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On Wednesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided new research showing that, during the recent Delta wave, individuals who had previously contracted COVID-19 had more protection against the virus than those who had been vaccinated.

Before the Delta variant, Covid-19 vaccination resulted in better protection against a subsequent infection than surviving a previous infection, CDC epidemiologist Benjamin Silk told the Wall Street Journal. When looking at the summer and fall of 2021, when Delta became predominant in this country, however, surviving a previous infection now provided greater protection.

Both vaccinated individuals and those who had recovered from the virus showed significant defense, scientists added. (The CDC released its findings to reporters, but its research was not yet available online as of Thursday morning.)

Previous research suggests receiving vaccination after a COVID infection can offer additional protection against the virus.

Recent research, the Mayo Clinic says, suggests that people who got COVID-19 in 2020 and then received mRNA vaccines produce very high levels of antibodies that are likely effective against current and, possibly, future variants. Some scientists call this hybrid immunity.

The findings are significant and dovetail with recent scientific research out of Israel that showed previous infection from COVID-19 conferred longer-lasting and more robust protection than vaccines against the Delta variant.

Following the Israel study, prominent scientists argued that the fact that natural immunity offered more protection than vaccines made mandatory vaccination unscientific and unethical.

Prior COVID disease (many working class) provides better immunity than vaccines (many professionals), so vaccine mandates are not only scientific nonsense, they are also discriminatory and unethical, wrote Harvard Medical School professor Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and biostatistician.

The CDCs findings were released days after the Supreme Court ruled that President Joe Bidens vaccinate-or-test requirement for businesses with more than 100 employees was unconstitutional.

The high courts decision prompted some businesses, including Starbucks, to scrap their vaccine mandates for employees.

"We respect the Court's ruling and will comply," John Culver, COO and group president for North America at Starbucks, told employees on Tuesday.

Despite the protection offered by previous COVID infection, many public officials and countries have been reluctant to recognize natural immunity.

Novak Djokovic, the worlds top-ranked tennis player, recently had his visa seized by Australian authorities when he arrived (unvaccinated) to play in the Australian Open, even though he was initially granted a medical exemption because of a recent COVID infection. Meanwhile, Austrias conservative government recently announced it will make vaccination compulsory for adults, who will face steep finesup to 3600 eurosif they fail to comply, even if they have already had the virus.

In the United States, universities have been inclined to expel students not considered fully vaccinated, which in some cases reportedly includes students whove had multiple vaccine shots, have previously had COVID, and have received a medical exemption from a physician.

Recent evidence, however, suggests the reluctance to treat individuals whove had COVID as fully vaccinated may be waning. The NCAA, for example, recently announced in its winter guidelines that athletes who previously had COVID will be considered fully vaccinated if the infection took place within three months.

The CDCs announcement that previous infection offered more protection than vaccination against the Delta variant is likely to fuel calls to end vaccine mandates, particularly for individuals whove already been infected.

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Originally posted here:
CDC: Natural Immunity Offered Stronger Protection Against COVID Than Vaccines During Delta Wave | Jon Miltimore - Foundation for Economic Education

The Clear Lake boys basketball team earned its fourth win of more than 20 points this season, with a 79-33 win over Webster Jan. 14.

We were able to play aggressive defense and limit them offensively the whole first half making it hard for them to get to the hoop and get uncontested shots, explained Clear Lake coach Ryan Blanchard. All night long we were willing to make the extra pass so the overall ball movement by the team was outstanding.

The game was marked by two offensive achievements. Riley Peterson scored 30 points for the third time this season. This time, the 30-points allowed Peterson to eclipse the 1,000 point barrier for his career. He also pulled down six rebounds and blocked two shots.

The second achievement came from Tyson Blanchard, who posted a triple double for the second time this year. He finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists along with three steals.

We came out with defensive intensity for the first time all year, so we are hoping to make that a nightly occurrence, Ryan Blanchard said.

Besides Tyson Blanchards three steals, Clear Lake (6-1 conference, 9-1 overall) finished with 17 steals. Jordan Blanchard led the way with four, while Caleb Logan and Andrew Campion also had three each.

Will Cain was the final Warrior in double figures with 12 points. Campion also had three assists and three steals.

Clear Lake shot 32-for-54 (59.2%) from the field. Webster is now 0-8 and 1-10 overall.

Post play carried the Warriors to the eight-point win Jan. 11.

We were able to dominate in the paint for most of the game which was the difference for us, Ryan Blanchard said.

