NO SUCH THING

GOP embraces natural immunity as substitute for vaccines

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters and members of the media before a bill signing Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, in Brandon, Fla. DeSantis signed a bill that protects employees and their families from coronavirus vaccine and mask mandates. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republicans fighting President Joe Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandates are wielding a new weapon against the White House rules: natural immunity.

They contend that people who have recovered from the virus have enough immunity and antibodies to not need COVID-19 vaccines, and the concept has been invoked by Republicans as a sort of stand-in for vaccines.

Florida wrote natural immunity into state law this week as GOP lawmakers elsewhere are pushing similar measures to sidestep vaccine mandates. Lawsuits over the mandates have also begun leaning on the idea. Conservative federal lawmakers have implored regulators to consider it when formulating mandates.

Scientists acknowledge that people previously infected with COVID-19 have some level of immunity but that vaccines offer a more consistent level of protection. Natural immunity is also far from a one-size-fits-all scenario, making it complicated to enact sweeping exemptions to vaccines.

That’s because how much immunity COVID-19 survivors have depends on how long ago they were infected, how sick they were, and if the virus variant they had is different from mutants circulating now. For example, a person who had a minor case one year ago is much different than a person who had a severe case over the summer when the delta variant was raging through the country. It’s also difficult to reliably test whether someone is protected from future infections.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in August that COVID-19 survivors who ignored advice to get vaccinated were more than twice as likely to get infected again. A more recent study from the CDC, looking at data from nearly 190 hospitals in nine states, determined that unvaccinated people who had been infected months earlier were five times more likely to get COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people who didn’t have a prior infection.

“Infection with this virus, if you survive, you do have some level of protection against getting infected in the future and particularly against getting serious infection in the future,” said Dr. David Dowdy of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It’s important to note though that even those who have been infected in the past get additional protection from being vaccinated.”

Studies also show that COVID-19 survivors who get vaccinated develop extra-strong protection, what’s called “hybrid immunity.” When previously infected person gets a coronavirus vaccine, the shot acts like a booster and revs virus-fighting antibodies to high levels. The combination also strengthens another defensive layer of the immune system, helping create new antibodies that are more likely to withstand future variants.

The immunity debate comes as the country is experiencing another surge in infections and hospitalizations and 60 million people remain unvaccinated in a pandemic that has killed more than 770,000 Americans. Biden is hoping more people will get vaccinated because of workplace mandates set to take effect early next year but which face many challenges in the courts.

And many Republicans eager to buck Biden have embraced the argument that immunity from earlier infections should be enough to earn an exemption from the mandates.

“We recognize, unlike what you see going on with the federal proposed mandates and other states, we’re actually doing a science-based approach. For example, we recognize people that have natural immunity,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has been a chief critic of virus rules, said at a signing ceremony for sweeping legislation to hobble vaccine mandates this week.

The new Florida law forces private businesses to let workers opt out of COVID-19 mandates if they can prove immunity through a prior infection, as well as exemptions based on medical reasons, religious beliefs, regular testing or an agreement to wear protective gear. The state health department, which is led by Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who opposes mandates and has drawn national attention over a refusal to wear a face mask during a meeting, will have authority to define exemption standards.

The Republican-led New Hampshire Legislature plans to take up a similar measure when it meets in January. Lawmakers in Idaho and Wyoming, both statehouses under GOP-control, recently debated similar measures but did not pass them. In Utah, a newly signed law creating exemptions from Biden’s vaccine mandates for private employers allows people to duck the requirement if they have already had COVID.

And the debate is not unique to the U.S. Russia has seen huge numbers of people seeking out antibody tests to prove they had an earlier infection and therefore don’t need vaccines.

Some politicians use the science behind natural immunity to advance narratives suggesting vaccines aren’t the best way to end the pandemic.

“The shot is not by any means the only or proven way out of the pandemic. I’m not willing to give blind faith to the pharmaceutical narrative,” said Idaho Republican Rep. Greg Ferch.

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican and physician, along with 14 other GOP doctors, dentists and pharmacists in Congress, sent a letter in late September to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urging the agency, when setting vaccination policies, to consider natural immunity.

The White House has recently unveiled a host of vaccine mandates, sparking a flurry of lawsuits from GOP states, setting the stage for pitched legal battles. Among the rules are vaccine requirements for federal contractors, businesses with more than 100 employees and health care workers.

In separate lawsuits, others are challenging local vaccine rules using an immunity defense.

