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| Louisiana Health System Now Requires Spouses of Employees to Get Vaccinated, or Pay |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-01-2021, 08:56 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Forced Vaccinations Get Worse – Louisiana Health System Now Requires Spouses of Employees to Get Vaccinated,
or Pay a Non-Compliance Penalty for Vaxx Violations Every Pay Period
September 30, 2021 | Sundance
This is just getting beyond ridiculous now. Ochsner Health [Website Here] is a healthcare provider/system that delivers healthcare services to the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and the Gulf South. Ochsner Health is now requiring the spouses or domestic partners of all employees be vaccinated, or the employee will pay a $100 per pay period penalty. (Source Link)
Hopefully some employee of Ochsner Health will file a lawsuit fast. The basis for the lawsuit could likely be framed around punitive employee punishment based on “marital status”, a clear violation of existing civil rights law. Why stop at spouses? Why not kids or other dependents? What about all other vaccines before COVID? Why now?
By current federal and most state statutes, no employer is legally permitted to discriminate against any employee based on marital status. A penalty against a spouse for non compliance with an employer vaccine mandate is a punitive action only against married persons. Find a court that will look at this as a violation of the discrimination clause, because it only targets married employees. Let’s see what happens.
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| Merck Releasing "Phenomenal" Test Results For Experimental COVID Pill |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-01-2021, 08:28 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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"This Is A Game-Changer" - Merck Releasing "Phenomenal" Test Results For Experimental COVID Pill
![[Image: Merck.jpg?itok=VMr6MgbQ]](https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/Merck.jpg?itok=VMr6MgbQ)
ZH | OCT 01, 2021 - 07:45 AM
Looks like Merck just beat Pfizer to the punch.
Merck announced Friday that an experimental COVID pill it has developed reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 50% in people recently infected with COVID.
The company will soon ask health officials in the US and abroad to authorize use of the drug.
The news came as a welcome surprise to the public, although COVID cases are already waning in the US and in hard-hit economies in Asia, the drug could create "a real therapeutic advance" that could dramatically decrease the risk of death from COVID.
If approved (and odds are it will be) the drug would be the first treatment for COVID. Some compared it to tamiflu, in that patients should take it within 5 days of COVID infection (like those infected with the flu are instructed to take tamiflu early).
Former FDA Director Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC that the trial results are clearly "profoundly" positive, even though researchers decided to stop the trial early because the drug showed significant success, meaning it would be unethical to keep giving patients placebos. To test the drug, they needed to test more than 700 unvaccinated people in a global study. The people were all considered in the "high risk" category due to factors like age, and other characteristics from their "health profile".
Per the results, 7% of volunteers in the group that received the drug were hospitalized, and none of them died, compared with a 14% rate of hospitalization and death (include eight who died) in the placebo group.
According to Dr. Gottlieb, "this is a phenomenal result. This is a profound game-changer that we have an oral pill that had this kind of effect on patients who are already symptomatic."
Dr. Gottlieb also pointed out that the team that developed the drug "also invented the first successful antibody against ebola so this is a very good drug-development team."
"And remember we have two other drugs in development one by Pfizer (where Dr. Gottlieb serves on the board) and the other by Roches," he said.
Patients won't be taking the drug for very long, typically around five days, which means "the safety profile is probably pretty good," Dr. Gottlieb said.
Per the NYT, "the Merck pill’s efficacy was lower than that of monoclonal antibody treatments, which mimic antibodies that the immune system generates naturally when fighting the virus. Those drugs have been in high demand recently, but they are expensive, are typically given intravenously, and have proved cumbersome and labor-intensive for hospitals and clinics to administer. Studies have shown that they reduce hospitalizations and deaths 70 to 85 percent in similar high-risk Covid patients."
The Merck drug is significantly chemically different from the Pfizer drug that's in its final round of studies, which means there's the possibility of creating a cocktail of anti-viral treatments for COVID. Merck has said it can produce 10MM pills by the end of this year, and Dr. Gottlieb said he expects they'll ramp up production quickly by partnering with other companies.
Merck partnered with a small firm called Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to develop the drug, which is called Molnupiravir. While the study results haven't yet been peer reviewed, at least one independent group of medical experts have given the research their blessing.
"This is a milestone in the fight against COVID," Dr. Gottlieb said.
So, is the prospect of a return to "normality" really on the table? I suppose we're about to find out.
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| Vatican to Punish Employees Who Refuse to Comply With COVID-19 Certification |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-01-2021, 07:49 AM - Forum: Pope Francis
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Vatican to Punish Employees Who Refuse to Comply With COVID-19 Certification
No jab, no salary.
Summit News [adapted] | 29 September, 2021
The Vatican is set to punish employees who refuse to comply with COVID-19 certification by not paying them.
Yes, really.
Vatican staffers who are unable to prove they’d been jabbed or who refuse to pay for expensive negative COVID tests will be considered “unjustly absent” and paid no salary.
The new rules will go into force from October 1st onwards.
As we highlighted last week, the Italian government has also passed a decree applying to both the private and public sector ordering companies to withhold pay from workers who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
Those found working without the pass face fines of up to €1,500 euros after it was extended as a condition of entry for museums, stadiums, pubs, restaurants, and schools.
The unvaccinated were also banned from using long distance public transport, meaning that holidays, travel for work and visiting relatives has become impossible for many.
A sliver of good news is that Italians continue to hit the streets to protest the measures, with one video showing police officers removing their helmets in solidarity with the demonstrators.
Despite many Christians asserting a religious exemption to the vaccination, the Vatican itself is offering no such workaround.
Pope Francis has been a vehement supporter of the mass vaccination program, asserting that humanity “has a history of friendship with vaccines.”
“The Vatican has said that it considers it acceptable for Catholics to use vaccines, even those that use stem cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research,” reports the Mail.
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| October 1st – St. Remigius, Bishop and Confessor, Apostle of the Franks |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-01-2021, 07:36 AM - Forum: October
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October 1 – St. Remigius, Bishop and Confessor, Apostle of the Franks
Scarcely had two centuries elapsed since the triumph of the Cross over Roman idolatry, when Satan began to cry victory once more. While Eutychianism was crowned at Byzantium in the person of Anastasius the Silent, Arianism was rife in the West. Throughout the whole ancient territory of the empire, heresy was supreme, and almost everywhere was persecuting the Church, who had now none but the vanquished for her sons.
“But fear not; rather rejoice,” says Baronius at this point in his Annals; “it is Divine Wisdom still delighting to play in the world. The thoughts of men count for little before him who holds the light in his hands, to hide it when he pleases and, when he wills, to bring it forth again. The darkness that now covers the earth marks the hour when the dawn is about to break in the hearts of the Franks, and the Catholic faith is to shine there in all its glory.”
