Why is the South African Covid variant causing panic? And do vaccines work against it?

Health officials today began a mass coronavirus testing programme in eight areas of England to try to contain the South African variant of the virus. Eleven unrelated cases of the fast-spreading virus have already been spotted across the country, raising fears that it is out of control.

Public Health England (PHE) has confirmed 105 cases of the variant through random screening of positive test swabs, suggesting it is already widespread.

Mutations found in the virus mean it is faster to spread than older versions and it may also be able to slip past the immune systems of people who have already recovered from Covid.

Here's what we know about the South African variant so far:

Scientists first noticed in December 2020 that the variant, named B.1.351, was genetically different in a way that could change how it acts.

It was picked up through random genetic sampling of swabs submitted by people testing positive for the virus, and was first found in Nelson Mandela Bay, around Port Elizabeth.

Using a computer to analyse the genetic code of the virus – which is viewed as a sequence of letters that correspond to thousands of molecules called nucleotides – can help experts to see where the code has changed and how this affects the virus.

There are two key mutations on the South African variant that appear to give it an advantage over older versions of the virus – these are called N501Y and E484K.

Both are on the spike protein of the virus, which is a part of its outer shell that it uses to stick to cells inside the body, and which the immune system uses as a target.

They appear to make the virus spread faster and may give it the ability to slip past immune cells that have been made in response to a previous infection or a vaccine.

The South African coronavirus variant may slip past parts of the immune system in as many as half of people infected with different versions in the past, scientists fear.

Researchers say that a mutation on a specific part of the virus's outer spike protein appears to make it able to 'escape' antibodies. Antibodies are substances made by the immune system that are key to destroying viruses or marking them for destruction by white blood cells.

South African academics found that 48 per cent of blood samples from people who had been infected in the past did not show an immune response to the new variant. One researcher said it was 'clear that we have a problem'.

Professor Penny Moore, the researcher behind the project, claimed people who were sicker with coronavirus the first time and had a stronger immune response appeared less likely to get reinfected.

Antibodies are a major part of the immunity that is created by vaccines – although not the only part – so if the virus continues evolving to escape from them it could mean that vaccines have to be redesigned and given out again.

But experts so far say they have no reason to believe vaccines won't work, which may be because they produce a stronger immune response than a very mild infection, and because they produce various different types of immune cells.

Professor Moore told a scientific panel meeting in January: 'When you test the blood of people infected in the first wave and you ask "Do those antibodies in that blood recognise the new virus?" you find that in 50 per cent of cases – nearly half of cases – there's no longer any recognition of the new variant.

'In the other half of those individuals, however, there is some recognition that remains. I should add those are normally people who were incredibly ill, hospitalised and mounted a very robust response to the virus.'

The E484K mutation found on the South African variant is more concerning because it tampers with the way immune cells latch onto the virus and destroy it.

Antibodies – substances made by the immune system – appear to be less able to recognise and attack viruses with the E484K mutation if they were made in response to a version of the virus that didn't have the mutation.

Antibodies are extremely specific and can be outwitted by a virus that changes radically, even if it is essentially the same virus.

Vaccine makers, however, have tried to reassure the public that their vaccines will still work well and will only be made slightly less effective by the variant.

According to the PANGO Lineages website, the variant has been officially recorded in 31 other countries worldwide.

The UK has had the second highest number of cases after South Africa itself.

So far, Pfizer and Moderna's jabs appear only slightly less effective against the South African variant.

Researchers took blood samples from vaccinated patients and exposed them to an engineered virus with the worrying E484K mutation found on the South African variant.

They found there was a noticeable reduction in the production of antibodies, which are virus-fighting proteins made in the blood after vaccination or natural infection.

But it still made enough to hit the threshold required to kill the virus and to prevent serious illness, they believe.

There are still concerns about how effective a single dose of vaccine will be against the strain. So far Pfizer and Moderna's studies have only looked at how people given two doses react to the South African variant.

Studies into how well Oxford University/AstraZeneca's jab will work against the South African strain are still ongoing.

Johnson & Johnson actually trialled its jab in South Africa while the variant was circulating and confirmed that it blocked 57 per cent of coronavirus infections in South Africa, which meets the World Health Organization's 50 per cent efficacy threshold.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9210799/What-know-South-African-coronavirus-variant.html

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Lockdowns cause 10 times more harm than good, says peer-reviewed study

A Canadian infectious-disease specialist who initially supported the lockdowns in response to the coronavirus has changed his mind, concluding in his peer-reviewed study that the harm is 10 times worse than the benefits.

In an interview with the Toronto Sun, Dr. Ari Joffe explained that he supported the lockdowns after "initial false data" suggested the infection fatality rate was up to 2% or 3% and that more than 80% of the population would be infected.

"But emerging data showed that the median infection fatality rate is 0.23%, that the median infection fatality rate in people under 70 years old is 0.05%, and that the high-risk group is older people especially those with severe co-morbidities," he said in the interview, published Jan. 9.

Joffe's paper is titled "COVID-19: Rethinking the Lockdown Groupthink." He's a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, and a clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of Alberta.

Explaining further to the Toronto paper why he initially supported the lockdowns, Joffe noted he's not trained to make public policy decisions.

"I was only considering the direct effects of COVID-19 and my knowledge of how to prevent these direct effects," he said. "I was not considering the immense effects of the response to COVID-19 (that is, lockdowns) on public health and wellbeing."

He listed the "staggering" amount of "collateral damage" due to the lockdowns.

Food insecurity [82-132 million more people]

Severe poverty [70 million more people]

Maternal and under age-5 mortality from interrupted healthcare [1.7 million more people]

Infectious diseases deaths from interrupted services [millions of people with tuberculosis, malaria and HIV]

School closures for children [affecting children's future earning potential and lifespan]

Interrupted vaccination campaigns for millions of children, and "intimate partner violence" for millions of women.

"In high-income countries, adverse effects also occur from delayed and interrupted healthcare, unemployment, loneliness, deteriorating mental health, increased opioid crisis deaths, and more," he told the Toronto newspaper.

False dichotomy

He pointed out that government and public health experts did not conduct a formal cost-benefit analysis of various responses to the pandemic.

A full cost-benefit analysis was the aim of his study, and early in his research he realized that "framing decisions as between saving lives versus saving the economy is a false dichotomy."

"There is a strong long-run relationship between economic recession and public health," he explained. "This makes sense, as government spending on things like health care, education, roads, sanitation, housing, nutrition, vaccines, safety, social security nets, clean energy and other services determines the population well-being and life-expectancy."

He said he also had underestimated the effects of loneliness and unemployment on public health.

"It turns out that loneliness and unemployment are known to be among the strongest risk factors for early mortality, reduced lifespan and chronic diseases," he told the Toronto paper.

He also took into consideration that "in making policy decisions there are trade-offs to consider, costs and benefits, and we have to choose between options that each have tragic outcomes in order to advocate for the least people to die as possible."

"It turned out that the costs of lockdowns are at least 10 times higher than the benefits. That is, lockdowns cause far more harm to population wellbeing than COVID-19 can," he told the Sun.

In contrast to Joffe, a top coronavirus adviser for Joe Biden was against lockdowns before he was for them. Michael T. Osterholm, a professor and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, formerly advocated the "focused protection" strategy now promoted by epidemiologists at Stanford and Oxford advising Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: With a 99% survival rate for most, according to the Centers for Disease Control, let the healthy go about their business while protecting the vulnerable, the people over 70 with multiple life-threatening diseases.

Osterholm warned in a March 21 op-ed for the Washington Post of the high economic and social costs of "the near-draconian lockdowns" in effect at the time in China and Italy, which ultimately don't reduce the number of cases. In November, however, he advocated a national lockdown of four to six weeks.

The CDC estimates a 99.997% survival rate for those from birth to age 19 who contract COVID-19. It's 99.98% for ages 20-49, 99.5% for 50-69 and 94.6% for those over 70. Significantly, those who died of coronavirus, according to the CDC, had an average of 2.6 comorbidities, meaning more than two chronic diseases along with COVID-19. Overall, the CDC says, just 6% of the people counted as COVID-19 deaths died of COVID-19 alone.

Focused protection

Joffe said he now supports the "focused protection" approach in which "we aim to protect those truly at high-risk of COVID-19 mortality, including older people, especially those with severe co-morbidities and those in nursing homes and hospitals."

In the interview with the Toronto Sun, he discussed the "contagion of fear" that guided policymakers, based on the initial false modelling and forecasting.

"Popular media focused on absolute numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths independent of context," he said. "There has been a sheer one-sided focus on preventing infection numbers."

Joffe cited economist Paul Frijters writing that it was "all about seeming to reduce risks of infection and deaths from this one particular disease, to the exclusion of all other health risks or other life concerns."

"Fear and anxiety spread," Joffe said, "and we elevated COVID-19 above everything else that could possibly matter."

"Our cognitive biases prevented us from making optimal policy: we ignored hidden `statistical deaths' reported at the population level; we preferred immediate benefits to even larger benefits in the future, we disregarded evidence that disproved our favorite theory, and escalated our commitment in the set course of action," he said.

Joffe pointed out that in Canada in 2018, there were more than 23,000 deaths per month and more than 775 deaths per day.

