Biden Admin. Announces $11M For Monkeypox Vaccine Production

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will provide approximately $11 million to support the first U.S.-based fill and finish manufacturing of JYNNEOS – a vaccine approved to prevent smallpox and monkeypox – at Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The agreement between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), and GRAM aids the company in accelerating the fill and finish manufacturing qualification and production in its recently expanded facility. The funding will allow GRAM to purchase additional equipment necessary for JYNNEOS production and recruit and train additional staff to operate the line. With BARDA’s support, vaccine production at the facility is expected to be underway later this year, months ahead of the 9-month schedule typical for this type of work.

“We continue to build on our efforts to secure and make safe and effective vaccines readily available,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “This new agreement solidifies a domestic manufacturing capability that will bring us more vaccine sooner to end this outbreak.”

On August 18, Bavarian Nordic, maker of JYNNEOS, and GRAM announced an agreement to establish this first U.S.-based fill and finish capability for the JYNNEOS vaccine, an agreement facilitated by BARDA. Even prior to that agreement, Bavarian Nordic and GRAM had begun working together on the technology transfer to enable the opening of a U.S.-based line.

“Rapidly increasing the supply and safe delivery of monkeypox vaccine to at-risk Americans is a top priority,” said Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell. “BARDA’s support helps ensure success in doubling the capacity available to fill and finish this vaccine, improves preparedness for smallpox bioterrorism, and strengthens the security of the U.S. supply chain. Production of JYNNEOS in the U.S. creates jobs and speeds the availability of the vaccine.”

In July, to support the current monkeypox outbreak and future smallpox preparedness, BARDA placed orders for fill, finish, and delivery of 5 million vials of JYNNEOS from U.S. government-owned bulk vaccine stored in Denmark. In that contract, Bavarian Nordic agreed to complete a technology transfer that would allow a U.S.-based contract manufacturer to fill and finish 2.5 million vials of JYNNEOS.

The new manufacturing support at GRAM is the latest in ASPR’s efforts to expand the capacity and capability in the U.S. to manufacture medical supplies, equipment, and the materials used to make medical supplies. These efforts enhance the U.S response to public health emergencies; the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need to expand the U.S. industrial base for vaccine production. To date, ASPR has invested nearly $6.9 billion in manufacturing expansion to produce vaccines, glass vials, nitrile gloves, surgical gowns, test swabs, the raw materials needed for diagnostic tests, therapeutics and vaccines.

https://breaking911.com/biden-admin-announces-11m-for-monkeypox-vaccine-production/

FACEBOOK TELLS MODERATORS TO ALLOW GRAPHIC IMAGES OF RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES BUT CENSORS ISRAELI ATTACKS

After a series of Israeli airstrikes against the densely populated Gaza Strip earlier this month, Palestinian Facebook and Instagram users protested the abrupt deletion of posts documenting the resulting death and destruction. It wasn’t the first time Palestinian users of the two giant social media platforms, which are both owned by parent company Meta, had complained about their posts being unduly removed. It’s become a pattern: Palestinians post sometimes graphic videos and images of Israeli attacks, and Meta swiftly removes the content, providing only an oblique reference to a violation of the company’s “Community Standards” or in many cases no explanation at all.

Not all the billions of users on Meta’s platforms, however, run into these issues when documenting the bombing of their neighborhoods.

Previously unreported policy language obtained by The Intercept shows that this year the company repeatedly instructed moderators to deviate from standard procedure and treat various graphic imagery from the Russia-Ukraine war with a light touch. Like other American internet companies, Meta responded to the invasion by rapidly enacting a litany of new policy carveouts designed to broaden and protect the online speech of Ukrainians, specifically allowing their graphic images of civilians killed by the Russian military to remain up on Instagram and Facebook.

No such carveouts were ever made for Palestinian victims of Israeli state violence — nor do the materials show such latitude provided for any other suffering population.

“This is deliberate censorship of human rights documentation and the Palestinian narrative.”

“This is deliberate censorship of human rights documentation and the Palestinian narrative,” said Mona Shtaya, an adviser with 7amleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, a civil society group that formally collaborates with Meta on speech issues. During the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, between August 5 and August 15, 7amleh tallied nearly 90 deletions of content or account suspensions relating to bombings on Meta platforms, noting that reports of censored content are still coming in.

Marwa Fatafta, Middle East North Africa policy manager for Access Now, an international digital rights group, said, “Their censorship works almost like clockwork — whenever violence escalates on the ground, their takedown of Palestinian content soars.”

Instances of censored Palestinian content reviewed by The Intercept include the August 5 removal of a post mourning the death of Alaa Qaddoum, a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in an Israeli missile strike, as well as an Instagram video showing Gazans pulling bodies from beneath rubble. Both posts were removed with a notice claiming that the imagery “goes against our guidelines on violence or dangerous organizations” — a reference to Meta’s company policy against violent content or information related to its vast roster of banned people and groups.

https://theintercept.com/2022/08/27/facebook-instagram-meta-russia-ukraine-war/

RAND think tank calls for “guardrails” on the metaverse

To prevent "harm."

Like the pop song says, right now, collectively, as humanity – we might be “slow dancing in a burning room.”

While the world looks to be on the brink of catastrophe – there are plenty of theoretical, and even quasi-theoretical discussions about a hypothetical future, not few of those involving a thing called, “the metaverse.”

Regardless, it’s true – anybody who makes it out of here alive – might actually have to deal with this future problem.

Especially, observers are certain, if Facebook (conveniently rebranded as “Meta” not that long ago) actually has a decisive say in it.

Facebook – now several years into a survival mode trying to “prove” the company is not a purveyor of “misinformation” or, an online place that given the reach of the platform, naturally gathers any majority that might just naturally win any election – is now suspected of looking for yet more convenient ways to appease its powerful critics.

US-based RAND Corporation think tank has recently considered what the “multiverse” might actually mean, should this technological, anthropological, sociological – and ultimately, political project actually take off.

In the metaverse, controlled by Facebook (that would highly likely be controlled itself) – a political candidate might be seen addressing millions, the non-profit posits. And the way the “metaverse” could be structured, each individual would actually be seeing a “customized” version of that address. Tl;dr: it would be the ultimate disinformation campaign.

TV and film editing pros will not be surprised by this “conspiracy theory” – even if the rest of us will need to research it to understand what the implication is.

The editing process – of “frankensteining” various components of a (scripted) video/audio, to appeal directly to an individual or a narrow group – has been present in the entertainment, and one dares guess, political campaigning industry for decades now.

But this is supposed to be a whole other level – one where the audience is recognized in real time to then blend some of their own features into those of a politician addressing them, for the sake of creating a subliminal “mirror” familiarity – i.e., mimicry.

https://reclaimthenet.org/rand-think-tank-calls-for-guardrails-on-the-metaverse/

Today I confronted Katie Hobbs (D) who is running for governor of AZ about her past convicted discrimination against black people, the Woke White Democrats of Arizona then deport me, a brown Latino man, out of their event for asking such a question

https://twitter.com/DrewHLive/status/1563695765326688257

“Give All This Information To The FBI. I Am Ready For Them To Find Me.” – MTG Swatter Taunts Police And FBI After Targeting Marjorie Taylor Greene With Fake 911 Call

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene joined Right Side Broadcasting Network’s Brian Glenn on Saturday evening, where they revealed the harrowing phone calls to 911 when she was swatted in an attempt on her life.

The hoaxer who tried to kill Greene later called the police back after they left Greene’s home to confess and dare the FBI to come find them.

“Swatting” is the action or practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address to kill a believed suspect.

This has happened before and resulted in police shooting innocent people.

NPR reported on a similar incident that led to the shooting death of Andrew Finch, an innocent 29-year-old man:

A Wichita, Kan., police officer who shot and killed a man in a “swatting” prank that went horribly wrong will not face charges over the incident, officials say. Andrew Finch, 28, died after a bogus 911 call brought police to his home days after Christmas.

In the 911 call last December, a man told police that he was calling from inside a Wichita house — and that he had just shot his father and was holding other relatives hostage. In reality, police say, the call came from Tyler Barriss, who was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with involuntary manslaughter.

As The Gateway Pundit reported — popular conservative Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was swatted Wednesday night at her home just after 1 AM.

Later that night, or early Thursday morning, they swatted her AGAIN!

We later reported on the never before seen security footage of police quietly rolling up and entering Marjorie Taylor Greene’s residence in response to a call that she shot and killed her husband at 1 AM Wednesday.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/08/give-information-fbi-ready-find-mtg-swatter-taunts-police-fbi-targeting-marjorie-taylor-greene-fake-911-call-video/

>>17460852 FACEBOOK TELLS MODERATORS TO ALLOW GRAPHIC IMAGES OF RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES BUT CENSORS ISRAELI ATTACKS

>>17460886

FTC files lawsuit against data broker for allegedly selling sensitive location-tracking information, including church and health clinic visits

On Monday, the United States Fair Trade Commission announced a lawsuit against mobile data broker Kochava Inc. for allegedly selling location information that can be used to track an individual's visits to medical care facilities, mental health clinics, places of worship, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and addiction recovery centers.

The FTC reported that the broker sold geolocation data for millions of mobile devices. The lawsuit accuses Kochava of exposing people to threats of stigma, stalking, discrimination, job loss, and physical violence.

According to Kochava's marketplace, its services provide "rich geo data spanning billions of devices globally." The broker claims that the location information "delivers raw latitude/longitude data with volumes around 94B+ geo transactions per month, 125 million monthly active users, and 35 million daily active users, on average observing more than 90 daily transactions per device."

