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Several of China's largest medical testing companies have posted big increases in profit for the first three quarters of the year, as the country's strict zero-COVID policy boosts spending in a minority of sectors while depressing the broader economy. Over the past two weeks, at least six such companies have reported a soaring jump in earnings. Shanghai Labway reported a 241 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit between January and September to 604 million yuan (US$82.70 million) while Guangdong Hybribio recorded a 130 per cent increase over that same period to 1.49 billion yuan, according to stock exchange statements.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tested positive for COVID for the second time in recent weeks despite a course of the antiviral Paxlovid. The “fully vaccinated” 53-year-old first contracted the virus on October 21, eventually tested negative, but then came down with symptoms again and is now home in Massachusetts isolating.CDC director Rochelle Walensky, who got five covid shots and still got covid, has now tested positive for covid again. The sixth shot will definitely keep all this from happening, guys.— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 31, 2022Like President Joe Biden, Chief...

Our thousands of nuclear weapons were designed, tested and built in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s to win the Cold War. None of these weapons has been tested since 1992, over a quarter century ago. Nor has a single new weapon been designed, tested or built during this same period. The tens of thousands of active nuclear weapons scientists in our three nuclear weapons labs have never designed, tested and built a nuclear weapon. Nuclear weapons are the most complex systems ever created by man. The detonation of a nuclear weapon is so complex that there are many activities and...

Canada’s federal government will likely drop its COVID-19 vaccine requirement for people entering Canada at the end of the month, a government source said on Tuesday. The source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was “likely” to drop the vaccination requirement on Sept 30. The Globe and Mail newspaper reported the news earlier on Tuesday. Canada will also drop random coronavirus testing on the same day, and make it optional to use its ArriveCAN app, where travelers have been required to upload their proof of vaccination, the source said. Canadian airports faced...

Last week we looked at the story of how the Biden administration quietly put an end to mandatory COVID testing for federal workers based on their vaccination status. The change was intended to bring the government into compliance with new, relaxed guidelines issued by the CDC. The changes were supposed to be in place by Monday, with compliance reports being sent to the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (an awkward name at best). But apparently not everyone got the memo or, if they did, they didn’t bother reading it. As of now, there is one massive portion of the government...

Gov. Phil Murphy signed the COVID-19 testing executive order Monday ... Phil Murphy has removed regular COVID-19 testing requirements for a swath of public employees, including unvaccinated school employees, child care workers and state contractors. Murphy signed an executive order Monday lifting the state's mandate that all school districts and state contractors ensure their employees are either vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive regular testing. The order comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) loosened its guidance on reducing spread of the virus. Murphy's order takes effect immediately for schools and child care workers, but the effect...

CDC has abandoned ship on cruise restrictions!

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is expanding monkeypox testing to commercial laboratories amid fears that the country is undercounting monkeypox cases because of insufficient testing. The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it began shipping moneypox tests this week to five private testing companies: Aegis Science, Labcorp, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics and Sonic Healthcare. The testing through these companies will begin in early July, HHS said. “These commercial laboratories will dramatically expand testing capacity nationwide and make testing more convenient and accessible for patients and health care providers,” the department said. Some public health experts...

In early May, 27-year-old Hayley Furmaniuk felt tired and a bit congested, but after rapid-testing negative for the coronavirus two days in a row, she dined indoors with friends. The next morning, her symptoms worsened. Knowing her parents were driving in for Mother’s Day, she tested again—and saw a very bright positive. Which meant three not-so-great things: She needed to cancel with her parents; she had likely exposed her friends; a test had apparently taken three days to register what her vaccinated body had already figured out. Tests are not and never have been perfect, but since around the rise...

The Biden administration will drop pre-departure COVID-19 international air testing requirements effective Sunday (Jun 12) at 12.01am after heavy lobbying from airlines and the travel industry. The Biden administration will announce on Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer require pre-departure COVID-19 testing for travellers coming to the United States after it determined based on the science and data that this requirement is no longer necessary. The CDC will do a reassessment of this decision in 90 days, the official said.

