Memorial wins court order to deny controversial drug ivermectin as COVID-19 treatment

Dean Olsen
State Journal-Register

A Sangamon County judge’s ruling Monday means an Auburn man hospitalized for COVID-19 at Memorial Medical Center will be denied a controversial drug thought to reduce viral complications, but normally used to treat people and animals for parasitic worms.

The wife of Randy Clouse, 61, lost her bid to force Memorial to allow her husband to receive ivermectin, a drug mentioned by Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham as a possible treatment for COVID-19.

“She should have a right to try to save her husband,” Ralph Lorigo, a lawyer from West Seneca, New York, who is representing Anita Clouse said at a 2½-hour hearing in front of Circuit Judge Adam Giganti.

But Springfield lawyer William Davis of Brown, Hay & Stephens, representing the Springfield hospital where Randy Clouse has been hospitalized almost six weeks, the last four of them on a ventilator, said ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment is unproven and potentially unsafe.

More: An animal dewormer to treat COVID? Poison control centers see uptick in calls; stores sell out

And Davis criticized the Chicago internist, Dr. Alan Bain, who prescribed the drug for Clouse and testified via video at Monday’s hearing. Davis said Bain failed to perform an adequate review of Clouse’s medical history and chose to ignore widespread medical advice on the use of ivermectin in COVID-19 patients.

“He wants to make Mr. Clouse a guinea pig,” Davis told Giganti before the judge denied Anita Clouse’s request for an injunction.

Bain said his study of the scientific literature and personal experience shows ivermectin is safe as a COVID-19 treatment. And he said he has empathy for Anita Clouse.

“I don’t think she could live with herself knowing that not everything was tried,” Bain said.

It’s unclear whether Lorigo will appeal Giganti’s ruling to the Illinois Appellate Court. Lorigo described Clouse’s condition as dire and ivermectin as a last-ditch effort to help him survive after conventional treatments.

Lorigo didn’t return a phone call and email seeking comment. Anita Clouse couldn’t be reached for comment.

Ivermectin isn’t approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Association for use in COVID-19 patients. The federal agency’s website contains a section labeled, “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.”

According to a USA Today Network story, interest in ivermectin is rising as the delta variant of the novel coronavirus has spurred higher COVID-19 transmission rates and increased concern among the vaccinated about becoming infected.
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Families of a handful of COVID-19 patients’ across the country have convinced courts to force doctors to use ivermectin, which also is not recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization.

Ivermectin in a pill form is used to treat parasitic worms in humans. A topical form of the drug is used to treat head lice and skin conditions such as rosacea, according to the FDA.

More:Ohio judge orders hospital to treat COVID patient with Ivermectin despite CDC warnings

Other forms of ivermectin are used to treat parasites in horses and cows and as a heartworm medicine for dogs.

Some initial research on ivermectin is underway, including six active clinical trials of ivermectin in the U.S. against COVID-19, according to a search of the U.S. National Library of Medicine's website, Clinicaltrials.gov. Most of the six trials call for ivermectin to be used with other drugs; all but one are small-scale, early studies. One study was withdrawn.

More study is needed, but there is “insufficient evidence to recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19,” the National Institutes of Health said.

Some farm supply stores label ivermectin products as unsafe for humans, and others pulled the product from the shelves to prevent customers from using it.

Multiple reports of patients treated or hospitalized after “self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses” led the FDA to issue a warning Aug. 21. “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the agency tweeted.

Randy Clouse, who reportedly was unvaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19 on July 21 and was admitted to Memorial the next day, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday by his wife, who is his guardian and medical advocate.

He was transferred to a Memorial intensive-care unit July 24, on a ventilator Aug. 3, and on dialysis Aug. 10, court documents said. His chances of survival are less than 30%, the documents said.

Memorial refused to administer ivermectin “despite the minimal downside and side effects” and even after Anita Clouse offered to release Memorial and any doctors from any liability, the documents said.

In a written response filed in court Friday, Memorial officials said Clouse’s medical condition is “presently improving,” and he no longer has an active COVID-19 infection.

“His treating physicians believe administration of ivermectin will likely result in kidney and lung damage, which can lead to organ failure and death,” Memorial’s response said. “Mr. Clouse already has weakened liver and kidney function (and) ivermectin is more likely to push these organs over the edge.”

Bain testified he has never examined Clouse in person and isn’t his primary care doctor. But Bain said he has seen a video of Clouse and reviewed Memorial medical records through Aug. 22 that were provided by Clouse’s wife.

Bain said 30 of the approximately 40 Illinois patients he has treated for COVID-19 are patients he hasn’t seen in person. He said he primarily has a “telemedicine” practice, and he has prescribed most of his COVID-19 patients ivermectin in combination with other drugs.

Bain said he has seen patients either get better because of ivermectin, or the drug has given “signals” that it is causing some benefit.

He cited the case of a 68-year-old woman with COVID-19 who was weaned off a ventilator and discharged from Elmhurst Hospital in suburban Chicago after Bain administered small amounts of ivermectin for 20 consecutive days in May.

