Displaying posts published in

October 2021

Climate Change Barely Affects Poverty Growth-oriented policy does much more for to prevent malnutrition deaths. By Bjorn Lomborg

https://www.wsj.com/articles/climate-change-malnutrition-regulation-economic-growth-glasgow-conference-11633551187?mod=opinion_major_pos4

Editor’s note: As November’s global climate conference in Glasgow draws near, important facts about climate change don’t always make it into the dominant media coverage. We’re here to help. Each Thursday contributor Bjorn Lomborg will provide some important background so readers can have a better understanding of the true effects of climate change and the real costs of climate policy.

The World Health Organization estimates that climate change will cause an additional 250,000 deaths each year in the two decades following 2030, mostly among the world’s poor. The WHO compared the real world with an imaginary one in which there’s no climate change, calculating the difference in deaths from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, dengue fever, flooding and heat. By far the biggest killer at 85,000 additional deaths in 2050 is malnutrition. Understandably, the immediate response to this prediction by many is that we should work to end global warming even if it’s costly. But a less publicized part of the WHO analysis shows why this could hurt the poor more than help: the effect of economic development.

As you can see in the accompanying graph, malnutrition deaths have declined dramatically over the past three decades and will continue to drop rapidly over the next three. This is partly due to increasing crop yields, which would still rise under climate change but slightly slower—resulting in 85,000 deaths in 2050 that might not have been had temperatures held still. Economic growth—which allows families to buy more food regardless of yields—is the primary cause driving down malnutrition deaths. This puts the impact of global warming in context: For nutrition, climate change isn’t a disaster, but something that slightly slows down progress.

The FDA Can Save Thousands of Lives Today ‘Compassionate use’ of molnupiravir would dramatically reduce Covid-19’s toll.By Marty Makary

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-covid-19-coronavirus-death-hospitalization-molnupiravir-expanded-access-therapies-11633615268?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

With the stroke of a pen, the Food and Drug Administration could save thousands of Covid patients’ lives. Data released last week showed that the new antiviral pill molnupiravir, made by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is safe and reduces the risk of the direst outcomes (hospitalization or death) by 50%. It works by directly blocking replication of the virus, is effective against variants, and can be used in combination with other Covid therapies.

The FDA’s emergency-use authorization (EUA) can take months. But the FDA could allow compassionate use of molnupiravir now by activating what is known as an expanded-access protocol, ahead of the drug’s formal evaluation. There is a precedent. Last year, the FDA activated the protocol for convalescent plasma months before it issued a formal EUA. The agency also allowed monoclonal antibodies to be given to President Trump and other officials last year before that therapy was granted a formal EUA.

Molnupiravir pills are ready to go. The government has prepurchased 1.7 million treatment courses. The medication doesn’t require refrigeration and is easy to ship. These pills are sitting on a shelf as Americans are dying in hospitals.

Molnupiravir was so effective in its randomized controlled trial that researchers stopped accepting new participants. The drug’s observed survival benefit was dramatic: No Covid patient who received molnupiravir died, compared with eight deaths in the placebo group. When a drug shows such profound benefits, it’s considered unethical to continue to give sick subjects a placebo. Yet practicing physicians can’t give molnupiravir to any sick patient because of a regulatory barrier.

Compassionate use doesn’t preclude further study. The drug could be administered broadly on a protocol, and outcomes could be tracked closely, as was done with convalescent plasma. Those results can help inform the FDA’s review, pending full approval.

Biden Administration Knew in July That Thousands of Haitian Migrants Were Heading for U.S. Border Caroline Downey

https://www.nationalreview.com/

U.S. agencies charged with managing immigration were aware that thousands of Haitians had embarked for the border in July, but internal disagreements over whether to escalate deportations as well as intelligence lags left border personnel overwhelmed by the crowds that flooded into Del Rio, Texas last month.

Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis knew in July that caravans of Haitian migrants were journeying from South and Central America to attempt to gain entry into the U.S, three officials told NBC News. However, information regarding the size of the group or the progress of its movement north was not properly dispersed within DHS and other agencies to give adequate time to prepare.

The deportation process ahead of the incoming border surge was also stalled because of infighting between progressives and others at DHS, two officials told NBC. In a week’s span, about 28,000 illegal aliens were apprehended at the border, at least 12,000 of whom were released into the country despite the Biden administration’s assurances to the contrary.

Critical Race Theory’s new disguise A rebranded campaign for ‘equity’ is just as divisive BY Ayaan Hirsi Ali

https://unherd.com/2021/10/critical-race-theorys-new-disguise/

Does “critical race theory” (CRT) really exist? Not according to Ralph Northam, the Governor of Virginia. CRT, he recently told The New York Times, “is a dog whistle that the Republicans are using to frighten people. What I’m interested in is equity.”

But rather than convince anyone about the non-existence of CRT, his comments merely confirmed something else: namely, CRT’s remarkable ability to shape-shift into whatever form its advocates choose. For Northam, CRT might not exist — but that’s only because it has undergone a rebranding.

