Dem rep tells Biden point-blank to step aside, prompting hasty end to Hispanic outreach call

 A House Democrat directly asked President Biden to end his campaign for a second term on a Friday conference call meant to shore up support among Hispanic party members in Congress — the most direct known request by an elected lawmaker for the 81-year-old to give up his re-election bid.

The request by Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) prompted call organizer Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) to rapidly end the Zoom meeting, after she had already ignored a request to speak from Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), the Albritton Journalism Institute reported.

Perez, 36, has asked Biden to resign as president in addition to handing off the nomination.

It’s unclear what exactly the 81-year-old president said in response to Levin, whose district covers parts of San Diego and Orange counties in Southern California.

Biden, who is relying upon a shrinking group of trusted advisers who heavily curtail access to him, scoffed Thursday at mounting calls for him to step aside while hosting a defiant press conference at the NATO summit in Washington.

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Levin, 45, urged Biden publicly to step aside after the call.

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Rep. Mike Levin directly asked President Biden to step aside on a Friday Zoom call intended to rally lawmakers with Hispanic heritage.CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

“Like so many of you, I was naturally concerned about President Biden’s performance in the recent debate,” he said in a statement.

“Making this statement is not easy. I have deep respect for President Biden’s five plus decades of public service and incredible appreciation for the work we’ve done together these last three and a half years. But I believe the time has come for President Biden to pass the torch.”

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U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) speaks on immigration at the U.S. Capitol on May 10, 2023 in Washington, DC.Getty Images

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Levin’s request prompted a hasty end to the call, according to a report.CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

So far, 19 House Democrats and one senator have called publicly on Biden to step aside following his catastrophic June 27 debate performance against former President Donald Trump, where Biden appeared confused and made puzzling remarks such as that he “beat Medicare.”

Biden on Thursday evening added to his verbal stumbles, mistakenly introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” before hosting a press conference where he made reference to “Vice President Trump” instead of Kamala Harris.

Gluesenkamp Perez said Thursday that Biden should consider leaving office before his term ends due to the possibility he’s not truly running the country.

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Biden, 81, committed fresh gaffes Thursday evening while mixing up the names of European leaders and his own vice president.Getty Images

“I doubt the President’s judgement about his health, his fitness to do the job, and whether he is the one making important decisions about our country, rather than unelected advisors,” she said in a statement to KGW8. 

“Americans deserve to feel their president is fit enough to do the job. The crisis of confidence in the President’s leadership needs to come to an end. The President should do what he knows is right for the country and put the national interest first.”

The White House and Biden campaign did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

https://nypost.com/2024/07/12/us-news/democratic-rep-tells-biden-point-blank-to-step-aside-prompting-hasty-end-to-hispanic-outreach-call/

Potemkin Paris: France moves homeless illegals out of capital to clean up for Olympics

 By Monica Showalter

Paris? Its streets covered with homeless illegal-migrant encampments?

Not for the Olympics, it isn't.

According to the New York Times, President Macron has gone the full Potemkin Village ahead of the international television cameras filming Paris for the Olympics, which begin on July 24, sweeping the illegals out.

The French government has put thousands of homeless immigrants on buses and sent them out of Paris ahead of the Olympics. The immigrants said they were promised housing elsewhere, only to end up living on unfamiliar streets far from home or flagged for deportation.

...

Around the city over the past year, the police and courts have evicted roughly 5,000 people, most of them single men, according to Christophe Noël du Payrat, a senior government official in Paris. City officials encourage them to board buses to cities like Lyon or Marseille.

“We were expelled because of the Olympic Games,” said Mohamed Ibrahim, from Chad, who was evicted from an abandoned cement factory near the Olympic Village.

 

The story mirrors a similar story done by DW News of Germany featured on YouTube three weeks ago, although the Times did its own reporting and interviewed different illegal migrants:

What's going on here is illegals-dumping from Paris to the other French cities, including some that don't vote for Macron. The City of Orléans, made famous by Joan of Arc, is featured in both news items, and based on the voting map of the Loiret department, of which Orleans is the main city, appears to have gone left in the western precinct where Orléans itself is, while voting pro-Macron in the center of the department, pro-National Rally of Marine Le Pen conservative in the west, and for an unspecified fourth party in the south. Orléans has a nice cathedral and Joan of Arc museum, and it's likely some of the newly arrived migrants are getting ideas about how to burn it.

