‘Baffling’: Trump admin reportedly slashing vaccine allocations to states — while millions of doses sit on shelves

REDIRECTED TO MAR A LAGO FOR THE 1%

Published on December 18, 2020 By Common Dreams

Donald Trump and Mike Pence (Shutterstock)

Officials from more than a dozen states say the Trump administration has informed them that next week’s Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine allotments to their jurisdictions are being substantially reduced, prompting confusion and outrage. The development comes even as Pfizer insists that it has millions of doses ready to ship if given instructions by the federal government.

Coronavirus inoculation in the U.S. began Monday as the country’s pandemic death toll surpassed 300,000. Hundreds of thousands of people—mostly frontline healthcare workers and nursing home residents whom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) agreed to prioritize—have already received their first dose of the vaccine.

But Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) tweeted Thursday that the CDC “has informed us that [Washington’s] vaccine allocation will be cut by 40% next week—and that all states are seeing similar cuts.”

“This is disruptive and frustrating,” Inslee added. “We need accurate, predictable numbers to plan and ensure on-the-ground success. No explanation was given.”

The Associated Press reported Friday that “California, where an explosion in cases is straining intensive care units to the breaking point, will receive 160,000 fewer vaccine doses than state officials had anticipated next week—a roughly 40% reduction.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said his state was also told it would receive a smaller shipment than expected, The Hill reported Thursday. In addition, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) on Wednesday said he “anticipates about half as many doses as was originally promised.”

Other affected states, AP reported, include Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, and New Hampshire.

Adding to the chorus of governors expressing concern was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who said Wednesday that “new shipments were ‘on hold,’ and that if they arrive, he is anticipating fewer doses than he was previously told,” The Hill reported. But unlike his colleagues in other states, DeSantis blamed unspecified “production issues.”

Pfizer on Thursday denied that underproduction is the cause of diminished vaccine distributions, instead assigning fault to the lack of direction provided by the Trump administration.

In a statement, the company said that it “successfully shipped all 2.9 million doses that we were asked to ship by the U.S. government to the locations specified by them.”

“We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses,” Pfizer added.

Gov. Whitmer levels Trump over vaccine delays: 

‘The bottleneck appears to be the White House’

Published on December 18, 2020
By Sky Palma 

Gretchen Whitmer 

During a press conference in Lansing this Friday, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer mentioned the recent death of Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon from complications due to the coronavirus, saying that he managed to contract the virus despite being very careful and following all the protocols while her voice cracked with emotion.

Whitmer went on to say that while heartbroken over Napoleon’s death, she’s also angry

“I’m angry because people like Benny are losing this battle every single day,” she said. “And I still cannot get a straight answer out of the Trump administration about why Michigan and many other states is receiving a fraction of the vaccines we were slated to receive.”


Whitmer said there are millions of Pfizer vaccines that are waiting to be shipped, “but the feds are slow-walking the process of getting the addresses to Pfizer for some reason I cannot get an answer to.”

According to a report from Crain’s Business, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that federal officials said that next week’s shipment of the Pfizer vaccine will drop from 84,000 doses to 60,000.

“This is decided at the federal level and subject to change,” spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said in an email to Crain’s.

Watch her full remarks in the video below:

Brazil’s Bolsonaro warns virus vaccine can turn people into ‘crocodiles’

Published on December 18, 2020
By Agence France-Presse

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has launched an attack on coronavirus vaccines, even suggesting that the one developed by Pfizer-BioNTech could turn people into crocodiles or bearded ladies.

The far-right leader has been skeptical of the coronavirus since it first emerged late last year, branding it “a little flu.” This week he insisted he would not be vaccinated, even while launching the country’s mass inoculation program.

“In the Pfizer contract it’s very clear: ‘we’re not responsible for any side effects.’ If you turn into a crocodile, it’s your problem,” Bolsonaro said on Thursday.

That vaccine has been undergoing tests in Brazil for weeks and is already being used in the United States and Britain.

“If you become superhuman, if a woman starts to grow a beard or if a man starts to speak with an effeminate voice, they will not have anything to do with it,” he said, referring to the drug manufacturers.

When launching the immunization campaign on Wednesday, Bolsonaro also said it would be free but not compulsory.

But the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the vaccine was obligatory, although could not be “forced” on people.

That means authorities can fine people for not being vaccinated and ban them from certain public spaces, but not force them to take it.

Brazil has recorded more than 7.1 million cases and almost 185,000 deaths from Covid-19 amongst its 212 million population.

Bolsonaro said that once a vaccine has been certified by Brazil’s regulatory agency Anvisa, “it will be available for everyone that wants it. But me, I won’t get vaccinated.”

“Some people say I’m giving a bad example. But to the imbeciles, to the idiots that say this, I tell them I’ve already caught the virus, I have the antibodies, so why get vaccinated?”

There have been a small number of cases of apparent reinfection although there is no certainty over whether a person can be reinfected or how long immunity lasts.

Bolsonaro caught the virus in July but recovered within three weeks.

Brazil is in the middle of a second wave of coronavirus infections.

After peaking in June to August cases had been dropping but that changed in November.

On Thursday, Brazil surpassed 1,000 daily deaths from covid-19 for the first time since September.

The country’s immunization program has been widely criticized for being late and chaotic, not least given Bolsonaro’s opposition.

