COVID-19 'Pandemic'

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,869
3,042
113
Poll shows support for mask mandates across Canada, U.S. and U.K.
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Publishing date:Mar 09, 2021 • 22 minutes ago • 1 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
GETTY
GETTY
Article content
Despite all the complaining people do about wearing masks due to COVID-19, polling done across three different countries shows most people say they wear a mask on a regular basis.

The survey, conducted by Maru/Blue in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom at the end of February, shows more than 90% compliance on mask-wearing in all three countries and significant support for mask mandates.


In Canada, 97% said they wear a mask on a regular basis or sometimes. That figure was 96% in the U.K. and 94% in the United States. Just 2% of respondents in Canada and the U.K. said they refuse to wear masks, a figure that stood at 3% in the United States while the rest said they didn’t need to wear a mask where they live.

In every country, men were slightly more likely to refuse to wear a mask than women and those aged 18-34 were the most likely age group to say they were not wearing masks. Geographically, Quebec, the American west and England’s northeast were the regions most likely to refuse to wear masks.

As for how much governments should do to enforce mask wearing as a tool to combat the spread of COVID-19, a majority in Britain, 53%, said authorities had not gone far enough in making people wear masks. That contrasts with 40% who felt the same way in the U.S. and 33% in Canada.

In Canada 55% agreed with the statement that authorities had, “found the right balance in making people wear masks.”

Just 12% of Canadians, 16% of Americans, and 7% of Brits thought governments had gone too far in mandating the wearing of masks.
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
24,505
2,197
113
Ummm, there is no flu anymore.

There has been essentially no flu season during the COVID-19 pandemic​

 
  • Like
Reactions: Blackleaf

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,429
1,668
113
1615381189042.png

Police Broke Law 👮‍♂️ SHARE THIS MASSIVE STORY 😳 High Court Rule Demanding Our Name & Address 🚫

😳 This is massive! For months I’ve been saying that the way the police have been behaving is unacceptable and not within the law. The High Court agrees!

 
  • Like
Reactions: Danbones

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,429
1,668
113
The EU is spreading fake news about vaccines… again

EU Council president Charles Michel has falsely claimed that the UK has banned the export of Covid jabs.

The EU is spreading fake news about vaccines… again

SPIKED

10th March 2021

Spiked

The EU is once again spreading fake news about vaccines.

Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, one of the EU’s most senior officials, has falsely claimed that the UK has an ‘outright ban’ on the export of vaccines.

In his weekly briefing, released on Tuesday, Michel attempted to defend the EU’s vaccine rollout. He rejected accusations that the EU was guilty of ‘vaccine nationalism’ and contrasted the non-existent UK ban with what he claimed was the EU’s open policy.

‘I am also shocked when I hear the accusations of ‘vaccine nationalism’ against the EU. Here again, the facts do not lie. The United Kingdom and the United States have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory. But the European Union, the region with the largest vaccine production capacity in the world, has simply put in place a system for controlling the export of doses produced in the EU… The EU has never stopped exporting.’

This is fake news, pure and simple. There is no UK vaccine ban, as foreign secretary Dominic Raab has now confirmed in writing to Michel.

In fact, it is not the UK but the EU that is playing dirty over vaccine exports. The EU threatened to seize supplies bound for the UK earlier this year and was forced into a humiliating climbdown.

More recently, the export of a shipment of 250,000 jabs bound for Australia was blocked by the EU just last week. To claim the EU has ‘never stopped exporting’ is totally absurd.

In a later tweet, Michel said there were ‘Different ways of imposing bans or restrictions on vaccines / medicines’ and that the EU ‘is providing vaccines for its citizens and rest of the world’. But the EU isn’t even protecting Europeans, let alone those overseas. And it isn’t the UK that is ‘imposing bans’ on exports – it’s the EU.

Michel, the former Prime Minister of Belgium, is simply trying to deflect attention from the EU’s disastrous vaccine rollout. The EU continues to trail far behind Brexit Britain, where a third of the adult population have received their first dose. No amount of spin can cover up this massive disparity.

The EU has failed on vaccines. And it only has itself to blame.

