12 Countries Roll Back COVID Restrictions, Israel Scraps ‘Green Pass’
February 4th, 2022Via: The Defender:
Europe is accelerating steps to roll back COVID restrictions as efforts to control the spread of the virus have failed and countries downgrade the threat posed by SARS-CoV-2.
Sweden and Switzerland joined Denmark, Norway, Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania, France and the UK in announcing they will lift COVID restrictions and open up their countries.
Top Israeli officials also announced this week they are abolishing the country’s “Green Pass” COVID vaccine passport for restaurants, hotels, gyms and theaters.
Coming Soon: Climate Lockdowns?
February 4th, 2022I’ll leave this here, just in case…
Via: The Hill:
The past two years have been a checklist for the worst impulses of government and public sentiment. COVID allowed for supposedly temporary measures to morph into two years of “emergency” restrictions. But what if COVID was only the opening act, and another proclaimed crisis is the main event? Implementing significant but partial restrictions, one by one, in the name of the common good can allow for encompassing government control that results in relatively little backlash. Fear over climate change could lead to long-term soft lockdowns, given the precedent of immense growth of government power and significant support for sweeping state actions.
Israeli Study Offers Strongest Proof Yet of Vitamin D’s Power to Fight COVID
February 4th, 2022One more for your herniating Told-You-So file folder…
Via: Times of Israel:
Israel scientists say they have gathered the most convincing evidence to date that increased vitamin D levels can help COVID-19 patients reduce the risk of serious illness or death.
Researchers from Bar Ilan University and the Galilee Medical Center say that the vitamin has such a strong impact on disease severity that they can predict how people would fare if infected based on nothing more than their ages and vitamin D levels.
Lacking vitamin D significantly increases danger levels, they concluded in newly peer-reviewed research published Thursday in the journal PLOS One.
Ottawa Police Chief May Call in the Military to Handle Protests
February 3rd, 2022Update: The Canadian Government Will Not Use Troops Against Truckers
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Via: Fox:
Ottawa’s chief of police suggested Wednesday that the Canadian Armed Forces might have to be called in to handle the lingering protesters in the Canadian capital.
“This is a national issue, not an Ottawa issue,” Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said in a briefing to city councilors. “I am increasingly concerned there is no policing solution to this.”
Mysterious Aircraft Spotted At Area 51 In Unprecedented Satellite Image
February 3rd, 2022Via: The Warzone:
The aircraft in question measures roughly 65 feet long and 50 feet wide — about the size of a Su-27 Flanker — and has wings that are reminiscent of Concorde, with its elegantly curved ‘ogival’ leading edge. Even the mystery aircraft wing’s trailing edges are curved, leading to almost scimitar-like wingtips that may be turned upward. Overall, the wings have a flowing, almost organic appearance.
The aircraft has no discernable tail surfaces with what is likely its exhaust extending to the rear and blended with the curved trailing edges of the wings, providing something of a rear apex. Its forward fuselage tapers into what is most likely a pointed nose.
Facebook Stock Tanks
February 3rd, 2022Via: Daily Mail:
Facebook lost daily users for the first time in its 18-year history in the final quarter of 2021, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes was caused by the TikTok boom.
The social media giant’s devastating earnings report on Wednesday sent Facebook shares plunging more than 20 percent, wiping more than $200 billion off the company’s market cap and erasing $29 billion from Zuckerberg’s net worth.
Facebook reported a drop of nearly 500,000 in daily logins during the last three months of 2021.
Lockdowns Did Not Reduce COVID Mortality, But Did Impose, “Enormous Economic and Social Costs Where They Have Been Adopted”
February 2nd, 2022Via: Johns Hopkins University:
More specifically, stringency index studies find that lockdowns in Europe and the United States only reduced COVID-19 mortality by 0.2% on average. SIPOs were also ineffective, only reducing COVID-19 mortality by 2.9% on average. Specific NPI studies also find no broad-based evidence of noticeable effects on COVID-19 mortality.
While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted. In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.
U.S. National Debt Hits $30 Trillion for First Time
February 1st, 2022Via: National Review:
The U.S. national debt hit and exceeded $30 trillion for the first time in the country’s history Tuesday, Treasury Department data confirmed.
The ballooning debt is largely attributed to the massive social spending prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the end of 2019, the national debt grew by an astonishing $7 trillion. The announcement comes as the Fed is expected to raise interest rates as early as March to curb inflation and an over-heating economy plagued by supply and demand imbalances. The Fed’s likely move will be the first series of hikes since 2015 and will, by default, increase borrowing costs for the U.S. to finance its debt.
Florida: Grandpa and Grandson Went Magnet Fishing, Pulled Two Barrett .50 Caliber Lower Receivers Out of Canal
February 1st, 2022Via: Miami Herald:
The South Miami-Dade man said he was concerned that the serial numbers on the lower receivers of the weapons and the bolt of one of the rifles were filed off.
“Whoever did this is not your run-of-the-mill criminal,” said Smith, a 61-year-old former Army infantry officer.
Smith called the Miami-Dade County Police Department, which sent out two officers to pick up the guns.
Robot Performs First Laparoscopic Surgery Without Human Help
February 1st, 2022Via: Johns Hopkins University:
A robot has performed laparoscopic surgery on the soft tissue of a pig without the guiding hand of a human—a significant step toward fully automated surgery on humans. Designed by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers, the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot, or STAR, is described today in Science Robotics.
“Our findings show that we can automate one of the most intricate and delicate tasks in surgery: the reconnection of two ends of an intestine. The STAR performed the procedure in four animals and it produced significantly better results than humans performing the same procedure,” said senior author Axel Krieger, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins’ Whiting School of Engineering.