The woman’s family, represented by Lorigo, persuaded a DuPage County judge to prohibit Elmhurst Hospital from stopping the woman from receiving the drug.

“I have not found any problems with the safety of this drug,” Bain testified Monday.

Giganti denied Lorigo’s request for a court delay for a day or two so Bain could review medical records of a cyst found on Clouse’s liver in tests Aug. 4 and Friday.

The judge said he was surprised Bain was still willing to recommend ivermectin even after learning of the cyst from Memorial’s attorney at Monday’s hearing.

“We have a paucity of time,” Bain said. “Everybody at the hospital is doing a good job. At this stage … we need to assure that this add-on happens. … It could save his life.”

Contact Dean Olsen: dolsen@gannett.com; (217) 836-1068; twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.

Bioethicist slams judge who ordered hospital to give ivermectin to severe COVID-19 patient

Sky Palma
August 31, 2021

(Shutterstock)

An Ohio judge ordered a local hospital to move forward with treating COVID-19 patient Jeffery Smith, 51, with the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin. But according to New York University bioethics professor Arthur Caplan, the judge's order was "absurd."

"If I were these doctors, I simply wouldn't do it," Caplan told Ars Technica.

The case was brought to court by Smith's wife Julie after he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and placed on a ventilator.

After her husband was on a ventilator for 19 days, Julie reached out to Dr. Fred Wagshul about using ivermectin to treat his condition, according to court documents. Wagshul prescribed 30mg of ivermectin to Smith, but the hospital staff refused to administer the drug.

As Ars Technica point out, ivermectin was initially developed as a treatment for river blindness and other parasitic infections. At high doses, ivermectin can cause serious side effects in humans, ranging from nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea to low blood pressure, seizures, coma, and death.

It has not been approved as a treatment for COVID-19 in humans. Nevertheless, it's been falsely touted in anti-vaccine circles as an effective treatment for the virus.

Ivermectin "is absolutely not indicated for COVID. There is no standard of care saying you have to use it. Indeed, major medical groups advising against using it because people have died from it," Caplan said, adding that the judge's order was asking hospital doctors to do something "unethical and illegal."
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"The doctors who are caring for the guy in the hospital are his doctors, not this guy," he said.

"The judge is trying to throw a life preserver to a dying man. The problem is what he's throwing is actually a 50 pound weight that'll sink him."

Dr. Ryan Marino 

Covid trends like ivermectin are deadly distractions. Why can't we stop them?

We need Americans to stop looking for false cures in the feed store — and just get vaccinated.

A person holds up a sign during an anti-mandatory COVID-19 vaccine protest held outside New York City Hall, on Aug. 9, 2021.

Andrew Kelly / Reuters file

Aug. 28, 2021
By Dr. Ryan Marino, emergency physician and medical toxicologist

"You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it." This actual tweet from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sounds better suited for an April Fool’s Day joke than for an actual federal health advisory posted just days before the FDA fully approved Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for those 16 and older.

It’s easy to joke about ignorant or desperate people taking horse dewormers, but misinformation like this really is deadly. Hydroxychloroquine was used off-label by many around the world, with devastating results, and the same thing is now happening again.



The internet was supposed to revolutionize how we share information. However, as we head into the second autumn of the pandemic with cases once again surging across the United States — despite a monumental vaccination effort — misinformation is still rampant. Risky coronavirus cures and unproven treatments, from hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to oleandrin and now ivermectin, prove an epidemic of science denial has flourished online.

Ivermectin is a medication widely used to treat parasitic infections in humans and animals. Some of the more common medical uses are against worms, mites and insects, like scabies and roundworms, and tropical diseases like river blindness. If you have a dog, you may know it as a heartworm medicine, and if you have livestock, like horses, cows and pigs, then you may know it as a deworming agent.

Ivermectin has shown antiviral effects at very high doses. However, it has never been proven to effectively treat or prevent viral infections in humans. Like much in vitro data, meaning research done on cell cultures in petri dishes, any positive findings have not been replicated in vivo in actual human subjects. And a quick look at this data suggests a reason why: The doses and concentrations necessary for antiviral activity are much higher than are safe for humans, and would be toxic to human life as well as viruses. If this sounds familiar it’s because the same misapplication of in vitro science has been used to promote hydroxychloroquine and disinfectants like bleach.

Right-wing media pushes people to animal anti-parasite drug as junk science Covid medicine   AUG. 20, 2021  04:29

Meanwhile, the human data on ivermectin tells a much different story. The available scientific evidence has consistently shown a lack of benefit in both treating and preventing Covid-19, and empiric evidence from widespread off-label use has objectively not made a difference. Notably, the only papers that showed any significant benefit for ivermectin have been retracted because they were fraudulent, but not before being shared hundreds of thousands of times around the world. The same disgraced Surgisphere server — a data sharing and analytics company that rose to prominence early in the pandemic — that posted fraudulent hydroxychloroquine science shared another fraudulent paper on ivermectin that set off this current craze.

