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Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun calls on international donors to provide financial assistance to the crisis-hit country
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 3: Non-WoT
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8 19:31 Lex [4] 
5 21:44 Frank G [3] 
4 19:55 Alistaire Tingle9882 [5] 
2 21:17 trailing wife [2] 
3 18:27 trailing wife [2] 
5 16:34 Silentbrick [] 
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10 18:44 Ducatisti [3] 
1 19:58 Alistaire Tingle9882 [1] 
9 18:31 trailing wife [2] 
9 19:11 John Frum [8] 
9 15:48 Skidmark [] 
3 11:49 lord garth [10] 
3 08:24 Mullah Richard [1] 
3 14:04 Bobby [3] 
6 21:48 Vernal Hatrick [8] 
6 15:51 Skidmark [1] 
6 13:40 swksvolFF [1] 
3 15:52 Skidmark [] 
7 19:07 Bobby [1] 
7 15:54 Skidmark [1] 
10 15:01 KBK [7] 
12 18:26 Frank G [2] 
27 15:27 g(r)omgoru [5] 
10 23:45 Old Patriot [3] 
7 17:10 Procopius2k [1] 
8 16:01 Skidmark [2] 
11 21:42 Frank G [3] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
12 21:44 M. Murcek [4]
5 13:21 Iblis [1]
2 09:28 Besoeker [4]
5 16:04 Skidmark [1]
1 06:35 3dc [4]
3 14:15 SteveS [6]
3 22:01 Old Patriot [5]
6 22:23 trailing wife [3]
7 10:06 M. Murcek [3]
25 17:31 rjschwarz [7]
6 18:07 M. Murcek [1]
4 10:49 M. Murcek [4]
Page 6: Politix
2 18:20 M. Murcek [6]
5 15:46 Raj []
7 16:59 Procopius2k [4]
7 16:25 g(r)omgoru [1]
8 14:35 ranture [7]
2 11:13 crazyhorse [4]
9 17:04 Procopius2k [4]
1 10:58 M. Murcek [1]
11 13:27 Mullah Richard [3]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Zoom security flaw copies your meeting to China
[Twitter]

Zoom, China
Posted by: 3dc || 04/07/2020 10:29 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Beloved in the tech media, just like Huawei. No surprise...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 11:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Flaw my ass.
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/07/2020 11:14 Comments || Top||

#3  feature
Posted by: Lex || 04/07/2020 11:34 Comments || Top||

#4  We're conducting our Bible studies via Zoom. Would LOVE the Chinese leadership to listen in!
Posted by: Tom || 04/07/2020 13:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Wait. Wasn't the British Cabinet using this?
Posted by: John Frum || 04/07/2020 15:14 Comments || Top||

#6  #4^ Yes!
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/07/2020 17:47 Comments || Top||

#7  So it's got a chink in it.
Posted by: Classer || 04/07/2020 18:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Go to your room, Classer. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2020 21:16 Comments || Top||


FBI: ‘Bad Wig Bandit' bank robbery suspect arrested after trying to enter Fort Benning
[American Mil News] The FBI said Tuesday that a suspect in a string of bank robberies, including incidents earlier this year in Gastonia and Belmont, is in custody in Georgia.

The FBI earlier dubbed the suspect the Bad Wig Bandit, as the man wore a series of outlandish wigs in each incident.

Patrick Alexander, 30, was taken into custody Monday after federal officers said he attempted to enter a military installation at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 10:19 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bank robbery
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 10:23 Comments || Top||


Hypergenius Man arrested after bragging ‘we don’t give a f--k about coronavirus’ during party
[NYPOST] A dense Ohio dipshit man livestreamed a massive party while defiantly declaring "We don’t give a f‐k about this coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
" ‐ only to be arrested over the weekend for flouting social-distancing rules, police said.

"This is how we do it in my city, man," Rashaan Davis, 25, brags in the 11-minute video, shot Friday night in Cincinnati
...I’ve heard that Cincinnati is full of idiots, but for some reason none of them have been introduced to me...
and later posted to YouTube. "We don’t give a f‐k about this coronavirus. This is how we celebrate our coronavirus."

