Every region of the US suffered record-breaking extreme weather in

Every region of the US suffered record-breaking extreme weather in 2020(Source Business Insider)

While the coronavirus sickened more than 78 million people this year, another rolling disaster was unleashing new terrors in the background. Its effects seeped into thousands of lungs and turned skies red. Dams burst and forests burned. Homes toppled and flood after flood of ocean water inundated coastal towns. The climate crisis surged to new heights in 2020. In the US, no region was spared. A polar vortex brought record-breaking temperature lows to the Northeast, and heat waves brought new highs to the West. That heat dried out the landscape, which later fed an unprecedented wave of wildfires in late summer. On the other side of the US, a stunning hurricane season battered the Gulf Coast and the Southeast with more powerful cyclones than any previous year on record. The center of the country, meanwhile, endured record storms, floods, and tornado swarms. Research has shown that the changing climate is contributing to stronger hurricanes, more severe heat waves, larger and more destructive wildfires, and heavier rainfall that can cause flooding. Rising temperatures could even be driving more severe thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks. This year, the US saw it all.

Staff at Hospitals in DC, Texas Turn Down COVID-19 Vaccine

Staff at Hospitals in DC, Texas Turn Down COVID-19 Vaccine (Source globalresearch.ca)

Many employees at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., have reservations about taking the COVID-19 vaccine, and CEO Anita Jenkins is trying to get workers to follow her lead by getting vaccinated, according to CNN. The hospital, a major healthcare provider for the Black community, received 725 doses of the Pfizer vaccine Dec. 15 and expects to receive a second shipment this week. As of Dec. 18, only about 600 of the hospital’s 1,900 employees had signed up for the shots, according to Kaiser Health News. “There is a high level of mistrust and I get it,” Ms. Jenkins told Kaiser Health News. “People are genuinely afraid of the vaccine.” The vaccination numbers, though low, still exceeded expectations, Ms. Jenkins told CNN. An internal hospital survey of about 350 employees in early November showed that 70 percent were not willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine or would not take it immediately after it became available. Howard University Hospital isn’t the only healthcare provider with workers who turned down the vaccine. At Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, Texas, so many workers declined the COVID-19 vaccine that the hospital offered doses to other medical workers in the region, according to ProPublica.

Cross-domain Army tactical missile terminated in FY21 defense spending bill

Cross-domain Army tactical missile terminated in FY21 defense spending bill

(Source Yahoo)

An effort to pursue a mid-range missile capable of going after maritime targets using the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) has been terminated, according to the fiscal 2021 defense spending bill released Dec. 21. The bill, which emerged from conference committee, has zeroed out the Cross-Domain ATACMS program due to the program being terminated. The Pentagon had requested $62.5 million in its FY21 budget request. Defense News first reported in September the cross-domain upgrade to ATACMS, which was an anti-ship missile effort initiated by the Strategic Capabilities Office in 2016, was delayed due to technical problems. The Army would not disclose those problems, citing operational security, but the service did say a new timeline for delivery was under review. But while the CD-ATACMS program struggled, the Army conducted a strategic fires study and concluded it needed a mid-range missile to fill a gap in the 500-2,000 kilometers range and that it needed it fast — by

2023.

Fauci: Assume new COVID-19 strain is in US

Fauci: Assume new COVID-19 strain is in US

(Source thehill.com)

 Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said that Americans should assume a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus detected in the U.K. is already in the U.S. It’s “certainly possible” that the strain is already present within the U.S., Fauci said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “When you have this amount of spread within a place like the U.K., you really need to assume that it’s here already. … It certainly is not the dominant strain but I would certainly not be surprised at all if it is already here,” he said.  Fauci counseled against “overreacting” to the new strain and against a temporary travel ban in response. Asked about those recommendations, he called travel bans “rather draconian,” noting that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo  is also discussing the testing of all arrivals in New York City. “That’s a big difference than completely shutting off travel and banning travel completely, which is really a rather dramatic step. That’s not really in the cards right now,” he said.

Britain and E.U. strike last-minute post-Brexit trade deal

Britain and E.U. strike last-minute post-Brexit trade deal (Source NBC News) “I’m very pleased to tell you this afternoon that we have completed our biggest trade deal yet,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a televised news conference, championing the agreement that he said would be worth 660 billion pounds a year (about $890 billion). Still, Johnson added: “Although we have left the European Union, this country will remain culturally, emotionally, historically, strategically, geographically attached to Europe.”  

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive branch, said at a separate news conference: “It was a long and winding road but we have got a good deal to show for it.” She said rather than joy she merely felt “satisfaction and relief,” telling the British that “parting is such sweet sorrow” and urging the rest of Europe, “it is time to leave Brexit behind.”

Many experts welcomed the deal as a compromise and a good outcome for both sides — particularly given the alternative. It came just days before a deadline of Dec. 31 — after which the U.K. would have left E.U. rules without an agreement at all.

This “no-deal Brexit” is widely regarded as a nightmare scenario that would seriously hurt economies and cause logistical chaos on both sides. Johnson’s deal will not avoid friction. It is what experts call a “hard Brexit” free trade agreement. It focuses largely on quotas and tariffs but will likely not avoid regulatory checks on goods at the border, something that experts have warned could cause disruption at ports, meaning price rises and even shortages.

Genetically Modified Pigs Might Save Your Life

Genetically Modified Pigs Might Save Your Life

(Source popularmechanics.com)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the second-ever genetically modified subtype of pig for human consumption.