That paper and Surgisphere no longer exist, but the damage is done. Another popularly shared study on ivermectin, which claimed to demonstrate better success than almost any other medical intervention in modern history, was also found to be falsified and was retracted. But again, only after being shared extensively online.

The pro-ivermectin crowd would have you believe that the science on ivermectin is being “suppressed.” It is not. Some of the largest scale scientific efforts ever have involved the study of ivermectin in Covid-19. Another claim is that the pharmaceutical industry does not want to lose potential profits to a relatively cheap, older drug. This claim conveniently ignores the fact that one of the only drugs with good evidence for use in Covid-19 is dexamethasone, a cheap, old drug that has been implemented worldwide during this pandemic. Even the manufacturer of ivermectin, the pharmaceutical giant Merck, has released statements warning against the use of their product for coronavirus, citing safety and efficacy concerns.

The pro-ivermectin crowd would have you believe that the science on ivermectin is being “suppressed.” It is not.

Groups of contrarian physicians have emerged to promote “cures” without adding any evidence, and despite names like “America’s Front Line Doctors” and “Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance,” their members often do not work clinically — meaning they do not actually have credentials to practice medicine in any hospital settings — and do not treat Covid-19 patients. The founder of FLCCC, who is not currently affiliated with any health care institutions, recently disclosed that he and his family came down with coronavirus despite taking his unproven ivermectin protocol. The AFLD is actually selling ivermectin prescriptions online, a conflict of interest.

True believers have turned to livestock preparations, which can be obtained at feed stores and other places that sell animal supplies without a prescription and without any oversight. And now poison control centers across the country are being overwhelmed with calls related to this off-label ivermectin use, because like most drugs that are used to kill pathogens, ivermectin can also easily be toxic to human life. Animal formulations, which are not FDA approved, usually contain higher concentrations and doses, making it much easier to get sick. But even human doses of ivermectin can have significant side effects and interactions. Not only are people poisoning themselves, there are now shortages of ivermectin for its legitimate uses and prices have skyrocketed.

Furthermore, the fixation on these false cures distracts from the tremendous achievement of Covid-19 vaccines, which we know not only prevent infection but also prevent disease severity in the way that ivermectin believers hope their drug will. I am a doctor and a scientist, and I desperately hope we discover more viable therapeutics for treatment of this pandemic. But here in the United States, we already have access to something much better: safe, effective, life-saving vaccines. Now we just need people to stop looking for false cures in the feed store and get vaccinated.


Dr. Ryan Marino
Dr. Ryan Marino is an emergency physician and medical toxicologist. Outside of the hospital he can be found countering misinformation about drugs and the people who use them on social media.

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

Covid mask and vaccination mandates aren't Christian persecution

Nothing in the Bible says you can’t wear a mask. But religious objectors know that.

THEY WANT CHOICE THEY DENY WOMEN OVER ABORTION

A demonstrator protests mask mandates at a meeting of the Jefferson County Public School Board in Louisville, Ky., on July 27.Jon Cherry / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Aug. 31, 2021, 2:30 AM MDT
By Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, fellow, Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative, Center for American Progress

Are mask mandates a form of Christian persecution? That’s the argument a California man is making after his two teens were sent home for violating their high school’s mask policy.

“The Bible says we’re made in the image of God and Satan tries to cover that up. A mask is a sign of oppression,” Gary Nelson told NBC News. And then it gets worse. He claimed that Muslims and Jews would have been accommodated but that the school administrators “feel safe” persecuting Christians.

When conservative Christians start mandating nudity, then they might have a claim about not covering up what God has created.

These claims are laughable. Nothing in the Bible says you can’t wear masks. And you don’t see anti-masker Christians arguing against wearing clothing or hats or sunglasses. When these conservative Christians start mandating nudity, then they might have a claim about not covering up what God has created.


The Nelson family isn’t alone in making this absurd claim. A Catholic school in Lansing, Michigan, has sued the state over its mask mandate and claimed that “because God created us in His image, we are masking that image.” Last year, a Republican legislator in Ohio refused to wear a mask, arguing in a Facebook post that the U.S. was founded on “Judeo-Christian Principles” that include “we are all created in the image and likeness of God.”
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The first part of his argument is a dangerous but common form of Christian nationalism; the second is a core tenet of both the Jewish and Christian religions. Where he goes into cringe-worthy territory is when he argues that “that image is seen the most by our face.” That’s simply not part of the biblical story in Genesis, and it has been manufactured out of whole cloth to serve an anti-masker agenda.

Author and pastor explains why as a Christian he got vaccinated

AUG. 18, 20211


It’s important to note a key distinction here between political beliefs and religious ones. No major religious groups in the U.S. are telling people not to get vaccinated or wear masks. The National Association of Evangelicals and Pope Francis have both voiced their support for vaccination efforts. Even Christian Scientists — the religious group perhaps the most doctrinally opposed to modern medical treatment — have encouraged members to “cooperate with measures considered necessary by public health officials.” Orthodox Jewish and Muslim leaders, as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have also voiced their support for the vaccines.