On Nov. 21, for example, COVID-19 accounted for 5.23% of deaths in Canada and 3.06% of global deaths.

"Each day in non-pandemic years, over 21,000 people die from tobacco use, 3,600 from pneumonia and diarrhea in children under 5-years-old, and 4,110 from tuberculosis," he noted. "We need to consider the tragic COVID-19 numbers in context."

He called for taking an "effortful pause" to "reconsider the information available to us."

"We need to calibrate our response to the true risk, make rational cost-benefit analyses of the trade-offs, and end the lockdown groupthink," Joffe said.

https://www.wnd.com/2021/01/lockdowns-cause-10-times-harm-good-says-peer-reviewed-study/

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http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

http://john-ray.blogspot.com (FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC) Saturdays only

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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‘Immunological unicorn’discovered in Australia

In a high security laboratory in Sydney, where a select group of researchers go to extreme lengths to work with samples of blood and swabs containing Covid-19, virologist Stuart Turville found a unicorn.

“A beautiful, immunological unicorn,” Turville, an associate professor with the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, said.

“We found him when we were analysing samples from the Red Cross blood bank from people who have had Covid. And he had the most amazing Covid response I’ve ever seen.”

The unicorn is a 50-year-old father of three named Damian living on the NSW Central Coast who developed symptoms of Covid-19 in March. His symptoms were severe enough to take him to the hospital emergency department, but after being given oxygen he was sent home the same day. Bizarrely, when he was tested for the virus with the gold-standard PCR nasal swab, the lab kept returning a negative result for Covid-19.

“When they initially diagnosed him they couldn’t find virus in his nasopharyngeal area [the upper part of the throat behind the nose],” Turville told Guardian Australia.

“So they kept on swabbing him and swabbing him, but they couldn’t find it. He kept on saying to them, ‘Look, I’m sick, my son’s got it, I have to have it’. And it was only when they looked at his blood, his serum, they said; ‘Oh, yeah, you’ve had it. And you’ve got the most amazing immune response’.”

Most people who have Covid-19 develop a decent immune response.

“But this guy’s response is 100 to 1,000-fold that,” Turville said.

“His response is that good. To put it in context, we are eight or nine months out since he was infected. And he still ranks in the top 1% of responders, so what that means is if we could ever bottle a vaccine that could mimic his response, you’d want to do it. I would say that we’re going to see him responding just as well probably a year out, and maybe after about two years we might start to see some response decay.”

Usually, patients who show a particularly robust immune response to Covid-19 end up in an intensive care ward. In many of these severely unwell patients, the immune system overreacts in what is called a “cytokine storm”. Cytokines are proteins that can trigger an inflammatory response so aggressive that not only are virus cells attacked but cells in the blood vessels, urinary tract, organs and blood vessels are also destroyed, leading to organ failure and sometimes death. For some reason Damian’s response, though strong, did not bring on such an aggressive storm.

“That’s something we’re trying to get our head around,” Turville said.

Not only is Damian’s immune response lasting but it has not weakened much over time, offering strong ongoing protection against the virus, which is what makes him so unique. A Public Health England study found that while most people who have the virus are protected from reinfection for at least five months, some are reinfected, and even asymptomatic people can harbour high levels of the virus in their noses and mouths, and therefore risk passing it on to others.

After being told about his unicorn status, Damian offered himself up for medical research. Turville estimates that Damian has donated blood and plasma upwards of 15 times.

Hundreds of recovered Australians like Damian have now donated blood so their plasma, teeming with antibodies, can be separated out and used to make batches of serum through a collaboration between the Kirby Institute and manufacturer CSL. This serum is then given to severely unwell patients around the world to treat their disease.

“It also means that if the virus emerges again in Australia and takes off, we’re battle ready,” Turville said.

“Damian’s serum has contributed to many batches of these CSL products. Whenever we get a batch of serum that is particularly amazing, we say ‘OK, he’s in this batch’. That’s how impressive his response is.”

Some of the findings about Damian have been published in a pre-print paper about “high and elite responders,” which describes how “patients with high and robust Covid-19 responses were more likely male, hospitalised, and of older age”.

It is work like this that has researchers from the Kirby Institute’s containment lab – more scientifically referred to as a Physical Containment Level 3 (PC3) Laboratory – occupied at times until 3am in the morning. They also examine samples taken from returned travellers in hotel quarantine, growing the different variants in the lab to see how they behave. It is one of a handful of high-security labs around Australia where the virus is being studied.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/30/immunological-unicorn-the-australian-lab-growing-coronavirus-and-its-startling-discovery

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A Plan to Make Trump and America Great Again

Wayne Allyn Root

I am the author of the bestselling book "TRUMP RULES." My book identifies the top 10 rules that made former President Donald Trump one of the greatest winners in world history in business, branding, real estate, celebrity, television, publishing and politics. Trump is the only person in world history to reach the pinnacle of all of those fields. And the only person to become both a billionaire and president of the United States. It's not a bad resume.

Many critics think Trump's winning streak ended with a presidential loss. I disagree. I know the man. I understand the man. I know what comes next. It may be Trump's greatest chapter yet.

Simply because Trump is relentless. He may be the most relentless human in world history. The secret to Trump's success is "the art of the comeback." Every time he is given up for dead, he makes the biggest comeback yet. He never gives up or gives in. He finds a way to turn lemons into lemonade. You can't beat someone like that. You can't bet against someone like that. As I always say, NBAT: Never Bet Against Trump.

Before I get to the details of the comeback, let's define "winning." Trump's critics think he just lost and, therefore, he's no longer a winner. Not true. Back in 2016, Trump won the biggest upset in political history. This time around, he added 11 million new votes. His 74 million votes were the most votes for any incumbent president in America's history. Trump also received more votes than any Republican in history.

Sorry, Trump haters, but that's called "winning" at superhuman levels.

Nonetheless, Trump lost and Joe Biden won. Democrats, RINOS (Republicans in Name Only) and the "fake news" media all believe Trump is finished. So, now it's time for the greatest comeback in history -- for Trump and America.

Here's my game plan for how Trump can make Trump and America great again.

First, Trump must become the kingmaker of the GOP. The Trump Army is 74 million strong. The Republican Party belongs to Trump. He should remake the party in his image.

In some ways, his defeat was empowering. As president, Trump couldn't get rid of RINOS and never-Trumpers, because he needed their votes. But from the outside, he can remake the party, elect allies and end the careers of the GOP traitors who stabbed him in the back. Are you listening, Rep. Liz Cheney?

Trump should recruit, endorse and campaign for Trump Republicans in each GOP primary where they're running against RINOS, never-Trumpers and backstabbers. Seventy-four million Trump voters will vote for his chosen candidates in GOP primaries. By 2022, the GOP will be 100% remade in Trump's image.

Secondly, Trump should spend the next four years fixing voter fraud at the state level. Trump should recruit his billionaire buddies to put up hundreds of millions to attack this problem. Trump's goal should be to reform election law in just the handful of states that cost him the election: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.

If Trump spends his time, money and focus on reforming election laws in those six states, the GOP will be back in business in 2022 and 2024.

Thirdly, Trump needs to raise billions from his billionaire backers to build TMN: Trump Media Network. That should include a national cable TV network; a national talk radio network; a new version of Drudge Report (called Trump Report); and conservative versions of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Conservatives will never again have to depend on the mainstream media or Silicon Valley to broadcast their news and opinions.

Only Trump has the money, brand and fundraising ability to change the media and social media landscape like this. And think of the amazing bonus: Not only will 74 million Trump voters have permanent places to communicate but if we all move away from mainstream media and social media, they will collapse. Trump will cripple his enemies and put many of them out of business.

Lastly, here's one more idea: Trump, run for Congress in 2022. Pick any GOP-friendly district in Florida, where you're loved, primarily one run by a RINO who stabbed you in the back. You'll win the primary by a landslide. Since it's a GOP district, you're guaranteed victory in the general election. Once in Congress, after the GOP has regained control in the midterms and most of the candidates are loyal to you, you'll be elected speaker of the House. From that platform, you can lead the impeachment of President Biden.

Let the Trump comeback begin. Seventy-four million of us can't wait.

https://townhall.com/columnists/wayneallynroot/2021/01/31/the-trump-comeback-begins-the-plan-to-make-trump-and-america-great-again-n2583947

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IN BRIEF

The White House refuses to address GameStop controversy (Fox News)

Congressional committees to hold hearings on trading fallout (Examiner)

Someone's Got Some 'Splainin' to Do: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen received nearly $810,000 from hedge fund embroiled in GameStop debacle (Examiner)

Yellen was also paid by Chinese Communist Party-linked group that even The Washington Post highlighted (National Pulse)

Nancy Pelosi's Tesla stock purchase before Biden's "Buy American" EO raises ethical and legal questions (PJ Media)

Seriously, this story reads like a courtroom drama: "The Trump case, which the board has 90 days to consider since receiving it last week, is seen as a crucial test of the panel's legitimacy. The board will begin taking public comment on it on Friday."

