Lots of airplanes and helicopters flying over our town. We are on the flight path to nearby Fort Magsaysay, and usually only hear this when they have the joint US/Philippine war games.
Army to rehearse mobilization in Visayas, Mindanao
uh, we are no where near the Visayas or Mindanao. But later in the article they note:
The Philippine Army's Combined Arms Training Exercise Katihan has been expanded to include areas in the Visayas and Mindanao to test its command and control capabilities for territorial defense.
Participants will move to consolidation areas including Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, as well as the new training sites for this year, Camp Peralta in Capiz and Camp Kibaritan in Bukidnon.
“This time we are rehearsing mobilization in Mindanao and the Visayas region. Two areas so we are now expanding,” Philippine Army chief Lieutenant General Roy Galido said in a press conference.
“If we would want to simulate a national crisis situation when it comes to territorial defense, it's the Army's ability for command and control,” Galido said.
“And that's the role of the Army, to be able to prevent physical occupation of the land and to be able to push them back in case the scenario would exist,” he added.
translation: Preparing for China to invade Taiwan and because China is still threatening fishermen and the Phil coast guard in the west Philippines sea.
This is essentially saying to China: Well, we can move our soldiers around if you try to invade us. In some ways, the Philippines has a good military who has had experience in fighting both insurgencies and as UN Peacekeepers, whereas China does not.
The cooperation with the USA is about using high tech weapons in the fight (see Land of Bad on how this works).
now a question that might or might not be related: Is the arrest of Duterte using the excuse of the International Criminal court, that the Philippines quit a few years ago, a way to placate the deep state because he stopped the Philippines from becoming a narcostate, or because he hated the CIA and their candidate lost to him? Or because he tried to make nice with both the NPA (communist insurgents) and also with China to improve the economy (but pulled back after they screwed him over too?) Or is this merely Marcos playing political games like his father did in the good old days (/sarcasm)?
the estamates of those killed are vague: The latest number is 30 thousand but Bloomberg via Gulf News said it was 6000 , and correctly noted the Duterte arrest was about the feud between the various political families.
the reason for the numbers being inaccurate is that if a body was found, you didn't know if he was killed by a rival drug seller, by locals who wanted revenge for their family members being killed or destroyed by drugs, a robbery by the usual thugs, a political hit against one's political rival, a revenge murder against a businessman or low grade politician who harmed your, a hit by a businessman or low grade politician against activists or reporters who were blowing the whistle on their corruption, by hit squads by rogue cops, or in a shoot out with the police.
and few of these murders (except by the hit squads) can be blamed on Duterte, because this was business as usual before he took over, and the bad news is that the crime rate against ordinary folks is now going up again.
My son and his wife are leaving today: they have been visiting for the last week...
Since I am essentially home bound, my stepson and wife took them around various places: My son works as a groundskeeper and once worked in a fish breeding industry, so they visited the organic farms to see how rice and organic veggies are grown. They hoped to see how we now harvest rice: we now use a machine to do it, whereas 20 years ago a lot of it was still harvested by hand. However, the rice isn't ready to be harvested for another week, so they merely visited the fields...,
this video is about the local coop sponsored by the government and run by our daughter in law.....
For the last three days, they have been hitting the local markets and the big supermarket and with my step son they are busy cooking Mexican food. Alas, no corn tortillas or even wheat tortillas, so we have to do with doritos, but because of historical ties of the Philippines and Mexico most of the other ingredients are available.....
I was teasing them they should open a Mexican restaurant here: We have local food restaurants, fast food from the USA, Japanese restaurants, halal restaurants and even a Korean restaurant but no Mexican one. All of these have opened since I moved here 20 years ago, when it was still pretty much a traditional area with waterbuffalo grazing in the nearby lots (which now have houses) and not a lot of traffic (now with the one way street, we have a lot of traffic going by our business center/home). But the traditional palenke is still down the street (The malls are in the newer part of town), and we are not in a gated community but mostly middle class and the poorer areas are nearby.
So anyway, they leave later today to go to Thailand to visit tourist sites and eat Thai food. Our granddaughter teaches English at a high school in a nearby suburb so will join them over the weekend, and maybe take them to restaurants or the nearby nature areas so they can visit the elephants.
Conrad Richter is best known for the novel the Light in the Forest which is a classic about culture clashes on the frontier, and how those captured and lived with the Indians often preferred their adopted family to the stricter life of the white family.
Before you had the PC film Conclave, which is beloved of the NWO types trying to change the church and has a twist of the trans bishop as Pope (for some reason they changed that Filipino trans bishop to a Mexican, maybe because they didn't want to start hinting that a popular bishop from the Philippines is a front runner to be the next pope)
well, before the church of believers was made the enemy there was this film. which is more about the history of the Catholic church in the USA than it is about dogma.
Pre Vatican II of course.
Since it is Ash Wednesday, watch this as a penance and then ponder how things have changed.
I haven't seen most of the film that were touted at the Oscars, and most of them I probably wouldn't pay to see anyway (although I might watch them streaming if nothing else was on).
I prefer escapism and comedy and light themes.