 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
24,505
2,197
113

Experimental vaccine death rate for Israel’s elderly 40 times higher than COVID-19 deaths: researchers​

Pfizer's vaccine killed ‘about 40 times more (elderly) people’ and ‘260 times’ more of the young than ‘what the COVID-19 virus would have claimed in the given time frame.’
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
24,505
2,197
113

Reuters and BBC Caught Taking Money for Propaganda Campaign​

STORY AT-A-GLANCE​

  • Leaked documents reveal Reuters and BBC News have been involved in a covert program by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to weaken Russia’s influence through a multipronged propaganda campaign

  • Operation Mockingbird was a clandestine CIA media infiltration campaign launched in 1948 under the Office of Special Projects. The CIA spent about one-third of its budget on bribes to hundreds of journalists who published fake stories at the CIA’s request

  • However, infiltration and manipulation of the media has been a routine occurrence since 1915, when J.P. Morgan interests, including the steel and shipbuilding industries, purchased editorial control of 25 of the most influential newspapers, thereby allowing them to control news about military preparedness, financial policies and other news that were crucial to their private and corporate interests

  • Operation Mockingbird was the CIA’s effort to consolidate and expand this secret hold over the media some three decades later

  • While the propaganda messages change with the times, the basic modus operandi remains the same to this day. If anything, the system has only gotten more efficient and effective, as the number of major media outlets have shrunk and a vast majority of journalists simply parrot what’s reported by the three global news agencies
 

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,429
1,668
113
The EU’s ruthless vaccine protectionism

Now it is blocking vaccine shipments to Australia. So much for international cooperation.

The EU’s ruthless vaccine protectionism

XIN DU

10th March 2021

Spiked

It is something of a post-Enlightenment miracle that we have produced several effective vaccines against a novel virus in less than a year. No doubt, schoolchildren will be taught about it in years to come.

This achievement is particularly impressive when we remember that, barely a century ago, the Spanish Flu killed between 50 and 100million people, who were helpless in the face of nature’s capriciousness. And just over a decade ago, the same H1N1 influenza virus returned and killed an estimated 300,000 people.

But coming up with the vaccines is not enough. We have to produce and distribute them, too – which is where the real problem lies for Brussels. The EU, whose oxymoronic motto is ‘United in Diversity’, likes to boast about how it has led in bringing about peace, justice, enlightenment, prosperity and human rights. But where were these lofty values last week, when Italy used a new EU export mechanism to block a shipment of 250,000 doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia? This is despite unused doses piling up in France and Germany, in part due to both governments’ initial refusal to approve the jab for those aged over 65.

The new EU ‘transparency mechanism’ gives member states the right to stop the export of vaccines made by factories within their borders, if the manufacturer has not fulfilled existing contracts with the EU. This new mechanism could affect up to 100 countries worldwide who are expecting vaccine shipments, including the UK, the US and Canada.

The EU’s vaccine rollout, like many of its continent-wide exploits, has been sluggish and ineffectual. Meanwhile, the UK, freed from Brussels’ bureaucratic leash, has managed to get organised remarkably well. By last Saturday, Britain had distributed 34.37 doses for every 100 people, whereas the equivalent figure for the EU was only 9.11.

A central cause of the EU’s failings is its endless red tape. Freed from EU regulations, the UK approved the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine almost three weeks ahead of the EU. And the EU’s delays are also due to the usual jostling for gain among supposedly harmonious member states. France and Germany are alleged to have insisted on preferential treatment for vaccines made by French and German companies.

Unsurprisingly, Europeans have lost confidence in their leaders. Over half of all Germans say the EU has handled the vaccine rollout badly.

Panicked by its own failures, Brussels is trying to save face by denying to others what they have legally purchased. Needless to say, lives have been put at risk by the EU’s actions – European lives through EU incompetence, and now, potentially, Australian lives through EU protectionism. So much for international cooperation.

Just like the migrant crisis in the early 2010s and the economic crisis of the late 2000s – whose effects still plague Southern Europe today – this latest episode demonstrates the EU’s tendency toward catastrophic incompetence. Yet again, it has failed to protect the interests of the people it professes to represent.

The EU may have a Nobel Prize and a big PR budget. But we can all see how badly it has got the vaccine rollout wrong. This disaster has shone an unforgiving light on the difference between the EU in action and the EU in theory. In short, the EU is the proof of the old adage that we should not judge someone’s actions by their reputation, but judge their reputation by their actions.

Xin Du is a writer based in Australia.

