Monthly Archives: December 2020

2020-12-11: News Headlines

Global Research News (2020-12-11). Selected Articles: What Happens if Something Goes Wrong after You Receive a COVID Vaccine? globalresearch.ca By Government and media propaganda has firmly convinced most of the citizenry of the West that Russia invaded Crimea, and the truth …

Workers World Party (2020-12-11). PDF of December 10 issue. workers.org Download the 12-page PDF. Capitalist COVID catastrophe FIGHT or DIE! Message from Peltier; Reparations now! Justice for Breonna denied again; Disability rights; Workers demand justice; DEA surveillance; Editorial: New president — same wars; Commentary: Becoming a cadre; GLOBAL: China: global vaccines, science; India: worker & farmer uprising; Cuba; France; Palestine; Venezuela. . . . |

Mark Gruenberg (2020-12-11). McConnell's virus lawsuit ban far worse than advertised. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's ban on lawsuits through 2024 against firms that don't protect workers and consumers from the coronavirus is even worse than advertised, the National Council on Occupational Safety and Health reports, and an inspection of the measure's underlying text confirms. The GOP Majority Leader's bill is actually S4317, introduced July 27 by …

Alex MacDonald (2020-12-11). Turkish lawyer on hunger strike sent back to prison after release. middleeasteye.net Turkish lawyer on hunger strike sent back to prison after release | Aytac Unsal re-arrested as a flight risk despite being released on health grounds in September after 213-day hunger strike | Fri, 12/11/2020 – 11: 44 | Aytac Unsal recovering in bed following his hunger strike (People's Law Bureau) | A Turkish lawyer who was released from prison on medical grounds after spending more than seven…

Stephen Lendman (2020-12-11). Pharma Controlled FDA Panel Recommends Approval for Controversial Pfizer COVID Vaccine. globalresearch.ca Establishment media are at the forefront in promoting potentially hazardous to human health covid vaccines they should be advising caution about instead. | The NYT headlined: "FDA Advisory Panel Gives Green Light to Pfizer Vaccine," saying: | Approval "pave(s) the way for …

news.un (2020-12-11). Yemen: food insecurity a 'ticking timebomb', warn aid agencies. news.un.org UN humanitarians issued a fresh alert on Friday for war-torn Yemen, warning that time is running out to avoid famine in the country. Out of two million children who need treatment for acute malnutrition, 360,000 are at risk of dying if they do not receive medical care, the World Food Programme (WFP) said.

Fight Back (2020-12-11). New claims for unemployment insurance jump almost 20% in one week. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – On Thursday, December 10, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that new claims for regular state unemployment went up by 137,000, or 19.1% for the week ending December 5. This is the biggest increase in applications for unemployment since the first week of April. In addition, new claims for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA also increased by almost 140,000. The total of almost 280,000 applications by jobless Americans in a week was the second largest jump during the entire recession, raising the danger of a 'double-dip' recession, where the economy goes downhill a second time.

The Canary (2020-12-11). Healthcare workers 'seven times more likely to get severe Covid'. thecanary.co Healthcare workers have a seven-fold increased risk of getting severe coronavirus (Covid-19), a new study suggests. Researchers said social care and transport staff have also got an increased risk. | Risk: | The new study, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, examined data from the UK Biobank and Public Health England. | Researchers found that of 120,075 participants in the Biobank database, 271 had severe coronavirus. | Among all participants, 29% were "essential" workers in occupations including healthcare, social care, education, and transport. They compared these workers t…

NAACP (2020-12-11). Wednesday 12/16: NAACP Town Hall: Slowing Pandemic Spread, #COVID19 Vaccine, & Health of Black Community. indybay.org Online town hall…

Dean Baker (2020-12-11). Choice in Health Care Plans and Medicare: It's More Complicated. cepr.net Margot Sanger-Katz had a very good NYT piece on the difficulty of choosing among health insurance plans. The gist of the piece is that people have a very difficult time choosing among plans, and even well-educated people often make choices that are bad for them. (The highlight is that Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman …

_____ (2020-12-11). Prison Staff Force Prisoners to Accept Liability For Their Own Deaths. popularresistance.org Prisoners at San Quentin State Prison are reporting that, over the past week, San Quentin medical staff have been pressuring prisoners to sign waiver forms accepting legal responsibility for their own deaths from COVID-19. | That, despite more than 10 months of continuous neglect and Eighth Amendment violations by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) which has, so far, killed 28 prisoners at the prison. | Multiple prisoners — many are refusing to cooperate — at San Quentin tell the same story.

Children's Health Defense (2020-12-11). 'Defacto Human Experiment:' Mary + Polly Discuss Rollout of Pfizer Vaccine in UK, Danger of Vaccinating Elderly + More. globalresearch.ca In "This Week," Mary and Polly discuss the latest COVID vaccine-related headline news, including the rollout of Pfizer's vaccine in the UK, concerns about vaccinating the elderly … and more. | *** | This week marked the "landmark" rollout of the …

AVFN (2020-12-11). British Government And Other Warnings Re Pfizer Covid Vaccine. indybay.org Warnings from UK health officials, CNN, NPR and other | sources re the covid vaccine.

Mike Kinney (2020-12-11). Tibetan Delek Children's Foundation: Helping Poor Kids in the Himalayan Mountains. indybay.org Delek Children's Foundation helps with healthcare & education to the poor children in the isolated villages of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and Indian in the Himalayan Mountains…

Heather Cox Richardson (2020-12-11). Thoughts on the Silence of Republican Lawmakers. indybay.org Coronavirus continues to devastate the country, with official deaths topping 281,000 today, but it turns out that the Trump administration did not actually have a plan for distribution of vaccines. Federal officials have drastically slashed the amount of vaccine they promised to states before the election. Instead of the 300 million doses, the plan is currently to distribute 35 to 40 million doses.

teleSUR (2020-12-11). Argentina's Lower House Approves Safe Abortion Bill. telesurenglish.net After 20 hours of discussion, the Lower House approved the bill for the voluntary termination of pregnancy with 131 votes in favor, 117 votes against, and six abstentions. Now the bill must be sent to the Senate for final approval. | RELATED: | The bill sent by President Alberto Fernandez allows the woman to have a free, safe, and legal abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy. The new rule also establishes that the health workers ma…

Dr. Meryl Nass (2020-12-11). What Happens if Something Goes Wrong after You Receive a COVID Vaccine? globalresearch.ca The bottom line is that if you are injured by a vaccine or other "countermeasure" designated by the DHHS Secretary as intended for a pandemic or bioterrorism threat (Covid-19, Pandemic Flu, Anthrax, Smallpox) your options for receiving any financial benefit …

RT (2020-12-10). President FIRST to be vaxxed: Argentina signs deal for 10 million doses of Russia's pioneering 'Sputnik V' anti-Covid vaccine. rt.com Argentina is the latest country to order a large batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine to tackle the coronavirus. Buenos Aires is getting 10 million doses of the drug after signing a contract with Russian Direct Investment Fund. | RDIF, which finances the development of Sputnik V, announced the deal on Thursday. The vaccine for Argentina is going to be produced by the fund's international partners in India, China, South Korea and other countries. | The contract would allow the South American nation, which has seen some 1,480,000 Covid-19 cases and more than 40,000 deaths, to "secure a diversified portfolio of va…

Staff (2020-12-10). Food Is the Pathway to Peace: World Food Programme Wins Nobel Peace Prize & Warns of Hunger Pandemic. democracynow.org The World Food Programme, the world's largest humanitarian organization dealing with hunger and food security, accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today, with its executive director David Beasley warning that the combination of conflict, climate crisis and COVID-19 could push 270 million people to the brink of starvation. In his acceptance speech, Beasley said, "Because of so many wars, climate change, the widespread use of hunger as a political and military weapon, and a global health pandemic that makes all of that exponentially worse, 270 million people are marching toward starvation. Failure to address their needs…

