Cumulative Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

COVID Apathy & The KP.3.1.1 Variant

An excerpt from the L.A. Times today: 

‘The virus wants to live.’ California’s big COVID spike isn’t expected to ease anytime soon

"With COVID-19 numbers in California spiking this summer, experts are warning the new strains driving the spread could be around for some time.

"The latest COVID summertime surge is being fueled by what have collectively been dubbed the FLiRT subvariants — a collection of highly transmissible sibling strains that have muscled their way to prominence both in California and nationwide. In doing so, they’ve supplanted last winter’s dominant strain, JN.1, and are presenting new challenges to immune systems not yet primed to keep them at bay.

“It does seem like we are spitting out more and more variants a lot more quickly, and that’s probably to be expected,” said Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. “This virus is still very, very new to humans, and the virus wants to live, and the way that it lives is by evading immunity” — circumventing people’s defenses by evolving in a way to keep the chain of infection going.

"And data show the collective FLiRT family is making itself known in a major way.

"Here is a closer look at where California stands with COVID and how to protect yourself.

Why are the FLiRT variants posing such a challenge?

"There are quite a few FLiRT variants, which are descendants of last winter’s dominant strain, JN.1. Toward the end of spring, around Memorial Day weekend, that moniker largely applied to just a trio of distinct strains — officially designated KP.1.1, KP.2 and KP.3.

"But just when it appeared that those three might be the showstoppers of the summer, an alphabet soup of additional potential threats emerged: KP.3.1.1, KP.2.3, KP.1.1.3, KP.4.1, and KP.1.2.

"Of all of them, KP.3.1.1 is most clearly on the rise. For the two-week period that ended July 20, KP.3.1.1 comprised 17.7% of samples nationwide, up from 6.8% for the prior two-week period, according to estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"KP.3.1.1 “has really taken off,” Hudson said.

"By contrast, the older KP.3 has stagnated. Its share of coronavirus samples was estimated to be 32.9% for the two-week period that ended July 20, down slightly from 33.7% over the prior two-week period.

"Those latest CDC estimates mean it’s possible that KP.3.1.1 could be “taking over for the next two or three weeks,” Hudson said Friday. “So, unfortunately, I think we are going to see a lot more cases.”

Isn’t that a lot of strains in such a short period of time?

"Yep. But the coronavirus that causes COVID — officially known as SARS-CoV-2 — is still very new to humans and hasn’t settled into the more predictable pattern that public health officials might be aware of for other infectious diseases, such as the flu.

'Since emerging in late 2019, the coronavirus has continually evolved in ways meant to evade immune protection. The strains best positioned to infect as many people as possible eventually rise to prominence, a trend that has played out previously in the pandemic with the rise of the Delta and Omicron variants, both of which triggered devastating surges.

"As humans gain protection against any particular variant — such as through an updated vaccination or surviving an infection — the virus will seek to evolve in a way to keep the chain of infection going.

“And it may be that this particular summer, we have just seen a lot more of a faster churn of some of the variants, and they’ve just been a little bit more infective,” Hudson said.

"It’s also true that, with this being the fifth summer of the COVID era, many people have thrown caution to the wind, and many sick people are continuing to go about their lives without masking or other precautions — allowing the virus to more efficiently spread. "

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There's more, which you can read here, but hopefully other states will learn from California's experience and do more to protect its residents. 

Pretending COVID has disappeared is obviously not working.

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

In The Minds Of Too Many Americans, COVID IS Over, & So Are COVID Mitigations

Here's an important column that vindicates how the COVID-cautious have felt all along:

Why Covid Keeps Winning. We didn’t learn a thing, by Gregg Gonsalves and Walker Bragman 

"On July 17, the White House announced that Joe Biden had contracted Covid-19. The 81-year-old president joined legions of Americans stricken by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the latest wave of a pandemic that he had boasted about “ending” just 10 days before while delivering remarks in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

"When the United States hit 100,000 Covid deaths in late May 2020, The New York Times called it “an incalculable loss” on its front page. Instead of a reported story, the Times ran 1,000 obituaries of the dead to remind its readers that “they were not simply names on a list. They were us.”

"Four years later, however, that “incalculable loss” almost looks quaint. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which studies have linked to all kinds of troubling health complications—from cardiovascular problems like heart attacks to neurological problems—continues to circulate, mutate, kill, and disable. The death toll has increased twelvefold since May 2020. As of March, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 17 million Americans report living with what has become known as “long Covid,” a condition that can be mild or, as the Department of Health and Human Services noted in a November 2022 report, can disrupt a person’s “entire sense of self.”

"Despite this continued threat, particularly to the immunocompromised, the nation’s political leaders on both sides of the aisle have decided, as the president declared, that the crisis is over. Even Biden himself getting Covid at a moment of especially heightened scrutiny does not appear likely to change that message.

"As of this writing, the national emergency declaration and the public health emergency have long since ended. Schools and workplaces are wide open. Federal relief programs that were put in place early on in 2020 have expired. There are no stimulus checks coming in the mail and no federal vaccine or mask requirements—even in medical settings. Free mass testing is over, and the federal government is no longer purchasing vaccines or treatments, which has allowed manufacturers to predictably hike up prices. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, has dropped its quarantine guidance, and the National Institutes of Health Covid treatment guidelines are set to be taken offline in mid-August.

"To the extent that we talk at all about Covid today, it’s as a sort of national bloodletting—a rewriting of history at the expense of science. Congressional Republicans, for example, have been holding hearings to get to the bottom of whether the nation overreacted to a crisis that has left over a million dead and whether the nation’s leading public health officials were too quick to dismiss an unsupported hypothesis about the virus’s origins. Meanwhile, on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), right-wing misinformation spreaders and conspiracy theorists claim vindication for their opposition to public health efforts—lockdowns, school closures, and mask and vaccine mandates—and attack credible scientists, garnering thousands of likes per post.