© 2020 AFP

THE 1% GET VACCINATED FIRST
Watch MSNBC cover ‘Rupert Murdoch’s empire of misinformation’ at Fox News and the NY Post

....billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch was vaccinated on Friday — one day after Tucker Carlson questioned the vaccines on-air.

Published on December 18, 2020
By Bob Brigham

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch (Shutterstock)

The billionaire owner of Fox News and the New York Post tabloid was blasted on MSNBC as “one of the most destructive people on the planet.”

“For the past nine months or so, Rupert Murdock-owned media entities have by and large waged a war against public health and the scientific consensus on containing the coronavirus,” MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes reported.

“On Fox News and elsewhere, they’ve been playing down the virus and peddling just outright lies and pushing junk science and elevating cranks,” he noted. “All of which has tangibly, materially contributed to behavior that has made the pandemic worse.”

“And what makes it all the more infuriating — as we have noted — while Fox hosts have been dismissing the experts and suggesting lockdowns don’t work and ridiculing people that avoid the office and follow public health guidelines, many Fox News employees have been working remotely at the same time,” he continued.

Hayes noted that billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch was vaccinated on Friday — one day after Tucker Carlson questioned the vaccines on-air.

And then he went after the New York Post.

Watch:

Bombshell report: Jared Kushner set up shell company that diverted campaign cash to Trump family members

Published on December 18, 2020
By Travis Gettys

Jared Kushner (Shutterstock) 

Jared Kushner helped set up a shell company that secretly paid President Donald Trump’s family members and spent nearly half of his 2020 campaign’s funds.

The president’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser directed his sister-in-law Lara Trump, Vice President Mike Pence’s nephew John Pence and Trump campaign CFO Sean Dollman to sit on the shell company’s board, a source familiar with the operation told Business Insider.

The company, which was incorporated as American Made Media Consultants Corporation and American Made Media Consultants LLC, spent $617 million of the campaign’s $1.26 billion war chest, according to campaign finance records.

Trump’s top advisers and campaign staff told Insider they were unaware of how the shell company operated, and campaign officials even conducted an internal audit of its operations under former campaign manager Brad Parscale but never reported those findings, and the next campaign manager Bill Stepien had little involvement with AMMC.

“Nothing was done without Jared’s approval,” said a former advisor to Trump’s 2016 campaign. “What Stepien doesn’t know is because Jared doesn’t want him to know.”

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a civil complaint in July with the Federal Election Commission accusing the campaign of disguising” about $170 million in spending “by laundering the funds” through AMMC.

“[It’s a] scheme to evade telling voters even the basics on where its money is really going [and a] shield to disguise the ultimate recipients of its spending,” said Brendan Fischer, the center’s director of federal reform.

The Department of Justice may open a criminal investigation if the government suspects the payments were a “knowing and willful” violation of election law.

Several sources from the Justice Department and FEC told Insider that investigators may already be looking into the campaign’s activity.

“Lara Trump and John Pence resigned from the AMMC board in October 2019 to focus solely on their campaign activities, however, there was never any ethical or legal reason why they could not serve on the board in the first place,” said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign’s communications director. “John and Lara were not compensated by AMMC for their service as board members.”

Mausoleum of Rome's first emperor restored

 and ready to reopen

By Crispian Balmer

DECEMBER 18, 2020

ROME (Reuters) - After decades of neglect, one of ancient Rome’s most important monuments, the mausoleum of the first emperor Augustus, has been restored and will reopen early next year, city officials announced on Friday.

VIDEO Emperor Augustus’ tomb set to reopen to public

The mausoleum is the largest circular tomb in the world and was constructed in 28 BC near the banks of the river Tiber to house the remains of Augustus and his heirs, including the emperors Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius.

“This is an historic moment,” Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi told reporters, saying the site would open to tourists on March 1, with entrance free for all until April 21, the day the city marks its founding in 753 BC.




“To reopen a monument like this is a signal of hope as we look with good faith towards the future despite the uncertainties of the pandemic. We need to work for the future and maintain our traditions,” she said.

Once one of the most magnificent buildings in the city, it underwent many changes after the fall of the Roman empire, at one point becoming a fortified castle, then a hanging garden and subsequently an amphitheatre for bullfighting and firework displays.

At the start of the last century it was transformed into a huge theatre for concerts and operas before the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini ordered the dismantling of the auditorium as he sought to restore the landmarks of ancient Rome.

The site fell into disrepair over the years, trees grew from the walls and rubbish filled the pathways.



All that has been cleared and the structure has been made safe thanks to a 10-million-euro ($12.25 million) restoration, partly financed by phone company TIM.

Augustus helped transform Rome into a world-class city with his infrastructure projects. On his deathbed, he reportedly said: “Marmoream relinquo, quam latericiam accepi” (I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble).

The original marble cladding that adorned his tomb was plundered centuries ago and a statue that once towered over the building has long vanished, but tourists will get the chance to glimpse its past glories thanks to virtual reality tours.


Reporting by Crispian Balmer and Cristiano Corvino

Stunningly preserved ‘Cretaceous Pompeii’ fossils may not be what they seem

Fossils of the two beaked dinosaurs were discovered in China.

