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The Risks of Rushing a COVID-19 Vaccine

Ten corona vaccine candidates are now in late-stage trials. The world is already celebrating what could be the breakthrough in fighting COVID-19. Pharmaceutical companies are also cheering. The public sector has invested billions more in development. but it’s the private sector that will rake in the cash. Under existing agreements, they control the price and get the profits. Pharma firms say development is expensive

The excitement and enthusiasm for a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2020 is both palpable and understandable. We all hope for a rapid end to the pandemic and an effective vaccine would be a surefire solution. But there are risks that come with a fast-tracked vaccine delivered end of this year, not the least of which are the risks related to the safety of the vaccine itself.

Telescoping testing timelines and approvals may expose all of us to unnecessary dangers related to the vaccine. While preclinical trials to evaluate the potential safety and efficacy of vaccine candidates are likely to include tens of thousands of patients, it is still unclear whether that number will be large enough and a trial will last long enough to evaluate safety for a drug that would be administered to so many.

The US alone plans to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people with the first successful candidate. One serious adverse event per thousand of a vaccine given to 100 million people means harm to 100,000 otherwise healthy people. Aside from questions of safety that attend any vaccine, there are good reasons to be especially cautious for COVID-19. Some vaccines worsen the consequences of infection rather than protect, a phenomenon called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). ADE has been observed in previous attempts to develop coronavirus vaccines. To add to the concern, antibodies typical of ADE are present in the blood of some COVID-19 patients. Such concerns are real. As recently as 2016, Dengavxia, intended to protect children from the dengue virus, increased hospitalizations for children who received the vaccine. Questions also arise around the efficacy of a potential vaccine. The little we know of the current generation of COVID-19 vaccines raises serious questions regarding their ability to protect people from infection. We know all the candidates tested to date in non-human primates failed to protect any of the monkeys from infection of the nasal passages, the primary route of human infection. Failure to protect entirely from infection fits with all we know about attempts to protect monkeys from two other deadly coronaviruses, those that cause SARS and MERS. As many of the most serious COVID symptoms do not appear until late in the disease course, sometimes four to five weeks following exposure, there is a possibility that we will not have sufficient time to judge efficacy of a new vaccine, even by the lower standard of symptom amelioration. An effective COVID-19 vaccine also faces several hurdles beyond our control. The older we get the poorer our ability to respond to vaccines. Resistance to vaccination begins early at age 30 and becomes progressively more profound with time. That is especially troubling as those over 60 are the population most at risk. Vaccination of the elderly may sometimes succeed by administering repeated doses and by increasing the potency of the vaccine with powerful adjuvants. But these adjuvants can be especially risky for the very old.

It seems a folly then to rush our way towards a vaccine in 2020 if it is likely to have only limited benefit to the population most in need and may put otherwise healthy people at risk. The risk goes far beyond the dangers a COVID vaccine alone may hold.

Public support for vaccines in general is already an issue. Trust in other lifesaving vaccines will be eroded even further if a COVID vaccine goes wrong and many more people—children especially—will be at risk if vaccination rates fall. Yes, we are all increasingly longing for an end to the outbreak. But a safe vaccine, effective for all those at risk, is worth the wait, especially when we have other solutions in hand. We already know from the experience of countries in Asia that the epidemic can be stopped in its tracks with basic public health measures: widespread testing, contact tracing, and mandatory controlled quarantine—not necessarily in a dismal public health facility as many imagine, but in our own homes with virtual supervision or in a hotel environment. These efforts alone could bring new infections down to almost zero within just weeks.

 

There is no doubt we need an urgent end to the pandemic. Economies around the world are crashing. Governments are piling up trillions of dollars in debt. And, in the US alone, tens of millions are without work or income. But there are still costs that are too great, even when compared to such numbers. When we have solutions to the pandemic in hand we cannot risk the potential lives lost of rushing a COVID vaccine to market. Nick Note: I got that funny feeling again. In the rush for a cure corners are being cut. And the leading candidates that are already being shipped to strategic locations for distribution has not been fully tested. A 90 day study is a joke. For that matter the joke studies have not even been peer reviewed. Details of the trials have not been made public. And i am told the FDA will review the Phase 3 studies in a matter of days and approve them. The fix is in. . To make it worse the RNA (monkey vaccine) has never been used in humans before. So you can appreciate why I want to be in the back of the line.

