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Covid-19 vaccination should be framed as 'racial inequality issue' to convince minorities to take jab, doctor tells Hancock

The government should promote the Covid-19 vaccine to skeptical minorities through the lens of racial 'health inequalities,' a doctor has told UK Health Minister Matt Hancock.

In a video published by the Department of Health and Social Care, Hancock asked Dr Charles Esene, chairman of Afro GP Herts & Beds, what he would say to someone who came to his clinic and said they were "worried" about being vaccinated.

"It depends on the race," replied Esene, explaining that if "the person is an ethnic minority, then of course you have a conversation about the existing health inequalities" and the impact of Covid-19 on the black community.

Esene also said the government should make minorities "understand that this is also trying to move the black community away from being the hard-to-reach, underserved community" and that "this is the beginning of the conversation about addressing the wider health inequalities in society."

Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, has conceded that Covid-19 lockdowns can't go on forever and won't eliminate the virus anyway - a view that might have helped before Britons endured months of draconian restrictions.

"Covid is not going to go away," Whitty said in a Royal Society of Medicine webinar on Thursday. "This is now a disease that for the rest of our careers is going to be around. So, it is clear that we are going to have to manage it, at some point, rather like we manage the flu."

...

"We need to work out some balance which actually keeps it at a low level, minimises deaths as best we can, but in a way that the population tolerates, through medical countermeasures like vaccines and in due course, drugs, which mean you can minimise mortality while not maximising the economic and social impacts on our fellow citizens," Whitty said.

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I am still frankly stunned that I was found in contempt of court. I maintain that I carefully identified nobody and, as empirically proven, the MSM did far more than I in revealing identities. I also believe that the terms of the Opinion would make it simply impossible to report anything except the prosecution case in any sexual assault trial - and that MSM journalists are entirely sanguine about this because they believe that in practice the ruling would only be used against dissidents, and never against them.

It is very difficult for me to try to explain why, in my own case, what has happened has much wider bad consequences, because it simply looks like special pleading. I am therefore very pleased that legal analyst Alexander Mercouris has written this important piece at Consortium News, and I should be grateful to you for reading it.

The former Department of Justice official accused of trying to extort $25 million from Rep. Matt Gaetz slammed the allegations as a "blatant attempt to distract" from the federal sex-trafficking probe that's underway.

David McGee, a former federal prosecutor in Florida who is now working at the firm Beggs & Lane, denied blackmailing Gaetz, who is under investigation for his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

"It is completely false," McGee told the Washington Post. "It's a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that he's under investigation for sex trafficking of minors."

McGee added, "I have no connection with that case at all, other than, one of a thousand people who have heard the rumors."

After news of the probe involving Gaetz broke on Tuesday, the Florida congressman accused McGee of trying to shake his family down for $25 million.

The Republican claimed the existence of the DOJ probe was leaked to the media in an effort to thwart the FBI investigation into the alleged extortion plot.

"On March 16, my father got a text message demanding a meeting wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away," Gaetz said on Fox News, while identifying that person as McGee.

"Our family was so troubled by that, we went to the local FBI. The FBI and the Department of Justice were so concerned about this attempted extortion of a member of Congress that they asked my dad to wear a wire, which he did, with the former Department of Justice official."

Gaetz called on the FBI to release the tapes — and McGee welcomed that idea.

"If there is a tape, play the tape," McGee said. "There is nothing on that tape that is untoward. It is a pleasant conversation of a dad concerned about his son and the trouble his son was in."

McGee told the Washington Post that Gaetz's father had "called me and asked to talk to me" but did not elaborate on the conversation.

Gaetz, 38, a close ally of former President Trump, denied the allegations that he was involved with a minor.

"In the strongest possible terms. I deny that I have ever been with someone underage," he told The Post Tuesday. "That is false."

He said he became aware of the probe after two of his ex-girlfriends were contacted by authorities.