A remarkably well-preserved Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis 

fossil (IVPP-18343) from Liaoning Province in China.
(Image: © Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and 

Paleoanthropology/Photo courtesy of Elaine Chen)


Did a "Cretaceous Pompeii" doom a pair of dinosaurs, burying them in a deadly ash flow and preserving them in 3D like the human victims of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79?

Not quite, scientists revealed at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

The 3D preservation of two psittacosaurs — beaked dinosaurs with heads that resembled those of modern parrots, earning them the name "parrot lizards" — likely happened because the dinosaurs were huddled inside a burrow that filled with mud, fully covering the animals before they fossilized. Researchers presented their findings on Dec. 14 at AGU, which was held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paleontologists examined two Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis skeletons that came from northeast China's Yixian Formation in Liaoning Province. The Lujiatun outcropping within that formation is known for its rich deposits of Cretaceous fossils, many of which are preserved in 3D and even retain soft tissue, feathers or coloration, the scientists said at AGU.

Past studies proposed that the psittacosaurs and other 3D fossils at the site had been engulfed by either a pyroclastic flow (a dense and fast-moving river of ash, lava and volcanic gases) or a lahar, which is another type of powerful volcanic debris flow that adds mud to the deadly mix. Those flows rapidly encase any living thing in their path, which is exactly what happened at Pompeii, where an estimated 2,000 people perished and were frozen in time, their bodies preserved in gruesomely lifelike poses as layers of ash hardened around them.

Matrix samples from this P. lujiatunensis fossil (IVPP-18344) offered clues about how the dinosaur may have died. (Image credit: Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology/Photo courtesy of Elaine Chen)


Ancient grains

For the research presented at AGU, the authors sampled two locations in each P. lujiatunensis fossil: They extracted sediment grains from both the rocky matrix surrounding the skeleton and the matrix within the skeleton, and analyzed a type of mineral known as a zircon to determine how old those grains were. They found that many particles in the matrix outside the skeletons were very old, dating from 250 million to 2.5 billion years ago. However, the rocks in the Lujiatun deposits were much younger, only about 125 million years old.

The proportion of older grains was much higher than it would have been if the dinosaurs had been buried by the same pyroclastic flow or lahar that created the surrounding rocks, suggesting that earlier hypotheses of how the dinosaurs died "are implausible," lead researcher Elaine Chen, an undergraduate student at Columbia University in New York City, told Live Science in an email. Chen conducted her research during an internship at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Columbia's Earth Institute.

However, flowing rivers would be more likely to carry a range of older sediments. And if the dinosaurs were in a burrow that suddenly collapsed around them after flooding, that would have preserved the articulated skeletons in exquisite 3D, Chen said.

In September, another team of scientists described a new dinosaur species that they named Changmiania liaoningensis, or "eternal sleeper from Liaoning," that was also identified as a burrowing dinosaur. It was so named because the two individuals of that species found were preserved in 3D in what appeared to be sleeping poses, likely because they peacefully dozed off in an underground den just before they died, Live Science previously reported.

If the two psittacosaurs were also burrow-dwellers — which they were not previously thought to be — that could offer scientists intriguing new clues about the dinosaurs' behavior and social habits. But as these findings are preliminary, more research will be necessary to test this hypothesis, Chen said in the email.

Originally published on Live Science.

Massive 'Darth Vader' sea bug pulled from waters near Indonesia

The newly described species is one of the biggest isopods known to science.

Anterior view of Bathynomus raksasa, a new species of giant isopod.
(Image: © SJADES 2018)

By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer August 18, 2020

Buglike marine creatures that skitter across the sea bottom can grow to be as big as puppies, and a newly described species is one of the largest ever seen.

These crustaceans are known as isopods; the order Isopoda includes around 10,000 species that live in diverse habitats on land and in the ocean, and they can range in size from just a few millimeters to nearly 20 inches (500 mm) long. Of the ocean-dwelling isopods, the genus Bathynomus contains the biggest species; the newfound isopod, which turned up in the Indian Ocean in 2018, is among the largest of the Bathynomus species ever seen in the wild.

Named Bathynomus raksasa ("rakasa" is the Indonesian word for "giant"), the sizable sea bug measures about 13 inches (330 mm) in length, on average. It is the first new giant isopod species to be described in more than a decade, and is the first of these isopod behemoths to be found in waters near Indonesia, scientists reported in a new study.

Related: Marine marvels: Spectacular photos of sea creatures

Big or small, all isopods share many features, such as four sets of jaws, compound eyes, two sets of antennae, and a segmented body with seven sections, each with its own pair of legs, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Of the 16 previously described Bathynomus species, seven are considered to be "supergiants" — maturing at more than 6 inches (150 mm) long and then growing to be 12 inches (300 mm) or more, according to the study, published online July 8 in the journal ZooKeys.

Scientists compared the Bathynomus raksasa specimen (left) to a closely related supergiant isopod, B. giganteus (right) . (Image credit:Sidabalok CM, Wong HP-S, Ng PKL (ZooKeys 2020))




Researchers identified B. rakasa during the South Java Deep Sea Biodiversity Expedition; they collected two specimens, a male and a female, off the southern coast of Java, at ocean depths between 3,117 and 4,134 feet (950 and 1,260 meters). The unique shape of B. rakasa's head shield and abdominal segments, as well as the large number of spines — 11 to 13 — on its abdomen, indicated the supergiant is a new species, the scientists wrote in the study.