 

taxme

Time Out
Feb 11, 2020
2,349
976
113
Risk of death from COVID-19 is 3.5 times higher than the flu: Study
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Publishing date:Mar 09, 2021 • 1 hour ago • 2 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
This illustration shows the novel coronavirus.
This illustration shows the novel coronavirus. PHOTO BY FILE PHOTO /Getty Images
Article content
A study published Wednesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) found the risk of death from COVID-19 was 3.5 times higher than from influenza.

The numbers put a figure on the severity of the novel coronavirus, which experts have been speaking to since the pandemic began.


The study analyzed hospitalized cases of COVID and influenza between November 2019 and June 2020 in seven Toronto-area hospitals, finding that people admitted with COVID-19 were 1.5 times more likely to need intensive care, and stayed in hospitals 1.5 times longer than patients admitted with influenza.

The study used data extracted from hospital computer systems to describe details of patients’ hospitalizations, says Dr. Amol Verma of St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto.

That data included things like demographics, vital signs, laboratory test results, use of hospital resources like ventilators, and outcomes of their hospital stay — whether they died in hospital, needed intensive care, or were re-admitted.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The findings from the Canadian study were similar to results recently reported in France and the United States, the CMAJ says.

“We can now say definitively that COVID-19 is much more severe than seasonal influenza,” Verma said in a release.


The study described hospitalizations in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont. — areas with large populations and high levels of COVID-19 — and included all patients admitted to medical services or the intensive care units (ICU) for influenza or COVID-19.

There were 1,027 hospitalizations for COVID-19 in 972 patients — some re-admissions were included in the study —compared to 783 hospitalizations for influenza in 763 patients.

Those figures represent 23.5% of all hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Ontario during the study period.

Most patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had few other illnesses, and 21% were younger than 50 years of age. People younger than 50 also accounted for 24% of admissions to the ICU, the study found.

While COVID-19 generally affects older adults more severely, Verma says the study highlights that the illness can also have serious impacts on younger people.

The flu hospitalizations included in the study happened mainly from November 2019 to February 2020, Verma says. While COVID hospitalizations from the study occurred mainly from March to June, Verma adds there were some earlier cases in the Toronto area that were also included.

Verma says the figures may be “magnified” by low levels of immunity to the COVID virus, compared to that of the seasonal flu. He adds that COVID vaccines should help decrease severity of the infection over time.

“There is, unfortunately, also the possibility that variants of the virus could be even more severe,” he added.

The corona virus novel is quite the fictional book alright. If they were ever a fictional book novel that I would love to book burn is the corona virus novel. Sadly, there are plenty of silly lemming fools out there who have read that fictional book novel and took it as for real. You know who they are? The "woke" crowd. Lol.
 

Decapoda

Council Member
Mar 4, 2016
1,682
801
113
Poll shows support for mask mandates across Canada, U.S. and U.K.
Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Publishing date:Mar 09, 2021 • 22 minutes ago • 1 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
GETTY
GETTY
Article content
Despite all the complaining people do about wearing masks due to COVID-19, polling done across three different countries shows most people say they wear a mask on a regular basis....blahblahblah

I wear my obedience mask whenever I'm told to.

sheep-masks-1024x579.jpg
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,869
3,042
113
U.K. COVID-19 variant has significantly higher death rate, study finds
Author of the article:

Reuters
Kate Kelland
Publishing date:
Mar 10, 2021 • 12 minutes ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation

Vials labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" are placed on dry ice in this illustration taken, Dec. 4, 2020. Photo by DADO RUVIC /REUTERS
Article content
LONDON — A highly infectious variant of COVID-19 that has spread around the world since it was first discovered in Britain late last year is between 30% and 100% more deadly than previous dominant variants, researchers said on Wednesday.
In a study that compared death rates among people in Britain infected with the new SARS-CoV-2 variant – known as B.1.1.7 – against those infected with other variants of the COVID-19-causing virus, scientists said the new variant’s mortality rate was “significantly higher.”




The B.1.1.7 variant was first detected in Britain in September 2020, and has since also been found in more than 100 other countries.
It has 23 mutations in its genetic code – a relatively high number – and some of them have made it far more easily spread. Scientists say it is about 40%-70% more transmissible than previous dominant variants that were circulating.
More On This Topic


Risk of death from COVID-19 is 3.5 times higher than the flu: Study

Man suffered painful, three-hour erection before dying of COVID-19: Docs

AstraZeneca vaccine batch Austria has halted use of went to 17 countries

Advertisement

Story continues below


This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
In the U.K. study, published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, infection with the new variant led to 227 deaths in a sample of 54,906 COVID-19 patients, compared with 141 among the same number of patients infected with other variants.
“Coupled with its ability to spread rapidly, this makes B.1.1.7 a threat that should be taken seriously,” said Robert Challen, a researcher at Exeter University who co-led the research.




