U.S. Debt Is Set to Exceed Size of the Economy Next Year, a First Since World War II
September 2nd, 2020Via: Wall Street Journal:
U.S. government debt is on track to exceed the size of the economy for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, a milestone not hit since World War II that has been brought into reach by a giant fiscal response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Russia’s ‘Slow-Motion Chernobyl’ at Sea
September 2nd, 2020Via: BBC:
Beneath some of the world’s busiest fisheries, radioactive submarines from the Soviet era lie disintegrating on the seafloor. Decades later, Russia is preparing to retrieve them.
Fauci Says Coronavirus Vaccine Trials Could be Stopped Early if They Produce Good Results
September 2nd, 2020Via: CBS:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said clinical trials on a coronavirus vaccine could be stopped early if they provide positive results that show it is safe and effective.
In an interview with Kaiser Health News published Tuesday, Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said a Data and Safety Monitoring Board, which is composed of research experts that review data from clinical trials, has the power to end the trials early.
The independent board, Fauci said, could decide “the data is so good right now that you can say it’s safe and effective.” If the clinical trials were to produce results that are overwhelmingly positive, scientists would have a “moral obligation” to stop the trial early and make the vaccine available to all participants in the study, speeding up the process to make it more widely available.
Australia: Pregnant Woman Arrested and Handcuffed in Front of Her Two Children Over a Facebook Post About Lockdown Protest
September 2nd, 2020Via: Daily Mail:
A pregnant woman has been arrested in her own home over a Facebook post allegedly inciting anti-lockdown protest in Victoria.
Zoe Buhler, 28, was handcuffed in her lounge room in front of her children and partner on Wednesday afternoon and charged with incitement.
Several officers entered the house in Miners Rest, Ballarat, northwest of Melbourne, with a search warrant and began reading the young mother her rights.
‘Excuse me, incitement for what, what on Earth? I’m in my pyjamas, my two kids are here,’ she said, clearly confused.
‘I have an ultrasound in an hour because I’m pregnant.’
Ms Buhler’s alleged offending post linked to a since-deleted ‘Freedom Day Ballarat’ event she created for 11am on Saturday on Sturt Street.
‘Anyone from Ballarat please join us in our fight for freedom and human rights!’ she wrote on Sunday with a link to the event page.
The increasingly distressed mother insisted she wasn’t breaking any laws by creating and then promoting the event.
‘Actually you are, that’s why we’re arresting you in relation to incitement,’ police replied.
Colgate’s Formerly Made in Switzerland Toothbrushes Now Made in China
September 2nd, 2020I’ve never used a Chinese made toothbrush and I never will. It’s one of those things where I’ve just drawn a line in the sand. I don’t know how many dozens of toothbrushes are available at my local store, but they are mostly from China. I think I found one that was made in Germany once and another one that was made in Thailand. However, for the last couple of years, I’ve been buying Colgate’s Ultra Soft Toothbrush because it was made in Switzerland.
Unfortunately, these toothbrushes are now made in China.
Maybe they thought we wouldn’t notice???
I’ll be going back to Luxident. I used to buy them from the local chemist (what people call a pharmacy here), but they were often out of stock. I see there’s an online store so, Colgate-Palmolive, you bastards, your megabillion dollar money sacks are going to be feeling a lot lighter now! haha
Here’s the letter I wrote to them:
Hello,
As I was about replace my family’s six Ultra Soft Toothbrushes with new ones, I noticed that they are now made in China!
I’m not buying any toothbrushes that are made in China. Not for me. Not for my family. Enough already.
You had a unique thing going with the Swiss made ones. Now you’re just selling Chinese toothbrushes like all the other ones at the grocery store.
I noticed that you proudly displayed a Swiss flag on the Swiss made toothbrushes. Why don’t you put a Chinese flag on the Chinese made ones?
Hmm?
Total Media Freakout Over CDC COVID-19 Death Statistics
September 1st, 2020Via: Ron Paul:
Over the weekend the Centers for Disease Control dropped a bombshell report on coronavirus/Covid deaths: of the approximately 165,000 “Covid deaths” less than ten thousand died from Covid. The rest – a vast majority – had on average 2.6 serious additional diseases, with the addition in most cases of extreme advanced age.
More: AwakenwithJP: New Revelations on the COVID Death Count:
Amazon Drivers Are Hanging Smartphones in Trees to Get More Work [???]
September 1st, 2020Via: Bloomberg:
A strange phenomenon has emerged near Amazon.com Inc. delivery stations and Whole Foods stores in the Chicago suburbs: smartphones dangling from trees. Contract delivery drivers are putting them there to get a jump on rivals seeking orders, according to people familiar with the matter.
Someone places several devices in a tree located close to the station where deliveries originate. Drivers in on the plot then sync their own phones with the ones in the tree and wait nearby for an order pickup. The reason for the odd placement, according to experts and people with direct knowledge of Amazon’s operations, is to take advantage of the handsets’ proximity to the station, combined with software that constantly monitors Amazon’s dispatch network, to get a split-second jump on competing drivers.
That drivers resort to such extreme methods is emblematic of the ferocious competition for work in a pandemic-ravaged U.S. economy suffering from double-digit unemployment. Much the way milliseconds can mean millions to hedge funds using robotraders, a smartphone perched in a tree can be the key to getting a $15 delivery route before someone else.
Airline Pilots Landing At LAX Report “A Guy In Jetpack” Flying Alongside Them
September 1st, 2020Via: The Warzone:
As if 2020 couldn’t get any weirder, airline pilots landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Sunday, August 30th, reported seeing “a guy in a jetpack” flying about 300 yards off their wing while on final approach to the bustling airport. What makes the reports even stranger is that, like a scene out of The Rocketeer, the airliners were descending through 3,000 feet when jetpack guy showed up next to them.
Honeybee Venom Rapidly Kills Aggressive Breast Cancer Cells
September 1st, 2020Via: ABC:
Venom from honeybees has been found to rapidly kill aggressive and hard-to-treat breast cancer cells, according to potentially ground-breaking new Australian research.
…
“We found that the venom from honeybees is remarkably effective in killing some of these really aggressive breast cancer cells at concentrations which aren’t as damaging to normal cells,” Dr Duffy said.
The research showed a specific concentration of the venom killed 100 per cent of triple-negative breast cancer and HER2-enriched breast cancer cells within 60 minutes, while having minimal effects on normal cells.
Police Across Canada Are Using Predictive Policing Algorithms
September 1st, 2020Via: Vice:
Police across Canada are increasingly using controversial algorithms to predict where crimes could occur, who might go missing, and to help them determine where they should patrol, despite fundamental human rights concerns, a new report has found.
To Surveil and Predict: A Human Rights Analysis of Algorithmic Policing in Canada is the result of a joint investigation by the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program (IHRP) and Citizen Lab. It details how, in the words of the report’s authors, “law enforcement agencies across Canada have started to use, procure, develop, or test a variety of algorithmic policing methods,” with potentially dire consequences for civil liberties, privacy and other Charter rights, the authors warn.