Biden revives international abortion funding even though 77% oppose it (World)

"The radical Democrat agenda must be stopped": Donald Trump commits to campaigning for Republicans in 2022 (Post Millennial)

Orwellian gun control bill proposed by Sheila Jackson-Lee would create public registry of all firearms (Bearing Arms)

China flexes its military muscle in Taiwan and Philippines (National Review) | Secretary of State Antony Blinken issues early warning to China after "verbal threat of war" (Examiner)

Capitol Police chief calls for "permanent fencing" around (ahem) the People's House (Examiner)

Biden Pentagon says Trump right-sized Afghanistan force, but officials won't commit to full withdrawal (Examiner)

"The Pearl family is in complete shock by the decision": Islamist convicted of beheading WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl acquitted (Reuters)

Maryland church donates $500K in reparations to "atone" for slavery (NY Post)

Godzilla is now a "gender-neutral icon" because there wasn't enough woke insanity in the world already (Not the Bee)

Novavax says its COVID vaccine is more than 89% effective (CNBC)

U.S. economy slowed sharply in fourth quarter (NPR)

Dumbest bank robber ever? Armed bandit in Chicago demands $10,000 but then hands teller his state ID upon request (Daily Mail)

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http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

http://john-ray.blogspot.com (FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC) Saturdays only

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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A conservative defence of the Soviet Union

The Left defended the Soviet Union right up to its implosion. But conservatives think of it as indefensible. Vladimir Vladimrovich Putin mourns its loss. I am very pro-Russian but could see nothing good about the Soviet system.

Several older ladies of Russian ancestry inhabit my social environment. One I get on particularly well with is very Right-wing. She admires Donald Trump and thinks Muslim refugees should be sent back to the hellholes where they came from, for instance. So I was a little surprised to hear her express great regret for the loss of the Soviet system in Russia. What was that about?

Her reasons were in fact straightforward. As a Russian-speaker, she watches the Russian news so is much more aware of what is going on there than most Westerners. And she also has Russian relatives in several parts of the old Soviet empire with whom she keeps in touch.

And what particularly grieves her is the loss of the peace and unity that prevailed in the Soviet system. There were no race riots, Muslim uprisings or nationalist mini-wars in the old days. People from different etnicities could and did live anywhere in the Soviet empire and lived their lives in peace together with the people around them. Russians could live in places like Kazakhstan and still live normal Russian lives there without fear of hostility towards them. And it worked the other way: Muslim Chechens could and did move to Moscow for the economic opportunities there without harassing Russians about Jihad.

In more recent times that has all changed. Eastern and Western Ukraine are at war with one-another, Georgia is openly hostile to its Russian minority, There was a brutal war of independence in Chechnya which is still bubbling beneath the surface. And Chechens have carried out grave atrocities in Russia itself. So Russia is now not much better than the United States when it comes to huge disharmony and violent uphreavals. The urban riots of Black Lives Matter and Antifa would have been unthinkable in the Soviet Union.

So what my friend mourns is the loss of social harmony. Departures from social harmony were simply not allowed in Soviet times. Regardless of what might be bubbling beneath the surface, social peace and order was maintained.

So is she being unreasonable? Is she overlooking the limitations of Soviet life? She is not. She knows perfectly well how the material circumstances of Soviet life differed from the consumer society she now inhabits. But she is quite simply not materialistic. She thinks that peopole in Soviet society had "enough" materially for a satisfactory life and that the calm and order there were much more important to a happy life.

A peaceful and relaxed life is not necessarily opposed to a materially prosperous life. Both she and I live in Australia, where we have both those things. But Australia is something of an outlier. Australians hear with horror stories about the seething hatreds of American society but nothing bothers us much on our way to the beach. So you CAN have it all but not so much in the USA or Russia


This whole discussion reminds me of the East German experience, something I have previously written about. East Germans too tended to regret the loss of their old Communist system and its predictabilities. For my previous comments on East Germany, see here

And it might also be worth mentioning that economic historian Martin Hutchinson compares Belarus (White Russia) favourably with California. See here

Communist regimes offered STABILITY, which is a good conservative value

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Why the Dutch are rioting

The riots are wrong and heartbreaking. But many people feel desperate in this lockdown.

We in the UK say we are turning a blind eye to something. In the Netherlands, they say, ‘we zullen het door de vingers zien’, which means, we’ll see it through the fingers. It is how the Dutch communicate that they are letting something slide.

The Dutch government has been seeing a lot through the fingers lately, especially the effects of its pandemic response. And it is not going well. Over the weekend, tensions boiled over, with unrest and rioting in many parts of the country. The Dutch capital of Amsterdam was a hotspot, and there were flare-ups in Rotterdam and Den Bosch. But it was Eindhoven that was the worst hit, with rioters setting cars on fire, smashing windows, and pelting the police with rocks and fireworks.

Dutch media reported around 300 arrests on Sunday, with many remaining in custody well into Monday. While this will undoubtedly shock those who know the Netherlands well, tensions have been rising steadily since Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and his government placed the country under lockdown in mid-December.

The new lockdown meant that Christmas was all but cancelled, as strict social restrictions were brought in to prevent households from mixing. As in the UK, businesses have been hit hard, with many unable to trade. Not only have bars and restaurants been forced to close, but so have any shops not deemed ‘essential’.

This decision was taken when as many as 10,000 new Covid-19 cases a day were being reported. As Rutte announced it, there were jeers and whistles from protesters gathered outside. Though he said 9 January was the date on which restrictions would end, this was always treated with scepticism by the Dutch public. So, few were surprised when it was extended to 19 February. And you won’t find much confidence that it will end then, either.

The imposition of an additional curfew has further stoked tensions. This means that as of Saturday, the Dutch are forced to stay off of the streets between 9pm and 4:30am. Violating the curfew risks a fine of at least 95 euros. This new measure is seen by many as the latest in a series of whimsical infringements on Dutch life. In many quarters, it seems to be the straw that has broken the camel’s back.

According to Mark Rutte, 99 per cent of the Dutch public are complying with the various restrictions, and that may be true. However, the feeling I get is that people’s compliance is becoming increasingly begrudging. Many here, who have already been placed under severe pressure financially, also feel they are kissing their way of life goodbye bit by bit. This is leading to a rise in resentment towards the government and authorities.

And Rutte already has enough problems, not least that he is leading a caretaker government at the moment. On 15 January, he handed his resignation and that of his cabinet to King Willem-Alexander. This followed the results of an inquiry into a child-benefits scandal, which led to approximately 26,000 parents being falsely accused of fraud and made to pay back thousands of euros. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the inquiry found that the tax authority broke the law by investigating in a discriminatory way and with institutional bias. Due to heavy criticism of Rutte and his cabinet, they resigned en masse.

However, the resignation is a sleight of hand. Not only are Rutte and his cabinet remaining in their posts until a new government is in place — they are also likely to be returned at the General Election, scheduled for March. This ‘pseudo-resignation’ has been widely slated by Dutch opposition MPs, who have called for those involved also to take themselves off the candidates list. Rutte for one has ruled that out.

Just days ago, Rutte suffered a slip of the tongue in the Dutch parliament. During the debate on the curfew, he shocked many by stating that his government actually has more power due to its caretaker status. Upon being quickly corrected about this, he added, ‘well, they can’t get rid of us’, much to his own amusement. At a time when the people he serves are suffering so much, this flippancy, not to mention arrogance, has not gone down well.

Of course, this is not to endorse the rioting. The scenes of hostility, wilful damage and looting I am witnessing on the streets of this normally peaceful and tolerant country are heart-breaking. Worryingly, just how peace is going to be restored is as yet unclear. Bringing in the military has been ruled out for now, but with more violence and looting taking place on Monday, calls for that to change are increasing.

There is certainly much cause for reflection here, not least by the people holding the power and calling the shots. They have destroyed people’s livelihoods and they have taken away their freedom. Extraordinary times or not, they should expect to be held accountable.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/01/26/why-the-dutch-are-rioting/

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The West’s Russian folly continues

Alexei Navalny’s ability to galvanise anti-government sentiment in Russia is impressive.

After his arrest and detention in Moscow last week, his associates released a two-hour long video report, alleging that President Vladimir Putin had spent $1 billion of state funds on a coastal palatial compound, complete with an underground ice-hockey rink. While allegations of large-scale kleptocratic goings-on and general municipal and state-level corruption have been Navalny’s stock-in-trade for the best part of a decade, this particular exposé clearly struck a nerve – within 24 hours of its release on 19 January it had been viewed over 70million times.

What is more, it was released amid calls from Navalny and his aides for nationwide protests against Putin’s rule on Saturday. And a significant minority were more than ready to respond. Not only in the expected garrisons of Navalny support in Moscow and St Petersburg, where tens of thousands turned out, but also across Russia, from the island of Sakhalin, just north of Japan, to Russia’s urban centres in the west. Indeed, such was the turnout of protesters and, of course, Russian security forces, that, according to one activist group, over 3,100 people had been arrested in 109 Russian cities – a sign both of the prevalence of dissent, and the Russian state’s intolerant approach to it.

With Russia’s parliamentary elections looming in September, the protests look set to continue, especially as the weather and pandemic abate. As Leonid Volkov, one of Navalny’s closest associates, put it, ‘Without a doubt this whole story is just beginning’.

And no doubt that is true. Navalny’s investigative broadsides, highlighting the corruption of Russia’s ruling elites, have reached and helped cultivate a significant domestic audience. And his plight, from the arbitrary arrests and suspicious sentences to his near death at the hands of a Soviet-era nerve agent in August, have turned him into something of a hero.