The National Football League (NFL) announced on Thursday that it would no longer test players for the virus regardless of their vaccination status. The decision, handed down by the NFL’s Management Council, was reported by NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero:

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)-– Before electronic chronographs became common, or ballistic gelatin was thought of, a standard for bullet penetration was the number of 7/8″ soft pine boards, spaced an inch or so apart, which the bullets would penetrate. In Pistols & Revolvers, Volume One of the N.R.A. Book of Small Arms, published in 1946, penetration of pistol and revolver cartridges are given in the number of 7/8″ pine boards the specific round would penetrate. Soft pine is not an easy standard to replicate. Trees grown in different areas have different densities, as do different species. The age of the wood can...

In a direct appeal to the Silicon Valley tech giants to censor "misinformation" on social media, former President Obama on Thursday unwittingly affirmed the contention of critics of the COVID-19 vaccines that the fact that clinical trials have not been completed makes the people who have received the shots part of an experiment."Despite the fact that we have now essentially clinically tested the vaccine on billions of people worldwide, around one in five Americans is still willing to put themselves at risk, and put their families at risk, rather than get vaccinated," he said in a speech at Stanford University."People...

Federal grant recipients broke the law while spending an estimated $246 million in taxpayer dollars for cannabis and e-cigarette animal experiments, a new report by a group opposing publicly-funded animal testing finds. White Coat Waste Project’s report, published Wednesday, highlights 10 instances of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funneling money to researchers experimenting with getting animals high on THC or making them consume nicotine. “The blunt truth is that tens of millions of tax dollars are going up in smoke for half-baked marijuana and vaping experiments on animals and NIH-funded white coats are breaking federal law by not disclosing...

Lockdown restrictions in China’s most populous city will soon be lifted in areas that go two weeks without reporting new cases of COVID-19, authorities confirmed Saturday. Large swaths of Shanghai have been under lockdown since March 28, and nearly all of its 26 million residents are confined at home, leading to complaints about shortages of food and other basic necessities.

What are you giving up for Lent? California State University is giving up academics — at least where standardized testing for admission is concerned.The school’s Board of Trustees issued the decision Wednesday.Due to the pandemic, CSU had temporarily axed ACT and SAT considerations. Now it’s been made permanent.Why would a school terminate tests which determine how good a student is at school in order to decide whether they should be let into a school that doesn’t let everyone in? Well, maybe the school lets everyone in. But according to CSU acting Chancellor Steve Relyea, it’s about leveling the playing field....

Soon, most travellers entering Canada will not have to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test, CTV News has learned. As of April 1, the federal government will be lifting the pre-arrival COVID-19 testing requirement at the border for fully vaccinated travellers. Passengers may still be subjected to random PCR testing at the airport, and travellers will still have to use the ArriveCAN app to enter their proof of vaccination and other required information, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault will be announcing the latest easing of pandemic travel restrictions on Thursday. As...

As the mainstream narrative about the origin of COVID-19 falls apart, it’s time to put other widely accepted facts about the virus—and the devastating measures they were used to justify—under the same scrutiny. On March 13, 2020, the public school district where I teach announced that all classrooms and buildings would be closed for two weeks. Then two weeks turned into two months, and two months turned into over a full year without in-person instruction. My school serves a diverse population of low-income students in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is impossible to overstate the severity of this disruption...

Legislative Democrats on Tuesday blocked an audit of COVID-19 testing failures that occurred during a spike of 1,100 nursing home deaths in Colorado during the 2020 Christmas season — the worst nursing home death rate in the nation. Democrats on the Legislative Audit Committee unanimously torpedoed the audit request by Republicans on a party line vote. PeakNation™ will remember the no-bid contract and $90 million awarded to Curative to provide the questionable testing, which reportedly produced false negatives on the most vulnerable of patients and could have led to the rapid spread of the virus. Now Coloradans will never know...

The Biden administration has ramped up COVID-19 testing and the plan was announced when typically more than 100 million Americans were about to begin holiday travel. Low or no-cost testing was available at local health centers and pharmacies nationwide throughout the fall. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Washington already had a free at-home test program in place by December. However, rapid tests cost $25 and were in short supply. Then, on December 21, as public health officials issued more dire warnings about the new Omicron variant, the White House announced it would start delivering up to 500 million free,...