Moving the goalpost

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/05/western-australia-border-restrictions-stay-closed-for-christmas-borders-not-reopening-until-at-least-late-january

Western Australia will wait until as late as early-February to reopen its interstate borders in a move the premier says will save 200 lives.

Unveiling the state’s long-awaited border transition plan on Friday, premier Mark McGowan did not set a specific reopening date but said controls would be eased once the state achieved 90% vaccination for people aged 12 and above.

“Once we set that date, it will be locked in,” Mr McGowan said.

“But if we don’t, on that date, reach the 90% double-dose vaccination, that means there will be further public health social measures put in place.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/democrats-spending-bill-includes-1-7-billion-bailout-for-journalists/

As House Democrats race to authorize more than $2 trillion in spending on Friday, we’re still learning more about some of the ugly details. Now, via the Joint Committee of Taxation analysis, we see a curious line item under part 5, item 11: “Payroll credit for compensation of local news journalists.”

The payments, which would expire at the end of 2026, would be worth $1.7 billion.

https://www.rollcall.com/2021/11/05/moderates-not-ready-to-back-budget-bill-without-cbo-score/

Speaker Nancy Pelosi huddled in her Capitol Hill office early Friday with a group of centrists who've said they need to see a formal Congressional Budget Office estimate of the measure's deficit impact and total price tag. Leadership can only afford to lose three votes among Democrats with all Republicans expected to vote "no" on the huge bill, and early indications were that they hadn't yet corralled enough support.

Trying to assuage moderates who were wary of the cost, Pelosi sent a "Dear Colleague" letter late Thursday with an attached informal estimate from the White House combined with an earlier official revenue score from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The White House claimed the roughly $2 trillion gross cost would be fully offset and in fact produce $36 billion in net savings in the first decade, and as much as $2 trillion in the second decade.

But moderates were evidently in "trust, but verify" mode, with the CBO the official arbiter of legislative price tags.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/11/05/US-Embassy-in-Addis-Ababa-tells-its-citizens-to-leave-Ethiopia-as-soon-as-possible

The US Embassy in Addis Ababa Friday called on all American citizens to leave Ethiopia “as soon as possible,” in a statement posted on the embassy’s website.

“The security environment in Ethiopia is very fluid. We advise US citizens who are in Ethiopia to leave the country as soon as possible,” the statement read.

US citizens looking to leave the crisis-struck country can do so from the Bole International Airport, the US Embassy said.

US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman landed in Ethiopia on Thursday as part of Washington's push to ease fighting.

PM Abiy Ahmed called on citizens to arm themselves and fight back against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). His government also declared a state of emergency

https://dailycaller.com/2021/11/05/hillary-clinton-charles-dolan-billl-igor-danchenko-steele-dossier/

‘Oops! Page Can’t Be Found’: PR Firm Deletes Clinton Advisor From Its Website After Trump Dossier News

Public relations firm kglobal deleted the company profile of executive Charles Dolan, a former advisor to both Bill and Hillary Clinton, from its website Thursday following his implication as a source of information for Igor Danchenko, a Russian analyst involved in creating the Steele dossier.

Danchenko’s indictment revealed that one of the Russian analyst’s primary sources for information was Charles Dolan, who was labeled as “PR Executive-1” and whose identity was confirmed by The New York Times.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Dolan is currently a senior vice president of public relations firm kglobal. Yet his profile on kglobal’s website, which remains visible in Google search results, returns a “404” error message when accessed.

https://www.rt.com/usa/539465-covid-vaccine-effectiveness-veterans-study/

Three different coronavirus shots – those mainly available in the US and Europe – have shown a dramatic decline in efficacy over time, a study of nearly 800,000 Americans reveals.

Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness against both infection and death was studied in three US approved jabs – the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA shots, and the Janssen viral vector vaccine.

Having analyzed data from 780,225 US veterans of different ages and sexes between February and October, researchers came to a disturbing conclusion. Vaccine protection against Covid-19 infection dropped from 89.2% at its highest to a low of 13.1%, according to a joint study by the Public Health Institute, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the University of Texas Health Science Center, published in the Science journal on Thursday.

While effectiveness against infection in March was 89.2% for Moderna, 86.9% for Pfizer, and 86.4% for Janssen, by September there were massive declines to 58%, 43%, and 13% respectively.

The emergence and dominance of the Delta strain of the virus during the time of the study may have played a role, researchers said, adding that vaccine protection waned across all studied age groups.