"But Covid revisionism is not just a right-wing phenomenon. It’s gone mainstream. The embrace of this bad hindsight has been fast and furious by some of the most respected legacy media outlets in the country. These publications have churned out piece after piece suggesting we did well in our response to the virus; we overreacted to the virus at the expense of children’s futures; we need a reckoning with lockdowns; we ought to embrace the “lab leakorigin of SARS-CoV-2 despite the preponderance of evidence supporting a zoonotic origin of the virus. They have even gotten on the Fauci-bashing bandwagon of the far right, blaming him for the collapse in trust in public health.

"All of this is ridiculous. As President Biden’s recent bout with Covid demonstrates, we are nowhere near being out of the woods with the pandemic—and that is precisely because we did not overreact to it. Quite the opposite, in fact. Compared to our G7 peers, the United States did terribly. The federal response was extremely limited, and people died and are still dying because of it. This year alone, according to the CDC, nearly 26,000 Americans have died from the virus.

"Our country never made the requisite investments in clean air upgrades for buildings. Despite botching our vaccination campaigns, we have refused to impose universal Covid safety rules for workplaces. Although one of the earliest recommendations from the World Health Organization was to remove financial barriers to care, our country still doesn’t have a universal healthcare system. We have even watched millions of Americans get stripped from the Medicaid rolls, while 10 states still refuse to expand Medicaid eligibility. Meanwhile less than half of states have guaranteed paid medical leave.

"These are important stories to tell over and over. They represent significant failures of leadership across the aisle. We cannot humanely move on from the pandemic without making basic changes to adapt to life with Covid. That we are expected to is an abdication of responsibility by elected officials, who are seemingly willing to write off the health and safety of our society’s most vulnerable as a cost of doing business.

"We can do better."

Monday, July 29, 2024

Restrain Yourself

‘Massive tragedy’: Children killed in Hezbollah rocket attack on soccer field are named

"Northern council head says at least 5 victims from same family

"The twelve children and teens were killed when a rocket hit a soccer field in the northern Druze town Saturday afternoon. The IDF has said that the rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq-1 with a warhead of over 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives.

"Iran-backed Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the deadly attack, but the IDF and US intelligence have stated that the terror group fired the deadly projectile."

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And of course, immediately,  West urges restraint as Israel mulls response to Hezbollah attack in Golan. Every single time that Israel is attacked, why is only Israel told to show restraint?  Why doesn't the West condemn Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and our other enemies instead and tell them to show restraint? I'm thoroughly sick of this and sick of our missing-in-action President's constant interference in Israel's right to defend herself.

What if we are attacked again by terrorists? Would Biden urge us to use restraint even then?

We need leaders who defend Israel, not politically correct politicians who are spineless. 

Vote for Trump/Vance in November.

Biden's COVID "Accomplishments"

I am not a socialist, but I do agree with some of the sentiments expressed in this article on the World Socialist Web Site. Here's an excerpt:

The latest wave of COVID-19 and Biden’s destruction of public health

"The CDC and the Biden administration have issued no public statements on the latest surge of the pandemic, which has also received scant coverage in the corporate media. Not a single public health official or politician has encouraged Americans to wear high quality N95 masks to protect themselves, covering up the fact that these masks prevent viral transmission.

"The most prominent victim of the latest COVID-19 wave in the US is Joe Biden himself, who tested positive on July 17. This was Biden’s third COVID-19 infection, after having tested positive and then suffering a case of “rebound” in July-August 2022.

"Only four days after testing positive, Biden issued public letters announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential elections and endorsing Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate. Among a series of delusional claims about his presidency, he absurdly wrote from his isolation quarters in Rehoboth Beach, “Together, we overcame a once-in-a-century pandemic.”

"While the media has ignored the role of Biden’s latest infection in his withdrawal, it was clearly a major precipitating factor. Despite universal calls for him to withdraw after his disastrous debate performance, for weeks Biden refused to do so, telling George Stephanopoulos that only “the Lord Almighty” could convince him. Evidently, divine intervention came in the form of a reinfection with COVID-19.

"In all likelihood, Biden’s 2022 infections accelerated his mental decline, which was already apparent during the 2020 elections but has steadily worsened. Throughout the pandemic, numerous studies have found that even mild COVID-19 infections can cause or hasten neurological degeneration, with prominent neuroscientist Dr. Leslie M. Kay warning of “a wave of post-COVID dementia in the coming decades.” A recent such study, published in February 2024, reaffirmed that COVID-19 can cause “pronounced cognitive slowing.”

"In the aftermath of Biden’s withdrawal from his 2024 reelection campaign, the Democratic Party-aligned corporate media has issued gushing hosannas for the supposedly “historic” accomplishments of his administration. Perhaps the most fraudulent was an Op-Ed published Thursday in the Washington Post by columnist Leana Wen, titled, “Thank you, President Biden, for leading us through the pandemic.”

"Biden’s real legacy will be that he oversaw the COVID deaths of over 800,000 Americans, while millions more suffered debilitating Long COVID, for which the long-term generational impacts of annual reinfections will not be fully grasped for years or decades to come."

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Yes, let's all keep pretending that COVID is over, that all COVID infections are "mild", and that precautions are not necessary.  And by all means continue to ignore the role of the Trump Administration, which unveiled Operation Warp Speed, without which we could not have so quickly started vaccinating the public against COVID! I can still remember the tremendous relief from fear that I felt when I was able to get my father vaccinated in January 2021.

