BOE chief economist, Andy Haldane, remarks to Guardian newspaper
UK jobs support should end only when virus crisis is over
Economy still in a hole, and the hole is still deep
Hopeful of a rapid bounce in activity thanks to the vaccine
Some token remarks really by Haldane. The full interview here.
As mentioned previously, the BOE has their hands tied by the Brexit saga at this point in time. While further easing measures are imminent, they still have to time it correctly. Read More
Given the “plunge” in stocks (Nasdaq is down less than 1%) and headlines blaring of COVID “mutations”, @KizzyPhd decided to ‘clarify’ some science before all hell breaks loose (which judging by the London exodus, it already did) for no good reason. She begins…
You are going to read and hear about a million and one variant viruses, because viruses mutate by nature. It’s scary, I know. But, a couple of amino acids is not the same a whole whole new virus strain in the way that we’ve been taught to think about flu.
What is happening, often times, is selective pressure. As the virus transmits it learns how to be better at transmitting. This is why you hear “circulating faster than last variant”…
Live view of our neutralization assay team scrambling to make yet another virus variant every time the media publishes about a new single amino acid change without context. ???? pic.twitter.com/wtOHaNHZz6
But, don’t get in a panic over it. There will take a large amount of genetic diversity to completely make the current vaccines useless… And, here is why:
Unlike monoclonal antibody therapies, vaccines (especially those using the whole spike protein) make polyclonal antibody responses. This means that the antibodies your vaccinated body will make will be able to bind the coronavirus spike in multiple places… not just one.
As an Iranian national, Trita Parsi probably cannot get security clearance, say experts
A coalition of progressive foreign-policy groups is pressing President-elect Joe Biden to hire an Iranian national accused of lobbying for the Islamist regime for a senior administration role that a non-U.S. citizen would likely be ineligible to hold.
As Biden forms his future cabinet, groups on the Democratic Party’s far-left flank are organizing to pressure him into hiring a roster of individuals who would typically be left out of the White House.
The roster includes foreign-policy hands who have pushed for increasing American diplomacy with Iran and reducing cooperation between the United States and Israel.
The list of more than 100 staff recommendations was first reported by Politico, which declined to publish it in full. The Washington Free Beacon obtained a full copy of the list. Read More
Family, friends and neighbors were in mourning on Monday after Esther Horgen, a 52-year-old mother of six, was found dead in a forest near her home in the northern West Bank community of Tal Menashe.
Horgen never returned after going for a run on Sunday afternoon and her body was discovered overnight with signs of violence on it. Police are investigating a possible terror motive behind her death.
Horgen’s husband, Binyamin, recalled his wife as “so full of life and light and love for everyone, and all this was cut short in an instant.”
“There are no words,” he added. “Who could do such a thing?” Read More
For some countries, Christmas came early as the 5993 page bill passed last night.
$169,739,000 to Vietnam, including $19 million to remediate dioxins (page 1476).
Unspecified funds to “continue support for not-for-profit institutions of higher education in Kabul, Afghanistan that are accessible to both women and men in a coeducational environment” (page 1477).
$198,323,000 to Bangladesh, including $23.5 million to support Burmese refugees and $23.3 million for “democracy programs” (page 1485).
$130,265,000 to Nepal for “development and democracy programs” (page 1485).
Pakistan: $15 million for “democracy programs” and $10 million for “gender programs” (page 1486).
Sri Lanka: Up to $15 million “for the refurbishing of a high endurance cutter,” which is a type of patrol boat (page 1489).
$505,925,000 to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama to “address key factors that contribute to the migration of unaccompanied, undocumented minors to the United States” (pages 1490-1491).
$461,375,000 to Colombia for programs related to counternarcotics and human rights (pages 1494-1496).
$74.8 million to the “Caribbean Basin Security Initiative” (page 1498).
$33 million “for democracy programs for Venezuela” (page 1498).
Unspecified amount to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Curacao, and Trinidad and Tobago “for assistance for communities in countries supporting or otherwise impacted by refugees from Venezuela” (page 1499).
$132,025,000 “for assistance for Georgia” (page 1499).
$453 million “for assistance for Ukraine” (page 1500).
A leading German virologist on Monday downplayed fears about the new mutation of the coronavirus spreading through the UK – and questioned Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claim that the strain is 70 percent more infectious, according to reports.
“I wonder whether a scientist gave an estimate, perhaps asked what he would say if he had to give a figure, and then it takes on a life of its own,” Christian Drosten said, the Daily Mail reported.
“Then it enters politics and politicians use this figure and the media takes it up. Suddenly there’s a figure out there — 70 percent — and nobody even knows what it means,” he told Deutschlandfunk radio, the UK outlet reported. Read More
Climate-alarmist senators are eager to drag a potential Joe Biden administration into a new “green” era and they’re prepared to use some drastic measures to do so. And if a President Biden doesn’t move aggressively enough on climate for their liking, some of those senators are prepared to put some extreme pressure on the possible incoming president.
Some of those Democrats are going so far as to threaten to obstruct Biden’s nominees if his policies aren’t climate-friendly enough.
Leading this charge is Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse (shown), who has been a leader of the climate alarmists in Congress. Whitehouse, considered a centrist Democrat on some issues, is known as a deal maker in the Senate, so his involvement might suggest that there is broad support among Democrats and, perhaps, a few Republicans.
“I think there are quite a considerable number of senators who keenly believe that we missed huge opportunities in the Obama administration, that the Trump administration was a wasteland in which we went backwards and that the urgency of this moment is incredibly compelling and we just won’t tolerate a casual, insipid approach to dealing with this vital issue,” Whitehouse told Axios recently. Read More
Whatever the merits or lack thereof of Barack Obama’s presidency, he certainly leads all other presidents in the number of autobiographies he has written, with three compared to a number of his peers who are tied at one. However, his latest one, A Promised Land, is more than just an update on the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of the Most Undeservedly Celebrated Man on the Planet; it’s a full-on apologia for his policies as president, and a program for his impending third term, aka the Biden administration.
Former US President Barack Obama’s new book A Promised Land is seen in a bookstore in New York City, NY USA on November 17, 2020. Barack Obama was using his time after leaving the White House to write a memoir detailing his time as the 44th president of the United States. After nearly four years of waiting, Mr Obama has released his 701-page memoir entitled A Promised Land, the first instalment of his presidential memoirs. Photo by Charles Guerin/Abaca/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images)
The weighty 768-page tome not only tells you more about His Wonderfulness than you ever thought you wanted to know; it also provides a potted Leftist history of Israel that abundantly illustrates how Leftists see our most reliable ally in the Middle East, and why they hate it with such focused laser-beam intensity.
Obama portrays Britain and then Israel as occupying powers in Palestine, without ever explaining who actually owned the land they were and are supposedly occupying. He makes no mention of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. Read More
Netanyahu convenes “coronavirus cabinet” to discuss stopping air travel after UK discovers mutated virus strain. Meanwhile, Israelis aged 60 and over line up at medical clinics across the country to receive Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.
Israelis aged 60 and over arrived at medical clinics across the country to receive their coronavirus vaccine as the so-called “coronavirus cabinet” convened to discuss the reimposition of a number of restrictions on movement, Monday.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has ordered the establishment of 12 vaccination centers to serve members of all of Israel’s healthcare providers in the cities of Kiryat Gat, Karmiel, Eilt, Beit Shemesh, Dimona, Arad, Safed, Kiryat Shmona, Shefaram, Sderot, and Umm al-Fahm.
