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Senior U.S. officials pivoted Thursday from warning of the threat that Russia could soon invade Ukraine to the firm expectation the invasion is about to begin.What they're saying: “If Russia doesn’t invade, we will be relieved that Russia changed course and proved our predictions wrong," Secretary of State Tony Blinken said today. But both he and President Biden made quite clear that they believe Vladimir Putin has chosen war, and Blinken went so far as to present the playbook the U.S. expects Putin to follow.First, Blinken told the UN Security Council, Putin will need a pretext. That could involve a...

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Question: Does adding ivermectin, an inexpensive and widely available antiparasitic drug, to the standard of care reduce the risk of severe disease in patients with COVID-19 and comorbidities?Findings: In this open-label randomized clinical trial of high-risk patients with COVID-19 in Malaysia, a 5-day course of oral ivermectin administered during the first week of illness did not reduce the risk of developing severe disease compared with standard of care alone.Meaning: The study findings do not support the use of ivermectin for patients with COVID-19.

For those keeping abreast of the news, we have seen the ongoing saga of the Canadian truckers take some interesting turns. The Canadian government has stepped up its repressive measures by arresting protestors, freezing the bank accounts of their supporters, and even threatening to kill their pets and take away their kids. Yet - this hasn’t really had the desired effect. Instead of scaring people, it seems to be galvanising many in support of the truckers. Supporters are forming human chains to protect truckers from arrest. People still continue to donate to their GiveSendGo despite dire threats of the theft...

Vice President Kamala Harris again threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday with “severe consequences” if he chose to further invade Ukraine. “We remain of course supportive of diplomacy as it relates to the dialogue and discussions we’ve had with Russia, but we are also committed to taking corrective actions to ensure there will be severe consequences in terms of the sanctions we have discussed,” Harris said. She will meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Scholz on Saturday and also deliver a major foreign policy speech to the conference of leaders. Biden and administration officials have warned for...

How many more studies need to show that mRNA vaccines present an unacceptable increase in the risk of cardiac complications for young men under 30? A new study, using data from the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VARES) published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), again shows an elevated risk of myocarditis in boys and men aged 12-29. The JAMA study shows the rate of cardiac side effects reported in the VARES system by age group. It covers the period from December 2020 through August 2021 for Americans older than 12. The researchers used medical claims data...

Could a much-delayed COVID-19 shot finally win over religious vaccine skeptics?That’s the question swirling around a vaccine made by Novavax, a Maryland biotech firm that submitted its request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 shot, also known as NVX-CoV2373.Although more than a year behind competitors such as Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, which were both cleared for emergency use in late 2020, Novavax’s two-dose vaccine has already been approved for use in other countries such as the U.K., and the company hopes to aid global inoculation efforts.But Novavax may have another unusual...

Illegal migrants traveling through Mexico on their way to the U.S. border sewed their mouths shut in protest. They demand that the National Migration Institute in Mexico provide free transit through the country so that they can reach the southern U.S. border. Migrants wait in Tapachula, a border city with Guatemala, for the National Migration Institute (INM) to do paperwork and, if officials grant permission, they continue on toward the United States. The dramatic gesture of sewing their mouths shut with needles and plastic thread was carried out by about a dozen migrants mostly from Central and South America. It...

Police are massing up against protesters in Ottawa. Protesters remain defiant. Zoke is a YouTube livestreamer and brave Canadian.

When Alberta RCMP released images of the weapons and tactical gear seized from a group that took part in the Coutts, Alta., border blockade, the pictures showed patches displaying a white diagonal line on a black background -- the calling card of the Diagolon far-right extremist group. Four men associated with the Coutts blockade have been charged with allegedly plotting to kill RCMP police officers, but the Mounties have not yet publicly commented on any possible connections with the group. Without naming any specific group, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino alluded to ties between protesters in Ottawa and the Coutts...

The poll found that that 57% of voters in competitive congressional districts agree with the statement, "Democrats in Congress have taken things too far in their pandemic response," and 66% of self-defined "swing" voters in competitive districts agree with that statement. White and Hispanic voters in competitive districts were equally as likely to agree (59%), while Black voters (42%) and Asian voters (46%) disagreed with the statement. The poll also did not define what "taken things too far" means. The DCCC found that critiques of COVID-19 restrictions were slightly less potent than other issues. In swing districts, 64% of voters...