Little known in our days is such a manner of writing history; yet this was the view taken by the first historian of the Church, and the greatest. On such a feast as this we could not do better than repeat summarily his account of the Franks. “How,” says he, “can we help admiring that Providence which is never wanting to the Church? From the midst of tribes still pagan, on the morrow of the irremediable fall of the Empire, God forms to himself a new people, raises unto himself a prince: against these must break the rising tide of heretics and Barbarians. Such, in truth, appeared in the course of ages the divine mission of the Frankish kings.
“What energy has faith to uphold kingdoms; and what fatal power has heresy to uproot every plant that is not set by our heavenly Father! In proof hereof, see how the principalities of the Goths, Vandals, Heruli, Alani, Suevi, and Gepidi have utterly disappeared; while the Franks behold their little spot of earth blessedly fertilized, and encroaching far upon the surrounding territories.
“Henceforth appeared the might of the Franks, when preceded to battle by the Cross. Hitherto obscure and struggling for existence, they were now everywhere victorious. They had only had to acknowledge Christ in order to reach the highest summit of glory, honor, and renown. In so speaking I say nothing but what is known to the whole world. If they have been more favored than other nations, it is because they were supereminent in faith, and incomprable in piety, so that they were more eager to defend the Church than to protect their own frontiers.
“Moreover, a privilege unique and truly admirable was theirs: never did the sins of kings bring upon this people, as upon so many others, subjection to a foreign yoke. The promise of the Psalm would seem to have been renewed in favor of this nation: If his children forsake my law … and keep not my commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod … but my mercy I will not take away from him.”
All honor, then, to the saintly Pontiff, who merited to be the instrument of such heavenly benefits! According to the expression of the holy Pope Hormisdas, “Remigius converted the nation, and baptized Clovis, in the midst of prodigies similar to those of the apostolic age.” The prayers of Clotilde, and labors of Genevieve, the penances of the monks who peopled the forests of Gaul, had doubtless a great share in a conversion which brought such joy to the Angels. Did space allow, we might relate how it was also prepared by the great Bishops of the fifth century, Germanus of Auxerre, Lupus of Troyes, Anian of Orleans, Hilary of Arles, Memertus and Avitus of Vienne, Sidonius Apollinaris, and so many others who, in that age of darkness, held up the Church to the light of day, and commanded the respect of the Barbarians. Remigius, contemporary and survivor of most of them, and their rival in eloquence, nobility, and holiness, seemed to personify them all on that Christmas night forestalled by so many desires, prayers, and sufferings. In the baptistery of St. Mary’s at Rheims, the Frankish nation was born to God; as heretofore on the banks of the Jordan, the dove was again seen over the waters, honoring this time not the Baptism of Jesus, but that of the Church’s eldest daughter; it brought a gift from heaven, the holy vial containing the chrism which was to anoint the French kings in future ages into the most worthy of all the kings of the earth.
Two churches in the city of Rheims claim the honor of these glorious souvenirs: the grand church of our Lady, and the venerable basilica where Remigius lay, with the vial of chrism at his feet, and guarded by the twelve Peers surrounding his splendid mausoleum. This church of St. Remigius bore the name of caput Franciæ, head of all France, until those days of October 1793, when, from its desecrated pulpit was proclaimed the word that the days of darkness were at an end; when the holy ampulla was broken, and the relics of the Apostle of France were thrown into a common grave (they were, however, afterwards discovered and authentically recognized; and are, to this day, an object of the greatest veneration to pilgrims).
After an episcopate of seventy-four years, the longest ever recorded in history, Remigius took his flight to heaven on the 13th of January, the anniversary of his episcopal consecration and also of his birth. Yet in the same century, the first of October was chosen for his Feast; this being the day whereon his relics were first translated to a more honorable place, in the midst of miracles such as those which had graced his life. The Translation of St. Remigius is the name still given to this day by the church of Rheims, which, by a special privilege, celebrates on the Octave day of the Epiphany the principal festival of its glorious patron. We borrow the following Lessons from the Office of that day.
Quote:Remigius, also called Remedius, was born at Leon, of noble parents by name Æmilius and St. Celinia. They were far advanced in age, and renowned among their own people for their virtue, when the birth of this child was foretold to them by a blind hermit name Montanus; who afterwards recovered his sight, by applying to his eyes some of the milk wherewith the infant Remigius was nourished. The future Apostle of the Franks devoted his youth to prayer and study in retirement; but the more he shrank from the company of men, the more his fame spread throughout the province. On the death of Bennadius, Archbishop of Rheims, Remigius, who though but twenty-two years of age had the mature character of an old man, was unanimously elected, or rather forcibly installed as Archbishop. He endeavored to escape the burden of the episcopate, but was obliged by the command of God to submit. Having been consecrated by the bishops of the province, he governed his church with the wisdom of an experienced veteran. He was eloquent, learned in the Scriptures; and a pattern to his people, fulfilling in deed what he taught by word. He carefully and laboriously instructed his own flock in the mysteries of faith, and established discipline among his clergy. Then he undertook to spread the kingdom of Christ in Belgium; and having converted the people to the faith, he founded several new bishoprics and appointed them pastors: at Terouanne St. Antimund or Aumont, at Arras St. Vedast, and at Laon St. Genebald.
The wonderful works of Remigius, being divulged far and wide, filled with astonishment the minds of Clovis and his still pagan Franks. When Clovis, who had already conquered the Gauls, triumphed over the Alemanni also at the battle of Tolbiac, by the invocation of the name of Christ; he sent for Remigius, and willingly listened to his explanation of the Christin doctrine. Remigius urged the king to embrace the faith, but he replied that he feared the opposition of his people. When this was reported to the Franks, they cried out with one voice: “We renounce mortla gods, O pious king, and are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remigius preaches.” Then the Bishop imposed a fast upon them, according to the custom of the Church, and having, in the presence of the Queen St. Clotilde, completed the king’s religious instruction, he baptized him on the day of our Lord’s Nativity, addressing him in these words: “Bow down thy head in meekness, O Sicambrian; adore what thou hast hitherto burnt, burn what thou hast adored.” After the baptism, he anointed him with holy chrism with the sign of the cross of Christ. More than three thousand of the army were baptized, as also Albofleda, Clovis’ sister, who died soon after; upon which occasion Remigius wrote to console the king. His other sister, Lanthilda, was reclaimed from the Arian heresy, anointed with sacred chrism, and reconciled to the Church.
Remigius was exceedingly liberal to the poor and merciful towards sinners. “God has not placed us here,” he would say, “to exercise wrath, but to take care of men.” During a council, he once by divine power struck an Ariam bishop with dumbness, until he begged forgiveness by signs, when he restored him his speech with these words: “In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, if thou holdest the right belief concerning him, speak, and confess the faith of the Catholic Church.” The bishop recovering his voice, protested that he believed, and would die in, that faith. Towards the end of his life, Remigius lost his sight, but recovered it shortly before his death. Knowing the day of his departure, he celebrated Mass, and fortified his flock with the sacred Body of Christ. Then he bade his clergy and people farewell, giving to each one the kiss of our Lord’s peace; and full of days and good works, he departed this life on the Ides of January, in the years of our Lord five hundred and thirty-three, being ninety-six years old. He was buried in the oratory of St. Christopher; and as in life, so also after death, he was famous for miracles.
