Saturday, January 09, 2021

Just as Democrats Claim Senate Majority, Manchin Condemned for vowing to 'Absolutely Not' Support $2,000 Checks


"When millions of people are starving in tent cities, they will be called 'Manchinvilles.'"


SCUM SUCKING BOTTOM FEEDER


by

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) said Friday he would vote against coronavirus 

relief legislation that includes $2,000 relief checks.

 (Photo: Third Way Think Tank/Flickr/cc)

Days after the crucial victories of new Democratic Sens.-elect Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were credited in large part to clear messaging about the need for a Democrat-controlled Senate in order to send $2,000 checks to American households, Sen. Joe Manchin on Friday provoked scorn Friday by saying he would "absolutely not" support providing such relief.

Manchin told the Washington Post he believes vaccine distribution should be "job number one" for Democrats, despite the fact that additional funding for coronavirus vaccines is expected to be included in the package the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden is developing. 

"Joe Manchin is worth an estimated $7 million. At least 70% of West Virginia households would qualify for $2,000 checks."
—Andrew Perez, Daily Poster

The conservative West Virginia Democrat expressed concern that people who have not lost income at this point as a result of the pandemic would potentially receive $2,000 checks, in addition to those who currently are in dire need of relief. 

"How is the money that we invest now going to help us best to get jobs back and get people employed? And I can't tell you that sending another check out is gonna do that to a person that's already got a check," Manchin told the Post. 

As more than 125 economists from institutions including Harvard, Princeton, and Berkeley told lawmakers in November, direct payments to a wide swath of American households "are one of the quickest, most equitable, and most effective ways to get families and the economy back on track" amid 6.7% unemployment and an economic crisis which has caused more than half of American adults to lose income, left nearly 26 million people unable to afford basic essentials like groceries, and caused an estimated 12 million renters to fall thousands of dollars behind in their rent payments. 

The legislation Biden's team is currently working on would include extended unemployment benefits as well as direct payments and funding for state and local governments. Under the control of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who opposes $2,000 payments and funding for states and cities, the Senate has failed to pass legislation including more than $600 payments since last March, when the CARES Act was passed. 

Gaining a Democratic majority in the upper chamber has been thought to be the key to ensuring people across the country receive meaningful aid after nearly 10 months of receiving no direct payments, and nearly half a year without the enhanced unemployment benefits included in the CARES Act, which were credited with reducing poverty but were allowed to lapse by the Republican Party last summer.

Ossoff and Warnock's victories in Georgia, following two months of tireless get-out-the-vote efforts by organizers with groups including Mijente and the New Georgia Project, give Democrats control of the senate, with a 50-50 split and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris acting as tiebreaker if the Democrats use Senate rules allowing them to pass the coronavirus relief package with a simple majority.

With the close margin, the loss of Manchin's vote could force Biden to drastically change his proposal, the Post reported—just after he called on Georgia voters to support Ossoff and Warnock to make sure "those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope and decency and honor for so many people who are struggling right now."

Saikat Chakrabarti, co-founder of Justice Democrats, denounced Manchin for coming out against the $2,000 payments—saying the senator's comment "already hurts the Democrats," even before the actual vote takes place.

"We won Georgia because we promised $2,000 checks," Chakrabarti tweeted. "Joe Manchin is threatening the Democratic majority in the Senate if he goes against it, and for no reason."

Daily Poster editor Andrew Perez noted that by threatening the party's ability to ensure Americans receive relief checks, Manchin will do measurable harm to his own constituents, 40% of whom are facing food insecurity.

"Joe Manchin should talk to the working class West Virginians he's supposed to represent and see what they think about him saying 'absolutely not' to the $2,000 relief checks that 80% of Americans support in the middle of the worst economic pain since the Great Depression," added Democracy Spring founder Kai Newkirk.

People for Bernie suggested that with 78% of Democratic voters, 60% of independents, and 54% percent of Republicans supporting $2,000 checks, according to Data for Progress, Manchin will ultimately harm his own political career should he vote against the legislation.

