Bad Ideas Fail... Get used to that Result

Maybe another "deal" with pallets of cash is in order?

U.S. says Iran supplying drones to Russia violates U.N. resolution

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-says-iran-supplying-drones-russia-violates-un-resolution-2022-10-17/

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The United States agrees with British and French assessments that Iran supplying drones to Russia would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six powers, U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Monday.

"Earlier today our French and British allies publicly offered the assessment that Iran’s supply of these UAVs (for) Russia is a violation of UN Security Council resolution 2231," Patel told reporters, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones. "This is something that we agree with."

Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks. Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented.

Uhuh... riiiiight. Because... what could go wrong?

Boston University Refutes Claims It Created Deadly New COVID Strain

https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/features/101285

"First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the [ancestral] SARS-CoV-2 virus strain or make it more dangerous," Boston University (BU) said in the statement. "In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous."

The university went on to add that the work was approved by the Institutional Biosafety Committee as well as the Boston Public Health Commission, and that it "mirrors and reinforces the findings of other, similar research performed by other organizations, including the FDA."

The research aimed to study whether the Omicron spike protein, with its many mutations, is responsible for the COVID variant's high transmissibility and association with attenuated disease, according to a bioRxiv preprint published on Friday.

In order to study those areas, researchers combined the Omicron spike protein with the ancestral strain of the virus, and compared it with the naturally circulating Omicron variant.

They found in the animal model that while the naturally circulating Omicron variant caused mild, non-fatal infection, the combined virus inflicted severe disease with a mortality rate of 80% in 10 mice (the wild type virus led to a 100% mortality rate in six mice). The finding indicates that while vaccine escape is defined by mutations in the Omicron spike protein, major determinants of viral pathogenicity reside outside of the spike protein, the researchers stated.

Ronald Corley, PhD, director of the BU National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories and chair of microbiology at the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, explained in a BU article on Monday that the work began in a tissue culture, and then moved to an animal model.

"The animal model that was used was a particular type of mouse that is highly susceptible, and 80 to 100 percent of the infected mice succumb to disease from the original strain, the so-called Washington strain," Corley stated in the article. "Whereas Omicron causes a very mild disease in these animals."

He said that the 80% figure used in media headlines "totally misrepresents not only the findings, but [also] the purpose of the study."

But BU is said to have drawn government scrutiny as a result of the research, according to STAT, which reported that "the research team did not clear the work with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIAID], which was one of the funders of the project."

"The agency indicated it is going to be looking for some answers as to why it first learned of the work through media reports," STAT said. As of press time, NIAID did not provide further comment to MedPage Today.

BU maintained in its statement that all required regulatory obligations and protocols were fulfilled: "Following NIAID's guidelines and protocols, we did not have an obligation to disclose this research for two reasons. The experiments reported in this manuscript were carried out with funds from Boston University. NIAID funding was acknowledged because it was used to help develop the tools and platforms that were used in this research; they did not fund this research directly. NIH funding was also acknowledged for a shared instrumentation grant that helped support the pathology studies. We believe that funding streams for tools do not require an obligation to report."

If at any point there was evidence that the research was gaining function "under both NIAID and our own protocols we would immediately stop and report," BU stated.

The university also said that is in continued conversation with NIAID.

Lead researcher Mohsan Saeed, PhD, DVM, said in the statement that "Consistent with studies published by others, this work shows that it is not the spike protein that drives Omicron pathogenicity, but instead other viral proteins. Determination of those proteins will lead to better diagnostics and disease management strategies."

Leftist "science" folks. Why lie? Elementary biology books prove this as disinformation.

What a pregnancy actually looks like before 10 weeks – in pictures

In 13 US states, abortion is banned even in the earliest stages of pregnancy. But we rarely see what such tissue really looks like

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/18/pregnancy-weeks-abortion-tissue

GOP opens edge on economy, crime ahead of midterms: POLL

These leads for Republicans have numerically solidified since August.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/gop-opens-edge-economy-crime-ahead-midterms-poll/story

Americans trust that Republicans would do a better job on a key set of issues, with across-the-board, double-digit edges on inflation, the economy, gas prices and crime, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll.

Inflation sees one of the larger gulfs – with 36% of Americans trusting the GOP and 21% trusting Democrats. Similar gaps exist around gas prices, with 36% of Americans trusting Republicans and 22% trusting Democrats, the poll shows.

Broadly considering the state of the economy, 36% of Americans trust Republicans to do a better job while 24% trust Democrats – a potentially grim tell for the left, who currently cling to razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate.

Regarding crime, a key closing issue for the GOP in the campaign cycle, Republicans also enjoy a solid advantage – with 35% of respondents trusting them over the 22% who put faith in the Democrats.