Is Bill Gates a Humanitarian, Villain or Misguided Man?
Conclusion
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated money to 100 countries and the United States with their stated objective to improve education and world health. Investor Warren Buffet is a primary contributor to the foundation. Some of the foundation’s programs target schools, farmers, and sanitation needs, all worthy causes.
One of their primary programs, with significant funding, has included vaccination programs focused on developing countries. These vaccine initiatives have resulted in documented deaths and injuries for thousands of previously healthy children.
Are Melinda and Bill Gates simply misguided ...
Source: vactruth.com - July 16, 2016 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Michelle Goldstein Tags: Logical Michelle Goldstein Top Stories Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation truth about vaccines Vaccine Death Source Type: blogs
“Mikhail Baryshnikov — dancer, choreographer and actor —...
"Mikhail Baryshnikov — dancer, choreographer and actor — has made increasingly frequent forays into theater. Last year, he teamed with the Latvian director Alvis Hermanis, director of New Riga Theater, for "Brodsky/Baryshnikov," a one-man show that opened in Riga in October and comes to the Baryshnikov Arts Center in Manhattan next week. It's not really a play, or a poetry recital, but something in between. "I don't really dance in the show, but I move quite a bit," Baryshnikov said. The show is not made up of choreography, he said, "but reaction, emotion, like a body language or electricity running through the body." ...
Source: Kidney Notes - March 5, 2016 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
Russia Won’t Attack the Baltic States
When the Cold War closed many people believed that history had ended. Europe was certain to be free and undivided.
Alas, it hasn’t worked out that way. But no worries. At least NATO officials are happy. Following Russian intervention in Georgia and Ukraine the alliance rediscovered a sense of purpose through its old enemy, Moscow.
The Obama administration just announced a multi-billion dollar program to bolster U.S. forces in Eastern Europe. Now a Rand Corporation report warns that Russia could easily overrun the three Baltic members of NATO is raising additional alarm.
Said David A. Shlapak and Michael W. Johnson: the ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 10, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
“The @nyknicks needed a hero. Enter Kristaps Porzingis...
"The @nyknicks needed a hero. Enter Kristaps Porzingis (@kporzee). The 20-year-old forward was seen as a dubious draft pick 6 months ago. But now @kporzee, a native of Latvia, is considered a contender for Rookie of the Year. In the process, he has become a celebrity in New York, where he has been treated to Page 6 mentions in @nypost, videos by fashion blogs, and an @ESPN advertisement with a hip-hop soundtrack. Despite his age and inexperience, Porzingis has been handling the pressures of his fame with equanimity and grace. @damonwinter photographed a group of children with @kporzee — who, it should be noted, is 7-foot...
Source: Kidney Notes - December 21, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
Diphtheria in Latvia
Following a regional epidemic during the 1990’s, Latvia has continued to experience a high incidence of diphtheria. [1] This phenomenon is difficult to explain on the basis of poor vaccine uptake. The following graph compares W.H.O. estimates of vaccination (DPT3) coverage with diphtheria rates reported in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. [2]
References:
1. Berger SA. Infectious Diseases of Latvia, 2015. 436 pages, 103 graphs, 1,497 references. Gideon e-books, http://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/country/infectious-diseases-of-latvia/
2. Berger SA. Diphtheria – Global Status, 2015. 333 pages, 445 graphs, 37...
Source: GIDEON blog - December 9, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Epidemiology Graphs Ebooks Outbreaks Source Type: blogs
Where Do K-1 Visa Holders Come From?
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were killed last week in a gun battle with police after they committed a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Malik entered the U.S. on a K-1 visa, known as the fiancé visa, accompanied by Farook. Their attack is the first perpetrated by somebody on the K-1 visa - igniting a debate over increasing visa security.
The government issued approximately 262,162 K-1 visas from 2005 to 2013 – 3177 or 1.21 percent of the total to Pakistani citizens.
Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) SECURE Act identifies 34 countries as particularly terror-prone. There were 32,363 K-1 visa, 12.34 pe...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 7, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Health at a glance 2015
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) -This new edition of Health at a Glance presents the most recent comparable data on the performance of health systems in OECD countries. Where possible, it also reports data for partner countries (Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russian Federation and South Africa). It includes a new set of dashboards of health indicators to summarise in a clear and user-friendly way the relative strengths and weaknesses of OECD countries on different key indicators of health and health system performance, and also a special focus on the...
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - November 4, 2015 Category: UK Health Authors: The King's Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: NHS measurement and performance Workforce and employment Source Type: blogs
“Any #portrait photographer will tell you how hard it can...
