Think Flu Season Is Bad? It Might Get Even Worse

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By Bloomberg. The influenza virus that’s sickened millions of Americans this season is already the most widespread outbreak since public health authorities began keeping track more than a dozen years ago. Now, with the threat of more strains emerging, it might get even worse.

“Flu is everywhere in the U.S. right now,” said Dan Jernigan, director of the influenza division at the national Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “This is the first year we have had the entire continental U.S. be the same color on the graph, meaning there is widespread activity in all of the continental U.S. at this point.”

The most optimistic assumption among government experts is that the season peaked a few weeks ago, marking the apex of what was already an early and severe outbreak. However, such an outlook requires observers to ignore that outpatient doctor visits have continued to climb (albeit more slowly) in the first week of 2018, yielding the most flu cases ever for this time of the year.

Even if the hopeful assessment by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bears out, there will still be an additional 11 weeks to 13 weeks of flu circulating across the country. “In general, we see things peaking right about now, but that means there is still a whole lot more flu to go,” Jernigan said. “In addition, there are other strains of influenza still to show up that could be a major cause of disease.” (Read more from “Think Flu Season Is Bad? It Might Get Even Worse” HERE)

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Pet Owners Warned of Dog Flu

By CBS Local. Some people are worried about their pets getting the flu because so many people are infected.

There is canine influenza, more commonly known as the dog flu, and the symptoms are similar to what humans get. But it’s not the same virus.

The flu is now widespread across the country and so are respiratory infections and colds . . .

Veterinarians say canine influenza mainly affects dogs and the signs are much like what you see in people. (Read more from “Pet Owners Warned of Dog Flu” HERE)

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College Course Reprimands White Heterosexual Masculinity

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A class taught this spring at Ohio State University will review a parade of reasons why white heterosexual masculinity is allegedly problematic, tackling the topic from the constructs of racial issues, bullying, pop culture, societal expectations and much more, according to its syllabus.

The course, “Be a Man! Masculinities, Race and Nation,” includes a variety of readings to that end, including its required textbook “Dude, You’re a Fag!” by C.J. Pascoe, which analyzes masculinity as not only a gendered process, but sexual one, its Amazon description states.

Other assigned reading excerpts include: “Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael Kimmel; “Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity” by Jackson Katz; “Dude Sex: Dudes Who Have Sex with Dudes” by Jane Ward; “Looking for My Penis” by Richard Fung; “Sodomy in the New World” by Jonathan Goldberg; and “Teaching Men’s Anal Pleasure” by Susan Stiritz.

The class is also expected to screen “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” the dashcam footage of Philando Castile’s murder, Key & Peele’s “Hoodie Skit,” and an episode of “The New Normal.”

The course is ultimately presented as a study in “feminist masculinity” that seeks to explain how ideas about masculinity “simultaneously harm yet privilege” men, the syllabus states. It also aims to explain how “beliefs regarding masculinity serve to justify certain kinds of violence by men against others, and violence against particular groups of men.” (Read more from “College Course Reprimands White Heterosexual Masculinity” HERE)

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The US Military Is Preparing for War Against North Korea

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The United States military is preparing for a still-unlikely war with North Korea.

That’s the takeaway from two big stories that broke over the long weekend. On Sunday, the New York Times reported that US troops are actively holding training exercises specifically geared toward a possible war with North Korea. And the Associated Press reported on Monday that the US has now started sending ships and bombers toward the Korean Peninsula, beefing up its military presence in the region.

But that’s not all. It looks like Japan has started thinking about ways to evacuate thousands of its citizens from South Korea if war with North Korea does break out . . .

According to the Associated Press, the US has started moving planes, ships, and troops closer to North Korea. Three B-2 bombers are now positioned in Guam, a US territory with military bases only 2,200 miles away from country. That’s significant: The B-2 is the Air Force’s most advanced bomber — and it can carry nuclear weapons. The Air Force also sent six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Guam.

On top of that, the USS Carl Vinson is on its way toward the western Pacific Ocean. The Navy says it’s for a regularly scheduled deployment, but North Korea may still find the move threatening. That’s because an aircraft carrier can, well, carry aircraft. Think of them as floating airports that the US can place near almost any country it wants. The US can put multiple attack planes on it, moving them much closer to their potential targets in North Korea should war break out. (Read more from “The US Military Is Preparing for War Against North Korea” HERE)

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Watch: Two Men Try to Rob 7/11 Using Fake Gun. Security Guard Shoots Them with Real Gun.

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Two would-be robbers would have done well to take this elementary advice before their attempted “armed” robbery went awry when a heroic armed security guard shot the men and held them at gunpoint until the police arrived.

In this YouTube video that’s making the rounds, two black males in hoodies enter a 7-Eleven in Hamilton, New Jersey just before midnight and approach the counter.

One takes out his fake gun (that looks real), hops the counter, and pushes the cashier to the side.

The other criminal removes his backpack, jumps the counter, and opens the cash register.

As he’s about to begin removing cash, a security guard bursts into the store and shoots both robbers, who fall to the ground. (Read more from “Watch: Two Men Try to Rob 7/11 Using Fake Gun. Security Guard Shoots Them with Real Gun.” HERE)

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Former CIA Officer – Charged with Unlawful Possession of Secrets – Is Suspected of Much Worse Crime

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A former CIA officer who was charged Tuesday with unlawful possession of secrets is suspected of a much worse crime: betraying U.S. informants in China, sources familiar with the case told NBC News.

The former officer, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, was arrested Monday after flying into New York on a Cathay Pacific flight from his home in Hong King, federal authorities announced.