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Assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist ‘involved 62 people including 12 gunmen’

  • Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was shot dead in his car by 12 highly-trained assassins in the city of Absard, near Tehran 
  • The killers – which included a pair of snipers – formed 62-person group of plotters, reports have revealed 
  • Detail have been revealed by Iranian journalist Mohamad Ahwaze who obtained leaked information

Fakhrizadeh – dubbed the ‘father’ of Iran’s bomb programme – was shot dead in his car by 12 highly-trained assassins following an explosion in the city of Absard, 50 miles east of Tehran. The killers – which included a pair of snipers – formed part of a 62-person group of plotters. The remaining 50 people were responsible for logistical support. Extraordinary detail about Fakhrizadeh’s final moments have been revealed by Iranian journalist Mohamad Ahwaze who claims he received leaked information from the country’s authorities. Fakhrizadeh’s death sent tensions in the regions skyrocketing as Iran has repeatedly blamed Israel’s national intelligence agency Mossad for the the assassination – with several prominent figures vowing revenge. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who has the final say on all matters of state – yesterday said Iran’s first priority after the killing was the ‘definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.’ He did not elaborate.  And, in an intervention that risks inflaming conflict even further, a former head of the US’s Central Intelligence Agency labelled the assassination a ‘criminal’ act and branded it ‘highly reckless’.

John Brennan – who was director of the CIA from 2013 to 2017 under President Barack Obama – said he did not know who was to blame for the murder of Fakhrizadeh but said it ‘risks lethal retaliation and a new round of regional conflict’.

One American official and two other intelligence officials also told the New York Times that Israel was behind the attack.   Mohsen Fakhrizadeh – dubbed the ‘father’ of Iran’s bomb programme – was shot dead in his car by 12 highly-trained assassins following an explosion in the city of Absard, 50 miles east of Tehran.

Remarkable detail of the elaborate plot to assassinate 'prominent and distinguished' Iranian nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh has been leaked (pictured) - as the rogue nation claim Israel is behind the hit

The killers – which included a pair of snipers – formed part of a 62-person strong group of plotters. The remaining 50 people were responsible for logistical support. Pictured: The aftermath of the assassination

Extraordinary detail about Fakhrizadeh's final moments have been revealed by Iranian journalist Mohamad Ahwaze who claims he received leaked information from the country's authorities. Pictured: The aftermath of the attack

Extraordinary detail about Fakhrizadeh’s final moments have been revealed by Iranian journalist Mohamad Ahwaze who claims he received leaked information from the country’s authorities. Pictured: The aftermath of the attack

Ahwaze said the attack was planned for a roundabout in Absard, at the foot of a tree-lined boulevard which enters the city. Pictured: The aftermath of the attack

Ahwaze said the attack was planned for a roundabout in Absard, at the foot of a tree-lined boulevard which enters the city. Pictured: The aftermath of the attack

Britain is ‘concerned’ by the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is ‘concerned’ about the possible escalation of tensions in the Middle East following the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist earlier in the week. Raab told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: ‘We are concerned about the situation in Iran and the wider region we do want to see de-escalation of tension. ‘We’re still waiting to see the full facts, to address the full facts of what’s happened in Iran but I would say that we stick to the rule of international humanitarian law which is very clear against targeting civilians.’ Fakhrizadeh died on Friday after being seriously wounded when assailants targeted his car and engaged in a gunfight with his bodyguards outside Tehran, according to Iran’s defence ministry. Iran President Hassan Rouhani pinned the blame for the killing on ‘the wicked hands of the global arrogance,’ a term usually used to refer to the United States. The US slapped sanctions on Fakhrizadeh in 2008 for ‘activities and transactions that contributed to the development of Iran’s nuclear programme’. Ahwaze said the attack was planned for a roundabout in Absard, at the foot of a tree-lined boulevard which enters the city.  The team had been watching Fakhrizadeh, and knew that he was going to be driving from Tehran to Absard on Friday.  The mountain retreat of 10,000 people is where many well-off Tehranis have second homes, and Fakhrizadeh, 59, had a villa there. The 12 assassins – described as being highly-trained and assisted by ‘security and intelligence services abroad’ – were deployed to Absard while the remaining 50 people in the 62-person strong group helped with logistical support. He did not specify whether they were in Iran, or abroad. A Hyundai Santa Fe with four passengers, four motorcyles and two snipers were waiting for Fakhrizadeh at the scene of the ambush – along with a booby-trapped Nissan pickup. Half an hour before Fakhrizadeh’s convoy of three bulletproof cars arrived, the electricity was cut off to the area, Ahwaze reported.  The team were in place when the first car passed the roundabout.   As the third car passed, the Nissan exploded, damaging electricity poles and transmitters, according to a state TV report from the area on Friday night.  The force of the explosion from the bomb hurled debris at least 300 meters, state television claimed. The second car, containing Fakhrizadeh, was then shot at by the 12 assassins, including two snipers.  The gunmen with the hit squad opened fire on the cars, and an intense gunfight ensued, according to Sepah Cybery, a social media channel affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Ahwaze tweeted: ‘According to Iranian leaks, the leader of the assassination team took Fakhrizadeh out of his car and shot him and made sure he was killed.’ The hit squad then vanished, having sustained no losses to their team, Ahwaze reported.

