Why Were There Fewer Microcephaly Cases from Zika Last Year?

They all moved to the Midwest and voted for Trump?

Why Were There Fewer Microcephaly Cases from Zika Last Year?

Of the many mysteries that remain about the Zika virus and its attack on the Americas, perhaps the most puzzling one relates to the bizarre distribution of babies born with Zika-induced microcephaly.

After so many such births were recorded in Northeastern Brazil in the last quarter of 2015, the country — and other places where the virus fanned out to from Brazil — braced themselves for a similar tsunami in 2016. But it didn’t materialize — at least not to the same degree.

A new and intriguing letter to the New England Journal of Medicine offers a theory for how to explain the missing microcephaly cases, the babies that were predicted to be born in Northeastern Brazil after Zika’s second wave of infection in the early part of 2016.

The authors suggest the region’s first wave of Zika may have been its only wave of Zika to date. Something that caused similar illness, likely the chikungunya virus, was probably responsible for the high level of fever and rash illnesses Brazil recorded in 2016, they theorized.

Ryan cuts off debate

He puts the House into recess until he calls it back...

I guess he doesn't like having his face pounded into the mud...

Magnitsky lawyer injured after 'falling' from building near Moscow

Source: BBC

A lawyer for the family of Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyer whose death in 2009 sparked a crisis between Russia and the West, has been badly injured.

Russian media say Nikolai Gorokhov fell from the fourth floor when a rope snapped as he and others tried to lift a bath into his house near Moscow.

He was flown to hospital by helicopter, a medical source was quoted as saying...

Life News, a Russian tabloid news site, published photos of a shattered bath lying on the ground by a block of flats.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39347461

Authorities call to have Iowa Congressman Steve King removed from his post

Source: ABC News

see linked video

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/authorities-call-iowa-congressman-steve-king-removed-post-46133103?cid=marketing_Outbrain_Politics_Desktop

Highlights From Court Ruling Halting Trumps Revised Travel Ban

Highlighting the highlights... Thank God for Judge Derrick K. Watson of United States District Court in Honolulu...

Highlights From Court Ruling Halting Trump’s Revised Travel Ban

The illogic of the Government’s contentions is palpable. The notion that one can demonstrate animus toward any group of people only by targeting all of them at once is fundamentally flawed. … It is undisputed, using the primary source upon which the Government itself relies, that these six countries have overwhelmingly Muslim populations that range from 90.7% to 99.8%. It would therefore be no paradigmatic leap to conclude that targeting these countries likewise targets Islam. Certainly, it would be inappropriate to conclude, as the Government does, that it does not....

The record before this Court is unique. It includes significant and unrebutted evidence of religious animus driving the promulgation of the Executive Order and its related predecessor....

The Government appropriately cautions that, in determining purpose, courts should not look into the “veiled psyche” and “secret motives” of government decisionmakers and may not undertake a “judicial psychoanalysis of a drafter’s heart of hearts.” … The Government need not fear. The remarkable facts at issue here require no such impermissible inquiry. For instance, there is nothing “veiled” about this press release: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”...

Any reasonable, objective observer would conclude, as does the Court for purposes of the instant Motion for TRO, that the stated secular purpose of the Executive Order is, at the very least, “secondary to a religious objective” of temporarily suspending the entry of Muslims....

Other indicia of pretext asserted by Plaintiffs include the delayed timing of the Executive Order, which detracts from the national security urgency claimed by the Administration, and the Executive Order’s focus on nationality, which could have the paradoxical effect of “bar[ring] entry by a Syrian national who has lived in Switzerland for decades, but not a Swiss national who has immigrated to Syria during its civil war,” revealing a “gross mismatch between the [Executive] Order’s ostensible purpose and its implementation and effects.”...

Dr. Elshikh has made a preliminary showing of direct, concrete injuries to the exercise of his Establishment Clause rights. … These alleged injuries have already occurred and likely will continue to occur upon implementation of the Executive Order....

As discussed above, Plaintiffs have shown a strong likelihood of succeeding on their claim that the Executive Order violates First Amendment rights under the Constitution. When considered alongside the constitutional injuries and harms discussed above, and the questionable evidence supporting the Government’s national security motivations, the balance of equities and public interests justify granting the Plaintiffs’ TRO....

This isn't the first time Kelly Ann Conjob's credibility has been rejected...

Back in 2007 her polling company's research was thrown out by a federal district court for being sloppy and unreliable...

As an expert witness for Whole Foods, Kellyanne Conway gave testimony that was deemed 'fundamentally flawed' and thrown out

The DC District Court threw out Conway's survey, saying it would not give "any weight or consideration" to it because of its methodology.

The court found that the FTC's expert witness, Kent Van Liere, presented compelling evidence about the study's drawbacks, which the agency said suffered "serious and fatal design flaws, poor execution, and conclusions that are inconsistent with the survey's results," and failed to "meet basic standards" of survey research.

"My overall opinion in this matter is that Ms. Conway's survey methodology and procedures are fundamentally flawed and render her data and results unreliable," Van Liere testified, according to July 2007 court documents. "In addition, it is my opinion that her survey does not provide a reliable basis to assess the issues associated with consumer perceptions of the substitutability of products and services across food retailers."

