Merck Asks FDA For Emergency Approval Of New COVID Drug Despite Safety Concerns

ORIGINAL LINK
Merck Asks FDA For Emergency Approval Of New COVID Drug Despite Safety Concerns

Despite warnings from scientists that its new COVID drug could have seriously harmful side effects like causing cancers and birth defects, Merck officially submitted the drug, Molnupiravir, to the FDA for approval. If it's approved, it would be the first antiviral pill to treat the virus.

According to  the NYT, the drug would revolutionize COVID treatment since it would be able to relatively inexpensively treat many more high-risk patients sick with COVID, especially those that haven't been vaccinated (the drug was only tested on patients who hadn't been vaccinated). Still, the drug will be a cash cow for Merck, since Merck is charging customers 40x the cost to make the drug.

Despite the price, countries are lining up for deals with Merck even before the drug has been approved. Merck has struck deals with the US government, as well as South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and others.

The $700 course of the pill is meant to be taken at home as four capsules twice a day for five days, constituting a total of 40 pills. Per the trial data released by Merck - which was greeted with fawning from doctors and scientists - it halved hospitalizations and deaths (though the trial was cut short by a supervisory board who claimed the data was so positive it would be unethical to withhold the drug from the placebo group). The approval could come within weeks, per the NYT.

As many as 10MM Americans would be eligible for the drug if approved, but the supply will likely be slim initially; the US has ordered 1.7MM courses already.

Fortunately, other companies are nearly ready to release data from their own antiviral pill trials. An antiviral pill being developed by Pfizer and one from Atea Pharmaceuticals teamed up with Roche will report study results in the next months.

The FDA has many decisions to make beyond just approving the drug, or not. It must decide whether pregnant women - and any other at-risk groups - will be eligible. Initially, Merck is seeking authorization for its pill to be given only to high-risk adults, including people with any of the following characteristics: over 60, have obesity, diabetes or heart disease.

Tyler Durden Mon, 10/11/2021 - 07:01

via IFTTT
InoreaderURL: SECONDARY LINK

Beast system demanding ‘your digital papers’ sweeping the Western world: Media blacks out coverage of warnings from those living the ‘Great Reset’ nightmare in growing list of countries including Israel, Australia, Lithuania, Greece, Italy

ORIGINAL LINK

It’s time for an update on where things are heading in the formerly free Western world as a result of public compliance with a criminal cabal of global predators who are using Covid as a jackhammer to ram into place a new permanent transformation of society that is nothing short of totalitarian.

The post Beast system demanding ‘your digital papers’ sweeping the Western world: Media blacks out coverage of warnings from those living the ‘Great Reset’ nightmare in growing list of countries including Israel, Australia, Lithuania, Greece, Italy first appeared on SAGACIOUS NEWS.

via IFTTT
InoreaderURL: SECONDARY LINK

The Science Of Propaganda Is Still Being Developed And Advanced

We live in a far less free society than most of us think. It looks like we’re free. We don’t get thrown in prison for criticizing our government officials. We can vote for whoever we want. We can log onto the internet and look up information on any subject we’re interested in.

ORIGINAL LINK

Scotland yard closes sex abuse probe against Prince Andrew without charges

Scotland Yard announced Sunday night it has closed an investigation into sex abuse allegations against Prince Andrew that emanated from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, and won’t take any further action against the royal family member.

ORIGINAL LINK

Our Economy Is Starting To Break Down On A Very Basic Level

ORIGINAL LINK

Do you remember how much optimism there was last January?  Many Americans were entirely convinced that really bright days were just around the corner, but instead things have taken a dramatic turn into the dumpster over the last 9 months.  The Afghanistan debacle was the worst foreign policy embarrassment in modern American history, the Biden administration is trying to deal with an unprecedented crisis on our southern border, and the way that our politicians are handling the pandemic is causing extremely deep divisions throughout our society.  In addition, our economy is starting to break down on a very basic level.  On a widespread basis, goods are not getting to the places they need to be when they need to be there, and services are often not available when people need them.  As time has passed, the “malfunctioning” of our economy has spread, and now the coming mandates threaten to make things a whole lot worse.

Just look at the chaos that was caused in Florida on Sunday…

Southwest has canceled 1,018 Sunday flights as of 2 p.m. ET, according to flight tracker FlightAware. That’s 28% of the the airline’s scheduled flights and the highest of any U.S. airline by a wide margin.

