Scott

Troll post reported and removed.

Post from an unapproved source reported and removed.

A very, very difficult and heart-wrenching situation. Many years ago, one of my kids and his wife had a baby born in a similar situation. The type of tests that would have caught this were not routinely done. Living in Thailand, I wasn't privy to everything, but I know the baby was born and lived for a matter of a few hours. It took a horrible toll on them. My Daughter-in-law eventually got pregnant again and they did DNA tests and the fetus was healthy. She's now a 21 year old University student.

I am skeptical of this study. Masks are going to work differently with different virus and how they are spread. I think the big thing that most people forget that the original purpose of masking was to 'flatten the curve'. Keeping the number of people infected also kept the health system from collapsing. I remember an interview with Dr. Fauci in which at the end he said something to the effect, "eventually, we will all catch it." Another important point about the public health protocols is the 6 ft. social distancing rules. The two go hand in hand. Viral material does escape masks, but they will not travel far. The closer you are, the greater the risk. I think of masks like seat belt, they can protect you, but they have to be combined with safe driving.

http://capitol.michigan.gov/Content/Images/CapitolHomePageImages.jpg “Republicans here, reeling from a midterm election rout that many blamed on the influence of former president Donald Trump, responded Saturday by spurning the former president’s choice for state party chair — and choosing someone even more extreme,” the Washington Post reports. “Kristina Karamo, who refused to concede her 14-point loss for secretary of state in 2022, beat former attorney general candidate Matt DePerno, who had Trump’s endorsement, in three rounds of contentious voting. The chaotic 11-hour convention, featuring a rowdy standoff over voting procedures and 10 candidates who all ran under a pro-Trump banner, left no doubt that the bulk of the party’s activists in this key battleground state remain firmly committed to election denial and showed no interest in moderating their message to appeal to the political center.” https://politicalwire.com/2023/02/18/far-right-election-denier-beats-trumps-pick-in-michigan/

In a few weeks, a Florida couple will have to bid farewell to their child shortly after the baby is delivered, a gut-wrenching reality created by the US supreme court’s elimination of nationwide abortion rights last year. Because of a new Florida law that bans abortion after 15 weeks except under certain circumstances, Deborah Dorbert has become one of many women having difficulty accessing necessary abortion procedures after the supreme court overturned the rights granted by the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision. A report by the Washington Post chronicles how Dorbert and her husband, Lee Dorbert, are expecting their second child and have been told by doctors that the baby has been diagnosed with a fatal fetal abnormality known as Potter syndrome. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/18/florida-abortion-law-couple-birth

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday, a State Department spokesperson said. The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, is the first face-to-face between senior US and Chinese officials since the US shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month after it traveled across American airspace. The diplomatic fallout from the balloon has been swift, with Washington accusing China of overseeing an extensive international surveillance program. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/18/china/blinken-wang-yi-munich-intl-hnk/index.html

Former US President Jimmy Carter will begin receiving hospice care, according to a statement from The Carter Center on Saturday. “After a series of short hospital stays, former US President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention. He has the full support of his family and his medical team,” the statement said. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/18/politics/jimmy-carter/index.html

Lawsuit filing shows Fox hosts didn’t believe election fraud lies they pushed on TV https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/lawsuit-filing-shows-fox-hosts-didnt-believe-election-fraud-lies-they-pushed-on-tv

Numerous baiting, bickering, off-topic posts and replies removed. Stay on topic, please.

The Biden administration has formally concluded that Russia committed crimes against humanity during its nearly year-long invasion of Ukraine, Kamala Harris has said. “In the case of Russia’s actions in Ukraine we have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt: these are crimes against humanity,” the US vice-president and former prosecutor said in prepared remarks delivered in a speech at the Munich security conference on Saturday. “And I say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes, and to their superiors who are complicit in those crimes, you will be held to account.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/18/us-accuses-russia-crimes-against-humanity-kamala-harris-ukraine