"No one will forget," the group tweeted.

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'Cannot Afford to Wait': Tlaib Leads Letter Demanding Congress Immediately Reconvene to Impeach and Remove Trump


"The rule of law is dead if a sitting president can incite an insurrectionist mob to overturn democracy and then pardon everyone involved, including himself."


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A banner towed by a plane calls for the impeachment of President Donald Trump

 on January 7, 2021. (Photo: Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan is leading a group of House Democrats in demanding that congressional leaders immediately reconvene both chambers to begin the process of impeaching and removing President Donald Trump, arguing that the nation cannot afford to "risk his unhinged behavior any longer."

"The attack on our nation's Capitol yesterday was a result of his incitement, and we cannot go home while he remains in the highest office in our land, threatening our elected officials, our nation's Capitol, and our very democracy," reads the Thursday letter (pdf), which is addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

"We will set a dangerous precedent if there are no consequences for a sitting U.S. president inciting violence as a last-ditch effort to remain in power against the will of the American people who voted him out of office."
—Letter from House Democrats

The call by Tlaib and other House progressives came shortly before Trump released a brief video address late Thursday acknowledging that there will be a new administration on January 20 and pledging to submit to an "orderly transition," remarks that came just two days after a violent right-wing mob encouraged by the president invaded and ravaged the U.S. Capitol Building.

Tlaib and her Democratic colleagues warned that while Trump's official departure is less than two weeks away, that short period "may prove to be detrimental to our nation—every day that he remains in office is a serious threat to our democracy and our national security."

"We will set a dangerous precedent if there are no consequences for a sitting U.S. president inciting violence as a last-ditch effort to remain in power against the will of the American people who voted him out of office," the lawmakers wrote. "Congress must reconvene immediately in order to begin proceedings to remove Donald J. Trump from office."

Despite urgent pressure on the House hold the president to account for inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Democratic leaders adjourned the chamber Thursday morning after Congress certified President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Pelosi called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and said the House "may be prepared to move forward with impeachment" if he refuses to act, remarks that did not reflect the sense of urgency expressed by many members of her caucus.

"Please call the House to order and let's get it done. Today. Right now," said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who has unveiled articles of impeachment against the president charging that he violated his oath and abused his power by attempting to overturn the November election and inciting violence in an "attempted coup against our country."

Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement late Thursday that they "have not yet heard back from the vice president" but hope to receive a response "as soon as possible." The statement does not mention impeachment.

Earlier Thursday, Schumer told reporters that when he and Pelosi attempted to get Pence on the phone hours after the assault on the Capitol, White House staff "kept us on hold for 25 minutes, and then said the vice president wouldn't come on the phone."

With Pence predictably refusing to act and as members of the Cabinet—most recently Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—avoid the 25th Amendment push by jumping ship, The American Prospect's David Dayen argued Thursday that "the only remedy that can actually do the job here is impeachment and removal."

"The need to remove, needless to say, is urgent," Dayen wrote. "Every crime perpetrated in Washington yesterday is a federal crime. Many U.S. attorneys, all appointed by Trump, are lining up to say they will prosecute seditionists, but Trump can end that immediately through the pardon power. Everyone in the Capitol yesterday can be absolved, if they were ever at risk at all."

"Moreover," Dayen continued, "each day of the final 13 that Trump remains in power gives him the ability to run this cycle again, or worse. And impeachment would bar him from any federal office in the future, which is an appropriate outcome for someone explicitly vowing to overthrow the government."

The New York Times reported Thursday that, in addition to granting clemency to a number of other officials, Trump "has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency," an idea the president raised prior to his incitement of the right-wing mob. It is not clear whether Trump has suggested a self-pardon in the wake of the Capitol attack, according to the Times.