Peterson was an efficient 14-for-20 from the field with two free throws for 30 points. He added 11 points, four steals, three blocked shots and two assists.

Tyson Blanchard almost had another triple double with nine points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Cain tallied five points and four rebounds.

Siren likes to slow the game down and that concerned me even though we had the size advantage in the paint, Ryan Blanchard said. They do a very good job taking care of the ball and making teams work on both ends of the court. We didnt shoot particularly well and had a few breakdowns on defense and they were able to connect on some deep threes.

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Peterson marks 1000th point in rout over Webster - Amery Free Press

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The country is growing more authoritarian in response to fear

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I spent more than three hours on the phone this weekend trying to get through to the online security department of one of Canadas major banks. One of my accounts was shut down (because I had the effrontery to sign in from Alberta an event too unexpected for the banks security systems). I was placed on hold interminably, subjected all the while to the corporate worlds idea of music (to soothe me). I was then offered a call-back, which I duly received, 45 minutes later. Then I was placed on hold again, and again, and again. This all occurred after my patience had already been exhausted in the aftermath of trying to fly in Canada.

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Like so many Canadians, I have been unable to see many of the people I love and who are tolerant enough to return the sentiment for nearly two years. Lockdowns. Restrictions. Limits on personal and social gatherings. Precautions. Precautions. Precautions.

But everything had opened enough, in principle, so flights for such purposes were in principle once again possible. My wife and I therefore took the opportunity on the last day of 2021 to fly first to Comox, British Columbia, and then, several days later, to our joint hometown of Fairview, Alberta. However, the airline we had arranged our flights with cancelled/delayed all six flights we had scheduled. Furthermore, they had no staff available in one entire wing of Edmontons airport. This made rescheduling prohibitively difficult. We were delayed by one full day travelling to British Columbia, and then another day travelling to Alberta (and there were further delays on our way home to Toronto). This took quite a chunk out of an eight-day trip. All this from an airline that not so long ago was a model of efficiency.

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Like most people in Canada, and in the broader Western world, my wife and I are accustomed to systems that work. When we booked flights in the past, with rare exceptions, we arrived safely and on time. When we used our banking systems, online, we gained access to our accounts. When we had to phone security, because of a log-in problem, we were able to talk to someone who was able to help. And, because we were spoiled Westerners, we expected that such would always and consistently be the case. Why? Because, by and large, our systems worked. Miraculously well. The power (and the heat its forty below here in northern Alberta, and has been for three weeks) always worked. Planes took off and landed on time. Banks were open and effective and honest.

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But there are empty shelves in the grocery stores here in Fairview. The supply chain that provides our food just in time are severely stressed. While I was here, I spoke with a local restaurateur who operates the pizza place I worked in forty years ago. She is barely hanging on. This is true of most local businesses.

I was on the phone for three hours trying to sort out a minor banking issue, after being delayed for a full day while flying, after having been delayed in a similar way only four days before. And, because I am an entitled Westerner, accustomed to my privileges, I got whiny about it. I have a banker that takes care of my affairs, and I sent him and his associate a string of complaints about the service I was receiving. They wrote back, apologetically, and told me that theyre barely able to function with the COVID restrictions, the attendant staff shortages (also caused by illness) and their inability to attract new employees a problem besetting many industries at the moment.

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I am not accustomed to feeling particularly sympathetic for the travails of large, successful enterprises: banks, airlines, utilities and the like. I expect a certain standard of service, so that I can conduct my own affairs effectively, and am impatient when delays unnecessary in the normal course of things emerge. The letter from the bank stopped me and made me think, however. It wasnt just the bank. It was also the airline. It was the empty shelves in the grocery store in northern Alberta. It was the daughter of the man I once worked for as a cook, back when I was a teenager. It was the shopkeepers and small business-people I have spoken with on this trip.

We are pushing the complex systems upon which we depend and which are miraculously effective and efficient in their often thankless operation to their breaking point. Can you think of anything more unlikely than the fact that we can get instant trouble-free access to our money online, using systems that are virtually graft- and corruption-free? Just imagine how much work, trust and efficiency was and is necessary to make that a reality. Can you think of anything more unlikely than fast, reliable and inexpensive jet air travel, nationally and internationally, in absolute safety? Or the constant provision of almost every consumer good imaginable, in the midst of plentiful, varied and inexpensive food?