Blocks of flats were evacuated in Denmark, the Oresund bridge to Sweden closed and Norwegian ferries cancelled as Storm Otto swept across Scandinavia. Winds reached 145km/h (90mph) on Norway's south-west coast and forecasters in Denmark issued orange weather alerts for northern Jutland. A Copenhagen housing company moved 280 residents out of three blocks, warning the gales could bring them down. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64674140

Six people are dead and another was wounded Friday in a series of shootings in Tate County, Mississippi after a man opened fire on his ex-wife and potentially other family members, Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance told CNN. Authorities got the first 911 call around 11 am ET after the suspect pulled into the parking lot of a store in Arkabutla, a small rural town in northern Mississippi, and fired into the car next to him where he fatally shot the driver, Lance said. Another person in the vehicle was not injured. Lance said the suspected gunman went into the store then took off, driving to his ex-wife’s home. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/us/mississippi-arkabutla-road-shootings

A trove of newly-released text messages and emails have laid bare how the right-wing media giant operated with little regard for fact in the weeks and months following the 2020 presidential election. The correspondence reveals that the network’s senior-most executives and highest-profile hosts chose not to disclose what they believed to be the truth of the election out of fear that that the facts would alienate Fox News’ audience and throw the highly profitable business into ruin. The messages were contained in a stunning legal filing made public on Thursday as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News, showing the network’s executives and talk hosts privately trashing lies pushed by former President Donald Trump’s camp and his supporters asserting the 2020 election was rigged. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/business/fox-news-dominion-lies/index.html

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from the USC have found a link between EV adoption and reduced asthma hospitalizations. In a recent study, researchers from the University of Southern California found a startling correlation: for every 2 percent jump in the number of electric vehicles in a given zip code, there was a corresponding two percent drop in asthma-related hospital emergency room visits. “The transition to electric vehicles is projected to have considerable public health co-benefits, but most evidence regarding air quality and health impacts comes from projections rather than real-world data,” reads the study, titled, California’s early transition to electric vehicles: Observed health and air quality co-benefits, and co-authored by Erika Garcia, Jill Johnston, Rob McConnell, Lawrence Palinkas, and Sandrah P. Eckel, at USC. https://electrifynews.com/science/study-evs-lead-to-fall-in-asthma/

I'd be depressed to if I had to be in a room with all those Republicans.

US Democratic Senator John Fetterman has checked himself into a hospital near Washington DC to receive treatment for severe depression, his office said. The Pennsylvania lawmaker has faced depression "off and on throughout his life" a statement said. He was elected in November and suffered a debilitating stroke last year while campaigning for the seat. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64670748

President Joe Biden said he "acted out of an abundance of caution" when ordering the shooting down of three unidentified aerial objects flying over North American airspace this past weekend. While the U.S. military is still working to recover the objects and U.S. intelligence officials are still assessing them, Biden said nothing currently suggests they were related to China's surveillance program or that they were surveillance vehicles from other countries. "But make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, I will take it down," Biden said. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-speak-response-suspected-spy-balloon-flying-objects/story?id=97259456

Troll post reported and removed.

Off-topic post and replies reported and removed.

The Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election has recommended to prosecutors that they seek indictments against witnesses who they believe may have lied during their testimony, according to excerpts of the grand jury's report released Thursday. "A majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses and testifying before it," the grand jury wrote in the report. "The grand jury recommends that the district attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling," https://abcnews.go.com/US/portions-georgia-grand-jury-report-trumps-2020-election/story?id=97225371

Sales at retailers rose far more than expected in January as consumers persevered despite rising inflation pressures. Advance retail sales for the month increased 3%, compared with expectations for a rise of 1.9%, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Excluding autos, sales rose 2.3%, according to the report, which is not adjusted for inflation. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/retail-sales-january-2023-.html

The governors of Texas and Florida have declared war on Wall Street bankers who dare to consider environmental, social, and governance factors in making their business decisions. Companies committed to ESG favor protection of natural resources, human rights, health and safety, and community engagement. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hate those things and want nothing to to with all that “woke” stuff. https://cleantechnica.com/2023/02/13/texas-florida-paying-hundreds-of-millions-more-in-bond-interest-because-of-esg-bans/

This is getting off-topic. The photo was taken during Covid.

Well here's a little evidence: