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19
White House Considers Slashing China Tariffs to De-Escalate Trade War
They just can't get it through their skulls this is how negotiation works. Trump gets a satisfactory result, he lets the other side have a satisfactory result too. Everyone happy enough. He has achieved more in unfair trade practises that the last 80 years of other Presidents. In THREE MONTHS. Quite fantastic. Just imagine Biden achieving that! -
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Bird Flu Vaccines: Progress or Just More Panic?
Avian flu is not among my areas of particular familiarity... But in doing some reading, it seems as though there are several possible approaches to combating avian flu outbreaks -- each of which has its own set of risks: --Do nothing, and risk that the current outbreaks become more widespread and potentially wipe out some major portion of the U.S.'s huge and economically important poultry industry. And risk that further spread of avian influenza could spill over into becoming the next major human disease pandemic. --Continuing culling poultry in the case of outbreaks, which evokes the ire of animal rights activists, and hasn't really fully prevented the continuing spread of avian flu among poultry in recent years, even though it has contained those outbreaks somewhat. --Follow the practice of some other countries and launch a poultry vaccination campaign against avian influenza, which would have to be approved and launched by the generally anti-vax Trump Admin, and which I'm sure would be heartily welcomed by all the anti-vaxers here on this part of the forum in lieu of poultry culling. The publication Science had a report back in February offering some context on all of the above: U.S. conditionally approves vaccine to protect poultry from avian flu 14 Feb 2025 "...the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) yesterday conditionally approved a vaccine to protect the birds. President Donald Trump’s administration may therefore soon face a fraught decision on whether to join the ranks of other nations—including China, France, Egypt, and Mexico—that vaccinate poultry against H5N1. Although many influenza researchers contend that vaccination can help control spread of the deadly virus, the U.S. government has long resisted allowing its use because of politics and trade concerns that many contend are unscientific. The USDA approval may signal a shift in policy linked to the Trump administration’s worries about egg prices... ... HPAI strains such as the current H5N1 have for decades been stamped out largely by culling affected flocks and enforcing strict biosecurity measures. But that strategy has failed since the February 2022 emergence in the U.S. of an H5N1 virus that belongs to a lineage known as clade 2.3.4.4b. Many scientists now worry the virus cannot be eradicated from the U.S. poultry flock, which means it has become endemic rather than epidemic." https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-conditionally-approves-vaccine-protect-poultry-avian-flu Per the NY Times from 2024: "Since February 2022, more than 82 million farmed birds have been culled, according to the agency’s website. For context, the American poultry industry produces more than nine billion chickens and turkeys each year." https://archive.ph/Gnsiu Culling infected poultry in the absence of vaccination doesn't eradicate the disease, but instead allows it to continue spreading within some constrained limits -- which means a continuing risk that those outbreaks at some point could spill over into humans on a wide scale. Are We on the Cusp of a Major Bird Flu Outbreak? March 7, 2025 "Bird flu, or H5N1 avian influenza, has been circulating across North America since 2022, infecting birds, livestock, wildlife, pets, and humans. Despite 70 documented human cases, there are no known instances of human-to-human transmission — but some scientists are starting to worry that it’s only a matter of time. ... Up until 2024, there have been almost 1,000 documented human cases of H5N1 in multiple countries, with a fatality rate of about 50 percent. In 2022, a new [for now milder] subtype of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b emerged in North America and spread to domestic poultry and many wild mammal species. Over the past year, this subtype of H5N1 has also been spreading in dairy cows. [emphasis added] ... HMNews: On a scale from one to ten, how worried are you about H5N1 becoming a major pandemic? [other responses omitted to comply with the forum's fair use quoting policy]... Lemieux: I would put it at a six or a seven. In infectious diseases, we have a saying that resistance is a function of time and titer, meaning that the ability for a pathogen to evolve depends on time under pressure and size of the reservoir. The virus has been with us for several years in multiple species, and the reservoir is large. I think we are living next to a volcano, and it may erupt or it may not. But we need to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic." https://hms.harvard.edu/news/are-we-cusp-major-bird-flu-outbreak -
218
China warns ,don’t appease trump
Did I say Trump has an "unlimited license" to run foreign policy? Nope. For example, Congress can declare war. And certain actions are taken with the advice and consent of the Senate, such as appointing ambassadors. And it's the Senate that must ratify treaties. The list goes on. But it is the President that is the prime driver of foreign policy. And all this has been recognized in the courts. -
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Has your girlfriend got a joke or ever said anything funny ever?
14 years and counting not even once! -
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Foodpanda Shutting Down
LOS was a cute catchphrase that was good while it lasted. Not sure why people don't just call it Thailand these days, unless you mean the land of scams, land of scowls, etc. -
10
Passport expiring
Decided to send it off and risk it. Thanks for the feedback everyone
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