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Shares of Merck & Co surged on positive clinical trial results of its experimental antiviral COVID-19 pill while high-flying stocks of vaccine companies and makers of other coronavirus therapies were bruised.Merck shares jumped as much as 12.3 percent and hit their highest level since February 2020 after data showed the company’s pill molnupiravir could halve the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk of contracting severe COVID-19.Meanwhile, shares of vaccine makers such as Moderna Inc, Pfizer Inc, and partner BioNTech SE crumbled. Moderna shares fell 13 percent in midday trading, while Pfizer, which is developing a...

There’s a new poll from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia that has some talking.According to the poll, 52% of Trump voters surveyed and 41% of Biden voters “somewhat agree” or “strongly agree” that it’s time to split the country, agreeing that “the situation is such that I would favor [Blue/Red] states seceding from the union to form their own separate country.”Now, a lot of media are reporting this and emphasizing the Trump voter part (not so much the 41% pf Biden voters), so you have headlines like Newsweek’s “Majority of Trump Voters Want to Split the...

For home defense at a very budget constrained price, what do FReepers (or their sources) think: Semi-auto or pump action 12 ga. shotgun? Semi-auto will deliver the most stopping power in a very short time, but might it be less reliable? Other considerations?

Known for his violent crackdown on drug dealers and other unorthodox policy decisions that won him both admiration and hatred, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced Saturday that he would be retiring from politics after dropping his bid for the presidency. That Duterte is ending his political career so soon is ironic. Many western political analysts and high-handed scribes once condemned Duterte as a violent authoritarian who would shift the Philippines' political system closer to that of Russia's. However, that never happened. And now, Duterte, who is constitutionally forbidden from seeking another term as president, has decided not to run as...

Stephanie Grisham, White House press secretary to first lady Melania Trump, is out with a book that paints a deeply unflattering picture of Donald Trump — a man with a “terrifying” temper who ogled a young aide and tried to impress dictators while president, she writes. Grisham describes Melania as a Marie Antoinette figure who refused to condemn the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as Trump's supporters stormed the building to halt certification of 2020 election results. Grisham writes she texted Melania Trump as the scene unfolded. “Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the...

Massive gator swallows smaller gator whole

No western nation took getting their population “fully vaccinated” more seriously than Israel. They blitzed their people with mandates and lockdowns more fervently than even the United States, Great Britain, or Australia in the earliest days of the vaccine era and broke the 80% level first. As a result, the fading efficacy of the vaccines, in particular the Pfizer jabs that account for the vast majority of injections in the Jewish state, have forced them to push for boosters.Their Green Pass, the vaccine passport that allows citizens to enjoy the spoils of life while panning the unvaccinated, is changing tomorrow....

So much research has been done we essentially know the majority of the background details. The SARS-CoV-2 virus commonly known as COVID-19 was made in a lab by scientists. The virus then went from a lab to the global population in late 2019/early 2020. The epicenter of the outbreak appears to be one of the labs working on the virus in Wuhan, China. Those essential big picture items are no longer debated; although the Chinese government do not agree for obvious reasons.

Former world No. 25 Jeremy Chardy says he has a "series of problems" after taking the COVID-19 vaccine and his 2021 season is over. This summer, 34-year-old Chardy decided to get vaccinated and it didn't work out well for him. Chardy, now ranked at No. 73 in the world, claims he is unable to train and play. "Since I got my vaccine [between the Olympics and the US Open], I have a problem, I have a series of problems. As a result, I can't train, I can't play.[...] I prefer to take more time to heal myself and be sure...

Anthony Fauci is the ultimate bureaucrat. He is 80 years old and has worked for the federal government since the Lyndon Johnson administration. Apparently there is no expiration date for bureaucrats. Fauci has been wrong so often, and has contradicted himself so many times, that much of the public has lost confidence in him. Yet he clings to office like a superannuated senator. Yesterday Hugh Hewitt recited some of Fauci’s errors and contradictions, suggested that much of the public has lost confidence in him, and asked whether there are any circumstances in which Fauci would consider resigning for the good...

Here's a 2000s rock jam for you! Enjoy.