Independent experts said this study’s findings add to previous preliminary evidence linking infection with the B.1.1.7 virus variant with an increased risk of dying from COVID-19.
Initial findings from the study were presented to the U.K. government earlier this year, along with other research, by experts on its New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, or NERVTAG, panel.
Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at Warwick University, said the precise mechanisms behind the higher death rate of the B.1.1.7 variant were still not clear, but “could be related to higher levels of virus replication as well as increased transmissibility.”
He warned that the U.K. variant was likely fueling a recent surge in infections across Europe.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,869
3,042
113
Pollen level in air linked to COVID-19 rates: Study
Author of the article:

Reuters
Nancy Lapid
Publishing date:
Mar 10, 2021 • 4 minutes ago • 4 minute read • Join the conversation

Pollen can have an impact on the spread of COVID-19. Photo by photo illustration /Getty Images
Article content
The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
Pollen levels linked to COVID-19 rates




Higher pollen concentrations in the air have coincided with increases in COVID-19 infection rates, a large study shows, suggesting a possible link. Using data from 130 sites in 31 countries, researchers found that airborne pollen levels, sometimes in combination with humidity and temperature, accounted for up to 44% of the variability of COVID-19 infection rates during the spring of 2020. The effect was not connected with pollen allergies, the researchers said. In a report published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, they explained that in everyone, exposure to pollen reduces the ability of the respiratory tract lining to defend itself against viruses by diminishing the release of the antiviral protein interferon. The study also reports that under similar pollen concentrations, infection rates were halved when lockdown measures were in place, because the lockdowns limited exposure to both the virus and the pollen that diminishes the immune response. “As we cannot completely avoid pollen exposure, we … encourage high-risk individuals to wear particle filter masks during high pollen concentrations,” said coauthor Athanasios Damialis of Technical University of Munich, in Augsburg, Germany.
Advertisement

Story continues below


This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Robust vaccine responses seen during pregnancy and lactation
Pregnant and lactating women who received the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna had immune responses similar to those seen in non-pregnant, non-lactating women, a new study found. In all cases, the COVID-19 antibodies induced by the vaccines were transferred to the babies via the placenta or breast milk, according to a report published on Monday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. The researchers studied 84 pregnant women, 31 breastfeeding women, and 16 non-pregnant women who received the vaccines. Immune responses were equivalent in all three groups, and all three groups had higher antibody levels than another group of 37 women who were infected with the coronavirus while pregnant. “Dampened response to vaccination has been noted in the past for other vaccines in pregnancy,” said coauthor Galit Alter of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She added that the study addressed an important question as COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, given that there is currently “limited to no data on how they work in this population.” Pregnant and lactating women were not included in initial COVID-19 vaccine trials. A study testing the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in pregnant women got underway last month.




Rapid test can screen for variants of concern
A new test can rapidly screen thousands of nasopharyngeal swab samples for the concerning, more contagious new virus variants first identified in the U.K., South Africa and Brazil, researchers said. The test uses probes that change colour at different temperatures depending on whether it detects a specific mutation, called N501Y, that is present in all three variants. The test, for now, is not capable of differentiating between them, so positive samples would need further testing to identify the particular variant, said David Alland of Rutgers University in New Jersey, coauthor of a report posted on Monday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. “Our next job, already mostly completed, will be to add to the test so that a second mutation … called E484K, can also be detected,” he said. “This will distinguish variants … from the UK from those of South African or Brazilian origin.” The test should continue to detect these variants of concern even if the virus continues to mutate, he said. In those cases, the temperature at which the probes change color will be altered, and any unforeseen color change will flag a sample as likely containing a new mutant, Alland said. The assay is open-source, so it can be updated by the Rutgers researchers or other teams.
Advertisement