The masters of ‘wet work’: Israeli agents are feared for covert assassination ops

Israel has often favoured covert ‘wet work’ tactics against its enemies – including assassinations. The country’s national intelligence agency Mossad has been accused carrying out attacks on members of Palestinian fundamentalist group Hamas in recent years. Prominent Iranian figures have also been targets – several of which have been nuclear scientists. Within the agency is an elite unit known as Kidon – or ‘tip of the spear – which is widely-understood to be responsible for assassinations.  The group has been dubbed an ‘an elite group of expert assassins’ – but little is known about them or how they operate. Alleged Mossad attacks tend to be quick and clean, including killings where the assassin is on the back of a motorcycle for an easy getaway.  Mossad hits are also usually outside of Israel – further reducing the chances that the attacks will be tied to the state.  Choosing the assassination target is a complicated process involving Mossad itself, the Israeli intelligence community and those in the highest seats of Government. His death sent tensions in the region skyrocketing as Iran accused Israel of trying to provoke a war by killing the scientist – who Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once called out in a news conference saying: ‘Remember that name’.  Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday called Fakhrizadeh ‘the country’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist.’ Khamenei – who has the final say on all matters of state – said Iran’s first priority after the killing was the ‘definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.’ He did not elaborate.  It comes amid fears that the Trump administration could order a strike on Iran in the weeks before the president relinquishes power to President-Elect Joe Biden. Dehghan added: ‘We will descend like lightning on the killers of this oppressed martyr and we will make them regret their actions.’    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also said Israel was to blame for the ambush in a televised speech on Saturday, and said Iran would retaliate for the killing of Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi at ‘the proper time’.  Rouhani said: ‘Our people are wiser than to fall in the trap of the Zionist regime (Israel) … Iran will surely respond to the martyrdom of our scientist at the proper time.’  Rouhani said that Fakhrizadeh’s death would not stop its nuclear program, something Supreme Leader Khamenei said as well.

The United States military on Friday said it had deployed the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (its flight deck, pictured on Wednesday) to the Persian Gulf alongside other warships in order to provide ‘combat support and air cover’ for soldiers withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan Nick Bit: What a coincidence!

The decision to deploy the Nimitz (pictured on Wednesday) to the Persian Gulf was reportedly made before the killing of Fakhrizadeh

The decision to deploy the Nimitz (pictured on Wednesday) to the Persian Gulf was reportedly made before the killing of Fakhrizadeh

The United States military on Friday said it had deployed the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz to the Persian Gulf alongside other warships in order to provide ‘combat support and air cover’ for soldiers withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan. Nick Note: Another one bites the dust.  To Little to late. They need to bit the bullet NOW and take out Iran’s Nuke and rocket capabilities. It will be costly but not as costly as letting Iran getting nuclear tipped rockets…

 

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AstraZeneca CEO expects to run new global trial of COVID-19 vaccine

(Reuters) – AstraZeneca is likely to run an additional global trial to assess the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine using a lower dosage, its chief executive was quoted as saying on Thursday amid questions over the results of its late-stage study. Instead of adding the trial to an ongoing U.S. process, AstraZeneca might launch a fresh study to evaluate a lower dosage of its vaccine that performed better than a full dosage, Pascal Soriot told Bloomberg News. “Now that we’ve found what looks like a better efficacy we have to validate this, so we need to do an additional study,” he said, adding that the new, likely global, study could be faster because it would need fewer subjects as the efficacy was already known to be high.
The news comes as AstraZeneca faces questions about its success rate that some experts say could hinder its chances of getting speedy U.S. and EU regulatory approval.