But only for some. For it is important to remember that Navalny’s appeal is to specific sections of Russian society – to the largely urban young and to middle-class professionals. He has channelled and given shape to their reservations about, and grievances against, Putin. And he has substantiated, with detailed allegations, the sense that Russia’s elites have, effectively, stolen their wealth from the Russian people. He has shown them that Putin et al are the reason why Russians’ lives are not better. That this ‘mafia state’ is the obstacle to a prosperous future. Hence many protesters were chanting ‘Putin is a thief!’ outside government buildings, while passing traffic honked their horns in support. Navalny plays the role of the figurehead here, the vector for anti-government, anti-Putin sentiment.

But Navalny is not what too many Western leaders and a largely anti-Russian Western media are now desperately turning him into. He is not the ‘opposition leader’ in any organisational or party-political sense. Nor is he the leader of an overwhelmingly popular revolt. Certainly not yet.

So, while his simple anti-corruption message commands the support of a sizable minority, many in Russia, although far from hardcore Putin supporters, are largely indifferent towards Navalny – someone Russian state media has only recently started referring to by name. Indeed, an indication of how Navalny is perceived by Russians was given in a survey conducted by the independent Levada Centre late last year. It showed that not only did few Russians believe the Kremlin was behind Navalny’s poisoning (with the Russian state media blaming a foreign conspiracy), but also most Russians did not care either way, or believed the entire poisoning was staged. Navalny’s cause matters a lot, then, but, as it stands, only for some.

Yet, such is the anti-Putin myopia of Western leaders that they seem keen not only to anoint Navalny as the official opposition, but also to throw their weight behind him. Incredibly, Joe Biden’s new US administration, ushered in under armed guard only days ago, condemned Russian ‘restrictions on civil society and fundamental freedoms’, and announced it ‘will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies and partners in defence of human rights – whether in Russia or wherever they come under threat’. Which certainly sounded like it was pledging its support for Navalny.

Likewise, Manfred Weber, the leader of the largest bloc in the European Parliament, condemned the arrest of Navalny and the crackdown on this weekend’s protests, and called for the EU to hit ‘the Putin system’ ‘where it really hurts’ – ‘and that’s the money’. In other words, more sanctions against Putin. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian backed Weber’s call for sanctions, and described the arrests of protesters as a ‘slide towards authoritarianism’.

The problem here is not that the criticism is inaccurate. It is not. The Russian state is often authoritarian, as its treatment of political dissent and protest frequently shows. No, the problem is that Western interference in Russian political affairs is no answer.

For a start there is the irony that those pushing it from the opinion pages and parliaments of the Western public sphere are precisely those who have complained loudest about supposed Russian interference in Western politics over the past four years. More importantly, there is the simple fact that, if anything, such interventions help their nemesis Putin himself, providing the Kremlin with proof that Navalny really is backed by foreign forces. That then becomes a justification for a further crackdown not just on Navalny, but on any opposition to Putin. Which is precisely what Russia’s UK embassy tweeted about the pro-Navalny protests: ‘This is a professionally prepared provocation, encouraged by embassies of Western countries.’

Moreover, by effectively seeking to create political instability in Russia from without, backing and supporting those opposed to Putin, what do Western powers hope to achieve? Nothing concrete exactly. No, it seems that, right now, they’re content with the anti-Putin posture. They enjoy venting against the bad guy. They enjoy slamming the evil mastermind behind a thousand anti-Western plots, from Brexit to Trump. And they enjoy conjuring Russia up as the authoritarian antithesis to Western liberalism and democracy.

But their actions, from EU-led sanctions to NATO’s looming presence in Russia’s neighbouring states, are not merely postures. They have real-world effects, fomenting conflict both within Russia and without. If Putin really is to be ousted at some point in the near future, it can only happen because Russians want it, not because Western powers wish it.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/01/25/the-wests-russian-folly-continues/

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Johnson & Johnson's long-awaited one-shot vaccine WORKS: Single jab prevents 72% of COVID cases and 100% of deaths

America has a contract for 100 million doses, and the firm has said it can provide that supply by June.

President Biden aims to get 100 million Americans vaccinated by late April, but states say they are running out of doses of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, both firms say they are manufacturing as fast as they can and the White House is desperate to boost its supply of shots.

Because it requires just one dose, 100 million doses of J&J's vaccine will get twice as many people full protection as 100 doses of either of the two vaccines currently approved in America.

The shot was slightly less effective globally (66 percent) because it only prevented 57 percent of cases in South Africa and 66 percent in Brazil, where new variants that are somewhat resistant to vaccines are rampant.

J&J said it would ask the FDA to give emergency authorization for its shot within the week, but doesn't expect the regulators will actually green-light the jab until March, despite the urgent need to boost the US supply.

The US has a $1 billion contract with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for 100 million doses, pending the green light from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The firm has said it is on track to provide the doses by June.

J&J's data suggests its vaccine completely prevents hospitalization and death. No participants who received the shot died of or had to be hospitalized for COVID-19.

Those results compare to the high bar set by two authorized vaccines from Pfizer and partner BioNTech and Moderna, whose two-dose shots were around 95 percent effective in preventing symptomatic illness.

Those trials, however, were conducted mainly in the United States and before the broad spread of new variants now under the spotlight.

Brazil's variant is triggering massive outbreaks and reinfections there, and one case has been reported in the US.

Dr Anthony Fauci warned that the South African variant was most concerning to him because it has mutations - shared by the Brazilian variant - that could make vaccines less effective.

He said on Friday that the shot is 'value added' despite its lower efficacy, compared to vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer.

Specifically, the fact that the shots are cheap to make, easy to store and offers protection within seven to 10 days of one shot - 'and only one shot' - will mean they fill an important role in the rollout, Dr Fauci said.

He also noted that J&J is ready to make 'in the numbers of billions' of doses.

The company plans to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next week.

Unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, J&J's does not require a second shot weeks after the first or need to be kept frozen, making it a strong candidate for use in parts of the world with weak transportation infrastructure and insufficient cold storage facilities.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9201629/J-J-COVID-19-vaccine-72-effective-U-S-66-overall-large-trial.html

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Hedge funders have lost $19 BILLION in war with Reddit investors who have pushed GameStop shares up 1,800% this month

Big time hedge funds have suffered an estimated $19 billion in losses on their bets against GameStop, which surged on Friday in a rally fueled by mom-and-pop investors - and one hedge funder who got burned says he won't short sell stocks again.

GameStop shares ended the day up nearly 70 percent, as Robinhood eased restrictions on buying the unlikely market darling, even as the broader market tanked, with the Dow dropping 620 points amid concerns about the ripple effects of the bubble. Stock in theater chain AMC, which, like GameStop, had been heavily shorted, closed up 54 percent.

The target of a campaign on the online message board Reddit to 'squeeze' hedge funds betting against the stock, GameStop shares have rallied roughly 1,800 percent since the beginning of the month as the 'meme stock' insurgency picked up steam.

So far, the gains and losses for each side in the battle are mostly on paper, with each side hoping to outlast the other before cashing out. But as of Friday, investors who bet against GameStop are sitting on about $19 billion in losses, with the damage topping $10 billion alone on Wednesday, when GameStop shares surged 135 percent, according to data from Ortex provided to Business Insider.

Though their specific losses are undisclosed, hedge funds Melvin Capital, Citron, and Maplelane LLC are known to be among those that took out massive positions betting that GameStop's share price would fall.

Citron Research founder Andrew Left - once called the 'Bounty Hunter of Wall Street' and one of the key investors who had bet against GameStop - said on Friday morning that he would no longer publish 'short reports' and instead focus on opportunities for 'long' investments, a term for betting that the stock of a company will rise.

The notorious activist short-seller has claimed that he pulled the plug on his bets against GameStop after suffering losses of 100 percent as the stock surged this week.

The Reddit insurgency against hedge funds was led in part by YouTuber 'Roaring Kitty', a 34-year-old financial adviser named Keith Patrick Gill, who broke cover on Friday at his suburban Massachusetts home and appeared to be leaving with luggage ahead of the weekend.

On the Reddit forum WallStreetBets, where people trade stock tips and opinions, Gill and others have promoted a campaign to buy and hold shares of GameStop to punish hedge funds that had bet against the struggling video game retailer. The campaign has required steely resolve not to sell the shares, even as their value skyrocketed.

GameStop's continued rally came as Robinhood began to allow 'limited' purchases of shares on Friday after provoking widespread outrage with a buying ban yesterday, as the trading platform struggled to cover the bets its customers made amid extreme volatility.

Robinhood's trading restrictions triggered political backlash from both Democrats and Republicans, including Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Republican attorney general of Texas and his Democrat counterpart in New York are both investigating the matter.

On Friday, Robinhood relaxed its buying restrictions on a number of volatile stocks, including GameStop, but still placed limits on the number of shares users could accumulate. GameStop, for example, had a limit of one share for those who didn't already own more.

In an unusual statement just before the start of trade, the SEC said it 'is closely monitoring and evaluating the extreme price volatility of certain stocks' trading prices over the past several days.'

