Wideleft

But “the strain of anti-intellectualism” writes Asimov, “has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”

https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-pfizer-transmission-european-parliament-950413863226 THE FACTS: After Small testified before the European Parliament’s Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic, misleading claims about whether Pfizer knew the impact of its COVID-19 vaccine on preventing transmission spread widely on social media. Rob Roos, a Dutch European Parliament member who asked Small a question about transmission at the hearing, tweeted: “BREAKING: In COVID hearing, #Pfizer director admits: #vaccine was never tested on preventing transmission. ‘Get vaccinated for others’ was always a lie. The only purpose of the #COVID passport: forcing people to get vaccinated. The world needs to know. Share this video!” The tweet, which included a video showing the exchange between Roos and Small, had received more than 232,000 likes and more than 166,000 shares by Thursday. Other social media posts about the hearing used the hashtag #PfizerLiedPeopleDied. At the hearing, Roos asked Small whether Pfizer had tested its COVID-19 vaccine for its ability to prevent transmission of the virus prior to its market release. Small answered: “No. We had to really move at the speed of science to really understand what is taking place in the market.” She went on to explain why Pfizer moved quickly to develop a COVID-19 vaccine as the virus spread worldwide. While Roos and many others framed this as a new revelation, Pfizer never claimed that its clinical trial, upon which the vaccine was authorized for use, evaluated the shot’s effect on transmission. In fact, shortly before the vaccine’s release, the company’s CEO emphasized that this was still being evaluated. A study funded by Pfizer and German vaccine maker BioNTech published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Dec. 10, 2020, a day before the Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorization, did not include data about the vaccine’s effectiveness at reducing transmission of the virus. Instead, it reported that two doses of the vaccine provided 95% protection against contracting symptomatic COVID-19 in people 16 and older. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla also said in a December 2020 interview with NBC News that it was still unclear whether vaccinated individuals could carry the virus and transmit it to others. “I think this is something that needs to be examined,” he told the network. “We are not certain about that right now.” The FDA stated in a Dec. 11, 2020, press release announcing the authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine that “at this time, data are not available to make a determination about how long the vaccine will provide protection, nor is there evidence that the vaccine prevents transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from person to person.” A Pfizer spokesperson told The Associated Press that its clinical trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine in preventing disease caused by the COVID-19 virus, including severe illness. “Stopping transmission was not a study endpoint,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. Asked for comment, Roos told the AP that he was not making a point about Pfizer, but about government mandates for the COVID-19 vaccines. “I take fundamental rights seriously,” Roos wrote in an email. “For governments to infringe on them, they need a massive amount of evidence to prove the necessity. In this case, it was not even a part of the Pfizer trials.” He said that such mandates were based on “no evidence.” But experts and research say that the COVID-19 vaccines have provided benefits in terms of limiting infections and transmission, at least with earlier variants of the virus and for a period of time after being vaccinated. Dr. Walter Orenstein, associate director of the vaccine center at Emory University, told the AP that the fact that Pfizer did not address the vaccine’s impact on transmission during clinical trials is not unusual, because transmission is a complex metric to measure. “It’s much more difficult to evaluate impact on transmission,” Orenstein, a professor of infectious diseases at the Emory School of Medicine, wrote in an email. “What is usually done is a randomized placebo controlled study, in which the recipients are ‘blinded (i.e., do not know whether they received placebo or vaccine.’” Public officials have suggested on multiple occasions that COVID-19 vaccines prevent transmission, but that’s an overstatement. For example, in an October 2021 speech in Illinois, President Joe Biden said: “We’re making sure healthcare workers are vaccinated, because if you seek care at a healthcare facility, you should have the certainty that…the people providing that care are protected from COVID and cannot spread it to you. ” While the vaccines do not eliminate all transmission, they can help. Studies done after distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines began, including research by Pfizer, did find that the company’s shot reduced asymptomatic infections in addition to symptomatic cases with earlier variants of the virus. Researchers in the United Kingdom reported in a February observational study that Pfizer’s vaccine helped cut transmission of the alpha and delta variants. “Our study from earlier in the year shows that the Pfizer vaccine reduces transmission from people with breakthrough infections, at least in the 3 months post vaccine which we studied,” Dr. David Eyre, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study, wrote in an email. Experts have told the AP that while the original COVID-19 vaccines provide less protection against infection with the highly contagious omicron variant, they still protect against serious outcomes. The CDC stated in an August report that receiving only the first one or two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine “provides minimal protection against infection and transmission” and that being up to date on all recommended booster doses “provides a transient period of increased protection against infection and transmission after the most recent dose, although protection can wane over time.” Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, explained that while the vaccines do provide neutralizing antibodies, which help protect against infection, those kinds of antibodies quickly wane — even as protection against serious illness continues to last. “It is fair to say that when you get a vaccine that clearly decreases your chance of getting infected, it does,” said Offit, who is also the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “And therefore it decreases your chance of spreading it to others. But it’s not in any way absolute.” Offit added that messaging to the public around the vaccines early on was flawed and should have been focused on their core benefit — preventing serious illness and hospitalization — since many would later cast doubt on the vaccines’ success because of “breakthrough infections.”

