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Thanks,
Drew
Via NBC:
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Wednesday that it would support waiving patent protections for Covid-19 vaccines after weeks of pressure from the international community as cases surge brutally in India and other countries.
“The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines,” Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
Tough but fair.
Via WRAL:
The South Carolina House voted Wednesday to add a firing squad to the state’s execution methods amid a lack of lethal-injection drugs — a measure meant to jump-start executions in a state that once had one of the busiest death chambers in the nation.
The bill, approved by a 66-43 vote, will require condemned inmates to choose either being shot or electrocuted if lethal injection drugs aren’t available. The state is one of only nine to still use the electric chair and will become only the fourth to allow a firing squad.
The judge says the CDC has no standing to impose such a thing (duh….
Via Washington Post:
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its legal authority by issuing a nationwide eviction moratorium, a ruling that could affect millions of struggling Americans.
In a 20-page order, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich vacated the CDC order, first put in place during the coronavirus pandemic under the Trump administration and now set to expire June 30.
“It is the role of the political branches, and not the courts, to assess the merits of policy measures designed to combat the spread of disease, even during a global pandemic,” the order states. “The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not.”
Or a homeless artist. Everyone else can go to hell.
San Francisco is implementing guaranteed income programs to support artists, Black and Pacific Islander mothers, and people training to become EMTs. We're looking forward to working with @mayorsforagi to lift up our residents and strengthen our communities. https://t.co/uO09hTpvtc
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) May 5, 2021
Too much soy in the food.
Via NY Post:
The early days of the pandemic did not result in a baby boom.
Four percent fewer babies were born during 2020 than the year before, as the fertility rate in the US plunged to the lowest in decades, according to new government data released Wednesday.
Women of all races and maternal ages procreated less last year then in 2019, the report said.
“This is the sixth consecutive year that the number of births has declined after an increase in 2014, down an average of 2% per year, and the lowest number of births since 1979,” the National Center for Health Statistics said.
Genius. Pure genius.
Via NY Post:
A meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven — including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken — was hit by a COVID-19 scare Wednesday when two delegates from India tested positive.
The group from India — currently suffering the world’s worst surge in COVID-19 cases — were special guests at the G7 meeting in London, which was heavily billed as a return to face-to-face diplomacy.
“Was made aware yesterday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive cases,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar tweeted early Wednesday.
“As a measure of abundant caution and also out of consideration for others, I decided to conduct my engagements in the virtual mode. That will be the case with the G7 Meeting today as well,” he wrote.
Mayor Bowser won’t commit to legalizing dancing even if everyone’s vaccinated pic.twitter.com/TttkPlqlyW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 5, 2021
Via The Sun:
HORRIFYING fake footage of the US Capitol being blown up was released by Iran as Joe Biden comes under increasing pressure to take action from a GOP senator.
The video leaked on state-controlled Iranian TV on Sunday before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s speech depicted a missile being fired as the Washington DC building is engulfed in flames.
Good.
Via Reuters:
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are expected to try to remove Liz Cheney from their party leadership for denouncing former President Donald Trump’s false claim the election was stolen from him, said two Republican congressional sources.
One of the sources said they could vote as early as May 12, their next scheduled meeting after a two-week break.
The No. 3 House Republican and the 54-year-old daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, she survived a similar rebellion early in the year.
Sigh….
Via Hollywood Reporter:
While promoting his Amazon Prime film Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse in late April, Michael B. Jordan put a Kryptonite pin in any rumors that he might suit up as Warner Bros.’ next Superman. “I’m flattered that people have me in that conversation,” Jordan told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s definitely a compliment, but I’m just watching on this one.”
With that, a whole new guessing game has kicked off centered on who will play the Man of Steel. And arguably more pressing: Who will direct? Sources say J.J. Abrams, who is producing the film, is not among the many possibilities being considered. When Warners announced in February that celebrated author Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing the screenplay and Abrams is producing, it did not address the matter of helming. But insiders say Warners and DC are committed to hiring a Black director to tackle what will be the first cinematic incarnation of Superman featuring a Black actor, with one source adding that putting Abrams at the helm would be “tone-deaf.”
Soon. Soon. 2024 is almost here.
Via NY Post:
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that Facebook and other Big Tech companies that censored him “must pay a political price” — responding to Facebook’s decision to continue a ban on his account.
The Facebook decision added momentum to Republican efforts in Congress to either break up Facebook and other Big Tech platforms, or to outlaw viewpoint discrimination.
“What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our Country. Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before,” Trump said in an emailed statement.
“The People of our Country will not stand for it! These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our Electoral Process.”
.@HARRISFAULKNER reports on the millions of dollars in oil and gas stocks that John Kerry owned.
Since liquidating this portfolio upon joining the Biden Administration, he has spent his time railing against the very interests he was invested in. https://t.co/PC7yxpR6yE pic.twitter.com/swvA6NknNS
— America Rising (@AmericaRising) May 3, 2021
Hurry up, supplies are limited.
Via CNBC:
Peloton announced Wednesday voluntary recalls of both its treadmill machines over safety concerns.
The announcement marked a major reversal of Peloton’s initial reaction to the concerns, and comes after weeks of discussions with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
In a statement, Peloton apologized for not acting more quickly to resolve the issue after reports of one death and dozens of injuries.
“I want to be clear, Peloton made a mistake in our initial response to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s request that we recall the Tread+,” CEO John Foley said in a statement Wednesday. “We should have engaged more productively with them from the outset. For that, I apologize.”
The only way you get your freedom back is if you take it back.
Via Bloomberg Quint:
Seychelles, which has fully vaccinated more of its population against Covid-19 than any other country, has closed schools and canceled sporting activities for two weeks as infections surge. The measures, which include bans on the intermingling of households and the early closure of bars, come even as the country has fully vaccinated more than 60% of its adult population with two doses of coronavirus.
But he still stays banned? lol
Within 6 months of today, Facebook must review this matter and decide a new penalty that reflects its rules, the severity of the violation, and prospect of future harm. Facebook can either impose a time-limited suspension or account deletion.
— Oversight Board (@OversightBoard) May 5, 2021