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Dr Ruth's COVID news & more 7/27/24

Here's the latest issue of Dr Ruth Ann Crystal's important COVID news & more newsletter:

The Olympic opening ceremonies yesterday were extraordinary. Bravo Paris!

If it seems like everyone around you has COVID now, or a “summer cold” or “allergies”, it is because we are in a large wave being caused by KP.3. Its descendant KP.3.1.1 is even more immune evasive because of its S31 deletion and this will probably give another boost to COVID cases in the ongoing COVID wave. According to JP Weiland, KP.3.1.1 will become dominant in the United States around August 6th, and this should push upwards on the Midwest and Northeast, where case levels are still moderate.

There are presently about 760,000 to 900,000 new COVID infections each day, with 1 in every 44 people in the US infected now. The ratio is higher in the West where 1 in every 26 people is infected now and the South where 1 in every 29 people is infected.

From: https://twitter.com/JPWeiland/status/1816924925543719301

Test positivity is up, as are emergency department visits for COVID nationally. It looks like California and Florida emergency department visits are starting to peak for this wave, but they are at near 12 month highs. Of course, hitting the peak still means that half of the cases from this wave will be happening soon. COVID transmission is expected to continue to be high for at least another 4 to 6 weeks depending on location.

According to Sara Anne Willette’s dashboard, there are Excessively High levels of SARS-2 in wastewater in Oregon and Florida, followed by Very High in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Utah, Wyoming, Washington state and California. 

CDC (NWSS) Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 levels as of July 27, 2024 from

https://iowacovid19tracker.org/

Excessive levels of SARS-2 in wastewater in Oregon and Florida, followed by Very High in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Utah, Wyoming, Washington state and California

From: Sara Anne Willette https://iowacovid19tracker.org/

Acute COVID infections, General COVID info

A Pfizer sponsored study shows that Paxlovid post-exposure prophylaxis given for 5 days or for 10 days after exposure did NOT significantly reduce the risk of symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in people exposed to an infected family member. 2736 adults participated in the study.

COVID and heart attacks

A new study examined the link between COVID-19 infection and the increased risk of heart attack (also known as acute myocardial infarction or AMI). Using advanced computational analysis, researchers identified genes that are abnormally expressed in both COVID-19 and AMI patients. They found 21 common genes that were dysregulated (either increased or decreased) in both conditions that are involved in inflammation and immune response. The endothelial cells that line blood vessels were especially sensitive to excess inflammation from TNF and IL-17 signaling pathways. Five key genes (IL1B, CXCL8, CTNNB1, FOS, PTGS2) play crucial roles in this inflammatory process and contribute to endothelial dysfunction and to atherosclerosis. These genes may be useful as biomarkers or therapeutic targets. 

COVID prevention

Poor air quality and ventilation contributed greatly to the spread of COVID. A new review article shows that in order to reduce the risk of infection, we need better building design and improved ventilation, including monitoring of indoor air quality. Here are the 7 key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the reduction of viral loads through ventilation in the indoor environment.

From: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp2241

Long COVID

Using longitudinal brain MRIs from the UK Biobank, researchers found that the pandemic significantly increased brain aging. Part of this was due to stress from the pandemic itself. But, accelerated brain aging associated with reduced cognitive ability was seen only in people who had been infected with COVID. This is yet another study to show the negative effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the brain.

Fig. 5. Impact of COVID-19 on cognitive performance across rates of change in Brain Age Gap (BAG=difference between estimated brain age and chronological age) 
From: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.22.24310790v2
  • Red/Orange (G3): Pandemic + COVID infection

  • Green (G4): Pandemic, No COVID infection

  • Blue (G2): Pre-pandemic control group

A group from Japan looked at orthostatic intolerance in young people with Long COVID using the 10-minute standing test (ST). People with severe long COVID who could not stand were not included in this study. They found that in patients over 20 years old who were positive for orthostatic intolerance, serum cortisol levels were higher than in people who did not have orthostatic intolerance. In teens under 20 years old, growth hormone (GH) levels were lower in the orthostatic intolerance group compared to people who tested negative on the 10-minute standing test. 

Long COVID orthostatic intolerance issues appear to be affecting or are being affected by the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and GH which is made in the pituitary gland as well. Other studies have shown low cortisol levels in Long COVID suggesting that Long COVID somehow negatively affects the function of the pituitary and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. A group from Spain proposed a possible theory that there could be autoantibodies to the pituitary gland in Long COVID, but this has not been proven.

This week, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly wrote a great review of Long COVID and other new chronic medical conditions that happen after COVID infection. He discussed research findings such as long term changes in immune responses that are linked to the original COVID infection. He also talked about some possible causes of Long COVID including viral persistence and autoantibodies. 

Dr. Al-Aly also brought up that misinformation about COVID is being propagated in the public. He wrote, "COVID-19 infections continue to outnumber flu cases and lead to more hospitalization and death than the flu. COVID-19 also leads to more serious long-term health problems. Trivializing COVID-19 as an inconsequential cold or equating it with the flu does not align with reality."

The NIH announced that RECOVER finally plans to do clinical trials on treatments for Long COVID. It is therefore very important that the CURE ID study on Long COVID gets enough people to help guide the NIH as to what treatments to try. So far, only 325 people with Long COVID have responded on the CURE ID website, but they need at least 1,000. If you or someone you know has Long COVID, please go to https://cure.ncats.io/home to let the NIH know which treatments worked and which did not. The survey does not need to be filled out all at one time.