Van Liere said Conway's response rate was "so low that her results cannot be considered reliable" and included "unqualified respondents" who could not "understand or could not complete the questions accurately." Her response rate, according to Van Liere, varied "from 6 percent to 0.5 percent" of callers the pollsters attempted to reach, and over 20% did not reside in the zip codes designated in the survey.

Poland to seek extradition from United States of suspected Nazi commander

Which one?

Poland to seek extradition from United States of suspected Nazi commander

Poland plans to seek the extradition of an American on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity in the World War Two deaths of 44 Polish villagers, Poland's government-affiliated history institute said on Monday.

The man, identified as Michael K., is suspected of ordering the killings in 1944 in eastern Poland when he was a commander in the Nazi's SS-led Ukrainian Self Defence Legion, the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) said in a statement.

As a result of that order, several villages - including Chlaniow and Wladyslawin - were set on fire and buildings destroyed, the IPN said.

“In our investigation Michael K. is the main suspect. We are convinced that this person, living in the United States, was the person who carried out the pacification of (the villages),” Robert Janicki, a prosecutor with the IPN, told Reuters. “All the evidence we have gathered, mainly the documents we have collected, give us this certainty.”

MTA 'See Something, Say Something' Posters Get #Resist Makeover

Here's what I'm talking about.

Speaking out, educating people about what is important.

Kudos to the #Resist movement!

MTA 'See Something, Say Something' Posters Get #Resist Makeover

If you scanned the public service announcements in your subway car this morning—and happened to be adequately caffeinated—you might have noticed something slightly off. There's Melissa C., of small-time "See Something, Say Something" fame, with her gold hoops and salmon-pink hoodie. She's smiling next to the familiar MTA logo, but her message isn't just about reporting a suspicious bag on the platform and feeling heroic.

"I felt like a hero reporting what I saw," her quote reads. "But what scares me more than an unattended package is an unattended politician. We have to keep an eye on how our representatives vote and hold them accountable."

In place of "Take a moment to alert a police officer or MTA employee," the sign reads, "Call your elected officials and make yourself heard." Next to the actual MTA help line (888-NYC-SAFE), there's a tiny #RESIST.

The subversive fake posters were installed on two subway cars overnight—that's two cars across the entire system—mingling with original posters from the MTA's March 2016 campaign. Gothamist spoke with the person who conceived and installed them on the condition of anonymity. The artist also asked that the train lines be withheld, in the hopes that the MTA won't track them down immediately and remove them.

Obama Denies Wiretapping Trump: Like Id Want to Hear More from That Fool?

Perhaps sooner than later, recordings of Trump's phone conversations will be used to torture prisoners...

Obama Denies Wiretapping Trump: “Like I’d Want to Hear More from That Fool?”

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump’s claim that Barack Obama wiretapped him received a strong denial on Monday from the former President, who said to reporters, “Like I’d want to hear more from that fool?”

Obama said that, when he first saw Trump’s allegations on Twitter, “My first thought was, Only a narcissist on the scale of Donald Trump would think people want to hear more from him than they currently do. If anything, I think we’d all like to hear way, way less.” He said that his wife, Michelle, agreed that the idea of his wanting to hear more from Donald Trump “was one of the funniest things she’s ever heard.”

“When I read her those Trump tweets on Saturday morning, she totally cracked up,” the former President said. “Whenever we’re at home and that guy comes on TV, I’m always, like, ‘Michelle, turn that damn thing off.’ ”

Obama visibly shuddered at the notion of intelligence agencies providing him with hours of recordings of Donald Trump talking. “Don’t even,” he said.

America Is in Warp-Speed DeclineIt's Way Bigger Than Trump

Say what you will about the early Roman emperors, they at least knew something about governance. Then, in the 1st century AD, the imperial stock started to run thin and the empire ran into serious trouble under the deranged progeny of Augustus. Donald Trump is the Caligula of our times: lascivious, incurious, and power-drunk. At what point will our American Caligula, running out of willing and even marginally suitable candidates, try to appoint a horse to his cabinet?

It’s bad enough from a domestic standpoint to have a laughing-stock for a president. The international implications are even worse. As Patrick Cockburn writes in The Independent, “It will be difficult for the U.S. to remain a super-power under a leader who is an international figure of fun and is often visibly detached from reality. His battle cry of ‘Fake News’ simply means an inability to cope with criticism or accept facts or views that contradict his own. World leaders who have met him say they are astonished by his ignorance of events at home and abroad.”

It’s no surprise that other countries are rushing to take advantage of the Trump administration’s early missteps. “It’s not just that Trump seems to have abandoned the larger geopolitical playing field to America’s principal rivals,” writes analyst Michael Klare. “He appears to be doing everything in his power to facilitate their advance at the expense of the United States. In just the first few weeks of his presidency, he has already taken numerous steps that have put the wind in both China’s and Russia’s sails, while leaving the U.S. adrift.”

China sees an enormous opportunity to cast itself as the responsible global leader on trade and climate change. Russia is angling for more influence in its near abroad, the eastern parts of Europe, and the Middle East. Germany and the European Union more generally have sought to replace the United States as a moral leader on diplomacy, human rights, and intercultural engagement.