He was busted Saturday afternoon and charged with a misdemeanor for violating Gov. Mike DeWine’s "stay at home" order amid the pandemic, according to a police report authorities posted to Facebook.

"[Davis] narrates a video of himself and others openly defying the orders, causing even greater risk of contamination during this national health crisis," a criminal complaint says. "At the time of his arrest, there were over 55 thousand views of his post."

Cincinnati police recommended a high bond ‐ or none at all ‐ until Davis can appear before a judge because of his "complete disregard for public safety."

Posted by: Fred || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gee, a real criminal. Yeah, right. I just hope this party was better than his Zika virus and SARS (1) parties. I'm sure those parties were tough to beat.
Posted by: DooDahMan || 04/07/2020 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2 
Man ! He actually has 'God's Gift' in cursive font tattooed on his cheeks.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 5:04 Comments || Top||

#3  "A reverence for life does not require a man to respect Nature's obvious mistakes".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 5:09 Comments || Top||

#4  That's actually profound. So true.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 8:51 Comments || Top||

#5  He was exercising his right to peaceful assembly. Or did we lose that one when the Chinese attacked us?
Posted by: Crusader || 04/07/2020 9:59 Comments || Top||

#6  #4 Heinlein
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 10:04 Comments || Top||

#7  #5 We've lost a lot of them. Screw the courts, just show me the Constitutionality of so many edicts from governors and mayors. I don't recall anyone enacting Martial Law.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/07/2020 17:10 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
James Drury, ‘The Virginian' star, dead at 85
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 15:18 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Odd coincidence: Drury James (name flip correct), uncle of Frank and Jesse, was one of the founders of a town of which I am somewhat familiar.

Piecing together local lore:

Whilst Frank and Jesse were on the lam, they bided some time with Uncle Drury on his La Panza Ranch. Dear uncle maintained he did not know of the lam status of his kin. The local sheriff seemed to be aware, but maintained he was unable to raise a posse to go get them boys. Besides, they weren't wanted here in California.
Posted by: JHH || 04/07/2020 16:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Lovely people, JHH.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2020 21:17 Comments || Top||


Body of Maeve Kennedy Townsend recovered, search for her son to continue
(Reuters) - The body of Maeve Kennedy Townsend, the granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, was recovered on Monday evening and the search for her son will continue, the Maryland Natural Resources Police said.

The daughter of former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, 40, and her son, Gideon McKean, 8, went missing on Friday after drifting out into the Chesapeake Bay on a canoe.
You'd think the Kennedys would have learned an aversion to watersports
Charles County Dive and Rescue, one of the agencies searching for them, located Townsend’s body in about 25 feet of water, 2.5 miles (4 km) south of her mother’s residence in Shady Side, Maryland, where the canoe was launched.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police said it would resume the operation on Tuesday to search for Townsend’s son.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 03:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Very sad.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 3:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Suicide?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/07/2020 4:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Mary Jo Kopechne became a selkie?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 4:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Sad.
Posted by: Alistaire Tingle9882 || 04/07/2020 7:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Does this mean these guys are gonna start touring again?
Posted by: Raj || 04/07/2020 8:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Memo went out from Wasserman Shutz wearing her Tom Perez mask: We need a dem martyr right now...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 10:34 Comments || Top||

#7  I think of swimming as staying alive in water.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/07/2020 11:24 Comments || Top||

#8  Kennedys and water don't mix well
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/07/2020 11:33 Comments || Top||

#9  Extreme social distancing
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 15:48 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Alarming data shows people of color across the US are more likely to become infected and die from COVID-19 as Chicago's mayor reveals that black residents account for 72% of deaths in the city
Groot should focus on how they aren't self-quarantining
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 15:40 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Also more likely to get the Jake-leg. Or get clipped in a drive by.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 17:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Gang bangers aren't self quarantining...
pretty big murders/ shooting last weekend when it didn't even hit 60 degrees.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 04/07/2020 20:09 Comments || Top||

#3  hypertension

Posted by: lord garth || 04/07/2020 21:31 Comments || Top||

#4  If a gangbanger infected with the Kung-flu catches one to the head and dies, do they count him as a gunshot or a covid19 death?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/07/2020 21:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Covid. The gunshot just freed up a respirator
Posted by: Frank G || 04/07/2020 21:44 Comments || Top||


100 Vanderbilt Students Suffer Chinese Virus Symptoms After Campus Parties
[BREITBART] A report published this week by Rooters claims that a group of more than 100 Vanderbilt University students that ignored concerns about the Wuhan coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
pandemic were responsible for spreading it to their home communities after leaving campus.