During the 2018 expedition, scientists were excited to discover the deep-sea Bathynomus isopods, a genus sometimes "affectionately" referred to as "Darth Vader of the Seas" (perhaps for their heads that resemble the Sith Lord's helmet), according to the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum's website. Museum collections specialist and expedition member Muhammad Dzaki Bin Safaruan held up a giant isopod while onboard the Indonesian research vessel Baruna Jaya VIII, in a photo shared by the museum on Instagram that year. "The staff on our expedition team could not contain their excitement when they finally saw one," museum representatives wrote in the post.

"The identification of this new species is an indication of just how little we know about the oceans," said study co-author Helen Wong, a researcher with St. John’s Island National Marine Laboratory, part of the Tropical Marine Science Institute at the National University of Singapore.

"There is certainly more for us to explore in terms of biodiversity in the deep sea of our region," Wong said in a statement.

Another team of scientists in 2019 captured rare — and gruesome — evidence of deep-sea isopod behavior, Live Science previously reported. Underwater video showed a group of these giant sea bugs as they ripped apart and feasted on the corpse of an alligator, which the researchers had submerged in the Gulf of Mexico to observe how bottom dwellers might consume this windfall of a meal.

Giant marine bugs that gorge on alligator carcasses may sound unsettling, but massive isopods' much-smaller cousins are arguably even more terrifying. Parasitic isopods known as tongue biters or tongue-eating louses devour fishes' tongues by siphoning off the tongue's blood supply as the organ slowly withers; the parasites then take the tongue's place in a still-living host's mouth.

Originally published on Live Science.

2 calves of one of world's most endangered large whales spotted

The birth of these babies brought hope for a critically endangered whale species.

A North Atlantic right whale calf was spotted on Dec. 4, 2020. 

This calf was born to 13-year-old Chiminea.
(Image: © CMAquarium)

Two rare newborn North Atlantic right whale calves were recently spotted in U.S. waters, according to news reports.

This is hopeful news, as the North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are critically endangered with only about 400 of them left in the wild, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries.

Biologists from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida spotted the first of the calves on Dec. 4 near Cumberland Island, Georgia. The young whale was born to 13-year-old Chiminea, who is believed to be a first-time mom, according to CNN. The second calf, found off Vilano Beach in Florida on Dec. 7, was born to 16-year-old Millipede and was seen swimming alongside bottlenose dolphins.

Related: In photos: tracking humpback whales

The North Atlantic right whale breeding season, which runs from mid-November to mid-April, is an important time of year for researchers to monitor the number of calves that are born.

Historic whaling left the species on the brink of extinction by the early 1890s, according to NOAA. Though whaling is no longer a serious issue for right whales — thanks to an international moratorium on whaling set up by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) — other human impacts have kept their numbers low. Entanglement in fishing gear, vessel strikes and increasing ocean noise pollution from human activities all pose a serious threat to their survival, according to NOAA.

The last three years in particular have been very challenging for North Atlantic right whales. Since 2017, the North Atlantic right whales have been experiencing what NOAA calls an "unusual mortality event." They report that during this time, 32 of these whales died and 13 were seriously injured due to entanglement and vessel strikes.

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This year's breeding season also got off to a poor start after a calf was discovered dead on the shore of a barrier island off North Carolina at the end of November, according to a statement from NOAA Fisheries.

"With a population at such low levels, every individual counts, and it is great to see these two new calves at essentially the beginning of the calving season," Jamison Smith, the executive director of the Blue World Research Institute, who took photos of the newborn whales via drones, told CNN.

However, there is still a long way to go. To maintain their population, at least 20 calves a year need to be born, according to NOAA, USA Today reported. But in the last four seasons, North Atlantic right whales have failed to achieve this target, only birthing a combined total of 22 calves.

Originally published on Live Science.

Huge methane cache beneath Arctic could be unlocked by the moon

Methane release changes with the tides.

In this digital reconstruction, methane can be seen rising as flares from the sea floor.
(Image: © Andreia Plaza Faverola)

By Patrick Pester - Staff Writer a day ago LIVE SCIENCE

The moon could be affecting how much methane is released from the Arctic Ocean seafloor, a new study finds. 

The tides, which are controlled by the moon, affect how much methane is released from seafloor sediments: Low tides mean less pressure and more methane released, while high tides create more pressure, and therefore less methane emission.

The research was conducted in the west-Svalbard region of the Arctic, with the findings published Oct. 9 in the journal Nature Communications.

"It is the first time that this observation has been made in the Arctic Ocean. It means that slight pressure changes can release significant amounts of methane. This is a game-changer and the highest impact of the study," study coauthor, Jochen Knies, a marine geologist at the Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE), said in a statement.

Related: 10 signs Earth's climate is off the rails

Methane is a greenhouse gas, which contributes to global warming by trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere. Huge methane reserves lurk beneath the seafloor and ocean warming is expected to unlock some of that trapped methane. So understanding how the tides impact these seafloor methane emissions is important for future climate predictions.

To find this tidal effect, the team measured the pressure and temperature inside the sediments and found that gas levels near the seafloor rise and fall with the tides.

By using a permanent monitoring tool they were able to identify methane release in an area of the Arctic Ocean where it has not previously been observed.