Two recent films that are fluff but an enjoyable way to spend your time are Bridget Jones and Paddington Bear 3.
I was surprised I liked Bridget Jones, since I wasn't that fond of the earlier ones. But in this is is funny. True, not G rated, but it is a comedy about mourning and readjusting to life and balancing one's own needs and the needs of one's family.
as for Paddington Bear, well it's Paddington.
Not as good as the second Paddington movie, but a nice waste of time. The themes are about finding family.
With the kerfuffle in Washington, where the international elites are busy with their propaganda war against Trumpieboy. it's hard to know what is going on.
As the Chinese proverb goes: May you live in interesting times.
The censorship over covid suggests a deeper problem: Especially when Dr Blix admits she essentially lied about the shutdown, knowing the lie about two weeks to flatten the curve was about a longer shut down of society. And the way Lancet and other medical journals censored the origin of the virus to protect ecohealth and it's involvment with gain of function research has undermined my trust in medical journals...
The Gell-Mann amnesia effect is a cognitive bias describing the tendency of individuals to critically assess media reports in a domain they are knowledgeable about, yet continue to trust reporting in other areas despite recognizing similar potential inaccuracies.
the opening of Twitter files showing the extent of how the government ordered social media to do this was the tipping point for many of us.
A discussion of why freedom of speech is discussed here, by one of the reporters who examined the twitter censorship problem.
warning: This is an X rated post on my PG blog, but I did work in Africa and later in the USA, so have first hand knowledge about some of the lies being pushed to defend the American state department pushing promiscuity and gay sex normalization on conservative cultures of Africa and Asia.
this is cultural imperialism, as Pope Francis has pointed out.
And Africans see it as a way for westerners to have sex tourism with the poor including street kids. Did you really think MPox is a danger to normal people, when it is mainly spread through direct contact? in African neighborhoods it is in families (hint: no running water)... but in the west, it is in raves, where men who caught it somehow (cough cough) when they visited Africa then went to raves and parties and spread it around...
If they spent half the money for that vaccine on providing clean running water to the neighborhoods, we would see less of it being spread person to person in Africa, but in the west, it is spread in raves etc. which of course were not shut down because hey human rights...
Some of the animal experiments are about finding what happens when you mutilate children... It's a human right so how dare you.
But will PETA complain about tax money to mutilate animals?
Justin Goodman, an executive WCW, was present as a witness during the hearing. When Mace asked him why the federal government was spending taxpayer dollars to create transgender animals,
create? For humans we are being pressured to believe kids are born this way, but apparently you can create transgender animals?
Goodman responded by saying that it was likely due to "societal trends."
"A lot of the programs that are funded do latch on to some type of social trend and then animal experimenters use it as a money grab and an excuse to get NIH [National Institutes of Health] tax funds from some, in this case, DEI grants were used to fund a lot of this stuff," he said.
Mace said $1.1 million was allocated to research whether female rats receiving testosterone therapy were more likely to overdose on drugs commonly associated with "chemsex" in the LGBTQ+ community.
uh, I took a testosterone like medicine to shrink endometriosis and benign tumors, and it made me fat hairy and horny.... and women with polycystic ovary syndrome who have high testosterone levels from their ovaries have a high rate of being lesbian... so why not ask us?
As for overdoses, that doesn't discriminate between risk taking behavior (higher with high testosterone) or self medicating psychiatric problems like depression (e.g. ask any menopausal woman).
She also said, "Federal funds were also used to forcibly transition male monkeys to see if hormone therapy made them more susceptible to HIV."
so does it increase HIV because of behavioral changes? Because of rape by other monkeys? Because they want sex? Inquiring minds want to know.
AlJezeerah article insists the critics are taking things out of context... or are they?
The NIH awarded three projects $477,121 starting in 2020 for research that included administering feminising hormone therapy to monkeys to study whether the medication makes the monkeys more susceptible to HIV. The study also examined how hormone therapy affected the monkeys’ response to HIV treatments.
Transgender women are at high risk of contracting HIV and account for disproportionate numbers of new infections around the world, the World Health Organization has said.
translation: men who are gay have more sex than women because they can.
And there are studies out there showing men who transition to woman continue to have multiple sexual partners, more than the average woman, since their behavior is similar to other men, especially gay men.
but it works the other way:
men who take female hormones for cancer, for example, have reported how their sex drive decreases.
In other words, the animal experiments are trying to mimic what is well known about human behavior and hormones.
A more needed study is how the high progesterone birth control pill affects the behavior of millions of women. Decrease in libido and lots of depression, but never mind. And since progesterone causes vaginal dryness, it sort of slows you down...
why is this a problem? this is why Depo Provera increases HIV risk in African women: Dryness increases micro abraisions making women more likely to be infected. So why the study, when tens of thousand of woman in Africa already have been given similar hormones that are known to do this in the name of population control?
Follow the money. We know this happened in women, so let's get oddles of money and try to see if we can induce this in animals to confirm what clinicians already know.
Uh, shouldn't it have been the other way around? The animal experiments before drugging millions of women?
the dirty little secret that church workers in Africa have been complaining about for years: the USAID has been pushing the sexual agenda for years, and under Biden, even the PEPFAR, which is a good program to treat HIV, has been subverted to push the sexual agenda of the western elites.