"Any #portrait photographer will tell you how hard it can be to unmask a subject. The Latvian-born photographer @philippe_halsman_official came up with a solution: "jumpology." For six years during the mid-1950s, he ended each portrait session by asking his subjects to jump. Few refused — impressive, with clientele like Richard Nixon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and #MarilynMonroe, pictured here in 1954. "When we look at somebody's face, we don't know what he thinks or feels," @philippe_halsman_official wrote in his "Jump Book," first published in 1959 and recently reissued. This photo also appears in the exhibition...
Source: Kidney Notes - November 4, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
U.S. Taxpayers Still Subsidizing Bloated Welfare States
Last month, the British government announced plans to spend two percent of GDP on defense through 2020, meeting the NATO mandated level. This comes after months of nudging from the Obama administration that feared “if Britain doesn’t spend 2 percent on defense, then no one in Europe will.” The reasoning is bizarre given that few nations were meeting this spending threshold to begin with. As I wrote in June:
In 2014, only Greece, Estonia, the U.S. and the U.K. spent as much as 2 percent of GDP on defense. Excepting NATO member Iceland, which is exempted from the spending mandates, the 23 other NATO members failed to s...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 4, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Christopher A. Preble Source Type: blogs
Stop Putin's Next Invasion Before It Starts
The U.S. needs to consider stationing forces in Eastern Europe to support its commitment to protect the independence of the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania against Russian aggression. If not, and Russia invades, the options available to this or a future U.S. president are stark. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - March 20, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: RAND Corporation Source Type: blogs
Washington Should Celebrate Valentine’s Day by Dumping Allies
Doug Bandow
It’s hard to get out of a bad relationship. People can’t admit that it’s time to say goodbye.
Countries have the same problem. The United States has spent decades collecting allies, like many people accumulate Facebook “Friends.”
After Valentine’s Day, Washington should send the equivalent of a “Dear John” letter to at least a half-dozen foreign capitals. Where to start:
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia and America have little in common other than commerce in oil. Essentially a totalitarian state, the monarchy plunders people, brutalizes political opposition, suppresses religious expression, an...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 13, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Are the Baltic Republics Serious about Defense?
Ted Galen Carpenter
News stories in the West contend that Russia’s increasingly aggressive behavior is causing the Baltic states and other NATO members in Eastern Europe to become far more serious about national defense. There is no doubt that tensions in the region are on the rise, including a surge of incidents involving NATO intercepts of Russian military aircraft operating over the Baltic Sea. The new congressional approval of military aid to Ukraine may well increase the already alarming level of animosity between NATO and Russia.
But the notion that the Baltic republics have embarked on ser...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 16, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Ted Galen Carpenter Source Type: blogs
Department of Justice Throws (at Least a Small Paperback) Book at Bio-Rad Laboratories - $55 Million Settlement, Admission of Wrongdoing, Employees Fired
Hard on the heels of our recent roundup of legal cases involving medical device companies comes a notable settlement by Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc, a company that makes equipment and supplies for clinical diagnostic testing. The Basics As reported by Reuters,Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc will pay $55 million to end U.S. investigations into whether it failed to prevent bribery of government officials in Russia and other countries, and falsified records to conceal payments, U.S. authorities said on Monday.The company, which makes medical diagnostics products, entered a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Departmen...
Source: Health Care Renewal - November 5, 2014 Category: Health Management Tags: Bio-Rad Laboratories bribery crime deferred prosecution agreement diagnostic tests legal settlements medical devices US Department of Justice Source Type: blogs
Long-Term Solutions to the Ukraine Crisis
Emma Ashford
As I argued in a piece over at Forbes yesterday, western sanctions to roll back Russian action in Ukraine have been largely ineffectual. These sanctions - including asset freezes and visa bans – are ‘targeted’ at those suspected of having influence on Putin. Yet the sanctions, designed to be minimally painful for European states, are toothless - the majority of individuals sanctioned have only a minimal role in policy – and they won’t fix the long-term problem.
Over 150 individuals have been sanctioned by the United States and European Union, including 65 Ukrainian rebels, whose inclusion is presuma...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 25, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Emma Ashford Source Type: blogs
Latvia, the Country Prof. Krugman Loves to Hate, Wins 1st Prize
Steve H. Hanke
I constructed a misery index and ranked 89 countries from most to least miserable based on the available data from the Economist Intelligence Unit. My methodology is a simple sum of inflation, bank lending and unemployment rates, minus year-on-year per capita GDP growth. The table below is a sub-ranking of all former Soviet Union (FSU) states contained in my misery index.
For these FSU states, the main contributing factors to misery are high levels of unemployment and high interest rates.
The low misery index scores in Estonia and Lithuania don’t surprise me as I helped both countries establish sound mon...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 17, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Steve H. Hanke Source Type: blogs
