China has made anal COVID-19 swabs mandatory for all foreign travelers arriving in the country, a report said Wednesday.
The government has claimed that such tests provide a higher degree of accuracy than other screening methods for the virus, the Times UK reported.
As part of the new travel requirement, there will be testing hubs in Beijing and Shanghai airports, the outlet reported.
Li Tongzeng, a respiratory disease medic, said the anal swabs are better because virus traces stay in fecal samples longer than they do in the nose or throat, state media reported.
“Some Japanese reported to our embassy in China that they received anal swab tests, which caused a great psychological pain,” Katsunobu Kato, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, told a news conference.
Staff wearing protective masks stand behind a counter at Beijing Capital International Airport on Feb. 2, 2021.
Yan Cong/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, however, defended the screenings as “science-based.”
The tests are “in accordance with the changes in the epidemic situation as well as relevant laws and regulations,” he said.
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) is under fire after Maryam Qudrat, a mother of Middle Eastern descent, was asked by the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) to identify her race after criticizing the union’s opposition to reopening schools despite overwhelming science that it is safe. The response of the UTLA was evasive to the point of incomprehension. However, the controversy is fueled by recent efforts to portray parents demanding a return to school as racist or examples of white privilege, including recent controversial comments from the UTLA President.
Qudrat was contacted by the UTLA after she spoke out against the opposition to resuming classes in Los Angeles. She has a seventh-grade child and has been calling for the union to follow the science. Instead, they contracted her with an email from a union research who noted that she has been quoted twice by the LA Times in eight months and the union wants to know her race. The email notes that her name sounds Iranian but the researcher does not want to assume her race with a “legitimate method.”
The concern however is why the union is trying to racially classify critics. The fact that Qudrat was quoted twice in the LA Times would not yield any broader demographic information on the range of parents who want their kids back in school. Instead, the email is intimidating when opposition to the closings is being used by some to claim racism. That issue arose recently with the public statements of UTLA President:
“Some voices are being allowed to speak louder than others. We have to call out the privilege behind the largely White wealthy parents driving the push for a rushed return. Their experience of this pandemic is not our students’ families’ experiences.”
Myart-Cruz has also criticized “Middle Eastern” parents in joining “white parents” in seeking school re-openings, and condemned the plan, calling it “a recipe for propagating structural racism,” Politico reported.
“We are being unfairly targeted by people who are not experiencing this disease in the same ways as students and families are in our communities,” UTLA President Cecily Mart-Cruz said at a press conference on Monday.
“If this was a rich person’s disease, we would’ve seen a very different response. We would not have the high rates of infections and deaths.”
“Now educators are asked instead to sacrifice ourselves, the safety of our students and the safety of our schools,” Mart-Cruz complained.
In response to the latest controversy, UTLA issues this statement:
“The email in question is from a UTLA researcher who was attempting to ascertain the race of individuals quoted in order to assess whether or not that is a factor we could evaluate. This outreach by the researcher was not authorized and nothing from that outreach is contained in the report. We understand this type of email could be taken out of context.”
What exactly does that mean? The researcher was working for UTLA “to ascertain the race of individual quoted in order to assess whether or not this is a fact we could evaluate.” Read that over a couple of times. “Assess whether . . . we could evaluate”? Moreover, what are you evaluating? This sounds more like opposition research. What would it matter is the small number of people quoted in a newspaper have a particular ethnic background? It would not establish the make up of families holding that position. While the union says “we understand this type of email could be taken out of context,” it does not explain the context or purpose. It does not deny that it was researching the race of anyone who opposes the union effort to keep the schools closed.
In reality, there are many minority parents who have spoken out about the need to re-open and the science is clear on the issue. Indeed, it was clear when the Trump Administration was pushing for re-opening last year despite ads calling such efforts “attempted murder” before the election.
Obviously, the claims of racism from the UTLA will chill other parents from speaking out. Indeed, we recently discussed a leading researcher who stopped his work on Covid-19 due to threats and harassment for showing minimal risk from school openings. That is the “context” that many of us are concerned about when reading this email.
* * *
PJMedia's Tyler O'Neil asks California’s largest teachers union is holding ten percent of the state’s public school kids hostage in exchange for what, exactly? Perhaps more money, more benefits, more peace of mind? If teachers unions like UTLA wish to convince Americans that public school is as important as they have preached for decades, why are they fighting tooth-and-nail against a toothless reopening plan when keeping schools closed will wreak havoc on the very children they claim to serve?
