GD's Political Animal

Thursday, April 1, 2021

California children disguised as illegal migrants

Parents Disguising Kids As Illegal Immigrants So They Can Receive In-Person Teaching | Babylon Bee:

March 31, 2021 - "Upon hearing that San Diego teachers were providing instruction to migrant children but not American citizens, many clever parents began disguising their kids as illegal immigrants in hopes that their kids could finally see the inside of a classroom.

"'OK, Aiden, remember -- if they ask you what your name is, just say, "No hablo ingles",' said one parent as she dropped her kid off near the Mexican border in Chula Vista. 'And don't pick at your fake mustache; it'll fall off'....

"After waving goodbye to the kids, the parents peeled out in their minivans as they experienced their first taste of freedom in over a year -- the kids happily being taught by teachers as the moms went out and got mimosas for brunch.

"Unfortunately, the kids do have to sleep in cages with foil blankets now, but the parents say it's a sacrifice well worth making."

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

50% have Covid antibodies in UK

Covid: Half of UK has antibodies from vaccination or infection | BBC News - Rachel Schraer:

March 30, 2021 - "Roughly half of people in the UK now have antibodies against Covid, either through infection or vaccination, tests conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. Most of this will be through vaccination - with 30 million people having received at least one dose. Antibodies are proteins in the blood which recognise specific infections and fight them off.

"Among the oldest who are most at risk, levels are even higher. But there has been a small decline in detectable antibodies in that group since the peak of infections in January. The ONS speculates this might be people who received the vaccine earliest having had their first dose but not their second - but they stress this is not evidence that these people have less immunity.

"Once someone has had an infection, antibodies help your body to be ready if it encounters it again. Vaccines provide a safe way to develop antibodies without risking getting ill.

"The tests used in the ONS study give a yes/no result based on whether the amount of antibodies in your blood cross a certain threshold. But people can be protected by lower levels of antibodies. And there are other element of your immune system like T-cells which are not being measured here. There is some evidence to suggest protective T-cells might be detectable for longer than antibodies....

"The study is conducted by taking blood from a representative sample of people around the UK to estimate what proportion of the whole population has antibodies. By 14 March, an estimated 55% of people in England had antibodies, 51% in Wales, 49% in Northern Ireland and 43% in Scotland. But among the over-65s, who are most likely to have been vaccinated, roughly 90% had antibodies.

"The figures mark a rapid rise in people in the population having protection against Covid - up from roughly a third of people testing positive when levels were measured at the start of March.

"Other data published today shows the number of deaths seen across the UK has remained below what is expected at this time of year, having dipped under average last week. There were 11,666 deaths registered in the week ending 19 March - 8% below the five-year average for this week."

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Blowing the whistle on the Florida whistleblower

Rebekah Jones, The Narrative, and the truth | Human Events - Christina Pushaw:

February 2, 2021 - "At first glance, the story of Rebekah Jones — a brave 'COVID-19 scientist' standing up to a corrupt right-wing machine — looks like a bombshell. When the Florida Department of Health (DoH) fired her last May, Jones claimed she had been terminated for refusing to falsify case numbers to support Governor Ron DeSantis’ plans to reopen the economy. Overnight, she became a heroine. She launched her own COVID-19 dashboard, raised half a million dollars, and gathered a Twitter army of 378,000.

"Jones shot to stardom because she lent a fresh face to a 'Narrative'. According to The Narrative, ... the idea that DeSantis could handle COVID-19 better than mask-mandating lockdown enthusiasts like Andrew Cuomo or Gavin Newsom was unthinkable. But ... Per capita, New York has nearly double Florida’s COVID-19 fatalities — and unlike New York, Florida has been open for months. For journalists struggling to explain this deviation from The Narrative, Jones’ tale was irresistible. She confirmed their unspoken suspicions: Florida’s relative success in fighting COVID-19 was an illusion crafted by a mendacious Trumpian governor and his flunkies, who fudged statistics to justify their homicidal reopening drive. DeSantis’ categorical rejection of Jones’ allegations only gave them momentum.

"Eight months later, ... Jones is ... facing a felony charge for breaching a government computer system.... Jones casts herself as the target of a vast right-wing conspiracy orchestrated by the governor, his loyalist judges, and his 'Gestapo,' the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The media continues lauding her. Fortune named her to its 40 Under 40. Forbes awarded her 'Technology Person of the Year'....

"NPR describes Jones as a 'top scientist' leading Florida’s pandemic response. In fact, Jones has held three jobs in her field; all three have ended in her being terminated and criminally charged. She has a Master’s in geography from Louisiana State University, where she worked until she was fired. She was arrested in 2016 while, reportedly, trespassing on campus and attempting to steal computer equipment from her former workplace. She then lectured at Florida State University (FSU) and began researching tropical storms for a dissertation, but never earned a Ph.D. as she was suspended and fired in 2018 after her former student accused her of sexual cyberharassment. Before her termination from the DoH, she was a geographic information systems manager, overseeing the COVID-19 web portal. Florida’s top Democratic official calls her 'Dr. Rebekah Jones,' but Jones is no doctor. Nor is she an epidemiologist, virologist, statistician, or public health professional....

