There's no reason to think ivermectin cures cancer, but RFK Jr's NIH is on it anyway. read more
Medical device makers have been rushing to add AI to their products. While proponents say the new technology will revolutionize medicine, regulators are receiving a rising number of claims of patient injuries. read more
The Seattle Seahawks emerged victorious in Super Bowl LX with a dominant 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots, but the real winner of the night may have been Bad Bunny. read more
Submarine manufacturer General Dynamics Electric Boat is reportedly preparing to hire 8,000 employees this year, a recruitment goal that is significantly higher than hiring levels in recent years.
Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger tells DW the 2026 Munich Security Conference comes when "obviously, trust has been damaged" by President Trump. But he also says US calls for a more "self-reliant" Europe are fair and overdue. read more
Canada mass shooting suspect had mental health issues
www.dw.com
... The teenage shooter, who killed six people at a school after slaying her mother and stepbrother, had a history of police visits to her home.
Police identified the suspect in the deadly Tumbler Ridge shooting in Canada as an 18-year-old local woman who had a history of police visits to her home to check on her mental health.
She is suspected of shooting dead six people at the local high school on Tuesday after killing her mother and stepbrother at home.
Police revise death toll down
The suspect killed eight people, police clarified, and not nine as had been previously reported.
The confusion came after they mistakenly thought a victim airlifted to a hospital had died, police commander Dwayne McDonald said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Motive for Tumbler Ridge mass shooting still unknown
McDonald said the motive for the shooting wasn't yet known and police hadn't found a suicide note.
He identified the suspect as transgender, saying that she began to transition to female six years ago and identified as female both "socially and publicly."
The suspect was known to officers who had made multiple visits to their home in response to mental health calls, McDonald said.
She was "apprehended for assessment and follow up" under the Mental Health Act and taken to the hospital on occasion, he said.
Officers had seized weapons from the shooter's residence, he said, and had been subsequently returned.
McDonald said no guns were registered in the name of the shooter. She had previously held a gun license, but this had lapsed. ...
From the sub-summary ...
... So the feds ARE NOT considering an mRNA vaccine for the flu, which could save countless lives, but ARE backing research into whether horse dewormer can cure cancer, because the right views vaccines as elite and ivermectin as populist. ...
About that mRNA flu vaccine ...
FDA refuses to review Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine
arstechnica.com
... The Food and Drug Administration has refused to review Moderna's application for an mRNA flu vaccine, the company revealed Tuesday.
While the move came as a surprise to the high-profile vaccine maker, it is just the latest hostility toward vaccines"and mRNA vaccines in particular"from an agency overseen by the fervent anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In his first year in office, Kennedy has already dramatically slashed childhood vaccine recommendations and canceled $500 million in research funding for mRNA vaccines against potential pandemic threats.
In a news release late Tuesday, Moderna said it was blindsided by the FDA's refusal, which the FDA cited as being due to the design of the company's Phase 3 trial for its mRNA flu vaccine, dubbed mRNA-1010. Specifically, the FDA's rejection was over the comparator vaccine Moderna used.
In the trial, which enrolled nearly 41,000 participants and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, Moderna compared the safety and efficacy of mRNA-1010 to licensed standard-dose influenza vaccines, including Fluarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline. The trial found that mRNA-1010 was superior to the comparators.
Moderna said the FDA reviewed and accepted its trial design on at least two occasions (in April 2024 and again in August 2025) before it applied for approval of mRNA-1010. It also noted that Fluarix has been used as a comparator vaccine in previous flu vaccine trials, which tested vaccines that went on to earn approval. ...
More about the cited X opinion...
Social Development Commission Approves Several Resolutions Aimed at Ending Poverty, Ensuring No One Is Left Behind, Concluding Annual Session
press.un.org
... The Commission for Social Development concluded its sixty-fourth session today, approving several texts without a vote, despite differences among delegates, including about the definition of gender and the absence of certain terms relating to development.
The 46-member body held its current session from 2 to 10 February, bringing together ministers and civil society, United Nations officials and delegates, in a series of conversations about eradicating poverty and building inclusive societies. A subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council, the Commission annually recommends texts for adoption by that organ.
Coordinated, Inclusive Policies to Advance Social Development and Justice
Among the texts that the Commission approved today was a draft resolution on "Advancing social development and social justice through coordinated, equitable and inclusive policies" (document E/CN.5/2026/L.4). It would have the Economic and Social Council reaffirm commitment to implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for all "by ensuring that no one would be left behind and reaching the furthest behind first" and urged Member States to place social development priorities at the heart of development frameworks, including by reinforcing synergies between and among social, economic and environmental policies.
By further terms, it would call upon Member States to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, including by removing barriers that prevent women from accessing, remaining and progressing in the labour market, such as gender stereotypes, and all forms of violence, including gender-based violence. The text also recognizes the important role that families can play in combating social exclusion and highlights the importance of investing in inclusive and responsive family-oriented policies and programmes.
While it was approved without a vote, several speakers spoke afterwards to express reservations and disappointments.
Text Lacks Important Language on Discrimination, Right to Development
Switzerland's delegate, speaking also for a number of countries (Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Norway and the United Kingdom), expressed regret that the text does not refer to "multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination". This is not controversial or contested language, she stressed; "the concept simply recognizes that discrimination rarely happens on a single ground but operates along multiple characteristics that intersect and mutually reinforce each other".
...
@#20 ... What really happened is that FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford made the call to shutdown the airspace without notifying the White House, Pentagon or Home Security after the pentagon rushed the deployment of an anti-drone laser that they used against some mylar balloons without coordinating with the FAA. ...
The apparent incompetence would be funny, if it were not so serious.
An update ...