It's the same thing San Francisco's mayor, London Breed did when China's president, Xi Jinping, came calling in November last year.

Paris is pretending this homeless sweepout has nothing to do with the Olympics (the Times piece found evidence they were lying), but San Francisco didn't even try to hide it. San Francisco was so crude about it even Gov. Gavin Newsom admitted four days later they swept out the homeless for Xi's visit, and shortly after, the city went right back to drugs, homeless campouts, lawlessness and disorder the minute the Chinese president left.

For cities such as Orléans and Marseille, it's a raw deal and doesn't solve the root of the problem, which is why the country is tolerating illegal immigrants who can neither assimilate, nor contribute, nor be happy in any Western society. The Sudanese migrant quoted in the DW News video specifically stated that he expected the French government to support him for the rest of his life.

As the mayor of Marseille, told the Times:

City officials outside Paris told us that they had not been consulted about the program.

“There’s no money to find places for the homeless in Marseille, but there is money to bring homeless people from Paris?” said Audrey Garino, deputy mayor of Marseille.

So they're playing pass-the-migrant in the name of giving Paris good public relations coverage for the Olympics, and spreading the homeless-migrant problem across the country. The migrants are homeless because they have so little to offer a developed society and can't earn high wages unless the state pays it for them. But the state doesn't deport them immediately, it lets them just camp out, litter, and commit crimes, making the city of Paris unliveable for the other residents who pay the taxes.

Only when fancy foreigners with big television cameras come do they get busy with a cleanup. Seems merely being a Parisian wanting a reasonable quality of life isn't good enough for them to get to work. The Times says they are deporting some of the migrants now with these buses, but one wonders why they didn't do that before the migrants could camp out and make the city hellish.

Funny how an international spotlight motivates these blue cities like Paris and San Francisco. They don't do anything otherwise, blithely ignoring the well-being of their own voters.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/07/potemkin_paris_france_moves_its_homeless_illegals_out_of_the_capital_to_clean_up_for_the_olympics.html

'Nearly 1 in 10 Pregnant Women Who Get COVID Develop Long COVID'

 Almost 10% of women who get COVID during pregnancy develop long-lasting symptoms, and a new study suggests doctors may be overlooking them.

"I doubt most obstetric clinicians are as aware of Long COVID as perhaps we should be," said study co-leader Dr. Torri Metz, vice chair of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Utah Health.

"But people are having these symptoms, and we need to make sure that we're not forgetting that these could be long-term manifestations of their SARS-CoV-2 infection," Metz added in a university news release.

Previous studies had shown that COVID poses unique risks to pregnant women. For example, it increases the chances of preterm birth or stillbirth and is more likely to lead to hospitalization or death of the mother. But the risk for long COVID had not been researched.

For the study, Metz' team enrolled more than 1,500 women nationwide who got COVID for the first time during pregnancy. The women self-reported on symptoms at least six months after their initial infection. 

In all, researchers found that 9.3% of women who got COVID during pregnancy experienced long-term symptoms -- most often fatigue, gastrointestinal issues and feeling drained or exhausted by routine activities.

The study was part of a massive nationwide collaboration led by the National Institutes of Health to understand and treat Long COVID. Researchers said its size provided an accurate picture of risk across demographic groups.

"This is a critical study as pregnancy and the postpartum period are one of the most vulnerable times in an individual's life," said Dr. David Goff, division director for cardiovascular sciences at the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The NIH funded the study.

"By better understanding how individual characteristics interact with SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and lead to an increased risk of Long COVID, this study yields important insights to potentially develop targeted interventions for this population," Goff added.

To make sure that the Long COVID symptoms women reported weren't symptoms of pregnancy itself, the researchers did a separate analysis that included only people who reported symptoms more than 12 weeks after giving birth. 

The risk of Long COVID remained similar, confirming the initial findings. 

"Our results highlight that people who were pregnant when they got COVID may have significant long-term symptoms after pregnancy, like fatigue even after simple activities that they did before the infection," said senior study author Dr. Vanessa Jacoby, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. 

While researchers were surprised that the rate of long COVID was so high, Metz said the risk for pregnant women may actually be underestimated. That's because the study may have missed women whose symptoms resolved before women were asked to report whether they had Long COVID symptoms.

