Guess who pays for all those millions of COVID-19 vaccines

Then there's the matter of what the obligations these companies have when it comes to providing vaccines not only to U.S. citizens but to the rest of the world. Note that the fight against COVID-19 also entails tests and medicine, but I'm just going to focus on vaccines, as it's a critical and deep topic that also happens to be rich with drama. First you should know that the U.S. government has been in the business of funding vaccines long before COVID-19.

Proud Boys members and other right wing groups based in Utah are holding an armed 'Kyle Rittenhouse Appreciation' rally: report

Members of the far-right Proud Boys in Utah are holding a "Kyle Rittenhouse Appreciation" rally on Saturday, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. The Proud Boys are labeled as an extremist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Rittenhouse was acquitted from charges last month stemming from fatally shooting two people and injuring a third at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

A veteran Taco Bell worker of 20 years says he quit because customers have gotten so 'unreasonable' and hard to deal with

A Taco Bell manager is leaving after 20 years for a non-food service job. Workers are also burnt out and pushed to their limits, he says. After 20 years of working at Taco Bell, a worker told Insider that he's leaving because customers have gotten too difficult in the past year.

Sanders to Biden: Cut back looming Medicare premium hike

Sen. Bernie Sanders is asking the White House to cut back a big Medicare premium hike set to take effect in weeks and tied to a pricey Alzheimer's drug whose benefits have been widely questioned. In a letter Friday to President Joe Biden, the Vermont Independent called on the president to act immediately to prevent the portion of an “outrageous increase” in Medicare premiums that's attributable to Aduhelm, a newly approved Alzheimer's medicine from drugmaker Biogen, priced at $56,000 a year. If Biden agreed and found a way to do it, a planned January increase of $21.60 a month to Medicare's “Part B” premium for outpatient care would be slashed closer to $10.

Epstein houseman describes ‘degrading’ regimen imposed by Ghislaine Maxwell at mansion

Ghislaine Maxwell was a boss who made almost impossible demands. No detail was too small — from ensuring that every tissue box was full to checking for holes in Epstein's fence so that Maxwell's Yorkie, “Max,” wouldn't escape. Maxwell — Epstein's former girlfriend — was Epstein's “number 2” and managed Epstein's households, doing most of the hiring and firing of the staff for his homes in Palm Beach, New Mexico, New York and on his private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

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  Ex-Epstein staffer testifies accusers visited mansion

  Associated Press Videos
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  Scenes from Week 1 of Ghislaine Maxwell's sex-abuse trial

  Associated Press

Can you spot the rattlesnake in Arizona man’s yard?

A company that captures and relocates rattlesnakes discovered on public and private property recently quizzed its Facebook followers by posting the accompanying image and asking: “Western Diamondback Rattlesnake spotted in a backyard by Dave recently. See it? While many might spot the rattlesnake after a brief inspection, the image reveals how adept rattlesnakes are at blending into their surroundings.

Montana inmate confesses to 1968 slaying, dismemberment

A Montana prison inmate serving a 100-year sentence for killing his wife in 1983 has confessed to strangling, sexually assaulting and dismembering a 19-year-old Helena woman 15 years earlier, authorities said Friday. Courtney Brooke Atlas, 79, confessed to killing Pamela Ann Dorrington, who disappeared in 1968. Part of her torso was found near the boat dock at Gates of the Mountains Marina on Holter Lake four months later.

Creatures in Wisconsin river are ‘pushing the limits’ at 100 years old, state says

The spectaclecase mussel is known for having a lengthy lifespan, but the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says it has found a bunch above the St. Croix Falls dam that are at least a century old. That means they were born around the time Warren G. Harding was president of the 48 United States of America, Amelia Earhart bought her first plane and Albert Einstein got a Nobel Prize in Physics. Native mussels can live a long time, but these mussels were pushing the limits,” Wisconsin DNR biologist Lisie Kitchel said in a news release.

Bomb squad called to ER after a patient turned up with a WWII artillery shell lodged in his rectum, police say

A man presented at an emergency room in Gloucester, England, with a "munition in his rectum," police say. Doctors removed the World War II artillery shell from inside of him. Bomb disposal experts confirmed that the shell was "not live," per a police statement.