'Our core market infrastructure has proven resilient under the weight of this week's extraordinary trading volumes. Nevertheless, extreme stock price volatility has the potential to expose investors to rapid and severe losses and undermine market confidence,' the statement added.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday launched an investigation into Robinhood and other entities that halted certain trades related to GameStop.

Discord, the company that suspended a chat server used by the Reddit traders, was also a target.

“Wall Street corporations cannot limit public access to the free market, nor should they censor discussion surrounding it, particularly for their own benefit,' Paxton said in a statement.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, also said she is 'reviewing' the matter.

Launched by small investors on Reddit, GameStop assault is directed squarely at hedge funds and other Wall Street titans that had made bets the struggling video game retailer's stock would fall. Instead, it has surged some 1,800 percent since the beginning of January, forcing hedge funds to buy up shares to cover their staggering losses.

Left and other short-sellers have already essentially admitted defeat -- but the army of small investors organizing on the Reddit forum WallStreetBets is pledging to keep up the momentum for GameStop shares in hopes of inflicting more pain. On the forum, many boast that they will never sell until the hedge funds are driven to ruin.

Even as GameStop's shares soared to dizzying levels, the insurgency began to spread beyond the bounds of Reddit, with deep pocketed investors vowing to support the movement.

But Robinhood's buying halts drew fierce backlash from members of the Reddit forum WallStreetBets, which had promoted the stock, and the Senate Banking Committee announced it would hold a hearing on the matter.

On Thursday, a federal class action lawsuit was filed against Robinhood in the Southern District of New York over the move to halt certain trades.

The suit accused Robinhood of 'pulling securities like [GameStop] from its platform in order to slow growth and help benefit individuals and institutions who are not Robinhood customers but are Robinhood large institutional investors or potential investors.'

Tenev likewise flatly denied that Robinhood had faced any outside pressure to limit buying on certain shares, telling CNBC the claim is 'completely false, that's complete misinformation' and adding 'nobody pressured us'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9201807/GameStop-shares-soar-105-Robinhood-reopens-trading-SEC-warns-SEVERE-losses.html

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IN BRIEF

Biden starts staffing a commission on court packing now that Trump has balanced the judiciary (Politico)

YouTube extends Trump's suspension for a second time (CNET)

Shameful theatrics: DHS issues nationwide terrorism alert over "violent extremists" (American Military News)

National Guard ludicrously to remain in Washington, DC, until at least end of March (Disrn)

To Iran's delight, Biden administration slows arms sales to Saudi Arabia and UAE for review (Bloomberg)

Who'd a thunk it? Hydroxychloroquine may have some use to treat COVID after all, study shows (NorthJersey.com)

Not exactly benign: Long-term study reveals harm in regular cannabis use (University of Queensland)

Red-state governors lead the COVID recovery after blue-state tyrants tanked the economy (The Federalist)

Press Secretary Jen Psaki on GameStop stock surge: "We have the first female treasury secretary" (Daily Wire)

Climate czar John Kerry's family still owns private jet as he (mis)leads climate fight (Fox News)

Policy: Canceling Keystone and reducing U.S. arms are Biden's first two major gifts to Russia (The Federalist)

Policy: The dark side of global "gender equality" (The Daily Signal)

The Virtue Signal: Dependency — Co-hosts Bill Whittle and Alfonzo Rachel discuss the corrosive effect of losing control of your own destiny.

Why Tom Brady Has a Career and Colin Kaepernick Doesn't — Some on the Left are complaining, which is a little bit like complaining that Kevin Durant has a job in the NBA but Matt Walsh doesn't.

Democrats eye 14th Amendment as impeachment alternative (Washington Times)

Talks stalled over Senate power-sharing agreement (Fox News)

A voice of sanity: Democrat Tulsi Gabbard asks Joe Biden to denounce the targeting of all Trump supporters (Post Millennial)

Just one in five Americans have ill-considered confidence Biden can unite the country (NY Post)

Highway to hell: Pete Buttigieg says a gas tax hike is "on the table" (Disrn)

A trip down memory lane: In 2011, Nancy Pelosi praised unionists storming Wisconsin State Capitol (Fox News)

Trump wasn't exactly a role model when it came to always speaking truth, but The Washington Post evidently needs reminding that Biden's entire career is checkered with lies.

Adding insult to injury: WaPo is caught scrubbing Kamala Harris "prisoner" story (NY Post)

Journalists celebrate the destruction of freedoms they once championed (City Journal)

The Latest on COVID-19: Researchers say 17% of Americans — 55 million people — have been infected (Daily Mail)

Hospitalizations fall to lowest levels since mid-December as U.S. reports sharp drop in new cases (Daily Mail)

Biden reinstating COVID travel ban targeting UK, Europe, and Brazil (NY Post)

Merck ends clinical trials for two inferior vaccine candidates (UPI)

Only 10 serious allergic reactions to Moderna vaccine and no deaths (Examiner)

California, with its nincompoop governor, naturally ranks last in administering vaccine doses (Hot Air)

Amazon, owned by archenemy of liberty Jeff Bezos, slams mail-in voting on unionization (Daily Wire)

Kentucky bill protecting abortion survivors passes without governor's signature (Live Action)

Sarah Huckabee Sanders officially announces run for Arkansas governor (NY Post)

More than 3,000 arrested in Russia in protests calling for release of Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny (NPR)

ISIS claims responsibility for twin suicide bombings in Baghdad (Fox News)

Missile or drone intercepted over Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh (CBS News)

Mexico president tests positive for COVID (Fox News)

Policy: Biden has reinstituted the pernicious Critical Race Theory at the federal level, but governors and local legislators can still fight it off (City Journal)

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http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

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http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

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http://john-ray.blogspot.com (FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC) Saturdays only

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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Fears as Germany rejects AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s

A vaccine war in Europe has intensified with Germany refusing to give the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine approval for use in people over 65.

A vaccine war in Europe has intensified with Germany refusing to give the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine approval for use in people over 65.

In Britain, the Oxford jab has made up a substantial part of 7.5 million vaccinations so far, mainly in those over 70, as well as younger health care workers.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rejected Germany’s assessment, based on trial data, saying that the Oxford jab provides a “provides a good immune response across all age groups”.

Germany’s shock health decision comes after days of moaning from European Union leaders about access to the Oxford vaccine, with AstraZeneca warning it was unlikely to meet the EU’s 100 million dose order by the end of March.

The EU has demanded that Britain divert its supplies to help fill its order.

Germany’s decision was pinned on a lack of over 65s involved in the Phase 3 clinical trials, which Public Health England’s Dr Mary Ramsay acknowledged on Friday morning Australian time.

But she said other data had been reassuring, as Britain continued with its big bet on the Oxford rollout, which has been gathering pace and reaching up to 500,000 people each day.

Mr Johnson said he does not agree with the German ruling, as he backed the advice from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

When asked if he was worried about Germany’s move, he replied: “No, because I think the MHRA, our own authorities have made it very clear that they think the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is very good and efficacious, gives a high degree of protection after just one dose and even more after two doses.

“And the evidence they’ve supplied is they think it’s effective across all age groups and provides a good immune response across all age groups.”

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) was expected to approve the vaccine for use in the EU on Friday, although it is not yet clear whether it will set an age limit.

But the German authorities said: “There currently is not sufficient data to assess the vaccination effectiveness from 65 years.”

Oxford University, which partnered with AstraZeneca to develop the vaccine, has stressed that its jab offers high protection against severe disease and prevents people needing to go to hospital.

“The latest analyses of clinical trial data for the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine support efficacy in the over 65 years age group,” AstraZeneca said in a statement.

“We await a regulatory decision on the vaccine by the EMA in the coming days.”

A Phase 3 Lancet study published in December said older age groups had been recruited later into the study so “efficacy data in these cohorts are currently limited by the small number of cases, but additional data will be available in future analyses”.

In that particular analysis, only 12 percent of people given two doses of the vaccine in the UK arm of the trial (285 out of 2,377) were aged 56 to 69, while 9 per cent (213) were over 70.

Some 12 percent of people in the control group (given a dummy vaccine) were also aged 56 to 69 while 9 per cent were over 70.

Older people made up similar proportions in the Brazilian section of the trial, which was made up of 4,088 people.

Previous work published in November included findings for 560 people. Of these, 160 were aged 18 to 55, 160 were aged 56 to 69, and 240 were 70 or older.

Those results found that all age groups, including older people, had an immune response to the vaccine after two doses.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/coronavirus/joe-biden-gets-tough-on-coronavirus-pandemic-uk-heads-for-doubledip-recession/news-story/a26b32c2e8ce576b37354da14bbf5708

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Populism Is Engulfing Wall Street…And They’re Not Happy About It

Harrison is a good friend of the Triggered Podcast and his tweet pretty much sums what’s happening on Wall Street: “Populism is contagious.” Yes, a few smart randos on a Reddit thread, ‘wallstreetbets,’ decided to exercise their right to free speech and only boost the stock price of GameStop through the roof.

It cost hedge fund firms, who were trying to keep the price low, tons of money—billions of dollars were just roasted. If you need a visual comparison, think the Joker lighting that mountain of money on fire in The Dark Knight. Some hedge funds got wiped out. I have another media reference for what’s happening—sort of—and it centers on the ending of Trading Places with Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy manipulating the market of frozen concentrate orange juice. It’s that scene, but in reverse—and yes, those margin calls can be quite steep. They have been quite steep. As a Mets fan, I know new owner Steve Cohen, who serves as the basis for the character Bobby Axelrod on Showtime’s Billions, will be okay. That doesn’t negate the fact that his hedge fund lost a ton of money in the past few days.