Story continues below


This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Antibody combo treatment protects against severe COVID-19
A combination of two monoclonal antibody drugs – bamlanivimab and etesevimab – from Eli Lilly and Co reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 87% in a U.S. study of 769 non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients with risk factors for developing severe illness, according to trial data released by the company on Wednesday. This is the second late-stage, randomized trial to show that the antibody cocktail is effective at treating mild-to-moderate COVID-19. The previous study, published in January, used a higher dose of the drugs and reduced the risk of hospitalization by 70%. U.S. regulators authorized the combination therapy in February for use in COVID-19 patients age 12 and over who are not yet hospitalized but are at high risk for developing serious complications. European regulators authorized its use in March. “We have few other diseases where we have drugs that can offer this magnitude of benefit,” said Daniel Skovronsky, chief scientific officer at Eli Lilly.
 

taxme

Time Out
Feb 11, 2020
2,349
976
113
U.K. COVID-19 variant has significantly higher death rate, study finds
Author of the article:

Reuters
Kate Kelland
Publishing date:
Mar 10, 2021 • 12 minutes ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation

Vials labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" are placed on dry ice in this illustration taken, Dec. 4, 2020. Photo by DADO RUVIC /REUTERS
Article content
LONDON — A highly infectious variant of COVID-19 that has spread around the world since it was first discovered in Britain late last year is between 30% and 100% more deadly than previous dominant variants, researchers said on Wednesday.
In a study that compared death rates among people in Britain infected with the new SARS-CoV-2 variant – known as B.1.1.7 – against those infected with other variants of the COVID-19-causing virus, scientists said the new variant’s mortality rate was “significantly higher.”




The B.1.1.7 variant was first detected in Britain in September 2020, and has since also been found in more than 100 other countries.
It has 23 mutations in its genetic code – a relatively high number – and some of them have made it far more easily spread. Scientists say it is about 40%-70% more transmissible than previous dominant variants that were circulating.
More On This Topic


Risk of death from COVID-19 is 3.5 times higher than the flu: Study

Man suffered painful, three-hour erection before dying of COVID-19: Docs

AstraZeneca vaccine batch Austria has halted use of went to 17 countries

Advertisement

Story continues below


This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
In the U.K. study, published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, infection with the new variant led to 227 deaths in a sample of 54,906 COVID-19 patients, compared with 141 among the same number of patients infected with other variants.
“Coupled with its ability to spread rapidly, this makes B.1.1.7 a threat that should be taken seriously,” said Robert Challen, a researcher at Exeter University who co-led the research.




Independent experts said this study’s findings add to previous preliminary evidence linking infection with the B.1.1.7 virus variant with an increased risk of dying from COVID-19.
Initial findings from the study were presented to the U.K. government earlier this year, along with other research, by experts on its New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, or NERVTAG, panel.
Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at Warwick University, said the precise mechanisms behind the higher death rate of the B.1.1.7 variant were still not clear, but “could be related to higher levels of virus replication as well as increased transmissibility.”
He warned that the U.K. variant was likely fueling a recent surge in infections across Europe.
More globalist bull shit about another new Covid 1984 variant virus. The globalists just can't get enough of trying to spread more lies and bull shit to try and make hundreds of millions of more dollars from the buffoons that will take their useless vaccines. Christ, when will the lemming zombies out there ever learn anything and wake the hell up?
 

taxme

Time Out
Feb 11, 2020
2,349
976
113
3.5X more likely to Panic

The globalists using their puppet on a string fake politicians and the fake media have to always try to and keep the lemming population always in a state of fear and panic and paranoia over some bull shit virus that will kill them if they do not take their vaccine jab. Even after these lemmings take their vaccine jab they are still being told that they should still wear face diaper masks and continue to social distance. WTH is going on here anyway?

I thought that the bloody whole idea about taking a vaccine was to end this miserable life that we the people have been forced to live with for over a year now? What the F is going on here? Why are there still so many people acting like dummies and still will believe that we must now prepare ourselves for the next Convid 1984 virus that could now endanger their lives? It would appear as though pretty much 95% of the world's population can only be seen as a bunch of fools and idiots. With enough brainwashing by their fake dear leaders and their fake media they can make many buffoons believe that the sky is falling down. Really!
 

55Mercury

rigid member
May 31, 2007
4,272
988
113
speaking of pollen, has anyone ever wondered about other things airborne that might spread this virus, like precipitation? do you suppose anyone of the many who are responsible for our defense might ever have considered, and perhaps immediately dismissed because it is rather far-fetched, that suppose IF China was bent on the eventual subjugation of the entire planet, might they seek to attain it through a biological weapon? No, not like covid19 but rather something far more deadly? And covid19 could possibly be being used as a mere testing agent to gauge the efficacy of its deployment, So then could not someone or panel of Chinese logistics/contingency/think-tank types with this end in mind have dreamt up such a bizarre unthinkable therefor unbelievable premise to use their modern military aircraft capabilities to seed the jet-stream with so much virus that nature would just carry it straight across the ocean to be rained down upon an unwitting and totally clueless population? Surely they would only need a handful of the billions of microscopic virions to survive the trip. Nature would do the rest.