"After she was fired from the DoH for a pattern of insubordination, Jones claimed that Deputy Secretary for Health Shamarial Roberson had asked her to 'manipulate data to mislead the public' about the safety of reopening rural counties. According to Dr. Roberson, this is 'patently false.' Emails show a state epidemiologist told Jones to temporarily disable data export from the dashboard to verify dates against other official sources. The data was aggregated from local public health authorities in 67 counties; it couldn’t be falsified or hidden.... Jones is now accusing Dr. Roberson of trying to conceal fatalities. 'The woman who told me to delete cases and deaths is now blaming DOCTORS for the death backlog,' Jones wrote in a recent social media post accompanying an article about Dr. Roberson. 'She’s the most corrupt, lying, incompetent and ignorant person that could be ever be put in charge.'

"Since her termination from the DoH, Jones has doubled down on her criticism of prominent epidemiologists — and in doing so, she has revealed serious gaps in her own knowledge of COVID-19. In July, Jones asserted that false negative antibody tests are 'worrisome' because 'you’re not aware that you have and can spread the virus.' Dr. Natalie Dean, an infectious disease expert, explained that false negative antibody tests carry no public health risk, but false negative antigen tests do. (Antibody tests show past infection, while antigen tests detect active infections that can be spread). Instead of admitting her mistake, Jones blocked Dr. Dean and contacted the epidemiologist’s employer to complain....

"Today, Jones awaits trial at her new home in an upmarket DC suburb. She invested part of her crowdfunding proceeds in a for-profit corporation, Florida COVID Action LLC.... Jones vows to campaign for DeSantis’ 2022 Democratic challenger.... She says she’s using donors’ funds 'to fight DeSantis, and anything else he throws at me'....

"Those desperate to see DeSantis fail, and Florida become America’s cautionary COVID-19 tale, want to believe Jones. This includes mainstream media acolytes.... The left sees Jones as the eye of a perfect storm: the GOP’s war on science, a corrupt Trumpian governor, the foolhardiness of any COVID-19 policy short of Chairman Xi-style lockdowns — and a telegenic 'whistleblower' to reinforce these tropes. Reality never stood a chance."

Monday, March 29, 2021

PA Amish community may have herd immunity

Amish community may have reached COVID ‘herd immunity,’ health official says | New York Post - Jackie Salo:

March 28, 2021 - "An Amish community in Pennsylvania may have become the first group in the US to achieve herd immunity, a local health official claims. The administrator of a medical center in the heart of Lancaster County’s New Holland Borough, which is known for its Amish and Mennonite communities, estimates that as many as 90 percent of the religious families have had at least one family member infected with the virus.

"'So, you would think if COVID was as contagious as they say, it would go through like a tsunami; and it did,' said Allen Hoover, an administrator of the Parochial Medical Center, which caters to the religious community and has 33,000 patients.

"The Amish and Mennonite groups initially complied with stay-at-home orders at the beginning of the pandemic — shuttering schoolhouses and canceling church services. But by late April, they had resumed worship services, where they shared communion cups and holy kisses, a church greeting among believers.

"Soon after, the virus tore throughout the religious enclave.... In late April and early May, the county’s positivity rate for COVID-19 tests exceeded 20 percent, according to nonprofit Covid Act Now. But Hoover said that it’s impossible to know the full extent of the virus outbreak since he estimates that fewer than 10 percent of patients displaying symptoms consented to being tested.

"The medical center saw on average nearly a dozen infections a day, or around 15 percent of the patients it serves daily, Hoover said.

"While infections ebbed through the summer, before picking up again in the fall, Hoover said new cases are now far and few in between. The center hasn’t had a patient present with virus symptoms in roughly six weeks, Hoover said.

"But some experts are more skeptical that a large outbreak has led to widespread immunity in the community. Eric Lofgren, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Washington State University, said herd immunity is possible but rare. 'The key is that there is not necessarily a magic number,' said David Dowdy, a professor in the epidemiology department at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"Previous infections also might not be enough to protect against new variants of the virus, some experts have warned."

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Scottish church ban unconstitutional, judge rules

Victory for Scottish church leaders as judge rules government acted unconstitutionally when criminalising gathered worship |Christian Concern (press release):

March 24, 2021 - "In an historic judgment, today a judge has ruled that the Scottish Ministers’ decision to ban and criminalise gathered church worship during the current lockdown was unconstitutional and a disproportionate interference of Article 9 ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights].... The ruling is believed to be the first successful legal case against covid regulations in the UK.

"Handing down judgment, Lord Braid also ruled that online worship is not real Christian worship, stating that it is not for the Scottish Ministers to: 'dictate to the petitioners or to the additional party, that, henceforth, or even for the duration of the pandemic, worship is to be conducted on-line. That might be an alternative to worship but it is not worship. At very best for the respondents, in modern parlance, it is worship-lite.'

"Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, 27 Scottish church leaders, from a range of Christian denominations, had brought the legal action stating that the unprecedented closures were unlawful and breached Human Rights law and the Scottish constitution.... Their claim came in response to the restrictions outlined by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on Friday 8 January 2021, which made it a criminal offence for churches in the highest tiers, to hold in person services and, for example, to conduct baptisms.