A 19-year-old student who refuses to be tested but claims he contracted and quickly recovered from COVID-19 is suing the University of Nevada, Reno, the governor and others over the state’s requirement that everyone, with few exceptions, show proof of vaccination in order to register for classes in the upcoming spring semester. The case alleges that “COVID-19 vaccination mandates are an unconstitutional intrusion on normal immunity and bodily integrity.”

Another case, filed by workers of Los Alamos National Laboratory, challenges their workplace vaccine mandate for civil rights and constitutional violations, arguing the lab has refused requests for medical accommodations for those workers who have fully recovered from COVID-19.

A similar lawsuit from Chicago firefighters and other city employees hit a bump last month when a judge said their case lacked scientific evidence to support the contention that the natural immunity for people who have had the virus is superior to the protection from the vaccine.

___

Associated Press Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.

Tunisian trial shines light on use of military courts

1 of 5

Yassine Ayari reacts during an interview in Tunis, Tuesday, Oct.12, 2021. Ayari, a 40-year-old Tunisian computer engineer turned corruption fighter, will stand trial again in a military court Monday Sept. 22. He is accused of insulting the presidency and defaming the army. It is the latest in a series of trials that shine a light on Tunisia’s use of military courts to push through convictions against civilians.(AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A few days after Tunisia’s president froze parliament and took on sweeping powers in July, a dozen men in unmarked vehicles and civilian clothes barged into politician Yassine Ayari’s family home overnight and took him away in his pajamas.

“These men weren’t wearing uniforms and they didn’t have a warrant,” Ayari told The Associated Press. “It was violent. My 4-year-old son still has nightmares about it.”

A 40-year-old computer engineer-turned-corruption fighter, Ayari will stand trial again in a military court on Monday, accused of insulting the presidency and defaming the army. It is the latest in a series of trials that shine a light on Tunisia’s use of military courts to push through convictions against civilians. Rights groups say the practice has accelerated since President Kais Saied’s seizure of power in July, and warn that its use further threatens hard-won freedoms amid Tunisia’s democratic backsliding.

The charges Ayari faces relate to Facebook posts in which he criticized Saied, calling him a “pharaoh” and his measures a “military coup.” Ayari intends to remain silent in court to protest the whole judicial process, according to his lawyer, Malek Ben Amor.

Amnesty International is warning of an “alarming increase” in Tunisian military courts targeting civilians: In the past three months, it says, 10 civilians have been investigated or prosecuted by military tribunals, while four civilians are facing trial for criticizing the president.

That’s especially worrying because Tunisia was long considered the only democratic success story to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago, and was long seen as a model for the region.

Most countries in the Middle East are now ruled by authoritarian governments, where military courts — ostensibly tasked with targeting threats to stability — are a tool for crushing dissent. Jordan and Egypt are among countries with a military court system, while Israel has established a separate military court system for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

An independent member of parliament, Ayari is known for criticizing Tunisia’s army and government and for his corruption investigations. One led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh in 2020 after Ayari published documents proving the leader had a conflict of interest.

Ayari says he has been tried by a military tribunal nine times, leading to three sentences.

“There is no law in military courts, no independence,” he said.

He is among the Tunisian legislators whose employment status was suspended after Saied dismissed the government and froze parliament on July 25.

“I have to figure out how I’m going to pay my bills. Now I’m asking my wife for 10 dinars ($3.50) to even go out and buy a pack of cigarettes,” Ayari said.

The Tunisian president’s surprise measures followed nationwide anti-government protests and rising frustrations with the North African nation’s political elite, who are widely perceived as corrupt and inefficient in the face of Tunisia’s growing coronavirus crisis and its economic and political woes.

Saied also revoked the immunity of lawmakers like Ayari, who was swiftly arrested. He was jailed in July for a 2018 charge of defaming the army in a Facebook post and sentenced to two months in prison.

Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia’s leader after independence from French rule, established a military justice code that gave military courts the right to try civilians for crimes that included insulting “the flag or the army.” Efforts to reform the military justice code since the 2011 revolution have stalled.

“Military courts are still under the undue control of the executive branch, as the president of the republic has exclusive control over the appointment of judges and prosecutors in these courts,” read a recent Amnesty report.

Saied’s critics say the army has become a political tool since July, noting that troops secured parliament when the government was dismissed, drawing comparisons with Egypt’s military coup in 2013. Tunisia’s army enjoys a high level of popularity and has traditionally played an apolitical role in the nation’s affairs.

The president ordered the army to take charge of the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, using their “image of strength and efficiency” to bolster his standing, political analyst Sharan Grewal said.

