People protesting the Covid-19 vaccine mandate in New York this week. PHOTO: JUSTIN LANE/SHUTTERSTOCK
“States are suing to stop Biden’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Attorneys general in 11 states—10 Republicans and one Democrat—object to new rules requiring employees at companies with more than 100 workers to get vaccinated or test negative weekly, starting Jan. 4.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“WASHINGTON – After months of political wrangling, the House late Friday night passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to modernize highways, rebuild water lines and provide billions for electric vehicle charging stations, the largest transportation spending package in U.S. history.
The passage is a victory for Democrats and President Joe Biden, who had suffered a stinging defeat in Tuesday's elections.
The bill, passed by the Senate in August, will now be sent to Biden who is expected to sign it into law.
The 228-206 vote followed bitter differences between Democratic progressives and moderates who clashed over the size and scope of Biden's $1.85 trillion Build Back Better budget bill that would expand social safety net programs and enact sweeping climate programs. The deal Democrats struck allowed passage of the infrastructure bill Friday and a promise that the larger bill would get a vote later this month.
Thirteen Republicans voted for the bipartisan legislation while six progressive Democrats voted against due to lack of movement Friday on the Build Back Better Act.
Progressives had wanted enough assurances that moderate Democrats would back the social and climate bill before voting on the infrastructure bill. Their concern was that some more moderate lawmakers would vote for one bill and not the other, a scenario that could imperil passage because Democrats hold a very small advantage in the House.
In the end, Democrats said the prospect that the Build Back Better will finally get a vote is a game changer.” Read more at USA Today
“Pfizer says its experimental Covid-19 treatment pill was highly effective. The company’s drug, Paxlovid, cut the risk of hospitalization or death in study subjects with mild to moderate Covid-19 by about 89% if they took the pill within three days of diagnosis, Pfizer said Friday.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The jobless rate fell as the labor market bounced back from a summer lull. Nearly 200,000 women joined the labor force in October as the U.S economy added 531,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%. The Labor Department report showed the economy rebounding from the summer wave of the Covid-19 Delta variant.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made his first public comments Friday since testing positive for COVID-19, addressing why he told the news media in August that he was ‘immunized’ and why he is not vaccinated.
Rodgers will not play in Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs and won't be allowed at the team facility for the next 10 days, according to NFL protocols.
He addressed the controversy and backlash for 45 minutes on the ‘Pat McAfee Show,’ offering a strong rebuke of the process and referencing several debunked talking points circulating among people opposed to the vaccine.
DANGEROUSLY MISINFORMED:Aaron Rodgers isn't a victim of 'woke mob'
RODGERS HAS COVID:He lied about being vaccinated, and being a team player
‘I am somebody who's a critical thinker,’ he said. ‘I believe strongly in bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices for your body.’
However, Rodgers said he is not a so-called ‘anti-vaxxer.’
‘I am not a COVID-denier or any (expletive) like that,’ Rodgers said. ‘I just wanted to make the best choice for my body.’
Rodgers said he has been tested daily per NFL protocol and said he was ‘in the cross hairs of the woke mob right now.’
‘So, before my final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I'd like to set the record straight on so many of the blatant lies out there. I tested for COVID over 300 times before testing for possible positive and I probably got it from a vaccinated player,’ Rodgers said.
He hasn't provided details on which infected player he believes he was exposed to or any details of where or when he could have been exposed.
The three-time MVP claimed he did extensive research on the vaccines, but said he was allergic to something in both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. He sought alternative treatment when he said the two vaccines available weren't right for him.
‘For me it involved a lot of studying in the offseason,’ Rodgers said. ‘I put a lot of time and energy into researching and met with a lot of different people in the medical field to get the most information about the vaccines before making a decision.’
Rodgers also said he consulted with his friend Joe Rogan and mentioned ivermectin, a medicine that is generally used to treat threadworms, roundworms and other parasites. That medicine is not approved for use in battling COVID-19 by the Food and Drug Administration.
‘The specific protocol, I am going to keep between me and my doctors,’ he said.
Rodgers appealed to the NFL on his unnamed alternative treatment, which was rejected, and says that the Packers, his teammates and the NFL knew of his status when he was questioned by the media in August.
"I have followed every single protocol to a T, except that one that makes absolutely no sense to me," Rodgers said, referencing that unvaccinated players must be six feet apart and wearing a mask when speaking to the media.