H5N1

This week, Colorado reported 2 more human cases of H5N1 avian flu, increasing the total cases in Colorado to 10 (9 related to chicken farms, 1 from a dairy farm). The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) started a new H5N1 dashboard where they will post the number of H5N1 cases twice weekly. Colorado also plans to add mandatory weekly testing of milk. 

The United Kingdom has increased the pandemic risk assessment of H5N1 Avian Influenza from a Level 3 to a Level 4 because of sustained transmission in US cattle and other mammals and onwards transmission to chickens. 

AI

A new, open source platform called Precious3GPT is available for aging research and drug discovery.

Other news

Lymphatic drainage is important for removing waste and toxins from tissues, and in the brain, it relies on lymphatic vessels in the meninges and on the recently discovered glymphatic system that works with brain glial cells. Glial cells support neurons by providing nutrients and by helping with repair after injury. The lymphatic-glymphatic systems work together to circulate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), clear waste products, and maintain immune surveillance. This “brainwashing” is crucial for brain health and knowledge of this system may help create new treatments for brain diseases. 

From: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp1705

This week, Boar's Head foods recalled over 200,000 pounds of deli-sliced meats that were sliced on the same line as listeria contaminated liverwurst at a Virginia plant. This recall applies to meats sliced at deli counters, not prepackaged products.

Eleven time Olympic medalist and mom of two kids Allyson Felix wanted to support athlete moms, so she launched the first-ever Olympic Village nursery for Paris 2024. Felix also recently received a $20 million grant from the Melinda French Gates Foundation to support Black maternal health.

NASA’s Curiosity 1-ton rover drove over a rock on Mars and broke it open to find yellowish-green crystals of pure sulfur inside. This is the first time that sulfur has been found on the red planet.

Photo from NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Have a great rest of your weekend,

Ruth Ann Crystal MD

Thanks for reading Dr. Ruth’s Newsletter©! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Saturday, July 27, 2024

Pay No Attention To That COVID Behind the Curtain!

They need to do a better job of messaging here, like using billboards and putting warning signs on the doors of public places, because I don't think anyone is paying attention. I was at the doctor this week, and nobody in the waiting room was wearing a mask - and neither was my doctor. Plus they're already warning of another surge this winter. Do you think the public is preparing for that? I don't.

Hospitals, doctor’s offices seeing a rise in COVID cases across NC,  by Deana Harley    

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — "Some mask requirements could come back in North Carolina as local hospitals and doctor’s offices are seeing a rise in COVID cases.

“Just look left and right, do you know people who are being diagnosed with COVID-19? If we know more people in our families, in our workplace, congregations, in our communities that are getting COVID, chances are there’s a lot more COVID going around,” David Wohl, a professor of medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill, said.

"The CDC says about 40 states are reporting high levels of COVID-19, including North Carolina.

"Duke University Hospital reporting an increase in hospitalizations from the virus. For the week of July 14th to the 20th, they saw 21 hospitalizations, up from 15 the week before. 473 people tested positive for the virus in the hospital, up from 349 the week before.

"But numbers are even higher than that, as people are testing and not reporting it.

“The way that we count COVID cases has changed, as we know, so we’re not reporting cases like we used to, and people are getting tested at home, not so much in their doctor’s offices or emergency rooms or urgent care,” Wohl explained.

"And so you need to be taking precautions to keep yourself healthy. Consider wearing a mask if you’re feeling sick or having at-home tests on hand. While isolation guidelines have changed, some health professionals recommend not socializing until you’re symptom-free for at least 24 hours.

“Use your judgment, if you’re still coughing, if your test is still positive even beyond that period, I think you know you’re still infectious,” Wohl said.

"Some hospitals or doctors’ offices could bring back masking requirements as numbers continue to go up.

“Right now nothing has changed, but I do encourage people now that there’s this surge-let, there may be a bigger surge coming, to think about masking more than they did over the last few months,” Wohl said.

"Health professionals say we’ll likely see another surge in the winter."

Friday, July 26, 2024

Two Important Columns On The Pro-Hamas Useful Idiots

As a Jew, I find these terrorist riots more and more frightening, especially since nothing is ever done to stop them, and they're only going to become more virulent. These are not 'students', and they aren't "protesters". They don't seem to be at work and always have too much time on their hands. They are beyond shame and decency, and shouldn't be coddled. They are nothing less than Jew-hating Hamas-supporting terrorists who would have made perfect Nazis.

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Another excellent column from Spiked Online's Chief Political Writer Brendan O'Neill.

A fascist rally in Washington, DC; That protest against Benjamin Netanyahu was riddled with classic anti-Semitism.

"What would you call a gathering of angry people marching behind a giant, grotesque effigy of a horned Jew with blood dripping from his mouth? A gathering at which one attendee held up a placard calling for a ‘Final Solution’ for ‘the Zionists’? A gathering at which people giddily waved the flag of a movement that is devoted to the murder of Jews? A gathering at which there were banners and speedily daubed graffiti on public monuments singing the praises of this Jew-killing outfit? I would call it a fascist rally. And yet, bizarrely, when just such a rally took place in Washington, DC yesterday, the liberal media called it an ‘anti-war protest’. Were they watching something else?

"Let’s speak frankly: yesterday’s protests in Washington, DC against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, were deeply disturbing. They were riddled not only with the febrile Israelophobic bigotry we’ve come to expect from the supposedly progressive left, but also with open anti-Semitism. With classic anti-Semitism. With expressions of virulent contempt for the Jew as blood-drinker, the Jew as child-killer, the Jew as such a key source of the world’s ills that a ‘solution’, ideally a ‘final’ one, must be found to his continual ailing of the human race. This was a hate-fest masquerading as concern for Palestinians.