The scope and framing of PEPFAR's gender-focused efforts have evolved from a focus primarily on the HIV-related needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls to an expanded focus that aims to also address the vulnerabilities of men and boys (including men who have sex with men) that arise as a result of social and cultural norms about gender and sexuality. PEPFAR's efforts have also been scaled up over time from initial pilot programs to more central initiatives and country programming, with more financial and human resources devoted to them.
italics mine...so if you read that USAID cuts to Pepfar are killing people, just remember that Pepfar has changed their emphasis from treating people with HIV to preventing it. And how are they preventing it? Not by encouraging local customs, but by the western sexual agenda is actually encouraging the behavior that spreads HIV... they are destroying the local cultural taboos that protect the family and vulnerable teens from sexual predators.
This evolution is occurring in the context of a range of societal, cultural, economic, and other factors that affect gender norms in the countries in which PEPFAR is operating.
for example, education that encourages safe sex to high school kids breaks down traditional rules against promiscuity, not to mention legalizing gay sex, meaning that kids can be exploited without the perpetrator being in danger of being arrested, and of course western sex tourists won't be punished (wonder why MPox came from Africa?).
well, anyway, if Joe Rogan talks about the weird animal experiments, so maybe people will figure out how money is misused, and how leftist hysteria that "Musk is killing people" is merely a sham by those who benefit from these experiments. (shame on the left: I am old enough to remember when the left defended the weak from exploitation from the powerful; but that is another topic for another time).
With RFK Jr in charge of the US health offices, the coverup of the vaccine problems are now coming out into the open. But the coverup is not limited to the US, or the UK:
.....
This was used in Indonesia early on, but it didn't stop the epidemic there.
it was given by China illegally to our citizens here, and then Duterte admitted some got it, but declined to stop the practice.
we gave it to our younger staff, mainly because the AZ was known to cause bloodclots in younger men, and the mRNA wasn't available for quite awhile because the Phil DofH refused to sign a non liability paper.
one of the problems with all the statistics is that there was pressure not to report problems, not just in the USA and England but in other countries. In China, the coverup and lies are so routine you can't rely on any reports.
Recently in Tokyo an AI-driven robot leaned over a man lying on his back and gently put a hand on his knee and another on a shoulder and rolled him onto his side -- a maneuver used to change diapers or prevent bedsores in the elderly.
The 150-kg (330 lb) artificial intelligence-driven humanoid robot called AIREC is a prototype future “caregiver” for Japan’s rapidly ageing population and chronic shortage of aged-care workers.
Its “baby boomer” generation, a bulging cohort created by a spike in post-war child births from 1947 to 1949, all turned at least 75 by the end of 2024, exacerbating the severe shortage of aged care workers.
this is despite 57 thousand overseas caregivers.
here in the Philippines, the extended family still cares for the elderly. But the economy pushes a lot of the healthy younger adults to work overseas . Often Grandparents care for grandkids, but what comes when the grandkid go overseas and no one is left at home?
Until recently, the population here was still increasing, but in a recent article I read that even here the average number of children is approaching replacement level.
we have attended the flower parade in Baguio, the city in the mountains of Luzon, but this year we skipped it because my son is visiting next week so we will go with him to see the sites.
Baguio is high altitude, so it tends ot be cool. We have extended family there, and Lolo actually bought a large plot to build a summer home, but never got around to building it. Squatters are a problem, so we rent it to neighbors, and they grow roses or fruits (strawberries) on the plot and keep the squatters from putting a hut on the land.
becaise of the cool climate, a lot of Japanese students take classes there, especially to learn English. So you see signs in Japanese all over.
Usually we fly visitors to the beaches of Boracay (where a relative owns a guest house) but since my son lives in southern Florida, he wants to see mountains and wants to learn about our organic farms, so a trip to the mountain province is in order.
What sparked the COVID pandemic? Mounting evidence points to raccoon dogs
More than five years on, studies suggest the animal is the most likely culprit, but other candidates haven’t been ruled out.
this is not the only article this magazine published saying that covid was natural so ignore the conspiracy theories.. they have been doing this for years.
so who do you believe? Medical journals that lied about this, or Joe Rogan.
(Rogan continues to discuss the problem: This is from last week: first part of this interview discusses this from a few days ago... they then get into crzy stuff, which is one of the problems of getting your information from JR)?
I have been posting about Covid and Dengue etc, on my medical blog. Mostly no conclusions, only links to article for my own education. Here are a few recent ones on covid:
Discussing this video and links to several articles about auto immune reactions. This problem is being denied and/or ignored. (sound familiar? we saw the same thing with Gulf War syndrome).
anyway, Dr. Campbell discusses this in a recent video:
when Covid started, I watched a lot of news conferences with this lady, and Trump often was there and if he dared suggest an alternative e.g. treatment, he was dissed openly by the experts. But guess who was lying?