In the lawsuit, the FTC alleged that Kochava provided a free trial of its location data services with minimal safeguards. To access the data of 61,803,400 mobile devices, an individual interested in using the broker's geolocation services would only need to make a free trial account. As a result, the FTC accused Kochava of failing to provide "any meaningful controls over who accesses its location data feed."

The case alleged that Kochava's precise geolocation data could provide enough details to identify people and expose sensitive information, "including places of religious worship, places that may be used to infer an LGBTQ+ identification, domestic abuse shelters, medical facilities, and welfare and homeless shelters."

The FTC accused the data broker of providing detailed sensitive information that could "injure consumers through exposure to stigma, discrimination, physical violence, emotional distress, and other harms."

Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated, "Where consumers seek out health care, receive counseling, or celebrate their faith is private information that shouldn't be sold to the highest bidder."

Levine said that by taking Kochava to court, the FTC hopes to stop the company from selling sensitive data. The lawsuit also seeks to require Kochava to delete existing sensitive geolocation information.

Reuters reported that the FTC is considering creating rules that would restrict businesses from collecting sensitive location data information without consumer consent.

In July, Google announced that it would begin purging user geolocation information for visits to "counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, abortion clinics, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, cosmetic surgery clinics, and other" locations that it considered personal.

Kochava could not be reached for comment, Reuters reported.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/ftc-sues-kochava-location-data

REPORT: Children’s Hospital CEO Doubles Down On Trans Surgeries For Minors In Letter To Employees

The president and CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital is doubling down on his hospital’s policy of offering transgender surgeries to underage children, according to emails obtained by independent journalist Chris Elston, also known as Billboard Chris.

Boston Children’s Hospital came under fire in August when publicly available video circulated in which the hospital advertised “gender-affirming” hysterectomies for underage children. The hospital also offered vaginoplasties to underage girls as young as 17, a policy they reversed after receiving backlash. An analysis from the Daily Caller News Foundation found that doctors performed 65 chest surgeries on transgender minors between 2017 and 2020.

“We stand firmly by our commitment to provide the best care for those who need it, and reaffirm our long-standing commitment to the LGBTQ+ community and to health equity and inclusion,” Boston Children’s Hospital President and CEO Kevin B. Churchwell reportedly wrote in an email to employees.

The email blamed a “highly politicized environment” for what the hospital claims is are false allegations made about the hospital’s policy concerning transgender surgery for minors.

“Unfortunately, there will be those who continue to mislead the public about the high-quality and safe care we provide,” Churchwell continued.

Boston Children’s Hospital did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.

https://dailycaller.com/2022/08/29/boston-childrens-hospital-ceo-trans-surgeries-minors-letter-employees-surgery/

>>17460944

Odessa mayor calls for Ukraine and Russia to negotiate

Compromises should be sought and confrontation avoided, the official believes

The mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa, Gennady Trukhanov, believes the conflict with Russia should be resolved politically. Kiev and Moscow should cease the hostilities and return to the negotiating table, he told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

Although he supports the idea of Ukraine “returning to [its] borders of 1991,” including Donbass and Crimea, Trukhanov maintains that these disputes should be resolved at the negotiating table, not the battlefield.

“The lives of millions of people are at stake,” therefore “it is necessary to negotiate step by step, to seek compromises gradually, to avoid confrontation,” the mayor said. He argued that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has made “many” mistakes while in office.

Trukhanov criticized the government for concentrating too much power in Kiev at the expense of the regions.

“[Zelensky] should have left more autonomy to regions and municipalities,” he said, adding that had the president listened to his suggestions and those of others, “the country would work better.” Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status and broad autonomy within the Ukrainian state, was one of the reasons cited by Moscow when it launched its military operation in Ukraine on February 24.

The Odessa mayor noted that Ukraine and Russia are “deeply connected by history, culture, language, religion, traditions.”

Nevertheless, Trukhanov condemned Moscow’s military operation, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “monster” who could even go as far as to drop a nuclear bomb on Ukraine. However, he does not believe that Putin intends to bomb Odessa.

The mayor also criticized the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities aimed at tearing down statues and monuments to Russian historical figures in Ukraine. “I am against taking down the statues. Even if we destroy the monuments, history does not change,” Trukhanov said, adding that removing statues of 19th-century Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin, and the first Soviet cosmonaut, Yury Gagarin, simply “does not make sense.”

The Kremlin signaled its readiness to strike a peace deal with Kiev in early August. President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said at the time that the two nations were close to settling their differences in a way that was acceptable to Russia back in spring, but the draft agreement prepared during a meeting in Istanbul was torpedoed by Ukraine. Moscow warned that if Kiev refuses to end the conflict in a diplomatic way, Russia will still achieve the goals of its military operation.

In mid-August, Ukraine ruled out any negotiations with Russia, arguing that talks would not serve Kiev’s goals. “The opportunity to win this war is much more important than any situational pause,” Zelensky’s aide, Mikhail Podoliak, said at the time.

https://www.rt.com/russia/561757-ukraine-mayor-zelensky-mistakes/