Indeed, while many on the Right have obsessed over the rise of CRT in the past year, a different abbreviation has quickly become entrenched in America’s schools and colleges: “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI).

Part of its purpose appears to be to sow confusion among opponents of CRT. It has certainly riled the conservative Heritage Foundation. In its recent guide on “How to identify Critical Race Theory”, it warns of a “new tactic” deployed by the movement’s defenders: they “now deny that the curricula and training programs in question form part of CRT, insisting that the ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)’ programs of trainers such as Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo are distinct from the academic work of professors such as Derrick Bell, Kimberle Crenshaw, and other CRT architects”.

Certainly, regardless of which trendy three-letter term you prefer to describe the latest iteration of America’s obsession with race, the goal in each case is the same: to shift away from meritocracy in favour of an equality of outcome system.

UNRWA’s deceitful ploys to stifle Israeli truth-telling By Ruthie Blum  

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/unrwas-deceitful-ploys-to-silence-erdans-truths-on-israel-opinion-681411
Given the nature and mission of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan was prevented on Monday from entering the General Assembly hall with a prop proving the point he intended to make at a meeting about the organization.
The item was a poster illustrating the antisemitic views of an UNRWA school teacher in Gaza by praising Adolf Hitler. Erdan had equipped himself with the placard to refute the statements he knew were going to be made by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

He had good reason to want to come prepared with visual evidence. The corrupt body, whose ill-deserved status as an agency for “refugees” keeps it in financial cover, continues to employ educators who regularly incite terrorism against Jews, both in the classroom and on social media.

This was one key impetus for the decision by the administration of former US president Donald Trump in 2018 to cut America’s entire aid budget to UNRWA. In the first place, the bloated agency has spent the many decades since its inception perpetuating the “refugee crisis,” rather than using its mandate to settle the approximately 600,000 “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict [Israel’s War of Independence].”

The West Faces A Big Human Rights Test With The Taliban By Lawrence J. Haas

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/10/the-west-faces-a-big-human-rights-test-with-the-taliban/

The West faces a key test of its commitment to human rights as the Taliban cements its rigid rule in Kabul.

At the moment, Western nations and the global financial institutions over which they hold considerable sway are demanding that the Taliban respect human rights as a condition of receiving the economic aid that Afghanistan so urgently needs – rather than return to the harsh conditions that defined its original time in power, from 1996 to 2001. Global institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, as well as foreign governments, have suspended aid and access to cash and credit.

The next big test for the world’s major powers may come at the G-20 summit in Rome, which will take place on October 30th and 31st. There, French President Emmanuel Macron has said, the world’s big powers “must have a very clear message that we will set conditions for recognition of the Taliban” – conditions that include “the dignity of Afghan women, equality between men and women.”

Other Western leaders are voicing similar sentiments. While British officials have met with Taliban leaders, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted that neither his nor any other country should “recognize any new regime in Kabul prematurely or bilaterally.” Instead, countries “should work towards common conditions about the conduct of the new regime before deciding, together, whether to recognize it and on what terms.”

So far, the Taliban seems unmoved, with evidence mounting that it’s re-imposing its rigid reign of years ago. Rather than agree to the conditions of donors, Taliban officials seem to resent them.

“Putting pressure on us is not the right approach…,” Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani recently told the Washington Post. “We are ready to engage, but the international community should avoid setting preconditions.“

Presuming the Taliban remain unmoved, the question is whether foreign donors will hang tough in the defense of human rights, especially as the Afghan people suffer more poverty, hunger, and human rights abuse.

Catastrophic crash in polling numbers for Biden and the Dems Thomas Lifson

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/10/catastrophic_crash_in_polling_numbers_for_biden_and_the_dems.html

Is it really a surprise that a formal move toward police repression of its political opponents – siccing the FBI on critics of Critical Race Theory – is coming from the chief law enforcement officer of the Biden regime? The latest polling indicates that the already low public approval of the Biden presidency is declining further.

The prospects for any improvement in these numbers are poor. We have a massive wave of inflation ahead, with gasoline and natural gas both rapidly increasing in price, and both hard to cut back on. The chaos of the surrender to the Taliban augurs for more political humiliation ahead, with China potentially taking advantage of the weakness of the Biden administration. Crime has skyrocketed in cities that Democrats control. None of these factors will improve the numbers for Biden or his party.

The term “crisis of confidence” has been in play for at least a month as the failures mount and the incompetence becomes undeniable. Yesterday, Quinnipiac released its latest numbers:

President Joe Biden receives a negative 38 – 53 percent job approval rating, the lowest score he’s received from the American people on his job performance since taking office, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea- ack) University national poll of adults released today. In Quinnipiac’s last national poll released 3 weeks ago, he received a negative 42 – 50 percent job approval rating.

Today, Republicans (94 – 4 percent) and independents (60 – 32 percent) disapprove of the job Biden is doing, while Democrats approve 80 – 10 percent.