Don't you have an empty flag holder on your pickup truck to take care of?

He's the best pass catcher (not only best hands, but hand-eye/contortionist) I've ever seen.

Ukraine live briefing: Attacks on Russian airfields carried out by Ukrainian drones, Kyiv official says By David L. Stern, Erin Cunningham, Mary Ilyushina, Jeff Stein, Kelly Kasulis Cho, Jennifer Hassan and Miriam Berger Updated December 6, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. EST|Published December 6, 2022 at 2:05 a.m. EST KYIV, Ukraine — An oil facility close to an airfield in Russia’s Kursk oblast, near the Ukrainian border, caught fire Tuesday following a drone strike, regional governor Roman Starovoit said on Telegram, adding that there were no casualties. This would be the third attack on or near a Russian airfield in 24 hours — the most brazen and furthest-ranging attacks inside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began in February, and an apparent escalation of the already full-scale drone war between the countries. The strike comes a day after explosions at two military installations deep inside Russia, including an airfield that served as a base for bombers allegedly used in Moscow’s relentless strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Three Russian service members died in those blasts, which marked the deepest strikes yet inside Russia. Russia’s Defense Ministry blamed Ukraine for the attacks and said it had intercepted low-flying drones in the area. Kyiv did not publicly claim responsibility for the strikes Monday and Tuesday, but a senior Ukrainian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation, told The Washington Post on Tuesday that all three attacks were carried out by Ukrainian drones. Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe. Key developments “These were Ukrainian drones — very successful, very effective,” the senior Ukrainian official said of the strikes, which signal a potentially serious security lapse by Russia. The official added that Moscow has “sowed the seeds of anger, and they’ll reap the whirlwind.” He said he could not comment on whether the drones were launched from Ukrainian territory or whether special forces were involved. Russia appears to have run out of Iranian drones, and there is no sign that fresh supplies are on the way, a Western official, who spoke on the discussion of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Tuesday. Russia has not used Iranian drones in its attacks on Ukranian infrastructure since mid-November and there is also no indication that a proposed deal to manufacture the drones in Russia is near completion, the official said. The slow-moving, noisy drones have in any case proved increasingly ineffective as Ukrainian air defenses have adapted, Western and Ukrainian officials say. Intelligence officials believe Russia has used around 400 Iranian drones since the first supplies arrived last summer, and Ukraine claims it has managed to shoot the majority of them down. Ukraine is carrying out emergency shutdowns of its power grid in key regions after another barrage of Russian missiles knocked out power and water supplies in cities including Odessa on Monday. About half of the Kyiv region will be without electricity in the coming days, Oleksiy Kuleba, the region’s military leader, said on Telegram. “We will do everything to restore stability,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address. Russia said there are no direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv on the issue of a security zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, after Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he was nearing an agreement between the two sides to safeguard the facility. “We are discussing the possible parameters of a declaration on the establishment of a zone of protection,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. But under no circumstances would Russian forces withdraw from the plant, she added. From the Washington Post

Someone's bored between FluTruxKlan Clownvoys.