"This tells us that gas release from the seafloor is more widespread than we can see using traditional sonar surveys,” study co-author, Andreia Plaza Faverola, a marine geologist and geophysicist at CAGE, said in the statement.
Image 1 of 2

A full moon in Tromsø, Norway. (Image credit: Maja Sojtaric)

Their discovery implies that scientists have been underestimating greenhouse gas emissions in the Arctic.

"What we found was unexpected and the implications are big. This is a deep-water site. Small changes in pressure can increase the gas emissions but the methane will still stay in the ocean due to the water depth. But what happens in shallower sites? This approach needs to be done in shallow Arctic waters as well, over a longer period. In shallow water, the possibility that methane will reach the atmosphere is greater," Knies said.

This newly discovered phenomenon also raises questions about how rising sea levels and ocean warming, both of which are caused by climate change, will interact. Because high tides reduce methane emissions, it's possible rising sea levels, which come with higher tides, might partially counterbalance the threat of increased gas emissions being caused by a warming ocean.

Originally published on Live Science.

BRAIN-EATING AMOEBA IS SPREADING IN UNITED STATES, SCIENTISTS SAY

AND WE HAVE CLIMATE CHANGE TO BLAME.

BY VICTOR TANGERMANN / DECEMBER 17 2020

According to a new study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Naegleria fowleri, better known as the “brain-eating amoeba,” is slowly making its way northwards from the southern United States — and we’ve got climate change to blame.

The news isn’t quite as gloomy as it sounds, Live Science reports. The actual number of yearly cases isn’t increasing; it’s just that they’re occurring over a larger geographic range.

The single-celled organism behind the infections is usually found in warm bodies of freshwater, including lakes and rivers. Once a person is infected — an exceedingly rare occurrence usually resulting from swimming or diving in infected waters — the amoeba travels from the nose into the brain.

Once there, the organism can kick off a nasty brain condition called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). And yep, according to the CDC, PAM is “usually fatal.”

The good news: there have only been 34 infections reported in the US in the last ten years, according to CDC data.

Since the amoeba prefers warm waters, up to what Live Science reports to be a hot-tub-like 113 degrees Fahrenheit, an upward shift in global temperatures caused by climate change is giving N. fowleri new opportunities to expand north over the last 40 years, according to the CDC study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases this week.

The study, which examined CDC data from 1978 t0 2018, found that new cases moved northwards at about 8.2 miles per year.

“It is possible that rising temperatures and consequent increases in recreational water use, such as swimming and water sports, could contribute to the changing epidemiology of PAM,” the paper reads.

Deadly 'brain-eating amoeba' has expanded its range northward

The organisms' expanded range may be due to increased temperatures from climate change.


(Image: © Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

By Rachael Rettner - Senior Writer 2 days ago

Deadly "brain-eating amoeba" infections have historically occurred in the Southern United States. But cases have been appearing farther north in recent years, likely because of climate change, a new study finds.


The study researchers, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), examined cases of this brain-eating amoeba, known as Naegleria fowleri, over a four-decade period in the U.S. They found that, although the number of cases that occur each year has remained about the same, the geographic range of these cases has been shifting northward, with more cases popping up in Midwestern states than before.

N. fowleri is a single-celled organism that's naturally found in warm freshwater, such as lakes and rivers, according to the CDC. It causes a devastating brain infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is almost universally fatal. Infections occur when contaminated water goes up a person's nose, allowing the organism to enter the brain through the olfactory nerves (responsible for your sense of smell) and destroy brain tissue. Swallowing contaminated water will not cause an infection, the CDC says.

Related: 5 key facts about brain-eating amoebas

Because N. fowleri thrives in warm waters, up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius), it's possible that warming global temperatures may affect the organisms' geographic range, the authors said.

In the new study, published Wednesday (Dec. 16) in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the researchers analyzed U.S. cases of N. fowleri linked to recreational water exposure — such as swimming in lakes, ponds, rivers or reservoirs — from 1978 to 2018. They identified a total of 85 cases of N. fowleri that met their criteria for the study (i.e. cases that were tied to recreational water exposure and included location data.)

During this time, the number of yearly reported cases was fairly constant, ranging from zero to six per year. The vast majority of cases, 74, occurred in southern states; but six were reported in the Midwest, including Minnesota, Kansas and Indiana. Of these six cases, five occurred after 2010, the report said.



A map showing cases of Naegleria fowleri infections tied to recreational water in the U.S. from 1978 to 2018. (Image credit: CDC/Emerg Infect Dis. 2021 Jan)

What's more, when the team used a model to examine trends in the maximum latitude of cases per year, they found that the maximum latitude had shifted about 8.2 miles (13.3 kilometers) northward per year during the study period.

Finally, the researchers analyzed weather data from around the date each case occurred, and found that on average, daily temperatures in the two weeks leading up to each case were higher than the historical average for each location.

"It is possible that rising temperatures and consequent increases in recreational water use, such as swimming and water sports, could contribute to the changing epidemiology of PAM," the authors wrote.

Efforts to characterize PAM cases, such as knowing when and where these cases occur, and being aware of changes in their geographic range, could help predict when it's riskiest to visit natural swimming holes, the authors said.

Since there is no rapid test for N. fowleri in water, the only sure way to prevent these infections is to avoid swimming in warm freshwater, the CDC says. If you choose to go swimming in warm freshwater, you can try to avoid having water go up your nose by holding your nose closed, using nose clips or keeping your head above water.

