Author: J.P. Knowles

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing Tuesday that the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading at a rate not seen with any other variant.

Ghebreyesus said that as of now omicron had been detected in 77 countries, adding that “the reality is that omicron is probably in most countries, even if it hasn’t been detected yet.”

“Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” he said.

Ghebreyesus also expressed concerns within the agency about “people [who] are dismissing omicron as mild.”

“Surely, we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. Even if omicron does cause less severe disease, the sheer number of cases could once again overwhelm unprepared health systems,” he warned.

He emphasized the importance of doing it “all,” “consistently” and “well,” while speaking about vaccination against COVID-19 in addition to other safety practices like social distancing, ventilation, hand hygiene, and wearing a mask.

“I need to be very clear: vaccines alone will not get any country out of this crisis,” he said.

Ghebreyesus underscored a gap in vaccination rates, pointing out that the WHO is concerned COVID-19 booster programs could “repeat the COVID-19 vaccine hoarding we saw this year and exacerbate inequity.”

According to him, boosters could play an important role for those at highest risk for severe illness and death and that “evolving evidence suggests a small decline in the effectiveness of vaccines against severe COVID-19 and death” – but was wary about rolling out the additional shots for entire adult populations “even while we lack evidence for the effectiveness of boosters against this variant.”

“Let me be very clear: WHO is not against boosters,” he added. “We’re against inequity. Our main concern is to save lives, everywhere.”

On Tuesday, vaccine-maker Pfizer announced that its experimental pill to treat the virus appears to be effective against the “variant of concern.”

Previously, Pfizer and BioNTech said that three doses of the companies’ vaccine “neutralize” omicron with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla saying earlier this month that the booster shot would be enough to “maintain protection” against the variant.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky confirmed Tuesday that the omicron variant has been detected in 33 U.S. states.

She said it “is more transmissible,” and that her agency was “starting to see some early data that is demonstrating some decreased severity” in omicron.

Walensky said more than 40 people had been infected with the variant in the U.S. so far, with no deaths reported.

Liberals, as well as elected Democrats, were quick to blame climate change for the deadly tornadoes that tore through the Midwest over the weekend.

President Joe Biden announced that he wanted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate the role climate change played in the deadly storms that caused fatalities in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee on Friday night. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear described the storm as the worst in state history as the death toll could surpass 100 after emergency responders clear the debris.

“All that I know is that the intensity of the weather across the board has some impact as a consequence of the warming of the planet and the climate change,” Biden said Saturday.

“The specific impact on these specific storms, I can’t say at this point,” he continued. “I’m going to be asking the EPA and others to take a look at that. But the fact is that we all know everything is more intense when the climate is warming — everything. And, obviously, it has some impact here.”

The president approved an emergency declaration for Kentucky, allowing the federal government to assist in the cleanup and rescue efforts on the ground.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, also blamed climate change for the storm when asked about the unseasonable severity of the storm Sunday.

“We do see tornadoes in December, that part is not unusual. But at this magnitude, I don’t think we’ve ever seen one this late in the year,” Criswell said. “But it’s also historic. Even the severity and the amount of time this tornado, or these tornadoes, spent on the ground is unprecedented.”

“This is going to be our new normal and the effects that we’re seeing from climate change are the crisis of our generation,” she continued.

The five deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history occurred in 1925, 1840, 1896, and 1936, killing between 203-695 people each. Environmental activists and liberals have insisted over the past several decades that global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions and industrialization is triggering more violent storms.

“The first thing the alarmists think of is, ‘how can we use this to advance our agenda?’” Steve Milloy, a former member of the Trump transition team, said. “That’s what they do nowadays. Every bad piece of bad weather is global warming.”

“They’ve got enough people in the media to go along with it that, you know, they get away with it,” he added.

Milloy said that fossil fuels are often crucial in recovery efforts that save people from harm during major weather events. The number of deaths caused by natural disasters has declined more than 96% over the last century.

One article published Monday said the tornado over the weekend “offers a grim climate warning,” while another article named scientists who say “higher temperatures could add fuel to these violent disasters.”

“When you start putting a lot of these events together, and you start looking at them in the aggregate sense, the statistics are pretty clear that not only has there sort of been a change — a shift, if you will — of where the greatest tornado frequency is happening,” tornado expert Victor Gensini said. “But these events are becoming perhaps stronger, more frequent, and also more variable.”

However, Central Michigan University meteorology professor John Allen argued that it is too early to speculate on whether climate change played a part in the deadly storms. He noted that “tornado outbreaks have occurred on nearly every day of the year” historically.

Still, liberals and environmental groups reiterated the comments made by Biden, Criswell, and Gensini.

