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Syringe

Best of the Web: Russian cancer vaccine ready to launch next year, set to be provided free of charge

research vaccine syringe lab
Russia has developed its own mRNA vaccine against cancer, it will be distributed to patients free of charge, General Director of the Radiology Medical Research Center of the Russian Ministry of Health Andrey Kaprin has told Radio Rossiya.

The vaccine was developed in collaboration with several research centers. It is planned to launch it in general circulation in early 2025.

Earlier, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg told TASS that the vaccine's pre-clinical trials had shown that it suppresses tumor development and potential metastases.

Comment: This development has received little media attention in the West, naturally, because it happened in Russia, so we looked into the basis of the claim.

The Russian developers are turning cancerous mutations into antigens so that the immune system can attack them better. This technique has apparently worked in animal studies. They're starting trials on humans with super-aggressive melanomas and small cell lung cancer, where the prognosis is already very bad. Each vaccine is individualized to the patient. They do use mRNA technology, but this might prove to be the best use for such. In the animal studies, the vaccine regressed or cured animals from metastasis and terminal cancer.

So the principle behind it is to reinforce the immune system by 'teaching' it to attack the cancer rather than 'feed' it or accept it as 'normal'.

More in this India Times report about how AI-based 'neural network computing' will be used to 'create a personalized cancer vaccine in 30 minutes'. See also the press release.


Explosion

Best of the Web: Escalation: Chief of Russian chemical defense forces assassinated in Moscow blast - UPDATE: Ukraine (NATO) claims responsibility

Igor Kiríllov
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was one of two victims of the explosion near a residential building

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces, has been killed along with his deputy in a bomb blast in southeastern Moscow early on Tuesday, officials have confirmed.

The explosion occurred around 6am outside a residential building on Ryazansky Avenue as Kirillov and his aide were leaving the premises to board an official vehicle.

Russian investigators said an improvised explosive device (IED) packed with about 300 grams of TNT was likely attached to an electric scooter near the building's entrance. It was possibly detonated remotely, likely by a radio signal or mobile phone.

Comment:

UPDATE 17/12/2024: France24 reports:
The killing of a senior Russian military official, Igor Kirillov, in Moscow on Tuesday was a "special operation" by Ukraine's SBU security service, a source inside the agency told AFP.

Kirillov is the most senior Russian army official to be targeted on Russian territory, killed with his assistant when an explosive device attached to a scooter went off outside an apartment building in south-eastern Moscow.

"The liquidation of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of the Russian Armed Forces' radiation, chemical and biological defence troops is a special operation by the SBU," the source said.

"Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target, as he gave orders to use banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military," it said.


A straight-up lie. Russia destroyed the last of its stockpiles in 2017, per the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. The U.S. of course, reneged on the agreement.


Kirillov was on Monday charged in absentia by Ukrainian authorities over alleged war crimes following an investigation by the SBU.

In October, he had been sanctioned by the UK over the suspected use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.

"Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable," the SBU source said.

It confirmed Kirillov was killed when "a scooter with explosives" detonated as he entered the building on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow.



Eye 2

Best of the Web: Former stripper, convicted killer Crystal Mangum finally confesses to lying about being raped by Duke lacrosse players in 2006

Crystal Mangum
© Tribune News Service via Getty ICrystal Mangum
Former stripper and convicted murderer Crystal Mangum admitted Thursday that she lied and "made up a story" that three Duke University lacrosse players raped her at a team party in 2006.

"They trusted me that I wouldn't betray their trust, and I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn't, and that was wrong," Magnum told the independent media outlet Let's Talk With Kat at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.

"[I] made up a story that wasn't true."

Mangum, 46, said she made up the allegation because she "wanted validation from people and not from God."

Star of David

Best of the Web: Overnight Israeli Strike In Syria So Large It Caused Earthquake


Comment: What was this, a 'tactical' nuke? Israel is almost completely off the leash. The odds of the Jewish State attacking Iran next are good, if only because it's 'on a roll' and hasn't been stopped yet...


israel bomb syria
Days ago Israel began warning that it will use large bunker buster munitions to begin destroying the former Syrian Army's underground missile and weapons storehouses.

This has begun in the overnight hours, with Israeli warplanes pummeling air defense systems and ammunition depots in Damascus and the coastal city of Tartous, near where a Russian naval base is located. The strike on Tartous resulted in the single biggest explosion seen in Syria in years, unleashing a fireball and mushroom cloud so large it led to quick speculation it could have been a tactical nuke (which widespread reports are denying).

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) described that Israeli warplanes hit air defense units and "surface-to-surface missile depots" as part of a bid to degrade and disable Syria's military capability. SOHR also called it the "the heaviest strikes" on the region in over a decade.

The Telegraphwrote that "A 3.1 magnitude tremor was reported by the Geographic Survey of Israel's seismology department at 11.49pm on Sunday night in the region of the bombings."

Oscar

Best of the Web: Candace Owens named 'Antisemite of the Year' by online 'watchdog'

Candace Owens
© Chris Dilts/Sipa USACandace Owens
Firebrand pundit Candace Owens has been named "Antisemite of the Year" by watchdog StopAntisemitism, which says she "blew the competition away" with more votes than anyone in previous years.

"Candace Owens' witch's brew of antisemitism drew from vile medieval blood libels, including claims that Jews drink Christian blood, conspiracies that Jews are pedophiles who control the media and are 'taking over America,' and modern toxic anti-Israel hysteria," StopAntisemitism's founder, Liora Rez, told The Post.