Tori Spelling shares her plastic surgery plans so she can 'dress sexy'

Tori Spelling is going back under the knife to have her "expired" and "recalled" breast implants removed. During a recent appearance on "Jeff Lewis Live" on SiriusXM's Radio Andy, the 48-year-old revealed her she plans to undergo surgery in February 2022 and have her current breast implants removed. The "Beverly Hills 90210" alum said she will have them replaced with bigger ones that will actually "look smaller" due to their new and improved shape.

Watch mountain lion stare down pup through glass door of Colorado home. ‘Really scary’

When Sarah Bole got home from work one evening this week, she was greeted by a mountain lion on her patio. Her 13-year-old Shih-Poo was in a stare-down with the cougar from the comfort of its home in Grand Lake, Colorado, Bole told Storyful. The mountain lion stared back, video recorded by Bole shows.

Elon Musk suggests that anyone over the age of 70 should be barred from running for political office

Elon Musk suggested that an age limit should be set for running for political office. The Tesla CEO tweeted on Thursday, calling for those over the age of 70 to be barred. Elon Musk recently suggested that anyone over 70 years old should be barred from running for political office.

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  Elon Musk says the first Tesla Cybertruck will be a four-motor variant

  Engadget
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  Elon Musk says the first Tesla Cybertrucks will have 4 motors and be able to 'drive diagonally like a crab'

  Business Insider

Omicron variant may have picked up a piece of common-cold virus

The Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up a snippet of genetic material from another virus - possibly one that causes the common cold - present in the same infected cells, according to researchers. This genetic sequence does not appear in any earlier versions of the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, but is ubiquitous in many other viruses including those that cause the common cold, and also in the human genome, researchers said. By inserting this particular snippet into itself, Omicron might be making itself look "more human," which would help it evade attack by the human immune system, said Venky Soundararajan of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based data analytics firm nference, who led the study https://osf.io/f7txy posted on Thursday on the website OSF Preprints.

MH370: Could missing Malaysian Airlines plane finally be found?

He combined different data sets that were previously kept in separate domains, to align to this new location in the Southern Indian Ocean. Mr Godfrey said it was a "complicated exercise", but previously there was simply a lack of lateral thinking, across multiple disciplines, to bring this together. "No one had the idea before to combine Inmarsat satellite data, with Boeing performance data, with Oceanographic floating debris drift data, with WSPR net data," he said.

Fiancée of Man Convicted In Ahmaud Arbery’s Murder Tried to Hail Him as a Hero In Failed GoFundMe Campaign Before It Was Ultimately Shut Down

GoFundMe recently terminated a campaign raising money for William “Roddie” Bryan, one of the men convicted last month of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, after it said the fundraising campaign violated the company's term that prohibits collecting funds for the legal defense of a violent crime. The for-profit crowdfunding platform told the Savannah Morning News that they had shut down the latest fundraiser created for Bryan — three were made in total — with the most recent set at $300,000, although it had only received $700 in donations by the time it was closed. Bryan's fiancée Amy Elrod reportedly created the campaign, citing that the convicted man was facing financial issues and could not pay his defense fees.

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  GoFundMe spikes fundraisers for man convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery

  The Hill
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  Multiple fundraisers asking for money for William Bryan, one of the men found guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, have been shut down

  INSIDER

U.S. House panel postpones Trump official's deposition on medical grounds

The U.S. congressional committee probing the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol said the deposition of Jeffrey Clark, a senior Justice Department official under former President Donald Trump, has been postponed due to a medical condition. "Through his attorney, Mr. Clark has informed the Select Committee of a medical condition that precludes his participation in tomorrow's meeting and he has provided ample evidence of his claim," the House of Representatives Select Committee said on Friday, adding it had agreed to postpone the deposition until Dec. 16. The panel had been expected to ask Clark about allegations that he tried to help Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election.

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  Jan. 6 panel postpones deposition with former DOJ official

  Associated Press
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  House January 6 committee recommends holding Jeffrey Clark in contempt

  CBS News Videos

Jim Cramer: Buy these 4 'bargain basement' stocks to take full advantage of the omicron selloff — wait too long and you'll kick yourself

Disney (DIS) It's easy to understand why Disney made Cramer's list of beaten down values. While the S&P 500 has climbed a solid 22% year to date, Disney shares have tumbled 19% over the same time period and are off nearly 30% from their 52-week highs. Theme parks and cruise lines still make up about 17% of Disney's business, so it's no surprise that new COVID variants significantly hurt the stock's investor appeal.

