All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Hungary to close its borders as Europe tightens COVID-19 rules

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Hungary to close its borders in bid to curb COVID-19 resurgence

Trump promises COVID vaccine this year despite current progress | CIDRAP (snake oil)

The claim comes despite the fact that no major vaccine candidate has completed clinical trials, and it was followed today with the news that two senior public relations experts working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been fired after Trump and the head of the FDA exaggerated the benefits of blood plasma for treating COVID-19 patients.

Source: Trump promises COVID vaccine this year despite current progress | CIDRAP

Twitter Bans Accounts Pretending to Be Pro-Trump Black Voters

“The point is to provide ammunition against Black people for policymakers so they can point to things that are being said, allegedly from a Black person’s account, to reinforce the idea that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist threat and put them on equal footing as white nationalists in terms of content moderation,” Brandi Collins-Dexter, a fellow at online racial justice nonprofit Color of Change, told NBC News.

These digital manipulation campaigns are nothing new, sadly. During the 2016 election, Russia’s Internet Research Agency utilized a “troll farm,” to create memes aimed at Black voters to depress the turnout for then-Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, according to American intelligence agencies. Collins-Dexter referenced a more recent campaign by members of the internet cesspool that is 4Chan.

In April, users on 4Chan posed a Black people who had received their stimulus check and bragged about using them on alcohol in “an effort to perpetuate the ‘Welfare Queen’ myth,” Collins-Dexter told NBC News. On Wednesday, one of the most viral tweets from @WentDemtoRep was posted as a copypasta to 4Chan multiple times.

 

Source: Twitter Bans Accounts Pretending to Be Pro-Trump Black Voters

Mark Zuckerberg claims Apple’s App Store charges ‘monopoly rents,’ stifles innovation

Facebook calling out Apple and saying nothing about Google or itself – like Sears of old complaining about Penny’s or Montgomery Ward – Facebook specializes in buying out competitors, ROTFLMAO Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took aim at Apple’s App Store on Thursday, calling the platform a deterrent to innovation and competition.

Credit: Getty ImagesCredit: Getty Images

The comments specifically referred to Apple’s ongoing saga with various gaming-related apps, including Epic Games. But they come just about one month after both Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook testified before the U.S. House Judiciary committee about alleged anti-competitive practices at both of their companies.

Read more…

Cuba joins the race for vaccine against the coronavirus | Business| Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 19.08.2020

Up until recently, Cuba had handled the pandemic quite efficiently. However, over the past couple days, the Caribbean island has reported a rising number of people infected by the novel coronavirus.

This is why last week the government imposed a fresh lockdown for Havana. Restaurants and bars were closed again. Public transport ground to a halt and beaches were cordoned off. People believe that only an efficient vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 can bring long-term relief.

The head of epidemiology at Cuba’s public health ministry, Francisco Duran, announced on Tuesday that his country was working on such a vaccine. “Finding an efficient vaccine to fight COVID-19 is a top priority for our science and innovation system,” he told reporters in Havanna.

 

Source: Cuba joins the race for vaccine against the coronavirus | Business| Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 19.08.2020

Effect of hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin on the mortality of COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Hydroxychloroquine alone was not associated with reduced mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients but the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin significantly increased mortality.

Source: Effect of hydroxychloroquine with or without azithromycin on the mortality of COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Macron Warns Lebanon Risks ‘Civil War’ if Not Helped

Does not give France any “right” to interfere – it is not your colony! W140

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday warned that Lebanon risks a return to civil war if it is left alone to deal with the crisis that followed the deadly Beirut port explosion this month.

“If we let Lebanon go in the region and if we somehow leave it in the hands of the depravity of regional powers, it will be civil war” as well as “the defeat of what is the very identity of Lebanon,” he said.