John Goss (2020-12-10). A Nasty Shot in the Arm: RT-PCR Kits and Vaccines Unlicensed by the MHRA. globalresearch.ca Aware of the forthcoming vaccine roll-out aimed, it is said, to protect against a disease (COVID-19) that reached its apex almost nine months ago, I emailed the MHRA (Medical and Healthcare Regulatory Authority) on 20 November 2020. My main concern …

WSWS (2020-12-10). Detroit Free Press breaks silence on Fiat Chrysler COVID-19 deaths in effort at damage control. wsws.org While acknowledging recent COVID-19 deaths at Detroit-area plants, both the company and the union, along with the corporate media which approvingly reports their comments, blame autoworkers for the spread of the disease in the plants.

Rachel L. Batterham (2020-12-10). [Commentary] Switching the focus from weight to health: Canada's adult obesity practice guideline set a new standard for obesity management. thelancet.com For the majority of human existence, food supply has been scarce; stored energy, in the form of adipose tissue, was therefore vital for survival. Consequently, multiple powerful biological mechanisms developed to drive eating when food was available. These once life-preserving mechanisms are now key contributors to the global obesity epidemic.

Mehr News Agency (2020-12-10). Govt. to spare no effort in providing COVID-19 vaccine: Veep. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Dec. 10 (MNA) — Stating that provision of coronavirus, COVID-19, vaccine is of the main priorities of the country, Iranian First Vice President said that the country will spare no effort in providing corona vaccine despite cruel US sanctions.

Lyn Redwood (2020-12-10). Children's Health Defense (CHD): Life-Threatening Allergic Reactions to Pfizer COVID Vaccine. globalresearch.ca In August, CHD asked regulators to investigate the use of polyethylene glycol (PEG) in COVID mRNA vaccines, which could have caused the severe allergic reactions reported this week by two of the first UK recipients of Pfizer's vaccine. | *** | Media …

imperial.ac.uk (2020-12-10). Improving elective care planning could extend life for thousands of patients. imperial.ac.uk Optimizing hospital scheduling for treatment of tumours, diseases of the digestive system and injuries & poisoning will result in notable gains.

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2020-12-10). CDC Official Says She Was Told to Delete Email on Kids' Covid-19 Risk to Match Trump's School Reopening Message. commondreams.org "Federal employees have affirmative obligations to preserve documents, and destruction of federal records is potentially illegal," warned Rep. James Clyburn. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

George Ochenski (2020-12-10). No Time to Waste on Whining, Absent Politicians. counterpunch.org The United States is facing what medical professionals call the most serious public health threat in the history of the nation. The coronavirus pandemic is raging fully out of control, which is exacerbated by a near total lack of leadership at the national level and pitifully little on the state or local level. In the meantime,

Ali H. Mokdad, Peter J. Hotez, Walter A. Orenstein (2020-12-10). [Commentary] We have to get it right: Ensuring success. thelancet.com Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Life is like a parachute jump; you've got to get it right the first time." With a spate of Covid-19 vaccines on the horizon, we must prepare to jump.

Put People First and partners (2020-12-10). Saturday 12/12: Virtual Vigil Supporting Healthcare Workers & Abolishing Healthcare Profiteering. indybay.org Online livestream…

Steve Watson (2020-12-10). Canadian Health Ministry Exploring "Immunity Passports," Vaccine "Tracking and Surveillance" globalresearch.ca The Health Minister of Ontario in Canada has stoked controversy by suggesting that people who do not take the coronavirus vaccine will face restrictions on where they can travel and spend time. | *** | When asked by reporters about how the …

Gregg Gonsalves (2020-12-10). So When Can I Get the Covid Vaccine? thenation.com So When Can I Get the Covid Vaccine?