Several scientists have raised doubts about the robustness of results released on Monday showing the experimental vaccine was 90% effective in a sub-group of trial participants who, by error initially, received a half dose followed by a full dose.Soriot said he did not expect the additional trial to delay British and European regulatory approvals.Asked about the Bloomberg report, an AstraZeneca spokesman said there was strong merit in continuing to investigate the half-dose/full dose regimen. Any further insights from the data would be added to those from existing trials that are being prepared for regulatory submission, he said. Running an additional trial might not be too much of a complication for the British drugmaker in the race to develop a vaccine to help tame the pandemic, which has killed more than a million people and roiled the global economy. Helen Fletcher, professor of immunology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said another trial would not necessarily delay getting a green light as efficacy in the higher dose regime still met the World Health Organization’s target. It was not unusual to run new studies on approved vaccines, she said. The vaccine is one of three that could get approved before the end the year. This month, Pfizer and Moderna reported that their vaccines were about 95% effective in preventing illness, setting the bar sky-high.Even so, the AstraZeneca shot developed with Oxford University is cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale up than its rivals. Britain on Friday asked its medicine regulator to assess if the vaccine candidate met rigorous safety standards with a view for temporary supply, a step towards beginning a roll-out of the vaccine before the end of the year.AstraZeneca expects 4 million doses to be available in Britain by the end of next month. A peer-reviewed analysis of data from the new trial will be published in a medical journal in coming weeks. The European Medicines Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.AstraZeneca told Reuters earlier on Thursday that administering of the half dose had been reviewed and approved by independent data safety monitors and the British regulator, adding that the regulator publicly confirmed there was “no concern”. Clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may take longer, though, because the agency is unlikely to approve the vaccine based on studies carried out elsewhere, especially given the questions over the results, Soriot said.AstraZeneca research chief Mene Pangalos told Reuters on Monday the firm would start discussions with the FDA to change the design of its trial to add the more-effective dosage regime.Authorisation in some countries is still expected before the end of the year.Astrazeneca has struck deals to supply the vaccines in several countries, including 120 million doses to Japan and 85 million doses to Australia. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, talking to media, expressed confidence about the vaccine, which is being manufactured by the country’s biomedical giant CSL Ltd.The Serum Institute of India is conducting trials of the vaccine there. “Even the lowest efficacy results are at 60-70%, making it a viable vaccine against the virus,” the institute said in a statement, adding that the trials were running smoothly. Nick Note: What they forgot to tell you is they fucked up. Despite small scale manufacturing and HA HA HA rigors safety controls they shipped 5 to 10 million doses at half strength and they never caught it. So they attempted to blow smoke up your ass and say it was a low dosage test…….. So ill tell you what I think. They should give the first doses among other to Blacks who we all know are socially disadvantaged and 4 times more likely to get the virus and twice as likely to die. So i will wait before i roll up my sleeve!

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US adds 155,596 coronavirus cases, 1,189 deaths

Please view the above 8 minute video.it graphs the spreading plague

 United States Coronavirus Cases:

13,610,357

Deaths:

272,254

Recovered:

8,041,239
Closed Cases
8,313,493
Cases which had an outcome:
8,041,239 (97%)

Recovered / Discharged
272,254 (3%)
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San Francisco to impose curfew on Nov. 30

An increase in cases of COVID-19 has sent San Francisco into the purple level of California’s color-coded reopening plan, officials announced on November 28. As a result, the county must now join most of the rest of the state’s limited stay-at-home order, which requires that “non-essential work, movement, and gatherings,” including outdoor dining, cease between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. from November 30 until December 21. This isn’t a surprise to city and county health officials, who warned on November 20 that the region was on track to move from the red (“substantial risk” of COVID-19 exposure) to the most restrictive, purple tier (“widespread risk”) in coming days. Counties that enter the purple tier, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on November 19, must follow a state-mandated shelter-in-place order “designed to reduce opportunities for disease transmission,” including the weeks-long curfew. “Activities conducted during 10 PM to 5 AM are often non-essential and more likely related to social activities and gatherings that have a higher likelihood of leading to reduced inhibition and reduced likelihood for adherence to safety measures like wearing a face covering and maintaining physical distance,” the state said in a statement regarding the curfew, which now applies to 99.1 percent of the state’s population, including every county in the Bay Area but Marin (which, as of publication time, remains red). You can see a full list of tier assignments here.