This is a fitting occasion to bring forward the beautiful forumula rightly called the Prayer of the Franks, which dates from the first ages of the monarchy.
Prayer
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui ad instrumentum divinissimæ tuæ voluntatis per orbem et ad gladium et propugnaculum Ecclesiæ sanctæ tuæ, Francorum imperium constituisti: cœlesti lumine, quæsumus, filios Francorum supplicantes semper et ubique præveni: ut ea quæ agenda sunt ad regnum tuum in hos mundo efficiendum videant, et ad implenda quæ viderint charitate et fortitudine perseveranter convalescant.
Almighty, eternal God, who didst establish the empire of the Franks to be, throughout the world, the instrument of thy divine will, and the sword and bulwark of thy holy Church: ever and in all places prevent, we beseech thee, with thy heavenly light, the suppliant sons of the Franks; so that they may both see what they ought to do to promote thy kingdom in this world, and, in order to fulfill what they have seen, may continually increase in charity and in valor.
St. Leo IX said to his contemporaries, and we echo his words, concerning the land of France: “Be it known to your charity that you must solemnly celebrate the Feast of the blessed Remigius; for it to others he is not an Apostle, he is such with regard to you at least. Pay such honor, then, to your Apostle and Father, that you may merit, according to the divine promise, to live long upon the earth, and, by his prayers, may obtain possession of eternal beatitude.” When he thus spoke, the sovereign Pontiff has just consecrated thy church, then for the third time rebuilt with the magnificence required by the growing devotion of the people. The nine centuries since elapsed have augmented thy claims to the gratitude of a nation, into which thou didst infuse such vigorous life, that no other has equalled it in duration. Accept our thanks, O thou who wast as a new Sylvester to a new Constantine.
Glory be to our Lord, who showed forth his wonders in thee! Remembering those gestes of God accomplished in all climes by her sons the Franks, the Church recognizes (in the Rheims Lectionary) the legitimacy of applying to thee the beautiful words which announced the Messias: Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people, from afar. The Lord hath called me from the womb … And he said: … Behold I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth. Truly it was a day of salvation, that Christmas day, whereon it pleased our Lord to bless thy labors and grant the desires of thy long episcopate. By the holy faith thou taughtest, thou wast then the covenant of the people, the new people composed of the conquerors and the conquered in that land of France, which, when once itself raised up, soon restored to God the inheritances that had been destroyed. O true Church, the one only Bride, captive and destitute, behold Remigius rises to say to thy sons that are bound: Come forth, and to them that are in darkness: Show yourselves! From North and South, from beyond the sea, behold they come in multitudes: all these are come to thee. Therefore, give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice O earth, because the Lord hath comforted his people; after a whole century of heresy and barbarity, God has once more demonstrated that they shall not be confounded that wait for him.
Our confidence in God will again be rewarded if thou, O Remigius, deign to present to our Lord the prayer of the Franks who have remained faithful in honoring thy memory. The renegades sold over to Satan may tyrannize for a time over the deluded crowd; but they are not the nation. A day will come when Christ, who is ever King, will say to the Angels of his guard those words of his lieutenant Clovis: “It displeases me that these Goths possess the good land of France; expel them, for it belongs to us.”
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| September 30th – St Jerome, Priest Confessor and Doctor of the Church |
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Posted by: Stone - 10-01-2021, 07:20 AM - Forum: September
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September 30 – St Jerome, Priest Confessor and Doctor of the Church
“I know not Vitalis, I reject Meletius, I pass by Paulinus; he that cleaveth to the Chair of Peter, he is mine.” Thus, about the year 376, when the whole East was disturbed by the competitions for the episcopal See of Antioch, wrote an unknown monk to Pope St. Damasus. It was St. Jerome, a native of Dalmatia, who implored “light for his soul redeemed by the Blood of our Lord.”
Far from Stridonium, his semi-barbarous native place, whose austerity and vigor he never lost; far from Rome, where the study of literature and philosophy had not had sufficient ascendency to withhold him from the seductions of pleasure—the fear of God’s judgments had led him into the desert of Chalcia. There, under a burning sky, in the company of wild beasts, he for four years tormented his body with fearful macerations; and then, as a yet more efficacious remedy, and certainly a more meritorious mortification for one passionately fond of classical beauties, he sacrificed his ciceronian tastes to the study of the Hebrew language. Such an undertaking was far more laborious then than in our days of lexicons and grammars and scientific works of every description. Many a time was Jerome discouraged and almost in despair. But he had learned the truth of the maxim he afterwards inculcated to others: “Love the science of the Scriptures, and you will not love the vices of the flesh.” So he took up his Hebrew alphabet again, and continued to spell those hissing and panting syllables until he had so mastered them as even to spoil his pronunciation of Latin. For the rest of his life, all the energy of his spirited nature was spent upon this labor.
God amply repaid the homage thus rendered to his sacred word: Jerome hoped to obtain by his toil the cure of his moral sickness; he moreover attained the lofty holiness that we now admire in him. Other heroes of the desert remain unknown: Jerome was one of those to whom it is said: You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world; and God willed that in due time that light should be set upon a candlestick that it might shine to all that are in the house.
The once brilliant student returned to Rome an altered man; for his holiness, learning, and humility, he was declared by all to be worthy of the episcopal dignity. Pope Damasus, the virgin Doctor of the Virgin Church, commissioned him to answer, in his name, the consultations sent from East and West; and caused him to begin, by the revision of the Latin New Testament upon the original Greek text, those great Scriptural works which have immortalized his name and entitled him to the undying gratitude of the Christian world. Meanwhile Helvidius dared to call into question the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God: Jerome’s refutation revealed that talent for polemics, of which Jovinian, Vigilantius, Pelagius, and others were also to feel the force. Mary rewarded him for thus avenging her honor by bringing to him a number of holy souls whom he was able to lead in the paths of virtue, and instruct in the mysteries of holy Scripture.
Here was a phenomenon inexplicable to the infidel historian: at the very time when Rome of the Cæsars was perishing, suddenly around this Dalmatian were gathered the fairest names of ancient Rome. They were thought to have died out when the lower classes made themselves supreme; but at the critical moment, when Rome was to rise again purified from the flames kindled by the Barbarians, they reappeared to claim their birthright and refound the City for its true eternal destiny. The combat was of a new kind; but they were at the head fo the army that was to save the world. Four centuries earlier, the Apostle had said there were not many wise and powerful and noble; Jerome declared that, in his day, they were numerous, numerous among the monks.
