>https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-05-13-21/h_267d6e89fb4c7176f2726c20894b5ca9
Free at last, free at last, thank god almighty we're free at last

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/7/22424356/liveleak-shock-site-shuts-down-itemfix

Video site LiveLeak, best known for hosting gruesome footage that mainstream rivals wouldn’t touch, has shut down after fifteen years in operation. In its place is “ItemFix,” a site that bans users from uploading media containing “excessive violence or gory content.”

In a blog post, LiveLeak founder Hayden Hewitt did not give an explicit reason for the site’s closure, saying only that: “The world has changed a lot over these last few years, the Internet alongside it, and we as people.” In a video posted on his YouTube channel Trigger Warning, Hewitt offered no further details, but said that maintaining LiveLeak had become a struggle, and that he and his team “just didn’t have it in us to carry on fighting.”

“Everything’s different now, everything moves on,” says Hewitt, before adding in an aside to the camera: “I don’t fucking like it. I liked it much better when it was the Wild West.”
(...)
In his farewell blog post, the site’s founder Hayden Hewitt emphasized the importance of the site’s community. “To the members, the uploaders, the casual visitors, the trolls and the occasionally demented people who have been with us. You have been our constant companions and although we probably didn’t get to communicate too often you’re appreciated more than you realize,” he writes. “On a personal level you have fascinated and amused me with your content. Lastly, to those no longer with us. I still remember you.”

Good night sweet prince :'(

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/health/coronavirus-pfizer-vaccine-variants.html
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2104974

>One of the new studies, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, is based on information about more than 200,000 people that was pulled from Qatar’s national Covid-19 databases between Feb. 1 and March 31.

>During that time, the variants were widespread there: Sequencing conducted between Feb. 23 and March 18 suggested that roughly half of the coronavirus infections in that period were caused by B.1.351 and 44.5 percent were caused by B.1.1.7.

>In multiple analyses, the researchers found that the vaccine was 87 to 89.5 percent effective at preventing infection with B.1.1.7 among people who were at least two weeks past their second shot. It was 72.1 to 75 percent effective at preventing infection with B.1.351 among those who had reached the two-week point.

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-liz-cheney-house-elections-election-2020-government-and-politics-db885d0a6b28f12d733da54dbae617fa

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney from her post as the chamber’s No. 3 GOP leader on Wednesday, punishing her after she repeatedly rebuked former President Donald Trump for his false claims of election fraud and his role in fomenting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Meeting behind closed doors for less than 20 minutes, GOP lawmakers used a voice vote to remove Cheney, R-Wyo., from the party’s No. 3 House position, a jarring turnabout to what’s been her fast-rising career within the party.

She was Congress’ highest-ranking Republican woman and is a daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and her demotion was the latest evidence that challenging Trump can be career-threatening.

Cheney has refused to stop repudiating Trump and defiantly signaled after the meeting that she intended to use her overthrow to try pointing the party away from the former president.

“I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office,” she told reporters.

Cheney’s replacement was widely expected to be Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who entered the House in 2015 at age 30, then the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Stefanik owns a more moderate voting record than Cheney but has evolved into a vigorous Trump defender who’s echoed some of his unfounded claims about widespread election cheating.

Ironic that those claiming to fight for freedom and democracy want to subvert the will of the people and install a fascist regime for America.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/11/retired-brass-biden-election-487374

A day after 124 retired generals and admirals released a letter spreading the lie that President Joe Biden stole the election, current and former military officers are speaking out, calling the missive a dangerous news sign of the military being dragged into the trenches of partisan warfare.

The open letter on Monday from a group calling itself Flag Officers 4 America advanced the false conspiracy theory that the presidential vote was rigged in Biden's favor and warned that the nation is "in deep peril" from "a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights."

“Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration,” they wrote, “our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government which must be countered now by electing congressional and presidential candidates who will always act to defend our Constitutional Republic.”

The broadside also raises questions about “the mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief" and sounds the alarm about a host of hot-button issues, such as the border wall. It goes on to accuse congressional leaders of "using the U.S. military as political pawns with thousands of troops deployed around the U.S. Capitol Building."

The group's website claims that "we are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776."
As news of the letter spread, it set off a round of recriminations among current and former military members. One serving Navy officer, who did not want to be identified publicly, called it "disturbing and reckless."

Biderman's covid benefits encouraging unployment.
Roughly 50% of those collecting enhanced unemployment benefits have more income not working than they do working.

This has led to a massive employment shortage. There is a huge surplus of jobs and nobody wanting to work.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/millions-are-unemployed-why-cant-companies-find-workers-11620302440

In a red-hot economy coming out of a pandemic and lockdowns, with unemployment still far higher than it was pre-Covid, the country is in a striking predicament. Businesses can’t find enough people to hire.

Rising vaccination rates, easing lockdowns and enormous amounts of federal stimulus aid are boosting consumer spending on goods and services. Yet employers in sectors like manufacturing, restaurants and construction are struggling to find workers. There are more job openings in the U.S. this spring than before the pandemichit in March 2020, and fewer people in the labor force, according to the Labor Department and private recruiting sites.

Surveys suggest why some can’t or won’t go back to work. Millions of adults say they aren’t working for fear of getting or spreading Covid-19. Businesses are reopening ahead of schools, leaving some parents without child care. Many people are receiving more in unemployment benefits than they would earn in the available jobs. Some who are out of work don’t have the skills needed for jobs that are available or are unwilling to switch to a new career.

Hiring has been robust recently, despite the labor shortfall. U.S. employers added 916,000 jobs in March, according to the Labor Department, and economists project that the April jobs report, due out Friday, will show employers added 1 million more. Weekly unemployment claims fell to 498,000 last week, a new low since the pandemic began.

the shortage threatens what is otherwise shaping up to be a robust post-pandemic economic recovery. Some businesses are forgoing work, not bidding, or staying closed

https://news.yahoo.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-rips-andrew-233730147.html
>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized Andrew Yang for his pro-Israel statement amid the deadly Israel-Palestine conflict.

>Ocasio-Cortez stood with Queens organizers who disinvited Yang from a Ramadan-related event Tuesday.

>The congresswoman's criticism could adversely impact progressive support for Yang's NYC mayoral bid.

>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized fellow Democrat Andrew Yang, a New York City mayoral candidate, for his statement in support of Israel amid the most deadly conflict between Israel and Palestine in years.

>Ocasio-Cortez expressed solidarity with Queens organizers who disinvited Yang from a Ramadan-related event on Tuesday following his pro-Israel statement.

>"Utterly shameful for Yang to try to show up to an Eid event after sending out a chest-thumping statement of support for a strike killing 9 children, especially after his silence as Al-Aqsa was attacked," she tweeted. "But then to try that in Astoria? During Ramadan?! They will let you know."

>As localized violence in Jerusalem grew into a cross-border conflict, at least 26 Palestinians, including nine children, were killed, according to officials in Gaza. Two people in Israel were also reported killed.

>At least 26 Palestinians, including nine children, were killed in at least 130 Israeli strikes on Monday and Tuesday, and 122 others were wounded, according to health officials in Gaza. Two people in Israel were killed in strikes on the Israeli seaside city of Ashkelon on Tuesday, and at least 56 Israelis have received hospital treatment, according to medical officials.

this was a response after a police raid on Al Aqsa Mosque

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-airstrikes.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/michigan-reports-7955-new-covid-19-cases-33-deaths-28percent-of-people-16plus-fully-vaccinated/ar-BB1fEGPG