According to a report by Rooters, a group of Vanderbilt students that ignored directives from their university about the Wuhan coronavirus may have spread it to their local communities. The report claims that the students refused to shut down their social gatherings. Now, 107 students from Vanderbilt University claim to be experiencing coronavirus symptoms.
Posted by: Fred || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm all sympathy, I am.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 2:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Probably less bad than a simple hangover...

Name and shame the government for stopping contact for a reasonably harmless virus.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/07/2020 3:36 Comments || Top||

#3  ...to which I ask, given the real body toll, why didn't governments treat AIDS/HIV the same way?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/07/2020 7:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Some students learn the easy way, some the hard.
Posted by: gorb || 04/07/2020 8:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Experience is the best teacher....Unfortunately the tuition is extremely high..
Posted by: Bill Borgia6417 || 04/07/2020 9:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually, they will make a positive contribution to the human race: these of them that die - because "it doesn't harm young people" is a damn dangerous fantasy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 10:13 Comments || Top||

#7  More forfeited student loans.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 15:54 Comments || Top||


Two Pandas At An Empty Zoo Under Coronavirus Quarantine Finally Boned After 10 Years Together
[Buzzfeed] You're not the only one feeling horny in coronavirus lockdown.

If being quarantined during the coronavirus pandemic has you feeling a little horny, you're not alone.

Two giant pandas at a Hong Kong zoo mated successfully on Monday for the first time in almost 10 years together at the park.

Staff at the Ocean Park theme park and zoo announced female Ying Ying and male Le Le, both 14, finally sealed the deal around 9 a.m. local time after showing signs that they had entered their hormonal estrous cycle, or mating cycle, in late March.

Giant pandas are notoriously bad at breeding, at least in captivity, so news of the bonking bears had staff thrilled.

"Since Ying Ying and Le Le’s arrival in Hong Kong in 2007 and attempts at natural mating since 2010, they unfortunately have yet to succeed until this year upon years of trial and learning," said Michael Boos, executive director of zoological operation and conservation. "The successful natural mating process today is extremely exciting for all of us, as the chance of pregnancy via natural mating is higher than by artificial insemination."

Images released by the park, which has been empty of visitors since Jan. 26 due to the coronavirus outbreak, show the black-and-white beaus embracing and doing the deed.

Zoo staff noticed that last month that Ying Ying had begun spending more time in the water, while Le Le was leaving scent markings around his habitat as he looked for his panda paramour ‐ both apparently signs that the bears were feeling a little more randy than usual.

Vets at the zoo have been monitoring the pair closely and will continue to do so in the hopes that Ying Ying is expecting.

"If successful, signs of pregnancy, including hormonal level fluctuations and behavioral changes may be observed as early as late June, though there is always a chance that Ying Ying could experience a pseudo-pregnancy," said Boos.

"We hope to bear wonderful pregnancy news to Hong Kongers this year," he added, "and make further contributions to the conservation of this vulnerable species."

According to the zoo, a panda's gestation period ranges between 72‐324 days, but the pregnancy can only be detected by an ultrasound about two weeks before birth.

Reacting to the news, people on social media were both happy for the bears ‐ and jealous.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey Ying, the kids are finally out of the house, booty call.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/07/2020 7:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I am the point I'd do a Panda but it might be a few more weeks before I'd let one do me.
Posted by: Beau || 04/07/2020 9:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Judging by my neighbors, this is a pan-species phenomenon....
Posted by: Mercutio || 04/07/2020 9:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Well I wouldn't want to smash in front of a large audience either.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/07/2020 10:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Or felt like lobsters in the lobster tank.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/07/2020 13:35 Comments || Top||