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-12-10). 2009 H1N1 Vaccine Caused Brain Damage in Children. Dr. Anthony Fauci on "Vaccine Safety" Issues. globalresearch.ca A lawsuit against the Trudeau Government for its handling of the COVID-19 Crisis has been launched. What is at stake is the violation of fundamental rights of Canadians. | "The mass and indiscriminate containment of citizens, the restriction of access to …

Sonya Acosta (2020-12-10). Preventing Spike in Evictions Will Help Limit COVID-19's Spread. commondreams.org Evicted families' limited housing options increase their contact with others and limit their ability to social distance, quarantine, access appropriate health services, or practice recommended hand hygiene. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Michael K. Smith (2020-12-10). Michigan Restaurant Owner Calls For Popular Uprising Against Hypocritical Covid Policy. dissidentvoice.org As U.S. death tolls from Covid 19 spiral towards three or four thousand a day, health officials urge us to stop breathing on each other while saying nothing about the vast majority being dependent employees or small entrepreneurs, not free agents, thus unable to cheerfully comply with draconian public health orders that torpedo our jobs …

MEE and agencies (2020-12-09). Covid-19: UAE officially registers Chinese-produced vaccine for use. middleeasteye.net Covid-19: UAE officially registers Chinese-produced vaccine for use | Health ministry cites trials showing vaccine as 86 percent effective | Wed, 12/09/2020 – 12: 03 | Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm's vaccine has been undergoing third-phase trials in the Emirates since July (AFP) | The UAE has officially approved a Chinese-produced vaccine for Covid-19, citing third-phase trial a…

Sara Flounders (2020-12-09). China's global vaccines — a game changer. workers.org In the U.S., with less than 5% of the world's people, there is little concern for the fate of the globe's other 95% who are facing the pandemic. When, how and under what conditions a vaccine will be distributed in the U.S. is the overwhelming U.S. concern. Rates of COVID-19 . . . |

Areeb Ullah (2020-12-09). Egypt: World Bank warned funding for Covid-19 is neglecting jailed doctors. middleeasteye.net Egypt: World Bank warned funding for Covid-19 is neglecting jailed doctors | Human Rights Watch calls on the World Bank to condemn Egypt's arrest of medical workers who criticised Cairo's Covid-19 response | Wed, 12/09/2020 – 10: 58 | Data collected by the Doctors' Syndicate shows Egypt to have one of the highest numbers of Covid-19 deaths among health workers in the world (AFP) | The World Bank was urge…

Sameena Rahman (2020-12-09). Florida state agents raid home of COVID-19 whistleblower. liberationnews.org This raid comes at a time when the most recent CDC data indicates that Florida surpassed 19,000 deaths due to the coronavirus, and last week, Florida became the third state in the United States to exceed 1 million cases.

Kenneth Surin (2020-12-09). UK's Covid Vaccine, and a Fake Competition With the EU. counterpunch.org As the UK stumbles towards a no deal Brexit, the Tory government becomes increasingly desperate in its attempts to show that the UK is much better than the EU, whether as a collective or with respect to its individual members. Claims made by Tories on this issue border on the delusional.

commondreams (2020-12-09). Trump "Cost-Benefit" Rule Harms Public Health, Born Out of Corruption. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Nicole Karlis (2020-12-09). Coronavirus vaccines weren't tested on pregnant women — here's why that's a problem. salon.com "Pregnant immune systems are a little different … we don't have any direct data on whether it's safe," one doc said…

Dr. Robert Kluger (2020-12-09). German Doctors Letter to Chancellor Merkel, Put an End to the Covid "Fear Machine" globalresearch.ca This article was originally published on November 8. | Dear Chancellor Dr. Merkel, | We, the signatories, are doctors from all areas of healthcare, who have been serving people in practices and clinics for decades. During this time, we have witnessed more …