While Marxist critical race theory teaches that American society is bedeviled with hidden “structural racism” that requires brainwashing or revolutionary action to erase, and while this noxious ideology is spreading further in American society, parents are unlikely to fall for the unions crying “structural racism.”
“I am Hispanic… I am Hispanic and I have four adopted children. We look like the U.N.,” Minerva Martinez Scott, a Hispanic board member, responded to the CRT proponent. “And my child has been affected by not being in school. My kid is in a facility because he had a hard time not being in school.”
At some point, Gavin Newsom is going to have to put his foot down and force teachers to do their jobs. If he doesn’t, the people of California will recall him and replace him with someone who will. That effort is already underway.
Having immediately decried the actions of Texas and Mississippi - in giving their citizens back some freedom and the ability to think for themselves - as "absolutely reckless," California Governor Gavin Newsom has doubled-down (literally) on the virtue-signaling.
“We will be doubling down on mask wearing,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday, “not arguing to follow the example of Texas and other states that I think are making a terrible mistake.”
The Sacramento Bee is reporting tonight that new state health guidelines announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday recommend that Californians wear two cloth masks or one filtered mask when going out in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“We are encouraging people basically to double down on mask wearing, particularly in light of all what I would argue is bad information coming from at least four states in this country. We will not be walking down their path, we’re mindful of your health and our future,” Newsom said.
To Newsom’s point about doubling down, California updated its recommendations for mask wearing on Thursday with the following:
“‘Double masking’ is an effective way to improve fit and filtration. A close-fitting cloth mask can be worn on top of a surgical/disposable mask to improve the seal of the mask to the face.”
Interestingly, Newsom also announced Thursday that counties across the state could be cleared to open more businesses and lift other restrictions sooner than anticipated under an update that loosens some requirements in his Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
So he is easing restrictions (cough recall pandering cough), like Texas; and at the same time urging 'double masking'?
Based on our assessment of this CDC mask mandate report, we find ourselves troubled by the study methods themselves and by extension, the conclusions drawn. The real-world evidence exists and indicates that in various countries and US states, when mask mandates were followed consistently, there was an inexorable increase in case counts. We have seen that in states and countries that already have a high frequency of mask wearing that adding mandates had little effect. There was no (zero) benefit of adding a mask mandate in Austria, Germany, France, Spain, UK, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, and Italy, and states like California, Hawaii, and Texas. Importantly, we do not ascribe a cause-effect relationship between the implementation of mask mandates and the rise in case rates, but we also demand the same approach when it comes to claiming some sort of causal relationship between the introduction of mask mandates and likely claims by the CDC that their findings could support their implementation countrywide.
We think that inclusion of such evidence on the failures of masks mandates globally and states within the US would have made for more balanced, comprehensive, and fully-informed reporting.
...
Trusting the science means relying on the scientific process and method and not merely ‘following the leader.’ It is not the same as trusting, without verification, the conclusory statements of human beings simply because they have scientific training or credentials.
History does not bode well for times that politics meddles with science. Martin Kulldorff, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a leader in disease surveillance methods and infectious disease outbreaks, describes the current COVID scientific environment this way: “After 300 years, the Age of Enlightenment has ended.”
We wonder how a citizenry that is already demanding his recall will react to this latest escalation in restrictions.
(WGTD)---A downtown Racine redevelopment project that was sidelined for a while by the pandemic is back on track.
Tuesday night the city council unanimously approved a tweaking to an incentive agreement for the conversion of the former Zahn's Department Store on Monument Square into an 80-room boutique hotel with a restaurant, roof-top bar and meeting rooms.
The $30 million project was originally unveiled in late 2019.
Because financing fell apart when the virus hit, the Milwaukee-based developer had to rework the funding package.
Changes that needed to be approved by the council included increasing a city loan from $4 million to $5.5 million, rejiggering parking space allocations and extending the deadline for the start of construction to July 15th of this year.
The changes were initially discussed in an hour-long closed session, then approved in open session.
"We have all talked about the Zahn's building for decades and what would become of it," Mayor Cory Mason said. "This could potentially be the first of what we hope will be several projects that we'll see in the downtown," he said.
The nearly century-old building has been vacant for several decades.
The new development will be called "Hotel Verdant."
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is pledging to slow down the next coronavirus stimulus package — and its $1,400 checks for Americans.