Pollen? Well that could have been an added bonus for further dispersal once the rain has fallen.

Has ANYONE? ANYWHERE? EVER THOUGHT TO CHECK RAINFALL FOR THIS VIRUS???

the whole notion first occurred to me last July or August I think, when there were reported covid case spike in all the northern States and out of curiosity I checked where the jet-stream had been, and it aroused further my suspicions to see that's exactly where it was, streaming a straight line across all the northern US States!

So, yeah, damage is done, but seriously, just for the hell of it, and at not much further cost that what this whole charade is costing us, quietly and discreetly check the precipitation for this virus, or whatever future evil thing they may be dreaming up. if the press ever got wind of this kind of testing they'd be the first to blab it to China and all they would have to do is put it on hold for a few decades, while continuing to build and bolster their forces, until they figure the time is ripe to give it another shot.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,869
3,042
113
Stuntman sits in pool of bean dip for 24 hours to save favourite restaurant
Author of the article:

Reuters
Rollo Ross
Publishing date:
Mar 09, 2021 • 23 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation

Stuntman Hunter Ray Barker gets a logo of of the restaurant tattooed on his arm as he sits partially submerged in a bean dip tub to raise awareness for Los Toros Mexican Restaurant during the outbreak of COVID-19, in Chatsworth, Calif., March 8, 2021. Photo by Mario Anzuoni /REUTERS
Article content
When your favourite Mexican restaurant is struggling to stay alive, what else would you do but sit in a pool of bean dip outside for 24 hours to attract diners?
To drive the point home, stuntman Hunter Ray Barker is wearing a T-shirt and mask with the Los Toros restaurant logo which features three bulls, and getting his arm tattooed with the image during the marathon.




“We have a golden opportunity to grab the bull by the horns and support local businesses in a big explosive way and so why not?” said Barker, a Taurus, who visited the restaurant for family celebrations while growing up.
His idea stunned Nicolas Montano, the owner of Los Toros, which was founded in 1967 in the Chatsworth community in northwest Los Angeles.

Stuntman Hunter Ray Barker gets a logo of the restaurant tattooed on his arm as he sits partially submerged in a bean dip tub to raise awareness for Los Toros Mexican Restaurant during the outbreak of COVID-19, in Chatsworth, Calif., March 8, 2021. Photo by Mario Anzuoni /REUTERS
“I was like ‘Are you sure? Are you sure you want to do this?'” Montano said. “And he goes, ‘Yeah, I think it would be fun and it’s something I want to help the business.'”
Barker’s devotion does not waver even when nature calls.
Advertisement

Story continues below


This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“The big thing that people asked was ‘What are you going to do when it comes to going to the restroom?'” he recalled while soaking in his original bean dip recipe.




“I do have a funnel that’s connected to me right now so any time I do have to go No. 1, that is connected to a bag that’s attached to my body. For No. 2, that is a different story. We will just have to wait and see.”
Barker’s support for small businesses hurting in the pandemic impressed Los Toros customers and passersby. Said diner Rick Brantley: “He’s going to sit in that for 24 hours, it’s totally crazy. I wouldn’t do it but you know what? If it’s going to help Los Toros and the community, I’m all for it.”
 
  • Like
Reactions: 55Mercury

55Mercury

rigid member
May 31, 2007
4,272
988
113
I'll
Stuntman sits in pool of bean dip for 24 hours to save favourite restaurant
Author of the article:

Reuters
Rollo Ross
Publishing date:
Mar 09, 2021 • 23 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation

Stuntman Hunter Ray Barker gets a logo of of the restaurant tattooed on his arm as he sits partially submerged in a bean dip tub to raise awareness for Los Toros Mexican Restaurant during the outbreak of COVID-19, in Chatsworth, Calif., March 8, 2021. Photo by Mario Anzuoni /REUTERS
Article content
When your favourite Mexican restaurant is struggling to stay alive, what else would you do but sit in a pool of bean dip outside for 24 hours to attract diners?
To drive the point home, stuntman Hunter Ray Barker is wearing a T-shirt and mask with the Los Toros restaurant logo which features three bulls, and getting his arm tattooed with the image during the marathon.