American Airlines has canceled 63 flights, or 2% of its operation, while Spirit Airlines canceled 32 flights, or 4% of its flights, according to FlightAware.

Overall, more than 1,800 flights were canceled during the weekend, and Southwest is publicly blaming the problems on “weather challenges”…

“We experienced weather challenges in our Florida airports at the beginning of the weekend, challenges that were compounded by unexpected air traffic control issues in the same region, triggering delays and prompting significant cancellations for us beginning Friday evening,” the spokesperson told FOX Business.

“We’ve continued diligent work throughout the weekend to reset our operation with a focus on getting aircraft and crews repositioned to take care of our customers,” the spokesperson added. “With fewer frequencies between cities in our current schedule, recovering during operational challenges is more difficult and prolonged. We’re working diligently to accommodate our customers as quickly as possible, and we are grateful for their patience.”

Of course that is complete and utter nonsense.

A large number of Southwest pilots in Florida engaged in a “sickout” over the weekend to protest Southwest’s vaccine mandate, and apparently at least some air traffic controllers joined them…

On the record, they’re denying any sort of protest — but there are reports, citing airline sources, that a massive “sickout” went down, and that ripple effects are still being felt.

Regardless of what the truth here is … it’s screwing a lot of people, and causing a lot of problems. And, IF there is merit to the sickout speculation — it could also be a bad sign of what’s to come in other industries that might try to enforce vaccines on employees.

As I write this article, there are rumblings that pilots at American Airlines are organizing similar efforts.

Good for them.

In fact, we need bold people in every industry in America to start doing this sort of thing.

Perhaps if enough people start standing up, those that are trying to impose these mandates will start backing down.

Right now, we are already facing the most epic labor shortage in U.S. history, and economic activity is badly gummed up as a result.  If millions more qualified people are thrown out of work in the months ahead due to these absurd mandates, that is going to cause unprecedented chaos all across America.  A weekend of canceled flights might be bad, but it is nothing compared to the complete and utter nightmare our society will be facing if all of these mandates go through.

Even the military will be deeply affected.  On Sunday, it was being reported that “hundreds of thousands” of our service members have chosen to resist the mandates…

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members remain unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated against the coronavirus as the Pentagon’s first compliance deadlines near, with lopsided rates across the individual services and a spike in deaths among military reservists illustrating how political division over the shots has seeped into a nonpartisan force with unambiguous orders.

So what would it do to the state of our military if hundreds of thousands of service members are kicked out in the months ahead?

That is a question that we need to be asking, because it appears that this is actually what is going to happen.

On top of everything else, now we are facing a severe global energy crisis…

Energy is so hard to come by right now that some provinces in China are rationing electricity, Europeans are paying sky-high prices for liquefied natural gas, power plants in India are on the verge of running out of coal, and the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States stood at $3.25 on Friday — up from $1.72 in April.

Most Americans may not realize it yet, but this is a really big deal.

There are more than 1.3 billion people living in India, and coal is in such short supply there that officials are warning that there could soon be widespread blackouts…

Just like Chinese authorities ordering energy firms to conserve supplies at all costs, numerous power plants across India could be forced to adopt rolling blackouts as coal supplies run low. A minister in Indian capital New Delhi warned Sunday that blackouts could rock the massive city over the next two days. But the nation’s capital city isn’t alone in suffering energy shortages: it joins two Indian states – Tamil Nadu and Odisha – which have issued warnings about the growing possibility of blackouts due to dwindling coal supplies.

Other nations are facing similar issues.  In fact, Lebanon just emerged from a blackout that lasted about 24 hours…

LEBANON has finally got the lights back on some 24 hours after the country was plunged into total darkness by fuel shortages.

The Mediterranean country is battling one of the planet’s worst economic crunches since the 1850s in the wake of last year’s devastating blast that levelled a huge part of the capital Beirut.

If things are this bad already, how crazy will things get in the middle of winter when demand for energy is at the highest?

People need to wake up, because the times that we are moving into are going to be completely different from what we have grown accustomed to.

It isn’t just the U.S. economy that is crumbling.  Literally, the economic infrastructure of the entire globe is falling to pieces, and experts are warning that things will continue to break down in the months ahead.