Saied is also “trying to get quick wins by using the military courts, which are in theory more reliable in the prosecution of certain members of parliament,” he said.

In September, Saied partially suspended the country’s 2014 constitution, giving himself the power to rule by decree. Saied has also taken aim at the country’s judiciary, whose ranks he claims are filled with corrupt judges who must “be cleansed.” Observers have called Tunisia’s political crisis a step back in the country’s democratic transition.

During his recent sentence, Ayari says he was filmed with video cameras in his cell and denied access to correspondence. Despite acute stomach ulcers, guards gave him cold food — contrary to medical advice. In protest, Ayari went on a two-week hunger strike.

Representatives of Tunisia’s National Body for the Prevention of Torture shared a report with the AP that corroborates some of Ayari’s claims, including rights violations and evidence of “humiliating and degrading” treatment that posed a risk to his health.

The Ministry of Justice didn’t respond to the AP’s requests for comment.

Ayari is now preparing for a possible new stint behind bars.

“I’m trying to eat as much as possible and sleep, because those two things are difficult to do in prison,” Ayari says. “This whole thing is not easy for my children. It is bad for their education: How are they supposed to tell the difference between right and wrong, justice and injustice, when they see their father get taken to prison?”

Amazon India target of police probe into marijuana smuggling

Police in central India allege Amazon India has been used for marijuana smuggling. Courtesy Jon Russell/flickr

Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Police in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh say they've brought charges against executives of Amazon India for allegedly using the company's e-commerce market to smuggle marijuana.

The charges are the latest in an ongoing investigation by the Madhya Pradesh police into the alleged smuggling that's resulted in multiple arrests, reports The Times of India. Police have found inconsistencies in the response from Amazon India and officials have complained the company has been uncooperative with the investigation.

"The company is earning hugely from this country and they have a social responsibility towards citizens," Manoj Singh, a local police official told the paper. "We had sent our team to their offices but nothing much happened. They are shifting the onus. We have emailed notices to the authorities concerned."

Police last week arrested two men alleged to have used Amazon India to smuggle 44 pounds of marijuana, reports TechCrunch. However, police haven't said how many executives have been arrested.

A spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch that the company complies with all applicable laws and doesn't allow illegal products to be listed.

"However, in case sellers list such products, as an intermediary, we take strict action as may be required under the law, when the same is highlighted to us," the company said in a statement. "The issue was notified to us and we are currently investigating it. We assure full co-operation and support required to Investigating Authorities and Law Enforcement agencies with ongoing investigations and ensure full compliance to applicable laws."

NASA taking aim at asteroid is first step toward planetary defense

By Paul Brinkmann

An illustration depicts NASA's DART spacecraft moments before crashing into the Dimorphos asteroid. Image courtesy of NASA


Nov. 21 (UPI) -- NASA's plan to whack an asteroid with a spacecraft to be launched late Tuesday from California is intended to provide insight into how humanity might prevent a collision with a planet-killing space rock, space agency officials said.

For the first time, a spacecraft will attempt next fall to smash into an asteroid as an experiment to show how such a space body could be deflected if it were headed toward Earth, Lori Glaze, NASA's director of planetary science, said Sunday in a press conference.

"I feel that once we've completed this test, we are going to learn an incredible amount and be so much more prepared in the future if, indeed, a potential asteroid could pose a threat," Glaze said.

But NASA doesn't know if it will learn everything it needs to know to defend Earth against such a deadly strike, officials said.

An image depicts the DART spacecraft nearing collision with the asteroid Dimorphos with the LICIACube small satellite, at left, observing. Image courtesy of Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins University

RELATED NASA chief calls for global effort to study asteroid threat

SpaceX plans to launch NASA's DART mission, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, at 10:20 p.m. PST Tuesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The Falcon 9 rocket will lift off at that time or wait for another launch window over a period of 84 days.

Many facts still are unknown about the outcome of the test, because NASA has little knowledge of the composition of the target asteroid -- Dimorphos, which is the size of a football stadium -- said Tom Statler, NASA's DART program scientist.

An illustration depicts the DART spacecraft nearing a planned collision with the asteroid Dimophos. Image courtesy of NASA

RELATED NASA plans crashing spacecraft into asteroid to study Earth-impact defense

"The issue of how prepared do we actually want to be -- that's a much broader discussion to be had across governments and the nations," Statler said. "In addition to being able to deflect an asteroid, we still need to study the sky and look for them."

