Animals have been used in the industrialized production of human vaccines since vaccine farms were established to harvest cowpox virus from calves in the late 1800s. From that point, and through the first half of the 20th Century, most vaccines would continue to be developed with the use of animals, either by growing pathogens in live animals or by using animal cells.

Although many vaccines and anti-toxin products were successfully developed this way, using animals in vaccine development – particularly live animals – is not ideal. Research animals are costly and require extensive monitoring, both to maintain their health and to ensure the continued viability of the research. They may be carrying other bacteria or viruses that could contaminate the eventual vaccine, as with polio vaccines from the mid 20th century that were made with monkey cells and eventually found to contain a monkey virus called SV40, or Simian Virus 40. (Fortunately, the virus was not found to be harmful to humans.) Moreover, some pathogens, such as the chickenpox virus, simply do not grow well in animal cells. //

For these and other reasons, using cell culture techniques to produce vaccine viruses in human cell strains is a significant advance in vaccine development.

The late Andrew Breitbart accurately noted that politics is downstream from culture, something the Democrats have been aware of and used to full advantage since John F. Kennedy. The left now has a near monopoly on pop culture, i.e. the entertainment media, even in areas so ostensibly conservative as country music. While TikTok stars and social media influencers theoretically herald a new wave of personal brand popularity personas, the media puppet string pullers are still running things, threatening to either cut or strangle with said strings anyone who fails to dance to their chosen tune. //

This is the media‘s game. It feeds the delusion and illusion that an individual matters, when in fact it practices the exact opposite, laughing up its sleeve at those desperately clawing for their 15 minutes. The media could care less about who’s on TikTok, or who’s on the pop charts. It only cares about that which glorifies itself and feeds the lie that it not only matters, but also cares. No, no it does not. It prays for another flawed celebrity upon which to prey. //

This passive/aggressive cancel culture is a pernicious perversion. It is the National Enquirer and TMZ on steroids. These at least make no pretense of their mission. They are gossip sites and nothing more. The pop culture vultures seek to actively destroy for the apparent pleasure of doing so.

So where does this leave us?

A guideline was provided long ago:

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ... //

are losing the culture war not only because we have abandoned the battlefield, but because we refuse to demonstrate basic human kindness and courtesy to those placed on pop culture pedestals and then attacked, as is currently the case with Billie Eilish, for being there. Let’s turn it around. We can provide genuine artistic options, and we can personally promote these alternatives by not withdrawing from the world, but rather smilingly refusing to sit down and shut up. Should we be in places where there is direct access to the genuinely influential, we can present an alternative to those who seek to leech on to their fame by caring about, and for, them as people. Never underestimate the power of simple respect. //

that are the exact opposite of hiding in our bunkers and railing against these people. Instead, when the media cretins pounce and demand their pound of flesh let’s support those who have the opportunity to, and will seize upon it, the ability to directly say to the attacked, “I will show you the most excellent way.”

RNC Research
@RNCResearch
Joe Biden says his “first job offer” was from Idaho lumber company Boise Cascade.

The company told the @nypost they have “no record” of him. //

this is a problem he’s had since he’s been in public life — he just can’t stop lying and he’s been lying for decades. He had to drop out of his first run for president in the 1988 race when he was caught plagiarizing and lying about his academic background.

It’s like him driving an 18 wheeler, hitting a home run in the Congressional baseball game back in the 70s, being a coal miner, getting arrested trying to meet with Nelson Mandela, marching for civil rights, going to the Tree of Life synagogue after the mass murder there — just to name a few of the lies he’s spun over the years.

He just can’t seem to stop making things up. It’s a sickness with him and the problem is it’s not just about puffing himself up to pander to people like this, it’s about lying on critical things like Afghanistan and even trying to make the former president of Afghanistan lie, too. //

blueskies820
4 hours ago edited
Clinically I'd say he's a pathological liar with narcissistic personality disorder.

A pathological liar lies incessantly to get their way and does so with little awareness. They have little regard or respect for the rights and feelings of others; are often considered manipulative and cunning; and create extravagant stories that may be maintained or tweaked over time.

They often believe their own lies. Pathological liars know how to be confident while lying and use their pathological lying trait as a defense mechanism (e.g. they fix their gaze upon you rather than looking away).

