Biden Cancer Charity Spent Over $3M on Salaries, Zero on Research, Grants

Joe Biden's cancer charity spent more than $3 million on salaries and zero on cancer research and grants during a two-year period, according to tax filings reviewed by the New York Post.

Documents also show the Biden Cancer Initiative, founded by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and wife, Jill, after Joe's oldest son, Beau died in 2015 from brain cancer, spent nearly $1 million on travel and conference expenses during that time.

The charity took in $4.8 million in contributions in fiscal years 2017 and 2018 and spent $3 million on payroll in those two years.

Gregory Simon, president of the Biden Cancer Initiative and former Pfizer executive, reportedly received $429,850 during the 2018 fiscal year, nearly double what he made in 2017.

Danielle Carnival, former chief of staff for Obama's Cancer Moonshot Task Force, was paid $258,207 in 2018.

The initiative, suspended in 2019 as Biden became further involved in the 2020 presidential election, was initially touted as an organization that would "develop and drive implementation of solutions to accelerate progress in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, research and care, and to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes."

https://www.newsmax.com/us/biden-cancer-charity-2020/2020/11/15/id/997159/

Cuomo Threatens to Sue Over Vaccine Distribution Plan

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday threatened to sue the Trump administration if its coronavirus vaccine distribution plan makes it more difficult for people of color to receive it, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported.

Cuomo charged that the federal plan relies too much on health care providers to deliver the vaccine, which he said could leave behind communities of color that often don’t have easy access to the system.

The governor said the distribution plan should also include such local facilities as churches and community centers.

“If the Trump administration does not change this plan and does not provide an equitable vaccine process, we will enforce our legal rights,” Cuomo said during a service at Riverside Church in New York City

He stressed that “any plan that intentionally burdens communities of color to hinder access to the vaccine deprives those communities of equal protection under the law.”

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report in August showed that communities of color have a disproportionate number of coronavirus cases.

Other research has shown these communities are more likely to suffer serious illness or death from COVID-19, with one reason cited as the lack of access to healthcare.

https://www.newsmax.com/us/cuomo-vaccine-distribution-plan-trump/2020/11/15/id/997161/

Barron's: 10 Hidden Gems in Quest for Stocks Boosted by Vaccine

With the hope of a vaccine to hopefully end the coronavirus pandemic, savvy investors should be on the prowl for stocks poised to rise as life slowly returns to normal.

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc said on Monday its COVID-19 vaccine was 90% effective.

In the wake of that news, brokerage firm Jefferies took a look and listed 67 stocks with “potential upside” looking “beyond the obvious,” Barron’s said.

Barron’s didn't list all 67, but the financial publication did name 10 that haven’t moved as much as others.

1. Huntsman (HUN),
2. Paccar (PCAR),
3. Brinker (EAT),
4. Haemonetics (HAE),
5. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX),
6. Pra Health Sciences (PRAH),
7. Blackstone (BX),
8. Syneos Health (SYNH),
9. Coca-Cola (KO)
10. ON Semiconductor (ON)

The stocks cover a range of industries. As Barron’s explained:

• Huntsman is a chemical maker and Freeport is a miner. Both can benefit from higher levels of economic activity coming out of the pandemic-induced recession.
• Heavy-duty truck maker Paccar and ON Semiconductor are linked. ON Semi sells a lot of chips into the car market, and auto sales are improving and set to improve further with an effective vaccine.
• Healthcare stocks such as Haemonetics, Pra and Syneos can benefit from elective procedures and drug research returning to normal.
• Coco-Cola benefits from live sports restarting and Brinker can benefit from restaurants reopening.
• Blackstone is a private-equity player and Jefferies analyst Gerald O’Hara writes: “A vaccine would likely pull forward the ability to achieve regular way private equity exits sooner than the market is expecting.”

https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/stocks-covid-vaccine-investors/2020/11/10/id/996436/

 
 

Osterholm Panic Button: COVID Victims Will Start 'Dying on the Streets'

The Joe Biden COVID adviser most bullish on pandemic shutdowns to mitigate the spread, Dr. Michael Osterholm, said Sunday we need to consider this a 1918-level public health emergency, because Americans will begin "dying on the streets."

"We are in a very dangerous period, the most dangerous public health period since 1918," Osterholm told NBC News' "Meet the Press." "And if we don't basically take important steps like stop swapping air with our, our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, we're going to see these numbers grow substantially."

People need to spread out to slow the spread, Osterholm stressed to host Chuck Todd.

"It's very important that, first of all, we don't swap air with people," he said. "That's how this is being transmitted."

Short of that, Osterholm expects us to start dying in the streets, emergency rooms waiting to be seen.

"You know, my worst fear is what we saw happen in other countries, where people were dying on the streets," he said. "People literally were dying in the waiting room of emergency rooms after spending ten hours just waiting to be seen. That's going to start happening.