“This climate disaster is about our electeds failing us, choosing to water down and delay climate bills instead of investing in infrastructure that will keep people safe,” Varshini Prakash, the executive director of the environmental group the Sunrise Movement, said in a statement.

Climate activist Alexandria Villaseñor tweeted that the “extreme and deadly future we keep warning you about is already here.”

“It’s only going to get worse from here,” actor and climate activist Mark Ruffalo tweeted. “Now is time to fight for our suffering and despairing youth.”

The U.S Air Force has discharged 27 service members for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine in what is the first enforcement action from any U.S. Military branch.

The Air Force put a mandate in place requiring personnel to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 2. The Pentagon has left it to military branches to determine their own deadlines. While the vast majority of servicemembers have complied with the vaccination mandate, a small number have not. The 27 individuals discharged Monday are all younger, lower-ranking and in their first enlistment term, Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said. None of the individuals had applied for specific exemptions.

Each branch of the military is addressing service members who have refused the COVID-19 vaccine, however, the Air Force is the first to enact a discharge. Reports from late October suggested as many as 12,000 Air Force personnel were not in compliance with the mandate at that time.

The military has long required members to receive a number of vaccines before becoming a service member, at this time there are more than 95% of active-duty members who have already taken the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Pentagon.

President Joe Biden encouraged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to impose a vaccine mandate in August. Biden had instructed Austin to investigate “how and when” to implement a vaccine mandate for service members.

“Secretary Austin and I share an unshakable commitment to making sure our troops have every tool they need to do their jobs as safely as possible,” Biden wrote at the time. “These vaccines will save lives. Period. They are safe. They are effective.”

House Republicans had encouraged Austin to reconsider the military-wide mandate in November but to no end. The representatives argued that getting vaccinated is a personal decision and imposing a mandate could negatively impact military readiness.

“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, Operation Warp Speed achieved the impossible by developing multiple vaccines in record time. I got the vaccine because the benefit outweighed the risk based on the status of my personal health, but an authoritarian mandate could have serious consequences for America’s national security,” Republican Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson said at the time. “The decision to get vaccinated should be a personal choice for every American, just as President Biden previously supported before going back on his word and just as Vice President Harris desired when she said she would not get the vaccine if President Trump told her to.”

President Biden continues to reject criticism of his withdrawal from Afghanistan, stating during a recent interview that “no one’s come up with a way to indicate to me.” He then said that he had opposed the war from the beginning denying any responsibility for the disastrous withdrawal.

“Afghanistan. Well, I’ve been against that war in Afghanistan from the very beginning,” Biden said. “We’re spending $300 million a week in Afghanistan over 20 years.”

“Everybody says, ‘You could have gotten out without anybody being hurt,’” he continued. “No one’s come up with a way to indicate to me how that happens.”

Biden’s remarks about opposing the war “from the very beginning” reiterated remarks he made in a 2019 interview with the editorial board of New Hampshire’s Seacoast Media Group.

However Biden did not oppose the invasion of Afghanistan when he was a senator from Delaware and he along with his colleagues voted in support of the 2001 authorization of military force against “nations, organizations, or persons” that then-President George W. Bush determined to have helped perpetuate the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Biden has repeatedly spoken about his opposition to then-President Barack Obama’s “surge” of additional troops into Afghanistan during the time that he was vice president in 2009, however, is not the same as him being “against that war … from the very beginning.”

Critics have not primarily focused on the fact that Biden failed to have “gotten out without anybody being hurt” but instead for breaking his own promise not to leave Americans behind.

“If there are American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out,” Biden said in an interview on Aug. 16. However, only 15 days later on Aug. 31, he marked the end of the war in Afghanistan by admitting that there were “about 100 to 200 Americans remaining in Afghanistan with some intention to leave.”

“What’s really troublesome and almost frightening to know is that we have a commander in chief who does not see the imperative of bringing the Americans home,” Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William “Jerry,” said in an interview on Sept. 1. “That’s a longstanding ethos, not just of the military, but of America.”

Boykin, as well as other retired military leaders, called for the resignations of Biden’s top military and diplomatic officials, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and national security advisor Jake Sullivan, in the wake of the withdrawal.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the former acting national security advisor to President Trump, previously said that the post-withdrawal disaster in Afghanistan is worse than the post-withdrawal situation in Iraq, from which the Islamic State emerged.

The U. S. Coast Guard searched for hours after a woman fell from a cruise ship early Saturday morning near Ensenada, Mexico.

The Coast Guard searched for over 31 hours and temporarily stopped the search until more information could be gathered. The Coast Guard continues to work in cooperation with the Mexican navy to search for the woman.