El Paso airport closed after military used new anti-drone laser to zap party balloon
arstechnica.com
... "I want to be very, very clear that this should've never happened."
On Tuesday night, the Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace up to 18,000 feet above the El Paso International Airport in Texas, saying the restrictions would be in place for 10 days. Then, less than 10 hours later, the federal agency reopened the airspace, allowing planes to land and take off at the busy airport.
About an hour after lifting the restrictions, US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, whose responsibilities include overseeing the FAA, explained the unexpected closure by saying, "The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion." (The Trump Administration refers to the Department of Defense as the Department of War, or DOW, although its legal name remains the former.)
Not everyone agrees with Duffy's account.
Based upon reporting from The New York Times and other publications, the military has been developing high-energy lasers to bring down drones. The FAA and US military officials had been discussing tests of the new weapon from the nearby Fort Bliss Army base. However, the FAA had not resolved all of its concerns about airplane safety from the tests.
Despite these apparently lingering concerns from the FAA, the military went ahead with a test earlier this week against what was thought to be a drone.
The object was a party balloon. ...
"I want to be very, very clear that this should've never happened," El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson said during a news conference on Wednesday. "That failure to communicate is unacceptable." ...
It's a stated reason why Pres Trump wants the Fed to lower interest rates.
To reduce the interest-load of the Trump Deficit upon the US budget.
Pres Trump has been saying that he wants the US to have the world's lowest interest rates, while the economy could grow at 15% per year.
What affect might that have upon inflation?
Trump to Kudlow: This country should have the lowest interest rates in the world'
www.foxbusiness.com
Trump Says Fed Chair Pick Kevin Warsh Could Drive More Than 15% Economic Growth
finance.yahoo.com
@#24 ..."We have pending investigations in our office," she said during her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, when asked by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) if people would be indicted for ties to Epstein's crimes. ...
Wait, what???
Dep AG Blanche has indicated there is nothing worth investigating in the Epstein files.
Todd Blanche says review of Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking case is over' (Februry 2, 2026)
www.theguardian.com
... Deputy US attorney general says victims want to be made whole' but that doesn't mean 'we can just create evidence' ...
Then there's this ...
Who Is Maurene Comey, the Fired U.S. Attorney and Prosecutor of Jeffrey Epstein? (July 2025)
time.com
... The Department of Justice has abruptly fired a prosecutor who worked on the case against the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Maurene Comey was fired Wednesday from her job in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office, Politico first reported. CNN and the Associated Press also reported on Comey's firing, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
While the reason remains unclear, Comey's firing comes at a time of heightened interest in the Trump Administration's handling of the so-called Epstein files. A memo released last week by the Justice Department and FBI effectively dismissed the existence of an Epstein "client list," and said that the agencies will disclose no further information on the case. ...
Why fire the Prosecutor who is most knowledgeable in the Epstein affair?
Bondi says DOJ is investigating possible Epstein conspirators
www.politico.com
... Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday her department is actively probing individuals who might have conspired with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"We have pending investigations in our office," she said during her testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, when asked by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) if people would be indicted for ties to Epstein's crimes.
It was not clear if Bondi was referring to work by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, where Bondi has directed U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to oversee investigations into connections between Epstein and prominent Democrats. ...
@#20 ... Pam Bondi's approval rating ...
Pam Bondi's Approval Rating Collapses by 47 Points (December 2025)
www.newsweek.com
... U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's approval rating has declined by 47 points in 10 months, recent polls show.
According to polling by AtlasIntel, the proportion of people who approve of Bondi has dropped from net +6 percentage points in February to net -41 in December. ...
@#19 ... Bondi yelled: "You don't tell me anything! You're a washed-up loser lawyer. You're not even a lawyer," she brayed at the composed Raskin.: ...
Yeah, she lost it during that hearing.
Lost it big time.
Semisonic - Down In Flames (1996)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
It's not the pain, that I'm used to it
It's feeling like I'm already dead
I see from a ceiling of misty spirit
Rising from a place in my head
And I never even get to go down
Down in flames
I said, friend you have a life to see
Why do you want to scare me so?
All the suffering and mystery me
I can't even pretend to know
So you never even get to go down
Down in flames
You never even get to go down
Down in flames
We had plans to explore the stars
Be rejected by stage door guards
Mining for gold, the time unreels
Not stifling behind Suburban wheels
Not stifling behind Suburban wheels, yeah
The plan was to burn up when the air was clear
We'd all wear our visors down
An arc welder's spark in the atmosphere
Not this man-sized hole in the ground
Now your father's face is frozen between anger and tears
You're mother's hair's amazingly grey
And I'm seeing these friends for the first time in years
It's icicle reunion day
And you never even got to go down
Down in flames
You never even got to go down
Down in flames
You never even got to go down
Down in flames
You never, ever, ever even got to go down
Down in flames
...
Also ...
Get more electricity from coal, Trump tells Department of Defense
www.latimes.com
... President Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order directing the Department of Defense to buy electricity from coal-fired power plants. He also announced new funding to restart and upgrade coal plants in several states.
The executive order directs Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to enter into long-term contracts with coal-fired plants to serve military installations and facilities. The order will "ensure military installations and critical defense facilities have uninterrupted, on-demand baseload power," the White House said.
The Department of Energy will also award $175 million for six projects to "extend the useful life of coal-fired power plants" in rural and remote communities, including West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio, the agency said. ...
@#2
Case in point? ...
Trump to direct Pentagon to buy coal to revive industry
www.reuters.com
...U.S. President Donald Trump is set to direct the Pentagon to use government funding and Pentagon contracts to sustain U.S. coal-fired power plants, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing a White House official.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report. The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment outside of regular business hours, while the Pentagon deferred to the White House for comment. ...
Now do Mr Epstein.