The $330 million mission will fly to the Didymos asteroid system, which actually are twin bodies that circle each other.

The target asteroid, Dimorphos, is a satellite of Didymos. The DART spacecraft will fly into Dimorphos at 15,000 mph, after which Earth-based telescopes will monitor if and how the impact changes its path

.

RELATED Arecibo telescope collapse may complicate NASA asteroid mission

"It's so important that we track and monitor these small objects, as well as develop new techniques that can help us in the future to ensure that one of them and our planet Earth don't find themselves in the same place at the same time," Glaze said.

"This is a key test that NASA and other agencies want to perform before we have an actual need," she 

NASA chose the Didymos system of two asteroids because it offers a unique chance to obtain precise measurements from a small impact.

The DART spacecraft itself will be completely destroyed and throw out a cloud of debris, according to NASA, which also will help the agency measure the impact.

Target says it will be closed on US Thanksgiving Day -- from now on

IS IT A PAID DAY OFF FOR STAFF?


"What started as a temporary measure driven by the pandemic is now our new standard -- one that recognizes our ability to deliver on our guests' holiday wishes," Target's CEO said in a note to employees. File Photo by Mohammad Kheirkhah/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Big box retailer Target says it will keep all U.S. stores closed on Thanksgiving Day, which is something it did last year due to COVID-19, and will now do permanently.

The retail chain was effectively forced to close a year ago to keep away crowds and keep the virus from spreading.

Sales figures last year were better than expected, and Target now feels that online discounts and other opportunities can allow all employees to take Thanksgiving off.

Target CEO Brian Cornell said the chain is confident in its strategies to emphasize other days during the holiday shopping season, rather than any one day in particular.

The company said both store sales and digital sales grew in the third quarter by about 10% and 29%.

"What started as a temporary measure driven by the pandemic is now our new standard -- one that recognizes our ability to deliver on our guests' holiday wishes both within and well beyond store hours," Cornell wrote in a note to Target employees, according to MarketWatch.

Walmart, Target's chief rival, has also said that it will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.

$100 million donation from Jeff Bezos is Obama Foundation's largest


Rep. John Lewis, D-S.C., waits to lead members of the Congressional Black Caucus into Statuary Hall for the memorial service for Rep. Elija Cummings in 2019. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Jeff Bezos donated $100 million to the Obama Foundation in honor of civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis, the foundation's largest gift to date.

Bezos asked that the Obama Presidential Center -- which broke ground and expects at least a million visitors per year -- be named the John Lewis Plaza.

The foundation said that it's seeking to give opportunities to donors to name public spaces within the center. The center will include a presidential library, museum, athletic center and more.

"Dedicated public spaces at the center will honor civil rights icons, social justice heroes, and changemakers in public service, business, and entertainment," the foundation said.

The donation will help fund programs like the Girls Opportunity Alliance, My Brother's Keeper, the Global Leaders Program, and the Hometown Fund which supports Chicago's South Side.

Last week, Bezos announced $96.2 million in donations to a group working to end family homelessness and $2 billion in the climate crisis. He stepped down as the chief executive of Amazon in July and set out on philanthropic and business ventures.

Lewis died last year at age 80. He was a civil rights leader who worked to desegregate the Deep South and served in the House of Representatives for more than three decades.

CRIMINAL STATE CAPITALI$M
A $391 Million Fine Has China’s Board Members Quitting En Masse

Bloomberg News
Sun, November 21, 2021



(Bloomberg) -- China’s independent directors are quitting once coveted seats on the boards of listed companies, spooked by fines levied on five directors of Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co. that totaled hundreds of millions of dollars.

Independent directors of at least 20 companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges have resigned after a Guangzhou court ruled on Nov. 12 that some Kangmei executives and their external accountants were responsible for fabricating its financial statements. They were required to jointly compensate investors for a combined 2.5 billion yuan ($391 million) of losses.

Kangmei’s five independent directors are each liable for between 5% and 10% of the amount, equivalent to 123 million yuan to 246 million yuan, according to an exchange filing. They collected less than 200,000 yuan in annual director fees from the firm.

It’s rare for independent directors to be ordered to compensate investors in a civil litigation in China. The mass departures highlight a growing wariness among corporate executives as Chinese regulators crack down on the nation’s private sector, targeting industries from technology to education and more.

The securities regulator said it supported the court’s decision in one of China’s biggest fraud cases, which also saw Kangmei’s former chairman sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment. The watchdog had earlier vowed “zero tolerance” for market misconduct at its mid-year meeting.