Deborah Birx from her memoir, explaining how "two weeks to flatten the curve" was just marketing for harsh, months-long lockdowns that she was really planning:
"On Monday and Tuesday [March 9th and 10th, 2020] … we worked simultaneously to develop the flatten-the-curve guidance…
"On Monday and Tuesday [March 9th and 10th, 2020] … we worked simultaneously to develop the flatten-the-curve guidance I hoped to present to the vice president at week’s end. Getting buy-in on the simple mitigation measures every American could take was just the first step leading to longer and more aggressive interventions. We had to make these palatable to the administration by avoiding the obvious appearance of a full Italian lockdown. … No sooner had we convinced the Trump administration to implement our version of a two-week shutdown than I was trying to figure out how to extend it. Fifteen Days to Slow the Spread was a start, but I knew it would be just that. I didn’t have the numbers in front of me yet to make the case for extending it longer, but I had two weeks to get them."
12 November 2015 Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research
scientists investigated a virus called SHC014, which is found in horseshoe bats in China. The researchers created a chimaeric virus, made up of a surface protein of SHC014 and the backbone of a SARS virus that had been adapted to grow in mice and to mimic human disease. The chimaera infected human airway cells — proving that the surface protein of SHC014 has the necessary structure to bind to a key receptor on the cells and to infect them.
Last week I posted about five Thai hostages released by Hamas. For follow up, this is a video from last year about these workers.
this shows Hamas was not only making war on Israel but merely terrorizing people who live nearby.
And they are not the only foreigners in Israel, as I posted in an earlier post, there are equal numbers of Filipinos and Chinese. One Filipino caregiver was murdered because her patient could not evacuate, and she stayed with her. this 2023 article notes:
Thais also made up the largest single group of foreign dead and missing, with 24 confirmed killed and 21 unaccounted for....
five Nepalese hostages... There was also one Chinese hostage, one Sri Lankan, two from Tanzania and two from the Philippines.,
the joke in the USA is that immigrants/migrant workers do the work that Yanks don't want to do. In Israel, many of these jobs could of course be done by local Palestinians who are better educated than people from many Arab countries. But the threat of terror incidents make locals no longer want to hire them and of course, since some local Palestinian farm workers from Gaza directed the attack on these civilians, this source of jobs and income is less likely to improve.
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has launched a drone-assisted medicine delivery in Southeast Asia.
The Philippine News Agency says DICT launched this service in Barangay Niogan, Pililia town in Rizal province.
It’s part of the SMART Villages and SMART Islands (SVSI) framework that uses drone delivery to address “geographic barriers, limited transportation and logistical issues.”
yes I know: This has been around for years, but it would be a godsend not just for isolated towns, but when the roads are blocked and bridges are down after earthquakes.
there was an article in the Phil Inquirer where local docs were asking why the dept of health wouldn't approve of a newer Dengue vaccine.
A previous flawed dengue vaccine killed a few kids here in the Philippines and caused a big scandal here.
now Dengue is important to me: we have lots of cases, including a few kids who died of it in our area. And I had a complicated case 15 months ago and still haven't recovered my strength.
So would a vaccine have protected me? And what about the new vaccines? they seem to have a fairly good protection rate (80 percent in some) but what about complications: either at the time of the immunization or if you do manage to get an infection with Dengue (with the Dengvaxia vaccine, if the kid got dengue he got a complicated case)
and today I got a popup saying the latest Grok was open for questions.
So I asked about does the attenuated Dengue vaccine induce immunological problems
the answer:
Key Points
Yes, the attenuated dengue vaccine can cause immunological problems, especially antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) in some people.
ADE can make dengue more severe if the person gets infected after vaccination and wasn't previously exposed to dengue.
This risk is mainly with vaccines like Dengvaxia, but may vary by vaccine type.
Overview
The attenuated dengue vaccine, such as Dengvaxia, is designed to protect against dengue by using a weakened form of the virus. However, it can lead to immunological issues, particularly in people who haven't had dengue before. This is due to a process called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), where the vaccine might make a future dengue infection worse instead of better. This is surprising because vaccines are typically expected to only protect, not potentially harm in certain cases.
It's important to know your dengue exposure history before getting vaccinated, as it affects the safety and effectiveness.
Details for Consideration
Who Is Affected?
The risk of ADE is higher in individuals who were not previously infected with dengue and receive the vaccine, then later get infected. For those already exposed to dengue, the vaccine is generally safe and effective.
What Is ADE? ADE happens when antibodies from the vaccine help the virus enter cells more easily, potentially leading to more severe disease if the person gets dengue later. This is a known concern with live attenuated dengue vaccines.
Other Vaccines: Another attenuated vaccine, TAK-003, shows promise with fewer ADE issues, but more research is needed to confirm this.
The specific vaccine matters for safety.
Comprehensive Analysis of Attenuated Dengue Vaccine and Immunological Impacts
This section provides a detailed examination of the attenuated dengue vaccine, focusing on its potential to induce immunological problems, with a particular emphasis on antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) and other related concerns. The analysis is grounded in extensive web-based research, including clinical trial data, regulatory approvals, and scientific literature, to ensure a thorough understanding for healthcare professionals, researchers, and informed laypersons.