The monastic army in the West was, at its origin, chiefly recruited from the patricians, whose character of ancient grandeur it ever afterwards retained; its ranks included noble virgins and widows; and sometimes husband and wife would enlist together. Marcella was the first to inaugurate the monastic life at Rome, in her palace on the Aventine. She obtained St. Jerome’s direction for her privileged community; but after his departure, she herself was consulted by all, as an oracle, on the difficulties of holy Scripture. She was joined in her retreat by Furia, Fabiola, and Paula, worthyp descendants of Camillus, of the Fabii, and of the Scipios. But the old enemy could ill brook such losses to his power: Jerome must be forced to leave Rome.
A pretext was soon found for raising a storm. The Treatise on Virginity, addressed to St. Paula’s daughter Eustochium, and written in Jerome’s fearless and pointed style, evoked the animosity of false monks, foolish virgins, and unworthy clerics. In vain did the prudent Marcella predict the tempest: Jerome would make bold to write what others dared to practice. But he had not reckoned on the death of Pope Damasus at that very juncture; an event for which the ignorant and the envious had been waiting, in order to give full vent to their stifled hatred. Driven away by the storm, the lover of justice returned to the desert; not this time to Chalcis, but to the peaceful Bethlehem, whither the sweet recollections of our Savior’s infancy attracted the strong athlete. Paula and her daughter soon followed him, in order not to forego the lessons they prized above all else in the world; their presence was a consolation to him in his exile, and an encouragement to continue his labors. All honor to these valiant women! To their fidelity, their thirst for knowledge, their pious importunities, the world is indebted for a priceless treasure, viz: the authentic translation of the Sacred Books, which was necessitated by the imperfections of the old Italic Version and its numberless variations, as also by the fact that the Jews were accusing the Church of falsifying the Scripture.
“Paula and Eustochium, may the labors of my poor life be pleasing to you, useful to the Church, and worthy of posterity; as for contemporaries, I care but little for their judgment.” So said the holy solitary; yet he felt the envious attacks of his bitter enemies more keenly than he would own to himself. “Handmaids of Christ,” he said, “shield me with the buckler of your prayers from those who malign me.” Every book he translated brought upon him fresh criticisms, and those not only from enemies. There were the timid, who were alarmed for the authority of the Septuagint, so sacred both to the Synagogue and to the Church; there were the possessors of precious manuscripts, written on purple vellum and adorned with splendid uncials, and with letters of silver and gold, all which would now lose their value. “Well, let them keep their precious metal, and leave us our poor papers,” cried Jerome, exasperated. “And yet, it is you,” he said to the fair inspirers of his works, “who force me to endure all this folly and all these injuries; to put an end to the evil, it were better you enjoined silence on me.” But neither the mother nor the daughter would hear of such a thing, and Jerome yielded to constraint. Finding that the text of his first revision of the Psalter upon the Greek Septuagint had become corrupted through careless transcriptions, they induced him to undertake a second. This version is inserted in our present Vulgate, together With his translation of the other Books of the Old Testament from Hebrew or Chaldaic. In all these works the Saint appealed to Paula and Eustochium as guarantees of his exactitude, and begged them to collate his translations word for word with the original.
All his old friends in Rome took part in this learned intercourse. Jerome refused to none the light of his knowledge, and pleasantly excused himself for giving one half of the human race a preference over the other: “Principia, my daughter in Jesus Christ, I know that some find fault with me for writing to women; let me say, then, to these detractors: If men questioned me on the Scriptures, they should receive my answers.”
There was great joy in the monasteries at Bethlehem when news arrived that another Paula was born in Rome. Eustochium brother had married Læta, the Christian daughter of the pagan pontiff Albinus. They had vowed their child to God before her birth; and now they rejoiced to hear her lisp into the ear of the priest of Jupiter the Christian Alleluia. On hearing of her grandmother beyond the seas, and of her aunt consecrated to God, the little one would beg to go and join them. “Send her,” wrote Jerome delightedly. “I will be her master and foster-father; I will carry her on my old shoulders; I will help her lisping lips to form her words; and I shall be prouder than Aristotle; for her indeed educated a king at Macedon, but I shall be preparing for Christ a handmaid, a bride, a queen predestined to a throne in heaven.” The child was, in fact, sent to Bethlehem, where she was destined to solace the last hours of the aged Saint, and to assume, while yet very young, the responsibility of carrying on the work of her holy relatives.
But Jerome had still more to suffer, before leaving this world. The elder Paula was the first to be called away, singing: I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. So great a languor then took possession of St. Jerome that it seemed his end was approaching. Eustochium, though broken-hearted, repressed her tears, and implored him to live and fulfill his promises to her mother. He therefore aroused himself, finished his translations, and took up again his commentaries on the text. He had completed Isaias, and was engaged upon Ezechiel, when the most awful calamity of those times came upon the world: “Rome is fallen; the light of the earth is extinguished; in that one City the whole universe has perished. What can we do, but hold our peace and think upon the dead?”
He had, however, to think about the living also, for numberless fugitives, destitute of all things, made their way to the holy Places; and the uncompromising wrestler was all tenderness to these unfortunates. Loving the practice of the Holy Scripture no less than its teaching, he spent his days in discharging the duties of hospitality. In spite of his failing sight, he gave the night hours to his dear studies, wherein he forgot the troubles of the day, and rejoined to fulfill the desires of the spiritual daughter God had given him. The prefaces to his fourteen books on Ezechiel bear witness to the share taken by the virgin of Christ in this work undertaken despite the misfortunes of the times, his own infirmities, and his last controversies with heretics.
Heresy seemed indeed to be profiting of the troubled state of the world, to rise up with renewed audacity. The Pelagians, supported by Bishop John of Jerusalem, assembled one night with torches and swords, and set fire to the monastery of St. Jerome, and to that of the sacred virgins then governed by Eustochium. Manfully seconded by her niece Paula the younger, the Saint rallied her terrified daughters, and they escaped together through the midst of the flames. But the anxiety of that terrible night was too much for her already exhausted strength. Jerome laid her to rest beside her mother, near the Crib of the Infant God; and leaving his commentary on Jeremias unfinished, he prepared himself to die.
The following is the Liturgical account of his life.
Quote:Jerome, son of Eusebius, was born at Stridonium in Dalmatia, during the reign of the emperor Constantine. He was baptized while still young at Rome, and was instructed in the liberal arts by Donatus and other learned men. His love of knowledge led him to travel to Gaul, where he made the acquaintance of several pious men learned in divinity, and copied many sacred books with his own hand. He then proceeded to Greece, to study eloquence and philosophy. Here he won the friendship of some great theologians; in particular of Gregory Nazianzen, under whom he studied at Constantinople, and whom he calls his master in sacred learning. Drawn by religious motives, he visited the Crib of Christ our Lord, and the whole of Palestine: and he tells us that this pilgrimage, made in the company of some learned Jews, was of the greatest service to him for the understanding of holy Scripture.