So why, then, are we seeing new news stories about (mostly conservative) religious communities pushing back against public health initiatives? Liberty University, an evangelical Christian school in Virginia, for example, is under a temporary campuswide Covid-19 quarantine because of a spike in cases. The school lifted building capacity restrictions and distancing and masking requirements for the fall, and it doesn’t require vaccination, unlike many other colleges trying to return to in-person teaching.

Liberty University’s reluctance to enact Covid-19 protocols has little to do with the Bible, however — and everything to do with politics. Evangelical Christians report some of the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy of any major religious group. And this is closely connected to their allegiance to former President Donald Trump and the GOP.


Sister Deirdre Byrne, who spoke in her nun’s habit at last year’s Republican National Convention, is now spreading lies about the Covid-19 vaccines. At an anti-vaccination conference, she said the vaccines are “diabolic” and claimed that the fight against them is a “battle between Our Lord and the devil.” That certainly sounds like a religious argument. But Byrne isn’t following church leaders on this issue — she’s following the conservative outrage machine.

I’ve watched the debate around religion and public health closely since the beginning of the pandemic. And I haven’t seen a single reasonable religious argument against masking, vaccinations or other public health orders. Instead, we’ve seen a steady stream of fringe arguments that distort religious doctrines in the service of conspiratorial political thinking. Far from there being a need for religious exemptions to Covid-19 measures, the world’s religions have a common obligation to do all we can to save lives during this pandemic. Thankfully, that’s also been the resounding message from most religious leaders, save a few outliers.

Besides political leanings, the other big factor driving conservative Christianity’s anti-mask and anti-vaccination movements is a shared persecution complex. Conservative Christians continue to claim persecution in the U.S., even when 7 out of every 10 Americans is Christian. The playbook looks familiar whether the specific issue is the design of Starbucks’ holiday cups, nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people or insurance plans that cover contraception. There’s a narrative of Christian persecution that has become so powerful that it’s now a central theme of the religious right’s political strategy (again, emphasis on political).

So no, obviously, the Bible doesn’t say protecting your nose from a virus is a sin. But the cultural narrative that makes that argument appealing to a fringe few is no laughing matter. Instead of trying to use religion to avoid a commonsense scientific solution to a deadly pandemic, I hope religious Americans (and nonreligious Americans) can instead focus on how we can protect one another and save lives. Because the Bible does have a lot to say about that.

Related:
Christian nationalism's Covid vaccine doubt threatens America's herd immunity

When Covid-19 rules are flouted by ultra-Orthodox Jews, it isn't anti-Semitism to call it out

Coronavirus exposes evangelical Christianity's flaws. But the church can be a force for good.

Breathing wildfire smoke can affect the brain and sperm, as well as the lungs
The Conversation
August 31, 2021

FILE PHOTO: Firefighters battle a fast-moving wildfire that destroyed homes driven by strong wind and high temperatures forcing thousands of residents to evacuate in Goleta, California, U.S., early July 7, 2018. REUTERS/Gene Blevins

Wildfires burning in the western U.S. are sending smoke into communities far from the fires themselves, creating hazardous air for days or weeks at a time. A lot of people are wondering: What does breathing all that smoke do to our bodies?

Wildfire smoke is a mix of chemicals and tiny particles that are small enough to evade the body's defenses and directly affect the lungs. But the damage may not stop there.

As environmental toxicologists, we have been investigating the health effects of wildfire smoke on humans, including on parts of the body that you might not expect: sperm and the brain.

Given the large number of people now breathing wildfire smoke each summer – numbers that are likely to increase as wildfire conditions worsen in a warming world – it's important to understand how wildfire smoke can harm your body and how to protect yourself.

Pollution can change sperm's genetic material

Urban air pollution, which has a slightly different chemical profile than wildfire smoke, has already been linked with harmful effects to the male reproductive system. Studies have shown how air pollution produced from sources like industrial stacks and automobile exhaust can affect sperm shape, their ability to swim and the genetic material they carry. However, few studies have looked at wildfire smoke as an independent source of toxicity.

One recent study found that baby rats born to parents that had been exposed to wood smoke could end up with behavioral and cognitive problems. That prompted our team at Boise State University, in collaboration with researchers at Northeastern University, to look closer at what happens to sperm of mice exposed to wildfire smoke.

Our goal was to look for small changes at the cellular level that might show us how negative effects could be passed from parents to the next generation. Mice aren't humans, of course, but damage to their systems can provide clues about potential harm to ours.

We simulated a wildland fire in the laboratory by burning Douglas fir needles and chose a smoke exposure amount similar to what a wildland firefighter with 15 years of service would experience. We found that this exposure in a mouse resulted in changes in sperm DNA methylation. DNA methylation is a biological mechanism that can regulate how a gene is expressed, kind of like a dimmer switch on a light bulb. Environmental factors can influence DNA methylation, and this can be harmful if it occurs at the wrong time of life or at the wrong gene.