"Consider what many in the press are referring to as ‘the Netanyahu puppet’. What cowardly euphemising. This was no mere mocking likeness of the Israeli PM – it was a repulsive caricature of The Jew. Displayed outside Congress, where Netanyahu was speaking, it contained almost every anti-Jew trope. Blood-spattered horns sprouted from the Jew’s head. His hands and mouth were generously smeared with fake blood, as if this creature had freshly feasted on human flesh. His white shirt was red with blood, too – the spillage from his vampiric gorging.

"It was right out of Medieval Europe, where eruptions of anti-Semitism were fuelled by ‘folk beliefs’ about Jews having ‘horns and big noses’. And being blood-drinkers, of course. The blood libel that was the trigger for so many medieval pogroms held that Jews killed Christian kids to use their blood in the baking of Matzah bread. To see such Dark Ages-style hatred and hysteria on the streets of DC in 2024 – to see a mob in modern America gather to mock an effigy of a blood-drinking Jew with horns – is horrendous. There were other effigies of Netanyahu, too. One was set on fire outside Union Station to the cheers and cackles of the crowd. It was like a medieval purging. It brought to mind the centuries-old practice of ‘Judas burning’ at Easter, also known as the ‘Burning of the Jew’, when effigies of that ‘Christ killer’ would be set alight.

"To call these caricatures ‘Netanyahu puppets’, to refer to them as ‘larger-than-life puppets’ of a PM, represents an unforgivable suspension of critical thinking. When Netanyahu is given horns and a blood-filled mouth, it should be clear he has become a stand-in for something else – for The Jew, for the toxic influence of that most problematic of peoples. And yet the media spoke of the effigy as if it was no big deal. The Guardian’s report said ‘a giant effigy of Netanyahu with horns on his head and blood dripping from his mouth was on display’, like it was perfectly normal to see a Borat-style Jew-head on the streets of DC. Would that paper have been so breezy if racist toerags had displayed an effigy of a black politician made to look like a monkey? A reporter for Sky News did his entire report on the ‘angry’ protests from in front of the vile effigy. Mate, this isn’t ‘anger’ – it’s sick, glaring anti-Semitism.

"Elsewhere, a keffiyeh-adorned protester was seen proudly displaying the Hamas flag outside the Capitol building. This is a movement whose founding charter committed it to the murder of Jews. And which on 7 October carried out the worst mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. And yet here was a ‘progressive’ waving its flag, with seemingly little pushback from her fellow agitators who no doubt hilariously think of themselves as anti-fascist.

"Protesters scrawled graffiti all over the Columbus statue in Union Square. One of the scribbled defacements said: ‘Hamas is coming.’ Seeing self-styled radicals applaud a reactionary army of Jew-haters who would hurl every they / them from a 10th-floor window faster than you could say ‘Queers for Palestine!’ would be funny if it were not so revealing of the crisis of our own civilisation. Writing ‘Hamas is coming’ on a public monument is not protest – it’s Jew-taunting. It’s a gross threat to the Jews of DC that the monsters who killed a thousand of their co-religionists nine months ago might come for them next. It’s the moral equivalent of writing ‘The KKK is coming’. It’s worse, in fact, given that the last time racist Klansmen lynched a black person was in 1981, whereas the racists of Hamas lynched a thousand Jews as recently as October.

"There was more pro-fascist gloating at the Freedom Bell at Union Station. Someone wrote on the bell, ‘Qassam, Qassam, make us proud’, in reference to the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which organised the mass murder, rape and kidnap of Jews on 7 October. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you are praising fascist killers, and goading them to kill more, you are not a radical – you’re a racist. ‘Long live the Intifada!’, others scrawled on the bell. ‘Abolish Israel’, some said, making it clear that their hope for the Middle East is not a two-state solution but a no-Jew solution. ‘Fascists will burn’, said one especially ominous scrawl. Big talk for activists who’ve climbed into bed with fascists.

"Then came the most chilling sight of the DC protest: a man waving a black Islamic flag and a placard that said: ‘Allah is gathering all the Zionists for the “Final Solution”.’ Here we had actual Nazi hate, the Hitlerite dream of Jew extermination, being publicly expressed in the capital of the United States. No doubt some ‘pro-Palestine’ leftists will rush to distance themselves from this vile fascistic statement, and claim it was just ‘one person’ on a big demo. But that stuff doesn’t wash any more. It actually makes sense – sick sense – that on a protest at which it was seemingly acceptable to praise the Jew-killers of Hamas, and to depict Jews as blood-supping cloven beasts, and to demand the obliteration of the world’s only Jewish nation, that someone would essentially say: ‘You know what? Let’s just get rid of the Jews.’ Such Nazi dreaming is the gross logical conclusion to the modern left’s unhinged hatred for Israel and its feverish loathing of Zionists. ‘All Zionists are bastards’, someone wrote on a monument in DC. Kill them, then. Liberate humanity from these horned demons.

"When tiki-torch-waving alt-right racists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, chanting foul slogans like ‘Jews will not replace us’, the left and the liberal media had no qualms about calling it a fascist rally. And yet they’ve been far more coy, if not outright supportive, in relation to yesterday’s ugly, effigy-burning gathering in DC. Even though, it was more fascist-like, in terms of tone and slogans, than the Charlottesville horror. To depict Jews as blood-consuming freaks, to demand the destruction of the Jews’ homeland, to propose a ‘Final Solution’ to Zionism – this is objectively even worse than what most of those white supremacists said in 2017.