According to the announcement of the shutdown from the city, customers must leave restaurants by 10 p.m., but restaurants may remain open for takeout or delivery. Other non-essential businesses must close and gatherings must cease, but businesses like grocery and convenience stores may remain open, with a capacity limit of 50 percent.

“This is the most aggressive surge SF has seen to date,” Breed says, as “we’re currently averaging 118 new cases per day compared to 73 per day in the first week of November…For the week of November 16th, we had 768 diagnosed cases compared to 217 diagnosed cases the week of October 12th.”

Breed’s remarks follow those of San Francisco Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax, who said on November 27 that the number of San Franciscans that have tested positive for COVID-19 “in the last 4 weeks has increased 265 percent.” It’s also expected — but still tough — news for the city’s restaurants, many of which rely on dinner service to remain afloat. In a statement, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, the lobbying group for San Francisco’s dining industry, says that the 10 p.m. curfew means that “although outdoor dining in San Francisco will remain open…restaurants will in reality not be able to take reservations past 8 or 8:30 p.m., therefore severely limiting their ability to do business.” “Although our foremost concern remains with the health and well-being of our community, we expect immediate negative effects to our industry and continue to call on our city leaders to help us survive by making financial relief available for our restaurants and our employees,” the GGRA says. “We also call on Congress to pass a relief package that includes the Restaurants Act and additional PPP funding immediately.”  Nick Note: You could never tell by the insanity on Wall Street but the economy has entered another death plunge. The great white hope if it gives immunity for more then 6 months has not been deployed yet. And in order to give society wide protection it will take 2 years. The great equalizer that is superior to the masks and social distancing hoopla is simple. How many people are testing positive, how many are developing systems, how many are hospitalized and dying. See its all bullshit.  If the population is to sick to work and must be isolated all the toilet paper mask and vaccine myths do not count. Oh i forgot to mention the stimulus has run out and it will be to late next year when they start up the handouts again.

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Black Friday shopping in stores craters 52% during pandemic as e-commerce sales surge

  • Traffic at stores on Black Friday fell by 52.1% compared with last year, according to preliminary data from Sensormatic Solutions.
  • “Shoppers are spreading out their shopping throughout the holiday season because of concerns about social distancing and the pandemic,” said Brian Field.
  • Online spending on Black Friday surged 21.6% to hit a new record, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

Traffic at stores on Black Friday fell by 52.1% compared with last year, as Americans by and large eschewed heading to malls and queuing up in lines for shopping online, according to preliminary data from Sensormatic Solutions. For the six key weeks of the holiday season this year, traffic in retail stores is expected to be down 22% to 25% year over year, an earlier forecast by Sensormatic Solutions said. “We knew Black Friday [traffic] was going to be down, we just didn’t know how much it was going to be down,” said Brian Field, a senior director of global retail consulting at Sensormatic Solutions. “Shoppers are spreading out their shopping throughout the holiday season because of concerns about social distancing and the pandemic.” The Covid pandemic has pushed a record number of consumers to shop online, instead, as retailers place many of their top holiday doorbuster deals online and encourage shoppers to buy on the web and then pick up purchases curbside. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommended that Americans shop online the day after Thanksgiving.

Many malls looked bleak, and parking lots were more empty than full, across much of the country during the early hours of the morning Friday.

Some reported traffic picking up later in the day, especially at outlet and open-air shopping centers, as some consumers felt more comfortable heading out. The warmer weather that blanketed much of the country also helped. The typical peak time for shopping on Black Friday remained the same this year, hitting at about 2 p.m., Sensormatic Solutions said. On Thanksgiving Day, when many retailers including Walmart and Target closed their stores this year due to the pandemic, traffic dropped 94.9% year over year, according to the firm. Week-to-date, traffic is down 45.2% across the U.S. “Black Friday this year, from a traffic impact perspective, looked a lot like a typical Saturday after a Black Friday,” Field said. Nick Note: Besides the virus run wild and the boiling middle east cauldron the markets are ignoring the retail store-mall disaster in the making. Yes people are shopping online. Great for Amazon… one stock. The Rits and department stores and big box retailers are in trouble. Never mind this spells the demise for small retailers

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Was scientist’s killing the opening shot of a Trump-led war on Iran

The assassination of the country’s top nuclear expert raises fears that the outgoing US president is determined to take further action