We were surprised to find that the effects of wood smoke were similar to the effects of cigarette and cannabis smoke exposure on sperm. Much more work is still needed to understand if and how these changes in sperm affect the offspring they create, and what the effect is in humans. Studying populations with extreme levels of smoke exposure, like wildland firefighters, would help to answer these questions. However, very little data currently exists for long-term exposure monitoring and health tracking in this group of workers.

Links to Alzheimer's and other ways smoke affects the brain

Wood smoke exposure has also been linked to poor brain health, including conditions like Alzheimer's disease. There is data that suggests wood smoke exacerbates symptoms of cognitive decline such as loss of memory or motor skills.

In a recent review article in the journal Epigenetics Insights, we outlined the latest research showing how wildfire smoke particles or the inflammatory signals released by the immune system after exposure might reach the brain and contribute to these health problems.

One possibility is for very small particles to be inhaled into the lungs, escape into the blood stream and travel to the brain. A second possibility is the particles stay in the lungs but generate inflammatory signals that travel in the blood to the brain. Lastly, evidence suggests that particles may not need to travel to the lungs at all, but rather could get to the brain directly from the nose by following nerve bundles.

DNA methylation changes are especially crucial in brain areas like the hippocampus that are involved in learning and memory. If environmental exposures are changing DNA methylation, that may help to explain why Alzheimer's disease can affect only one identical twin even though their genetic code is exactly the same.

What can you do to stay safe?

The potential impact of breathing wildfire smoke on lungs alone should be concerning enough to make people think twice about their level of exposure. Now, we're seeing the potential for additional risks, including to the sperm and brain. Other research suggests connections between wildfire smoke and heart inflammation and the risk of pre-term births.

Read more: What's in wildfire smoke? A toxicologist explains the health risks and which masks can help

So, what can you do to lower your health risk during wildfire season?

Start by staying alert to wildfire smoke warnings. The Environmental Protection Agency and companies like PurpleAir have robust air monitoring networks with interactive maps that can show you how bad or good the air quality is in your area. You can also find low-cost air quality monitors.

In your home, change the filter on your furnace and air conditioner regularly and make sure it is the proper size. Portable HEPA air purification units in the rooms you spend the most time in can help, too.

Face masks can be a great tool when used properly. A mask labeled N-95 or higher is designed to filter out 95% or more of the harmful particles that get deep into the lungs, but only if they have the proper fitment. While cloth masks can help stop the spread of COVID-19, they do not do a good job of filtering out wildfire smoke particles. This is partly because they don't seal well on the face and because the material is not designed to capture dangerously small smoke particles.

As the planet warms and the West continues to dry, wildfire smoke is likely to become a common feature of summer. It's important to understand the health risks so you can protect yourself.

By Luke Montrose, Assistant Professor of Community and Environmental Health, Boise State University and Adam Schuller, Researcher in Biomolecular Sciences, Boise State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Apocalyptic videos show devastation near Lake Tahoe as California struggles to contain raging wildfire
Agence France-Presse
August 31, 2021



Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate Monday as a huge wildfire loomed over a major US tourist spot, filling the air with choking smoke.

The Caldor Fire has already torn through more than 270 square miles (700 square kilometers), razing hundreds of buildings.

On Monday it was roaring towards South Lake Tahoe, the main resort town in the popular holiday area that straddles the California and Nevada border.

"The firefighting conditions, the fuels, are historic," said Cal Fire Incident Commander Jeff Veik, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "We will put this fire out. (But) it's not going to be today."

The western United States is burning at an alarming rate, with over 2,700 square miles blackened by late August in California alone -- more than double the area consumed by this time in an average year.

The fires are being driven by a historic drought that has left swathes of the region parched, as man-made climate change takes a visible -- and painful -- toll, and people living in the area are forced to flee.

"I got a knock at 10 pm last night with a warning to be ready," South Lake Tahoe resident Corinne Kobel told the Sacramento Bee newspaper.

"At 10 am this morning, it was the sheriffs kicking us out. I am freaking out."

Kobel was among the 22,000 people ordered out of their homes on Monday morning, joining tens of thousands of others trying to escape the fire's relentless march.

- Traffic jam -

An AFP journalist witnessed streams of traffic leaving the city, with cars and RVs clogging the main roads.

Among those stuck on the road was Mel Smothers, 74, who was whiling away the time spent in a traffic jam by playing his violin.

Smothers, who has lived in Tahoe since the 1970s, said this was the first time wildfires had chased him out. But it wouldn't be the last.

"This is paradise, but you know with the recent fires, Lake Tahoe changed," he told AFP.

"This is the way it's going to be from now on. Every year now we have these fires.

"August is beautiful but probably it's going to be smokey from now on."

 

On Sunday as the fire tore through the Twin Bridges area, there were incongruous scenes as flames raged around ski lifts.