#6  What's panda-speak for "It's the End of the World and I'm feel frisky. Come here, you big fuzzy bundle of black and white love" ?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/07/2020 15:03 Comments || Top||

#7  Definitely, not a Florida couple.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/07/2020 15:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Nor Norwegian.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 16:01 Comments || Top||


Huge fire at a Florida airport has destroyed more than 3,500 hire cars (boy that Hertz)
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They weren’t being rented; good chance they’re worth more burnt than idle....
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/07/2020 2:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes boss,I parked in the grass...
Posted by: crazyhorse || 04/07/2020 3:09 Comments || Top||

#3  With the engine running like I said?
Posted by: gorb || 04/07/2020 8:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Hector! Go out and check the tire pressure on the fleet!

All 15,000 cars, boss? Sheeeeet...

You better get started, the sun won't be up forever...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 9:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Normally you could blame lightning and everyone would nod in agreement. It's been so dry and clear here that I haven't seen lightning in months.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 9:12 Comments || Top||

#6  /\ Amish lightning.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 9:16 Comments || Top||

#7  My inlaws were Pennsylvania Deutsche. Said "it's makin' down" when it rained or snowed.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 10:39 Comments || Top||

#8  "Tornado insurance? Why? How do you cause a tornado?"
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/07/2020 15:49 Comments || Top||

#9  I wonder if Avis is banging their heads because they didn't think of a fire or parking them real close to the ocean when the tide was out ?
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 04/07/2020 20:05 Comments || Top||

#10  Wonder if Rahm Emanual is on the board advising "...never let a crisis go to waste."
Posted by: Capsu78 || 04/07/2020 20:15 Comments || Top||

#11  SD Airport is parking their unused rentals at Del Mar fairgrounds. Ongoing til demand increases
Posted by: Frank G || 04/07/2020 21:42 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Drone footage captures prisoners digging graves in hazmat suits on Hart Island as NYC eyes it as a mass temporary burial site for coronavirus victims after 437 die in a day, bringing city death toll to 3,485
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 16:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How absurd. Never heard of refrigerated trailers? This is petite guignol.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 17:40 Comments || Top||

#2  But MM, the hole for a refrigerated trailer needs to be a LOT bigger than that for a casket....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 04/07/2020 20:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Ask a coyote how many can be stuffed in a trailer...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 22:21 Comments || Top||


Protesting residents in the Ivorian capital Abidjan ransack makeshift coronavirus hospital (video)
[Reuters] Residents in the Ivorian capital Abidjan tore down a partially built hospital in their neighborhood on Sunday night, saying they were opposed to it being built "right in the heart" of the Ivorian population.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 11:12 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Same thing would happen in the posher parts of Los Angeles or Nantucket.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 11:39 Comments || Top||


#3  pack a town hall meeting to protest plans

Oh whew! It was 2018, so no more dangerous than usual. Did they win?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2020 18:27 Comments || Top||


The Bureau of Prisons Just Bought a Ton of Hydroxychloroquine
[Daily Beast] A debate may be raging inside the White House about the efficacy of an anti-malaria drug to treat the novel coronavirus, but the Trump administration isn’t waiting for a resolution. Two federal agencies have already placed purchase orders for the drug.

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons have both reported purchases of hydroxychloroquine since March 26, according to federal procurement records.

The Department of Veterans Affairs purchased $40,000 in hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets from the pharmaceutical company McKesson, and another $168,000 from the Colorado-based generic drug distributor Golden State Medical Supply. Procurement records for both list them as "emergency" purchase orders to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

The Bureau of Prisons’ purchase order does not mention the coronavirus. But the $60,000 purchase of hydroxychloroquine sulfate tablets from the company Premium Rx National came on March 31‐in the midst of a worsening outbreak at the federal correctional facilities that the bureau oversees and days before President Trump announced that he was stockpiling millions of pills of the drug. It appears to be the first time that the BOP has purchased the drug.