So many of the things that you have been warned about are starting to transpire right in front of our eyes, and this winter looks like it will be very dark indeed.

***It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***

About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available on Amazon.com.  In addition to my new book I have written five other books that are available on Amazon.com including  “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, “Get Prepared Now”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. (#CommissionsEarned)  By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe.  I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe.  I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article.  The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions.  I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.

The post Our Economy Is Starting To Break Down On A Very Basic Level appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

via IFTTT
InoreaderURL: SECONDARY LINK

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops reportedly aren’t vaccinated as deadline approaches

ORIGINAL LINK

The National Guard and reservist units are the furthest behind in vaccination rates.

via IFTTT
InoreaderURL: SECONDARY LINK

Like On The Titanic... The Band Plays On

ORIGINAL LINK
Like On The Titanic... The Band Plays On

Authored by Bruce Wilds via Advancing Time blog,

It is said the dance band on the Titanic played on as the ship went down. This was all done as a grand effort to reassure the passengers and ease the panic in their hearts. Consider the possibility that behind all the noise we hear today a similar effort is being made to comfort us and take your attention off the hopeless feeling that comes when things sink away beneath your feet. For the last several months I have come to feel a similar story is playing out here. The Biden-Yellen-Powell economy is less than inspiring. 

As The Ship Goes Down The Band Plays On

Looking back, it is clear the Fed's policies have hurt savers, It has caused savers to flee towards riskier investment in search of higher yields, driven speculation, increased equality, add added to inflation. Rather than using the bully pulpit and warnings of higher interest rates to keep government spending in check, the Fad has acted as an enabler to the crowd in Congress that loves nothing better than to sending taxpayer money back home calming it is a gift and proof they are "working hard for their district."

With historically low-interest rates, rising inflation, and many consumers struggling to make ends meet. The economy is at a place where there is not much capability to increase consumption without throwing money from a helicopter and massively increasing the national debt. The problem with that is such stimulus programs are poorly focused. As we look about in this post-pandemic covid-lite era we see supply chains crumbling, stagflation mounting, and jobs being lost to automation. These are all immense problems even in the best of times.

With this in mind, the president has thrown his weight behind a huge infrastructure bill at the worst possible time. These type of bills coming out when employers are already having difficulty filling jobs because many workers have lost their motivation to work will only add to the labor shortage and cause inflation to soar. While he mumbles phrases such as "the buck stops here," and "I take full responsibility," Biden has a way of resorting to finger-pointing and leaping into the blame game at a second's notice. 

President Biden on Monday blasted Republican lawmakers’ approach to raising the federal borrowing limit and warned about the dangers of failing to do so. “A meteor is headed to crash into our economy,” Biden said during a White House speech. “Democrats are willing to do all the work stopping it. Republicans just have to let us do our job — just get out of the way.”

Money Supply Growth Indicates A Problem

It appears that Biden simply doesn't get it. Rather than aligning himself with the American worker, he is part of a larger coalition made up of the poor, the deep state, and the globalist elites. All these groups have one thing in common, and that is they are willing to sacrifice our future for more money and power today.

This is evident in a number of policies rubber-stamped by this coalition that constantly favor big businesses such as Amazon over the far smaller companies that made American famous. Giving people money to stay at home and order online is devastating the brick and mortar stores that line the streets of our communities. These are the companies that pay taxes and provide jobs for our friends and families. The major labor shortage and a fall in productivity will have long lasting implications and become evident in the form of stagflation.

Amazon is the poster child of a failing America. In an ever changing economic environment, the government has aided Amazon in destroying America. Things like the USPS slating the company for special services and pricing. Approving Amazon to participate in delivering home grocery delivery on the SNAP program, and locking people in their homes while forcing many small businesses to close during the pandemic have all played to Amazon's advantage.

Not only have small companies lost sales, but they also cannot afford to automate and replace workers with robots like their giant competitor Amazon. Small companies don't have access to the cheap money flowing from Wall Street. This means small companies cannot compete and often cannot pay the same wages as large companies. Instead, small companies across America are forced to cut hours or even close at times because they cannot get employees. When customers find them closed they tend to develop the habit of looking somewhere else to buy things.