Lee, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was charged with a single count of unlawfully possessing national defense information, based on a 2012 search that found him to be in possession of two notebooks containing the true names of CIA assets and covert facilities, which are some of the agency’s most closely guarded secrets.

But sources familiar with the case say he is suspected of funneling information to China that caused the deaths or imprisonment of approximately 20 American agents, in one of the worst intelligence breaches in decades.

The New York Times reported last year that the Chinese government systematically dismantled CIA spying operations in the country starting in 2010, killing or imprisoning more than a dozen sources over two years and crippling intelligence gathering there for years afterward. (Read more from “Former CIA Officer – Charged with Unlawful Possession of Secrets – Is Suspected of Much Worse Crime” HERE)

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We Have No Bananas. Yes, We Really Don’t.

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. . .The Gros Michel, the favored variety of the yellow staple also known as Big Mike, was all but wiped out after a blight of Panama disease attacked plantations across Central America. Stubbier and sweeter than the elongated Cavendish we know today, the banana Americans knew and loved for its longer-lasting freshness and bruise resistance was no more – at least, not in the numbers required to export en masse.

Today growers are concerned that the same fate awaits the Cavendish which comprises 99 percent of bananas sold in the United States.

Being seedless, the Gros Michel cultivars are clones just like the Cavendish. Nobody wants seeds in their bananas. They’re big, hard, and take up all the space where the tasty bits are supposed to be. But breeding the seeds out (or rendering them so small as to be non-functional) equates to new banana plants having to be grown via shoots and cuttings. The lack of genetic diversity in the species spells disaster for the plant’s ability to mutate to combat assorted diseases.

So, while the static Cavendish rose in favor due to its immunity to Panama disease, Panama disease evolved. This new strain of Fusarium wilt, commonly known as TR4, is menacing the poor clones. Plantations in Australia and Southeast Asia have taken a pounding over the past decade. Carried on the boots of plantation workers, the fungus is easily spread and is now reported in Africa and the Middle East.

But the fight is on … in the lab and now in the fields. (Read more from “We Have No Bananas. Yes, We Really Don’t.” HERE)

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N.Y. Times: Mueller Subpoenas Bannon

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The New York Times, citing only an unidentified source close to the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, is reporting that Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury.

The paper said it was the first time Mueller is “known to have used a grand jury subpoena to seek information from a member of Mr. Trump’s inner circle.”

Bannon, who before and after his service to the president was executive chairman of Breitbart News, became a flashpoint with the recent release of journalist Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” where he was quoted calling a meeting Donald Trump Jr. attended in 2016 with Russians as “treasonous.”

Bannon left the Trump administration last August, then stepped away from his post as executive chairman of Breitbart last week.

But Bannon apparently was not directly involved in two of the key concerns reportedly being investigated by Mueller, who for the last year has failed to produce any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians, his stated assignment when appointed. (Read more from “N.Y. Times: Mueller Subpoenas Bannon” HERE)

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Former Pastor Arrested for Attempting to Smuggle Marijuana into US

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John Bishop, the former lead pastor of Vancouver’s Living Hope Church, is facing a federal drug charge in U.S. District Court in Southern California for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 280 pounds of marijuana into the country from Mexico.

The 54-year-old was arrested Dec. 11 after he was stopped about 5:25 a.m. by U.S. Customs and Border Protection while re-entering the country through the port of entry at San Ysidro, Calif. Bishop reportedly told border patrol agents he was driving to Chula Vista, Calif., according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

While conducting a routine inspection of Bishop’s gray Volkswagen Jetta, the officer found packages hidden in a wheel well. A narcotics detection dog was summoned and subsequently alerted officers to the undercarriage and trunk of the car, the affidavit states.

The car was taken apart revealing 105 packages weighing 281.88 pounds that field-tested positive for marijuana. Packages were removed from the car’s bumpers, rear seat, dashboard and at least one wheel well, the court document said.

Bishop was taken into custody and charged with unlawful importation of a controlled substance, according to a complaint filed Dec. 12 in U.S. District Court. (Read more from “Former Pastor Arrested for Attempting to Smuggle Marijuana into US” HERE)

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DHS to Charge Leaders of Sanctuary Cities

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Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen confirmed Tuesday that her department has asked federal prosecutors to see if they can lodge criminal charges against sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal deportation efforts.

“The Department of Justice is reviewing what avenues may be available,” Ms. Nielsen told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Her confirmation came after California’s new sanctuary law went into effect Jan. 1, severely restricting cooperation the state or any of its localities could offer.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan says those policies put his officers and local communities at more risk because they have to arrest illegal immigrants out in the community.

Mr. Homan told The Washington Times last July that he wanted to see local officials charged as complicit in human smuggling if they shielded illegal immigrants through sanctuary policies. (Read more from “DHS to Charge Leaders of Sanctuary Cities” HERE)

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Wedding Program Turns Into Devlish Message

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Two homosexuals are suing Vistaprint after they ordered wedding programs for their recent ceremony – and instead opened the package on the eve of the event to discover pamphlets that warned “Satan entices your flesh with evil desires.”

Divine message or shipping flub?

The New York Post described how the two were horrified.

“Rather than send plaintiffs the custom wedding programs they had purchased, Vistaprint instead sent plaintiffs literature with hateful, discriminatory and anti-gay messages equating their relationship to Satan’s temptation,” the Post quoted from the lawsuit.

The men, Stephen Heasley and Andrew Borg, said they are suing to “hold Vistaprint accountable for the harm they have caused … and to send the message that there will be consequences for acts of hate perpetrated against others.” (Read more from “Wedding Program Turns Into Devlish Message” HERE)

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