After this Jerome retired into the lonely desert of Syria, where he spent four years in reading the holy Scripture, and in the contemplation of heavenly beatitude, afflicting his body by abstinence, weeping, and every kind of penance. He was ordained priest by Paulinus, bishop of Antioch; in whose company and that of Epiphanius, he came to Rome, to settle the disputes that had arisen between certain bishops. Here Pope Damasus engaged him to assist in writing his ecclesiastical letters. But yearning for his former solitude, he returned to Palestine, and settled at Bethlehem in a monastery built by the Roman lady Paula, near our Lord’s Crib. Here he led a heavenly life; and though much afflicted with sickness and sufferings, he devoted himself, in spite of his bodily weakness, to works of piety and to ceaseless study and writing.
From all parts of the world he was referred to as an oracle for the decision of questions concerning the sacred Scriptures. Pope Damasus and St. Augustine often consulted him on difficult passages of Holy Writ, on account of his remarkable learning and his knowledge not only of Latin and Greek but also of Hebrew and Chaldaic. According to St. Augustine, he had read almost every author. In his writings he severely censured heretics; but always lent his support to faithful Catholics. He translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew; and at the command of Pope Damasus, revised the New Testament, collating it with the Greek; he also commented the greater part of holy Scripture. Besides this, he translated into Latin the writings of many learned men, and enriched Christian science with other works from his own pen. At length, having reached extreme old age, and being renowned for learning and holiness, he passed to heaven in the reign of Honorius. His body was buried at Bethlehem; but was afterwards translated to Rome and laid in the Basilica of St. Mary ad Præsepe.
Thou completest, O illustrious Saint, the brilliant constellation of Doctors in the heavens of holy Church. The latest stars are now rising on the sacred Cycle; the dawn of the eternal Day is at hand; the Sun of Justice will soon shine down upon the Valley of Judgment. O model of penance, teach us that holy fear which restrains from sin, or repairs its ravages; guide us along the rugged path of expiation. Historian of great monks, (Life of St Paul the Hermit, Life of S. Hilarion, Life of Malchus, the Captive Monk) thyself a monk and father of the solitaries attracted like these to Bethlehem by the sweetness of the divine Infant, keep up the spirit of labor and prayer in the monastic Order, of which several families have adopted thy name. Scourge of heretics, attach us firmly to the Roman faith. Watchful guardian of Christ’s flock, protect us against wolves, and preserve us from hirelings. Avenger of Mary’s honor, obtain for our sinful world that the angelic virtue may flourish more and more.
O Jerome, thy special glory is a participation in the power of the Lamb to open the mysterious Book; the key of David was given to thee to unclose the many seals of holy Scripture, and to show us Jesus concealed beneath the letter. (Letter 53 to Paulinus) The Church, therefore, sings thy praises today and presents thee to her children as the official interpreter of the inspired writings which guide her to her eternal destiny. Accept her homage and the gratitude of her sons. May our Lord, by thy intercession, renew in us the respect and love due to his divine word. May thy merits obtain for the world other holy doctors and learned interpreters of the sacred Books. But let them bear in mind the spirit of reverence and prayer with which they must hear the voice of God in order to understand. God will have his word obeyed, not discussed; although, among the various interpretations of which that divine word is susceptible, it is lawful, under the guidance of the Church, to seek out the true one; and it is praiseworthy to be ever sounding the depths of beauty hidden in that august doctrine. Happy is he who follows thy footsteps in these holy studies! Thou didst say: “To live in the midst of such treasures, to be wholly engrossed in them, to know and to seek nothing else, is it not to dwell already more in heaven than on earth? Let us learn in time that science which will endure forever.” (Ibid.)
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| Widespread ivermectin use has caused a 97% drop in coronavirus cases in Delhi, India |
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Posted by: Scarlet - 09-30-2021, 10:53 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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Widespread ivermectin use has caused a
97% drop in coronavirus cases in Delhi, India
(Natural News) Around 97 percent of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the Delhi metropolitan area in India have been effectively dealt with Widespread ivermectin use has caused a 97% drop in coronavirus cases in Delhi, India thanks to the widespread use of ivermectin.
Earlier in the year, India dealt with a devastating post-vaccine wave of the coronavirus. This post-vaccine outbreak affected the country differently. In states that did not use ivermectin, cases soared. But the data shows that by the end of May, this second wave of COVID-19 was under control in parts of the countryWidespread ivermectin use has caused a 97% drop in coronavirus cases in Delhi, India that treated patients with ivermectin. (Related: Indian state with 240 million people completely eradicated covid with ivermectin.)
In Delhi, health authorities began treating patients with ivermectin on April 20. At the time, the metropolitan area of 30 million people was dealing with nearly 30,000 new cases daily.
By the end of May, COVID-19 cases in the metro area were down to less than 1,000 new cases per day. This is a 97 percent reduction in new COVID-19 cases in just five weeks.
The number of deaths per day also fell from nearly 300 in April to slightly above 100 by the end of May.
Similarly, momentous drops in COVID-19 cases could also be seen in at least four other Indian states that used ivermectin for its COVID-19 patients.
Of particular note is the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where health authorities went from dealing with nearly 40,000 new COVID-19 cases per day in late April to just 2,000 new cases per day by the end of May. This is a 95 percent reduction in new cases.
Meanwhile, in states that did not use ivermectin, the number of new COVID-19 cases they were dealing with kept on growing.
The southern state of Tamil Nadu dealt with nearly 11,000 new COVID-19 cases per day by late April. By the end of May, that number had ballooned to over 30,000 new COVID-19 cases daily.
Daily deaths due to COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu also rose from 48 on April 20 to 474 on May 27.
Ivermectin is still being attacked all over the world
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration still has not approved ivermectin for treating or preventing COVID-19.
Instead of adopting the use of this cheap and effective drug, advocates of the experimental and deadly vaccines have ridiculed ivermectin as a “horse deworming” medication. Those who ridicule ivermectin like this fail to understand that there are two kinds of ivermectin, one for use for animals such as horses and another for humans.
Two of the three winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2015 won the award for their discovery of ivermectin and its use in treating malaria. This is the version of ivermectin that humans can take and is being used to treat COVID-19.
Even in India, where the use of ivermectin has saved potentially millions of lives, the medicine is still being attacked by health authorities. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the government’s main biomedical research body, has discontinued the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for the management of adult COVID-19 cases.
Instead of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, the ICMR is instead recommending that COVID-19 patients be given remdesivir and tocilizumab, the former of which is known to be more harmful than useful against COVID-19.
Dr. Justin R. Hope, writing for The Desert Review, argues that if the world had listened to the experts who were advocating for the use of ivermectin, thousands of lives could have been saved both in India and in the United States.
“Delhi did it right. The United States and Tamil Nadu did it wrong,” he wrote. “It cost half a million precious lives and horrific pain and suffering for the world. The pandemic was prolonged for no good reason.”
“Now, we are in a different position,” he continues. “We as a people have absolute evidence of ivermectin’s efficacy. In Delhi, we heard not one single story of ivermectin being toxic or causing any difficulty. On the contrary, it is safe, and it saved tens of thousands from COVID.”