He also said an NFL doctor had told him ‘it would be impossible for a vaccinated person to catch or spread COVID.’ The NFL refuted Rodgers' claim later Friday, telling Pro Football Talk, ‘No doctor from the league or the joint NFL-NFLPA infectious disease consultants communicated with the player. If they had, they certainly would have never said anything like that.’
On the McAfee show, Rodgers went on to mention civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., saying, ‘The great MLK said, 'You have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense.'
Rodgers said he was excited for his backup Jordan Love to play against the Chiefs and has talked to him concerning Sunday's game.
‘I feel really good and if this was the flu, I would be playing on Sunday. I hope we can take a step back with the lying and the witch hunt,’ he said.” Read more at USA Today
“Two days after testing positive for COVID-19, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers joined the ‘Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday to explain his decision to not take one of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Rodgers described himself as not ‘some sort of anti-vax, flat-earther’ but rather ‘a critical thinker.’ He referenced the ‘woke mob’ and a ‘witch hunt’ against those who are unvaccinated. And he offered his opinion on a variety of issues related to the pandemic and personal health.
His comments were riddled with debunked claims.
Here are six of the most blatantly false or misleading statements Rodgers made during Friday's appearance.
COVID-19 rates among unvaccinated
Rodgers' claim: ‘This idea that it's a pandemic of the unvaccinated, it's a just a total lie.’
Fact check: Unvaccinated individuals are, in fact, bearing the brunt of the pandemic's impact.
Perhaps the most notable evidence of this came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this fall. The CDC studied more than 600,000 cases of COVID-19 from 13 states and found that unvaccinated people were 4.5 times more likely to get infected, 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die than their vaccinated counterparts.
Vaccines as a silver bullet
Rodgers' question: ‘If the vaccine is so great, then how come people are still getting COVID and spreading COVID and, unfortunately, dying of COVID?’
Fact check: Vaccines are public health tools that significantly reduce the risk of contracting or becoming ill from COVID-19, as illustrated in the aforementioned statistics. No vaccine is 100% effective, however, and ‘breakthrough infections’ are possible.
The three COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. have been proven to be at least 70% effective in preventing illness, and upwards of 90% effective in preventing severe cases. Studies also suggest that booster shots, which are available for certain segments of the population, increase those efficacy rates.
Ivermectin as COVID-19 treatment
Rodgers' claim: ‘Why do people hate ivermectin? Not just because (President Donald) Trump championed it, but because it's a cheap generic, and you can't make any money off of it.’
Fact check: Rodgers says he has been taking ivermectin, among other treatments. Experts have discouraged doing so.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, ivermectin is used to treat maladies like parasites and scabies. It ‘has not been approved as a treatment for any sort of viral infection,’ and it has not been proven to treat COVID-19.
‘The reason for the interest in ivermectin is that studies in the lab have shown it can block viruses from multiplying in experimental settings – i.e. in a petri dish – and so people hoped this would mean it could help treat COVID-19 in people too,’ Denise McCulloch, an infectious disease specialist with the University of Washington's School of Medicine, told USA TODAY in an email in August.
‘Unfortunately, the few high-quality studies that have been done to date do not demonstrate a beneficial effect of ivermectin when it is used in people with COVID-19.’
The FDA says there are multiple clinical trials underway or in development to further evaluate the potential use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.
Vaccination vs. natural immunity
Rodgers' claim: ‘If you've gotten COVID, and recovered from it, that's the best boost to immunity that we can have.’
Fact check: It's unclear what Rodgers meant by ‘the best boost to immunity.’ But his claim is, at best, partly false.
Experts believe that vaccination and infection both generate a strong immune response, but it is unclear which provides protection for a longer period of time. The vaccines, experts say, do provide more consistent protection. And, most importantly, they offer the benefits of immunity without the risk of actually contracting the disease.
‘To get immunity from a natural infection, you first have to get the infection — and risk a serious illness or having long-term health consequences,’ Ellen Foxman, an assistant professor of laboratory medicine and immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine, told USA TODAY in an email in June.
‘You also risk spreading the virus to friends and loved ones who might get a serious illness, even if you don’t. The main reason to get a vaccine is to get immunity without taking these health risks.’
A growing body of research suggests previous coronavirus infection plus vaccination provides the strongest protection against COVID-19.