Background on Attenuated Dengue Vaccines
Attenuated dengue vaccines use live, weakened forms of the dengue virus to stimulate an immune response without causing the full disease. Notable examples include Dengvaxia (CYD-TDV) by Sanofi Pasteur and TAK-003 by Takeda. Dengvaxia, a live recombinant tetravalent vaccine, was the first licensed dengue vaccine, approved in various countries since 2015, while TAK-003, also live-attenuated, received approval in the European Union in 2022 and other regions like Indonesia (Takeda's QDENGA Approval). These vaccines aim to protect against all four dengue virus serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4), which is crucial given the global burden of dengue, affecting an estimated 390 million people annually (Dengue Vaccines Update).
Immunological Problems:
Focus on Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (ADE)
One significant immunological problem associated with attenuated dengue vaccines is ADE, a phenomenon where non-neutralizing or sub-neutralizing antibodies facilitate viral entry into cells via Fcγ receptors, potentially increasing viral replication and disease severity. This is particularly noted with Dengvaxia. Research indicates that Dengvaxia can sensitize dengue-naïve recipients to severe dengue upon subsequent natural infection, leading to restricted FDA approval in 2019 for use only in individuals with prior laboratory-confirmed dengue infection (FDA Dengvaxia Approval). This restriction arose from concerns that vaccination without prior exposure could worsen outcomes, as seen in the Philippines in 2017, where over 733,000 children were vaccinated regardless of serostatus, leading to controversy due to increased severe dengue cases (Dengue Vaccine Wikipedia).
ADE is linked to the vaccine eliciting cross-reactive antibodies against the pre-membrane (prM) and fusion loop epitope (FLE) of DENV, which are not fully neutralizing and can enhance infection in later exposures (Antibody-Dependent Enhancement Challenge). This risk is higher in baseline seronegative individuals, with studies showing increased hospitalization rates for dengue type 3 among vaccinated seronegative participants in some trials (New Dengue Vaccine Efficacy).
Comparative Analysis: Dengvaxia vs. TAK-003
While Dengvaxia has clear ADE concerns, TAK-003 appears to have a different safety profile. Clinical trials, such as the phase 3 efficacy study (NCT02747927), suggest TAK-003 is efficacious against symptomatic dengue over three years, with no significant ADE issues reported in the literature reviewed (Three-Year Efficacy TAK-003). However, the general concern about ADE with live attenuated vaccines remains, and long-term data are still being evaluated.
TAK-003's approval in Indonesia without pre-vaccination testing suggests a broader application, but U.S. approval was withdrawn in 2023 due to data collection disagreements with the FDA, indicating ongoing scrutiny (Takeda Withdrawal BLA).
Other Potential Immunological Issues
Beyond ADE,
the survey of side effects for Dengvaxia includes common reactions like headache, injection site pain, and fever, with rare severe allergic reactions reported (Dengvaxia Side Effects). There is no strong evidence from the searches linking attenuated dengue vaccines directly to autoimmune disorders, despite dengue infection itself being associated with autoimmune features in case reports (Autoimmune Features Dengue).
General vaccine safety literature suggests that while vaccines can theoretically trigger autoimmune diseases, epidemiological studies do not support this for systemic autoimmune diseases, and no specific cases were found for dengue vaccines (Vaccinations and Autoimmune Diseases).
Clinical Implications and Recommendations
The immunological problems, particularly ADE, necessitate careful screening for prior dengue exposure before vaccination with vaccines like Dengvaxia. The CDC recommends Dengvaxia for children aged 9–16 years with laboratory-confirmed previous dengue infection living in endemic areas, highlighting the importance of serostatus (CDC Dengue Vaccine). For TAK-003, while initial data suggest fewer ADE concerns, ongoing surveillance is crucial, especially given its recent approvals and the need for long-term efficacy and safety data.
Summary Table of Vaccine Characteristics and ADE Risk
Vaccine
Type
Approval Status
ADE Risk in Seronegative
Common Side Effects
Dengvaxia
Live Recombinant Tetravalent
Approved in US, EU, etc.
High
Headache, injection site pain, fever
TAK-003
Live-Attenuated Tetravalent
Approved in EU, Indonesia
Low (Preliminary Data)
Viral upper respiratory infection, etc.
This table summarizes key attributes, aiding in understanding the differential immunological risks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, attenuated dengue vaccines, particularly Dengvaxia, can induce immunological problems, with ADE being the most significant, especially in dengue-naïve individuals. This risk underscores the importance of pre-vaccination screening. TAK-003 shows promise with potentially lower ADE risks, but further research is needed. Healthcare providers should consider individual serostatus and vaccine type to mitigate these immunological challenges.
Key Citations
Dengvaxia European Medicines Agency
Takeda's QDENGA Approval
Dengue Vaccines Update
FDA Dengvaxia Approval
Dengue Vaccine Wikipedia
New Dengue Vaccine Efficacy
Three-Year Efficacy TAK-003
Takeda Withdrawal BLA
Antibody-Dependent Enhancement Challenge
Dengvaxia Side Effects
Autoimmune Features Dengue
Vaccinations and Autoimmune Diseases
CDC Dengue Vaccine
my impression: Grok found the articles and summaries that took me four hours of reading and research. If I have time, I will compare it's conclusions to my own conclusions.