"They were asked why I had given them plane tickets, money, and other interactions. They were in their 20s," he said.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) showed photos of nude women who he claimed he had sex with to other lawmakers, multiple sources told CNN.

Two sources, who claim they were shown the material directly, said that the photos were "a point of pride" for Gaetz.

The sources also told the news outlet that Gaetz, 38, showed them the photos while conducting business on the House floor, adding that the Florida lawmaker displayed the images on his phone and talked about having sex with the women.

One source claimed that they were shown a video of a naked woman with a hula hoop.

The Hill has reached out to Gaetz's office for comment.

The news from CNN comes after The New York Times first reported on Tuesday that he was being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

Investigators are probing whether or not the lawmaker has violated federal sex trafficking laws by paying the girl to travel with him. The probe was opened during the last months of the Trump administration, under former Attorney General William Barr.

Notice the assumption that the relationship was real. A varient on the "when did you stop beating your wife" tactic

The DOJ's investigation into Gaetz, a vocal Trump ally, is part of a larger investigation involving former Florida county tax collector Joel Greenberg, who faces charges of sex trafficking a child and providing payment to people, including a female minor in exchange for sex.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) has pushed back against calls for him to resign following his communications director stepping down amid an inquiry into allegations of a relationship with a minor and his having paid for sex.

Gaetz told The Hill on Friday that rumors he is leaving office are "false," and it is "very safe" to say he will remain in office amid a Department of Justice (DOJ) inquiry into whether the congressman violated sex trafficking laws.

...

Gaetz, one of former president Donald Trump's most vocal supporters, has denied any wrongdoing and said the inquiry is part of an attempt by a DOJ official to extort money from him, even claiming the FBI is aware of the situation. He has also said the alleged minor "does not exist."

The weight of the accusations, however, has led many critics to call for Gaetz's resignation. Gaetz's communications director, Luke Ball, reportedly stepped down on Friday amid the controversy.

Speaking to the news platform Axios following reports of the DOJ inquiry, Gaetz said he was not the target of any investigation and had a "suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward."

Last month, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that Tehran is in "no hurry" to return to its obligations under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and is prepared to wait until the US lifts its illegal sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has stated that a possible US decision to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), does not require any talks.

Speaking to the deal's remaining signatories during a virtual meeting on Friday, Araqchi added that "Iran will suspend its steps [scaling back compliance with the deal's terms] as soon as [US] sanctions are lifted and this is verified".

The statement comes as Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif announced earlier on Friday that the US would not take part in talks on the JCPOA, scheduled for next week in Vienna.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, for his part, hailed the upcoming Vienna event, stressing in a statement that the sides "have no time to lose".

"An agreement that is once again fully respected would be a plus for security for the entire region and the best basis for talks on other important issues of regional stability", Maas pointed out.

The statement followed the JCPOA signatories agreeing to sit down for the Vienna nuclear talks in order to "clearly identify sanctions lifting and nuclear implementation measures, including through convening meetings of the relevant expert groups".

In last month's interview with the US news outlet Politico, Zarif reiterated Iran's readiness to adhere to the JCPOA "as soon as the United States comes to compliance".

The Islamic Republic started to scale down its JCPOA obligations, including those pertaining to uranium enrichment, in May 2019, exactly a year after then-US President Donald Trump announced Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the accord, also reinstating harsh economic sanctions against Tehran.

"Now we want to go back to compliance. The party that has started this process has to go back and Iran will immediately go back", Zarif told Politico, in an apparent nod to the US.

When asked why the Islamic Republic has not sat down with the US yet to discuss the matter, he said that "there is nothing to talk about", accusing Washington of seeking "to use pressure and coercion in order to extract new concessions from Iran" when it comes to the JCPOA.

In February, the White House expressed a willingness to revive US participation in the Iran deal, also demanding that Tehran return to its commitments under the 2015 agreement. Tehran, for its part, insists that it is Washington who should take the first step by scrapping all economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

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