The assassination on Friday of Iran’s leading nuclear scientist has heightened suspicions t hat Donald Trump, in cahoots with hardline Israeli and Saudi allies, may be trying to lure the Tehran regime into an all-out confrontation in the dying days of his presidency. Trump’s four-year-long Iranian vendetta is approaching a climax – and he still has the power and the means to inflict lasting damage. Speculation that Trump might soon initiate or support some kind of attack on Iran, overt or covert, kinetic or cyber, had swirled across the Middle East in the wake of last weekend’s unprecedented meeting in Saudi Arabia between Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. What the three men discussed remains a closely guarded secret, a fact that has only served to encourage conspiracy claims. In the absence of an official statement, it’s suggested they may have agreed to intensify efforts to provoke and weaken the Tehran regime. Any ensuing retaliation by Iran might then potentially be used to justify an attack on its nuclear facilities before Trump leaves office on 20 January. The meeting in Neom, a city near the Red Sea, and the possibly deliberate leak revealing it had taken place, served another important purpose. By presenting a united anti-Iran front, the participants put US president-elect Joe Biden on notice that his plans to resume dialogue with Tehran, and revive the 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by Trump, will face fierce resistance and may have to be rethought. If Iran hits back over the assassination, as threatened by its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Biden’s hopes of calming the regional situation could be blown apart – along with Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz and elsewhere. And there’s another danger. Even if the regime holds back, loyalist Shia militias in Iraq, Syria or Lebanon could take matters into their own hands. “We will strike as thunder at the killers of this oppressed martyr and will make them regret their action,” Hossein Dehghan, a senior military commander, vowed in a tweet. Yet Iran’s dilemma is excruciating. If it does retaliate in any obvious way, it could give its enemies the excuse they want and the opportunity they crave to deliver a crushing blow. Iran’s leaders have little doubt that Israel, with a probable green light from Washington, was behind the assassination. President Hassan Rouhani expressly blamed the “usurper Zionist regime”. Foreign minister Javad Zarif tweeted that there were “serious indications” of an Israeli role. “Iran calls on international community – and especially EU – to end their shameful double standards & condemn this act of state terror,” he wrote. The methods used to kill the scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was gunned down in a street near Tehran, resembled those used in a spate of similar killings of nuclear experts between 2010 and 2012 that Iran blamed on Israel. In 2018, Netanyahu singled Fakhrizadeh out as Iran’s supposed nuclear weapons mastermind. The US and Israel are believed to have launched repeated sabotage attacks inside Iran on Trump’s watch. In July, the Natanz nuclear fuel enrichment facilities were damaged by a mysterious explosion.

This month, Trump reportedly discussed options for hitting Natanz and other targets after UN inspectors said Iran’s low-enriched uranium stockpile was now 12 times higher than permitted under the 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by Trump.

For still undisclosed reasons, Trump ordered several nuclear-capable B-52 Stratofortress bombers to fly 7,000 miles to the Middle East last weekend. Nick Bit: Sources inform me these planes were/are carrying the biggest non nuclear bomb ever made the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) is a precision-guided, 30,000-pound (14,000 kg) “bunker buster” bomb used by the United States Air Force. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) is a weapon system designed to accomplish a difficult, complicated mission of reaching and destroying an adversary’s weapons of mass destruction located in well-protected facilities. This weapon is so massive that the only way to deliver it is by the B-52 Stratofortress B52 bomber. Because of this weapons size its the only thing short of a nuke that can destroy Iran’s underground nuclear bomb factory deep underground at Natanz. It is a hardened Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) covering 100,000 square meters that is built 8 meters underground and protected by a concrete wall 2.5 meters thick, itself protected by another concrete wall.

Was the assassination a prelude to something more strategically explosive as Trump strives to secure his wished-for legacy as scourge of Iran and saviour of Israel? Trump certainly needs a win. His Iran policy to date has mostly resulted in own goals. His “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign hurt the Iranian people but left their leaders unbowed. The regime is now closer to acquiring nuclear bomb-making capability than it would have been had Trump not reneged on the nuclear deal.

Yet what happens next also depends, up to a point, on Israel and Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu and Prince Mohammed are keen to send a message to Biden that what they characterise as appeasement of Iran will not work.