And it shows value for research, and is so easy that even great grandmoms can use it.
The infamous durian – regarded the king of fruit in much of south-east Asia – is best known for its pungent smell, variously compared to sewage, rotting flesh or, at best, ripe cheese. The green, spiky durian is an awkward travel companion: it is banned on Singapore's rail network, as well as many in airports and hotels in south-east Asia. Durians polarise people. Fans say if you can get past the stink, the flesh has an ambrosial taste.
I am not following this conflict. One African based human rights newsletter that I receive says that the M23 rebels are the good guys from Rwanda, protecting the Tutsi minority (many of whom fled that country and live in the area), but most of the western press sees them as the bad guys.
Now Uganda is entering the fray.
This video from DDIndia has a good summary about the conflict (first part of the video).
The M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern DRC’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth, critical in the production of much of the world’s technology.
Notice the accusations of killing children, but the article admits a lot of these "Children" were carrying weapons, and that both sides were recruiting child soldiers.
because sometimes you just want a nice movie that isn't about serial killers, CIA spies, or beautiful rich single girls i.e. the typical Hallmark movies.
we have Netflix for new films, but right now we are also watching old stuff on youtube.
we have already gone through a lot of older films/tv shows there, although they have removed old series we loved such as Murder she wrote or Colombo, you tube still has the various BBC series of Miss Marple and Poirot. Newer series on youtube from Canada like Hudson and Rex or Murdoch mysteries are also on line.
China’s regime is deliberately killing Americans with fentanyl. This is murder. Unfortunately, no U.S. president has been willing to acknowledge the CCP’s direct role and take appropriate action. See: https://t.co/sf1UzH4oTV.
that is not the only place China is quietly threatening other countries of course. We are in the line of fire, alas.
PCIJ article discusses the problem of northern Luzon:
Explanation: you see, poor people whose ability to make a living is threatened by China and corruption (e.g. fishing when China blocks fishermen and overfishes the area), the question is if Americans will be allowed into Phil Military bases in the area.
and of course, there is the question of what happens if China grabs Taiwan which means blocking the Bashi channel. (The sea between Taiwan and the northern Philippines).
That last part, combined with the Chinese military bases in the West Philippine sea, means that China could completely block the busy sea lane from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, meaning a longer detour for these ships.
also discussed: how Chinese investments, and legalized gambling, which hires a lot of Chinese citizens, opens the areas to spying and corruption.
the article discusses the Chinese spy mayor, the POGO connection, and asks why all those Chinese students suddenly decided to study English in the area.
and with elections coming up, there is a danger that the money will speak louder than the citizens;
Note: Vote buying is common here, since people figure they are all crooks and their vote doesn't make a difference. But when things are important, vote buying doesn't work, which is why Duterte got elected to clean up the place, over the CIA approved of candidates.
the PCIJ article continues:
Distrust in China is high among Filipinos nationwide. A Pulse Asia survey in October 2024 showed that seven out of 10 Filipinos would not support a candidate who is “pro-China at present or in the past.”
“Many Filipinos feel that China’s actions, particularly in the West Philippine Sea, directly challenge our sovereignty and undermine our nation’s interests,” Dindo Manhit, founder and CEO of Stratbase Group that commissioned the survey, said then.
Retired Navy Rear Adm. Rommel Jude Ong, now a professor at the Ateneo School of Government, is concerned that China may attempt to influence local government officials instead.
translation: since the people can't be bought, the Chinese will try to buy the crooked politicians.
Canadian essayist David Warren has a sardonic essay observing the kerfuffle going on in the USA, and I noticed this sentence:
The reader who has made himself aware of only the USAID payments will understand what may, or rather will, be revealed as the Musketeers survey the remaining ninety-nine-one-hundredths of the U.S. government
Musketeers? Hmm: that is the second time I have read that term used.
it is a reference of course to the novels and later the many films about the Three Musketeers .
Wikipedia writes: It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight for justice.
The original Musketeers of course were called that because they shot muskets, an early form of a rifle. Again, Wikipedia notes
...the Musketeers were open to the lower classes of French nobility or younger sons from noble families whose oldest sons served in the more prestigious Garde du Corps and Chevau-legers (Light Horse). The Musketeers, many of them still teenagers, soon gained a reputation for fighting spirit and unruly behaviour
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trivia note: the novel was written by Alexander Dumas. His father was born a black slave in what is now Haiti, and was later taken by his white father to France where he became a general in Napoleon's army, and he was partly the inspiration for the novel the Count of Monte Cristo.
China taking Darien Gap — one tree at a time. When the trees are gone, indigenous people are finished — along with some of the finest jungle in the world. pic.twitter.com/YOufpF4cNP
— Michael Yon: Callsign BIG HONEY 6 (@Michael_Yon) February 11, 2025
One wag here in the Philippines once described how things work in the Philippines: They take bribes under the table, over the table and with the table.
According to the 2007 study, the Office of the Ombudsman had, in 1999, pegged losses arising from corruption at P100 million daily, (note: equivalent to 9.7 million dollars US) whereas the World Bank estimates the losses at one-fifth of the national government budget.
well third world corruption is alas common. But what is astonishing is that a lot of money is being diverted in the USA: going to questionable foreign aid, but also going through NGOs in several layers, all of which take part of the money, and maybe what is worse: Using tax money to subvert the political process. I mean, having the ladies of BLM buy two expensive mansions in Los Angeles is one thing: Paying them to riot and destabilize the US during an election year is much more dangerous.
That is what it sounds like when DOGE opens the books.
no wonder the usual suspects whose bank accounts somehow soared while working for the government are upset.
So should we believe the media, especially when there are reports that USAID money subsidized them?
Do you listen to the hysteria, or to Joe Rogan?
The information is out there, but before X who learned about this? Yes it was there, but didn't get a lot of coverage.
A new investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Devex can reveal major failings in the largest ever project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The $9.5 bn initiative, led by US contractor Chemonics International, launched in 2016 with the aim of transforming the way life-saving medicines and other health supplies were bought and delivered to millions of people in poorer countries. But interviews with insiders, as well as exclusive data analysis, can reveal that the project’s inefficiencies have alarmed both senior project staff and high-ranking US government officials. In some cases it has taken almost two years to deliver key supplies.
The Global Fund’s OIG also alleged in 2021 that it had uncovered a multimillion-dollar fraud committed by a Chemonics subcontractor in Nigeria. A Global Fund report found that “Chemonics’ controls were poorly implemented by negligent staff who missed key red flags” and that an unnamed senior project director was “living substantially beyond their Chemonics salary”. USAID’s own watchdog is now investigating....
then you have the WHO monopoly:
this would be seen as good, except for the fact that these same folks got a lot of stuff wrong with Covid, and looted a lot of money while they were doing it. And now they plan a health treaty where this would give them power over every country.
The World Health Organization charges manufacturing companies a lot of money to have their products “prequalified.”
WHO prequalification activities were long funded by international donors through short-term grants.
In January 2017 therefore introduced a new fee model for medicines — finished pharmaceutical products (FPPs) and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) — and vaccines, and later for in vitro diagnostics (IVDs), in August 2018.
this of course needs to be done, to check for fraud, inferior medical products, overpricing etc. The problem? Who watches the watchers?
In 2023, the WHO’s “Fee for Services Fund” made a profit of $14.8 million on the $27.8 million in fees that they collected.
Ortel: The simple answer is that billions of dollars in “aid” supposedly were raised to help the desperately poor people of Haiti, yet Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation refuse to account, in granular and verified fashion, for any of this aid. If Haiti (before the latest storm) had obviously been better off, perhaps this controversy would not now be swirling with hurricane force winds. But accounts from multiple parties suggest that Haiti has little to show in the parts of the nation that were devastated in January 2010.
then for the conspiracy minded there is the suicide of a whistle blower on how the Haiti funds were used:
Dr. Dr. Dean Lorich, an orthopedic surgeon who volunteered in Haiti and exposed Clinton Foundation corruption and malpractice on the island, has been found dead in New York. He was 54....
hmm... a knife in his chest. That is a hard way to commit suicide, because you have to thrust it in hard which is quite painful, and if you miss the heart, you end up living. It's easier to cut your femoral or carotid artery, or just overdose on medicine. But never mind...
Haiti of course is so corrupt that it has it's own Wikipedia page on that subject.
I wrote in an earlier blogpost about PEPFAR money via USAID being subverted from HIV treatment into population control and the gender agenda.
I did a report in Nov 2023 on my medical blog on how the Biden administration subverted PEPFAR to push population control etc.
By diverting the funding to birth control and pushing sexual policies to limit population, the danger is that people will no longer trust these caregivers:
(Africans) might see them as part of the evil west trying to stop Africans from having babies because of racism.
and of course, such ideas won't just be pushed by locals who remember colonialist racism, but will be believed by religious leaders (Bishops and Muslim leaders).
And of course, China will quietly push this idea. Already the Biden administration and the EU is pushing their sexual agenda (gay rights, encourage teenage sex by sex education), and pushing countries to change their local laws.
finally, I understand why the Pope and the Catholic bishops are defending helping economic migrants to come to the USA, but the CIA/NWO conspiracy theories are thick here too.
but you know, few are true refugees (except maybe the Haitians): They had homes and often had jobs, but were enticed to go with promises of jobs etc. I understand that they might want to work overseas to get a better life, but this could be done legally of course (if the Philippines manages to help the ten percent of the population to work overseas , the US could manage this too. )
But instead the Bishops are helping the dangerous criminal elements to do this, and in a way that endangers the migrants. By doing so they are not just ignoring the criminal gangs and drugs coming in with these non emergency migrations, but ignores that these people will take the jobs of working class Yanks and/or live off of the money taken from their paychecks.
Anthony Esolen satirizes their snobbish bossing of the average working class Yank here.
And using US Taxpayer money to do so, meaning that this entangles the Catholic church with secular authorities on many levels.
it is only time until the rumors that the NWO/CIA/bad guys were behind the coup to put Pope Francis in place move from the crazies to the front page.
Cardinal Vigano, call your office. Windswept house is coming true....
Wikipedia has a post about the entire musical score of the Enigma variations, and the people who inspired each section.
Variation IX (Adagio) "Nimrod"
The name of the variation refers to Augustus J. Jaeger, who was employed as a music editor by the London publisher Novello & Co. ... Nimrod is described in the Old Testament as "a mighty hunter before the Lord", Jäger (which can also be spelt Jaeger) being German for hunter....
Once, when Elgar had been very depressed and was about to give it all up and write no more music, Jaeger had visited him and encouraged him to continue composing. He referred to Ludwig van Beethoven, who had a lot of worries, but wrote more and more beautiful music. "And that is what you must do" ....
This variation has become popular in its own right and is sometimes used at British funerals, memorial services, and other solemn occasions. It is always played at the Cenotaph, Whitehall in London at the National Service of Remembrance. A version was also played during the Hong Kong handover ceremony in 1997, at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and during the 2022 BBC Proms after the season was cut short due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. ...An adaptation of the piece appears at the ending of the 2017 film Dunkirk in the score by Hans Zimmer.
I had read about people receiving seeds in the mail from unknown sources, but didn't know what it was about.
Well, it is Chinese warfare against American agriculture.
One Temu customer said they ordered a dog toy but received a package of seeds instead, according to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
HOUSTON — Two days after a state official urged Texans to be cautious with unsolicited packages from China, he said they're getting new reports from people who say they've also received the mystery seeds.
On Wednesday, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller put out an alert after someone in the Brazoria County town of Clute received an unsolicited package containing seeds and a container of liquid... Invasive plants can damage native species and "substantially harm the Texas agriculture industry" by destroying crops, introducing disease to native plants and possibly harming livestock, Miller explained.
“These packages should never have gotten through customs,” Miller said. “Without the proper documentation and consent, the shipment did not meet the entry conditions for the United States. We need to close this loophole in our biosecurity protections. It’s a vulnerability to national security."
Ironically I could not find a recent report about this on You tube, but here is the Newsweek report from 2020, and there are some videos about how the same thing happened in 2020:
Old video about it:
the Chinese seeds are not all invasive species, but some are. And then you have the danger of insects and fungi inside the seed packets.
In 2023, there was a total of 108,357 foreign workers in Israel. Some 19,000 of foreign migrants with a work permit were from India. They were closely followed by The Philippines and Thailand with 17,634 and 17,174 workers, respectively. In addition, there were 16,263 Chinese nationals working in the country.
The irony? The Palestinians could do this work but due to terrorist attacks many prefer to hire foreigners to work on their farms etc.
the fact that the attack on civilians that started the war included several who had worked in the area who could have given information where to attack.
and of course, the Philippines sends caregivers all over the place: not just the Middle East but the US and UK hire nurses and caregivers and nannies.
the point of the Top Gun remake was to emphasize that they needed jets and hot shot pilots for the next war.
But the Drone revolution in the Ukraine (where nerds are taking drones and militarizing them) has sort of been ignored because drones won't make a lot of money.
there are several shorter versions of this discussion on youtube
but the full interview for later watching: AI and Drone are the future of warfare.
StrategyPage article on drone warfare in the Ukraine.
In the three year old Ukraine War, the unexpected development was the emergence of cheap, armed drones as a decisive weapon that replaced most air and artillery support while also causing over 90 percent of the casualties...Most FPV drones carry half a kilogram of explosives, so it can instantly turn the drone into a flying bomb that can fly into a target and detonate. This is an awesome and debilitating weapon when used in large numbers over the combat zone. ...Larger, fixed wing drones are used for long range operations against targets over a thousand kilometers inside Russia.
Read the whole thing for an easy to read summary.they also have an article on the use of AI in times of war and peace (hacking banks and businesses for fun and profit)
the article on drones points out that one of the bottlenecks in using drones is that you have to train someone to direct them.
BusinessInsider has a discussion if gamers might be the hidden resource for this new technology.
Hmm... sort of like WWII when Yanks had an advantage because most of the guys already knew how to drive a car/truck/jeep.
update: StrategyPage: Chinese sub launched drones.
February 13, 2025: China has reportedly developed a drone that can operate under water, on the surface and in the air. Propulsion is via a propeller in the rear of the drone. The Chinese drone uses wings that can automatically fold into the drone body when not needed. The drone operations control system incorporates a lot of Artificial Intelligence, or AI technology, and this drone technology can be adapted for use in other weapons like torpedoes, guided bombs, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.
the serious minded types who never had a teenage son were upset at some of the jokes posted on the internet by one of the nerds finding misuse of millions of dollars at USAID.
So the press is pouncing on his sardonic comments and nickname.
Update: The guy with the nickname Big Balls is not the same nerd who posted sardonic jokes interpreted as racist. But the news stories were not clear.
Anyway, here is the Vance telling a Congresswoman to calm down:
For the sake of both of our kids? Grow up.
Racist trolls on the internet, while offensive, don't threaten my kids. You know what does? A culture that denies grace to people who make mistakes. A culture that encourages congressmen to act like whiny children. https://t.co/xpLjhfk6Bz