Originally published on Live Science.

Climate emergency: elections in spotlight as crucial decade begins

Katie Kouchakji

Friday 18 December 2020

In October, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a historic majority in elections, with her party’s platform including a pledge to achieve a 100 per cent renewable electricity system by 2035. She has since declared a climate emergency and that her government will be carbon neutral by 2025.

In South Korea in April, President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party won a majority in the National Assembly in the county’s legislative election, following a campaign that included a commitment to a Green New Deal and a net-zero goal.

These results represent victories for campaigning platforms that included strong climate action as part of the recovery from the Covid-19-induced economic crisis.

“Having a pro-climate action White House will be a critical part of mobilising greater ambition and reinvigorating multilateralism

Nathaniel Keohane

Senior Vice-President at Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, DC

‘Time is of the essence on climate – we’ve lost a lot of time in the past two decades’, says Roger Martella, former General Counsel at GE and Council Member of the IBA Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law.

In New Zealand, James Shaw, Minister of Climate Change and co-leader of the Green Party, is however feeling ‘increasingly confident about the direction of travel. The level of consensus that we built up in the last term in getting the Zero Carbon Act through with unanimous support of the House has meant that there is a level of openness … and an understanding that [climate change] is real and we need to make some really tough calls.’

In the US, meanwhile, Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election in November is seen as a turning point.

‘It’s not an exaggeration to say the outcome of this US presidential election will have pretty fundamental implications for global climate action’, says Nathaniel Keohane, Senior Vice-President at Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, DC. ‘Having a pro-climate action White House will be a critical part of mobilising greater ambition and reinvigorating multilateralism.’

Biden has pledged to bring the US back into the Paris Agreement, a move welcomed by the climate community. ‘I don’t expect much of a honeymoon for a Biden administration’, Keohane says, with expectations high for Biden to table more ambitious reduction targets under the 2015 deal. ‘The fork in the road couldn’t be clearer, both for the US and for the world.’

International treaties, while not law, help drive action by keeping the collective pooling of sovereignty together, says Tom Burke, Co-founding Director and Chairman of think tank E3G. ‘The more the world is all moving in the same direction at a global level, the more you strengthen the hand of those people who want to deal with the problem and want to change the way the economy is structured to deal with the problem’, he says.

Another pivotal ballot is Germany’s September 2021 general election, which will anoint Angela Merkel’s successor as Chancellor.

‘Merkel has been a really staunch champion of [combatting] climate change, for a very long time’, says Burke. ‘She has been consistent in her application to the issue and, clearly, she’s the most influential leader in the EU.’

The relationship between the EU, China and the US is pivotal for climate action, with Merkel’s leadership having made a difference to the EU’s stance, he says.

The EU and China are among those which have put forward net-zero pledges in recent months, which Keohane describes as ‘game-changing’.

For Australia, China’s net-zero emissions by 2060 pledge ‘has huge implications … in terms of our trade and regional security relationships as well’, says Emma Herd, the Sydney-based Chief Executive Officer of the Investor Group on Climate Change.

South Korea and India have also adopted emission reduction targets, and over 50 per cent of Australia’s key trading partners have committed to carbon neutrality by 2050, if not sooner – a fact that will influence Australia’s path forward.

‘It’s not surprising that climate change is so hard in Australia, given we are a carbon intensive economy’, says Herd. This challenge has given rise to the so-called ‘climate wars’, which have led to flip-flopping policy in the country for over a decade.

Australia’s next federal election is due in 2022, with a smattering of state elections first. The state elections are important to watch, says Herd, as policy implementation happens at a state level, for example in energy infrastructure.

Shaw remains optimistic that climate action globally will accelerate and that leaders will rise to the challenge. ‘What will happen is that the effects of climate change will continue to accelerate and be felt by a greater number of people, and that will make inaction less tolerable than it has been in the past’, he says.

However, he compares responses to the climate emergency as being similar to those to Covid-19, in the sense that by the time an outbreak is recognisable, it’s already two weeks too late. ‘So if you’re already feeling the effects of climate change, and that’s what’s giving you the conditions to make the right decisions, it’s kind of like, “well, look behind you”.’

These delays in acting will lead to a more disruptive and costly transition than if steps were taken in advance of these effects being felt, Shaw says. He points to extreme fires in Australia and California as ‘the canary in the mine’, rather than being the ‘new normal’.

Despite these early warning signs, climate action in the latter part of the last decade has been stymied by an increase in populist and nationalist politics and climate denialism – enabled by President Trump.

Shaw believes a change of US leadership will have a mitigating effect on this trend, but worries that, given the pressures and economic distress resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and the misfiring response in many places, there could easily be the conditions for greater authoritarianism in some places, with significant implications for climate policy.

Having successful green recoveries from Covid-19 could help resolve some of the resentment and divisions that fuel populism, says Burke. ‘If the lessons from Covid-19 are learned and translated into a broader view of policy … there is reason to hope because you’ll deal with some of those underlying resentments’, he adds.‘But there’s no guarantee of political success for anything.’

‘There is a sense of urgency that is different from before’, says Martella, noting that climate action has been driven forward in the US with efforts by investors, business groups and non-governmental organisations regardless of national politics. ‘The world has just fundamentally changed in the past few years’, he adds.