Observers were quick to note that either the successful invocation of the 25th Amendment or impeachment and removal by Congress would strip Trump of his pardon power, which he has thus far wielded to the benefit of his political allies and convicted war criminals. The Constitution makes clear that presidents "cannot pardon offenses for which they are impeached," as one expert recently pointed out.

Barring Trump from pardoning himself is reason alone "to remove Trump from office immediately, whether it be via the 25th Amendment or impeachment," argued Stephen Wolf of Daily Kos Elections.

"The rule of law is dead if a sitting president can incite an insurrectionist mob to overturn democracy and then pardon everyone involved, including himself," Wolf added.

Will Stancil, a research fellow at the University of Minnesota Law School's Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity, tweeted late Thursday that "impeachment can't be 'early next week,'" a response to one Democratic lawmaker who suggested such a timeline.

"There are reports that Trump is gearing up for mass preemptive pardons," Stancil wrote. "There are reports he's trying to start a war. He's certainly willing to foment unrest. And surely we all realize, by now, that he means it. Impeach him tomorrow."

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Why Impeach Trump at This Late Date? One Word, Says Bernie Sanders: 'Precedent'

"It must be made clear that no president, now or in the future, can lead an insurrection against the U.S. government."


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Bill Zawacki carries a banner that reads "impeach" near the U.S. Capitol

 two days after a pro-Trump mob broke into the building on January 8, 2021

 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday delivered a one-word answer to those wondering why Congress should impeach President Donald Trump even though he only has days left in office: Precedent.

"It must be made clear that no president, now or in the future, can lead an insurrection against the U.S. government," Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted Friday amid mounting calls for federal lawmakers and Trump's Cabinet to remove him from office for inciting Wednesday's violent attack on the Capitol.

Sanders, who has twice sought the Democratic nomination for president, is on the growing list of members of Congress who have expressed support for impeaching Trump—again—removing him from office, and barring him from holding an elected position in U.S. politics ever again.

The senator is also among those criticizing Cabinet members for resigning rather than invoking the 25th Amendment of the Constitution to oust Trump and replace him with Vice President Mike Pence until Biden's inauguration on January 20. Pence reportedly disagrees with that course of action.

Both the Cabinet and Congress are under pressure to stop stalling and act now, with critics such as watchdog group Public Citizen pointing out that "a president who was deemed unfit to manage a Facebook page"—his access was cut off after the insurrection—"still has access to the nuclear codes."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told lawmakers on Friday that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley had assured her that "steps are in place" to prevent "an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike."

As for impeachment, Pelosi wrote in her Friday letter that Republicans in Congress need to "call on Trump to depart his office—immediately." The speaker added that "if the president does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action" to impeach him.

In response to reporting that House Democrats will introduce articles of impeachment as early as Monday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) declared Friday: "We have the articles of impeachment already drafted. Monday isn't early enough. The nation is waiting for us to respond ASAP."

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) concurred. As he put it: "We should reconvene Congress today and vote on articles of impeachment tomorrow. There is no need for delay in fulfilling our constitutional responsibility."

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PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY
$740 Billion Pentagon Bill receives all but six Democrat votes in Senate

“The United States government should be responding to the needs, to the desperation, of families in our country at this time.”

By Marlee Kokotovic-January 7, 2021
SOURCE NationofChange




All but six Democrats voted for the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act.

The six are Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)

The dozens of Democrats that joined Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans voted to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the bill.

According to Truthout, the vote on the motion to proceed to the NDAA veto override came after Sanders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and others denied McConnell unanimous consent last week to speedily advance the behemoth military spending bill, a tactic aimed at securing a clean vote on House-passed legislation that would deliver $2,000 payments to most Americans. But McConnell, joined by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), rejected demands for a vote on the direct payments once again on Wednesday, declaring that the checks would benefit “millionaires and billionaires” — a complaint that was both false and shamelessly hypocritical, given that the same Republicans had no issue with passing President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy in 2017.