But there are no plans to raise this pig for meat or other foodstuffs. By adjusting the pig’s genes so it doesn’t produce a particular sugar, scientists can make medicines that are safe for a group of people who suffer from a peculiar, little-understood allergy. And while this certification isn’t planned for meat, that could be next. Let’s dig into the wild world of the tick-induced “meat allergy” to the alpha-gal sugar. The alpha-gal-free pig has one express purpose for now: to develop medical products, like blood thinners, that won’t set off adverse reactions. That’s according to the company behind the pig, United Therapeutics Corp, which has a long history with pigs for therapeutic products, such as genetically modified pig lungs for human use, for example.

Pope Francis’s New World Order

Pope Francis’s New World Order

(Source thetrumpet.com)

Big business may have finally found religion. On December 8, an alliance of finance chiefs announced the launch of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism With the Vatican. This organization is a coalition of Fortune 500 companies affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church and operating under the guidance of Pope Francis and Cardinal Peter Turkson. The stated goal of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism With the Vatican is “to build a fairer, more inclusive, and sustainable economic foundation for the world” via environmental, social, and corporate governance. Yet the pope’s latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, is a scathing rebuke of free-market capitalism. So, the true purpose of the organization is to push for a centrally planned economy—with the Vatican doing the central planning.

The council is led by a core group of 27 leaders known as the Guardians for Inclusive Capitalism. The guardians include the ceos of Mastercard, Visa and Bank of America; the presidents of the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; and many others. Together, the council represents 200 million employees in 163 countries and has $2.1 trillion in market capitalization. If the Council for Inclusive Capitalism With the Vatican were a nation, its market value would be more than the market value of the United Kingdom, but not quite as much as the market value of France.

The guardians will meet annually with Francis and Turkson to receive guidance on how to reform capitalism. “An economic system that is fair, trustworthy, and capable of addressing the most profound challenges facing humanity and our planet is urgently needed,” the pope said at their inaugural meeting. “You have taken up the challenge by seeking ways to make capitalism become a more inclusive instrument for integral human well-being.”

Biden called Trump ‘Putin’s puppy.’ The president-elect may put Moscow on a tighter leash.

Biden called Trump ‘Putin’s puppy.’ The president-elect may put Moscow on a tighter leash.

(Source nbcnews.com)

When a Russian spy who defected was fatally poisoned nearly 15 years ago, blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin from his deathbed, Joe Biden warned that the United States had been giving Putin “a bye” for far too long. “I’m not a big fan of Putin’s,” Biden, then the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in 2006. “I think we should have a direct confrontation with Putin politically about the need for him to change his course of action.” Putin didn’t alter his course.

Since then, Russia’s confrontations with the West have grown only more overt. And now, what is believed to be the Kremlin’s sweeping cyber hack of U.S. government agencies puts Biden on a high-stakes collision course with Putin when he becomes president next month. But unlike when President Donald Trump entered the White House, after Putin’s interference in the 2016 election, Biden takes office after more than two decades of failed U.S. attempts to forge a cooperative relationship with Moscow.” Russia is way more powerful today than it was 20 years ago, and it’s way more powerful today than it was four years ago,” said Michael McFaul, who was U.S. ambassador to Russia during President Barack Obama’s first term. “It’s a much more immediate threat that we continue to underestimate.”

Government report warns of potential violence and foreign interference during Georgia Senate runoffs

Government report warns of potential violence and foreign interference during Georgia Senate runoffs

(Source Yahoo) With the Georgia Senate runoff races just two weeks away, the Department of Homeland Security is warning of the possibility of “ideologically motivated violence” and even a foreign influence campaign as voters prepare to go to the polls, according to a new internal report obtained by Yahoo News. The Dec. 22 report, marked for official use only, says Georgia faces a “potentially heightened physical threat environment” that could drive violence or threats of violence similar to those seen nationwide during the 2020 presidential and state election season. Incidents of violence in or near the state capitol in Atlanta, courts and other “symbolic political institutions” could also negatively affect elected officials or election workers in Georgia, the report says.  “We further judge that violent extremists or other actors could quickly mobilize to violence or generate violent disruptions of otherwise lawful protests in response to a range of issues,” the report says, including possible disputes over the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election. The agency based its judgments on a review of national and local media coverage, relevant social media postings, state law enforcement officials detailing “ideologically motivated violence or threats of violence” and its other election violence assessments made over the past six months.

History of Hanukkah(Dedication)

History of Hanukkah(Dedication)

(Source history.com)

The events that inspired the Hanukkah holiday took place during a particularly turbulent phase of Jewish history. Around 200 B.C., Judea—also known as the Land of Israel—came under the control of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king of Syria, who allowed the Jews who lived there to continue practicing their religion. His son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, proved less benevolent: Ancient sources recount that he outlawed the Jewish religion and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods. In 168 B.C., his soldiers descended upon Jerusalem, massacring thousands of people and desecrating the city’s holy Second Temple by erecting an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs within its sacred walls. Led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, a large-scale rebellion broke out against Antiochus and the Seleucid monarchy. When Matthathias died in 166 B.C., his son Judah, known as Judah Maccabee (“the Hammer”), took the helm; within two years the Jews had successfully driven the Syrians out of Jerusalem, relying largely on guerilla warfare tactics. Judah called on his followers to cleanse the Second Temple, rebuild its altar and light its menorah—the gold candelabrum whose seven branches represented knowledge and creation and were meant to be kept burning every night.