Snow cannon -- usually used to help keep the pistes covered in winter -- were turned on to try to keep the area wet.

Cal Fire director Thom Porter, said the fire had grown by more than 30 square miles overnight after the air above it cleared.

"When air clears, it's taking the lid off your pot of boiling water; all of a sudden there's that plume of heat and steam that comes out," he said, according to the Sacramento Bee.

"Same thing happens on a fire. Also sucks in oxygen from all directions, puts fire and spot fires in all directions."

- Winter sports spot -

The Caldor Fire began on August 14, and quickly spread through the Eldorado National Forest.

Smoke from the blaze has been threatening tourist spots around Lake Tahoe for a week, filling the air with a choking haze.

The alpine lake is known for its clear waters, and the areas surrounding it boasts spectacular scenery, including some of the most popular winter sports resorts in the western United States.

The blaze is one of scores across the region that are stretching the resources of local firefighters.

Further north, the huge Dixie Fire has ripped through more than 1,100 square miles in the six weeks since it erupted.

Thousands of firefighters and other emergency personnel are involved in battling the fires, which are fanned by gusting winds and fed by tinder-dry fuel.

Meet 'Big John': World's biggest triceratops on sale in Paris
Agence France-Presse
August 31, 2021

"Big John" is 66 million years old and has an eight-metre-long skeleton Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP

A Paris auction house will seek to sell in October the world's biggest known example of the dinosaur triceratops, known as "Big John", with the spectacular skeleton on show to the public beforehand, organisers said Tuesday.

The triceratops is among the most distinctive of dinosaurs due to the three horns on its head -- one at the nose and two on the forehead -- that give the dinosaur its Latin name.

"Big John" is the largest known surviving example, 66 million years old and with a skeleton some eight metres long.

It will be on display starting October 18 at the Drouot auction house in Paris, where it will be offered by the specialist auctioneers Giquello on October 21.

It is estimated that it will sell at 1.2 to 1.5 million euros ($1.4-$1.8 million), though dinosaur auction sales have proved very unpredicable in the past.

The dinosaur will be on display starting October 18 at the Drouot auction house in Paris Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP

The dinosaur has an export licence and there are a dozen possible buyers, said Alexandre Giquello of the Giquello house.

The two-metre-wide skull, some 200 bones and large horns of the animal were being assembled Tuesday behind the windows of a Drouot exhibition gallery in central Paris.

A unique specimen with the skeleton more than 60-percent complete -- including 75 percent for the skull -- Big John was discovered in 2014 in the US state of South Dakota by geologist Walter W. Stein Bill. Its restoration was carried out in Trieste in Italy.

This sale comes amid continued enthusiasm for dinosaur skeletons, with prices often reaching records that leave public museums and research centres unable to outbid private buyers.

The sale of "Big John" comes amid continued enthusiasm for dinosaur skeletons, with prices often reaching records Christophe ARCHAMBAULT AFP

In October, a rare allosaurus skeleton, one of the oldest dinosaurs, was auctioned in Paris to an anonymous bidder for over three million euros, twice its estimate.
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A few weeks before, a 67-million-year-old T-Rex skeleton was sold in New York for $31.8 million, smashing records for a dinosaur and far surpassing an estimate of $6 to $8 million.

In 2020, however, several dinosaurs offered in Paris did not find takers after minimum prices were not reached.

© 2021 AFP

WATCH: Woman goes on profane tirade against 'demonic entities' during school board meeting on masks
Travis Gettys
August 31, 2021

Concerned parent Melissa addresses Lee County School Board. (Twitter/Screenshot)

A woman unleashed a profane tirade about demons during a Florida school board meeting where a fistfight also broke out over masking rules for children.

The woman, who claimed to be a registered nurse and mother of two daughters, accused Lee County School Board members -- and others nationwide -- of being "demonic entities" because they were voting to require masks for 30 days as new cases of COVID-19 explode.

"These are demonic entities, and we need to stick together," said the woman, who identified herself as Melissa. "Remember, we have authority in Christ Jesus. These are demonic entities in all the school boards of all the United States of America, and all of us Christians are sticking together to take them all out."

Melissa, who was wearing a badge that read "mass non-compliance is the only way to end this nightmare," then appeared to issue a threat against police officers.

"All the police officers that kick us out for our First Amendment right will also be going down with them," she said. "Do you understand?"

She then appeared to argue that children should be allowed to catch the potentially deadly virus to confer natural immunity.

"I'm a nurse, infectious disease, 13 years -- masks don't work," Melissa said. "These doctors that were sneering at us like we're scumbags, they need to go back to f*cking medical school."

School board members issued a last warning to the woman for cursing and briefly cut off her microphone.

"They need to remember," Melissa said, once her microphone was restored, "natural immunity is best. You are all demonic entities, you are going to be taken down."

Her audio was shut off again and she continued shouting as a police officer escorted her away from the microphone.

