeks of Omicron spreading through the country, some South African experts said they are optimistic that the country has reached a “turning point.”
“The Omicron wave now accounts for less than 5 percent of all of the deaths that have occurred due to COVID-19 [in South Africa] since the start of the pandemic,” vaccinologist Shabir Madhiti, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, told CBS News on Monday.
While more COVID-19 variants may emerge, he believes the worst of the two-year-long pandemic is over.
“I’m highly optimistic that we have reached a turning point in this pandemic,” Madhiti said. “I can’t see us revisiting what we experienced during the course of the first three waves in South Africa.”
Mercola – The COVID pandemic is rife with cover-ups, starting with China intentionally allowing the outbreak to spread by saying there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission
In 2019, Dr. Anthony Fauci and a former director of the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) hinted at a pandemic being a perfect excuse for transitioning from conventional vaccine manufacturing into experimental mRNA technology that would otherwise take decades to bring to market
Two of the biggest cover-ups have been the persistent denials of SARS-CoV-2 being the result of gain-of-function research, and that the pandemic was the result of a lab leak (whether accidental or intentional)
Cover-ups have created irrational narratives, which in turn have resulted in a number of irrational beliefs and behaviors, including the excessive dependence on plastic sheathing, plastic barriers, single-directional walking directives, the idea that natural herd immunity doesn’t exist but asymptomatic spread does, and the belief that lockdowns lower infection rates
One of the most persistent irrational beliefs spawned during this pandemic is that masks prevent the spread of the virus. A recent U.K. Department of Education report found no evidence that universal mask wearing in schools reduced absences due to illness, and therefore should not be mandated
Center for COVID Control Faked COVID-19 Test Results: Lawsuit
Epoch Times – A COVID-19 testing company faked test results and didn’t have licenses to operate testing sites, according to a new lawsuit.
The Center for COVID Control claimed to provide COVID-19 tests throughout Washington state for free and promised to provide results within 48 hours. But in reality, the company gathered patient insurance information and provided “invalid COVID-19 test results or no results at all,” according to the 14-page suit, filed in King County Superior Court by Washington state Attorney General Robert Ferguson.
Former employees told prosecutors that the company, which lacked licenses to operate in much of the state, was not able to process all of the tests it received and owners are accused of refusing to hire more workers.
Instead, the company allegedly stored tests in garbage bags for over a week rather than refrigerating them and backdated collection dates so the samples could still be processed.
“As trash bags of tests piled up and my team was instructed to lie to patients on a daily basis, I had had enough. I first requested a demotion from my shift lead position, and, shortly after that, I quit,” one ex-worker, who was based in Illinois, told prosecutors.
“Center for COVID Control contributed to the spread of COVID-19 when it provided false negative results,” Ferguson said in a statement. “These sham testing centers threatened the health and safety of our communities. They must be held accountable.”
The company hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
In January, the Center for COVID Control’s founder and CEO, Aleya Siyaj, announced that the company would suspend operations between Jan. 14 and Jan. 22 due to “unusually high patient demand” that had caused staffing shortfalls.
In an update on Jan. 20, the company said it was extending its pause on operations.
“As previously announced, CCC is using this operational pause to train additional staff on sample collection and handling, customer service and communications best practices, as well as compliance with regulatory guidelines. CCC will provide an update on reopening plans when appropriate,” the company said in a statement.
The Washington state suit asks the court to penalize the company in the form of civil penalties and block it from administering or processing COVID-19 tests in Washington.
The Center for COVID Control has about 300 test sites across the nation and 13 in the state.
New Orleans Mayor Sued Over COVID-19 Vaccine Passports
Epoch Times – A lawsuit was filed Monday against the mayor of New Orleans and the city’s health department over COVID-19 vaccine mandates that stipulated anyone aged 5 and older have to show proof of vaccination to enter some businesses.
More than 100 plaintiffs joined a complaint (pdf), which was obtained by The Epoch Times, against the city and Mayor LaToya Cantrell. The lawsuit was filed in Orleans Parish Civil District Court.
New Orleans became one of the first cities in the United States to impose a vaccine passport system, doing so in August 2021, requiring people to show proof of vaccination before entering bars, restaurants, music venues, and similar establishments. In early January, the mandate was extended to children aged 5 and older, city officials said.
Other than vaccine passports, the city also has a mask mandate for everyone aged 2 and older.
“The people of New Orleans and our children have endured nearly two years of unprecedented control from our so-called city leaders,” attorney Laura Cannizzaro Rodrigue, a partner at the New Orleans-based firm Rodriguez & Arcuri, told Fox News in reference to the complaint.
“What started as a temporary means to protect the community from unknown risks of a virus has turned into a circus of mandates that no longer make sense to any rational person,” she continued. “Enough is enough. People all over our great State who live, work, and worship in New Orleans are united in this effort to take back control of their lives and families.”
The lawsuit accuses the city, Cantrell, and New Orleans Health Director Jennifer Avengno of violating citizens’ privacy rights and denying plaintiffs’ equal protection under the law.
What’s more, the complaint noted that COVID-19 has mutated into a “milder variant,” referring to the Omicron strain, and that “effective treatments have been developed” in the fight against the virus.
Meanwhile, it added, “most people now have immunity and have learned to protect themselves. Yet, paradoxically, Mayor Latoya Cantrell and city officials under her direction have increased restrictions on individuals and businesses.”
“In response to the original virus, Mayor Cantrell issued orders mandating wearing masks, closing businesses, and limiting gatherings,” according to the complaint. “Now, for Omicron, the mildest variant yet, Mayor Cantrell is lowering the vaccine mandate to age five and expanding the mask mandate to everyone over the age of two.”