Some of the symptoms of a pathological liar are: they lie to gain something, they exaggerate things, they keep on changing their stories, and they live in a false sense of ‘reality.’ If confronted, they act defensive and never admit that they are liars. Lastly, they hold no value for truth.

Carl Higbie
@CarlHigbie
Before the cameras arrived vs after… COVID theater. This is why we don’t trust these people

Townhall.com
@townhallcom
CONGRESSMAN SCOTT PERRY: "Can you tell us where you are today?"

BLINKEN: "Yes. I'm at the State Department."

PERRY: "Couldn't be bothered to come down here and see Congress? Alright, that's great."

House Republicans
@HouseGOP
Secretary Blinken just admitted that the Taliban has blocked American charter flights out of Afghanistan.

This is a hostage situation. //

Blinken refused to answer questions about the reported call between Joe Biden and former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, where Biden allegedly told Ghani that whether it was true or false, he had to tell the public that they were beating back the Taliban — basically lying and deceiving the public. //

Then Rep. Scott Perry really got down to it with Blinken, asking him some great questions. Did the State Department block any Americans from being evacuated? Blinken claimed not, despite many reports to the contrary. How many Afghans did they evacuate who weren’t SIVs (in other words, how many were evacuated, not because they helped the U.S. but to bump up the numbers and were just refugees, not the people the State Department was supposed to be concentrating on getting out)? //

Curtis Houck
@CurtisHouck
Replying to @CurtisHouck
Annnd here's what some will argue was a big takeaway...

.@RepScottPerry: "How long was your recent interview with the FBI and was it a deposition?

Sec. Blinken: "I'm sorry. I don't know what you're referring."

Blinken goes on by refusing to comment further (3/3)

Weeks ago, when cases and hospitalizations began to rise, I suggested (because of this thing called “data”) that COVID-19 hospitalizations went up because the bar for hospitalizations went down. Simply put, the numbers went up because hospitals lowered their standards for which COVID patients should be hospitalized. The study that The Atlantic published? It suggests that very thing.

So what has taken us so long to get to this point? Well, again, the problem falls on the CDC, NIH, and NIAID, who have not standardized data collection nationally for this pandemic. //

To this day, the CDC does not collect nationalized data for several factors which would help us better analyze how to approach this pandemic, including breakthrough cases and hospitalization case severity. That means that someone admitted to the hospital out of an abundance (and sometimes an overkill) of caution, is counted as the same hospitalization as someone with a much more severe case. To those making decisions at the top, a hospitalization, is a hospitalization, is a hospitalization. //

The federal government requires hospitals to report every patient who tests positive for COVID, yet the overall tallies of COVID hospitalizations, made available on various state and federal dashboards and widely reported on by the media, do not differentiate based on severity of illness. Some patients need extensive medical intervention, such as getting intubated. Others require supplemental oxygen or administration of the steroid dexamethasone. But there are many COVID patients in the hospital with fairly mild symptoms, too, who have been admitted for further observation on account of their comorbidities, or because they reported feeling short of breath. Another portion of the patients in this tally are in the hospital for something unrelated to COVID, and discovered that they were infected only because they were tested upon admission. How many patients fall into each category has been a topic of much speculation. //

Which was the primary motivation for the study, conducted by the VA Boston Healthcare System. The doctors who performed the study took it upon themselves to provide a line, which after a patient meets a certain amount of criteria, could classify them as a severe case. According to the study, (which has not as of yet been peer-reviewed), once patients had to be placed on supplemental oxygen to survive, they could be considered a moderate-to-severe case. What the study found was very interesting. Hospitalized patients, who required supplemental oxygen fell from 64% to 52%. That means that either alternative treatments were more effective, or (and as I have been saying for months) hospitals began admitting patients with less severe symptoms. To further confirm the point, the study found that up until January 2021, 36% of patients who were admitted to the hospital had mild or asymptomatic cases. That number rose to 48% by the end of June 2021.

So why would hospitals do this? The Atlantic article fails to question this, only to find ways that the study may be flawed by offering various caveats. Presumably, and very likely, this has to do with the fact that COVID hospitalizations are reimbursed at a higher rate than would say, your typical health insurance plan.