“We have a golden opportunity to grab the bull by the horns and support local businesses in a big explosive way and so why not?” said Barker, a Taurus, who visited the restaurant for family celebrations while growing up.
His idea stunned Nicolas Montano, the owner of Los Toros, which was founded in 1967 in the Chatsworth community in northwest Los Angeles.

Stuntman Hunter Ray Barker gets a logo of the restaurant tattooed on his arm as he sits partially submerged in a bean dip tub to raise awareness for Los Toros Mexican Restaurant during the outbreak of COVID-19, in Chatsworth, Calif., March 8, 2021. Photo by Mario Anzuoni /REUTERS
“I was like ‘Are you sure? Are you sure you want to do this?'” Montano said. “And he goes, ‘Yeah, I think it would be fun and it’s something I want to help the business.'”
Barker’s devotion does not waver even when nature calls.
Advertisement

Story continues below


This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“The big thing that people asked was ‘What are you going to do when it comes to going to the restroom?'” he recalled while soaking in his original bean dip recipe.




“I do have a funnel that’s connected to me right now so any time I do have to go No. 1, that is connected to a bag that’s attached to my body. For No. 2, that is a different story. We will just have to wait and see.”
Barker’s support for small businesses hurting in the pandemic impressed Los Toros customers and passersby. Said diner Rick Brantley: “He’s going to sit in that for 24 hours, it’s totally crazy. I wouldn’t do it but you know what? If it’s going to help Los Toros and the community, I’m all for it.”
I'll bet he was tasty after that. lol but really, if ya like bean dip, that's the last place yer gonna go after that stunt!
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,869
3,042
113
Public safety minister grilled over quarantine hotel security after alleged assaults
Author of the article:Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Christopher Reynolds
Publishing date:Mar 10, 2021 • 56 minutes ago • 3 minute read • comment bubbleJoin the conversation
Canada's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair takes part in a news conference about the dispute between commercial and Mi'kmaw lobster fishers in Nova Scotia, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada October 19, 2020.
Canada's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair takes part in a news conference about the dispute between commercial and Mi'kmaw lobster fishers in Nova Scotia, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada October 19, 2020. PHOTO BY BLAIR GABLE /REUTERS
Article content
OTTAWA — Public Safety Minister Bill Blair faced harsh questions Wednesday over security related to the federal quarantine program after reports of two incidents of alleged sexual assault.

At a parliamentary committee hearing, Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs grilled Blair over safeguards for guests at federally approved quarantine hotels.


She also questioned him about background checks for screening officers who work at the hotels and conduct compliance checks at homes of Canadians quarantined due to COVID-19.

Blair told the committee that quarantine measures have been effective and that any allegations should be thoroughly investigated.

He diverted questions on the hotel quarantine program to the Public Health Agency of Canada that oversees it, saying he has no jurisdiction over the file and that Stubbs is “simply misinformed” on his role.

“Thank you for the condescension,” Stubbs replied.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“I do expect though that almost every single Canadian would hope that the minister of public safety of this country would … ensure that Canadians are safe and secure within facilities or at home trying to comply with rules that the federal government has set.”

A government order that took effect Feb. 22 requires all non-essential travellers entering Canada by air to stay at a federally approved hotel for up to three nights at the start of a 14-day quarantine.


Police have arrested two men accused of sexual assault related to quarantine measures, one at a Montreal hotel and another tied to a compliance check in Oakville, Ont.

The latter case involved a quarantine screening officer who allegedly demanded cash from a woman before sexually assaulting her at her home, and who now faces related charges, Halton regional police said last month.

The accused had been trained by the Public Health Agency of Canada as a designated screening officer under the Quarantine Act, police said.

Trained screening officers working for four security companies under contract with the agency began in-person compliance visits on Jan. 29 in Montreal and Toronto, it said.

At the public safety committee hearing Wednesday evening, Stubbs asked Blair whether the government carries out security checks on screening officers beyond any done by their employers.

“Operators have been telling single women not to tell people of their location and to leave their doors unlocked, and that in some cases there are no locks on the doors within those quarantine facilities at all,” Stubbs said.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content

“Where there’s an allegation, that has to be thoroughly investigated,” Blair said.

“The operation of the designated quarantine facilities is entirely under the authority of the Public Health Agency of Canada. I actually have no jurisdiction over those matters,” he stated, adding that the RCMP plays a supporting role.