Those who were anxious or depressed before getting sick and those who were obese were more likely to have Long COVID symptoms, the study found. Financial hardship was also associated with higher rates of Long COVID, but researchers noted it wasn't clear whether money problems were a cause or consequence of the continuing symptoms.

The findings were published July 11 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Previous studies of Long COVID in the general population have yielded a range of rates -- from 10% to more than 20% -- putting pregnant women at the lower end of the spectrum.

Metz said that might be because pregnant women's immune systems tend to respond less forcefully to infection. That puts them at higher risk of severe illness at the start, but may lower their risk of long-term organ damage that can lead to persistent symptoms, she said. Another possible explanation: Pregnant women tend to be younger and healthier than other populations.

"We need to have this on our radar as we're seeing patients," Metz said. "It's something we really don't want to miss. And we want to get people referred to appropriate specialists who treat Long COVID."

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-07-12/nearly-1-in-10-pregnant-women-who-get-covid-develop-long-covid

Healthcare SPAC Launch One Acquisition prices $200 million IPO

 Launch One Acquisition, a blank check company targeting the healthcare sector, raised $200 million by offering 20 million units at $10. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-half of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50.

Launch One Acquisition is led by CEO and Director Chris Ehrlich, a former Senior Managing Director at life sciences-focused Locust Walk, and Chairman Ryan Gilbert, the founder and General Partner of financial services-focused venture firm Launchpad Capital. The company plans to target the healthcare or healthcare-related sectors, with a focus on life sciences.

Management has been involved with several past SPACs. Ehrlich previously served as the CEO of Phoenix Biotech Acquisition (merged with CERO; -98% from $10 offer price) and Locust Walk Acquisition (merged with EFTR; -99%). Gilbert's recent roles include serving as CEO of FTAC Olympus Acquisition (merged with PAYO; -47%) and an advisor to Phoenix Biotech Acquisition, Locust Walk Acquisition, and Newcourt Acquisition (merged with PBM; -97%).

Launch One Acquisition plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol LPAAU. Cantor Fitzgerald acted as sole bookrunner on the deal.

Relevant Profile: LPAAU

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/105650/Healthcare-SPAC-Launch-One-Acquisition-prices-$200-million-IPO

Healthcare SPAC SIM Acquisition I prices $200 million IPO

 SIM Acquisition I, a blank check company formed by Sauvegarder Investment Management targeting healthcare, raised $200 million by offering 20 million units at $10. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-half of a warrant, exercisable at $11.50.

SIM Acquisition I is led by CEO and Chairman Erich Spangenberg and CFO and Director David Kutcher, co-founders of multi-strategy investment firm Sauvegarder Investment Management, where they serve as Managing Partner and Co-Managing Partner, respectively. The SPAC plans to target the healthcare sector, looking at criteria such as industry attractiveness and value proposition, among others.

SIM Acquisition I plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol SIMAU. Cantor Fitzgerald acted as sole bookrunner on the deal.

Relevant Profile: SIMAU

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/105602/Healthcare-SPAC-SIM-Acquisition-I-prices-$200-million-IPO

'Ozempic may reduce dementia: Research'

 Ozempic use is associated with a lowered risk for cognitive problems, researchers in a new study said. The findings, however, cannot be applied to users who do not have diabetes.

The study, published Thursday, was conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford who analyzed more than 100,000 U.S. patient records, including 20,000 who were taking a semaglutide, commonly known as Ozempic or Wegovy. 

Researchers found that the drug does not increase risk for neurological or psychiatric conditions compared to other antidiabetic medications, and was in fact associated with lower risk for cognitive problems and nicotine dependence. The study outlined a handful of conditions the drug did not increase the risk of, including dementia, depression and anxiety.

“Our results suggest that semaglutide use could extend beyond managing diabetes, potentially offering unexpected benefits in the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline and substance misuse,” said Dr. Riccardo De Giorgi, clinical lecturer at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study.

The findings were observational, so researchers concluded that further investigation is necessary to explore what properties of semaglutide led to the trends. They also encouraged further trials replicating the study to confirm their findings.

“Nevertheless, they are good news for patients with psychiatric disorders, who are at an increased risk of diabetes,” said Max Taquet, clinical lecturer at the University of Oxford and senior author of the study.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4768616-ozempic-risk-cognitive-problems-dementia/