"The media will start reporting it and we will see the breadth and the depth of this tragedy. That, I hope, will not be the way that we finally decide to reduce our risk, this idea of swapping air. We've got to stop doing that.

"And so, I think it is the healthcare system's breaking, literally breaking, that will unfortunately bring us to a sense of reality of what we must do in the short term."

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/michaelosterholm-covid-victims-death/2020/11/15/id/997148/

Microsoft: Russian, North Korean hackers target vaccine work

Microsoft said it has detected attempts by state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and vaccine researchers. 

It said in have also been targeting vaccine-makers, the U.S. government said in July while announcing criminal charges.

Microsoft said most of the targets—located in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the United States—were "directly involved in researching vaccines and treatments for COVID-19." It did not name the targets but said most had vaccine candidates in various stages of clinical trials.

The company identified one of the state-backed hacker groups as Fancy Bear, the Russian military agents who Britain's National Cyber Security Center said in July were behind such intrusion attempts. Two others were North Korea's Lazarus Group and a group Microsoft calls Cerium.

Most of the break-in efforts involved attempts to steal the login credentials of people associated with the targeted organizations. The Lazarus Group posed as job recruiters while Cerium targeted spear-phishing emails that masqueraded as missives from World Health Organization representatives, Microsoft said.

The blog post coincided with an appearance by Microsoft president Brad Smith at an international forum calling on nations to protect health care facilities from cyberattacks. This year, the Paris Peace Forum is taking place online.

• 

  This April 12, 2016 file photo shows the Microsoft logo in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, France. Microsoft says state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers have in recent months tried to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and COVID-19 vaccine researchers. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

• 

  This handout photo taken in Oct. 2020 and provided by Pfizer shows part of a "freezer farm," a football field-sized facility for storing finished COVID-19 vaccines, in Puurs, Belgium. Microsoft says state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers have in recent months tried to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and COVID-19 vaccine researchers. (Pfizer via AP)

• 

  This April 12, 2016 file photo shows the Microsoft logo in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, France. Microsoft says state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers have in recent months tried to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and COVID-19 vaccine researchers. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

• 

  This handout photo taken in Oct. 2020 and provided by Pfizer shows part of a "freezer farm," a football field-sized facility for storing finished COVID-19 vaccines, in Puurs, Belgium. Microsoft says state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers have in recent months tried to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and COVID-19 vaccine researchers. (Pfizer via AP)

• 
• 

Optimism about a COVID-19 vaccine has grown since pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced earlier this week that preliminary data showed its vaccine to be 90% effective.

At the same time, coronavirus cases are surging. In the U.S., deaths per day have soared more than 40% over the past two weeks to an average of more than 1,100, the highest level in three months.

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-microsoft-russian-north-korean-hackers.html

Mich. Gov. set to announce new Covid restrictions

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration is preparing to release tighter statewide coronavirus restrictions Sunday, sources tell TV6 & FOX UP.

An official announcement is expected Sunday evening following a meeting with the governor and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. A news conference is planned for 6:00 p.m. eastern time. You can watch it live on TV6 and the TV6 & FOX UP Facebook Page.

Gov. Whitmer warned Thursday that she was “strongly considering” any action to combat COVID-19 spread as cases, hospitalizations and deaths are skyrocketing. The surge comes as the firearm deer season begins and Thanksgiving approaches.

The new order is again expected to come from the state health department. This is an entirely separate part of law than the authority Whitmer used to issue her original executive orders.

The following new restrictions are now expected to be effective Wednesday and last for three weeks (updated from earlier version of this story which stated these restrictions would be effective Monday):

• Everyone must work from home unless impossible to do so
• No restrictions on indoor construction (updated from earlier version of this story which stated there would be limits on workers at sites)
• All high schools will be remote; external sports are canceled; special education and ELL services wll stay open in high schools; K-8 encouraged to stay in-person if possible
• No dine-in service for bars or restaurants

Michigan colleges and universities will be impacted, but it’s unclear exactly how.

https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2020/11/15/sources-whitmer-administration-to-announce-new-coronavirus-restrictions/

Atara Biotherapeutics to boost ATA188 investment in MS treatment

• Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) intends to present 15-month safety and efficacy data from all patients in the two highest dose cohorts of the Phase 1a study of ATA188 at European Charcot Foundation meeting Nov 15-19 following patient responses that "likely indicate a treatment effect with ATA188,” said Jakob Dupont, Global Head, Research and Development at Atara.
• Following the results, ATRA noted that it is to boost the size to at least 64 patients, while adjusting the primary endpoint of the study. The endpoint will be changed to disability improvement, and maintaining biological and functional endpoints.
• https://seekingalpha.com/news/3636398-atara-biotherapeutics-to-boost-ata188-investment-in-multiple-sclerosis-treatment