Learn more about how governments all over the world are trying to prevent COVID-19 patients from being treated with actually useful medications like ivermectin by reading the latest articles at Pandemic.news.
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| ‘If you get the Pfizer vax, you’re more likely to get COVID’ : Insider leaks FDA study |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-30-2021, 09:46 AM - Forum: COVID Vaccines
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‘If you get the Pfizer vax, you’re more likely to get COVID’ : Insider leaks FDA study
'So, when they weren’t injected, their infection rate was 1.3% and when they got injected, it was 4.34%.
It went up by over 300%,’ Pfizer ex-employee Karen Kingston stated. ‘They had less infection when they had no protection. So, that’s a problem.’
![[Image: Karen-Kingston-ex-Pfizer-whistleblower-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Karen-Kingston-ex-Pfizer-whistleblower-810x500.jpg)
Thu Sep 30, 2021
(LifeSiteNews) — A former Pfizer employee, now turned whistleblower, has provided documentation indicating the pharmaceutical giant—whose gene-based COVID-19 vaccine has now been reportedly injected almost 225 million times into the arms of Americans—knows these shots cause recipients to become more susceptible to contracting COVID-19.
On Saturday Karen Kingston, the former Pfizer employee, a pharmaceutical marketing expert and biotech analyst, appeared beside medical freedom rights attorney Thomas Renz in a public meeting. The Ohio-based lawyer has been involved in several major cases brought against federal agencies relating to fraud and violations of medical freedom rights over the last 19 months.
After introducing Kingston, Renz presented the documents she had provided. (See from 17.40 in video.)
Of note is a “Briefing Document” used in a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee meeting on September 17, 2021. Titled “Application for licensure of a booster dose for COMIRNATY (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA),” it includes a report on a study conducted by Pfizer testing the longevity of immunity provided by their product over time.
Involving over 36K participants, the main study revealed that the group injected with the regimen earlier were more likely to be infected with the virus than those injected later, indicating a possible “waning of immunity” for the shots. The group injected earlier had a 7% chance of infection in the time period, and those injected later, only a 5.16% rate, equating to the former group having a 36% greater chance of infection than the latter.
In addition, since both groups were measured for the same time period, the latter involving a significant placebo period prior to injection (5.1 months on average), the placebo group was unusually untouched. As Kingston stated in a telephone interview with LifeSiteNews, “There should have been more people infected in the placebo group because they were going on longer without any protection.” She suggested this would therefore seem to indicate that those injected have an even higher chance of being infected with COVID-19 than the 36% difference indicated by this portion of the study.
Extending this conclusion a step further, the document reports, “An additional analysis appears to indicate that incidence of COVID-19 generally increased in each group of study participants with increasing time post-Dose 2.”
In other words, Kingston said, “if you have two doses of Pfizer, your rate for getting infected increases over time.”
Leading to a discovery the biotech analyst called “super alarming,” the report looked exclusively at the placebo group, comparing their rate of infection in the first four months, when they had no protection, to the four months following their injections with the Pfizer product.
During that initial placebo period, the document reports that the infection rate of this group was “12.6 cases per 1,000 person-years,” which equates to a 1.3% infection rate. Following their injections, there were “43.4 cases per 1,000 person- years” or a 4.34% infection rate.
“So, when they weren’t injected, their infection rate was 1.3%, and when they got injected, it was 4.34%. It went up by over 300%,” Kingston stated.
“They had less infection when they had no protection. So, that’s a problem.”
Renz summarized this study’s findings to his large live and streamed audience, stating, “It says if you get the Pfizer vax, you’re more likely to get COVID. More likely! It says it right there.”
“Seriously? Seriously? It’s unbelievable,” he said.
Renz then raised questions about whether any Pfizer and FDA documents indicate the pharmaceutical company’s gene-based COVID vaccine causes a type of shedding which could produce sickness in the unvaccinated who spend sufficient time in proximity to the people who have received these injections.
He provided an excerpt from a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine study document which required reporting to their Safety department should a female be “found to be pregnant while being exposed” to the study intervention, even if this is only “by inhalation or skin contact.”
Extending this caution one contact further, the document stipulates that should a “male family member or healthcare provider who has been exposed to the study intervention by inhalation or skin contact” then “expose his female partner prior to or around the time of conception,” this too needs to be reported.
“Why is that a reportable safety event?” asked Renz. “It doesn’t make any sense. Well, it makes total sense if [shedding] is happening.”
In an August 26 article Dr. Peter McCullough reported on a preprint study which “found vaccinated individuals carry 251 times the load of COVID-19 viruses in their nostrils compared to the unvaccinated.”
“While moderating the symptoms of infection, the jab allows vaccinated individuals to carry unusually high viral loads without becoming ill at first, potentially transforming them into presymptomatic superspreaders,” wrote McCullough, the editor of two major medical journals.
He indicated this may be the reason so many places are experiencing such a “prominent outbreak,” even with a very high level of herd immunity and vaccinated individuals.
In addition to the resulting efficacy rate for the Pfizer vaccine now being measured as anywhere from 17% to 42%, “far below the 50% regulatory standard to even have a vaccine on the market,” the possibility of the vaccinated becoming superspreaders should not be a surprise.
A 2003 paper analyzing the use of coronavirus vaccines in chickens, and proposing them for combatting SARS in in the human population, states:
Application of a SARS vaccine is perhaps best limited to a minimal number of targeted individuals who can be monitored, as some vaccinated persons might, if infected by SARS coronavirus, become asymptomatic excretors of virus, thereby posing a risk to non-vaccinated people.
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| 26% of those prescribed Remdesivir for COVID died, according to Medicare database |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-30-2021, 09:18 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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26% of those prescribed Remdesivir for COVID died, according to Medicare database
The high mortality rate and frequency of adverse effects associated with Remdesivir 'begs the question … Why is this the protocol in American hospitals?'
![[Image: shutterstock_1723212253-810x500.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/shutterstock_1723212253-810x500.jpg)
Wed Sep 29, 2021
(LifeSiteNews) — An attorney recently released data showing a remarkably high fatality rate for COVID patients who were prescribed Remdesivir.
According to attorney Thomas Renz, 25.9% of those prescribed Remdesivir for COVID-19 are recorded as having died in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) database. CMS data indicated that of 7,960 beneficiaries prescribed Remdesivir for COVID‐19, 2,058 beneficiaries died. Forty-six percent of those fatalities occurred within 14 days of Remdesivir treatment.
The death rate for COVID patients prescribed Remdesivir dwarfs the fatality rate of COVID patients prescribed Ivermectin, which is recorded by the CMS database as being 7.2%.
For the public’s further consideration of Remdesivir’s safety, Renz has pointed out that a Remdesivir Clinical Trial Final Report has shown that about a quarter of patients experienced serious adverse events from the drug. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that “serious adverse events were reported in 131 of the 532 patients who received Remdesivir (24.6%).”