The Oshkosh Republican on Wednesday afternoon promised to force a full reading of the bill while speaking on The Vicki McKenna Show. He said that reading the entirety of the document would likely take up to 10 hours.
"I will make them read their 600- to 700-page bill," he said on the radio program. "So that every member of the Senate would have time to read it ... before we start the debate on it."
After the reading, Johnson said he is prepared to continue to use parliamentary procedure to slow down a full vote by introducing as many amendments as he can. He hopes the price tag of the bill will go down substantially by the end of the debate by eliminating portions of the bill he sees as unfit.
The holiday encourages people to do something new that enriches their own lives or the lives of people in their community.
March Fourth
The name of this unofficial holiday plays on the words, march fourth, which when spoken out loud sounds like march forth - an expression used to convey action and moving forward.
Homonyms
March fourth and march forth are homophones - words or expressions that are pronounced alike, but have different meanings. Homographs, on the other hand, are words or expressions that are spelled the same way but have different meanings. Examples of such words include bass (a deep sound and a type of fish) and bow (to bend, the front of a ship and a type of knot). Homophones and homographs are both types of homonyms.
How to Celebrate?
March forth and do something.
Volunteer in your community.
Start something that you have always wanted to do, but have never had the chance to.
Did You Know…
…that the word March is a capitonym? Capitonyms are words or expressions whose meaning changes depending on where it's capitalized or not. March refers to the month, while march refers to a walking in a measured way.
It is, of course, merely another permutation of the Sino-Jewish War:
No American pro sports league has profited more from its business relationship with China than the NBA, and the NBA has been known to take some serious social justice and political stands in the United States.
So it will be interesting to see if the league will take a stand against its biggest business partner, now that a Chinese court has ruled in favor of a widely circulated Chinese textbook that describes homosexuality as “a psychological disorder.”
Remember, the NBA is the same organization that once pulled its All-Star Game out of Charlotte after a North Carolina law banned transgender people from using bathrooms in accordance with their gender identities.
Now, will the league speak out about the Chinese court ruling that states referring to homosexuality as a mental disorder is a-OK? Will it pull preseason games out of China, stop accepting money from Chinese merchandise sales, vehemently speak out about the communist nation’s decision to promote materials that are clearly anti-LGBT?
The point is not the hypocrisy. The point is that the Chinese response demonstrates it was never necessary to surrender to the neoclowns and SJWs. Unfortunately, the prosperity-weakened Christians of the West lacked the spine and the intelligence to defend their ideals, their nations, or their faith, and succumbed to lies about free speech, equality, posterity, and civic nationalism.
Which is why the 21st Century is much more likely to belong to the East than to the West.
BALTIMORE (WBFF) – A shocking discovery out of a Baltimore City high school, where Project Baltimore has found hundreds of students are failing. It’s a school where a student who passed three classes in four years, ranks near the top half of his class with a 0.13 grade point average.
Tiffany France thought her son would receive his diploma this coming June. But after four years of high school, France just learned, her 17-year-old must start over. He’s been moved back to ninth grade.
“He's stressed and I am too. I told him I'm probably going to start crying. I don't know what to do for him,” France told Project Baltimore. “Why would he do three more years in school? He didn't fail, the school failed him. The school failed at their job. They failed. They failed, that's the problem here. They failed. They failed. He didn't deserve that.”
France’s son attends Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts in west Baltimore. His transcripts show he’s passed just three classes in four years, earning 2.5 credits, placing him in ninth grade. But France says she didn’t know that until February. She has three children and works three jobs. She thought her oldest son was doing well because even though he failed most of his classes, he was being promoted. His transcripts show he failed Spanish I and Algebra I but was promoted to Spanish II and Algebra II. He also failed English II but was passed on to English III.
“I'm just assuming that if you are passing, that you have the proper things to go to the next grade and the right grades, you have the right credits,” said France.
In yet another great example of government efficiency, Miami Beach is prepping for a Spring Break Covid crackdown. Don't check your calendar. Yes, it's 2021.
It's ironic, since last year - you know, before we even had vaccines and understood fully just how deadly (or not deadly) Covid was - Miami Beach was the go-to place to skirt restrictions and party as though nothing was going on. But now this year - as we are literally weeks away from herd immunity in the country - Miami is prepping to lay down the law.