If the nuclear deal is to be resurrected, they want loopholes plugged and new elements added. Meanwhile, they say sanctions on Iran should continue. But both men must tread carefully. Netanyahu cannot ignore Biden’s views or the impact expanding hostilities could have on Israel’s security. As for the crown prince, he would doubtless like to see Iran given a bloody nose. But he, too, has to ponder the cost of turning Saudi cities and oil terminals into targets. For them, the assassination represents a high-risk gamble. Iran’s leaders must now decide whether to resist the urge to retaliate – or lash out and invite a larger conflict at a moment when the country’s sanctions and Covid-hit economy is on its knees. It’s a fateful moment for the entire Middle East. Full of brooding malevolence, Trump is waiting to pounce. After four years of failure, he may be tempted to go out with a bang. Nick Note: Lets get real here.Iran can not take on the USA. Weather to retaliate or sit tight is the decision in the balance in Tehran, Washington and Jerusalem also have a decision to make To bomb with the approval of the Saudi’s and Israel  the Nantaz underground Nuclear facility. The free world MUST stop Iran’s nuclear program. The issue is retaliation. Iran has 6000 conventional long range missiles. And they could devastate the Saudi oil infrastructure and cause REAL damage to major cities in Israel. I do not see this happening. BUT a missile or two striking the oil fields of Saudi Arabia and Tel Avive could be in the cards. These decisions are in the balance as we speak. A parting thought…. mistakes can happen and miscalculations could escalate world events in dangerous ways, And the stock market in vaccine euphoria  are ignoring these critical events.

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Iran’s supreme leader vows revenge over slain scientist …

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday called for the “definitive punishment” of those behind the killing of a scientist linked to Tehran’s disbanded military nuclear program, a slaying the Islamic Republic has blamed on Israel. Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian scientists a decade ago amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program, has yet to comment on the killing Friday of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. However, the attack bore the hallmarks of a carefully planned, military-style ambush. The slaying threatens to renew tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s term, just as President-elect Joe Biden has suggested his administration could return to Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers from which Trump earlier withdrew. The Pentagon announced early Saturday that it sent the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier back into the Mideast. In a statement, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Fakhrizadeh “the country’s prominent and distinguished nuclear and defensive scientist.”

Khamenei said Iran’s first priority after the killing was the “definitive punishment of the perpetrators and those who ordered it.” He did not elaborate.

Speaking to a meeting of his government’s coronavirus task force earlier Saturday, President Hassan Rouhani blamed Israel for the killing. Rouhani said that Fakhrizadeh’s death would not stop its nuclear program, something Khamenei said as well. Iran’s civilian nuclear program has continued its experiments and now enriches uranium up to 4.5%, far below weapons-grade levels of 90%. But analysts have compared Fakhrizadeh to being on a par with Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the U.S.′ Manhattan Project in World War II that created the atom bomb. “We will respond to the assassination of Martyr Fakhrizadeh in a proper time,” Rouhani said. He added: “The Iranian nation is smarter than falling into the trap of the Zionists. They are thinking to create chaos.” Friday’s attack happened in Absard, a village just east of the capital that is a retreat for the Iranian elite. Iranian state television said an old truck with explosives hidden under a load of wood blew up near a sedan carrying Fakhrizadeh. As Fakhrizadeh’s sedan stopped, at least five gunmen emerged and raked the car with rapid fire, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency said. Fakhrizadeh died at a hospital after doctors and paramedics couldn’t revive him. Others wounded included Fakhrizadeh’s bodyguards.

Hours after the attack, the Pentagon announced it had brought the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier back into the Middle East, an unusual move as the carrier already spent months in the region.

It cited the drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq as the reason for the decision, saying “it was prudent to have additional defensive capabilities in the region to meet any contingency.” The attack comes just days before the 10-year anniversary of the killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari that Tehran also blamed on Israel. That and other targeted killings happened at the time that the so-called Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation, destroyed Iranian centrifuges. Those assaults occurred at the height of Western fears over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran long has insisted its program is peaceful. However, Fakhrizadeh led Iran’s so-called AMAD program that Israel and the West have alleged was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that “structured program” ended in 2003. IAEA inspectors monitor Iranian nuclear sites as part of the now-unraveling nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. After Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the deal, Iran has abandoned all those limits. Experts now believe Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to make at least two nuclear weapons if it chose to pursue the bomb. Meanwhile, an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility exploded in July in what Tehran now calls a sabotage attack. Fakhrizadeh, born in 1958, had been sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council and the U.S. for his work on AMAD. Iran always described him as a university physics professor. A member of the Revolutionary Guard, Fakhrizadeh had been seen in pictures in meetings attended by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a sign of his importance in Iran’s theocracy. In recent years, U.S. sanctions lists name him as heading Iran’s Organization for Defensive Innovation and Research. The State Department described that organization last year as working on “dual-use research and development activities, of which aspects are potentially useful for nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems. Nick Note: Trump moves closer to bombing Iran Nuclear facilities. What a parting shot that would be. Iran needs to be stopped and for sure Biden and his gang of merry liberals will restart Clinton’s and Obama’s appeasement program… that will end up getting US and allies nuked.