Kangmei in 2019 disclosed that it had overstated its cash positions by $4.3 billion using false documents and transaction records -- an amount one lawyer said was unprecedented in China. The firm admitted to “serious” deficiencies in its corporate governance and internal controls.

Most firms cited personal reasons in recent filings for the resignation of their independent directors. In some cases, that left companies short of the mandatory requirement of having at least 1/3 of board members as independent directors.

In a previous clampdown in 2016, China targeted academics who sit on the boards of listed firms. That followed a 2013 ban on top government officials holding paid corporate positions as part of the nation’s anti-corruption drive. Four of the five independent directors from Kangmei teach at domestic universities, local media reported.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

Dior sparks local controversy over photo of Asian woman at Shanghai exhibition

Carl Samson
Fri, November 19, 2021

Dior has drawn criticism in China over a photo in its exhibition that purportedly caters to Western aesthetics vilifying Asian women.

Driving the news: The image, shot by Chinese photographer Chen Man, appeared in the French brand’s “LADY DIOR” exhibit in Shanghai. It shows an Asian woman wearing a traditional dress and holding a Dior bag to complete her look.

The photo, which was also posted on Dior’s Weibo page, soon became the subject of a hit piece from the state-owned Beijing Daily. The news outlet asked, “Is this the Asian woman in Dior’s eyes?” and slammed it for featuring “spooky eyes, gloomy face and Qing Dynasty armor.”

“The photographer is playing up to the brands, or the aesthetic tastes of the western world,” Bloomberg translated the publication as saying. “For years, Asian women have always appeared with small eyes and freckles from the Western perspective, but the Chinese way to appreciate art and beauty can’t be distorted by that.”


Controversial photo of Asian woman on Dior's Weibo
Image via Weibo

Some users pointed out that the image is reminiscent of Chen’s 2012 series called “Whatever the Weather,” which was shot for British magazine i-D. The series featured 12 women from different Chinese ethnic groups wearing modern spins on traditional clothing.

State-run Global Times took a more neutral approach on the issue. While reporting similar criticisms, the outlet acknowledged that some praised Chen’s work for departing from China’s own beauty standards, which include having large eyes and fair skin.


Photographer Chen Man
Image via Weibo

The big picture: The controversy has shed light on the need for international brands to exercise better cultural sensitivity in China, which has now become the world’s richest country. Dior has since removed the photo in question from its exhibition and Weibo account and so far escaped calls for a boycott.

This is not the first time Dior caused controversy in China. In 2019, the brand gave a presentation at a university that excluded Taiwan in a map of China. The ensuing backlash forced the company to issue an apology. “Dior always respects and upholds the one China principle, strictly safeguards China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and treasures the feelings of the Chinese people,” it said at the time, according to Reuters.

Still, Dior is only one of multiple luxury brands that have upset China over political and cultural insensitivities. In 2018, Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana released a series of ads that depicted Chinese people as lacking refinement in eating foreign food. Amid the scandal, co-founder Stefano Gabbana was also accused of calling China “the country of sh*t.” Fashion watchdog Diet Prada, which broke the controversy on Instagram, has been sued by the brand for defamation.

Featured Image via Weibo

Snakes are very useful. 'Leave the poor reptile alone.' | Commentary


Riley Davis
Sun, November 21, 2021

Among my friends and family, I’m known as the weird snake lover.

Because of that, every few weeks or so I’ll get a text with a grainy photo of a snake in a yard or by a local creek and some version of the message “let live or kill??” Nine times out of 10 it’s a harmless species of snake. But every single time, venomous or no, I’ll tell my friends to leave the poor reptile alone.

This isn’t borne out of my love for snakes, per se, even though I am definitely a fan (and because the most snake bites occur when humans try to move them). It’s because we understand so very little about a species that’s been feared and maligned for years. And as research continues and technologies evolve, one thing is becoming clear—snakes are potentially very useful in drug development, particularly venomous snakes.


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That realization has never been truer than this year. Just recently the University of Arizona published a study identifying a key molecular mechanism responsible for COVID-19 mortality: an enzyme related to the toxins found in rattlesnake venom. Now, researchers are exploring whether there are ways to engineer the enzyme to treat long-haul COVID.

The eastern indigo snake is a large nonvenomous snake native to the eastern United States.

Research on snakes has historically been slow and fragmented, and for understandable reasons. Snake encounters used to be fairly rare, especially in developed countries, and many venomous species are elusive. But as climate change shifts environments and human settlements grow, snake encounters have been on the rise in some parts of the world.