Look, a few small-time guys are beating Wall Street. They’re making some money—and the big wigs aren’t happy. The power of the people is screwing the folks who are rigging the system. And now, that’s a problem. How dare the little guy make some scratch by conducting some trades? How dare they? This is our playground. Well, everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth. So far, some of the stocks targeted for this money train ride are AMC Theaters, Nokia, GameStop, and a couple of others. It’s a financial ‘storming of the Bastille,’ which I wholeheartedly endorse. Even Barstool's Dave Portnoy is getting in on the action

A real estate salesman in Valparaiso, Ind. A former line cook from the Bronx. An evangelical pastor and his wife in Huntington Beach, Calif. A high school student in the Milwaukee suburbs.

They are among the millions of amateur traders collectively taking on some of Wall Street’s most sophisticated investors — and, for the moment at least, winning. Propelled by a mix of greed and boredom, gleefully determined to teach Wall Street a lesson, and turbocharged by an endless flow of get-rich-quick hype and ideas delivered via social media, these investors have piled into trades around several companies, pushing their stock prices to stratospheric levels.

[…]

On Wall Street, individual investors are often derided as “dumb money,” destined to lose against the highly compensated analysts and traders who buy and sell stocks for a living. But in recent days, individual investors — many of them followers of a popular, juvenile, foul-mouthed Reddit page called Wall Street Bets — have upended that narrative by banding together to put the squeeze on at least two hedge funds that had bet that GameStop’s shares would fall.

While the hedge funds and other professional money managers had been shorting GameStop’s shares, betting that its stock was doomed to further decline, the retail investors — online traders, mom-and-pop investors, small brokers and others — have been pushing the other way, buying shares and stock options. That caused GameStop’s market value to increase to over $24 billion from $2 billion in a matter of days. Its shares have risen over 1,700 percent since December. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the market value rose over $10 billion.

[…]

Ben Patte, 16, a high school student in Wisconsin who said he made $750 off GameStop stock, said the campaign felt like vindication for himself and fellow young traders. “It’s a good opportunity to make money and stick it to the hedge funds,” he said. “By buying GameStop, it’s kind of like beating them at their own game.”

No one knows how this ends. Some analysts say the intense activity could eventually prompt a wider sell-off in the market by forcing hedge funds on the losing side of these trades to sell parts of their portfolios to raise cash to cover their losses.

Yeah, those poor billionaires. How will they ever live now? Also, it’s hilarious to see the NASDAQ CEO make suggestions that trading be halted so the elites can recalibrate their standing in the market. This right here is one of the many reasons why Trump won. Believe it or not, there are significant Trump and Bernie supporters who feel the economic system is rigged and the elites are trash. Well, this is exhibit A in that regard. Also, Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) husband bought $50,000 in stocks that weren’t disclosed. But it’s okay—she’s willing to pay a fine. Two separate rules, except it’s between the wealthy and well-connected and the little guys.

Best of luck, guys. Keep making them pay.

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UPDATE: The Elites Fight Back

Well, all good things come to an end. Yet, that usually doesn’t come with a hefty side of corruption. As Leah wrote this morning, Robinhood app, which allows ordinary folks to participate in the stock market, pretty much froze trading on the stocks being targeted by WallStreetBets by removing those companies from the app. Again, how dare the little guy make some money after using the very same pump and dump schemes the big hedge funds use. How dare they? And then, the elite strikes back like this by limiting Robinhood app users' participation in the market—and people wonder why populism is on the rise. Why Trump won. And why folks act crazy at times. We all talk about market manipulation. This is it in its purest, most corrupt form.

These elite hogs set off a dirty bomb inside Wall Street today. It's a total and complete atrocity.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2021/01/28/populism-is-engulfing-wall-streetand-theyre-not-happy-about-it-n2583840

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GameStop stock price crashes as Robinhood app restricts trading

GameStop shares have sunk as trading platforms including Robinhood and Interactive Brokers restricted trading in the video game retailer along with AMC Entertainment, Blackberry and other stocks that soared this week in a social media-driven trading frenzy that shook stock markets.

GameStop, the US video game chain whose 1,700 per cent rally has been at the heart of a battle between small scale "retail" investors and hedge funds over the past week, lost half its value in early trading.

Having finished Wednesday's session at $US347.51 a share, GameStop plunged to $US265 when the New York Stock Exchange opened last night, ending the day down 44 per cent at $US193.60.

However, the company's share price rallied in after-hours trade when Robinhood released a statement after the NYSE's close saying that it would allow "limited buys" of the securities it had suspended from trade.

"Starting tomorrow, we plan to allow limited buys of these securities," the company announced on its "Under the Hood" blog. "We'll continue to monitor the situation and may make adjustments as needed."

GameStop shares had previously jumped more than 1,000 per cent in the past week, driven primarily by retail investors trading on online apps and sharing tips on social media messaging boards.

Such gains have forced short-sellers to buy back stock to cover potential losses in what is dubbed a "short squeeze".

On Reddit board WallStreetBets, where calls to buy stocks have helped drive the extraordinary moves, some of its more than 4 million members reported trading platform Robinhood was now preventing investors from buying GameStop and other volatile stocks.

In a statement on its website, Robinhood said the restrictions were necessary to comply with Securities and Exchange Commission financial requirements given the recent volatility in these stocks. It said restricted stocks also included BlackBerry, Koss and Express.

It was quickly hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging that as many as 10 million people may have "lost out on earnings opportunities" as a result of Robin Hood's move.

Interactive Brokers, another online trading platform, also said it was restricting trading in those stocks. "We do not believe this situation will subside until the exchanges and regulators halt or put certain symbols into liquidation only," Interactive Brokers said.

On Twitter, many observers decried the decision to remove certain stocks, arguing the retail trading platforms were trying to protect Wall Street interests at the expense of Main Street.

"Robin Hood: a parable about stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Robinhood: an app about protecting the rich from being short squeezed by the poor," tweeted Jake Chervinsky, a lawyer for fintech company Compound.

The decision to halt trading on the platforms was also condemned by US politicians from opposite ends of the political spectrum, with Republican Senator Ted Cruz retweeting a tweet from Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez labelling Robinhood's move "unacceptable" and flagging the possibility of a congressional investigation into the issue.

However, Robinhood has defended its actions, saying they were taken purely due to regulatory requirements and not at the behest of big Wall Street players.

"To be clear, this was a risk-management decision, and was not made on the direction of the market makers we route to," the trading platform wrote on its blog.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-29/gamestop-stock-price-crash-as-robinhood-restricts-buying-shares/13101670

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Mutant COVID strain spreads as AstraZeneca war erupts

A fast-moving coronavirus variant found in the UK has spread to more than 70 countries as AstraZeneca invokes the wrath of the EU over vaccine shortages.

The new and more contagious COVID-19 variant first spotted in Britain has now spread to 70 countries — 10 more than a week ago, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday (local time).

In its latest epidemiological update, the UN health agency also said the variant of the virus first found in South Africa had spread to eight more countries in the past week and was now present in 31 nations; meanwhile another variant discovered in Brazil had spread to eight countries.

It comes as global cases passed 100 million and more than 18,000 people worldwide died of coronavirus over the past 24 hours, a new grim record amid the battle to stem the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the EU has demanded that AstraZeneca make up delays of its COVID-19 vaccine by supplying doses from its UK factories on Wednesday (local time) risked setting the bloc and Britain on a post-Brexit collision course.

Both the European Union and former member Britain insisted the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company uphold contractual delivery promises to each of them — even as the company said there was not enough to go around.

“The 27 European Union member states are united that AstraZeneca needs to deliver on its commitments in our agreements,” EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides told a Brussels media conference.

“We expect contracts to be adhered to. AstraZeneca has committed to two million doses a week here in the UK and we do not expect that to change,” Mr Johnson’s spokesman said.

The row was triggered last Friday when AstraZeneca informed the EU that it could only supply a quarter of the vaccine doses it had promised for the first three months of this year.

That infuriated the European Commission, which is planning this week to add the AstraZeneca vaccine to two others it has already authorised — from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna — to help reach a goal of inoculating 70 per cent of adults in the EU by the end of August.

The anger became incandescent when AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot on Tuesday gave an interview saying his company was prioritising supplies to the UK, which had signed its contract three months before the EU did, and was required only to make a “best effort” to supply the bloc.

Kyriakides said that went against the terms of the contact AstraZeneca signed with the European Commission.

“The view that the company is not obliged to deliver because we signed a ‘best effort’ agreement is neither correct nor is it acceptable,” she said.

“We reject the logic of first-come, first-served. That may work at the neighbourhood butcher’s but not in contracts, and not in our advanced purchase agreements.”

Should AstraZeneca start diverting vaccine supply from the two UK plants, however, that could jeopardise Mr Johnson’s commitment to have 15 million Britons vaccinated by mid-February.

Already, thanks mainly to the AstraZeneca vaccine, Britain is one of the leading countries for the pace at which it is inoculating its population — doing so at five times the rate of EU member states collectively.