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These systems are now shaking. Were compromising them seriously with this unending and unpredictable stream of restrictions, lockdowns, regulations and curfews. Were also undermining our entire monetary system, with the provision of unending largesse from government coffers, to ease the stress of the COVID response. Were playing with fire. Weve demolished two Christmas seasons in a row. Life is short. These are rare occasions. Were stopping kids from attending school. Were sowing mistrust in our institutions in a seriously dangerous manner. Were frightening people to make them comply. Were producing bureaucratic institutions that hypothetically hold public health in the highest regard, but subordinating all our properly political institutions to that end, because we lack leadership, and rely on ultimately unreliable opinion polls to govern broadscale political policy. Ive never seen breakdown in institutional trust on this scale before in my lifetime.

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I was recently in Nashville, Tennessee. No lockdowns. No masks. No COVID regulations to speak of. People are going about their lives. Why can that be the case in Tennessee (and in other U.S. states, such as Florida) when there are curfews (curfews!) in Quebec, two years after the pandemic started, with a vaccination rate of nearly 80 per cent? When BC is still limiting social gatherings? When we are putting tremendous and unsustainable strain on all the complex systems that have served us so well, and made us so comfortable, in the midst of the troubles of our lives?

The cure has become worse than the disease.

I have spoken with senior advisors to provincial governments in Canada. There is no end game in sight. The idea that Canadian policy is or should be governed by the science is not only not true, its also not possible, as there is no simple pathway from the facts of science to the complexities of policy. We are deciding, by opinion poll, to live in fear, and to become increasingly authoritarian in response to that fear. Thats a danger, too, and its increasingly real. How long are we going to flail about, hiding behind our masks, afraid to send our children (who are in no danger more serious than risk of the flu) to school, charging university students full tuition for tenth-rate online education, pitting family member against family member over vaccine policy and, most seriously, compromising the great economic engine upon which our health also depends?

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Until we decide not to.

There are no risk-free paths forward. There is only one risk, or another. Pick your poison: thats the choice life often offers. I am weary of living under the increasingly authoritarian dictates of a polity hyper-concerned with one risk, and oblivious to all others. And things are shaking around us.

Enough, Canadians. Enough, Canadian politicos. Enough masks. Enough social gathering limitations. Enough restaurant closures. Enough undermining of social trust. Make the bloody vaccines available to those who want them. Quit using force to ensure compliance on the part of those who dont. Some of the latter might be crazy but, by and large, they are no crazier than the rest of us.

Set a date. Open the damn country back up, before we wreck something we cant fix.

Time for some courage.

Lets live again.

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Jordan Peterson: Open the damn country back up, before Canadians wreck something we cant fix - National Post

Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity: The Search for a Meaningful Life

January 14, 2021

Few psychologists have garnered more attention in the past five years than Jordan Peterson, whose YouTube channel has amassed 4.4 million subscribers and social media feeds have attracted millions more. Petersons online personality courses have enrolled more than 40,000 students and his books have sold millions of copies across the globe. Among them is 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, which became a bestseller after being published in 2018 and has been translated into 45 languages.

In the new bookJordan Peterson, God, and Christianity: The Search for a Meaningful Life,Word on Fire FellowMatthew Petrusek, Ph.D., provides a systematic analysis, from a Christian perspective, of Petersons biblical series on YouTube and12 Rules for Life. The epilogue examens its sequel,Beyond Order.

Prof. Petrusek is an associate professor of theological ethics at Loyola Marymount University and co-authored the book with LMU philosophy professor Christopher Kaczor, Ph.D.

Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity was recently published by the Word on Fire Institute.

IACS spoke to Prof. Petrusek about the book.

Why did you write this book?

Working with Dr. Chris Kaczor, I wanted to speak to two audiences at the same time. First, to committed Christians, I wanted to highlight how Petersons work has been wildly successful in making the biblical understanding of reality, humanity and morality attractive to a secularized, post-Christian culture. To Petersons many non-Christian followers, I wanted to show how orthodox Catholicism completes and fixes the areas in Petersons thought that, in my view, need more philosophical and theological development and refinement.

How do Jordan Peterson and his work fit into the search for a meaningful life?

Petersons lectures and books address many different topics. However, one unifying theme in all of them is that life is not only meaningful but also that meaning is objective. It is not merely an individual or social construct. It is embedded in reality. That is boilerplate philosophical and theological material for Catholics, but Peterson has made it sound revolutionarily liberating to secular ears.

Peterson is a controversial and divisive figure. How has that controversy shaped the public perception of his works and thought?