The good news is that as technological advances continue and databases grow in the genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics fields, our understanding of how venoms can lead to new medicines has started to flourish, and not just as treatments for COVID. One of the first blood pressure drugs approved for clinical use came from studying the venom of a pit viper. The blood glucose drug Byetta was created using the saliva of the Gila monster, a venomous lizard found in North America. The antiplatelet drug Aggrastat was derived from a molecule found in the saw-scaled viper.

Invasive pythons sliver north in Everglades: May mean snake 'population is expanding'

And we might even have a universal antivenom in as little as five years. That’s according to researchers at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Centre for Snakebite Research and Interventions who are studying how to use camels to produce more stable antivenom that doesn’t require cold chain storage. This is huge news, especially for people in rural parts of the world, because antivenom is currently prohibitively expensive and hard to transport.

All of this is to say that while I love snakes, this isn’t a love letter to them, or a reprimand to anyone I see on Facebook asking if they should kill the snake in their yard. It’s a call to pause and consider the future the next time you stumble across a snake—or other creepy crawly species—and decide you should unalive it. If at all possible, don’t. The vast majority of snake species are harmless. And even if you do encounter the venomous kind (or, as I like to call them, a spicy nope rope), your best bet is to live and let live. Because there’s a future not too far from now where that scaly creature could very well save someone’s life.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Commentary: Medical research, like on COVID-19, benefits from snakes

FORTEAN PHENOMENA

Florida history: What’s behind the mystery of Coral Castle?

Eliot Kleinberg
Sun, November 21, 2021

In June 2019, we visited the assault on South Florida by Category 5 Hurricane Andrew. Homes were leveled, down to the slab. Cars were turned upside down. Sailboats were flung into trees.

Down in southern Miami-Dade County, one place was unscathed – thus increasing the mystery of Coral Castle. Here’s more from a 1994 feature.

The storm did collapse the roof of the attraction’s gift shop. But not the rest of Edward Leedskalnin’s baffling legacy.

Coral Castle: A fanciful myth?

If winds estimated to have gusted at up to 200 mph could not budge the 1,100 tons of Florida coral – in pieces ranging in size from 6 tons to 30 tons – how did a 5-foot, 100-pound man lift and position them? Decades after his feat, no one has yet come up with answers.

Leedskalnin did not say; the Latvian immigrant worked in obscurity and died the same way in 1951. The attraction was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

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His works exalt various scientific laws, Florida, the family, and a lost love.

Leedskalnin carved and sculpted using only handmade pulleys and levers salvaged from car and railroad junkyards. He claimed he employed the long-lost secrets of the Pyramids.

Coral Castle is a sculpture garden near Homestead. From 1923 to 1951, Edward Leedskalnin single-handedly carved more than 1,100 tons of coral rock.

The works of Edward Leedskalnin

Among his creations:

• A 9-ton gate that swings opens with the touch of a finger.

• A table in the shape of Florida; the geographically correct, 8-inch indentation representing Lake Okeechobee is kept filled with water.

• A 20-ton, 20-foot-tall telescope with a circular cutout that constantly points to the North Star.

• A sundial that tells time and indicates equinox and solstice days.

• The “throne room,”' a collection of several chairs. In one, called the “mad rocker,” two people sit facing each other and rock. Another, called the “mother-in-law” chair, is identified as the most uncomfortable one.

• The “world’s largest valentine” – a 2½-ton heart-shaped table with benches said to honor the fiancee who jilted him back in Latvia around 1915. Deciding the 27-year-old Leedskalnin was too old for her, the 16-year-old girl had broken up with him the night they were to marry.

Heartbroken, he roamed through Canada, Washington state and California before ending up in Florida City, in what then was the frontier of sparsely populated South Florida. He opened his attraction to the public in 1920 as “Ed's Place.” It’s mentioned in the classic 1939 WPA Guide to Florida, which we covered in a February 2020 column.

In 1939, opting for greater visibility along U.S. 1 and fortune that was never to materialize, Leedskalnin moved his entire inventory to its present location. Borrowing a mule and a wagon, Leedskalnin hauled the colossal carvings 10 miles and set them in place.

Again, no one knows how he did it.

Florida Time is a weekly column about Florida history by Eliot Kleinberg, a former staff writer for three decades at The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, and the author of 10 books about Florida (www.ekfla.com).

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Coral Castle: A mysterious attraction built as a monument to lost love