"At a full judicial review hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh earlier in March, the leaders had sought a declarator (a declaration order) that the restrictions on churches were unlawful and a declarator which would allow people to attend church, should the tier system be reintroduced.

"There has been no attempt to close churches in Scotland since the persecution of the Presbyterian church, instituted by the Stuart kings, in the 17th century....

"During the judicial review on the 11 and 12 March, Janys Scott QC, representing the 27 Scottish church leaders, argued that the pandemic had highlighted an 'irreconcilable conflict' for church leaders between obeying the state and God.... 'The Scottish ministers have presented these 27 church leaders and very many more ministers, church elders and ordinary members of congregation with a deep crisis. As Christians their primary obedience is to God and not to the state and there is a fundamental obedience in regular communal public worship.... And to be absolutely clear this is not about buildings — it’s about assembly of congregations; the sacraments of communion and baptism and the ministry between members of a church are integral aspects of expression on what it is to be a Christian and to belong to a Christian church'....

"Scott argued that the closure of churches is unlawful, criminalises public worship and goes against centuries old practice that churches in Scotland have authority over their own affairs free from state interference. She accused John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister of holding a 'condescending and inaccurate' attitude towards public worship, by treating churches as if they are a 'matter of personal welfare or comfort'.... She also said the European Convention on Human Rights did not allow the Scottish Ministers to take the action of stopping public worship.

"'It’s not for the government to question the legitimacy of beliefs or the manner in which they are expressed,' she said. 'The petitioners say that public corporate worship is essential to the church — it is of the essence, of the being of the church and that is a matter for them.'"

Saturday, March 27, 2021

German gov't pulls U-turn on Easter lockdown

In Reversal, Merkel Drops Plan For Lockdown In Germany Ahead Of Easter | NPR - Bill Chappell:

March 24, 2021 - "German Chancellor Angela Merkel is revoking her own plan for a tight national lockdown ahead of the long Easter holiday. The abrupt move comes one day after Merkel announced the lockdown, warning that because of rising infection rates and new coronavirus variants, Germany is facing 'a new pandemic.'

Merkel called the plan 'a mistake' on Wednesday, and she took the blame for the decision in a statement posted by her Christian Democratic Union party. The idea to lock down from April 1 to April 5 was a good one, Merkel said, but it couldn't be implemented well in the short period before it was to take effect. She added that there were too many unresolved questions about lost wages at shops and companies.

"The enhanced lockdown would have restricted Germans from gathering in large groups, including at churches. It would have discouraged domestic travel and forced many businesses to close around the long Easter weekend — a normally bustling time. But the decision immediately prompted a backlash from churches as well as from travel and hospitality industries, where many companies are teetering on the brink of insolvency.

"Merkel announced the lockdown plan after a marathon session with the leaders of Germany's 16 states that began Monday afternoon. After 12 hours, they agreed to pull the "emergency brake" on restrictions across all of Germany during the Easter weekend. And more broadly, they opted to reinstate lockdown restrictions in areas with high infection rates, according to Deutsche Welle. But one day later, Merkel dropped her plan after speaking to the group of state leaders again."

Friday, March 26, 2021

Redfield backs lab origin theory of coronavirus

Former CDC director Robert Redfield says he believes COVID-19 'escaped' from a lab in Wuhan and started spreading as early as September 2019 | Daily Mail - Emily Crane:

March 26, 2021 - "The former director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, says he believes COVID-19 'escaped' from [a] Wuhan lab in China and may have been circling as early as September 2019. Redfield made the admission in a CNN interview on Friday but stressed it was his 'opinion'. It is the first time Redfield, who was appointed CDC director by President Trump, has stated publicly that he believes COVID-19 originated in a lab....

"I still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory ... escaped. Other people don't believe that, that's fine. Science will eventually figure it out,' he said. 'It's not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in laboratories to infect the laboratory worker. That's not implying any intentionality. It's my opinion, right? But I am a virologist. I have spent my life in virology.'

"Researchers have said the global pandemic is believed to have started when COVID-19 jumped from a bat to a human or through an intermediary species at a wet market in Wuhan. Redfield, however, says that explanation doesn't make 'biological sense' to him.

"'I do not believe this somehow came from a bat to a human and at that moment in time ... became one of the most infectious viruses that we know in humanity for human-to-human transmission,' he said. 'Normally, when a pathogen goes from a zoonot to human, it takes a while for it to figure out how to become more and more efficient.' He believes it started in a lab that was already studying the virus, which would mean COVID-19 was being exposed to human cell cultures....

"The debate about the origins [of] COVID-19 has been ongoing for the past year and has resulted in rising tensions between the US and China. US investigators have been blocked from going to China in a bid to investigate the virus and its origins. China has long resisted pressure for a full investigation and has touted theories that the virus might not have originated in Wuhan. The World Health Organization has previously said the lab theory was 'extremely unlikely' but a team of its scientists that were finally allowed into Wuhan have still not been able to determine the origin of the virus more than a year into the pandemic."

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