“We’re in the middle of an unprecedented crisis in our country. We have a healthcare crisis. We have an unemployment crisis. We have a hunger crisis. We have a housing crisis. We have an addiction crisis. We have a moral crisis in this country. The United States government should be responding to the needs, to the desperation, of families in our country at this time,” said Sen. Ed Markey.

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Climate deniers moved rapidly to spread misinformation during and after attack on US Capitol

The disinformation-fueled movement backing him is extremely unlikely to simply fade away...

By
 Sharon Kelly
 -
23
SOURCEDeSmogBlog


Prominent climate science deniers moved rapidly to spread false and misleading conspiracy theories online during and after the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters this week.

Some climate deniers, including some with ties to the Heartland Institute and other organizations that have historically helped to create the false impression that there is sizeable scientific disagreement on climate change, also directly expressed support for the attackers and called for more violence.

“Striking fear in politicians is not a bad thing,” the @ClimateDepot Twitter account tweeted on the afternoon of January 6 in a message describing the Capitol as then-“under siege.”

“Thomas Jefferson: ‘The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants,” @ClimateDepot tweeted seconds later.

“What’s needed next is mass protests to storm state Capitols and the CDC to end Covid lockdowns once and for all,” the thread continued, referring to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The @ClimateDepot Twitter account, createdin April 2009, is held by Marc Morano, the communications director for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank with a history of receiving funding from ExxonMobil and the conservative dark money organization Donors Trust. Morano serves as the executive director of CFACT’s climatedepot.com website, which as DeSmog’s database profile puts it, “regularly publishes articles questioning man-made global warming.”

Screenshot of Twitter thread posted by @ClimateDepot on the afternoon of January 6, 2021.

Morano has for many years played a prominent role in the climate denial movement. The Heartland Institute currently maintains a biography of Morano under its “Who We Are” section, noting his prior role as a “climate researcher for U.S. Senator James Inhofe,” who has regularly made speeches rejecting mainstream climate science. Rolling Stone once called Morano “the Matt Drudge of climate denial.” He more recently authored a book titled, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change. CFACT’s most recent tax filings show Morano was its highest-compensated employee, bringing in over $209,000 in pay and benefits in 2018.

On January 6, after the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) — whose board of directors includes senior officials with ExxonMobil and numerous other fossil fuel companies — posted a statement condemning the violence at the Capitol Building, @ClimateDepot retweeted a reply to that statement reading: “NAM has always been a bootlicking organization groveling at the booted feet of their governmental masters.”

Many fossil fuel industry groups immediately condemned the insurgency in statements or social media posts, and some long-time climate deniers did as well. But Moranowas not the only prominent science denier to express support online for the mob attack in D.C.

William M. Briggs, described by the Heartland Institute as one of its policy advisors, published a post on January 7 headlined, “we fought the good fight and we lost — this battle.” In the piece, Briggs claims that “Congress had an unarmed Air Force veteran shot and killed” and misleadingly claims that “the crowd, by doing very little, by remaining inside the tourist ropes inside the building, even, forced the startled regime into hiding.”

Briggs’ post goes on to describe Republican politicians’ later condemnation of Wednesday’s attack as “the most disgusting display of cowardice and abject surrender we’re likely to see in our lifetimes.”

“Some of us will be in deep kimchi because of this, but there are no regrets,” Briggs’s post continued. “One thing is certain. They will be coming for us.”

DeSmog reviewed numerous accounts during and in the wake of the Capitol attack. Social media posts showthat severalother climate science deniers, like the UK-based columnist James Delingpole andSteve Milloy, publisher of the JunkScience.com website, joined many on the far-right in circulating false information suggesting that it was not the visible pro-Trump participants who had been planning online for weeks to “occupy the Capitol,” but instead members of their opposition — the loose, left-wing movement known as antifa — that actually invaded the building. On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that there was “no substantive evidence” thatany antifa supporters had participated in the pro-Trump insurrection, adding that many claims of antifa involvement had cited a soure that had, in fact, reported neo-Nazi participation. 

