Senate Democrats demand answers from Biden over critical COVID pandemic failure: 'Either knew or should have known'

A group of Senate Democrats wrote President Joe Biden's top COVID-19 pandemic adviser last week and demanded answers for obvious shortcomings in Biden's pandemic response.

The concerns outlined in the letter stand in stark contrast to Biden's October 2020 promise to "shut down the virus."

What does the letter say?

The group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeffrey Zients on Thursday, demanding answers for the Biden administration's failure to take proactive steps to increase COVID testing.

The Democrats — Sens. Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Jon Ossoff (Ga.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — demanded to know "why the Administration failed to take more significant steps earlier to increase access to at-home tests."

"Across America, there are lines for city blocks long to get COVID testing, signs in pharmacies saying they are out of rapid tests, hospitals operating under crisis standards of care, health care staff and first responders falling ill, and millions of people who are exhausted from the toll this pandemic has had," the letter states.

The letter goes on to say:

While we fully recognize the productive steps this Administration has taken to encourage vaccination, ensure ready access to vaccines, and increase options to treat the virus, far too many measures – such as increasing access to home-based testing – have been reactive, rather than proactive.

This Administration either knew or should have known that testing shortages were occurring across the country over the past several months, and with the full expectation that the virus would likely mutate into a new variant steps to increase testing access should have happened before the current wave hit, not several weeks into the surge, with resources still not available until later this month or beyond.

Last month, Vanity Fair reported that Biden rejected a plan in October that outlined how to mass produce and distribute at-home COVID-19 tests before Christmas. Biden, however, denied that his administration rejected the plan.

https://www.theblaze.com/senate-democrats-letter-biden-covid-tests

Biden is going under the bus

>>15392587

Et Tu? Chuck Todd Savages Biden Over Failing Presidency As Liberal Media Cuts Bait

As legacy media continues to distance itself from the Biden administration amid dismal approval ratings (and dismal viewership), MSNBC's Chuck Todd delivered perhaps the harshest indictment of a president his network has spent the last three years breathlessly fluffing.

In light of the press's previously 'complicit' relationship with the Biden White House, Todd's monologue was blistering to say the least.

"For President Biden, the plan was that Covid would be defeated, the economy would fully recover and he would be able to deliver a return to normalcy. But plans have a way of going sideways. A year into Mr. Biden's presidency, unemployment is down and wages are up, but inflation is also up to a 40-year high. Infrastructure and Covid relief bills were passed, but Build Back Better is stuck in neutral. And most important, though vaccines are available and effective, Delta and Omicron have dealt a one-two punch to the economy, the supply chain and that promised return to normalcy…

…And on Thursday the Supreme Court blocked Mr. Biden's "vaccine or test" mandate for large businesses, perhaps taking away the last effective tool in his Covid toolbox. That same day Mr. Biden's last-minute push for voting rights bills was dealt a likely fatal blow. Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema said again what she's been saying for months. She is opposed to changing the filibuster to pass the legislation. So, now what? All of this came just as the president was heading, by the way, to Capitol Hill to lobby fellow Democrats to change the Senate rules. So it was quite the exclamation point on a terrible week."

https://twitter.com/MeetThePress/status/148274241672146944

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/et-tu-chuck-todd-savages-biden-over-failing-presidency-liberal-media-cuts-bait

U of Michigan president fired after employee relationship, ‘inappropriate’ emails surface

The University of Michigan fired its president Saturday for having a years-long affair with a subordinate, and sending “inappropriate” messages to her on his university email.

The university’s Board of Regents made the decision after receiving an anonymous complaint in December that Dr. Mark Schlissel has “been involved in an inappropriate relationship with a University employee,” according to a press release. A three-page termination letter that cited five emails he sent concluded his “interactions with the subordinate were inconsistent with promoting the dignity and reputation of the University of Michigan.”

“After an investigation, we learned that Dr. Schlissel, over a period of years, used his University email account to communicate with that subordinate in a manner inconsistent with the dignity and reputation of the University,” the board said Saturday night announcing the removal of the president.

Additionally, the university released 118 pages of communications between Schlissel and an unnamed school employee. The dozens of emails reveal that Schlissel sent flirtatious messages, ordered food, and discussed travel plans.

In a September 2021 email, he referred to the school employee as “sexier.”

In email on April 2020 and January 2021, the employee wrote “Oh yes,” and Schlissel responded, “Love it when you say that” and “I like it when you say that.”

“These emails demonstrate that you were communicating with a subordinate through the University of Michigan email system using an inappropriate tone and inappropriate language,” reads the termination letter sent Saturday. “They also demonstrate that you were using official University of Michigan business as a means to pursue and carry out a personal relationship with a subordinate.”

The letter notes that Schlissel’s behavior was “particularly egregious” due to his involvement in handling harassment at Michigan and professed commitment to preventing sexual misconduct on campus.

Schlissel — who is married to Monica Shwebs, with whom he has four children, according to Ann Arbor News — had served as the university’s president since 2014. Ex- University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman will serve as interim president, the Board of Regents announced Saturday.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/16/university-of-michigan-president-fired-for-relationship-with-employee/

False Flags Suddenly No Longer A Crazy Conspiracy Theory

In a drastic pivot from typical denunciations of false flag operations as conspiratorial nonsense that don’t exist outside the demented imagination of Alex Jones, the US political/media class is proclaiming with one voice that Russia is currently orchestrating just such an operation to justify an invasion of Ukraine.

“As part of its plans, Russia is laying the groundwork to have the option of fabricating a pretext for invasion,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday. “We have information that indicates Russia has already pre-positioned a group of operatives to conduct a false flag operation in eastern Ukraine.”

“Without getting into too much detail, we do have information that indicates that Russia is already working actively to create a pretext for a potential invasion, for a move on Ukraine,” Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby told the press on Friday. “In fact, we have information that they’ve pre-positioned a group of operatives, to conduct what we call a false flag operation, an operation designed to look like an attack on them or their people, or Russian speaking people in Ukraine, as an excuse to go in.”

The US government has substantiated these incendiary claims with the usual amount of evidence, by which I of course mean jack dick nothingballs. The mass media have not been dissuaded from reporting on this issue by the complete absence of any evidence that this Kremlin false flag plot is in fact a real thing that actually happened, their journalistic standards completely satisfied by the fact that their government instructed them to report it. Countless articles and news segments containing the phrase “false flag” have been blaring throughout all the most influential news outlets in the western world without the slightest hint of skepticism.

This sudden embrace of the idea that governments can stage attacks on their own people to justify their own pre-existing agendas is a sharp pivot from the scoff which such a notion in mainstream liberal circles has typically received. This 2018 article from The New York Times simply dismisses the idea that the 2014 Maidan massacre was a false flag carried out by western-backed opposition fighters in Ukraine to frame the riot police of the government who was ousted in that coup, for example, despite the existence of plenty of evidence that this is indeed what happened. This BBC article dismisses without argument the idea that the alleged 2018 chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria could have been a false flag carried out by the Al Qaeda-aligned insurgents on the ground to provoke a western attack on the Syrian government, yet there are mountains of evidence that this was the case.

https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/false-flags-suddenly-no-longer-a-crazy-conspiracy-theory-62d02a2d3a4

States Investigating Surge In Mortality Rate Among 18–49-Year-Olds, Majority Unrelated To COVID-19

Health departments in several states confirmed to The Epoch Times that they are looking into a steep surge in the mortality rate for people aged 18 to 49 in 2021—a majority of which are not linked to COVID-19.

Deaths among people aged 18 to 49 increased more than 40 percent in the 12 months ending October 2021 compared to the same period in 2018–2019, before the pandemic, according to an analysis by The Epoch Times of death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The agency doesn’t yet have full 2021 figures, as death certificate data has a lag of up to eight weeks or more.

The surge differed greatly from state to state, with the most dramatic increase in young-to-middle age deaths in the South, Midwest, and the West Coast, while the northeastern states generally saw much milder spikes. Public health authorities in several states with some of the largest increases are examining the issue.

Texas saw the 18 to 49 age mortality jump 61 percent, the second-highest increase in the country. Of that, less than 58 percent was attributed to COVID-19.

“Our Center of Health Statistics is looking at the data,” said Chris Van Deusen, the head of Media Relations at the Texas Department of State Health Services, via email. “We’ll get back with you.”

Florida, which saw an increase of 51 percent, 48 percent of that attributed to COVID-19, is also probing the matter.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/several-states-examine-2021-mortality-surge-in-americans-aged-18-49_4213438.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge

Why are my lymph nodes swollen and sore after a Pfizer or Moderna COVID booster vaccine?

When Mark Nevill woke up the morning after his COVID booster, he felt an uncomfortable tightness deep in one armpit.

Key points:

Swollen or painful lymph nodes are the most commonly reported adverse event following a COVID booster

It's a normal response caused by immune cells that are activated by the vaccine

Swollen lymph nodes may look pretty confronting, but most tend to subside within a week or two

"I could feel real tension in my armpit. My lymph nodes were quite sore," Mr Nevill, from Melbourne, says.

"It was like someone grabbed my t-shirt on the back of my shoulder and yanked it tight under my armpit."