A sudden slowdown in those doses would be dramatic, especially as Britain has suffered the highest death toll from COVID-19 of any European country and Mr Johnson is counting on the vaccinations to stem deaths

Tensions between the EU and Britain remain high in the wake of Brexit, with British traders and consumers suffering as they cope with higher costs and bureaucracy outside of the European single market.

The EU, meanwhile, plans to grill AstraZeneca further in a meeting with its executives later Wednesday (local time). There was some confusion, though, over the videoconference, with one EU official saying the company had abruptly pulled out but AstraZeneca saying it would attend.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/coronavirus/joe-biden-gets-tough-on-coronavirus-pandemic-uk-heads-for-doubledip-recession/news-story/a26b32c2e8ce576b37354da14bbf5708

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So It’s Safe to Talk about Joe Biden’s Corruption, Flaws and Mental Decline Again

That didn’t take long! Apparently, the moratorium on stating truthful facts about Joe Biden’s corrupt family dealings, his weirdo hands-on approach with women and little girls, and his severe mental decline has been lifted. Just in the last few days, the Washington Post has noticed something truly alarming: Joe Biden seems to be a doddering old fool with dementia. He’s not quite the same old vigorous Joe who ran such a robust, energetic campaign in 2020!

It’s as if the media is suddenly admitting what all of us knew all along: Joe Biden is probably not long for this world. They may as well begin reporting on some of the sleazier truths of Joe Biden, now that he is no longer needed.

For example, Politico – Politico, of all places (!) – is reporting that one of Joe Biden’s revenue streams is suddenly refusing to reveal who his donors are. Now that the media is no longer wildly disinterested in vetting Joe Biden, it turns out that something called the “Biden Institute” was founded at the University of Delaware in 2017. That was the first year that Biden was out of office, you may remember.

Yeah, I had never heard of this “Institute” before either – that’s how much the media avoided looking into Joe Biden for four years, even though everyone was pretty sure he was going to run for office in 2020.

Anyway, Politico notes that this Biden Institute is being quite a bit less subtle than the Clinton Foundation ever was. If someone wants to curry some sort of favor with the Biden administration, they should feel free to make a generous donation to the Biden Institute, winka winka.

Oh, and it gets even sleazier!

At the University of Pennsylvania, there’s also a previously-unheard-of thing called the “Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.” The man who has been running the Penn Biden Center since it was founded in 2018 is a guy named Tony Blinken. That name might sound familiar to you, since Tony Blinken is Biden’s nominee to be the new US Secretary of State.

The Penn Biden Center under Blinken’s leadership took in more than $20 million in anonymous donations from Chinese nationals. And the Penn Biden Center is now refusing to disclose the identities of those Chinese donors.

Almost every dime that the Penn Biden Center raked in over a two-year period came exclusively from anonymous Chinese donors. Yet not one Republican in Blinken’s Senate confirmation hearing bothered to ask about it. They were too busy complimenting Blinken while nervously asking questions about the embassy in Jerusalem.

Since the Penn Biden Center is almost entirely bought and paid for by anonymous Chinese donors, you should know that there are a few other people who worked there who are also moving over to the White House this week.

The list includes White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, Brian McKeon who will be headed to the State Department, the new Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, the new deputy UN ambassador Jeff Prescott, and three other people that Biden has appointed to the National Security Council.

See how that scam works? All of these people are required, obviously, to fill out financial disclosures during the nominating process. But they’re all just going to write that they were paid salaries by this Penn Biden Center. And the Penn Biden Center is refusing to disclose its list of anonymous donors from Communist China.

Bought. And. Paid. For.

The good news for the media is that the Biden-Chinese-money funnel is a scandal that won’t impact their preferred fake president, Kamala Harris. Now that Joe Biden no longer serves any purpose in the communist takeover of America, the press can feel safe about digging into the corrupt Biden family cesspool.

Once that happens, look for Joe Biden to have some sort of health emergency that requires him to step down.

Here’s another reason why this is all significant. None of the money that flowed into the Penn Biden Center from Communist China had anything to do with Hunter Biden. The Biden family can’t just pawn that off on their black sheep of an excuse for a son. This is Joe Biden’s money scandal – and his alone. Which gives the puppet masters one more reason to take Joe back behind the barn and give him the Old Yeller treatment.

https://www.freedomnewsreport.com/2021/01/22/so-its-safe-to-talk-about-joe-bidens-corruption-flaws-and-mental-decline-again/

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The Left Wants Unconditional Surrender, Not Unity

About two years ago, one of my wife's best friends began to turn down invitations to get together. Then, out of the blue, she unfriended my wife on Facebook.

That's kind of a rude way to brush off someone, so my wife finally asked her: What gives? Have I offended you? Her terse text response was full of self-righteousness: "John (her husband) and I are so appalled by the things that Steve writes that we don't want to associate with you anymore."

I wasn't offended that they disagree with my positions or even that they felt our political disagreements are so wide that we probably shouldn't hang out together anymore. After all, we are two Americas today.

What stuck in my craw was the word "appalled." It was her way of saying: "We are better people than you. We have higher standards." "Appalled" is the outrage you feel when someone gets drunk and starts hitting on your wife.

I recite the incident because it is an example of how liberals have anointed themselves as not just intellectually but morally superior to those on the right. Welcome to the "religious left."

A case in point: the Boston Globe recently printed a front-page opinion piece by the paper's liberal columnist Yvonne Abraham, who denounced the idea of any "unity" agenda with Republicans or conservatives. "Here's the thing about unity," she snuffed. "To achieve it, you have to believe in a common good. And most members of this Republican Party have demonstrated over and over that they simply don't." You can't find common ground with a movement "defined by lies."

Of course, the irony here is that it is President Joe Biden, not Republicans, who is pledging an agenda to unify the country. But so far, the new administration's position seems to be: Why bother to find common ground when you control all of the levers of governmental power and you can steamroll over them instead?

What is to be gained by uniting with people who are "white supremacists" or "insurrectionists"?

Most everyone I know on the right agrees that violence is rarely, if ever, an acceptable form of political protest.

Do liberals? The new vice president of the United States called the liberal mobs who ransacked cities this summer "social justice warriors." Apparently, it is excusable to burn down a building or assault a police officer if you are protesting racial injustice, climate change, abortion rights or cuts in social programs.

The Trump Haters say that the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol are guilty of a treasonable offense. OK, but several years ago, when many thousands of "social justice warriors" (i.e., union thugs) stormed past the police and occupied the domed Capital building in Madison for days, the media celebrated.

Abraham is right about unity. America is now a country divided into Hatfields and McCoys. In just his first four days in office, it's clear there isn't going to be any unifying of the country under Biden. That was a hollow campaign slogan that has swirled down the drain as the White House issued executive orders, such as killing the Keystone XL pipeline, that have infuriated conservatives. The absurd House snap-impeachment of former President Donald Trump a few days before he was to leave office was absurd enough, but not nearly as divisive as the apparent Senate plans to go ahead with a trial.

Biden said he "doesn't see red states and blue states, only sees the United States." Really? Then why is one of his first proposals a blue-state bailout to the tune of $350 billion -- to be paid by the Republicans in red states. That is a financial insurrection against the half of the states that are not run by Democrats.

The left doesn't want unity with the right. It wants submission. They don't think we live up to their standards of proper behavior and righteousness.

If these are the people that are collectively "unfriending" us on Facebook and in the grocery stores, that's fine by us. Frankly, the feeling is mutual.

https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2021/01/26/the-left-wants-unconditional-surrender-not-unity-n2583683

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IN BRIEF

Rule by decree: Joe Biden sets record with at least 21 executive orders in first week (Breitbart)

Senate confirms Janet Yellen as treasury secretary (UPI)

Supreme Court throws out lawsuit alleging Trump profited illegally from presidency (Post Millennial)

"It has gotten harder and harder to break through the partisan gridlock": Ohio Senator Rob Portman not running for reelection in 2022 (Fox News)

Biden admin to "speed up" efforts to place Harriet Tubman on $20 bill honor gun-wielding Republican who freed Democrat slaves (National Review)

New York Times claims Dr. Fauci has "commitment to hard facts" after he admitted to paper he lied about herd immunity (Fox News)

Unity! Biden officially ends Trump's ban on troops suffering from gender dysphoria (American Military News)

Thousands of National Guard troops to remain in DC for Trump impeachment trial (Examiner)

Testing Biden: For second straight day, China provokes Taiwan — and the U.S. (NY Post)

Moderna says its vaccine is effective in blocking new COVID strains (UPI)

Globally, job losses from coronavirus were four times as bad as the 2009 financial crisis (AP)

And not a minute too soon: Seattle police chief announces tougher policy of prosecuting anarchists (Seattle Times)

Ironic: Baltimore "Safe Streets" gun control advocate shot and killed (TTAG)

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It's Not a Lie to Say the Left Hates Us

Recent history is replete with examples of the Left's extreme animus for those of us on the Right.

In the course of pursuing accountability for the 2020 election results, we can’t ignore those who’ve been actively gaslighting grassroots Patriots about the Left’s intentions. It’s a strong word, yes, but when one looks at the facts, it’s an accurate description of what The Dispatch’s David French recently tried to do.