COVID-19 and fertility
Rodgers' claim: ‘To my knowledge, there's been zero long-term studies around sterility or fertility issues around the vaccine. So that was definitely something I was worried about.’
Fact: There is no scientific evidence to support Rodgers' concerns. According to the CDC, ‘there is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men.’
‘Long-term studies’ on the issue haven't been possible, of course, given the COVID-19 vaccines' brief existence. However, researchers at the University of Miami did conduct a study late last year into the possible impact of the vaccine on male sperm counts and found no significant changes.
If anything, experts believe that contracting COVID-19 is what could ultimately have an impact on fertility, because the disease can often result in a prolonged fever.
‘Getting COVID can be potentially detrimental to their fertility,’ said Sigal Klipstein, chair of the ethics committee at the American Society of Reproductive Medicine. ‘And getting the vaccine is safe and could even protect fertility by protecting you against the severe effects of COVID disease.’
We know a lot about the vaccine
Rodgers' claim: ‘This vaccine is revolutionary, the things that they're doing. However, we don't know a lot about it.’
Fact check: Rodgers is correct that the vaccine is revolutionary, but incorrect that ‘we don't know a lot about it.’
The roots of the COVID-19 vaccines can be traced back nearly two decades, to the emergence of SARS – another coronavirus. And the mRNA technology that is used in both the Pfizer-BioN and Moderna vaccines had been in development long before the emergence of COVID-19.
As for the COVID-19 vaccines themselves, they were made available to the public only after extensive trials and testing. The CDC says they have undergone and will continue to undergo what it called ‘the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history.’” Read more at USA Today
“The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol warned former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark that it will take more aggressive steps to compel his testimony after he refused to answer questions Friday during a closed-door interview with the panel.” Read more at Washington Post
“The sex-crime case against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was thrown into doubt on Friday after the Albany County, N.Y., district attorney delivered an extraordinary public denunciation of the local sheriff, saying the criminal complaint the sheriff filed last week was ‘potentially defective.’
In a letter to an Albany, N.Y., judge on Thursday, the district attorney, David Soares, took issue with the Albany County sheriff, Craig Apple, for ‘unilaterally and inexplicably’ filing the complaint without the knowledge of Mr. Soares, whose own investigation was still active.
The letter underscored how the sheriff’s surprise decision to charge the former governor without coordinating with Mr. Soares could ultimately threaten the case against Mr. Cuomo. Such coordination is typical in long-term, high-profile law enforcement investigations.
In his letter, Mr. Soares noted several possible problems with the sheriff’s filing. He said it was ‘potentially defective’ because it did not include a sworn statement from the alleged victim, Brittany Commisso, that would allow a prosecution to proceed.” Read more at New York Times
“WASHINGTON — Colin L. Powell was remembered for his leadership skills, his love of ABBA and Bob Marley, and ‘his sense of humor, his insatiable curiosity, and his comfort in his own skin’ at a funeral Friday that drew presidents past and present, military leaders, and hundreds of Washington dignitaries.
President Biden, first lady Jill Biden, and two of his predecessors — Barack Obama and George W. Bush and their spouses — joined Powell’s wife, Alma, and other family members for the religious service in which traditional hymns, ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen,’ and Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ echoed through Washington National Cathedral.
Powell, the former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died last month of complications from COVID-19. He was 84
The service brought together Republicans and Democrats. Also in attendance were former vice president Richard B. Cheney; former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, and Madeleine Albright; former secretary of defense Robert Gates; and former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage.” Read more at Boston Globe
“The infant son of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg returned home Friday after three weeks of medical treatment, 125 miles in an ambulance, and a ‘terrifying’ period spent on a ventilator, Buttigieg’s spouse said.
Chasten Buttigieg and his husband, who is the nation’s first openly-gay Cabinet Secretary, adopted Joseph August and his sister Penelope Rose in late summer. It was only in recent weeks that the couple revealed that their son, whom they refer to as ‘Gus,’ was in poor health.
‘A special thank you to the countless medical professionals who helped Gus (and his dads and sister) along the way,’ Chasten wrote on Twitter. He also thanked people who shared stories of their stays in pediatric intensive care units.
Pete Buttigieg had been on parental leave since mid-August, in a move that spurred widespread conversation about the absence of national paid parental leave.” Read more at Washington Post
“Ann Davison, a Republican who ran on a law and order platform, has been elected Seattle City Attorney, according to the Seattle Times, beating a left-wing opponent who had advocated abolishing the police in an unexpectedly high profile race.