Despite getting mRNA vaccines for his first two doses, this was the first time he'd experienced painful lymph nodes.

And he's not alone in this.

According to the first Therapeutic Goods Administration's COVID vaccine safety report of 2022, swollen lymph nodes (also called lymphadenopathy) was the most commonly reported "adverse event" or unintended effect following a booster or third dose.

Clinical trials show up to one in 20 (Pfizer) and one in 10 people (Moderna) will get swollen or sore lymph nodes following a booster.

That's in contrast to less than one in 100 after their first or second shot.

So why might your lymph nodes arc up after a COVID booster, and when should you see a doctor about it?

What are lymph nodes, anyway?

Lymph nodes or lymph glands are (usually) small bean-shaped lumps of tissue found throughout your body and connected in a network by lymph vessels.

They help your body fight off infections, but also play a vital role in generating immunity via vaccines.

When a COVID vaccine is injected into your arm muscle, your body starts building SARS-CoV-2 virus spike proteins.

Special cells grab those spike proteins and ferry them into your lymph nodes.

The closest set of lymph nodes is usually in your armpit on the same side of your body.

Like other lymph nodes, they house a suite of white blood cells, which help defend our body against specific pathogens, says Joanna Groom, an immunology researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

When presented with the spike protein, some white blood cells become activated.

There are memory cells that, when confronted with a particular pathogen months or even decades down the track, can mount an immune response.

Other white blood cells stimulated in the presence of spike proteins are "effector" cells.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-01-17/lymph-nodes-swollen-sore-covid-booster-immune-system-mrna/100754318

>>15392786

yep have similar family members got vax then got tumors

Another Migrant Caravan Leaves Honduras En Route to US Border

Another caravan of migrants set off in Honduras this weekend en route to the United States border.

Hundreds of Hondurans and Nicaraguans left San Pedro Sula on Saturday and a smaller caravan departed the region Sunday morning.

Reuters reported:

Hundreds of Hondurans and Nicaraguans on Saturday left the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula to march toward the United States, the first such migrant caravan to be formed this year in Central America.

The caravan set off days before leftist President-elect Xiomara Castro takes office in Honduras on Jan. 27. She has vowed to revive the economy and combat corruption that stokes waves of mass migration to the United States.

The migrants, mostly young people carrying backpacks on their shoulders and women with children, left a bus terminal in the northern city of San Pedro Sula for the border post of Corinto in an attempt to enter Guatemala. Some were pushing children in baby carriages.

“There is no work,” said Pablo Mendez, a Honduran carrying his 2-year-ld daughter in his arms. “That is why people are leaving in this caravan.”

US border patrol agents encountered nearly 2 million illegal aliens in 2021.

Despite record illegal immigration, the DHS announced the creation of a new “Climate Change Professionals Program.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/another-migrant-caravan-leaves-honduras-en-route-us-border/

Netanyahu meets with family, lawyers on whether to accept plea deal

Reports say ex-PM’s wife Sara is main opponent of an agreement, as sources cast doubt on chance of sealing deal in the two weeks before Mandelblit steps down

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his family met Sunday with his lawyers to decide whether to accept a plea deal in his criminal trial.

According to Channel 12 news, Netanyahu was accompanied by his wife Sara and sons Yair and Avner for the meeting at his lawyer Amit Hadad’s home. Also said to be present were another of Netanyahu’s attorney, Boaz Ben Zur, family lawyer Yossi Cohen and longtime confidant Natan Eshel.

The network, which did not cite a source, said Sara Netanyahu had reversed her position and was now opposed to a plea deal, as were Netanyahu’s sons.

A separate report carried by Channel 13 news said Sara Netanyahu was the biggest opponent of a plea deal, believing it was illegitimate that a “bureaucrat” such as Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit would decide on the matter.

That report also said she saw no reason for her husband to accept a deal requiring him to leave politics, as she maintains that he committed no wrongdoing.

Netanyahu’s lawyers, on the other hand, reportedly, were in favor of the agreement and were seeking to convince the former premier to sign it.

However, multiple reports Sunday night indicated the prospects of a deal being sealed before Mandelblit’s term ends at the end of January were low.

Citing unnamed sources close to Mandelblit, Channel 13 said the chance a deal would be reached was “tiny,” as it would require agreements on amending the indictment against Netanyahu and having him admit that a suspect in one of the three cases he was charged in did try to bribe him.

The sources said that even if Netanyahu were to agree his actions carry a designation of “moral turpitude” — which would bar him from public office for seven years — the gaps between the two sides were too great to bridge before Mandelblit steps down.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-meets-with-family-lawyers-on-whether-to-accept-plea-deal/