The only thing that'll keep Miami open, to some degree, is a statewide executive order that makes it impossible to shut down bars and clubs. Instead, they will run at no less than 50% capacity, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But Miami Beach is going to be taking a "zero tolerance" policy for the restrictions it does put in place. Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber (who is, of course, a Democrat), said earlier this week: “We could potentially see a truly outsized spring break at a time when the last thing we want are major gatherings.”
This policy means more police officers and code-compliance staffers enforcing bans on alcohol and boom boxes on the beach, and a midnight curfew. In addition, "music at venues can’t exceed ambient noise levels". Because, you know, that'll stop the virus.
And so, as people do, citizens of Miami are adapting and moving many of the parties to boats and yachts. The city said it'll be "clamping down on those that lack proper licenses or violate noise restrictions" on the water.
City manager and resident downer, Raul Aguila, commented:
“If you are coming here with an anything-goes party attitude, change your flight reservation now and go to Vegas.”
We're sure those trying to make a living off of hospitality and leisure in the city appreciate his suggestions.
Regardless, it doesn't look like the city has been intimidated too much. Events planned in the city for spring break include a mansion party called “Miami Gone Wild 2,” another party called “Bikini Palooza” and, of course, a “Booze Cruise”.
Hotel occupancy in Miami is expected to be at 70% in March, which will be up from 43% at the same time last year and 88% in 2019.
One traveler in Miami, 23 year old Quinaysa Shirikico, told the Journal: “We just needed a vacation away from the city. We needed some heat in our lives.”
Promoter Ernesto White has said that demand is strong for events. He is working on several private pool parties and boat and jet-ski parties. “My phone has not stopped ringing. South Beach is going to be jam-packed crazy,” he said.
No Deception! They're real, they're pissed to the max and they're coming to kick ***.
The ones that land in China will be eaten.
The ones that land in Russia will be wiped out after 20,000,000 dead Russians.
The ones that land in the Vatican will be raped.
The ones that land in New York will be sued
The ones that land in California will take a dump and leave.
The ones that land in the UK will be quarantined
The ones that land in the UK be taxied into a hostel where they will be given so much free stuff they will never want to leave. Nobody else has left yet.
And their pets stuck in automatic quarantine 6 months to prevent the spread of space-rabies...
The ones that land in Chicago will be capped While stepping out and their saucer will be stripped.
the ones that land in DC will quickly assess, check to make sure they still have their wallets ,lock the door and leave
Here I thought the ones in Shicongo would be saucer-jacked.
Ex-CIA and commercial jet pilot John Lear claims that the Twin Towers were not bought to the ground by planes crashing into them on 9/11, and now detailed information has been posted online corroborating his account.
In Lear’s expert opinion the official claim that two planes crashed into the towers is actually “physically impossible.”
The grandson of Learjet founder Bill Lear, John Lear is a retired airline captain and former CIA pilot who has flown over 100 different types of plane during 40 years of active flying. He holds more FAA airman certificates than any other FAA certified pilot, and has flown secret CIA missions in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Basically, you don’t want to argue with John Lear about flying and planes. He is as close as you can come to being American intelligence and aerospace aristocracy.
THE EVIDENCE THAT NO REAL PLANES WERE USED ON 9/11
We are supposed to believe that both planes were entirely inside the towers, with no pieces showing. A Boeing 767 is 156 feet wide and 159 feet long. The distance from: the outer perimeter of the North Tower at the alleged point of contact by AA Flight 11, to: the central 47 massive inner core beams that are cross-braced is 60 feet. The distance from: the outer surface of the South Tower at the alleged point of contact by UA Flight 175, to: the core structure of that building was 37 feet. The differential in length in relation to the North Tower with respect to plane length and a building length that is measured in terms of the distance to the core structure is about 99 feet. The differential length for the South Tower is approximately 122 feet. A 767 is 159 feet long so most of the plane has got to be outside of the tower in both cases since there is simply no room for the entire length of the plane to crumple into. Why didn’t we see 99 feet of AA Flight 11 sticking out of the North Tower or broken off, crumpled up, and/or crumbling to the ground below? Why didn’t we see 122 feet of UA Flight 175 sticking out of the South Tower or crumpled up, and/or crumbling to the WTC plaza below?
There is no plane or plane wreckage at all to be seen in the hole of either tower in any video or photos.
RACINE — A Racine man allegedly had 1.3 ounces of cocaine and a machete in his car.
