As the number of federal employees working for delayed paychecks grows, Kraft Foods is offering them free food from a pop-up store in Washington, D.C.
All posts by nedhamson
Of Unpaid Meat Inspectors
The government shutdown is taking an ongoing, and worsening, toll on meat plant operations.
Steve King Still Has Backing in Iowa, but Even Supporters Say ‘He’s Done’ – The New York Times
Mike McCarville, a former Fort Dodge mayor, said that when it came to the many Latinos who work in meatpacking, construction and agriculture in the region, native-born Iowans could be “two-faced.’’ “All the farmers will bitch about all the Hispanics,” he said, “but they hire them and we can’t get along without them.” “If they accomplished what they say they want and just round them all up and ship them back, our economy would grind to a halt,” he added.
White House Redefines Who Is Essential to Get Parts of Government Moving Again
The administration is opening the government piece by piece, forcing thousands of workers to report to the job without pay in sectors that could benefit the president’s base.
New York Confronts Its Worst Measles Outbreak in Decades
The disease spread within ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities where vaccination rates are low and some are suspicious of government health workers.
The killing of Gdańsk’s mayor is the tragic result of hate speech | Piotr Buras

What happened to Paweł Adamowicz isn’t just a Polish problem – wherever toxic public debate is indulged, violent acts may be committed
The death of Paweł Adamowicz, the popular liberal mayor of Gdańsk, has sent shockwaves across Poland and elsewhere in Europe.
Silent marches have been held in Warsaw, Gdańsk and other cities to pay tribute to him – and tens of thousands of Poles participated. Saturday, the day of his burial, will be a day of national mourning.
Journalist who exposed football corruption shot dead in Ghana