Informed Consent Action Network (2020-12-09). Pathologist Petitions FDA to Halt Pfizer Emergency Use Authorization Until Vaccine Efficacy Confirmed. globalresearch.ca Connecticut pathologist Dr. Sin Hang Lee and Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) have "Until an accurate count of …

Abdullah Shihipar (2020-12-09). We Can't Message Our Way Out of a Public Health Crisis. thenation.com We Can't Message Our Way Out of a Public Health Crisis…

Media Lens (2020-12-08). Stuck in a Lift with John Pilger: News and How to Use It by Alan Rusbridger. dissidentvoice.org Noticing the way journalists seemed unable to resist commenting on our work, even if it was just to slag us off, Glenn Greenwald tweeted us in 2012: 'You are really deeper in the heads of the British establishment-serving commentariat than anyone else — congrats.' ((Greenwald, Twitter, 12 September 2012.)) If that was true then, our relationship …

Kuehn BM. (2020-12-08). Looking to Long-term Survivors for Improved Pancreatic Cancer Treatment. jamanetwork.com This Medical News article examines how studying the characteristics of long-term pancreatic cancer survivors might improve treatment and boost survival for others who have the disease…

Abbasi J. (2020-12-08). Neurodegenerative Dementias Are Differentiated on PET Scans. jamanetwork.com In a recent study, positron emission tomography (PET) could distinguish Alzheimer disease from frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) disorders among living patients based on the location of tau protein deposits in the brain.

Vahia IV, Jeste DV, Reynolds CF, III. (2020-12-08). Older Adults and the Mental Health Effects of COVID-19. jamanetwork.com This Viewpoint summarizes evidence suggesting that, counter to expectation, older adults as a group may be more resilient to the anxiety, depression, and stress-related mental health disorders characteristic of younger populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Davidson KW. (2020-12-08). Coding Errors in Study of Factors Associated With SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Health Care Personnel. jamanetwork.com To the Editor On behalf of my coauthors, I write to report errors in our Research Letter, "Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Health Care Personnel in the New York City Area," published online first on August 6, 2020, and in the September 1, 2020, issue of JAMA.

Butler SM. (2020-12-08). Four COVID-19 Lessons for Achieving Health Equity. jamanetwork.com The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has underscored the deep inequities in our health care system. The disproportionately high levels of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among non-White racial groups reflect poorer underlying health, housing, and job conditions among these minority groups, as well as an inequitable distribution of health resources and persistent gaps in insurance coverage.

2020-12-11: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media! (Copy the text of the postee below, then paste it on social media and the story images will also appear.)

Yemen: food insecurity a 'ticking timebomb', warn aid agencies
news.un.org | 2020-12-11
UN humanitarians issued a fresh alert on Friday for war-torn Yemen, warning that time is running out to avoid famine in the country. Out of two million children who need treatment for acute malnutrition, 360,000 are at risk of dying if they do not receive medical care, the World Food Programme (WFP) said.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/12/1…

PDF of December 10 issue
Workers World Party | workers.org | 2020-12-11
Download the 12-page PDF. Capitalist COVID catastrophe FIGHT or DIE! Message from Peltier; Reparations now! Justice for Breonna denied again; Disability rights; Workers demand justice; DEA surveillance; Editorial: New president — same wars; Commentary: Becoming a cadre; GLOBAL: China: global vaccines, science; India: worker & farmer uprising; Cuba; France; Palestine; Venezuela. . . . | Continue reading PDF of December 10 issue at Workers.org
workers.org/2020/12/53165/?utm_source=rs…

Biden to Mandate Mask Wearing, Mandatory Mass Vaxxing to Follow?
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-11
Porous face masks offer no protection from minuscule covid spores. | Extended wearing is potentially hazardous to human health. | Mass vaxxing could be catastrophic if ordered. | Covid is a form of seasonal flu/influenza. | Protection comes from good health habits, including proper …
globalresearch.ca/biden-mandate-mask-wearing-mandatory-mass-vaxxing-follow/5731964