Adding to the woes of many smaller businesses are the expensive and ever-changing mandates being placed upon them by those in power. After the ship goes down, do not expect things to be pretty. Already, statistics show that 1-in-4 Americans primarily live on government support. The idea of simply giving these people more money in the hope it will boost consumption is unsustainable because the numbers don't work. 

As the band plays on and water laps at our feet, most Americans ignore the signs we are in real trouble. Do not be surprised when we enter what will likely be a more protracted, deeper, and more damaging recession than what we saw in 2008. We would already be there if it were not for the crazy deficit spending going on in Washington. In fact, expect a depression, defaults and bankruptcies are only in the very early stages. The Fed has added a tremendous amount of liquidity to the system in order to repair credit spreads and mask over the flaws in the financial system but this will only delay the ugliness ahead.

Because so much is going on, current events have been drowning out reality making it hard to stay focused on the crux of financial and economic issues. That music coming from the dance band is a distraction that is difficult to ignore. There is no playbook for what is about to unfold when the ship goes down or anyone to turn to that has all the answers. Each of us must be aware of the risk and manage our finances accordingly. 

The one thing we do know is that in such a situation, the poor have little to lose, the rich often have ways to skirt much of the pain or, a reservation in the lifeboat. It is the so-called middle class that will be cast into the cold icy water to die when reality finally hits. An economy based on consumption and huge deficits is unsustainable. We need an economy where people produce and that appears to be slipping away.  

Tyler Durden Sun, 10/10/2021 - 09:20

via IFTTT
InoreaderURL: SECONDARY LINK

Is it a bluff? Biden's 'vaccine mandate' does not actually exist

ORIGINAL LINK

President Biden announces a vaccine mandate for private companies in an address to the nation Sept. 9, 2021 (Video screenshot)

Was President Biden's announcement Sept. 9 of a vaccine mandate for private companies employing 100 or more people a bluff to persuade more Americans to be vaccinated?

One month later, pointed out The Federalists' Joy Pullman, no rule has been issued by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, known as OSHA.

The nearly two dozen Republican attorneys general who have threatened to sue on constitutional grounds have not yet filed, because there is no mandate for them to bring to court.

That may be part of the plan, wrote Pullman, The Federalist's executive editor.

The Biden administration, she said, is imposing the public perception of a mandate by following an unusual rule-making process called an emergency temporary standard, or ETS.

But even through the emergency process, OSHA says it takes up to six months for a rule to go into effect after it is issued in the Federal Register. And that hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile, companies are telling reporters their vaccine mandates will have, at the latest, December deadlines.

Pullman observed that "using the ETS procedure instead of normal federal rule-making processes both allows the Biden administration to push its demands faster and without any public input or requirement of responding to public input, which is normally required of even legally laughable federal rule-making like this one would be."

"That is part of why ETS rules have been overwhelmingly overturned in courts," she wrote.

OSHA has used that legal authority only 10 times in 50 years, wrote David Rivkin Jr. and Robert Alt in the Wall Street Journal in September. Courts have ruled on challenges to six of those standards, rejecting five and upholding only one.

Rivkin and Alt believe Biden's mandate is unconstitutional, arguing the states, not Congress, have plenary police power to regulate health and safety. Congress, they wrote, has no authority to fine an individual who declines to be vaccinated, "much less to prevent him from earning a livelihood."

The Democrats' $3.5 trillion "infrastructure" bill includes increased fines on employers that could run as high as $700,000 for willful or repeated violations of Biden's vaccine mandate.

White House 'well-served' by 'nonexistent mandate'
In a letter to the Wall Street Journal published this week, Bruce Atkinson observed that "the mandate's nonexistence shields the Biden administration from legal challenges that may ultimately restrict the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s authority."

"Yet the mandate is still effective at compelling industries and companies into compliance, as it leaves room for any eventual issuance to target noncompliant entities," he wrote. "This implied cudgel is particularly effective on industries and companies that are dependent on federal spending or the goodwill of federal regulators."

Further, the "nonexistent mandate also allows so-inclined state and local governments and companies to issue their own mandates, seemingly in lockstep with Washington."

Pullman concluded the Biden White House "has been well-served by presenting a nonexistent mandate as a done deal."

She said Biden's "government by press release" allows "weak Republicans and evil Democrats to shadowbox each other for the cameras while ordinary Americans suffer under their abdicated leadership."