Going deeper into the issues, Biden and the Dems are underwater on just about everything:

the response to the coronavirus: 48 percent approve, while 50 percent disapprove;
the economy: 39 percent approve, while 55 percent disapprove;
his job as Commander in Chief of the U.S. military: 37 percent approve, while 58 percent disapprove;
taxes: 37 percent approve, while 54 percent disapprove;
foreign policy: 34 percent approve, while 58 percent disapprove;
immigration issues: 25 percent approve, while 67 percent disapprove;
the situation at the Mexican border: 23 percent approve, while 67 percent disapprove.

The most devastating figure has to be this:

More than half of Americans say 55 – 42 percent that the Biden administration is not competent in running the government.

Who is Really Running the Destroy-America Biden Regime? – The Post & Email By Joan Swirsky

https://www.thepostemail.com/2021/10/07/who-is-really-running-the-destroy-america-biden-regime/

“Guilty as hell, free as a bird—America is a great country.” Bill Ayers, Weather Underground founder

“The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.” George Soros, hedge-fund billionaire.

In today’s chaotic political landscape, it is obvious that the Democrat Party in power is comprised largely of far-left radicals, many of them shockingly anti-American and predictably anti-Semitic  (as are all deranged leftists).

After all, with Barack Obama, they thought they were significantly closer to their 100-year goal of a socialist-cum-communist America, and believed that “President” Hillary would fulfill their cherished fantasy.

And then along came President Trump to smash that fantasy to smithereens.

When everything the Democrats tried to sabotage President Trump failed––the Russian hoax, the Ukraine hoax, the Stormy Daniels hoax, the impeachment fiascos, on and on––they pulled out the Wuhan lab surprise, effectively creating a pandemic.

The result was the entire world isolated in their homes, worldwide economies destroyed, and the unprecedented phenomenon of mail-in ballots, which essentially insured that the voter fraud Democrats are so famous for––ACORN, anyone?, and the Dominion voting machines used in “elections” in Venezuela and other banana republics to insure the desired outcomes––would succeed as it had in the past.

And it did. Today, however, with audits being conducted in every significant state, that colossal voter fraud is being proven…stay tuned! And with the arrest of Hillary’s lawyer, Democrats are also looking at the coming arrests of all those higher-ups who colluded in the criminal anti-Trump effort, including Ms. Hillary herself!     

THE FIRST EIGHT MONTHS AFTER THE FRAUDULENT ELECTION

In less time than a normal human pregnancy, putative president Biden managed to accomplish the following:

Crashed our booming economy,
Destroyed our energy independence,
Opened our southern border to hundreds of thousands of illegals––many of them diseased, drug- and sex-traffickers, career criminals, jihadists, et al,
Accelerated Iran’s production of nukes,
Promised the disaster of hyperinflation,
Expressed “great confidence in” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, after the General––prodded by his dominatrix, Nancy Pelosi?, as the NY Post’s Miranda Devine suggested––conspired with China against President Trump and told military officials not to take orders from him.
Orchestrated the disastrous pullout from Afghanistan––another Milley debacle––leaving behind, to this day, hundreds of stranded Americans and Afghan allies, billions of dollars of U.S. armaments and Black Hawk helicopters and airplanes, massive troves of the rare-earth mineral lithium (“the new oil,” as Dave Hodges reports), as well as Taliban-Isis-Al Qaeda terrorists in charge, and 13 heroic but dead U.S. service members.

And that’s the short list!

Mandated COVID Vaccines and the Nuremberg Code Eileen F. Toplansky

In this astonishing video, Dr. Richard M. Fleming, Ph.D., M.D., J.D. emphatically affirms that the COVID mandates being forced upon the world are egregious violations of the 1947 Nuremberg Code. Repeatedly, Fleming elucidates data based upon FDA and Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) documents which prove that despite all the COVID vaccinations,

there is no statistical reduction in COVID rates.
there is no statistical reduction in COVID death rates.
there is an unacceptable death and adverse event rates based on the Vaccine Adverse Event Report System (VAERS).
the vaccine Absolute Risk Reduction (ARR) for developing COVID is really only 0.8 to 1.3%. It is not the 67-95% rate we have been led to believe.

Yet, Biden and other global heads, military leaders, and university presidents are, in true totalitarian fashion, insisting that people be forced to take these injections.  Vaccine mandates from private employers are destroying American livelihoods with no end in sight and people are suffering grievous harm.

As of September 2021, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the following VAERS statistics: 14,506 deaths and over 58,000 serious injuries requiring hospitalizations as a result of COVID vaccines.  In 1976 when  the vaccine for swine flu showed serious side effects for 4,000 individuals, the vaccines were halted  Yet, anyone who questions the current COVID vaccines is censored, maligned and punished. Equally high numbers of adverse effects are reflected at the European Database EudraVigilance).

And, astonishingly new data from the Department of Defense shows waning immunity. 

This new finding revealed that the majority of those 5.6 million Medicare beneficiaries aged 65+ who are fully vaccinated were infected by COVID-19.  This means that transmission may be primarily occurring by vaccinated individuals.