The position is nonpartisan but the election marked the first time in three decades that deep-blue Seattle will have a Republican-affiliated city attorney. As of Friday evening, Davison had received 125,437 votes to Nicole Thomas-Kennedy’s 112,862. The Times called the election after reporting that Thomas-Kennedy needed to win close to 90 percent of the roughly 17,000 outstanding ballots to seize victory.
The city attorney leads prosecutions of low-level crimes and advises Seattle on legal matters. But the race was closely watched because it mirrored growing political polarization in America. Davison, a former Democrat, was affiliated with the ‘Walkaway’ campaign — a pro-Trump initiative that sought to attract liberals to the GOP. Thomas-Kennedy is a self-described police abolitionist who has called people destroying public property ‘heroes.’” Read more at Washington Post
“The Justice Department searched two locations associated with the conservative group Project Veritas as part of an investigation into how a diary stolen from President Biden’s daughter, Ashley, came to be publicly disclosed a week and a half before the 2020 presidential election, according to people briefed on the matter.
Federal agents in New York conducted the court-ordered searches on Thursday — one in New York City and one in suburban Westchester County — targeting people who had worked with the group and its leader, James O’Keefe, according to two of the people briefed on the events. The investigation is being handled by F.B.I. agents and federal prosecutors in Manhattan who work on public corruption matters, the people said.
After this article was initially published online on Friday, Mr. O’Keefe put out a video confirming that current and former Project Veritas employees had their homes searched on Thursday.
He said the group had recently received a grand jury subpoena and acknowledged that Project Veritas had been involved in discussions with sources about the diary. But he offered a lengthy defense of his group’s handling of the diary, saying that he and his colleagues had been operating as ethical journalists.” Read more at New York Times
“The top Democrat in the Virginia House of Delegates conceded on Friday the party had lost its majority in the lower chamber to Republicans in Tuesday's election.
In a statement, Virginia Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn (D) said she is ‘proud of the campaigns our incumbents and our challengers ran.’ Read more at The Hill
“Acceding to a storm of protest, the University of Florida abandoned efforts on Friday to keep three political science professors from testifying in a voting-rights lawsuit against the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Hours later, however, the professors sued university officials in federal court, claiming their First Amendment rights had been violated. They asked the court to permanently bar the university from limiting their outside work on matters opposing the state’s interests.
‘The lawsuit on behalf of three political science professors fires back at the brazen violation by the University of Florida of their First Amendment rights and academic freedom,’ David A. O’Neil and Paul Donnelly, two lawyers for the professors, said in a statement on Friday. ‘It is time for this matter to be rightfully adjudicated, not by press release, but in a court of law.’
The lawsuit appeared likely to prolong a weeklong dispute between the professors and university officials that has gained national attention for its political and free-speech implications. A spokeswoman for the university, Hessy Fernandez, said officials do not comment on pending litigation.” Read more at New York Times
“Japan is lifting its ban on short-term business travelers and foreign workers. The decision to allow these groups to enter the country followed a sharp fall in new Covid-19 infections, with the country now reporting only a few hundred new cases a day. More than 70% of Japan’s population is fully vaccinated.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Items from a tattoo kit and a manual are displayed at an Israeli auction house.
PHOTO:RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS
“JERUSALEM—An Israeli court has halted the auction of a rare set of tattoo needles that had purportedly been used to mark inmates at Auschwitz and had reignited a debate over whether Nazi-era artifacts should be bought or sold.
Comprising eight metal blocks affixed with needles arranged in the shape of numerals, the tattoo kit had been scheduled to be sold on Nov. 9. It was expected to fetch between $30,000 and $40,000, according to the online site of broker Meir Zolman, whose Jerusalem-based auction house was running the sale. A court in Tel Aviv issued a temporary injunction on the auction Wednesday after the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors said the private purchase of the tattoo set would undermine efforts to shed light on the horrors committed in death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau.
A hearing on the matter is set to be held on Nov. 16.
There is no law in Israel explicitly prohibiting the sale of artifacts from the Holocaust. David Fohrer, the lawyer who represented the Holocaust survivors group, said its complaint was filed on the basis of Israeli equity law and that there could be no rightful owner of the instruments. He said he had also appealed to the Israeli government to seize the items.” Read more at Wall Street Journal