Society's ChildS


Bad Guys

Pfizer CEO: COVID-19 could be 'controlled' by annual vaccines, pills to treat

pfizer vaccine
© Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The CEO of the first company to win approval for a COVID-19 vaccine said Monday that he hopes the virus will be "controlled" by annual vaccinations and pills to treat illness when people get sick.

Albert Bourla, head of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, said on CNBC that annual COVID shots could become the norm, just like yearly flu shots.

"We will have perfectly normal lives, with just injection maybe once a year. And the pill in case we are sick will make it more flu like rather than life-threatening disease," he said. But Bourla added: "Two doses of the vaccine offers very limited protection, if any."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Pfizer's COVID treatment pill late last year, but so far it is not widely available.

Red Pill

People 'governed by fear,' says Man Utd legend as he brings up Bill Gates in Covid comments

Patrice Evra
© Getty Images for Amazon Prime
Ex-Manchester United defensive stalwart Patrick Evra has made an appearance on French television where he brought up Bill Gates and questioned the narrative surrounding Covid-19.

Retired since 2018, the 40-year-old Evra is best known these days for bizarre Monday Motivation social media posts made to 9 million followers on Instagram, which are finished by his catchphrase "I love this game".

On Thursday afternoon, though, Evra grabbed headlines for a TV appearance in France where he first defended the rights of people not to be vaccinated then went on a rant that included a mention of Microsoft mogul Gates.

"At the moment I think we are talking too much about this Covid," Evra told BFM TV.

Bullseye

NCAA caves: Athletes who have had Covid will be considered 'fully vaccinated' - new guidelines

march madness covid cancel basketball
© Yahoo! Sports
The NCAA recognizes natural immunity. Here's what it means.

The NCAA on Thursday released its new COVID-19 guidance for winter sports, and the guidance contains some important news.

As ESPN reports, the NCAA's COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group updated its definition of "fully vaccinated" to account for various new vaccinations, boosters, and immunity factors.

"Fully vaccinated individuals now include those within two months of receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, five months of receiving the Pfizer vaccine series or six months of receiving the Moderna vaccine series;" reports ESPN staff writer Jeff Borzello, "and individuals who are beyond the aforementioned timeline and have received the booster vaccine."

Dominoes

Canada drops vaccine mandate for its truckers after pressure from industry

trucker
© LARS HAGBERG /Reuters
Canada will allow unvaccinated Canadian truckers to cross in from the United States, reversing a decision requiring all truckers to be inoculated against the coronavirus, Canada's border agency said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had faced pressure from the main opposition party and trucking lobby to drop the vaccine mandate for truckers, due to come into force on Saturday, saying it could result in driver shortages, disrupt trade and drive up inflation.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said that unvaccinated, or partially vaccinated Canadian truck drivers arriving at the U.S.-Canada border will remain exempt from pre-arrival, arrival and post-arrival testing and quarantine requirements.

However, truckers from the United States will still need to be vaccinated or they will be turned back at the border from Jan. 15, a CBSA spokesperson said.

Light Sabers

Tulsi Gabbard rips Joe Biden for 'divisive' voting rights speech

biden and gabbard
© AFP / Sean Rayford
Ex-presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has called out President Joe Biden for delivering what she described as a shockingly divisive speech on voting rights, and even some close allies in the Senate admit he went "too far."

Gabbard, an outspoken critic of the president before she dropped out of the 2020 primary and traded in her distaste for the career politician for a guarded endorsement, has renewed her criticism of Biden, accusing him via Twitter on Wednesday of smearing his ideological opponents as "domestic enemies, traitors, and racists."

The former Hawaii congresswoman argued that Biden's speech in Georgia on Tuesday was even worse in terms of dividing the American people than the words of failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who infamously said in 2016 that half of Trump's supporters were "a basket of deplorables," which some suggested helped deliver the vote to Donald Trump by alienating potential swing-state voters. Clinton has since said she regrets using the term, which some Trump supporters took on as a badge of pride.

Eye 1

Best of the Web: The disturbing truth: How porn can fuel sex trafficking

porn child trafficking
It was 21 days after "Jane Doe's" 22nd birthday when she boarded a flight to San Diego that, unbeknownst to her, would change her life forever. That day, she would become one of hundreds of young women who had been filmed for GirlsDoPorn, a wildly popular porn production company which garnered well over a billion views,1 ranking around the 20th most popular channel on Pornhub,2 and reportedly generating an estimated $17 million dollars in revenue.3 But what most of GirlsDoPorn's millions of viewers did not realize was that Jane — and many other women involved with GirlsDoPorn — was actually a victim of sex trafficking.