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt said Thursday on FNC’s “Special Report” that media reports claiming Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign spied on former President Donald Trump was going too far in the assessment of Special Counsel John Durham’s filing last week. Friday, Durham filed a new motion in the case against attorney Michael Sussmann, who was indicted by a grand jury last year for making a false statement to the FBI about not representing Hillary Clinton while he was billing her. Anchor Bret Baier said, “Former Secretary of State former Senator, former First Lady Hillary Clinton talking to New York Democrats...

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has confirmed to TechCrunch that Jeren A. Miles, who had been a manager of global community development, is no longer employed by the company after a video went viral on YouTube, which was then reposted on Reddit and other sites, featuring him in a sting operation conducted by amateurs with the intent of catching paedophiles. The two-hour video, posted by an amateur group called PCI Predator Catchers Indianapolis on its YouTube page, does not depict Miles caught in any sex act, nor admitting to any specific sex act, nor admitting to intending to carry...

The Russian military on Friday announced massive drills of its strategic nuclear forces, a stark reminder of the country’s nuclear might amid Western fears that Moscow might be preparing to invade Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee Saturday’s exercise, which will involve multiple practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the Defense Ministry said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would observe the drills from the Defense Ministry’s situation room and supervise the practice missile launches himself.

RT correspondent Roman Kosarev, who is on the ground in Donetsk to report on the evacuation, has also confirmed that he heard the explosion. Images from the scene show a completely destroyed car in the parking lot about 100 meters or so outside the seat of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, with significant damage to other vehicles nearby. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Ukraine to sit down and negotiate with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine on Friday, citing escalating tensions in the region and calling once more for the implementation of the Minsk peace agreement. In a news...

He called Black Lives Matter activists “thugs.” He called “the transgender movement” “insane.” He called Covid-19 “a bioweapon manufactured by the Chinese Communist Party” to defeat Donald Trump. He talked about the “seep” of “illegals” at the border, describing the emigration of Haitians, Hondurans, Mexicans and Guatemalans as an “invasion” “funded” by George Soros, “orchestrated” by Barack Obama and “enabled” by Joe Biden. He said he didn’t believe in the separation of church and state because “there’s no such thing.” And he suggested he didn’t need or even want traditional GOP support. He made a fist and patted his chest...

Australian tennis player Alex de Minaur has denied wrongdoing after being linked to a Spanish police investigation of people suspected of paying for false COVID-19 vaccination certificates. De Minaur says he has “a completely valid, accurate and true vaccination record.”

The purpose of this post is to promote discussion of Ukrainian accession to NATO as a way to engage an aggressive neutrality in their local region. ------------------------------------------------------------ Russia Ukraine conflict 2022 Conservapedia page https://www.conservapedia.com/Russia_Ukraine_conflict_2022 The Russia-Ukraine conflict of 2022 included reports by the liberal media that Russia -- which Leftists despite because it opposes the homosexual agenda and is pro-life -- would attack Ukraine on February 16, 2022, which did not happen.[1] At issue is the Culture War as liberals in the West attempt to extend their agenda into Ukraine, which was formerly a member of the Soviet Union adjacent...

Controversial Global Vision Bible Church leader Greg Locke defended the deliverance ministry of his Tennessee congregation Wednesday, calling Christian critics challenging his decision to chase six suspected witches from his congregation "lukewarm" enablers of spiritual wickedness. "The message of deliverance is dangerous because it exposes the enemy for who he is. But like nothing else, it also exposes the lukewarm condition of the Church in America," Locke said during the Wednesday night service. He argued that many believers have "just got numb" to the fact the Bible states in Ephesians 6 that Christians "wrestle not against flesh and blood, but...

Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall have been set to host the 94th Oscars, which is returning to an emcee format for the first time since 2018. Deadline confirmed the news Monday. (snip) The search for host went through all kinds of manifestations. It has long been considered a thankless job, and that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. But last year’s host-less debacle made it clear they needed someone to center the telecast. The Academy first approached Dwayne Johnson, who took a pass. Entreaties to tandems like Pete Davidson and John Mulaney, and Steve Martin and Martin Short,...