"Yesterday’s anti-fascists are today’s fascists. Antifa is now, well, ‘fa’. The kind of radicals who were horrified by 2017’s cries of ‘The Jews will not replace us’ now say worse – far worse – on the streets of DC. What this fascist rally disguised as a ‘pro-Palestine’ protest really confirms is that today’s hatred for Israel is an extension of the fashionable hatred for Western civilisation itself. So protesters didn’t only burn likenesses of The Jew – they also burned the American flag. They didn’t only damn Zionism – they also damned the American republic and its evil leaders. It might be Jews they’re most feverishly mocking and attacking right now, but it’s the West they have in their sights. We have just witnessed a howl of rage against civilisational values. It’s time those of us who love Western civilisation, and hate anti-Semitism, howled back."

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This column is by the great writer Douglas Murray:

The flag-burning, terrorist-supporting anti-Israel protesters are proving Netanyahu right

"On Wednesday, I was down in DC to hear Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give his address to the joint session of Congress.

"I don’t think I have ever seen a case made so forcefully — not just by the speaker but by the people who had come to town to oppose him. 

"As I waited to get into the heavily guarded Capitol, I chatted with two very friendly and professional police officers. 

"As we were there, a number of groups of “anti-Israel protesters” started to march past. 

"Many of them were so proud of their views that they covered their faces — as usual — with COVID masks.

“You c–k-sucking motherf–ckers. Get the f–k out of our city,” they screamed at the policemen.

“White supremacists,” they also screamed through megaphones at the boys in blue who were (incidentally) black. 

"The protesters continued on their way, screaming abuse and profanities everywhere they could. 

Common enemies 

"Inside Congress, the Israeli prime minister made many points, but one was especially relevant to the American public

"Netanyahu addressed the complete moral inversion that we have seen from some people in America since the attacks of Oct. 7.

"Referring to those people who immediately turned on Israel when its citizens had been raped, butchered and burned alive, he said people have to be able to make the moral distinction “between those who target terrorists and those who target civilians, between the democratic state of Israel and the terrorist thugs of Hamas.” 

"He mentioned the fact that the US director of national intelligence recently confirmed that Iran is funding anti-Israel protests in America.

"This explains why the surge in radical anti-Israel protests — from the streets of our cities to the nation’s campuses — has been so coordinated and organized.

“They want to disrupt America,” Netanyahu said. 

“These protesters burned America flags even on the 4th of July. If you remember one thing from this speech, remember this: Our enemies are your enemies, our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory.” 

"Prominent Democrats — including Nancy Pelosi, who had boycotted the prime minister’s speech — promptly took to social media to denounce Netanyahu for these words.

"How dare the Israeli prime minister suggest that these protesters are bigots, useful idiots of the Iranians and much more? 

"As if on cue, the mobs outside on the streets of Washington immediately proved Netanyahu right. 

"Outside Union Station, these terrorist supporters ripped down the American flags that were flying there.

"And then the mob burned them. Right on the streets of the nation’s capital. 

"The flag that American servicemen throughout the generations, and to this day, have fought for, bled for and died for was burned and trampled upon by people who no longer even pretend that their problem is with Israel. 

Festival of hatred 

"The Liberty Bell replica outside Union Station was another object of their rage. “F–k Israel,” “F–k capitalists” and “Abolish the USA” the protesters graffitied all over it. 

"Another inanimate object on which they concentrated their fury was the Christopher Columbus monument. By the end of the afternoon, the monument was completely covered in graffiti.

"Were the people who attacked it interested in peace?

"Did they simply want a cease-fire in Gaza?

"Apparently not.

"The biggest legend written in red graffiti on the monument was simple: “Hamas is coming.” 

"These terrorist supporters even had the temerity to hoist up a Palestinian flag in Washington where the American flag had once flown. 

"At the end of the day, when the business of democracy was done, a group of members of the House, fresh from voting, went to Union Station. 

"There, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and many other veterans raised the American flag once again. 

"Thank goodness they did.

"It was a moment of cleanliness after a day of pollution — literal and moral. 

"There are still some people — like Kamala Harris (who also boycotted the speech) — who seem to think that they can pander to these extremists on their side.

"They imagine that if they just give in to them a bit, and let down their allies a lot, the situation will de-escalate and right will prevail. 

"Events in Washington on Wednesday suggest otherwise.

"What concessions can you possibly make to people who act like this?

"At the Watergate Hotel, where the Israeli prime minister was staying, protesters gathered day and night.

“Jewish motherf–kers. We’re gonna kill all of you,” said one.

“We’re gonna burn you. Allahu Akbar. Hamas!” shouted another. 

"Other “activists” decided to make their views even clearer.

"The evening before the speech, they let loose a swarm of maggots and cockroaches into the Watergate Hotel. 

"That is some lovely, dehumanizing behavior right there.

"I wonder if the “Love is love” brigades have anything to say about it?

"What do Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi imagine they can do to placate these people?

"I am sure that they do deplore the people who walked around Washington on Wednesday openly flying the flag of the terrorist organization Hamas.

"I am sure they do disagree with the people who burned a Jew in effigy in the heart of DC. 

‘Despicable acts’ 

"Or who carried signs saying “Allah is gathering all the Zionists for the ‘FINAL SOLUTION’ ” and depicting a mushroom cloud above the Israeli flag. 

"Harris herself issued a statement yesterday criticizing some of the “despicable acts by unpatriotic protestors.” But these extremists couldn’t be clearer in what they want. And there is no compromising with them. 

"If someone is condemned for saying “Kill all Jews,” does anyone think they will settle for just killing “some” Jews? 