Members from the USCGC #ForrestRednour, a #USCG #SectorSanDiego MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and the Mexican Navy are working together to locate a woman who reportedly went overboard on a cruise ship near Ensenada, Mexico. Inquiries can be directed to SD DutyPA @(619)-252-1304

— USCG Southern California (@USCGSoCal) December 11, 2021

She was a passenger on the Carnival Miracle ship and went overboard shortly after 3:00 am. The ship was stopped around 3:30 a.m. for crew members to deploy a lifeboat and search the area.

The COVID-19 pandemic had prompted a complete shutdown of the cruise industry with Carnival being shut down for 16 months until its first cruise launching July 4.

“On Saturday, Dec. 11, we advised Carnival Miracle guests of an overboard incident involving a guest from the balcony of her stateroom. The ship returned to Long Beach as scheduled on Sunday, Dec. 12,” Carnival said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the guest and her family, and our Care Team is providing support.”

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said that Americans will “just have to deal with” the prospect of getting regular coronavirus booster shots.

Fauci made the statement on Sunday morning, adding that the level of protection provided by the current coronavirus booster shots given to individuals will have to be monitored closely over the next several months.

“If it becomes necessary to get yet another boost, then we’ll just have to deal with it when that occurs,” Fauci said.

Fauci who is also the Chief Medical Advisor to the president added that he’s “hoping” that a third mRNA shot will provide longer-lasting protection.

“I’m hoping from an immunological standpoint that that third shot of an mRNA and the second shot of a J&J will provide more protection than just the six months or so that we’re seeing right now,” Dr. Fauci said.

He claimed that it’s possible that the booster shot could “dramatically” increase the level of protection.

“It’s tough to tell because the third shot of an mRNA could not only do what we absolutely know it does, is it dramatically increased the level of protection. But from an immunological standpoint, it could very well increase the durability of protection by things that you can’t readily measure by the level of antibodies that you might have a maturation of the immune system that would prolong the durability,” Fauci said.

For the time being, “official requirements” for being fully vaccinated are not changing.

“For official requirements, it’s still two shots of the mRNA and one shot of the J&J for the official determination of what’s required or not.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki made excuses for Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden’s previous comments about Jussie Smollett on Friday, adding that everyone had “learned a lesson.”

Reporters pressed Psaki on what could be learned from Smollett’s guilty verdict on Thursday given that both Biden and Harris had condemned the hoax attack at the time. Psaki deflected by saying that former President Donald Trump had also condemned the incident at the time, but acknowledged that everyone had a lesson to learn, before moving on to condemn Smollett.

“Both the president and vice president tweeted at the time of the attack,” a reporter called out. “The president tweeted ‘What happened to Jussie Smollett must never be tolerated in this country. We’re with you Jussie.’ The vice president called it an ‘attempted modern-day lynching.’ Following the guilty verdict, are there any lessons learned here on rushing to judgment when a crime is alleged?”

“There are lessons learned perhaps for everybody who commented at the time, including former President Trump … where he said ‘I can tell you that it’s horrible. It doesn’t get worse,’ in response to the question about Jussie Smollett at the time,” Psaki said. “I would say that we respect the jury’s decision. Lying to the police, particularly about something as heinous as a hate crime is shameful. Instances of that need to be investigated fully, and those found guilty need to be punished.”

“False accusations divert valuable police resources away from important investigations, they make it harder for real victims to come forward and be believed,” she added.

An Illinois court found Smollett guilty on five counts of filing a false police report and lying to police officers on Thursday.

Smollett had claimed in 2018 that he had been attacked at 2 a.m. in Chicago. He claimed to police that two men had beaten him, yelled racial slurs, poured bleach on him and tied a noose around his neck, then left him in the street. In truth, he had in fact orchestrated the attack with the two men as a hoax.

The man accused of torching a Christmas tree outside the New York City headquarters of Fox News was let go last week without bail shortly after prosecutors reduced the number of charges against him from seven to three.

“I have been thinking about lighting the tree on fire all day long,” Craig Tamanaha told Detective Matthew Demaio after he torched the artificial tree which had been decorated in red, white, and blue, according to court papers.

Tamanaha, 49, was arraigned on one count each of felony second-degree criminal mischief, misdemeanor second-degree reckless endangerment, and misdemeanor fifth-degree arson.

New York criminal justice reforms enacted in January 2020 bar judges from setting bail on these charges. Criminal defense lawyer Mark Bederow said that Tamanaha would have had to be charged with third-degree arson as a hate crime for the case to require bail.

“I didn’t do it,” the defendant told reporters as he left the courtroom then started screaming obscenities at them.