Neither the VA nor BOP responded to requests for additional information about the purchases, and how, or whether, they would be used in the near-term to treat coronavirus patients.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 08:17 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd say it's for lupus, but, well, it's never lupus.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/07/2020 8:41 Comments || Top||

#2  they also need a zinc supplement and a strong antibiotic
Posted by: lord garth || 04/07/2020 8:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Bastards better not get mine.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 9:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Because they're so much more important than the general public.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 9:25 Comments || Top||

#5  A hydroxychloroquine VA controlled study? I didn't experience any noticeable downside the first time. Nothing from the Anthrax shots either. Is there a web portal sign-up link? Express Scripts ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 9:36 Comments || Top||

#6  #5 B, you are an anecdote. To be rejected out of hand before you queer things for Tony Fauci's bank account Big Pharma...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 9:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Now, I'd like to read that US military bought tons of staff - SAC & nuclear first response personnel top priority (because Xi IS fucking crazy).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 10:11 Comments || Top||

#8  ^ They have go pills and inoculations they have signed off on not talking about. .
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 10:20 Comments || Top||

#9  Dron, the general public can't be relied upon to vote the right way.
Posted by: Cesare || 04/07/2020 15:57 Comments || Top||

#10  May I recommend .30-06 bullets fired by a squad?
Posted by: Ducatisti || 04/07/2020 18:44 Comments || Top||


51 Recovered (Coronavirus) Patients Test Positive Again
[TheSun] FEARS have been raised that the coronavirus may be able to remain in the body and "reactivate" later after 51 recovered patients tested positive again.

The patients, from the city of Daegu, South Korea, had all spent time in quarantine while recovering from the virus, but were diagnosed again within days of being released.

South Korea has been among the most successful countries globally in controlling the outbreak, using strict quarantining and widespread testing to slow its spread of the virus.

The number of new cases being diagnosed each day in the country is now at levels last seen as the pandemic was getting underway in February.

The 51 cases were identified as part of a study conducted in Daegu, the epicentre of the outbreak in South Korea, by a team of epidemiologists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The center said it did not believe the patients had been reinfected, but that the virus had remained at undetectable levels in their cells and later "reactivated".

The claim runs contrary to the bulk of current evidence about how the virus works.

Speaking to MailOnline, Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases professor at the University of East Anglia, said: "I agree that these will not be reinfections but I do not think these will be reactivations.

"Personally I think the most likely explanation is that the clearance samples were false negative."

Coronavirus patients are typically required to test negative twice before being allowed to leave quarantine.

Where this happens and they are later found to be infected, it is thought to be much more likely that the negative tests gave the wrong result.

The tests currently available produce an incorrect results roughly one in five times.

It is currently thought that coronavirus patients will remain immune from the disease in at least the medium-term once they have recovered.

Scientists have said previous reports of people becoming reinfected are concerning, but that much more evidence needs to be collected before conclusions can be drawn.

Speaking in February, Mark Harris, Professor of Virology at the University of Leeds, said: Clearly we need more information about these patients, such as were there underlying medical conditions or a change in circumstances that might have allowed the virus to escape immune control?
Posted by: Phomoper Lumplump4826 || 04/07/2020 05:18 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From the very onset there was speculation that the Chi Com virus could possibly go dormant. Some thoughts regarding living on in the gut biome up to 30 days. So no surprise here.
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/07/2020 8:36 Comments || Top||

#2  A severely wounded enemy soldier is far more of a logistical drain on your opponent than a dead enemy soldier.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 8:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Biggest question is if "reactivated" virus is communicable.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/07/2020 8:40 Comments || Top||

#4  /\ If engineered as a bio-weapon, the answer is likely to be yes. It would appear no one in gov't wishes to flip that rock over.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 8:46 Comments || Top||

#5  widespread testing to slow its spread of the virus.

So if we tested more, we'd eradicate it?
Posted by: Bobby || 04/07/2020 9:27 Comments || Top||

#6  Recurrent or re-infected? No evidence presented either way.

did not believe the patients had been reinfected

"belief" is not evidence much less proof.
Posted by: Mercutio || 04/07/2020 9:47 Comments || Top||

#7  #3 A virus doesn't know if it's reactivated or brand new.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 10:17 Comments || Top||

#8  Or, it means the tests are unreliable.
Posted by: Spot || 04/07/2020 14:00 Comments || Top||

#9  Or, it means the tests are unreliable

This is at least as likely as the other options.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2020 18:31 Comments || Top||


Mysterious Heart Damage, Not Just Lung Troubles, Befalling COVID-19 Patients
[Kaiser Health News] While the focus of the COVID-19 pandemic has been on respiratory problems and securing enough ventilators, doctors on the front lines are grappling with a new medical mystery.