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GOP group claims its carbon tax is better for the economy than climate mandates
by Josh Siegel, Energy and Environment Reporter | WASHINGTON EXAMINER
| December 18, 2020 

A Republican-backed group pushing for Congress to pass a carbon tax is out with a new study Friday showing it would achieve the same level of emissions reductions as a regulatory approach while producing better economic outcomes.

The group, the Climate Leadership Council, is seeking to shore up support for its carbon tax and dividend proposal as policymakers have gravitated toward other ideas.

Democrats, including President-elect Joe Biden, are instead embracing regulations and mandates for combating climate change, while Republicans oppose new taxes or regulations and are offering more limited policies. The council, led by former Republican Secretaries of State James Baker III and George Shultz, is seeking to counter that.

“The intent of this study was not to criticize any particular regulation, however, if our objective is to find a global solution to climate change and rapidly decarbonize in a way that promotes the economy and where U.S. families come out ahead, it’s clear our solution is the best approach,” Greg Bertelsen, CEO of the Climate Leadership Council, told the Washington Examiner.

The council commissioned the firm NERA Economic Consulting to model its proposal for a carbon tax beginning at $40 per ton, increasing 5% every year. The proposal, dubbed a “carbon dividend,” would return the revenue to taxpayers through equal quarterly payments to offset higher energy prices.

The study found the plan would cut carbon emissions in half by 2036, about the same as an approach featuring a mixture of regulations and mandates.

But the carbon dividends policy results in an additional $190 billion per year in gross domestic product, on average, and by 2036, annual GDP is $420 billion higher under that method.

The subsidy to taxpayers also would translate into greater purchasing power for households, as most lower- and middle-income people would collect more in dividends than they pay in increased energy costs.

By 2036, annual consumption per household is $1,260 higher with the carbon dividends approach than projected under the regulatory scenario.

The study attributes those benefits to the idea that the “price signal” from the tax would encourage energy producers and other businesses across the economy to switch to cleaner, non-fossil fuel alternatives.

By contrast, a regulatory approach that tackles each economic sector on its own is more siloed and could force some sectors to make higher-cost reductions.

The regulatory scenario projected in the study would consist of a mixture of policies.

These include a clean energy standard for electricity and efficiency targets for homes and buildings, a subsidy program to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles, requirements for coal plants to adopt carbon capture technologies, stricter vehicle fuel efficiency standards, and a ban on fossil fuel leasing on federal lands.

Biden has broadly endorsed most of those policies, while his climate plan, as he proposed in the campaign, does not mention a carbon tax. But Bertelsen said the council is “delighted” that Biden is nominating Janet Yellen to be his Treasury Department secretary. Yellen, an economist and former Fed chair, is a longtime carbon tax supporter who has specifically endorsed the dividend approach as a founding member of the council.

“We know in working with Dr. Yellen that she cares deeply about finding a pragmatic solution to climate that promotes economic growth,” Bertelsen said.

Critics of carbon taxes say it’s attractive in theory but does not stand up to political reality.

Carbon taxes have routinely been rejected by voters in states, while more than half of states have been able to enact some form of clean electricity standard or mandate.

“I really worry that the ONLY carbon tax/dividend scenario that is examined is an idealized system and there is no evidence that such a system could exist in the real world,” David Victor, a professor at University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, told the Washington Examiner in an email.

Joseph Majkut, director of climate policy at the Niskanen Center, said that "regulations might have more immediate traction" but "a carbon tax offers efficiency and well-understood designs to help households."

Noah Kaufman, an economist at Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy, said the council’s study adds to a “mountain of evidence showing that some form of carbon pricing is going to be part of a cost-effective decarbonization strategy.”

But Kaufman told the Washington Examiner that a carbon tax would be more effective if it were implemented alongside a portfolio of other climate policies, including regulations and standards.


“So, to some extent, this study sets up a false choice, because I'd expect some combination of the two scenarios to be more cost-effective than either one,” said Kaufman, who used to work at NERA Economic Consulting but was not involved with its study for the council.

Women's mass grave sheds light on female victims of Spanish Civil War



By Juan Medina


FARASDUES, Spain (Reuters) - Archaeologists in northeastern Spain have uncovered the mass grave of 10 women killed by a fascist firing squad in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, drawing attention to the often overlooked plight of women in the conflict.

Well preserved white buttons trace a path up some of their spines, the last remnants of the clothes they wore on the day they were executed on Aug. 31, 1936 after being snatched from their homes in the village of Uncastillo the previous night.

Their bodies were dumped in a narrow pit in the local cemetery in neighbouring Farasdues, in the region of Aragon.

Mari Carmen Rios’ grandmother Inocencia Aznares was among them.

“Why did they kill her?” Because they couldn’t find my uncle? Because she could read and write? Because she voted for the republic? ... I don’t know ... Nothing they did makes sense,” Rios said.

More than 500,000 people were killed during the 1936-1939 war. Historical foundations estimate over 100,000 bodies remain missing, many in unmarked mass graves.

The leftist coalition government approved a bill in September to finance exhumations from mass graves as part of efforts to “restore democratic memory”.

Academic research on the conflict, though extensive, has been overwhelmingly focused on the experience of men, said Cristina Sanchez, who investigates civil-war violence against women at Zaragoza University.



“Where are all the women? ... Now we are finding that they were present as victims of violence and as perpetrators.”

Some were persecuted for their political leanings or activism but many more were killed as substitute victims for their male relatives, she said. Methods of execution were equally savage for both sexes.

“We have deaths by drowning, deaths by hanging, and the majority were killed by firing squad.”

Excavations in Farasdues began in November but the massacre had remained lodged in the area’s collective memory for decades, said archaeologist Javier Ruiz.

“Carrying off 10 women in one go didn’t happen in many places, at least not in Aragon ... In Uncastillo these 10 women have never been forgotten.”

Next to their grave, archaeologists uncovered another site with the bodies of at least seven men, who are yet to be identified.

For Rios, the excavation triggered powerful feelings of outrage, which later gave way to a sense of closure: “When you say ‘We’ve found her, she’s there, we’re going to bury her with grandpa,’ honestly it makes me very happy.”




Reporting by Juan Medina in Farasdues,; Additional reporting by Cristina Sanchez in Madrid,; Writing by Nathan Allen,; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Alexandra Hudson

 

‘Productivity’ in a pandemic: How employers are gearing up to spy on workers

Data is the new frontline of workers’ rights. We need to get serious about these risks now and take a stand, writes Prospect's Andrew Pakes.

Many of us will have upgraded our home working set-up during these last few months, adding a better chair, or carefully curating our bookshelves for online calls. Workplaces have been ‘upgrading’ too.

Thousands of employers have been updating software that is cloud-based, with changes that claim to make our ability to juggle work remotely a little more streamlined. But some of this software can also be used to make it easier for our employers to spy on us.

Take features like Office365’s Productivity Score, which potentially allows employers to track employees’ activity at an individual level. Other companies offer similar tools, adding together hundreds of thousands of micro actions builds up a profile on every worker and how they are working.

This includes things like how many emails have been sent, how many meetings they schedule, whether they are engaging with each other in messaging, or how long it takes them to reply.

Employers can view this in aggregate to see the trends in their IT usage, and how they compare against other firms. But they can also enable an option to view every worker’s own individual data. This allows employers to secretly gather data on how you are working, which they can use to judge your performance.

You may have heard of GDPR – the General Data Protection Regulations – from when you are asked to give permissions to receive marketing emails. However, GDPR has many other implications. We all have rights as ‘data subjects’ to know when any data is being collected on us where we are identifiable, and where there is a ‘high risk’ that we could suffer detriment employers have to conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).

We also have the right to be consulted as part of the process of minimising these risks. By definition, any data about your performance at work that could be used in decisions like promotion and pay decisions should meet this threshold of possible ‘high risk’. That means that if your employer is using this feature in Office 365, and hasn’t consulted with the workers, they could be in breach of the regulations.

Features like Productivity Score are potentially the thin edge of an unsavoury wedge. Automated hiring systems and monitoring software is becoming big business in the United States and during Covid, is has become a bigger issue in the UK too. A quick web search reveals the names of some of these products: Sneak; SpyCop; SpyAgent.

This goes to the heart of how data is changing work.  Privacy is the intersection of control and freedom, collective rights and individual protections. Surveillance software raises issues that start with privacy but quickly address employment rights. Who decides what productivity is?  This is crucial as algorithms replace policy.  What happens once the metrics are collected? Do they identify individual and personal data?  What decisions can employers make about us?

Data is the new frontline of workers’ rights. We need to get serious about these risks now and take a stand. The risks are that we are sleepwalking into a new age of surveillance where dispersed workers are monitored, measured and checked.

The always-on culture was already blurring the line between our work and private lives. Today, with many of us asking whether we are now working from home or living at the office, that concept of privacy is playing out from our laptops in our kitchens and spare rooms.

The Information Commissioners’ Office has voluntary guidance on employment practices.  It states: “Workers have legitimate expectations that they can keep their personal lives private and that they are also entitled to a degree of privacy in the work environment.” Yet technology is moving so fast and, with the widespread move into remote working, the concepts of privacy are changing and we need updated guidance clearly stating what rights workers’ have and how we should be involved.

At Prospect we have been warning about the risks of mass employee surveillance being introduced in under the cover of the switch to remote working. Over the summer we conducted polling to see how workers viewed the prospect of being monitored remotely. Our polling asked workers if they had heard of some of the most common monitoring technologies.

Only one third had heard of keystroke monitoring, where employers can check how often you are typing, and the same number had heard of software that allows employers to use cameras on work computers to monitor how much time you spend ‘at your desk’. Only a quarter had heard of new electronic tracking that check when you are logged on to your email, or even where you are. When they do hear about this, opposition is predictably strong. Two thirds would be uncomfortable with keystroke monitoring, and this rises to three quarters for tracking software and up to eighty per cent for cameras.

As it stands, workers are not remotely aware that the technology exists – let alone what their rights are.

There is a real risk that thousands of workers will have their rights systematically violated. Our argument is simple. Workers need to know when they are being monitored, they need to be consulted on the introduction of this technology, and this has to be transparency so that decisions made by algorithms or on the back of this data can be challenged. More transparency will be good for employers as well, helping morale among workers and preventing bad decisions based on dodgy data.

That is why we have launched a petition calling on Microsoft to disable the Productivity Score feature by default, or at the very least limit it to aggregate anonymised data. Workers need to be involved in these decisions.

Andrew Pakes is Research Director at Prospect.