“The moms that want to rape their f—-king daughter’s — they set it on fire,” Tamanaha shouted before asking reporters for a cigarette.

Tamanaha apparently sneaked into the enclosure that surrounded the 50-foot tree outside Fox News headquarters in Midtown Manhattan at about 12:10 a.m. and lit the tree on fire, causing $500,000 in damage, according to the complaint.

Police charged Tamanaha with seven counts — including criminal nuisance, criminal trespass, criminal tampering, and disorderly conduct, which do not require bail either.

Freelance photographer Jeenah Moon said that Tamanaha had exposed himself on Nov. 29 outside the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. “He was acting weird and pulled down his pants,” she said. He was not arrested for the alleged indecent exposure.

In the meantime, Fox News plans to unveil a new All-American Christmas tree in Fox Square at 48th Street and 6th Avenue during “The Five.”

“We have planned for a new tree to be rebuilt and installed by Thursday afternoon as a sign of resilience and hope in the face of a horrible act,” Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said.

Cardinal Dolan, Reverend Jacques DeGraff, Rabbi Joseph Ptasnik, and members of the FDNY and NYPD will be on hand for the tree lighting, Scott said.

Tamanaha, who is homeless, faces a maximum of two to seven years in prison if convicted, he is due back in court in early January.

The U.S. Navy made a shocking announcement Thursday that fuel was contaminating military families’ drinking water at a well near the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii.

Rear Adm. Blake Converse told reporters at a press conference late Thursday that the Navy had “pretty conclusive indications that there are volatile petroleum products” in the drinking water near the base. According to Converse, the well had been taken offline due to contamination.

“It was just getting worse every day,” Cheri Burness, naval wife, said.

Residents started complaining about a peculiar gasoline-like smell in their drinking water following a Nov. 22 fuel leak in the Red Hill underground storage facility near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Burness said that she along with many other families had complained to the Navy about the drinking water but had received very little communication from officials, who assured her the water was fine.

Right now, thousands of military personnel and their families are without water at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam. In today’s hearing with the @USNavy, I demanded answers on the future of #RedHill.

People are suffering, and Hawaiʻi deserves answers and transparency immediately. pic.twitter.com/IpfXzJY06p

— Former U.S. Representative Kaialiʻi Kahele (@RepKahele) December 2, 2021

“All they had to do was say; ‘We see that there’s a problem, we don’t know what it is and we’re going to do whatever it takes to find out and fix it.’ That’s all they had to do. And instead, we got: ‘Nope. Looks good. Smells fine. Bye,’” Burness said.

The Navy confirmed that it had received health complaints related to the water supply from over 900 homes that use the Navy’s water system. Converse assured the Navy would clean out its water system to get rid of the petroleum products, a process that is expected to take over a week.

The announcement came after a call by Democratic Hawaii Rep. Kai Kahele, who warned of a “crisis of astronomical proportions” if families lost access to drinking water.

Kyle Rittenhouse, who was freed of murder charges on Friday, is being urged by prominent conservatives to sue corporate media outlets and others for slander.

A jury cleared Rittenhouse of charges of intentional homicide, reckless homicide, attempted intentional homicide, and two counts of reckless endangerment after a roughly two week trial and four days of jury deliberation. In the aftermath of the verdict, some supporters of the teen are pledging to donate to a fund so he could take legal action against outlets and prominent figures that called him a white supremacist and other labels without evidence.

“What happened to him in this mob justice is grotesque. Absolutely grotesque,” conservative radio host and Blaze Media CEO Glenn Beck said in a video posted to Twitter. Beck said that the media portrayal of Rittenhouse since the teen killed two men and wounded a third in self defense last year has had an irreversible negative impact on his future.

“Where’s he going to go to work? You go to work now and you apply for a job and they immediately Google your name. You think he’s going to be fine, he’s going to get a job?” Beck asked. “I will tell you, and I hope you would feel the same way, I’d give money … for his offense, to now go on the offense and sue the crap out of corporate media for what they’ve done. They lied about him the whole time. They destroyed his life. It is time to say enough is enough with the corporate media.”

Beck also called for President Joe Biden to apologize to Rittenhouse after his account posted a tweet last year suggesting that the teen was a white supremacist. “President Biden should be issuing an apology today. He has smeared him. Everybody has smeared this guy. Where are the apologies?” Beck said.

“This was a kid that was smeared as a domestic terrorist and a white supremacist, not just by media members but by the now sitting president of the United States,” Owens said on a live stream after the verdict dropped. “I want vengeance. I want to make sure that Kyle, until he’s 92 years old, is suing every single person [who defamed him.]”