Pundits make their living by stirring the pot, no doubt about it. If they can generate a lot of discussion and comment in these click-bait times, so much the better. But French’s insistence that it’s a lie to say that the Left hates us is itself a lie. Furthermore, the evidence of left-wing hatred for the Right long predates Donald Trump’s escalator ride to announce his 2016 bid for president.

The Left’s track record of extreme animus is undeniable, and we’re not the only outlet to have noticed. It comes from Hollywood, from politicians like Maxine Waters, from pundits like Eugene Robinson, from “media figures” like Al Sharpton, and from plenty of other places. Hollywood elites and politicians who never missed a paycheck mocked not just those exercising their First Amendment rights to protest the harm the lockdowns did but those who were watching their businesses die and their financial situation turn more and more desperate. A certain former first lady said those trying to fix a botched school-lunch experiment were okay with kids eating crap.

But beyond ugly statements and the mocking of valid concerns, we have a long train of abuses. What motivated the regime of Andrew Cuomo and Letitia James to target the National Rifle Association? Cuomo all but admitted his reasoning — he hated the NRA for its opposition to gun control. And, by the way, the NRA is now leaving New York for Texas.

What motivated the notorious John Doe investigations in Wisconsin? French himself answered the question in his own National Review article on those abusive probes: hatred stemming from Scott Walker’s status as a Republican governor, and later his long-overdue reforms of the state’s teachers unions. Or, to put it bluntly, the vindictive leftist prosecutor hated the conservatives and the success they enjoyed in Wisconsin in the early 2010s.

What motivated the state of Colorado’s harassment of Masterpiece Cakeshop? The Supreme Court answered that in a 7-2 ruling: hatred toward the sincerely held religious beliefs of bakeshop owner Jack Phillips. The smoking gun was the disparity in how other bakeries were treated.

The abuse leveled at conservative commentator Dana Loesch after she took on Jake Tapper at CNN’s post-Parkland Second Amendment shaming special? Pure hatred for conservatives’ support of the Second Amendment. Much of the invective is unprintable, and Loesch isn’t the only woman who’s faced it. Just ask Sarah Palin, Candace Owens, or Nikki Haley to name three prominent targets.

When we look at the Left over the years, we see the over-the-top hatred leftists have directed at grassroots Patriots and other advocates for constitutional government. We can go on and on, but the fact pattern is undeniable. When it comes to the Left’s hatred of the Right, are we to believe David French or our own lyin’ eyes?

https://patriotpost.us/articles/77096-its-not-a-lie-to-say-the-left-hates-us-2021-01-19

Dear Conservatives: Big Corporations are Not Your Friends

Over the past three decades, the Left-Right debate in America has been full of oddities and contradictions. Perhaps the strangest of them all has been the conservative movement's devotion to the interests of large corporations, which routinely use their wealth and power to support causes that directly conflict with conservative ideals.

Among the most notable examples is the recent attack on political speech waged by large technology companies (and multi-billion-dollar corporations) such as Apple, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook.

Conservatives spent years calling for limited regulations, special laws that allow for tech companies to operate more easily online and lower tax rates for all corporations, including tech giants. Tech companies have responded by limiting the political speech of conservatives—and no, I am not referring to restrictions placed on the social media accounts belonging President Trump.

One could present dozens of examples of social media's bias against prominent conservative voices and right-leaning media outlets. For instance, consider Twitter's decision to ban The New York Post in October because it refused to remove a story from Twitter about evidence showing Chinese and Ukrainian businesses had paid Hunter Biden—and possibly Joe Biden as well—to gain access to the White House while Joe Biden was serving as vice president.

Regardless of whether you believe the Post's story, there was no denying that the evidence it presented was compelling and in line with modern journalistic standards, and thus should never have been prohibited on an allegedly "open forum" like Twitter.

Conversely, hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of stories claiming to show that Donald Trump had colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign were reposted millions upon millions of times during Trump's four years in office. Social media platforms did nothing about these stories, despite the fact that many of them relied solely on a dossier paid for by Hillary Clinton and dependent on interviews with unnamed foreign sources.

Consider also the recent removal of social media app Parler from the Google Play and Apple app stores, as well as the subsequent removal of the website from web servers run by Amazon.

Apple, Google and Amazon all claim they decided to effectively shut down the right-leaning Parler app—silencing its more than 10 million users in the process—because Parler had not done enough to moderate obscene content and calls for violence on its platform. But if that were truly the reason for the actions taken against Parler, why haven't these big tech companies also closed down left-leaning services like Facebook and Twitter, which permit all sorts of reprehensible posts on their platforms?

For example, to this day, Twitter continues to allow the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, to spew hateful language on its platform, including this racist, violent post from June 2018: "Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen."

Of course, large technology companies are not the only powerful corporations that have worked against conservative interests.

The massive corporations controlling the health insurance industry were some of the biggest supporters of the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010, when President Obama and Vice President Biden were working to push their proposal through Congress.

Today, dozens of prominent leaders in business and finance, including the CEOs of Mastercard, BP and Bank of America, are working with the World Economic Forum to create a "new social contract" that aims to dramatically alter the global economy in line with progressive goals.

Corporations across the country frequently use their vast resources and influence in the labor market—about half of all employees work for large businesses, many of which are corporations—to coerce state and local governments to provide crony tax breaks or government funding in exchange for relocating, expanding or keeping business operations in particular regions.

Large corporations have been some of the largest advocates for and beneficiaries of government bailout programs, going all the way back to the George W. Bush administration. Analysts on the ideological Left and Right have found that the government coronavirus bailouts provided in 2020 mostly favored large, often very wealthy, corporations.

There is nothing even remotely "conservative" about any of this. And yet, many within the conservative movement, a group I have belonged to for my entire adult life, have for years supported policies designed to help this powerful group. The question is not whether this has occurred, but rather why it has occurred. Why have conservatives fought so hard for people who have worked so tirelessly to undermine right-wing principles?

"We're for the free market!"—that's the response you'll most likely hear if you ask many, but certainly not all, within the conservative movement. But the truth is, large corporations are often the creations of government policies, not free-market economics.

Corporations operate under different regulatory and tax structures than individuals. They have special liability protections that are not available to individuals, either. And publicly traded corporations are typically not loyal to any one country; they will often go wherever they can secure the most lucrative conditions, often at the expense of taxpayers. In fact, they are the opposite.

The era of conservatives supporting large corporate interests must end. Taking any other course of action would not only be hypocritical; it would be in direct opposition to conservatives' interests, and possibly even the survival of the movement.

If those of us who value free markets and individual liberty cannot see the desperate need to reverse course by now, then we will deserve the catastrophic consequences in the years to come.

https://www.newsweek.com/dear-conservatives-big-corporations-are-not-your-friends-opinion-1563038

Joe Biden's deportation freeze blocked by federal judge

A federal judge in Texas has delivered a major blow to Joe Biden's immigration plan, blocking the new President's 100-day pause on deportations.

The ruling comes after the state of Texas sued the federal government over the move.

US District Judge Drew Tipton on Tuesday issued a 14-day nationwide restraining order blocking the policy while both parties submit briefs in the case.

“VICTORY,” tweeted Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton, a close ally of former President Donald Trump.

“Texas is the FIRST state in the nation to bring a lawsuit against the Biden Admin. AND WE WON. Within six days of Biden’s inauguration, Texas has HALTED his illegal deportation freeze. *This* was a seditious left-wing insurrection. And my team and I stopped it.”

Judge Tipton, a Trump appointee, said in the order that Texas has a “substantial likelihood of success” on at least two claims, including that the freeze violated federal immigration law which says authorities “shall remove” illegal immigrants with final deportation orders within 90 days, Reuters reported.

The American Civil Liberties Union had in turn filed a brief asking the court to deny the request.

“The voters rejected the Trump administration’s disastrous immigration policies, but Texas is now seeking to keep the Biden administration from turning the page,” said Cody Wofsy, an attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

Joe Biden says he is rescinding the previous administration's "harmful ban on diversity and sensitivity training" and abolishing the "offensive, counterfactual" 1776 Commission set up by Donald Trump.

"Unity and healing must begin with understanding and truth, not ignorance and lies," Mr Biden said on Tuesday.

Last September, the former President signed an executive order banning federal agencies from using diversity training programs that teach about "white privilege" and critical race theory.

"The President has directed me to ensure that federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions," Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought wrote in a memo at the time outlining the directive.

"Executive branch agencies have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to date 'training' government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda."

In response to the Biden administration's move, a network of private lawyers and conservative organisations has formed to fight such training on the grounds that it violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the US Constitution.

"Critical race theory training programs have become commonplace in academia, government, and corporate life, where they have sought to advance the ideology through cult-like indoctrination, intimidation and harassment," Discovery Institute researcher Chris Rufo, who is leading the coalition, said in a press release.

But one lawyer who has conducted such sessions defended the practice. "If we are going to live up to this nation's promise — 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' — we have to see each other as human beings, and we have to do whatever it takes, including taking whatever classes make that possible," M.E. Hart told The Washington Post.

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/us-politics-donald-trump-impeachment-joe-bidens-first-week-ivankas-future-violent-protests-continue-across-america/live-coverage/3b9db79a2d01de0c126bb1538fba89a5

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