"By the time Republican attorneys general get around to filing lawsuits over any eventually issued legal documents that fulfill Biden's promises," Pullman wrote, "the vast majority of people not wanting government to force them into medical procedures will likely be unemployed, forcibly injected with treatments that have almost no track record, forced from their education paths, provided with fake documents like these citizens are beneath COVID-rule-exempt illegal aliens, and all the rest."

Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.

SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!

The post Is it a bluff? Biden's 'vaccine mandate' does not actually exist appeared first on WND.

via IFTTT
InoreaderURL: SECONDARY LINK

Sickout? Southwest Airlines Cancels 1,000 More Flights As Disruptions Increase

ORIGINAL LINK
Sickout? Southwest Airlines Cancels 1,000 More Flights As Disruptions Increase

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Southwest Airlines has canceled at least 1,000 Sunday flights as of 12 p.m. ET, according to flight tracker FlightAware, coming after numerous cancelations were reported Saturday.

“We experienced significant impact in the Florida airports [Friday] evening after an FAA-imposed air traffic management program was implemented due to weather and resulted in a large number of cancellations,” Alan Kasher, who oversees Southwest’s flight operations, in a statement obtained by several news outlets on Saturday.

A group of Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft sit on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 13, 2019. (Ralph Freso/Getty Images)

About 800 Southwest flights were canceled on Saturday, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. Other major carriers, including American Airlines and Spirit Airlines, appeared to have significantly fewer disruptions.

The Epoch Times has contacted Southwest for comment, including regarding whether the cancelations were due to staffing shortages related to the firm’s recently announced COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees air traffic in the United States, also didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Southwest said in a statement on Saturday that it is attempting to “return to close to normal operations as we move into Sunday.”

“We are working hard behind the scenes to minimize challenges and fully recover the operation as we take care of displaced Crews and Customers as quickly as possible,” the company said, without elaborating on the nature of the flight disruptions.

[ZH: unsurprisingly, people aren't buying it]

The firm’s Saturday statement also blamed the issue on air traffic control problems and the weather.

“We experienced significant impact in the Florida airports yesterday (Friday) evening after an FAA-imposed air traffic management program was implemented due to weather and resulted in a large number of cancellations,” Southwest said.

There was speculation on social media that the flight cancelations were being triggered by employees calling in sick en masse. In its statement Saturday, Southwest did not make reference to the speculation.

“Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination directive,” Southwest CEO Gary Kelly announced on Oct. 4, explaining that the company works as a federal contractor and needs to comply with President Joe Biden’s September vaccine mandate for federal employees and contractors. That prompted a lawsuit from Southwest’s pilot union, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, which is seeking a court injunction against the mandate.

On its website Saturday, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association blamed the cancelations on “a number of issues, but we can say with confidence that our Pilots are not participating in any official or unofficial job actions,” in an apparent reference to speculations about employees calling in sick.

“Our Pilots will continue to overcome [Southwest Airlines] management’s poor planning, as well as any external operational challenges, and remain the most productive Pilots in the world,” the statement continued. “They will continue to be focused on their highest priority—safety.”

Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, there were long lines at Southwest’s ticket counter in the Tampa airport, according to local media.

B.J. Romero, a passenger, told Fox13, “I have two kids. I have appointments. I have work. I can’t miss work. I have people relying on me, so I have to be home. That’s not going to work for me.”

When asked about whether Southwest’s claim about bad weather caused mass cancelations, Romero balked at the suggestion. “That sounds like baloney to me,” Romero told the station. “The weather is fine in all connecting areas, there’s no bad weather.”

“There’s got to be something behind the scenes they’re not telling us.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 10/10/2021 - 14:30

via IFTTT
InoreaderURL: SECONDARY LINK

WHERE ARE MEDIA ACCOLADES FOR DESANTIS?

ORIGINAL LINK

Cases in Florida are down 88% in the past 1.5 months with no new statewide policy — no mask mandate or vaccine passports

In fact, they’re now tied for 48th in the country in current case rate

I’m sure any day now the media will be crediting DeSantis for bringing the curve down pic.twitter.com/vSQhQCh9Yq

— IM (@ianmSC) October 9, 2021

via IFTTT
InoreaderURL: SECONDARY LINK