Candace Owens likely felt some need to follow up on her interview with President Trump due to overwhelming opinion of Trump’s vaccine position.  Unfortunately, she attempts to reconcile President Trump’s position by casting aspersions toward him [Daily Mail Article].

Mrs. Owens reconciles President Trump’s support for the three COVID-19 vaccines by saying he’s too old to understand the troublesome vaccine information and doesn’t use the internet for his research.   WATCH:

https://youtu.be/IBOk3b3BJjM

President Trump’s position on the vaccines –as a tool in the arsenal to combat the pandemic– is essentially unremarkable.  Trump supports the vaccines that were developed, under the goal of providing protection for people against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, by the scientific community.  However, President Trump repeatedly insists that no one should be mandated to take the vaccine.

The essential Trump position has consistently been:

‘The American and international scientific and medical establishment have determined that SARS-CoV-2 represents a significant threat to public health.  In response, the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH); in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and various governments around the globe, have worked with scientists and pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines to be deployed under emergency authorizations.  Those vaccines are available for the American public to consider and use, if a person is worried about their health risk.’ 

That’s it, that’s the sum total of President Trump’s position.

Trump doesn’t feel people should be pressured, forced, coerced or mandated to take a vaccine.  Nor should anyone be subject to discrimination or division based on their unique medical decision. Vaccination is an individual choice, and President Trump has said, repeatedly, he respects anyone’s decision either way, and the federal government should not be involved.   From my perspective, this is non-controversial.

Additionally, despite the proclamations of many who have even written on these comment sections, this position is not only the same as Florida Governor ¹Ron DeSantis, but also identical.

Again, position encapsulated: “Here’s what the professionals who work for your federal government have come up with, use them as you see beneficial to yourself and your family.”

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CTH is just presenting data without too much interpretation on this study, because it could be analyzed two separate ways.

A Denmark study of vaccine effectiveness (VE) to “prevent infection“, and that’s a key point, shows both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine benefits essentially disappear after 90 days to six months. [Study pdf Here]  Now, some people are interpreting the bottom line result to say the vaccine makes you more susceptible to Omicron variant infection after the 150 day point [SEE HERE]. However, I’m not sure that’s the key takeaway.

The data does show that during the 91 to 150 day waning period of vaccine effectiveness, the vaccinated group who used Pfizer were 76.5% more likely to be infected with a variant versus the unvaccinated population.  And the vaccinated group who used Moderna were 39.3% more likely to be infected with a variant versus the unvaccinated population.  [Note, all natural immunity groups (previously infected) were removed from the study]

Yes, the study shows the vaccinated groups are more likely to be infected with Omicron than the unvaccinated population.

However, ¹if the Pfizer vaccinated group within the total population is at or near 76%, and ¹if the Moderna vaccinated group within the total population is at or near 39%, then what this Denmark study actually shows is a non-existent benefit from vaccination toward the Omicron variant.  Not, and I repeat NOT, a finding that the vaccination itself makes you more prone to infection from Omicron.

What we need to know is how many people in the total population are vaccinated, AND what percentage of that total vaccinated population used Pfizer and Moderna.

If the total population Omicron infection rates for both Pfizer and Moderna groups mirror the vaccination rates for Pfizer and Moderna, then the vaccine effectiveness is nil for the prevention of Omicron infection.   To me, that seems the most likely scenario.

The study conclusion is that booster shots are needed and provide essentially a 54.6% reduction in the risk of Omicron infection for Pfizer, and a (small sample) 82.8% reduction of the risk of Omicron infection for the Moderna group.

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Someone, anyone… please tell me you can see the problem here.

Canadian railway officials have a rather familiar method to segregate passengers and identify authorized vaccinated citizens who are traveling in railroad cars:

(source)

I do not know which is worse, that the railway line would put yellow stickers on people as they board railroad cars, or that someone would ask: “How should we identify vaccinated passengers?”, and an actual response would be, “Hey, I’ve got an idea“…..

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Somewhere, someone -or some group of consensus marketing folks- made a decision to approve a marketing and branding campaign for booster shots in Great Britian.   Here’s what they came up with:

What exactly is the forward messaging here?

Think about it.

The direct implication would appear to be that ‘once you get on the Ronacoaster you cannot get off until the ride’s over; and the ride will never be over’.

Apparently.

The New York Post {HERE} and Politico {HERE} are sharing stories from White House aides about how their job sucks and many of them are likely to leave at the beginning of the year.  The staffers give examples of a joyless and miserable job at the White House while the top tier pass out champagne perks to their DC elite friends and treat the Biden aides as simple servants.

Apparently, under the regime of Joe Biden, if a White House staffer wants to attend an event or bring their family to visit, the aide must agree to work as an unpaid volunteer delivering services and taking care of the invited list of guests and clients.

As the New York Post noted, “Some White House workers reportedly blame the low morale on the presence of longtime Biden aides who remain distant from their colleagues, a situation summed up by the phrase: “No new friends in Biden world.””

WASHINGTON DC – […]   The small perks of working in the White House, like the chance to take part in holiday parties and ceremonies, have also been in short supply. For the White House’s Independence Day party, most White House staff could only attend if they worked as unpaid volunteers staffing the event, per an email from White House operations sent at the time and shared with us. For the Thanksgiving turkey pardoning and the Christmas tree lighting, attendance was doled out via a lottery system, leaving out many White House aides.