Carlos Daniel Torres, 35, of the 1900 block of Phillips Avenue, was charged with a felony count of possession with intent to deliver cocaine between 15-40 grams and a misdemeanor count of operate motor vehicle while revoked.
According to a criminal complaint:
On Saturday, an officer conducted a traffic stop of Torres at West 6th Street and Racine Street. Torres's license was revoked due to a prior OWI.
Torres
After the car pulled over, the officer made contact with Torres and the front seat passenger. A search of the car was done and there was 36.9 grams of cocaine inside a Ziploc bag. Two cellphones were found and a machete was located in the back seat. Torres said he was aware of the cocaine but claimed it wasn't his.
Torres was given a $10,000 cash bond in Racine County Circuit court on Monday. A preliminary court hearing is set for March 11 at the Racine County Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave., online court records show.
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas is lifting its mask mandate, Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday, making it the largest state to end an order intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 42,000 Texans.
The Republican governor has faced sharp criticism from his party over the mandate, which was imposed eight months ago, as well as other COVID-19 restrictions on businesses that Texas will also scuttle starting next week. The mask order was only ever lightly enforced, even during the worst outbreaks of the pandemic.
The repealed rules include doing away with limits on the number of diners or customers allowed indoors, said Abbott, who made the announcement at a restaurant in Lubbock. He said the new rules would take effect March 10, although leaders in Houston and other big Texas cities were already reacting with alarm.
"Removing statewide mandates does not end personal responsibility," said Abbott, speaking from the crowded dining room where many of those surrounding him were not wearing masks.
"It's just that now state mandates are no longer needed," he said.
The Milwaukee Health Department on Monday threw out 34 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine that expired before they could be used, the department said in a statement Tuesday.
"The situation that led to the error was complicated by the instruction to give only Pfizer vaccine to teachers vaccinated on Monday," according to the department's statement. "Also, a number of teachers scheduled appointments on Monday without identifying themselves as teachers until arriving at the vaccination site."
Monday was the first day educators were eligible to be vaccinated.
Workers prepared more syringes with the Moderna vaccine than people who came for it at the downtown Wisconsin Center site, according to the department.
This is the first time the Health Department has had any vaccine go unused of the more than 25,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses it has administered, according to the department.
There had been 140 extra doses but Health Department staff were able to find enough people who were eligible but did not have appointments to bring the total down to the 34 that expired, according to the department.
MOUNT PLEASANT — Real Racine, Racine County’s visitor’s bureau, is accusing the Village of Mount Pleasant of illegally spending the hotel room taxes it has collected this year.
Under state law, municipalities are allowed to collect a tax of up to 8% on hotel room rentals. Of that revenue, at least 70% must be spent on “tourism promotion and tourism development,” with the rest being able to be added to a city’s/town’s/village’s general fund.
At the end of 2020, the Village of Mount Pleasant ended its contract with Real Racine — in
Witynski
which it paid 75% of its room taxes to the visitor’s bureau — but has continued collecting room taxes.
Curt Witynski — an attorney who leads the League of Wisconsin Municipalities’ lobbying efforts — says that there is “an ambiguity that exists” in the law, citing numerous amendments since the law was created in 1983, the same year Real Racine was founded.
The lawsuit primarily seeks to have Mount Pleasant pay 75% of the room taxes it has collected since Jan. 1, 2021, to Real Racine. It also seeks to have the Village of Mount Pleasant, via its Tourism Commission, re-enter into a contract with Real Racine.
Real Racine President/CEO Dave Blank said he wasn’t excited about filing the lawsuit — “I have much better things to do with my time than this” — and didn’t want to file a lawsuit but felt compelled to do so when emails and other communications to Mount Pleasant went unanswered.
Village officials declined to comment for this report, citing the pending legal action.
Blank
Tourism Commission vs. ‘tourism entity’
As much as $1 million is reportedly brought in annually through that room tax in Mount Pleasant.
Blank and Real Racine’s lawsuit assert that it is illegal for such a commission to do the work of a traditional “tourism entity,” such as Real Racine, which is required by law to spend at minimum 51% of its revenue “on tourism promotion and tourism development.”
Each Racine County municipality that collects room taxes pays into Real Racine differently, depending on individual contracts. Yorkville pays 90%; Caledonia 85%; Sturtevant pays 75%, as Mount Pleasant used to.
“I don’t care how they use the other 25%,” Blank said.
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