"If people say “Abolish the USA,” do Kamala and others think these extremists might settle for just abolishing “some” of the USA? Anyone who thinks that these protesters are merely anti-Israel or anti-Netanyahu really have another think coming. 

"On Wednesday, one protester wrapped in a keffiyeh was filmed screaming, “We don’t like white people.”

"I’d have thought that’s an example of divisive racism right there.

"But the people who would normally call out such things are silent. 

"Netanyahu gave an important speech to the joint session on Wednesday.

"But it was the protesters outside who really proved his point."

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Is YOUR State on This List of Very High COVID Rates? Mine Is.

Oh, but remember, it's "just mild" and there's nothing to worry about. Which is why I always trust my instinct, and my instinct only validated the fact that my own state is on this list.

Massive Covid Spikes in These 21 States May Explain Why Everyone You Know Seems to Have It Right Now

"The CDC’s wastewater monitoring program has detected a “very high” presence of the virus in nearly half the country

"The United States is in the midst of a summer COVID wave, according to the Center for Disease Control’s wastewater monitoring system, which has found “very high” levels of virus in 21 states.

"The states categorized as having a “very high” presence of the virus in its water are Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming, plus the District of Columbia.

"A “high” presence of the virus was found in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusets, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina, Tennesee, and Virginia.  

"The rate of positive COVID tests is also on the rise, the CDC reports — up to 12.6% from 11.4% the previous week.

"Meanwhile, the state that was at the forefront of the 2020 COVID pandemic, New York, was the only state to report “low” levels of the virus in its wastewater. 

"All other states reported “moderate” levels of the virus — except for North Dakota, which did not report any data for the program.

"The CDC monitors wastewater to “show changes in disease trends before trends are seen in clinical cases.” The system provides an efficient overview of the presence of infectious diseases such as COVID, as “toilet flush to results only takes about five to seven days,” the agency says.

"COVID has historically spiked in the summer. “When we’re outdoors, it’s difficult for COVID to transmit, but it’s been so oppressively hot, particularly in the Southwest United States, and people are just spending a lot more time indoors,” Andrew Pekosz, a professor of microbiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told The Washington Post

"The wave is also fueled by new COVID KP.2 strains — subvariants of the highly infectious Omicron strain, as Yale Medicine explains — and its related variant, LB. 1. These account for more than 90% of the new cases of COVID, the CDC’s variant tracker reports.

"Vaccine rates are down as well, as the most recent data from the CDC’s vaccine tracking system says only 22.5% of adults have received an updated COVID vaccine since last September.  

"Last month, the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory to COVID vaccine manufacturers to target the KP.2 variant, with updated vaccines expected in the fall.

"Every day of 2024 remaining is likely to have more transmission than today," Dr. Michael Hoerger, Assistant Professor at Tulane University School of Medicine, who leads the COVID forecasting model, the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative, told TODAY

"People should really be taking the rest of the year very seriously." 

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Yes, but they're not. At every doctor's waiting room I've been in recently, I am the only patient wearing a mask -- even though many of the others are elderly and frail. It's not very reassuring.

Another Great Speech by Netanyahu

Too bad the idiot boycotting Democrats missed the powerful speech that Netanyahu gave to Congress yesterday afternoon!  It was like what I read about Churchill's warnings to British parliament about the rise of Hitler. Bibi gave the history of Israel, the fact that antisemitism is the oldest hatred, called for America to stand with Israel, explained how Israel's October 7 was the equivalent of 20 September 11's in proportion to their population, and vowed victory in Gaza. He received 50 standing ovations (which a sullen Rashida Tlaib disgracefully held up signs reading "War Criminal" and "Guilty of Genocide" while he spoke).

He also referred to the rioting pro-Hamas, anti-Israel terrorists as "useful idiots" while those idiots were outside wreaking havoc, defacing monuments, burning the American flag, actually raising the "Palestinian" flag, and behaving like the Islamic sympathizers they are. 

In a lovely gesture, group of House Republicans raised new American flags outside of Washington, D.C.’s Union Station Wednesday night hours after protesters took them down, burned them and replaced them with Palestinian flags. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Reps. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., Rudy Yakym, R-Ind. and other lawmakers gathered to raise flags they said had flown over the Capitol and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Protesters opposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress had burned the flags next to an effigy of the leader. “It’s shameful what happened here today,” Speaker Johnson said. “Instead of protesting, you should be standing with your country, and we will.”

For more on Netanyahu's address to Congress, read Andrea Widburg's excellent column Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a magnificent speech to Congress over at American Thinker. 

I wish HE had been our President these last three years!

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

The Normalization of COVID

I was somehow not at all surprised to see this headline downplaying COVID at the Paris Olympics. So the organizers have no COVID protocols in place; they are relatively unfazed; they think athletes should be prudent but not worried; and face masks aren't required but there's plenty of hand sanitizer. 

What could possibly go wrong?!

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From CBS News: 2024 Paris Olympics hit by early COVID cases, but organizers don't seem worried by risk of major outbreak

"Paris — Thousands of athletes and spectators from around the world have descended on Paris for the looming 2024 Summer Olympics. They've brought with them the potential for a COVID-19 outbreak to spread within the tightly confined Games atmosphere.

"Officials expect Paris to receive as many as 15 million visitors, including 2 million tourists from abroad, during the Games. 

"Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, said Wednesday on "CBS Mornings" that a current spike in cases across the U.S. is likely due to the coronavirus continuing to mutate, and to vaccinations only preventing infection reliably for several months, though they continue to protect from severe illness for much longer, "which is why people are not getting sick the way they were early in the pandemic." 