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Former police officer Kim Potter was found guilty on two counts of manslaughter by a jury in Minneapolis, Minnesota.   After four days of deliberations the jury originally came back with a deadlock.   The judge instructed the jury to keep deliberating and try to resolve their differences.  The jury came back today and delivered a guilty verdict:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jurors on Thursday convicted a suburban Minneapolis police officer of two manslaughter charges in the killing of Daunte Wright, a Black motorist she shot during a traffic stop after she said she confused her gun for her Taser.

The mostly white jury deliberated for about four days before finding former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter. Potter, 49, faces about seven years in prison on the most serious count under the state’s sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors said they would seek a longer term.

Potter, who testified that she “didn’t want to hurt anybody,” looked down without showing any visible reaction when the verdicts were read.

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Yesterday, the political FDA approved Pfizer’s Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir tablets and ritonavir tablets, co-packaged for oral use) for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in adults and pediatric patients {LINK}.

Today, the political FDA approved Merck’s molnupiravir for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in adults with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing {LINK}.

The White House has been under considerable criticism for their lack of preparedness for the latest COVID variant called Omicron.  The FDA has rushed both oral medications under the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process.

FDA Announcement – […]    Molnupiravir is not authorized for use in patients younger than 18 years of age because molnupiravir may affect bone and cartilage growth. It is not authorized for the pre-exposure or post-exposure prevention of COVID-19 or for initiation of treatment in patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 because benefit of treatment has not been observed in people when treatment started after hospitalization due to COVID-19.

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Leftism is driven by committee advice; it’s how the echo-chambering communal groupthink works.

After the White House COVID “Winter of Death” messaging was ridiculed and ignored by almost everyone in the general public, the communications team quickly went back to the drawing board.  You can almost hear Ron Klain instructing the team to find ways to avoid the ‘Grinch team‘ labeling.

However, the ordinary emotional disposition of leftists and Democrats, writ large, is depressing, angry and negative, the result from a lifetime of blame casting.  The most valued skillset advancing the career of any professional leftist, is their ability to project victimhood.  If you do this long enough, it becomes the only thing you know how to do.  ‘Hang around a one-legged man long enough, and you will walk with a limp’.

As a direct result, the political left genuinely does not understand or experience joy, nor do they have a connection to the emotion of happiness. So, when the political left gets together in a focus group to discuss the urgent need to shift messaging from pessimism, which turns everyone off, they end up with recommendations like this:

Yes, White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, hired dancing nurses to come into the East Room to deliver a performance for the First Lady.  In the video below, the group sings about the joy of covid, the “winter of death”, and needing to spread a little Christmas cheer.

You might find the entire performance cringeworthy, because it is.  The messaging is ridiculous, odd and, well, just plain weird.  However, this is what happens when the narrative pendulum swings wildly amid the communications team.   The base of Biden supporters, ideological leftists, do not see the cringe, instead they see it as cute – but that’s because they have no connection to the actual emotion of Christmas joy.

What you end up with is this weird North Korean style performance of nurses dancing in unison and singing.  The expression on Jill Biden’s face is exactly the same look you might find on the face of Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo Jung.   To the White House, this is cute and fun; however, the look on the faces of the American audience is an uncomfortable grin.

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Unfortunately, we really cannot rely on BLS data, Commerce data or general information from the mainstream media to get a pulse on what’s really going on with products and prices on Main Street USA.  Factually, your ground reports have consistently been the accurate reflection of what’s happening in the various states and regions around the country.

With that in mind, what’s the latest situation in your area with COVID rules, prices on stuff you buy every day, and the availability of products and/or services in your community?

Specifically, people would be interested to know what the climate is toward the COVID rules, regulations, masks etc. in your city, town, hamlet or local community?   How are things overall?

What’s the impact of inflation and supply chain disruptions like around you?  Gas prices, grocery prices, home heating or energy prices etc.?  Also, if you are having any difficulties finding products that you normally purchase?  What are your family, friends and neighbors saying about it.

In short, how are things around you this holiday season?   Use the comment section to provide an update on your general area.   Your ground reports are always insightful and provide a good & accurate sense of how things are going on Main Street.

#FJB

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I don’t mean kick up a cloud of dust here, but something is weird again.  Last week we spotlighted information provided by media about the U.S. vaccination rate being considerably overstated {Go Deep}.  In essence, the CDC data was being revised downward to correct prior rates of vaccination that were not accurate.

During an ABC interview today (segment below), Joe Biden told ABC News’ David Muir that as of right now, there are “200 million people fully vaccinated.”  WATCH (1 min):

Counting illegal aliens, there are roughly 350 million Americans right now [Census Data].  If 200 million Americans are vaccinated (60%), that means there are approximately 150 million Americans NOT vaccinated (40%).

During his speech yesterday, Joe Biden said: “Thanks to the progress on vaccinations this fall, we’ve gone from nearly 90 million adults in July who had not even started their vaccination process to fewer than 40 million today.” [LINK]

There’s a big difference between 150 million unvaccinated and “fewer than 40 million” unvaccinated.  Can you reconcile the difference?

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