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After spending more than 12 years as director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins is retiring this weekend. But he's no less worried about the public health agency's latest pandemic curveball. As the omicron variant threatens record-breaking rates of infections in the U.S., Collins departs with a warning. If Americans don't take COVID-19 seriously, the country could see 1 million daily infections, he said. "We cannot afford to let down our guard," Collins told NPR's Scott Detrow in an interview with Weekend Edition. After spending more than 12 years as director of the National Institutes of Health,...

<p>Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that he has tested positive for COVID-19.</p><p>May, 74, said he and his wife, Anita Dobson, had been “incredibly careful” and had been acting “very hermit-like” throughout the pandemic, but decided to go out to a birthday lunch for a friend earlier this month where all guests provided negative COVID-19 tests.</p>

An Irish grandmother who violated the nation’s mask mandate is to spend Christmas behind bars after being sentenced to a year in prison. Margaret Buttimer, a 66-year-old grandmother, will spend this Christmas behind bars after being sentenced to one year in prison for violating Ireland’s mask mandate, with six months of the sentence being suspended.

Three Trump-obsessed former generals penned a conspiracy theory laden op-ed for The Washington Post late last week warning of a potential coup and civil war in 2024 unless certain steps are taken now to nullify the threat. These steps include purging the military of those accused of wrongthink, making it “perfectly clear to every member” of America’s armed forces “whom they answer to” and prosecuting any Republican who challenged the 2020 presidential election results. Written by retired U.S. Army Gen. Paul D. Eaton, retired U.S. Army Major Gen. Antonio M. Taguba and retired U.S. Army Brigadier Gen. Steven M. Anderson,...

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared he is “committed” to ensuring new COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment will be administered to vulnerable Floridians. The long-acting AstraZeneca therapy known as Evusheld will be available to moderately to severely immunocompromised people like cancer patients, he said. “We are committed to doing the monoclonal,” DeSantis said Friday during a news conference, according to ABC affiliate Local 10. “We will make sure the dose sites are available.” The Sunshine State has just 3,100 doses of the antibody drug, favored by opponents COVID-19 vaccines, which will be given to the state’s hospitals and clinics that are performing such...

Jacob Frank claimed to be the reincarnation of Shabtai Zvi, advocated the transgression of Jewish law, especially sexual prohibitions, and led thousands to convert to Catholicism.December 10, 2021 marks 230 years since the death of Jacob Frank, a Polish Jew who claimed to be the messiah and reincarnation of Shabtai Zvi and who led his followers into a mass conversion to the Catholic Church. Born Jakub Lejbowicz in Podolia, Poland (now Ukraine) in 1726 - the name Frank was commonly given by the Ottomans to Eastern Europeans who frequently moved between the Polish-Lithuanian and the Ottoman Empire, as he did...

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he does not see a return to lockdowns if Americans got vaccinated. Guest host Jon Karl said, “So with that, and what you have described as, you know, the way to be prudent, the success of vaccines and boosters, we are not headed towards anything approaching the kind of lockdown we saw last year, are we?”

Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were. 40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat...

The Labor Department said on Saturday that it would delay until Feb. 9 the deadline for full enforcement of its rule requiring large companies to have their workers get coronavirus vaccines or be tested weekly, after weeks of legal battles created uncertainty and confusion for employers. The department’s move came a day after a federal appeals panel reinstated the Biden administration's rule requiring that companies with at least 100 employees mandate their workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus or face weekly testing by Jan. 4. The rule had also mandated that those employers require masks for unvaccinated workers by Dec....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S18Wl5W1b_s

Making the normal, abnormal and abnormal, normal

The decision not to require vaccinated players to receive a booster in order to remain “fully vaccinated” appears in a memo sent Saturday by Commissioner Roger Goodell to all teams.

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The newest protocols, at their very simplest, pull back on many of the old testing rules for vaccinated players. While unvaccinated players will still be tested daily, vaccinated players will only be tested if they report symptoms.

@ChadPergram Manchin to colleague Bret Baier on BBB: I’ve had my reservations from the beginning..I’ve done everything humanly possible..I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation.. I can’t get there..this is a no Manchin on to colleague Bret Baier on BBB: “That bill is a mammoth piece of legislation.” Says the only things Dems changed in the bill was the amount of “time” for different programs. “It hasn’t shrunk. The desire is always there” Manchin to colleague Bret Baier on BBB: Just vote. If that’s what people need to show where they are, just vote..this has been strung...

Christmas at the Christiansen’s Joe walked into the living room brightly decorated for Christmas. The tree glittered with all the decorations and packages underneath. He thought it odd how the Gold Star on the tree matched the star on the window as the snow fell silently in the background. The dull pain in his chest returned as he looked at the lone gold star stuck on the window. Joe looked at his lovely wife of 27 years, wondering when he would ever see that smile light her face again. He walked into the room all decorated for Christmas, minus the...

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Sunday urged Americans traveling over the upcoming holidays to get booster shots and always wear masks in crowded public spaces to help slow the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The easily transmissible variant is "raging through the world," and traveling will increase the risk of infection even among vaccinated people, Fauci said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press." "We are going to see breakthrough infection - there is no doubt about that," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,...

Fourth Sunday of Advent Luke 1:39-45 Friends, today’s Gospel tells the marvelous story of the Visitation. At the Annunciation, the angel had told Mary that the child to be conceived in her would be the new David. With that magnificent prophecy still ringing in her ears, Mary set out to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was married to Zechariah, a temple priest. No first-century Jew would have missed the significance of their residence being in "the hill country" of Judah. That was precisely where David found the ark, the bearer of God’s presence. To that same hill country now comes...

Savoring the Servant Savior. Jesus was begotten of God, a Son and a King! Jesus humbled Himself and lay down His heavenly crown; He came down to earth in the form of a man to serve and to seek those who were oppressed by sin and suffering and in bondage to an evil taskmaster. When Jesus was a child, He was obedient to His parents, and we are told “the child grew in wisdom”. Joseph was a carpenter by trade and Jesus served His father as an apprentice. When Jesus was about thirty, He was baptized by John and the...

Chiranjeevi lives in Hyderabad, India, with his young family. He is a smiley, glass-half-full kind of guy - naturally positive and full of energy. He's smart, too, and works in an Indian tech company. He's the least likely person, you'd think, to fall victim to an online scam. Yet in October he was defrauded out of his life's savings - $4,000 (£3,000). He couldn't believe it. "I was so stressed. I was just lost. I told my wife and she said, 'I thought you were intelligent. How did you lose so much money?'" He messaged me in late October out...