"There is no psychotic rabbit hole too extreme for this poisonous hater."

StopAntisemitism bestowed the title last year on Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). Other recipients have included Ye, the Hitler-loving rapper formerly known as Kanye West, in 2022, and Tlaib's fellow "Squad" member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in 2019.

The watchdog shared a video of comments from Owens — who split from The Daily Wire over her views — including her defending Ye's antisemitic tirades and also her attacking Israel, which she claimed had "occupied" the US, in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.

Comment: She may be a raging anti-Semite, but she's not a liar.


Pirates

Best of the Web: Democracy's been cancelled in Romania - and the Free West is as silent as the grave

georgescu romania election
Calin Georgescu would have by now become Romania's new president, until his election was illegally canceled by the Western deep state
Democracy's been cancelled in Romania - and the Free West is as silent as the graveIt was about this time of year, 35 years ago, when I set off eastwards from Berlin, full of fear. I was seeking to get into Romania, then an iron Communist tyranny. I finally made it to the capital, Bucharest, as dusk fell on Christmas Eve. The city was by then gripped by a sort of madness.

I was warned to beware of snipers at the entrance to my hotel, and zigzagged ludicrously through the snow with a suitcase in one hand and a typewriter in the other. Nobody sniped, but later I sheltered under my bed while red tracer bullets flew by the window in the square outside.

It was more or less impossible to find out what was going on, though the city's hospitals were full of sad, wounded people, under third-rate Communist healthcare.I went because rumours had been spreading of severe discontent, which exploded on December 21, 1989. The country's Communist leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, was heckled during a speech.

This unthinkable act of bravery by the hecklers started an avalanche that took only four days to sweep the despot to his death - an ugly kangaroo court followed by a so-called 'execution'. This looked more like an assassination to me, when it was shown on Christmas Day on Bucharest TV.

Attention

Best of the Web: Drone incursions closed Wright Patterson Air Force Base's airspace Friday night

aerial view wright patterson air force base
© Google EarthThe sprawling Wright Patterson AFB complex.
Wright Patterson AFB, a high-profile base that's home to critical Air Force units, is the latest installation to deal with mysterious drones.

The sprawling Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is the latest military installation to report mysterious drones flying over its airspace, The War Zone has learned.

"I can confirm small aerial systems were spotted over Wright Patterson between Friday night and Saturday morning," base spokesman Bob Purtiman told The War Zone on Sunday in response to our questions about the sightings. "Today leaders have determined that they did not impact base residents, facilities, or assets. The Air Force is taking all appropriate measures to safeguard our installations and residents."

The drones "ranged in sizes and configurations," Purtiman said. "Our units are working with local authorities to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets."

Comment:




Attention

Best of the Web: They just keep coming: Mystery drones now spotted over US military base in Germany

Ramstein Air Base
© Ramstein Air Base (Facebook)There have been sightings of mysterious drones at the air base and other locations in Germany recently.
Unknown drones have been spotted in recent weeks above a U.S. military base and other locations in Germany, according to reports.

Citing the German magazine Spiegel, Reuters reported that unidentified drones were spotted above the U.S.'s Ramstein Air Base on December 3 and 4 during the evening. Drones had also been seen above the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and the chemicals group BASF, the report said.

The origin of the drones is unknown, and the drone sightings come as German intelligence chiefs have rung the alarm that the country's support of Ukraine could make it a target for sabotage attempts, The Guardian reported.

Whistle

Best of the Web: Suicided? OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment

Balaji
© Ulysses Ortega/The New York TimesSuchir Balaji, a former OpenAi employee • Oct. 3, 2024
Suchir Balaji, 26, claimed the company broke copyright law.

A former OpenAI researcher known for whistleblowing the blockbuster artificial intelligence company facing a swell of lawsuits over its business model has died, authorities confirmed this week.

Suchir Balaji, 26, was found dead inside his Buchanan Street apartment on Nov. 26, San Francisco police and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said. Police had been called to the Lower Haight residence at about 1 p.m. that day, after receiving a call asking officers to check on his well-being, a police spokesperson said.

The medical examiner's office determined the manner of death to be suicide and police officials this week said there is "currently, no evidence of foul play."

Information he held was expected to play a key part in lawsuits against the San Francisco-based company.

War Whore

Best of the Web: American exile: The USA is a death cult

America
"Let me have war, say I; it exceeds peace as far as day does night: it's spritely waking, audible, and full of vent. Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy; mull'd, deaf, sleepy, insensible; a getter of more bastard children than war's a destroyer of men." - Shakespeare, Coriolanus

Long ago, but what seems like only yesterday, I didn't go to the U.S. war against Vietnam but the war came to me. It was when my exile began.

I am telling you this to try to shed some light on today's wars and alarums since my tale is common for a small subset of Americans of my generation. We learned long ago that the USA was run by ruthless killers who reveled in war. Vietnam, the Phoenix Program, Cambodia, Indonesia, etc. Nothing was beyond them. We sensed that they would never stop and they haven't. The genocide of Palestinians, the proxy war via Ukraine against Russia, the current US/Israel/Turkey bloodbath in Syria and Lebanon led by our ruthless terrorists - it is all nightmarish, malevolent, utterly evil, and conjures up hell on earth. And it will get worse in the future.