Monday, November 28, 2022

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Visage à trois #621

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Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #799

Protests against harsh lockdown rules intensify in China as UK journalist 'beaten and kicked by police' covering unrest

An unprecedented wave of protests is taking place across China, as protesters demand an end to the country's restrictive coronavirus measures.

The BBC said Ed Lawrence was working as an accredited journalist in Shanghai when he was 'beaten and kicked by police' while covering protests.

BBC journalist arrested and 'beaten' in Shanghai
Protests against stringent COVID restrictions have intensified across China - as a British journalist was beaten and kicked by police.

Sky's Helen-Ann Smith described the atmosphere in Shanghai this morning as "very, very tense", adding that it is not currently safe to film near the main site of the protests due to the police presence.

She said she witnessed a person being "dragged away" from the area and was unsure what he had done.

It marked the third night of chaos which has spread to some of the country's biggest cities, including Wuhan, the first epicentre of the coronavirus almost three years ago.

On Sunday night, the BBC said one of its staff members, Ed Lawrence, was working as an "accredited journalist" when he was "beaten and kicked by police" while covering the protests.

Footage on social media showed him being dragged to the ground in cuffs, while in another video, he was seen saying: "Call the consulate now."

lay Video - Rare street protests in China as police charge in
Rare street protests in China as police charge in

According to officials, Mr Lawrence was arrested "for his own good" in case he caught COVID from the crowd, but the BBC said it was "extremely concerned" about his treatment and claimed he was held for several hours before being released.

China's foreign ministry said Mr Lawrence did not identify himself as a journalist and that the BBC's statement "does not reflect what happened".

Business Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News that there can be "absolutely no excuse" for journalists covering the protests being beaten by police.

While Downing Street said the arrest of a BBC journalist in China was "shocking and unacceptable".

The PM's official spokesperson said: "The arrest of this journalist who was simply going about their work is shocking and unacceptable. Journalists must be able to do their jobs without fear of intimidation."

He also urged the Chinese authorities to "respect those who decide to express their views about the current situation", adding: "We will continue to raise our human rights concerns with the Chinese government at all levels as part of a frank, constructive relationship."

A Sky News team in Shanghai had witnessed police moving quickly and decisively, pushing protesters to try to disperse them - but the crowd did not leave.

They also saw several people on the streets of Shanghai being arrested by...

As part of a gargantuan 1,050-page report detailing whistleblower findings from the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ), Republicans found that the FBI waited over a year to begin a comprehensive investigation into the pipe bombs that were planted in front of both major parties’ headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021.

In the Nov. 5 report, Republicans argued that the FBI and DOJ have undergone “weaponization” during the course of President Joe Biden’s first term in office.

Specifically, the report focuses on the Department of Justice (DOJ) under Attorney General Merrick Garland and the FBI under Director Christopher Wray (pdf).

Garland, Republicans said, has been “a willing participant of the Biden Administration’s weaponization of law enforcement.” The FBI too, Republicans assert, “has abused its law-enforcement authorities for apparently political purposes.”

Republicans listed a series of seemingly-partisan decisions and top-down efforts by Garland’s DOJ to mislead or deceive the American people.

For instance, the bombshell report found that the FBI has been incentivizing and pushing its field agents to classify certain crimes as incidents of domestic violence extremism (“DVEs”) even when the facts do not align with such a classification. Republicans contended that this is part of an effort to bolster Biden and other Democrats’ contested claims that right-wing DVEs are one of the greatest threats Americans face.

The report also noted a bizarre incident in which the FBI went a step further, and actually manufactured a DVE.

The event occurred in Michigan, where several men were arrested for a planned plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. At their trial, defense attorneys revealed that no less than 12 FBI assets had participated in and pushed the men toward the plot.

Republicans also cited Garland’s controversial Oct. 4, 2021 “school board memo,” in which he offered federal resources and guidance for municipalities seeking to punish parents voicing opposition to their children being taught radically left-wing ideas like critical race and gender theory.

Additionally, Judiciary Republicans cited Garland’s unprecedented authorization of a raid on President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Purportedly, Trump had taken classified documents from the White House that posed a national security threat. It was only after the midterms that the DOJ backtracked, and admitted that, contrary to their earlier allegations, Trump had no documents that posed any national security threat.

A deeper dive into the report reveals that the FBI and DOJ, while actively targeting conservatives, inexplicably dragged their feet in investigating pipe bombs that were planted by an unknown man ahead of the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally.

Specifically, security footage captured a still-unidentified man planting pipe bombs in front of both the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) buildings in Washington, on Jan. 5, 2021.

A suspect in the placement of two devices that the FBI said were pipe bombs is seen in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021. On right is a closeup photograph of one of the devices. (FBI)

At one point, then-Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris was even in the DNC building, meaning her life was imminently at risk.

Still, Judiciary Republicans ruled, “The FBI appears to not be aggressively investigating pipe bombs placed by political party headquarters on January 6, 2021, while prioritizing other January 6, 2021-related investigations.”

Specifically, Republicans learned from a whistleblower that it took over one year for the FBI to mount a full-scale investigation into the pipe bombs.

According to the whistleblower, it was not until Feb. 7, 2022—more than a month and a year after the incident—that the Washington Field Office of the FBI asked its national field offices to investigate and try to identify the man.