 

   

Canada Can’t Risk Erin O’Toole

Like every other Conservative, Erin O’Toole has the wrong plan for Canada.

Canada Can’t Risk Erin O’Toole (cantriskotoole.ca)

A history behind Panjshir Valley and why it's yet to fall to the Taliban

20 AUG 2021



'My father was the first to negotiate with the Taliban'

Ahmad Shah Massoud: the man who saw tomorrow

Youth wave can alter the outcome of the upcoming Afghanistan polls

The Taliban is killing fewer civilians but a worrying new trend is emerging


Tucked away in the mountains, the region has withstood forces wishing to tame its population for 200 years. The Taliban are the only ones who've got a second chance.

Holed up in the last remaining region of Afghanistan not to be captured by the Taliban, rebel commander Ahmad Massoud implored for help, in a recent op-ed, that he's engaged in a fight for the "fate of Afghanistan but also for the West."

Whether "the West" wants to fund Massoud's mujahideen remains to be seen. But he was speaking from one of the most well-defended geographic positions in the country that has become synonymous with resistance: the Panjshir Valley.

Located in eastern Afghanistan, near the Afghan-Pakistan border, the Panjshir Valley has been a place that has garnered an almost mythical status when others have tried to take it.

In the 19th century, the region was untouched by the British Empire as they attempted to conquer Afghanistan. On a side note, the broader British occupation of Afghanistan was also a failure like America's today.

Panjshir Valley, which also means the 'five lions', also proved to be a formidable place for the Soviets to conquer during their occupation of the country in the 1980s.

During this time, the invading Russians encountered fierce fighters from the then resistance led by a man known as the "Lion of Panjshir." Headed by Ahmad Shah Massoud during the ten years of war that the country experienced, the Panjshir Valley remained unconquered.

"The Lion Tames the Bear in Afghanistan" was how one book described Shah Massoud's defence of this strategic region.

Today the son of Shah Massoud, Ahmad Massoud, wants to lead a similar resistance but this time against the Taliban.

Retreating to the family's safe haven and surrounded by the Taliban, the younger Massoud is seeking to rally an armed opposition by stirring the memory of his father and the region's history.

Described by travel writers as a place of high mountains and outstanding natural beauty, the place has earned an important status in the minds of people in Afghanistan.

It was there also that Shah Massoud led his resistance towards the Taliban between 1996-2001, who were also unable to take over the region.

During that period and bringing together different Afghan factions, Shah Massoud created the Northern alliance, which controlled the Easter and northern part of the country.

At its height, the Northern Alliance accounted for more than 30 percent of the country's population. By holding out against the Taliban for several years, the US worked with those ground forces to occupy the rest of the country and toppled the Taliban from power following the 9/11 contacts.

Shah Massoud was assassinated two days before the September 11 attacks, which were blamed on Al Qaeda.

The Panjshir Valley over and again has robbed outside conquerors of the ability to monopolise their rule, a thorn in the side of those trying to indicate that their rule over the country is absolute.

As long as one region held out and frustrated those trying to hold Kabul, the fear any new ruler may have is that resistance undermines the perception of power.

Today, however, this Panjshir Valley, which, unlike previous times, is now entirely surrounded by the Taliban, is seeking to mount yet another resistance.

The Americans or the Russians, two superpowers that have now been defeated in Afghanistan, are unlikely to start meddling again so soon.

During the time of the Northern Alliance, the Iranians were also supporting this grouping against the Taliban. Now the Iranians have come to terms with the Taliban.

Without backing and with the Taliban's lighting takeover in the country is indicative that Ahmad Massoud will have fewer resources than even his father to mount a resistance.

In his op-ed, he said, "We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father's time because we knew this day might come."

However, if the Taliban mount a military attack, Ahmad Massoud said, "our military forces and logistics will not be sufficient. They will be rapidly depleted unless our friends in the West can find a way to supply us without delay."

Having just made history after the American withdrawal and with the ghost in their sails, the Taliban may be tempted to knock another prized victory and tame the 'five lions.'

 

‘Conflict within conflict’: Wild animal attacks rise in Kashmir

Nearly 200 people have been killed and more than 2,000 others wounded in man-animal conflict in the region since 2011.

Leopard attacks have increased in Indian-administered Kashmir during the COVID-19 pandemic 

[Basit Zargar/Al Jazeera]

By Mir Seeneen

29 Jun 2021

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – For more than two weeks, hunter Shabir Ahmad clutched his weapon – a bore gauge gun that can shoot up to 80 pellets at a time – close to his heaving chest and scanned the lush forests of Indian-administered Kashmir like a hawk.

The hunter was looking for a leopard that mauled a five-year-old girl earlier this month while she was playing on her lawn in the Himalayan region’s Budgam area.

The child’s family heard her scream and ran outside, only to find her doll and footwear lying in the mud.

Ahmad works for the local wildlife department, which set up a wild animal nursery in Budgam, from where the leopard prowled out on June 4 and killed the girl, whose mauled body was found at dawn the next day.