See, Jane never agreed to do porn at all.4 She had flown to San Diego to participate in what she was told would be a fitness modeling job. But when she arrived, she was met by several men who took her phone, intimidated her into signing a contract she wasn't allowed to read, plied her with drugs and alcohol, and trapped her in a hotel room where they told her she would be filmed for a porn video. Even after she tried to run away, the men physically forced her to comply. With no way out, Jane was violently raped on camera for over 6 hours.

The nearly hour-long video of her abuse was then released on the GirlsDoPorn website and published on nearly every major porn site,5 even using her full legal name in the title.6 When Jane first learned that videos of her rape had been published, she ran to the bathroom and was violently sick.

Comment: Fight the New Drug has a wealth of information on their website and medium page that is well worth checking out.

While some countries move towards controlling access to porn, and card companies like MasterCard announced new rules for banks processing credit card payments to pornography websites, Fight the New Drug argues that bans "tend to add fuel to the flame by making the illegal substance or activity illicitly attractive. A much more effective way to decrease the demand for pornography is to make people aware of its unfortunate reality."

They summed up their thoughts on banning porn below:
Bottom line: we aren't here to bully lawmakers into outlawing porn, we're here to get to the deeper source of the issue and educate people on the very real harms of porn, and then let them decide for themselves. Because someone deciding against something freely is much more effective than forcing someone to do something they don't agree with.

Fight the New Drug believes that if people truly understood how pornography can negatively affect the consumer, relationships, and society, and understood the often exploitative ways the industry operates, they would choose for themselves not to support or engage with porn.
See also:


Bacon

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Signs food shortages are here

food
Gas taxes up, baring shelves, lowered grain harvests and grain growers denied access to CHB to sell Australian grow grain without a first jab. What will our planting season look like?


Sources

Eye 1

Financial Times say 'psy-ops' are 'crucial weapon' against 'disinformation'

google eye
© Leon Neal/Getty Images
The Financial Times, a leading voice of global neoliberalism, has praised psychological influence operations, better known as Psyops, as a valuable weapon in the "war against disinformation."

The article, published earlier this week, blames "Russia, China, and Iran" for using "disinformation and online propaganda to amplify anti-vax sentiment and foment political tensions in Europe and the US."

The FT says Mikael Tofvesson, head of the Swedish Navy's new Psyops division, believes "foreign aggressors" are trying to "sow division by targeting areas of public concern such as crime, Covid vaccinations, the government's response to the pandemic, and immigration."

Comment: See also:


Music

'Terrorist' detained in Kazakhstan identified as famous foreign jazz musician, UPDATE: Ruzakhunov released

Vikram Ruzakhunov
© sadyr_japarov/Instagram
Kyrgyzstan is protesting the arrest of artist over deadly riots in neighboring country.

Crowds gathered outside Kazakhstan's embassy in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, on Sunday, demanding that Kazakh authorities release well-known jazz musician Vikram Ruzakhunov, after he appeared in a "confession" video.

A man with bruised face shown by Kazakhstani media, identified as the touring performer, was shown admitting to having been paid to participate in a protest that led to riots. Concerns were expressed that the clip was recorded under duress.

Comment: UPDATE: Ruzakhunov has been released:
Vikram Ruzakhunov
© Sputnik Казахстан
A Kyrgyz jazz musician has been released from custody by Kazakhstani security officials after appearing in a "confession" video, in which he admitted to taking part in violent demonstrations for payment, media reported on Monday.

Vikram Ruzakhunov was accused of terrorism by the Kazakh authorities, a charge leveled against thousands of demonstrators who took part in last week's anti-government protests, which eventually turned into rioting and looting. The jazz musician's identity was revealed on Sunday when Kazakhstani media released a video of the performer with a bruised face, where he verbally conceded being a paid protestor. Concerns were expressed that the clip was recorded under duress.

Kyrgyzstan is a neighbor of Kazakhstan, and Ruzakhunov is well known in both nations.

Following a public outcry, protests, and statements by Kyrgyz officials, Ruzakhunov was released on Monday morning and is reportedly being taken back to his native country.



Arrow Down

Helicopter with infant on board pulls off 'miracle' crash landing

helicopter crash
© AP Photo/Claudia LauerUpper Darby, Pennsylvania firefighters stand near a medical helicopter that crashed in a residential area of suburban Philadelphia, January 11, 2022.
All four people on board a medical helicopter, including a sick infant, survived the crash landing outside a Pennsylvania church.

A medical helicopter transporting an infant to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia crashed in a nearby suburb, narrowly missing power lines and a church. Everyone on board survived without life-threatening injuries.

Photos from the scene on Tuesday afternoon showed a broken road sign and the wrecked helicopter just outside the Drexel Hill United Methodist Church in Upper Darby, an eastern suburb of Philadelphia.