"That underlying vaccination success may be helping to allay fears in Paris, where, despite a growing spate of early Olympic COVID-19 cases, disruptive infections at the recent Tour de France, the surge in infections in the U.S. and elsewhere and most antiviral international travel measures being long since lifted, Games organizers don't appear too worried. 

COVID at the Tour de France

"France experienced a new wave of coronavirus cases in the general population in June, and the virus has hit some major sporting events more recently — including the Tour de France, which took place from the end of June until July 21.

"Tour authorities established no official protocols in advance to deal with a flareup of the well-known pathogen, which delayed their reaction after the first cases among riders cropped up early during the three-week race.

"It took the event's main organizer, the Amaury Sport Organization, until July 14 to ask journalists to wear face masks during interactions with riders and support teams.

"Without any real COVID safety protocols in place, individual athletes and teams were left to develop their own strategies to deal with the virus, and responses varied widely.

"While at least four athletes who tested positive pulled out of the race, others continued to compete, drawing complaints from some of their competitors.

Early Olympic COVID cases

"There have already been positive tests at some of the Olympic training sites. In the most recent cases, national team chief Anna Meares confirmed Wednesday that five of Australia's women's water polo players had tested positive for COVID-19.

"There is training this afternoon and, again, if those five athletes are feeling well enough to train, they will, and they are following all the protocols that we have," Meares said at a news conference in Paris. "I can confirm that the whole of the water polo team has been tested as well."

"Meares said the infected polo players had started wearing face masks and were isolating from other team members when not actively training. 

"They're not going into the high-volume areas of the allotment, like the gym and the performance pantry, and more broadly, we have our respiratory illnesses protocol in place," she said.

"Several Belgian athletes delayed their departure for Paris after receiving positive tests. 

"The French Judo Federation had previously cut short its men's team's pre-Olympic training camp after a participant was diagnosed with COVID-19, and French soccer player Selma Bacha and track-and-field athlete Cyréna Samba-Mylena have also tested positive.

"After positive tests during the French national swimming championship, the country's Olympic swimming team implemented stricter precautions during its July training session.

"Given the pre-opening ceremony cases and the recent history at the Tour de France, the focus has turned sharply toward the fast-approaching Games.

"Some 10,500 athletes are due in the French capital, and organizers know that along with the spirit of sportsmanship, they bring with them the potential for a major outbreak in the Olympic Village, which will be home to more than 14,000 athletes and accompanying team members.

"But organizers appear relatively unfazed.

"For now, nothing has been put into place by the organizing committee," André-Pierre Goubert, the director of Olympics and high performance sport at the National French Olympic and Sport Committee (CNOSF), recently told the French newspaper Le Monde. "We recommended that the delegations test their athletes before coming to the Olympic Village, using their own medical teams."

"Face masks are not required inside the Olympic Village, but hand sanitizer is available in its clinics and restaurants.

"Public health officials in France admit an outbreak is possible and they've said athletes, support teams and tourists should be prudent, but not worried.

"Games organizers have said they're keeping an eye on the situation and have promised to work closely with the French Health Ministry and the nation's public health authority to monitor cases over the course of the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

Congressional Cowards and Jew-Haters

What else can you say when the response to Netanyahu's pending Congressional speech is a boycott by Congressmen, the absence of the so-called Vice President, and the hate-filled terrorist sympathizers raging in the streets and in the Cannon House Office Building?

This is the response to our ally, Israel, who has been under attack since its inception, and who was the victim in the massacre by Hamas on October 7, 2023. How quickly these people forget -- or choose not to remember.

From Axios:

Capitol protest ignites security fears around Netanyahu speech

"A large, raucous pro-Palestinian protest Tuesday at a U.S. House office building is spiking lawmakers' concerns about security around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming speech.

"Why it matters: The protests spilled over from a common area to several individual lawmakers' offices, with one office calling the police on demonstrators.

  • Rep. Dan Kildee's (D-Mich.) office "had to call U.S. Capitol Police for assistance" after "hundreds of protesters outside the office became disruptive," Kildee's chief of staff Mitchell Rivard said in a statement.
  • Rivard said protesters were "violently beating on the office doors, shouting loudly, and attempting to force entry into the office."
  • Spokespeople for Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, the groups that organized the protest, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"State of play: The protest, in which hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in the Cannon House Office Building, prompted Capitol Police to make scores of arrests for demonstrating in a restricted area.

  • It may just be a taste of what's to come when Netanyahu arrives on Wednesday. The U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights has said "tens of thousands" of people will gather at the Capitol.
  • Capitol security officials and law enforcement are already taking precautions, erecting a fence, restricting entrances to the complex and encouraging staffers to move through the building's tunnel system.
  • House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday that additional police officers will be posted outside the Capitol and inside the House chamber.

"What they're saying: Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) told Axios that protesters were camped outside his office, prompting the Capitol Police to instruct his staff to remain inside.

  • "It crosses the line ... when it makes it impossible for people within the Capitol – not just people who work here but others who are visiting their representatives – to even get around," Schneider said.
  • Kildee told Axios the protest is escalating safety concerns for Wednesday, saying "obviously, we're going to take extra precautions going forward."
  • "I'm concerned about my safety," said Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), who told Axios he isn't wearing his member pin because "I don't want to be a target."
  • "There are certainly safety concerns. Whenever you have zealots protesting, there's no telling where it's going to lead," said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), adding that the reliability of law enforcement is a "question" after Jan. 6 and the Trump assassination attempt.

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No, this isn't the "new normal" -- it's antisemitism.  And trying to wipe Israel off the face of the map and kill the Jewish people is nothing like January 6.

All American Jews should vote Republican in November.