 

 

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Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee hearings on election fraud at the request of Republican senator Doug Mastriano

Wednesday, November 25, 2020: At the request of Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Cumberland/Franklin/York), the Senate Majority Policy Committee is held a public hearing Wednesday to discuss 2020 election issues and irregularities.

WHO: Senate Majority Policy Committee Chair David Argall (R-Berks/Schuylkill); Senate Majority Leader-Elect Kim Ward (R-39); State Rep. Dan Moul (R-91); State Rep. Rob Kauffman (R-89); and State Rep Paul Schemel (R-90); among other lawmakers will join Senator Mastriano in this historic hearing.

“Elections are a fundamental principle of our democracy – unfortunately, Pennsylvanians have lost faith in the electoral system,” said Mastriano, who recently called for the resignation of State Department Secretary Kathy Boockvar for negligence and incompetence. “It is unacceptable.”

“Over the past few weeks, I have heard from thousands of Pennsylvanians regarding issues experienced at the polls, irregularities with the mail-in voting system and concerns whether their vote was counted,” said Mastriano. “We need to correct these issues to restore faith in our republic.” “We want assurance that the issues encountered during this past election don’t happen again,” said Chairman Argall. “Senator Mastriano requested this meeting because Pennsylvanians deserve a fair election.” Nick Note: Look at the tape… Very very credible witnesses testify to POTENTIAL massive organized voter fraud. The french concluded that mail in elections were impossible to be fair. And opened up elections to massive fraud. through huge data breaches and hacking of computerized counting machines. It is obvious that something is very fishy in Denmark. Unfortunately these allegations are coming too late in the process. But you never know. Part of the problem is Trumps legale fight is about as organized as a rain deer round up!

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Biden can enter WH only if proves all his votes were legal – Trump

https://youtu.be/ksvttXWJ8p4

Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump said he was ready to step aside for president-elect Joe Biden, he has reversed his position, claiming that Biden must first “prove” he actually won the 80 million votes that states across the US have counted in his favour. On Friday, a federal appeals court panel in Philadelphia shot down Trump’s legal team’s attempt to challenge election results in Pennsylvania, a state Biden won. Yet in a tweet completely detached from reality, Trump insisted that it’s now Biden who has a “big unsolvable problem.”

The president-elect can “only enter the White House as president if he can prove that his ridiculous ‘80,000,000 votes’ were not fraudulently or illegally obtained,” Trump tweeted Friday.

He did not indicate how Biden was expected to prove the legitimacy of votes that have already gone through a certification process. Trump also falsely said Biden only did well in the large cities of Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milwaukee, which he claimed have “long [been] known as being politically corrupt.” Trump won the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin in 2016, but not this year. Twitter marked both of Trump’s tweets as “disputed.”

“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” Trump appointee Judge Stephanos Bibas wrote in an opinion filed Friday for the three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The judges on the panel were all appointed by GOP presidents. “Voters, not lawyers, choose the president. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections,” the court said. “The campaign cannot win this lawsuit.” When reporters had asked Trump on Thursday if he would leave the White House when his term is up, the president had responded: “Certainly I will… Certainly I will, and you know that.” But he also said it was “going to be a very hard thing to concede” and again falsely insisted there “was massive fraud.”  Members of the US’ electoral college will meet on December 14 to cast their votes in their respective states, a move that constitutionally determines the next president. Trump refused to say on Thursday if he planned to attend Biden’s inauguration. The president golfed on Friday at his club in Virginia before traveling on Marine One to Camp David.  Nick Note: Trump chances  of over turning the election in the courts are now 1 in a 100. But that is not where we should focus our attention. Is what other non judicial mover he could make.  And imagine the damage a aggrieved President could do if he believes the election was stolen from him. Is Trump vindictive? Does a cat eat mice?  Bomb Iran is on the Table.. After all he authorized the assignation of Iran’s top Nuclear scientist. He has taken over the pentagon and chief of staff with his loyalists. These are strategic moves…… He is certainly laying the ground work for something spectacular. The only question is will he pull the pin on the grenade as he is forced out of office..