The government’s quarantine measures have hit turbulence outside of alleged criminal incidents.

The hiccups range from reports of 10-hour phone waits to book rooms to overcrowded hotels with delayed meal service and dietary restrictions for some guests going unmet.

Travellers pay up to $2,000 for the accommodations and can leave once a COVID-19 test taken at the airport comes back negative, though no discount attends a shorter stay.

Conservative health critic Michelle Rempel Garner repeatedly asked Health Minister Patty Hajdu on Wednesday whether the government has data showing that hotel quarantines are more effective in preventing spread of COVID-19 variants than at-home isolation coupled with pre- and post-arrival testing.

Hajdu avoided answering the question directly, prompting a back-and-forth that culminated in Liberal MP Angelo Iacono accusing Rempel Garner of acting like “a bit of a bully.”

“I would argue that the woman who experienced sexual assault at the quarantine hotel due to this lack of data would in fact be the woman who would have experienced bullying,” Rempel Garner replied.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Hajdu told the committee that Ottawa opted for the quarantine hotels “to make sure that people have a safe place to stay” while they receive results from tests taken at the airport.

A constitutional rights advocacy group announced this week it is mounting a legal challenge to Ottawa’s hotel quarantine policy, arguing it infringes on Canadians’ fundamental rights.

The Canadian Constitution Foundation has filed an application with Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice along with five individuals, seeking an end to the policy. The application names the Attorney General of Canada as the defendant.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,869
3,042
113
'F*** THE MASK': Three women berate, cough on Uber driver in San Francisco
He asked one to put on a mask and they started yelling racial slurs, a reporter said

Author of the article:postmedia News
Publishing date:Mar 10, 2021 • 10 hours ago • 2 minute read • comment bubble45 Comments
A video of three women berating an Uber driver in San Francisco has gone viral.
A video of three women berating an Uber driver in San Francisco has gone viral. PHOTO BY SCREENGRAB /@DIONLIMTV/INSTAGRAM
Article content
A video of three women berating an Uber driver in San Francisco for asking one of them to wear a mask has gone viral.

The video was posted Monday on ABC7 journalist Dion Lim’s Instagram page and shows one woman sitting behind the driver’s seat saying, “F*** the mask” and removing her face covering before coughing in the driver’s direction. She then is seen snatching the driver’s cellphone from the rearview mirror.


The two other women — one wearing a mask properly, the other with it pushed down to her chin — are heard jeering as the incident plays out.

“What you gonna do?” the woman shouts as the driver grabs his phone back.

“You don’t touch my property,” the driver says.

The woman is seen grabbing his mask, snapping one of the ear loops off.

“I don’t give a f***, b****!” the maskless woman says. “You take out in the middle of nowhere … are you stupid?”

“I told you to get out of the gas station. You didn’t,” the driver shouts.


Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The time stamp on the video is dated Sunday around 12:45 p.m.

Lim wrote that the driver’s name is Subhakar and he is from Nepal, driving for Uber for three years.

“He told me was picking up three women in the Bayview (area) yesterday afternoon and noticed one did not have a mask. He asked one to put on a mask and he says they started yelling racial slurs and taunting him,” she wrote.

“Subkahar stops the car and says he asked the women to get out. They refused. So he pulls into a gas station so the woman without a mask can buy one.”

Lim said that despite cancelling their ride, the women did not get out and the video began when they refused to leave. She attributed the incident as another hate-motivated crime towards Asians, which have been on the rise in Canada and the U.S.


Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“They started to threaten me,” he told Lim. “I don’t feel like working right now … I’m really disturbed.”⠀
Eventually, the women open the door and get out of the car, said Lim.

“Subhakar says he has dealt with this kind of behaviour a lot during his time as a driver but this is just next-level,” Lim said. “He has filed a police report and I confirmed details with police.”

In a statement, Uber told Lim: “The behaviour seen in the video is appalling. Rider no longer has access to Uber.”


A GoFundMe campaign has been launched for the driver. As of Wednesday morning, more than $30,000 has been raised, exceeding the campaign’s goal of $20,000.

“He didn’t ask for a GoFundMe, but instead has graciously accepted our support and love. As you can imagine, this was a horrible experience, but also a tremendously loving and supporting one, because we are all coming together to help,” wrote the campaign organizer, Cyan Banister.
1615426261537.png