On May 7, 2021, during the peak of India's Delta Surge, The World Health Organization reported, "Uttar Pradesh (is) going the last mile to stop COVID-19."The WHO noted, "Government teams are moving across 97,941 villages in 75 districts over five days in this activity which began May 5 in India's most populous state with a population of 230 million." The activity involved an aggressive house-to-house test and treat program with medicine kits.The WHO explained, "Each monitoring team has two members who visit homes in villages and remote hamlets to test everyone with symptoms of COVID-19 using Rapid Antigen Test kits....

The health secretary has said he will not extend a deadline for staff working in care homes to be double-vaccinated, as unions and homes warn that it will cause a crisis in staffing levels.Staff in care homes who don't receive both vaccine jabs ahead of a looming deadline should "get out and get another job", Health Secretary Sajid Javid has warned. His warning comes ahead of the 11 November legal deadline for care home workers to have had both COVID-19 jabs, but some unions and care homes are warning that it could lead to a shortage of staff. Mr Javid...

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone is urging Catholics to fast and pray for the “conversion of heart” of pro-abortion Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). “A conversion of heart of the majority of our Congressional representatives is needed” on the abortion issue, Archbishop Cordileone said in a statement this week, “beginning with the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi.” “I am therefore inviting all Catholics to join in a massive and visible campaign of prayer and fasting for Speaker Pelosi,” the archbishop said, and to “commit to praying one rosary a week and fasting on Fridays for her...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at the A.R. Bernard-led Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn on September 26, 2021 An attorney for a conservative group argued in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan Wednesday that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has unfairly used God to encourage people to take COVID-19 vaccines as she argues there are no legitimate religious reasons to avoid taking them.On Thursday, a three-judge panel partly granted a motion by We The Patriots USA attorney Cameron Lee Atkinson on behalf of three clients who stated religious objections to taking the COVID-19 vaccine to...

Loss of smell is one of the main symptoms of COVID-19, alongside a loss of taste, persistent cough, and high temperature.A 12-week trial will look at whether nasal drops can help those who lost their sense of smell after having COVID-19. The "Apollo trial" will treat people who have experienced a loss of smell or altered sense of smell because of coronavirus using vitamin A nasal drops. The University of East Anglia (UEA) said research from Germany has shown the potential benefit of the vitamin, and its team "will explore how this treatment works to help repair tissues in the...

The NBA season is close upon us and there are some interesting developments that are blowing up the conventional wisdom on those refusing to get vaccinated.The League says that 5-10 percent of players have yet to be vaccinated. This presents a big problem because most major cities where NBA teams play have vaccine mandates that prevent players from participating unless they’ve been jabbed.The League has taken the position that if players won’t play, their pay will be docked. NBA players are paid by the game in most cases so this could get serious.After spending most of the last few months...

A Georgia Democrat has been slammed for saying she would rather keep a Confederate statue than raise a monument to black conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. State Rep. Donna McLeod, who is also black and was born in Jamaica, told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution she strongly opposes the idea of a statue for the conservative justice, who was appointed to the court in 1991 amid allegations of sexual harassment. McLeod is so against the proposal that she would prefer to leave standing monuments to the likes of Confederate soldiers and slave owners, she said. 'I'd rather them keep a Confederate...

BRIAN Laundrie shared a series of dark and disturbing posts about ghosts and witchcraft to Pinterest shortly before his fiancee Gabby Petito was found dead at a campsite in Wyoming. Laundrie, 23, is not currently considered a suspect in the death of Gabby, 22, but has been identified as a person of interest. Brian Laundrie's digital footprint has been raising questions in recent weeks Prior to his vanishing, Laundrie failed to report Gabby missing and refused to cooperate with a police investigation into her disappearance. In a statement issued by his attorney, Steve Bertolino, at the time, it was claimed...

For several months now, the Biden administration has tried to get Americans vaccinated. Things were going really well until the disastrous decision to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over a one-in-a-million chance of severe blood clots. Since then, vaccinations declined, and Biden’s target of 70 percent vaccination of U.S. adults by July 4 wasn’t met, and various efforts to boost vaccination rates have failed.Biden echoed that phrase last month when he announced his intention to impose a vaccine mandate. “This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it’s caused by the fact that despite America having unprecedented and a...