Big Pharma's Hazardous to Health COVID Vaccines
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-11
Like other corporate predators, Big Pharma prioritizes profits over human life, health and welfare. | Corporate America buys politicians like toothpaste, buying influence, assuring their interests are served over the public welfare and rule of law. | Everyone willing to be vaxxed …
globalresearch.ca/big-pharma-hazardous-health-covid-vaccines/5731884

Pharma Controlled FDA Panel Recommends Approval for Controversial Pfizer COVID Vaccine
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-11
Establishment media are at the forefront in promoting potentially hazardous to human health covid vaccines they should be advising caution about instead. | The NYT headlined: "FDA Advisory Panel Gives Green Light to Pfizer Vaccine," saying: | Approval "pave(s) the way for …
globalresearch.ca/pharma-controlled-fda-panel-recommends-approval-controversial-pfizer-covid-vaccine/5731971

Choice in Health Care Plans and Medicare: It's More Complicated
Dean Baker | cepr.net | 2020-12-11
Margot Sanger-Katz had a very good NYT piece on the difficulty of choosing among health insurance plans. The gist of the piece is that people have a very difficult time choosing among plans, and even well-educated people often make choices that are bad for them. (The highlight is that Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman …
cepr.net/chose-in-health-care-plans-and-…

Healthcare workers 'seven times more likely to get severe Covid'
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-12-11
Healthcare workers have a seven-fold increased risk of getting severe coronavirus (Covid-19), a new study suggests. Researchers said social care and transport staff have also got an increased risk. | Risk: | The new study, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, examined data from the UK Biobank and Public Health England. | Researchers found that of 120,075 participants in the Biobank database, 271 had severe coronavirus. | Among all participants, 29% were "essential" workers in occupations including healthcare, social care, education, and transport. They compared these workers t…
thecanary.co/discovery/health/2020/12/11/healthcare-workers-seven-times-more-likely-to-get-severe-covid/

Tibetan Delek Children's Foundation: Helping Poor Kids in the Himalayan Mountains
Mike Kinney | indybay.org | 2020-12-11
Delek Children's Foundation helps with healthcare & education to the poor children in the isolated villages of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and Indian in the Himalayan Mountains…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/12/10/1883887…

Big Pharma Strikes Back
Dean Baker | cepr.net | 2020-12-11
By Dean Baker and Arjun Jayadev On Monday, we, along with Achal Prabhala, had a column in the New York Times arguing in support of a resolution put forward before the WTO by India and South Africa, which would suspend intellectual property rights related to vaccines and treatments during the pandemic. The main point is …
cepr.net/big-pharma-strikes-back/

Wednesday 12/16: NAACP Town Hall: Slowing Pandemic Spread, #COVID19 Vaccine, & Health of Black Community
NAACP | indybay.org | 2020-12-11
Online town hall…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/12/11/1883891…

What Happens if Something Goes Wrong after You Receive a COVID Vaccine?
Dr. Meryl Nass | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-11
The bottom line is that if you are injured by a vaccine or other "countermeasure" designated by the DHHS Secretary as intended for a pandemic or bioterrorism threat (Covid-19, Pandemic Flu, Anthrax, Smallpox) your options for receiving any financial benefit …
globalresearch.ca/what-happens-something-goes-wrong-after-receive-covid-vaccine/5731896

Thoughts on the Silence of Republican Lawmakers
Heather Cox Richardson | indybay.org | 2020-12-11
Coronavirus continues to devastate the country, with official deaths topping 281,000 today, but it turns out that the Trump administration did not actually have a plan for distribution of vaccines. Federal officials have drastically slashed the amount of vaccine they promised to states before the election. Instead of the 300 million doses, the plan is currently to distribute 35 to 40 million doses.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/12/10/1883889…

Selected Articles: What Happens if Something Goes Wrong after You Receive a COVID Vaccine?
Global Research News | globalresearch.ca | 2020-12-11