A growing number of medical researchers have suggested that mask mandates for children in school, namely, should be rescinded. Some European countries have prohibited mask-wearing in class for all children, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends against mask mandates for children under the age of 6.
When announcing the mandate last year, Cantrell, a Democrat, argued that vaccine passports are the only way to keep businesses in the city open.
“We have to make sure that we keep our businesses open. That is a priority. We have to keep our children in school. This is a priority,” Cantrell told reporters in August 2021, adding that she had “no choice” in the matter. “[The vaccine] is our only way out of this virus.”
Other than New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Chicago also have imposed vaccine passport systems in recent months.
Epoch Times – Dr. Anthony Fauci was told in a secret teleconference that the CCP virus had very likely leaked from a laboratory in China, yet still pushed the alternate narrative that it had originated naturally, new evidence allegedly shows.
Redacted emails that were recently made public suggest that Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), initiated efforts to cover up evidence pointing to a laboratory leak as the origin of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.
Evidence suggests that Fauci also actively shaped a highly influential academic paper first published on Feb. 16, 2020, before later being printed in the prominent science journal Nature which excluded such a possibility.
The article, titled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” was co-authored by five virologists, four of whom joined Fauci in a Feb. 1, 2020, teleconference.
During the phone call, at least three authors of the paper said they were 60 to 80 percent sure that the CCP virus had originated from a laboratory, something that they also reiterated in emails following the call.
At the time, public reports also emerged of a potential link between the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and the CCP virus outbreak, yet these reports were dismissed by Fauci and other medical professionals as conspiracy theories.
This includes Peter Daszak, founder of EcoHealth Alliance, the nonprofit that funneled United States grant money to scientists in Wuhan and the other authors, who published a statement that read, “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.”
In an interview with EpochTV’s “Crossroads” program, Jeff Carlson and Hans Mahncke, hosts of “Truth Over News,” said that the latest evidence suggests that Fauci was well aware that the CCP virus had likely leaked from a laboratory in China, but actively pushed an alternate narrative.
“Proximal origin takes the firm side of the natural origin for the virus. And it’s been used by the media and by the government to debunk any talk of a lab leak. As a matter of fact, that’s what was used to push back on anybody saying anything like that was the established science,” Carlson said.
“Well, the first version of proximal origin was finished on the very same day as the teleconference. So just sort of let that sink in, at the time that Fauci and Collins [National Institutes of Health head Francis Collins] and Farrar [Jeremy Farrar, the head of the UK’s Wellcome Trust], the senior funding, the heads of our health institutions are being told privately that it’s anywhere in the range of 60 to 80 percent likely that this virus has a lab origin, they complete the first draft of proximal origin, which is later used to promote a narrative of a natural origin as opposed to a lab leak origin for the virus,” Carlson said.
Carlson and Mahncke said that despite evidence pointing to the contrary, Fauci then adopted the public stance that he was unaware of the claims that were made by authors on the teleconference.
“What’s new about these emails are the details that have come out through these unredacted emails. Before when there was that email dump, all the emails were basically redacted 95 percent or so or just gray, gray, gray… so now we know what’s behind those redactions, some of them, and what we found out is the level of detail that the scientists already knew at the time about the engineered features of the virus,” Mahncke said.
“So all the stuff that we’ve found out in the past two years, they knew all that on Feb. 1, 2020 … and instead of alerting the world to the fact that there’s an engineered virus that’s hitting the world, Fauci does the exact opposite. He goes out there and says, ‘No, this is all natural,’” Mahncke said.
At a Feb. 3 meeting at the National Academy of Sciences, just two days after the teleconference with the authors of “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” Fauci was asked to assist in drafting a response letter to an inquiry made by the Trump White House regarding the virus’s origins.
Again, he doubled down on his stance that the CCP virus had originated naturally and not from a lab.
ENTERTAINMENT
Tom Brady Confirms His Retirement After 22 Seasons
Epoch Times – Tom Brady, arguably the greatest NFL quarterback, confirmed his retirement from the NFL after 22 seasons, ending a career spanning several decades and one that saw him acquire seven Super Bowl championships.
Earlier this week, there were speculation and conflicting reports that Brady, 44, was retiring after his team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was knocked out of the playoffs earlier in January.
But Brady put an end to the rumors on Tuesday morning in a lengthy statement posted to his social media accounts.
“This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore,” he wrote. “I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention.”
“I have done a lot of reflecting the past week and have asked myself difficult questions,” his statement also said. “And I am so proud of what we have achieved. My teammates, coaches, fellow competitors, and fans deserve 100% of me, but right now, it’s best I leave the field of play to the next generation of dedicated and committed athletes.”
Whoopi Goldberg Suspended Over Holocaust Comments
Epoch Times – Whoopi Goldberg, the longtime co-host of “The View,” who was widely criticized this week after declaring that the Holocaust was “not about race,” has been suspended for two weeks from ABC on Tuesday.
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” ABC News President Kim Godwin said in a statement. “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments.”
The suspension came a day after Goldberg released a statement apologizing for the “hurt” she had caused. The host sparked controversy and a social media outcry over her view on the genocide of 6 million Jews.
“On today’s show, I said the Holocaust ‘is not about race, but about man’s inhumanity to man.’ I should have said it is about both,” she wrote. “As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, ‘The Holocaust was about the Nazi’s [sic] systematic annihilation of the Jewish people—who they deemed to be an inferior race.’ I stand corrected.”
Goldberg made her original comments during a discussion on the Monday’s show about a Tennessee school board’s banning of “Maus,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Nazi death camps during World War II.
“I misspoke,” the host said at the opening of Tuesday’s show, a day later.
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