In addition to lung damage, many COVID-19 patients are also developing heart problems ‐ and dying of cardiac arrest.

As more data comes in from China and Italy, as well as Washington state and New York, more cardiac experts are coming to believe the COVID-19 virus can infect the heart muscle. An initial study found cardiac damage in as many as 1 in 5 patients, leading to heart failure and death even among those who show no signs of respiratory distress.

That could change the way doctors and hospitals need to think about patients, particularly in the early stages of illness. It also could open up a second front in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, with a need for new precautions in people with preexisting heart problems, new demands for equipment and, ultimately, new treatment plans for damaged hearts among those who survive.

"It’s extremely important to answer the question: Is their heart being affected by the virus and can we do something about it?" said Dr. Ulrich Jorde, the head of heart failure, cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support for the Montefiore Health System in New York City. "This may save many lives in the end."

VIRUS OR ILLNESS?
The question of whether the emerging heart problems are caused by the virus itself or are a byproduct of the body’s reaction to it has become one of the critical unknowns facing doctors as they race to understand the novel illness. Determining how the virus affects the heart is difficult, in part, because severe illness alone can influence heart health.

"Someone who’s dying from a bad pneumonia will ultimately die because the heart stops," said Dr. Robert Bonow, a professor of cardiology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and editor of the medical journal JAMA Cardiology. "You can’t get enough oxygen into your system and things go haywire."

But Bonow and many other cardiac specialists believe a COVID-19 infection could lead to damage to the heart in four or five ways. Some patients, they say, might be affected by more than one of those pathways at once.

Doctors have long known that any serious medical event, even something as straightforward as hip surgery, can create enough stress to damage the heart. Moreover, a condition like pneumonia can cause widespread inflammation in the body. That, in turn, can lead to plaque in arteries becoming unstable, causing heart attacks. Inflammation can also cause a condition known as myocarditis, which can lead to the weakening of the heart muscle and, ultimately, heart failure.

But Bonow said the damage observed in COVID-19 patients could be from the virus directly infecting the heart muscle. Initial research suggests the coronavirus attaches to certain receptors in the lungs, and those same receptors are found in heart muscle as well.

INITIAL DATA FROM CHINA
In March, doctors from China published two studies that gave the first glimpse at how prevalent cardiac problems were among patients with COVID-19 illness. The larger of the two studies looked at 416 hospitalized patients. The researchers found that 19% showed signs of heart damage. And those who did were significantly more likely to die: 51% of those with heart damage died versus 4.5% who did not have it.

Patients who had heart disease before their coronavirus infections were much more likely to show heart damage afterward. But some patients with no previous heart disease also showed signs of cardiac damage. In fact, patients with no preexisting heart conditions who incurred heart damage during their infection were more likely to die than patients with previous heart disease but no COVID-19-induced cardiac damage.

It’s unclear why some patients experience more cardiac effects than others. Bonow said that could be due to a genetic predisposition or it could be because they’re exposed to higher viral loads.
Posted by: Phomoper Lumplump4826 || 04/07/2020 05:13 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perhaps Transcutaneous heart pacing (TP) should be examined. Comments ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  I have seen where it's been observed that the lung damage in victims and survivors is essentially identical to high altitude pulmonary edema. This obviously ties in with the potential of the anti-malarial.

On a personal note, I have had double pneumonia and at a point where I was almost certainly in the best physical shape of my life. I could readily do 18 dead hang pull ups with web gear, 100 push up w/web gear and ALCE, 2 mi in 10:20, and walk until. I weighed 183 lbs and was hospitalized with a high fever. When I was released 16 days later I weighed 136 lbs and could not climb a flight of stairs at a slow pace. Short story way too long, the stress on your heart from long, unproductive and unstopable coughing fits is immense and unrelenting. It very nearly killed me in my early 30's.
Posted by: Cesare || 04/07/2020 7:48 Comments || Top||

#3  I've heard of similar cases that didn't end so well. Glad you're still with us, Cesare.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/07/2020 8:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Possible damage because it would be grand central for dissociated iron ions?
Posted by: gorb || 04/07/2020 8:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Need to up your game from a 3 wood to a driver iron.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 9:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Thanks Mullah Richard, it was a close thing and about 18-20 months to get back to a zero point where I could start to train again. Being fit probably helped somewhat, but during extended coughing fits all the muscle in your mid section contracts violently. You end up feeling like you've had a serious beating.