Mourners carry the coffin of a five-year-old girl mauled to death by

 a leopard in Budgam [Basit Zargar/Al Jazeera]

Ahmad, who said he has rescued nearly two dozen leopards from different localities across the Kashmir valley and relocated them to wildlife sanctuaries or protected reserves, was hired to capture the leopard.

“But the man-eater who later turned out to be a full-grown female had perhaps sensed a massive hunt,” he told Al Jazeera.

“She surfaced closer to human habitations before we finally laid a trap for her.”

It was not an isolated incident. There has been a rise in human encounters with wild animals in the territory, with many calling it a “conflict within conflict”.

Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan, who rule over parts of it.

An armed rebellion to demand independence from India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan began in the early 1990s and has since claimed tens of thousands of lives, making Kashmir one of the bloodiest conflict zones in the world.

Now, the man-wild encounters are creating new anxieties in the restive region already grappling with the decades-old conflict.

Earlier this year, the region’s main city of Srinagar was rattled when an adult leopard sneaked into a housing colony. Black bears have also been seen roaming in the residential areas.

The surge in such encounters with wild animals spiked during the coronavirus lockdowns when people were confined indoors and the streets were empty. Those living in the vicinity of the green belts have been told by the authorities to be cautious.

According to official data, nearly 200 people have been killed and more than 2,000 others wounded in man-animal conflict in the region since 2011. Until June this year, at least 10 people have died and 141 injured in such conflicts.

More and more leopards are being captured and shifted to sanctuaries in Kashmir 

[Basit Zargar/Al Jazeera]

Experts blame deforestation for the rising attacks.

“It is a man-made disaster,” Kashmiri environment activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat told Al Jazeera.

“There has been massive deforestation in the Pir Panjal forest division in the last few years,” he said, referring to three forest ranges that saw most of the attacks by wild animals.

The wildlife authorities say they are trying to implement safety measures, particularly in residential areas near forests.

“As soon as we get a call regarding the presence of a leopard somewhere, the first course of action is to send the team on ground with a response time of not more than 10-20 minutes,” senior wildlife warden Altaf Ahmed told Al Jazeera.

“After scanning the whole area, our team looks for evidences like pugmarks or faecal matter and further establishes the most normal routine tract followed by the animal. Once the team picks their spots, they install automatic trap cages.”

The cages would contain a bait – a dog or sheep – to entice the leopard. “And that is exactly how the Budgam man-eater was caught,” said the warden.

Environmental experts link the crisis with climate change in the region, calling it an inevitable cause for the decreasing habitat for animals.

“As the climate changes, the floral biodiversity gets disturbed, creating a scarcity of food in the forests which compels the wild animals to take to streets,” Nadeem Qadri, a noted environmental lawyer from Kashmir, told Al Jazeera.

“There is also a misnomer among people that only deforestation leads to the degradation of their habitat. Going for the extraction of a rare medicinal herb, on which some mammalian species are dependent for food, is equally a reason for the conflict.”

Hunter Shabir Ahmad during the chase to find the leopard in Budgam forests

 [Courtesy: Abrar Matoo/Kashmir Dispatch]

The region’s wildlife department is planning to plant 80 percent of fruit and fodder trees to help the herbivorous animals get their food within the jungles. This, they believe, will help the carnivores get their prey inside the jungle itself.

“There is no need to panic as humans and animals are supposed to coexist,” wildlife official Rashid Naqash told Al Jazeera.

“But while animals have been sharing space with the humankind since the early times, the present crisis has been triggered by a lot of small green vegetations that have come up very close to the human habitations, offering a conducive environment for the leopards. And that’s how they adapted to this lifestyle and started to throng the urban areas.”

Naqash said there has been a significant change in land use in the region in the last 30 years, with human settlements going deep inside the forests, and orchards and crop fields overtaking wild spaces. And that is how, he said, the habitat of animals was disturbed.

“Humans have encroached upon the corridors and buffer areas that used to be between the forest area and settlement zones,” the wildlife official said. “Since animal-human interface has gone high, so has the conflict.”

Wild animals are usually more aggressive during the morning and evening hours and can even resort to killing humans during those times. That explains why the Budgam girl was attacked in the evening.

“A leopard would usually attack a small child since it would get an impression that it matches the size of its prey [sheep and dog] and can drag it easily,” Naqash said.

Authorities have also set up 22 control rooms to attend to SOS calls and have launched awareness programmes for the residents.

“The wildlife department cannot stop these incidents but we are trying to minimise damages by using electronic and print media to make people aware of the possible threats,” Naqash said.

Meanwhile, given the anger and anguish over the killing of the Budgam girl, hunter Ahmad said he was expected to go only for the kill.

“But we need to understand that leopards are designated endangered animals and only 14,000 are estimated to be left in the whole of India,” he said.

“While proper action has to be taken to prevent leopards from coming towards human settlements, encroachment of jungles and deforestation should be stopped on a war-footing to prevent these wild attacks.”