Or is he talking about some minor league football success during the COVID lockout year. Like he was some standout for the Cucamonga Grapestompers.

Let's just do Manitoba:

You are confusing "economically liberal" with neo-liberalism.

Macron is a Conservative. Voters in all those democratic countries had an option to vote further left or right. Just because Scandinavia has far better social programs than us doesn't mean they don't have a further left (or right) option either. What does government interference in climate change mean?

Lewis Ward is an FA, but I'm torn between signing a forever place kicker and giving Legs another chance with competition from outside.

????? England - Conservative France - Conservative Sweden - Liberal-Conservative (governs like Conservatives) Italy - Far right wannabe fascist Austria - Conservative Croatia - Conservative Czech Republic - Conservative Greece - Centre-right Hungary - Far-right Iceland - Liberal-Conservative Ireland - Conservative Latvia - Liberal-Conservative Lichtenstein - Liberal-Conservative Lithuania - Centre-Right Moldova - Centre-Right Netherlands - Centre-Right Slovakia - Conservative Switzerland - Conservative-Nationalist Ukraine - Liberal-Centrist Northern Ireland - Conservative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ruling_political_parties_by_country

The thing is, the way the Conservatives govern hasn't changed. They're just more open (and proud) about being cruel and angry now.

Officials fear ‘complete doomsday scenario’ for drought-stricken Colorado River By Joshua Partlow December 1, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EST PAGE, Ariz. — The first sign of serious trouble for the drought-stricken American Southwest could be a whirlpool. It could happen if the surface of Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir along the Colorado River that’s already a quarter of its former size, drops another 38 feet down the concrete face of the 710-foot Glen Canyon Dam here. At that point, the surface would be approaching the tops of eight underwater openings that allow river water to pass through the hydroelectric dam. The normally placid Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir, could suddenly transform into something resembling a funnel, with water circling the openings, the dam’s operators say. If that happens, the massive turbines that generate electricity for 4.5 million people would have to shut down — after nearly 60 years of use — or risk destruction from air bubbles. The only outlet for Colorado River water from the dam would then be a set of smaller, deeper and rarely used bypass tubes with a far more limited ability to pass water downstream to the Grand Canyon and the cities and farms in Arizona, Nevada and California. Such an outcome — known as a “minimum power pool” — was once unfathomable here. Now, the federal government projects that day could come as soon as July. Gift Article: https://wapo.st/3Fmxljs

Harper IS the far right lunatic. He helped Orban get elected for crying out loud.

This is a 24 year old song that I just discovered and it makes me feel good. (Thanks to RezDogs for pointing me toward Mason Jennings).

I could say the same thing about a Conservative majority under PP.

According to Canada Polling, there are only 3 provinces (Ontario, PEI, Nova Scotia) that have 3 parties polling at or above 20%. The Federal NDP are polling below 20% (19.5). We should just admit that we really only have a 2 party system in practical terms. Not doing so only helps the Cons. https://canadianpolling.ca/

And that's a function of people voting against a party and being smart enough to know which party has the best chance of defeating them.

Not when the Alberta Liberals aren't siphoning significant votes away from the NDP it doesn't. Again, an NDP government that governs more like a Liberal government.

Alberta has 3 "major" parties. If you don't agree, then you are acknowledging that there are really only 2 parties that matter anyway and then I don't see what we're debating. The reality is that some Liberals are at least as progressive as members of the NDP. Gary Doer governed like a Liberal. Layton and Mulcair ran on platforms hardly distinguishable from the Liberals. I'd rather see the NDP and Liberals merge in Manitoba than have another 8 years of Cons. It would make for stronger candidates and better representation across ridings. I told my local Liberal candidate in the bye-election that I'm tired of voting against someone when the Liberals and NDP would govern the same in Manitoba anyway. I'm even more tired of guessing which NDP or Liberal candidate has the best chance of knocking of the Con. Don't get me started on how the NDP sucked enough votes in the last Federal election to keep Doug Eyolfson out of office. Now we're stuck with a frickin' professional landlord (Morantz) as an MP. I'm afraid this could end up sounding like a conversation with Kanye.