Screenshot of retweet by @JunkScience on the afternoon of January 6, 2021.

Others in DeSmog’s Climate Disinformation Database, like the conservative media organization Prager U, used their social media presence to share messaging that sought to shift focus to last summer’s Black Lives Matter uprisings.

Detailed information about precisely what happened inside the Capitol Building on Wednesday — and what led to those events — is still continuing to emerge. But what is clear is that neo-Nazis and long-time far-right Trump supporters were documented, and in many cases documented themselves, participating in the mob violence inside the Capitol Building.

“The goal isn’t necessarily to convince anyone of anything,” Melissa Ryan, author of the Ctrl Alt-Right Delete weekly newsletter covering the alt-right and CEO of CARD Strategies, told DeSmog. “The goal is to sow so much confusion that it’s actually hard for people to tell the truth from fiction.”

That misinformation benefits the far-right, she said.

“They did the same after Charlottesville,” said Ryan, who has previously written about interactions between climate deniers and QAnon conspiracy theorists. “They do the same after any of their protests that cause violence. The goal is to cause confusion amongst viewers, those amongst their audience that might have a little trepidation about being associated with violent extremist groups, so ‘both sides’ is sort of how they neutralize that.”

Several accounts associated with climate science deniers focused in particular on pictures of Jake Angeli, who wore face paint and a horned helmet on January 6, with these accounts suggesting that Angeli was a member of antifa. Angeli, however, is better known as “the QAnon shaman.”

“He’s absolutely a QAnon right-wing follower,” said Ryan.

Attempts to shift blame away from those visibly participating in the invasion and to antifa were later also spread in Congress by Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida who was met with audible boos on the House floor when he suggested that the Capitol attack was by people “masquerading” as Trump supporters — a word choice made all the more ironic by the fact that many participating in the apparent coup attempt were not wearing masks despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

And of course, President Trump himself may perhaps be the world’s best-known climate science denier.Earlier in the day on January 6, he had addressed members of the soon-to-be mob in person, calling on them to “walk down to the Capitol” and adding that “you will never take back our country with weakness.” Later that day, in a recorded video, he told them, “We love you. You’re very special. Go home.”

On Thursday night, in a tweeted video message lasting less than three minutes, President Trump said that the “demonstrators” — the same individuals whom he had personally addressed before the attack — had “defiled” the Capitol and called for their prosecution. Today, he resumed using his Twitter account to praise and encourage his base.

Today, Trump faces renewed calls for his impeachment or removal under the 25th Amendment. But the disinformation-fueled movement backing him is extremely unlikely to simply fade away — and may in fact be further emboldened by the images of Trump and Confederate flags that were waved inside the Capitol Building.

“I feel like it’s a very clear end of the Trump administration,” said Ryan, “but what’s terrifying is what it is the birth of.”

Far-right organizers have already reportedly posted calls to gather again on January 20, inauguration day. On Thursday, USA Today quoted from a “white-supremacist Telegram channel” that called for “Pro-Trump and other nationalist crowds” to gather in D.C. that day.

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Proud Boys should be designated a terrorist organization in Canada petition.


What happened on Capitol Hill in the U.S. this week was an act of domestic terrorism.

A group named the Proud Boys helped execute it. The founder of the Proud Boys is Canadian — and they also operate in Canada. Right now.

I am calling on Justin Trudeau to ban and designate them a terrorist organization immediately. Sign here if you agree:

https://www.ndp.ca/ban-the-proud-boys

As you know, I’ve experienced the devastating effects of hate in my life — and it was allies like you who stood up and confronted it that made things better.

Canadians have a right to feel safe.

After seeing members of the Proud Boys join those that stormed the U.S. Capitol with deadly weapons, we believe it is more urgent than ever to ban them in Canada.

Every signature on this campaign calls attention to this issue and puts pressure on Justin Trudeau and the Liberals to act.

If you believe the Proud Boys should be designated a terrorist organization, add your voice to this petition.