Sri Lankan manager killed by mob of workers at Pakistan factory

A mob of factory employees in eastern Pakistan tortured and burned a Sri Lankan manager on Friday over apparent blasphemy in a "horrific" attack that Prime Minister Imran Khan said brought shame on the country. A police official in the eastern town of Sialkot, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said investigators believed the attackers had accused the manager of blasphemy for tearing down a poster with Islamic holy verses. "The factory workers tortured the manager," said provincial government spokesman Hassan Khawar.

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  Pakistan police: Mob kills Sri Lankan over alleged blasphemy

  Associated Press
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  Police: Pakistan detains scores in lynching of Sri Lankan

  Associated Press

The co-founder of a San Francisco pizza chain says he received no applications for an assistant manager, despite raising the salary to $70,000

The co-founder of Square Pie Guys, a San Francisco pizza chain, said he tried to fill an assistant manager role for months and eventually had to give up, per The Journal. "This job is seen particularly as thankless, overworked and underpaid — full stop," Danny Stoller told the publication. Stoller said he advertised the position in November 2020 and didn't receive any applications from a qualified candidate.

‘I was terrified.’ Hunter shoots deer, watches as bears pounce on it in Pennsylvania

A moment of triumph turned frightening for one Pennsylvania hunter, when she downed her first deer and watched as a group of bears surrounded it and started eating. It happened Sunday, Nov. 28, when Jordan Zabinski was hunting with her husband, Mark Zabinski, in the La Jose area, about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Closer inspection of one video shows there may have been as many as five bears, including two cubs, she says.

Man accused of trying to intimidate judge in Potter trial

A Minneapolis man has been charged with trying to intimidate the judge presiding over the manslaughter trial of the former officer charged in Daunte Wright's death. The Star Tribune reports Cortez A. Rice was charged last week with tampering with a judicial officer, a felony. Rice allegedly went into the Loring Park condominium building where he thought Judge Regina Chu lived and made comments meant to intimidate her into allowing broadcast coverage of the trial of former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kimberly Potter, who is charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Wright, 20, in April.

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  EXPLAINER: Who are the jurors for trial of Kim Potter?

  Associated Press
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  Jury selected in trial of Kim Potter, the former police officer charged in Daunte Wright's death

  USA TODAY

Arlington man gets 23 years for killing his wife who asked for divorce day after wedding

A Tarrant County jury on Friday convicted an Arlington man of murder for strangling his wife in their apartment in 2019 just days after she arrived in Texas. Hours later, jurors sentenced 39-year-old Tareq Alkayyali to 23 years for the murder of his wife, who had asked for a divorce a day after their wedding in 2018, prosecutors told the jury. Alkayyali was found guilty of murder Friday morning in Criminal District Court No. 396 in Fort Worth.

‘Absolutely Disgusted!’ Local Sheriff Rips Minneapolis Police Over Protester ‘Hunting’ Scandal

A Minnesota sheriff has broken his profession's code of silence to blast the Minneapolis Police Department, saying he's “disgusted” at the agency's reportedly violent practices and calling for an overhaul of the agency from the “top down.” At a Wednesday meeting of an advisory council to the state's Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) board, Sheriff Sean Deringer of Wright County unloaded on Minneapolis cops who were caught on their own body cameras allegedly “hunting” protesters in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020. ”I was absolutely disgusted watching that,” Deringer said, adding, “I have defended that agency for the very last time.”

Orthodox priest shouts 'Pope, you are a heretic' at Francis in Athens

ATHENS (Reuters) -An elderly Greek Orthodox priest shouted "Pope, you are a heretic" as Pope Francis was entering the Orthodox Archbishopric in Athens on Saturday and was taken away by police, a reminder of the lingering distrust between the two divided churches. Francis arrived in Greece on Saturday for a three-day visit that Greek Catholics hope will bring the Eastern and Western churches closer together. Christianity split into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in 1054 in what is referred to as the Great Schism, and for centuries relations were rocky.

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  Protesting Orthodox priest heckles Pope on Greece visit

  Associated Press
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  Police subdue priest who shouted 'heretic' at Pope

  Associated Press Videos