(2021-01-30). [Comment] Offline: The case for No-COVID. thelancet.com As many countries continue to struggle with a third wave of COVID-19—Hong Kong is suffering its fourth wave and is contemplating a fifth and sixth—all governments and public health authorities will need to remain open to new ideas for controlling the pandemic. This past week, Ilona Kickbusch, founding director of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, shared a proposal being widely discussed in Germany. The approach devised by a group of clinicians and academics, which in addition to Kickbusch includes Melanie Brinkmann, Michael Hallek, M…
(2021-01-30). Big Tech's Gravest Sin? Working With the Security State. strategic-culture.org Though they claim to champion privacy, companies like Google and Amazon are making a fortune contracting with the government. | By Ivan ELAND | The "de-platforming" of Donald Trump by Twitter, Facebook, and Google-owned YouTube—that is, Big Tech—recently garnered big headlines. Trump's change in status has raised cries among some conservatives of "censorship." Yet a more libertarian view holds that these are private companies that have a right to control their own content, just as private broadcast and print media do. The word "censorship" has been traditionally and more appropriately applied to go…
(2021-01-30). Supporting Democracy Abroad If It Gives The 'Right' Results. zcomm.org The double standards of the mainstream US and British media in relation to foreign interference in elections has been particularly obvious since 2016…
(2021-01-30). [Correspondence] Frozen shoulder. thelancet.com Amar Rangan and colleagues1 presented their findings from a multicentre, pragmatic, three-arm, superiority randomised controlled trial designed to compare early structured physiotherapy of frozen shoulder with manipulation under anaesthesia and arthroscopic capsular release.1 All options were found to be clinically equivalent; however, there was a higher risk of complications with arthroscopic capsular release than with manipulation under anaesthesia. Manipulation was the most cost-effective option.
(2021-01-30). [Correspondence] Mavacamten for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy — Authors' reply. thelancet.com We thank Eduard Quintana and colleagues for their Correspondence. The EXPLORER-HCM trial1 is the largest prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled study ever done in patients with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Far from being "unambitious", the study included a vast array of endpoints ranging from objective measurements of performance to gradient reduction and key aspects of quality of life. The primary endpoint was developed following discussions with the US Food and Drug Administration, and was defined as either a 1 ∑5 mL/kg per min or greater increase in peak oxygen consumption (p…
(2021-01-30). Joe Biden Is the Embodiment of Our Fading Empire. scheerpost.com Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0] By Alfred McCoy / TomDispatch After four years of Donald Trump's fitful tenure, America is awakening from a long, troubled sleep to discover, like the fictional character Rip Van Winkle, that the world it once knew has changed beyond all recognition. In that classic American tale by Washington Irving published in 1819, an amiable but shiftless farmer strolls out of… |
(2021-01-29). Corporate Media bash teachers unions for resisting school reopenings amid rising death toll. mronline.org 
Rather than attack the government for its poor handling of the COVID crisis, corporate media have opted for a return to a favorite pastime of theirs: union bashing.
(2021-01-29). Corporate Media Bash Teachers Unions For Resisting School Reopenings. popularresistance.org The seven-day average COVID death toll hit an all time high yesterday, with over 3,400 Americans expected to die on any given day. Educator cases are on the rise. Studies have shown that children are as likely to contract and pass the coronavirus on as adults, making schools potential super spreading hotspots. As a result, European nations like the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, and the Netherlands are shuttering schools, despite, in many cases, having lower infection rates than the U.S. | President Biden, however, is pushing forward with a new plan to achieve a near full reopening within his…
(2021-01-29). Worldwide Anti-Science Movement Threatens Pandemic Response and Public Health. truthout.org 
The Biden administration has vowed to increase the rate of vaccinations as COVID-19 continues to spread uncontrollably across the entire U.S., with 90,000 people predicted to die in the next four weeks. President Biden announced plans to acquire another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech and is devising ways to allow retired nurses and doctors to administer vaccines. Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Ho…
(2021-01-29). The Left Should Oppose Censorship by Big Tech Companies. zcomm.org We should champion free speech online — and argue that the best way to protect it is with a socialist program that brings privatized social media platforms into public control…
(2021-01-29). Is America an Enemy of Christianity? strategic-culture.org 
Rod DREHER | Though the US has separation of church and state, we have long been accustomed to American Christianity being consonant with American patriotism. But close Christian observers of American life have wondered for the last couple of decades — at least in my experience — if and when the day will come when being a faithful Christian will require one to oppose the US government and the American system. As America de-Christianizes, what was once unthinkable by conservative Christians is now fast moving from the fringes to the mainstream of our thinking. | Catholic World Report has published a bl…
(2021-01-29). 'It stinks of corruption': Texas AG calls out Robinhood, Discord, Citadel and others over GameStop stock throttling. rt.com 
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued civil investigative demands to more than a dozen entities involved in blocking small investors from trading GameStop and other stocks, saying their behavior "stinks of corruption." | "Wall Street corporations cannot limit public access to the free market, nor should they censor discussion surrounding it, particularly for their own benefit," "
(2021-01-29). Congress MP, Veteran Journalists Charged With Sedition Over 'Fake News' on Farmer's Death in Delhi. sputniknews.com A 26-year-old farmer protesting India's new farm laws was killed in central Delhi on 26 January after his tractor rammed into a barricade. Farmers at the site claimed that the killed farmer was shot by cops before the accident. Police in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state have said that they didn't find any gunshot mark on the farmer's body.
(2021-01-29). McConnell repeats the same obstructionist playbook from Obama era: Can Biden ignore the trolling?>. salon.com Republicans are concern trolling President Biden on his promises of "unity." They should be ignored…
(2021-01-29). Does Christopher Hitchens Need an Authorized Biography? thenation.com Does Christopher Hitchens Need an Authorized Biography?
(2021-01-29). How Trump Exacerbated Corporate Censorship. realprogressives.org When Donald Trump was kicked off Twitter following the determination that his speech had fomented violence, a heated debate began: Was this something that should have been done earlier, or is it a horrifying display of "Big Tech's" power showing they can shut down political speech they don't like? | On one hand, Donald Trump's Twitter feed was perhaps the most notorious and destructive misinformation campaign in American history — and one that arguably did incite violent behavior. In the days following the Capitol being stormed by a misled mob, we were all justifiably worried Trump was attempting a real c…
(2021-01-28). The pendulum of internet censorship swings leftward again. mronline.org 
There has been a purge of left-wing accounts from social media, with socialist organizations being targeted on Facebook and multiple Antifa-associated accounts suspended from Twitter.
(2021-01-28). Dr. Peter Hotez: "Globalized Anti-Science Movement" Threatens Pandemic Response & Public Health. democracynow.org 
The Biden administration has vowed to increase the rate of vaccinations as COVID-19 continues to spread uncontrollably across the entire U.S., with 90,000 people predicted to die in the next four weeks. President Biden announced plans to acquire another 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech and is devising ways to allow retired nurses and doctors to administer vaccines. Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, says the Trump administration'
(2021-01-28). Chicago teachers lead resistance to Biden's school reopening plan as pandemic enters deadlier phase. wsws.org Chicago educators are in the forefront of the resistance of educators across the US to the campaign by the Biden administration and the corporate media to reopen schools.
(2021-01-28). AOC throws weight behind GameStop hedge fund massacre, takes a dig at Wall Street's 'long history of treating economy as a casino'. rt.com 
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has heaped mockery on Wall Street hedge funds who've taken a beating after a short-selling scheme on GameStop shares miserably backfired, accusing them of treating markets like a "casino." | The New York congresswoman took to Twitter on Wednesday night to poke fun at the "Wall Streeters" racking up major losses amid a push by online trolls to punish GameStop short-sellers, "Gotta admit it's really something…
(2021-01-28). GameStop controversy put AOC & Trump Jr on SAME PAGE against Wall Street — but panicked MSM smears Reddit traders as ALT-RIGHT MOB. rt.com 
The GameStop stock rebellion is playing out like a revealing Rorschach test, drawing political figures as divergent as Donald Trump Jr. and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez together, and prompting legacy media to demonize the uprising. | The former president's son responded to ruling-class efforts to crush the rally, including Thursday's move by trading app Robinhood to ban its users from buying shares of GameStop and other stocks targeted by grassroots investors, by saying, "This is what a rigged system looks like." Trump Jr. tweeted: "It took less than a day for Big Tech, Big Government, and the corporate media to s…
(2021-01-28). Frank Biden touts his relationship to POTUS in Inauguration Day ad for Florida law firm. rt.com 
Joe Biden's brother Frank used the occasion of Inauguration Day to promote his relationship with the new president in an advertisement for the Florida law firm where he works as an adviser. | The ad appeared in the January 20 edition of Daily Business Review, a legal industry publication, and reportedly promoted Berman Law Group's work in leading a class-action lawsuit that accuses southern Florida sugar-cane growers of damaging the health of nearby residents through their controlled crop burns, CNBC News reported on Wednesday. | Frank Biden, who isn't a lawyer, says in the ad: "My brother is a model for how t…
(2021-01-28). 'Brazil on Fire': How fake news, culture wars and the United States put a fascist in power. greenleft.org.au Once at the centre of the region's left turn, Brazil has for the past two years been governed by a far-right president. Michael Fox spoke to Green Left about the significance of recent events there.
(2021-01-28). [Research Paper] Safety and efficacy of long-term mild hypothermia for severe traumatic brain injury with refractory intracranial hypertension (LTH-1): A multicenter randomized controlled trial. thelancet.com Long-term mild hypothermia did not improve the neurological outcomes. However, it may be a potential option in sTBI patients with initial ICP ‚â• 30 mm Hg.
(2021-01-28). The 'Insurrection' And Its Discontents: 'American Exceptionalism' Revisited. popularresistance.org History is being written in the United States today. Even the most pessimistic about the prospects of American democracy have rarely ventured out this far while offering a bleak analysis of America's future, whether in terms of political polarization at home or global standing abroad. | As shocking and, certainly, telling as the images of thousands of American protesters taking over the symbols of America's federal, representative democracy in Washington DC on January 6, it was only a facet in a far more complex and devastating political trajectory that has been in the making for years. | While mainstream US medi…
(2021-01-28). The Leadership Institute: PR School for Right-wingers. counterpunch.org We're familiar with Fox, the TV propaganda arm of the Trump administration remaining a far right-wing outlet under Rupert Murdoch and his mission of using media to push an arch-conservative agenda. And we're becoming aware of other radical right efforts to use media to indoctrinate people. There's the right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group seeking to buy