We’ll keep you posted as things unfold,

Jagmeet

Jagmeet Singh
Leader
Canada’s NDP
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 25th Amendment breakout box

25th Amendment breakout box

Trump ‘ballistic’ over Twitter ban as Republican fury grows over censorship (yahoo.com)
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UK

100,000 Pfizer vaccine doses 'thrown away' after faulty PHE guidance, doctors claim


Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine - Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images Europe
Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine - Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images Europe



 


Jamie Johnson

More than 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may have been thrown away because of incorrect guidance by Public Health England, it has been revealed.

Instructions issued when the vaccine was being produced in December said that five doses could be obtained from each vial, but was revised by PHE on Jan 4 to allow for “administration of a sixth dose if obtainable”.

The Department for Health and Social Care said that the updated guidance had been issued on Dec 17, made available in a pack called “information for UK healthcare professionals”.

However, it is understood that some healthcare staff were unaware of the changes.

Government figures show that between Dec 8 and Dec 20, 600,000 people received the Pfizer vaccine in the UK.

This means that if there was an extra dose in each vial, there would be an extra 120,000 shots not used.

Prof Sir Sam Everington, chair of Tower Hamlets CCG, said the rules should have been made clear earlier to avoid vaccines being needlessly wasted.

“It’s just mortifying. I don’t know how many were lost in the process by nurses and GPs but I was incredibly frustrated, because I wanted them to mandate the six doses far earlier,” he said.

Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, said: “The NHS issued guidance on the sixth dose to the health system in December and the relevant regulations were amended shortly after. Therefore, clinicians could and were using the sixth dose before the PGD [patient group direction] was published.”

But Prof Everington said: “We got information that, actually, you could do six, but what they didn’t do was change something called the PGD. And that’s the ruling that nurses abide by. It took too long to come out with the PGD.”

Britain’s medical regulator, the MHRA, says every small glass container which holds the liquid vaccine contains five doses of the jab, administered in 0.3ml shots. But once the vaccine is diluted before being given to patients, as per the instructions, the vial holds as much as 2.25ml – enough for seven and a half doses.

It is thought that the vials are overfilled with extra doses in case the vaccine spills in transit or it gets stuck inside the syringe when it is administered.

The UK is not the first country to have revised its advice on Pfizer doses. On Dec 16, the US Food and Drug Administration clarified that extra doses from vials of the vaccine can be used if a full dose can be extracted.

In Israel, which has led the way on vaccination with 15 per cent of its population receiving the jab in the first two weeks, approval for a sixth Pfizer dose to be used came out on Dec 24.

The EU is even further behind. Only yesterday did the European Medicines Agency recommend updating the product information to clarify that each vial contains six doses of the vaccine.

The Prime Minister confirmed that as of Jan 7, with the Pfizer and Oxford jabs combined, over 1.5 million across the UK have been vaccinated. 

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NOT A MAX BUT STILL

Boeing 737 carrying 62 people feared to have crashed into sea near Jakarta

Suspected debris found in sea after Sriwijaya Air flight went missing shortly after  takeoff

Febriana Firdaus and Rebecca Ratcliffe
Sat 9 Jan 2021 
 
People at a temporary crisis centre organised in the domestic terminal of Soekarno-Hatta International airport, after the plane’s disappearance. Photograph: Willy Kurniawan/Reuters

An Indonesian passenger plane carrying 62 people that went missing on Saturday is feared to have crashed, after suspected debris was found in the sea north of Jakarta.

The Boeing 737-500, which departed from Jakarta’s international airport at about 2.36pm, lost contact four minutes later. Data from the flight tracker FlightRadar24 said Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 had reached an altitude of nearly 11,000ft (3,350 metres) before dropping to 250ft.

The plane was carrying 50 passengers, including seven children, among them three infants, and 12 crew members, according to the transport ministry. It was scheduled to make a 90-minute journey over the Java Sea to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Borneo island.