I dont think Petersons work is controversial and divisive two terms that have taken on almost entirely subjective meaning in the past few decades. To be sure, an influential cadre of media, business, and academic voices have spoken loudly and very negatively about Peterson. However, in my view, they have not seriously engaged his arguments and, even less, shown evidence why his positions are wrong. Rather, their hostility to Peterson seems to be ideologically driven. As a Catholic, I do not agree with everything Peterson has said or written; that is why, in great part, I co-wrote the book. However, also as a Catholic, I do not find his principal arguments to be controversial or divisive.

Do you think Peterson has been effective at re-introducing the Bible and God into secular culture and, if so, why?

Yes. I think many secularists are drawn to Peterson, first, because he is a man of science and science is one thing, perhaps the only thing, that many secularists take seriously. So if a scientist can find such great meaning in the Bible, maybe they can, too. Second, Peterson, like the podcaster Joe Rogan, is not afraid to follow the truth wherever it leads, or, at least, where he thinks it leads. He is intellectually curious but also profoundly concerned with finding a good answer to his questions (that is, not just curious for the sake of curiosity). That combination of authenticity, intellectual openness, and moral seriousness is a rarity and will draw many peoples attention. Third, although Catholicism has always read the Bible with an ear to all its levels of meaning, Peterson has opened the biblical text to meanings that secular audiences (and poorly catechized Christian audiences) were not previously aware of. In fact, one lesson I think the Peterson phenomenon teaches Catholics is what a poor job we, both laity and clergy, have done in communicating the moral and spiritual richness of scripture. Happily, there has been a Catholic intellectual renaissance blossoming the past several years that has been reintroducing the beauty and brilliance of the Bible to the culture. Bishop Robert Barrons Word on Fire apostolate has been at the forefront of this movement.

From your perspective, how have Petersons thoughts and attitude toward God changed over time?

It is very hard to say where Petersons explorations will take him. It seems the experience of his wifes sudden healing from cancer and her devotion to the rosary has had a significant effect on him. But, of course, conversion is only a decision between God and the individual. All the same, I think of him, sometimes, as a contemporary St. Augustine of Hippo who is gradually thinking his way into orthodox Catholicism, yet still privately saying for now, to paraphrase St. Augustine in the Confessions, Make me a believer Lordbut just not yet!

Editors Note: Follow Prof. Petrusek on Twitter @MattPetrusek.

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Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and...">Scholar Q&A: Matthew Petrusek, Ph.D. > Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and...

Joe Rogan is starting his year with steak. Lots and lots of steak. The podcaster and MMA commentator announced on Instagram that he will be adhering to the carnivore diet for the entire month of January, a challenge that he has previously participated in which involves eating nothing but meat. This time, however, he is making one minor adjustment.

"January is world carnivore month," he wrote in the caption. "This time Im adding fruit to this diet. Just meat and fruit for the whole month."

The meat-only meal plan generated a lot of buzz in 2018, when Jordan Peterson revealed that he and his daughter Mikhaila live on only steak, water, and the occasional glass of bourbon, and that they have both seen positive health results as an outcome.

Writer Jack Crosbie tried the carnivore diet back in 2018 when it was blowing up as a phenomenon, and documented his experiences. He lost 10 pounds, but also felt so weak and nauseated during a boxing workout that he nearly threw up. "I have zero energy and it feels, literally, like Im punching under water," he said. "Every time I get hit with a body shot, it feels like Im going to vomit out the entire bag of cement (three days of steak) in my stomach."

While nobody is arguing that protein isn't important when it comes to building strength and muscle, eliminating vegetables from your diet as a source of nutrition is a lot harder to justify. "The removal of all vegetables is not something I would personally recommend, said clinical dietitian Scott Hemingway. "Theres very little science if any science to support any negative effects of consuming vegetables on our overall diet... If people find things that make them feel better or that works for them, Im all for supporting that. However, there really is no science to back these claims currently, and theres definitely no research to determine the potential long-term effects, whether beneficial or harmful, on a fad diet like this."

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Dietitian Abby Langer, R.D. agreed, telling Men's Health: "Even keto or Atkinsas limited as they arestill include vegetables, and you can still have some low-sugar fruits. But the philosophy of carnivore is that carbs, fruits, and vegetables arent healthy. Yes, youll lose a lot of weight... But thats because youre cutting out every other food except for protein."

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Joe Rogan Says He's Back on the Carnivore Diet - menshealth.com