Renz noted on his website that this data “has been withheld by the government from our citizens.” He added, “This begs the question … Why is this the protocol in American hospitals? Does this appear ‘safe and effective’ to you?”
Remdesivir is currently the only Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for the treatment of COVID-19, as the COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel continues to recommend against the use of hydroxychloroquine, and will neither recommend for or against Ivermectin.
In a presentation shared on his website, Renz also pointed out that whereas hospitals will pay $390 per vial of Remdesivir, coming out to an average of $2,340 to $3,120 for a five‐day course of the drug, the average cost of Ivermectin per patient is $24.
Renz’s report of the CMS data is not the first to find a high mortality rate with the use of Remdesivir. The drug was dropped from a clinical trial for Ebola in 2018 after it was found that it had the highest death rate of the four drugs being tested, Dr. Bryan Ardis shared in a videotaped interview by an international legal group that is investigating human rights violations by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ebola clinical trial was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of which Fauci is director. As one of then-President Donald Trump’s chief medical advisers on COVID-19, he must have known that Remdesivir had a 50% death rate, compared with 35% of two other drugs in the trial – and that serious side effects, including at least one death, led to the drug being pulled and research on it abandoned.
Even as Fauci promoted the use of Remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19 in April 2020, he admitted that “the mortality benefit of Remdesivir” had “‘not yet reached statistical significance,’” as CNBC reported.
It was after the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the use of Remdesivir on May 1, 2020, that Ardis told the Corona Investigative Committee that America suffered the highest death rate from COVID-19 in the globe.
“Before May 10, the United States had a lower coronavirus death rate than other high-mortality countries, but after that date, all six of the other high-mortality countries (Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) had lower death rates than the United States,” according to an October 2020 report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
In addition, there was a continued failure to demonstrate any life-saving benefit of the drug. In October 2020, just before the FDA granted the drug final approval, a World Health Organization study found the drug didn’t decrease mortality or hospital stays.
Ardis has pointed out that a study on the “Compassionate Use of Remdesivir for Patients with Severe Covid-19” found that 60% of study patients reported adverse events, and 23% reported serious adverse events, the most common being “multiple-organ-dysfunction syndrome, septic shock, acute kidney injury, and hypotension.”
Wolfgang Wodarg, a physician, politician, and former head of the public health department in Flensburg, Germany, agrees with Ardis that Remdesivir is “very toxic.”
“We don’t know any positive effect of this drug, we only know toxic effects. So, this was for sure a wrong decision to give it to so many patients with a positive PCR test,” Wodarg said in a discussion on the “mechanism of organ failure leading to the death” in 2020 of U.S. patients diagnosed with COVID-19.”
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| YouTube is officially blocking all anti-vaccine content |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-29-2021, 01:25 PM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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YouTube is banning prominent anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content
The Google-owned video site previously only banned misinformation about coronavirus vaccines. Facebook made the same change months ago.
![[Image: YUKJYZGGT4I6VKBFQ4RAATSBKA.jpg&w=916]](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/YUKJYZGGT4I6VKBFQ4RAATSBKA.jpg&w=916)
Robert Kennedy Jr. speaks at a 2019 rally in Olympia, Wash., in opposition of a bill that would remove parents’ ability to claim a philosophical exemption to opt their school-age children out of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
Washington Post -adapted | September 29, 2021
SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube is taking down several video channels associated with high-profile anti-vaccine activists including Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who experts say are partially responsible for helping seed the skepticism that’s contributed to slowing vaccination rates across the country.
As part of a new set of policies aimed at cutting down on anti-vaccine content on the Google-owned site, YouTube will ban any videos that claim that commonly used vaccines approved by health authorities are ineffective or dangerous. The company previously blocked videos that made those claims about coronavirus vaccines, but not ones for other vaccines like those for measles or chickenpox.
Misinformation researchers have for years said the popularity of anti-vaccine content on YouTube was contributing to growing skepticism of lifesaving vaccines in the United States and around the world. Vaccination rates have slowed and about 56 percent of the U.S. population has had two shots, compared with 71 percent in Canada and 67 percent in the United Kingdom. In July, President Biden said social media companies were partially responsible for spreading misinformation about the vaccines, and need to do more to address the issue.
The change marks a shift for the social media giant, which streams more than 1 billion hours’ worth of content every day. Like its peers Facebook and Twitter, the company has long resisted policing content too heavily, arguing maintaining an open platform is critical to free speech. But as the companies increasingly come under fire from regulators, lawmakers and regular users for contributing to social ills — including vaccine skepticism — YouTube is again changing policies that it has held onto for months.
YouTube didn’t act sooner because it was focusing on misinformation specifically about coronavirus vaccines, said Matt Halprin, YouTube’s vice president of global trust and safety. When it noticed that incorrect claims about other vaccines were contributing to fears about the coronavirus vaccines, it expanded the ban.
“Developing robust policies takes time,” Halprin said. “We wanted to launch a policy that is comprehensive, enforceable with consistency and adequately addresses the challenge.”
Facebook and YouTube spent a year fighting covid misinformation. It’s still spreading.
Mercola, an alternative medicine entrepreneur, and Kennedy, a lawyer and the son of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy who has been a face of the anti-vaccine movement for years, have both said in the past that they are not automatically against all vaccines, but believe information about the risks of vaccines is being suppressed.
Facebook banned misinformation on all vaccines seven months ago, though the pages of both Mercola and Kennedy remain up on the social media site. Their Twitter accounts are active, too.
In an email, Mercola said he was being censored and said, without presenting evidence, that vaccines had killed many people. A spokesperson for Kennedy did not return a request for comment.
More than a third of the world’s population has been vaccinated and the vaccines have been proven to be overwhelmingly safe.
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter all banned misinformation about the coronavirus early on in the pandemic. But false claims continue to run rampant across all three of the platforms. The social networks are also tightly connected, with YouTube often serving as a library of videos that go viral on Twitter or Facebook. YouTube has removed over 133,000 videos for broadcasting coronavirus misinformation, Halprin said.
The companies have hired thousands of moderators and used high-tech image- and text-recognition algorithms to try to police misinformation. There are also millions of people with legitimate concerns about the medical system, and social media is a place where they go to ask real questions and express their concerns and fears, something the companies don’t want to squelch.
In the past, the company’s leaders have focused on trying to remove what they call “borderline” videos from its recommendation algorithms, allowing people to find them with specific searches but not necessarily promoting them into new people’s feeds. It’s also worked to push more authoritative health videos, like those made by hospitals and medical schools, to the top of search results for health-care topics.
But those methods haven’t stopped the spread of anti-vaccine and coronavirus misinformation. More than a year after YouTube said it would take down misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines, the accounts of six out of 12 anti-vaccine activists — identified by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate as being behind much of the anti-vaccine content shared on social media — were easily searchable and still posting videos. Wednesday’s policy change means many of those will now be taken down.