A local fisherman reported that he had seen possible debris at 3.30pm, when an explosion was first heard, according to Deby Riana Sumanthi, the head of maritime agriculture and food security for the sub-department of Thousand Island-Jakarta

Footage of suspected wreckage was also broadcast on Indonesian TV. “We found some cables, a piece of jeans, and pieces of metal on the water,” a security official told CNNIndonesia.com. It has not been confirmed that the debris came from the flight.

Agus Haryono, a rescue agency official, told Reuters that 50 people were searching for the aircraft and would continue working into the night. Indonesia’s transport ministry said it was investigating the incident.

“A Sriwijaya plane from Jakarta to Pontianak with call sign SJY182 has lost contact,” said ministry spokesman Adita Irawati. “It last made contact at 2:40 pm (0740 GMT).”

The president director of Sriwijaya Air, Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, said the airline was coordinating with Basarnas, the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transport Safety Committee. The airline, which was founded in 2003, mostly flies within Indonesia and has an otherwise solid safety record.

The plane, a Boeing 737-500, does not use the same software system as those involved in two crashes that killed hundreds of people and left Boeing in crisis, according to Reuters.

In October 2018, 189 people were killed when a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max jet crashed into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta for a domestic flight. Months later, a Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed in Ethiopia, killing all 157 people onboard. The US justice department fined Boeing $2.5bn last week after the company was charged with fraud and conspiracy in connection with two crashes.

A Boeing spokeswoman said: “We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information.”

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation, has also been criticised for poor safety standards in its aviation industry, which has been plagued by accidents. An AirAsia plane crashed in 2014 with the loss of 162 lives.


Indonesia plane missing: Boeing lost contact after dropping 'more than 10,000ft in less than a minute'

Sat, 9 January 2021




A search and rescue operation is under way in Indonesia after contact was lost with a Boeing 737-500 plane on a local flight.

An Indonesian Transport Ministry spokesman said the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 was flying from the capital Jakarta to Pontianak City in West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. The last contact was at 2.40pm local time (7.40am in the UK), it said.

Tracking service Flightradar24 said on Twitter that the flight "lost more than 10,000ft (3,000m) of altitude in less than one minute" about four minutes after departure.

The Indonesian Navy has determined the plane's co-ordinates and ships have been deployed to the location, Navy official Abdul Rasyid said.

Suspected debris has been located in waters north of Jakarta, an official from the Basarnas rescue agency told the Reuters news agency, although it has not been confirmed that it is from the missing plane. Fishermen spotted metal objects believed to be parts of an aircraft in the Thousand Islands, a chain of islands north of Jakarta, on Saturday afternoon.

Friends and relatives of people on the flight have been seen in television footage praying and hugging each other as they wait for news at the airports in Jakarta and Pontianak airport.

Some 62 people were on board, including crew. Ten of the passengers were children, the rescue agency said.

In its latest statement, the airline said it was still gathering information on the incident.

"We are aware of media reports from Jakarta regarding Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182," it said.

"Our thoughts are with the crew, passengers, and their families. We are in contact with our airline customer and stand ready to support them during this difficult time."

Indonesian Transportation Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said: "The missing plane is currently under investigation and under co-ordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee."

A spokeswoman for Boeing said: "We are aware of media reports from Jakarta, and are closely monitoring the situation. We are working to gather more information."

A plane flying from Jakarta to Pontianak would spend most of the 90-minute flight over the Java Sea. Sriwijaya Air is one of Indonesia's discount carriers, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations.

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago nation, with more than 260 million people.

The missing plane is not a Boeing 737 Max, the model involved in two major accidents in recent years - the first of which involved a crash in Indonesia.

The Lion Air 737 MAX, carrying 189 passengers and crew, crashed into the Java Sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta in October 2018, killing everyone on board.

It was the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since 1997, when 234 people were killed on a Garuda flight near Medan on Sumatra island.

And in December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore crashed into the sea, killing 162 people.
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