In that directive, the FBI warned agents that the suspect’s “motive and ideology remain unknown.”

Speaking to The Epoch Times about the snail’s pace of the investigation, Ed Martin, an attorney for some Jan. 6 defendants, ruled “the judgment of the Department of Justice is clearly biased against certain types of people and certain types of conduct.”

“It appears that the executive branch, the law enforcement branch, has been operating to facilitate a political vision of the article one branch,” Martin said later.

He explained: “The Pelosi select committee [the House January 6 Committee] had a vision of what they wanted to highlight. The conduct of the executive branch, the law enforcement branch has not been to pursue truth and safety. It’s been to pursue the political agenda that’s been driven hand in glove with the select committee.”

Martin, who used to work with the RNC, said that he was pleased that Republicans were giving the issue attention but said that “what we need now is to get to the bottom of what happened.”

He added, “We need to know who said pipe bombs against the American leadership, right?”

“We are living with a bomber, who successfully planted bombs—didn’t go off, thankfully—and who has never been caught,” Martin emphasized. “Shouldn’t that be a worry?”

The FBI did not return a request for comment.

Possible FBI Involvement

The FBI’s slowness in investigating the pipe bombs comes amid a backdrop of suspicion that the FBI played a role in the events of Jan. 6.

Suspicion that the FBI was involved in the events of that day only ramped up after Jill Sanborn, the executive assistant director for the National Security Branch of the FBI, refused to disavow agency involvement at the rally.

“How many FBI agents or confidential informants actively participated in the events of Jan. 6?” Cruz asked.

“So I’m sure you can appreciate that I can’t go into the specifics of sources and methods,” Sanborn replied.

“Did any FBI agents or confidential informants actively participate in the events of Jan. 6, yes or no?” Cruz asked.

“Sir, I can’t—I can’t answer that,” Sanborn said.

“Did any FBI agents or confidential informants commit crimes of violence on...

Visage à trois #620

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Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #799

Another Study Finds Heart Inflammation Higher After Moderna Vaccination Versus Pfizer

Cases of heart inflammation after COVID-19 vaccination were more common among Moderna recipients than those who received Pfizer’s shot, according to a new study.

Canadian researchers analyzed a database and identified 141 cases of myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation, within 21 days of a dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, both of which utilize messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.

That was compared with an expected number of just 20 cases.

Cases were much higher for young males, as previous studies have found, but were elevated even higher following receipt of a second dose of the Moderna vaccine compared with a second dose of the Pfizer shot.

The incidence, though, was higher after receipt of a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

“In this population-based cohort study, observed rates of hospital admissions or emergency department visits for myocarditis after mRNA vaccination for SARS-CoV-2 were higher than expected based on historical background rates, particularly after the second dose, among those who received the mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccine, among males and among younger patients (18–29 yr),” Dr. Zaeema Naveed and other researchers with the University of British Columbia and British Columbia Centre for Disease Control wrote.

The paper was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Nov. 21.

Moderna and Pfizer did not respond to requests for comment.
Latest to Find Moderna Higher

Research dating back to mid-2021 shows that the incidence of heart inflammation is higher following a Moderna second dose for young males when compared to a Pfizer second dose.

Both vaccines are recommended as two-dose primary series.

Dr. Anish Koka, a cardiologist based in the United States, said on Twitter that the new study highlights the lack of action by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which continues to recommend that young males receive either vaccine.

“The rates of Moderna are really much higher for dose 2 in young men,” Dr. Walid Gellad, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, said. “I remain perplexed why US never acted on this information, which has been known for a year.”

Some other countries have suspended administration of Moderna’s vaccine—or both vaccines—for young people based on the vaccine side effects and the fact that healthy youth face little risk from COVID-19.

The CDC has also detected more cases of myocarditis (pdf) after receipt of a Moderna second dose in the highest-risk populations, using surveillance data.

U.S. authorities added myocarditis as a possible side effect for both vaccines in 2021, but have not changed their recommendations, which call for virtually all people to receive not only a primary series, but at least one booster shot.

U.S. authorities have said the benefits of the vaccines—primarily protection against severe illness—outweighs the risks.

The Canadian researchers said as much, though their only citation was to a non-peer-reviewed CDC paper from June 2021.

Other studies since then have concluded that the risks outweigh the benefits for one or more populations, particularly young males. The calculus has tilted because of the growing evidence of side effects like myocarditis and the worse performance of the vaccines against the Omicron virus variant and its subvariants, some experts say.
More on New Paper

The Canadian researchers analyzed information from a British Columbia surveillance platform that has data such as laboratory tests and hospital admissions. They examined data from Dec. 15, 2020, to March 10, 2022.

They found that 105 males and 36 females experienced myocarditis and went to a hospital or emergency room within 21 days of a shot.

Approximately 60 percent of the cases happened after a Pfizer jab, but the overall dataset included a higher level of Pfizer administration than Moderna administration.

Researchers calculated an overall rate of 1.37 cases of myocarditis per 100,000 mRNA vaccine doses, above the expected rate of 0.39 cases per 100,000 population. The expected rate was drawn from the incidence of myocarditis in the general population from before...