The anti-vaccine movement goes back to well before the pandemic. False scientific claims that childhood vaccines caused autism made in the late 1990s have contributed to rising numbers of people refusing to let their kids get shots that had been commonplace for decades. As social media took over more of the media landscape, anti-vaccine activists spread their messages on Facebook parenting groups and through YouTube videos.
When the pandemic hit, and vaccines became a topic that was suddenly relevant to everyone, not just parents of young children, many went looking for answers online. Influencers like Mercola, Kennedy and alternative health advocate Erin Elizabeth Finn were able to supercharge their followings. Some anti-vaccine influencers, including Mercola, also sell natural health products, giving them a financial incentive to promote skepticism of mainstream medicine.
The anti-vaccine movement now also incorporates groups as diverse as conspiracy theorists who believe former president Donald Trump is still the rightful president, and some wellness influencers who see the vaccines as unnatural substances that will poison human bodies. All of the government-approved coronavirus vaccines have gone through rigorous testing and have been scientifically proved to be highly effective and safe.
YouTube’s new policy will still allow people to make claims based on their own personal experience, like a mother talking about side effects her child experienced after getting a vaccine, Halprin said. Scientific discussion of vaccines and posting about vaccines’ historical failures or successes will also be allowed, he said.
“We’ll remove claims that vaccines are dangerous or cause a lot of health effects, that vaccines cause autism, cancer, infertility or contain microchips,” Halprin said. “At least hundreds” of moderators at YouTube are working specifically on medical misinformation, he added. The policy will be enforced in all of the dozens of languages that YouTube operates in.
The company is also expanding its work to bring more videos from official sources onto the platform, like the National Academy of Medicine and the Cleveland Clinic, said Garth Graham, YouTube’s global head of health care and public health partnerships. The goal is to get videos with scientific information in front of people before they go down the rabbit hole of anti-vaccine content.
“There is information, not from us, but information from other researchers on health misinformation that has shown the earlier you can get information in front of someone before they form opinions, the better,” Graham said.
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| Litany of St. Michael |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-29-2021, 09:00 AM - Forum: Litanies
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Litany of Saint Michael
For private use
![[Image: st-michael-black-statue-stabbing-satan.jpg?w=231&ssl=1]](https://i1.wp.com/www.prayinglatin.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/st-michael-black-statue-stabbing-satan.jpg?w=231&ssl=1)
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy, etc.
God the Holy Ghost,
Holy Trinity, one God,
Holy Mary, Queen of the Angels, pray for us, etc.
St. Michael, the Archangel,
Most glorious attendant of the Triune Divinity,
Standing at the right of the altar of Incense,
Ambassador of Paradise,
Glorious Prince of the Heavenly armies,
Leader of the Angelic hosts,
The standard-bearer of God's armies,
Defender of Divine glory,
First defender of the Kingship of Christ,
Strength of God,
Invincible Prince and warrior,
Angel of Peace,
Guide of Christ,
Guardian of the Catholic Faith,
Champion of God's people,
Guardian Angel of the Eucharist,
Defender of the Church,
Protector of the Sovereign Pontiff,
Angel of Catholic action,
Powerful intercessor of Christians,
Bravest defender of those who hope in God,
Guardian of our souls and bodies,
Healer of the sick,
Help of those in their agony,
Consoler of the Souls in Purgatory,
God's messenger for the souls of the just,
Terror of the evil spirits,
Victorious in battle against evil,
Guardian and Patron of the universal Church,
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
Relying, O Lord, upon the intercession of Thy blessed Archangel Michael, we humbly beg of Thee, that the Sacrament of the Eucharist which we have received may make our souls holy and pleasing to Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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| “Boiling the Frog; It’s Just A Mask” |
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Posted by: Deus Vult - 09-29-2021, 08:49 AM - Forum: Pandemic 2020 [Secular]
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“Boiling the Frog; It’s Just A Mask” by Forrest Maready
It’s just a mask.
It’s just two weeks.
It’s just non-essential businesses.
It’s just to keep from overwhelming the hospitals.
It’s just until cases go down more.
It’s just to keep others from being scared.
It’s just for a few more weeks.
It’s just communion or singing. You can still meet.
It’s just until we get a vaccine.
It’s just a few side effects.
It’s just a bracelet.
It’s just to let people know you’re safe to be around.
It’s just an app.
It’s just to let others know who you’ve been in contact with.
It’s just a few more months.
It’s just a video.
It’s just an email account.
It’s just for protecting others from hate speech.
It’s just a few people.
It’s just a credit card company. You can use cash.
It’s just a few places that don’t take cash.
It’s just a little chip.
It’s just for medical information and paying for things.
It’s just so you can travel.
It’s just so you can get your driver’s license.
It’s just so you can vote.
It’s just for a few more years.
It’s just a statue.
It’s just a building.
It’s just a song.
It’s just a few words.
It’s just a piece of paper.
It’s just a book.
It’s just a movie.
It’s just a flag.
It’s just a piece of cloth.
It’s just a blood test.
It’s just a scan.
It’s just a chip.
It’s just a dog.
It’s just a clump of cells.
It’s just the bad people.
It’s just the undesirables.
It’s just the Jews.
It’s just the men.
It’s just the Christians.
It’s just the people that don’t think like we do.
It’s just… wait…
It’s not just a mask.
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| Prayers Honoring St. Michael the Archangel |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-29-2021, 08:48 AM - Forum: Prayers and Devotionals
- Replies (2)
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Prayer to St. Michael, the Archangel
[Promulgated by Pope Leo XIII]
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Short Version:
St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. a Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
For Holy Church: Longer Version
O glorious Prince of the Heavenly Host, St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in the battle and in the fearful warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come thou, to the assistance of men, whom Almighty God created immortal, making them in His own image and likeness and redeeming them at a great price from the tyranny of Satan. Fight this day the battle of the Lord with thy legions of holy Angels, even as of old, thou didst fight against Lucifer, the leader of the proud spirits and all his rebel Angels, who were powerless to stand against thee.
Neither was their place found anymore in Heaven. And that apostle Angel, transformed into an Angel of darkness who still creeps about the earth to encompass our ruin, was cast headlong into the abyss together with his followers.
But, behold, that first enemy of mankind, and a murderer from the beginning, has regained his confidence. Changing himself into an Angel of light, he goes about with the whole multitude of the wicked spirits to invade the earth and blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to plunder, to slay, and to consign to eternal damnation the souls that have been destined for a crown of everlasting life. This wicked serpent, like an unclean torrent, pours into men of depraved minds and corrupt hearts the poison of his malice, the spirit of lying, impiety, and blasphemy, and the deadly breath of impurity and every form of vice and iniquity. These crafty enemies of mankind have filled to overflowing with gall and wormwood the Church, which is the Bride of the Lamb without spot. They have laid profane hands upon her most sacred treasures.
Make haste, therefore, O invincible Prince, to help the people of God against the inroads of the lost spirits and grant us the victory. Amen.
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