Exposés by Ahmed Husein, who died in Accra, had also lifted lid on corruption in judicial system
An undercover Ghanaian journalist who helped expose corruption in African football has been shot dead in Accra.
Ahmed Husein was part of a team led by award-winning journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, whose investigation led to the resignation of the head of the Ghana Football Association.
Hong Kong’s Flu Express Wk 2: A Rapid Increase In Institutional Outbreaks
pandemic time again – two weeks until Lunar New Year
#13,793
We’re seeing a highly variable 2018-2019 Northern Hemisphere flu season, with Canada and South Korea kicking off very early, while Russia – which over the past two decades has seen a shift to earlier flu seasons (see Eurosurveillance: Changes In Timing Of Influenza Epidemics – WHO European Region 1996-2016 – still remains far below their epidemic threshold (see Russia Influenza Surveillance Week 1, 2019).
Last week Hong Kong announced they had passed their epidemic threshold – and like most of the globe – is reporting mostly H1N1, which typically has a greater impact on younger people than does H3N2.
A good illustration of this demographic impact is the chart (above) showing an impressive 30-fold increase in institutional (mostly school) outbreaks in Hong Kong over the previous reporting week. This is their biggest, and fastest ramp up in recent memory.
Over the past 3 days Hong Kong’s CHP has announced investigations into numerous influenza outbreaks, including:
Update on cluster of Influenza A cases in Kowloon Hospital
CHP investigates influenza A outbreaks at kindergarten-cum-child care centre and primary school
One week into their flu season and already hospitals are getting slammed, with yesterday’s average hospital occupancy rate reaching 111%. With the Chinese New Year’s celebration only about 2 weeks away – where millions of families will gather all over Asia – these numbers could continue to rise.
The headlines in the South China Morning Post (SCMP) this morning – just one week into their flu season – highlight the pressures their healthcare system is already under.
Nurses plan protest as Hong Kong’s public hospitals reach flu season breaking point
Medical staff having to work extra shifts and skip meals to care for influx of flu patients
Bed occupancy rate across Hong Kong’s public hospitals reached average of 111 per cent on Wednesday
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 17 January, 2019, 1:26pm
VOLUME 16, NUMBER 02 (PUBLISHED ON Jan 17, 2019)
Flu Express is a weekly report produced by the Respiratory Disease Office of the Centre for Health Protection. It monitors and summarizes the latest local and global influenza activities.s.
Local Situation of Influenza Activity (as of Jan 16, 2019)
- Reporting period: Jan 6 – 12, 2019 (Week 2)The latest surveillance data showed that the local influenza activity increased markedly last week.
- Currently the predominating virus is influenza A(H1).
- Children aged under 6 years were particularly affected as reflected by the very high number of outbreaks of influenza-like illness (ILI) in kindergartens and child care centres, as well as
influenza-associated admission rate in public hospitals among children aged below six years.- Among the severe influenza cases in adults, persons 50-64 years constituted a relative higher proportion (36%), as compared with 15% and 20% during the 2017 summer season predominated by influenza A(H3) and the 2017/18 winter season predominated by influenza B respectively.
- Influenza can cause serious illnesses in high-risk individuals and even healthy persons. Given that seasonal influenza vaccines are safe and effective, all persons aged 6 months or above except those with known contraindications are recommended to receive influenza vaccine to protect themselves against seasonal influenza and its complications, as well as related hospitalisations and deaths.
(SNIP)
Global Situation of Influenza Activity In the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere influenza activity continued to increase slowly. In East Asia, influenza season appeared to have started, with predominantly influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 detected. In Europe, influenza activity increased, with both A viruses circulating. In the temperate zones of the southern hemisphere, influenza activity returned to inter-seasonal levels with exception of some parts in Australia. Worldwide, seasonal influenza A viruses accounted for the majority of detections.
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In the United States (week ending Jan 5, 2019), influenza activity remained elevated. The proportion of outpatient visits for ILI decreased from 4.0% to 3.5%, but remained above the national baseline of 2.2%. The percent of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza decreased to 12.72% from 16.58% recorded in the previous week. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, influenza A(H3N2), and influenza B viruses continued to co-circulate.
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In Canada (week ending Jan 5, 2019), influenza activity remained high. The influenza season started in late October which was earlier than in recent years. Laboratory detections for influenza declined from the previous week, suggesting that nationally the influenza season may have reached peak levels in the last week of December. Influenza A was the most common influenza virus, and the majority of these viruses were A(H1N1)pdm09.
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In the United Kingdom (week ending Jan 6, 2019), there was evidence that influenza was now circulating in the community as activity indicators breached baseline threshold levels at low intensity. The positivity of influenza detection was 16.4%, which was above the baseline threshold of 9.2%.
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In Europe (week ending Jan 6, 2019), influenza activity continued to increase. 44.6% of sentinel specimens were tested positive for influenza virus. The majority of influenza virus detections were type A. Both influenza A(H3N2) and A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses were detected.
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In Mainland China (week ending Jan 6, 2019), influenza activity in southern and northern provinces continued to increase, reaching the peak of the influenza season currently. Influenza viruses detected were mainly influenza A(H1N1), followed by influenza A(H3N2), and there were few influenza B(Victoria) and B(Yamagata) detections.
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In Taiwan (week ending Jan 12, 2018), influenza activity increased significantly and was above the national baseline. Influenza A(H1N1) (43.1%) and A(H3N2) (29.4%) viruses co-circulated in the community in recent four weeks.
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In Macau (Jan 16, 2019), influenza activity remained at the peak level. The proportions of ILI cases in emergency departments among both adults and children remained at a high level, and were on an
increasing trend. The proportion of influenza detections reached 42% in the first two weeks of 2019. Influenza viruses detected were influenza A(H1) (75%) and influenza A(H3) (25%). -
In Japan (week ending Jan 6, 2019), influenza activity continued to increase and the influenza season started in early December. The average number of reported ILI cases per sentinel site increased to 16.30 in the week ending Jan 6, 2019, which was above the baseline level of 1.00. The predominating virus in the past four weeks was influenza A(H1N1)pdm09
During the run up to last year’s Chinese New Year’s Holiday – during an unusually severe influenza B season – Hong Closed Schools & Called For Stringent NPIs To Combat Flu. According to an EID analysis published last November, the decision was made after the peak of the outbreak, and only had modest effect.
Mitigation of Influenza B Epidemic with School Closures, Hong Kong, 2018
AbstractIn winter 2018, schools in Hong Kong were closed 1 week before the scheduled Chinese New Year holiday to mitigate an influenza B virus epidemic. The intervention occurred after the epidemic peak and reduced overall incidence by ≈ 4.2%. School-based vaccination programs should be implemented to more effectively reduce influenza illnesses.
Although school closures can be disruptive – particularly to working families – previous studies have shown a more profound effect can be achieved when the trigger is pulled earlier.
As no two flu seasons are ever alike, a one size-fits-all solution isn’t guaranteed to work. It will be interesting to see what Hong Kong decides to do this year, based on the conflicting results from past school closures.
A Real Life “Manchurian Candidate”
Back in the 60’s there was a great suspense movie with Frank Sinatra, The Manchurian Candidate…..the movie is about some brainwashed soldiers during the Korean War…it was a “Red Scare” film….it was updated in the 2000s….but the original was by far the better of thew two….
Trailer from the original movie
Now the trailer for the newer version…….
I have been writing about this situation for several years now……this is one of my posts…..https://lobotero.com/2017/01/05/modernizing-the-manchurian-candidate/
I bring all this up because of the news in the last couple of weeks…but of course if you listen to the talking heads it is all “fake news”….but is it?
The article below entitled Trump, The Manchurian Candidate: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Campaign to Destabilize the Trump Presidency waspublished on January 4, 2017 prior to the inauguration of president Trump.
In early January 2017, we had predicted an unprecedented constitutional crisis characterized by a coordinated and carefully planned operation to destabilize the Trump presidency involving several stages, both before and after his inauguration.
We are dealing with a carefully planned operation, a “conspiracy” in the true sense of the word.
In recent developments (January 2019), the FBI investigation is being quoted by the media as “evidence” that Trump is “wittingly or unwittingly” an agent of the Kremlin. (see below Guardian January 2019 report)
In case you would like to watch the full movie…..
FBI arrests man it says planned to attack White House | US news | The Guardian – Will Donny love the FBI for 5 minutes today? Reads like a bad sketch for SNL or a deja vu rerun of bad 1950’s Red Scare B-movie.
Authorities say 21-year-old man charged with attempting to damage or destroy federal building after sting operation
Source: FBI arrests man it says planned to attack White House | US news | The Guardian


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