Speaking of iron ions, the Dr I saw in the hospital insisted I take iron pills. A man with a poor command of English and an accent like Chicolini working under Army contract, I believe in retrospect he may well have been the first generation of his family to walk fully erect.
Posted by: Cesare || 04/07/2020 10:58 Comments || Top||

#7  The ACE2 receptor protein, used by the SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter cells is an enzyme attached to the outer surface (cell membranes) of cells in the lungs, arteries, heart, kidney, testes, and intestines.
Posted by: John Frum || 04/07/2020 19:06 Comments || Top||

#8  So no mystery why it is shed in stool and why heart tissue is damaged. The virus dcan irectly infect such tissue.
Posted by: John Frum || 04/07/2020 19:07 Comments || Top||

#9  See COVID-19 and the cardiovascular system
Reports suggest that the Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) can cause acute myocarditis and heart failure5. SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV have similar pathogenicity, and the myo- cardial damage caused by infection with these viruses undoubtedly increases the difficulty and complexity of patient treatment. Myocardial injury associated with the SARS-CoV-2 occurred in 5 of the first 41 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Wuhan
Posted by: John Frum || 04/07/2020 19:11 Comments || Top||


Coronavirus patients rush to join studies of Gilead drug
[AP] The new coronavirus made Dr. Jag Singh a patient at his own hospital. His alarm grew as he saw an X-ray of his pneumonia-choked lungs and colleagues asked his wishes about life support while wheeling him into Massachusetts General’s intensive care unit.

When they offered him a chance to help test remdesivir, an experimental drug that’s shown promise against some other coronaviruses, "it did not even cross my mind once to say ’no,’" said Singh, a heart specialist.

Coronavirus patients around the world have been rushing to join remdesivir studies that opened in hospitals in the last few weeks.

Interest has been so great that the U.S. National Institutes of Health is expanding its study, which has nearly reached its initial goal of 440 patients. The drug’s maker, California-based Gilead Sciences, is quickly ramping up its own studies, too.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 03:24 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “Gilead started research into remdesivir more than a decade ago. We are now in a position to consider its potential to treat COVID-19 and rapidly progress its development, and these clinical trials will help generate important data on the safety and efficacy of the medication in the coming weeks,” said Hilary Hutton-Squire, VP and GM of Gilead Sciences UK and Ireland.

Fierce Biotech Link found here.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 3:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's hope it doesn't get to that point, but might this be an option for BoJo?
Posted by: Clem || 04/07/2020 6:53 Comments || Top||

#3  People around the world have gotten Gilead drug on compassionate use basis. BoJo could get it unless the NHS somehow has a rule against it.
Posted by: lord garth || 04/07/2020 11:49 Comments || Top||


Virus pain easing in Spain, Italia; UK braces for bleak days
[AlAhram] A week ago, emergency rooms and intensive care wards in Spain and Italia were overflowing with woozy, coughing coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
patients and literally buzzing with breathing machines.

So many died that Barcelona crematories have a waiting list of up to two years, forcing some people to bury loved ones temporarily in cemeteries with the expectation of exhuming them for cremation later on.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2020 01:55 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is there any evidence the social distancing actually worked rather than the virus ran out of people to harm?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/07/2020 5:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, the countries like Italy & UK - and now Sweden - who didn't go into quarantine have/will have a lot of mortality*. Countries like Israel, and East Europeans - who imitated Israel, that imposed quarantine early ...

*And their uber alles economies** will suffer damage 10 times that of the more careful lands.
**Think of it as group evolution in action.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 5:20 Comments || Top||

#3  We've been told/sold that the purpose of lockdowns was to slow the spread so as to not overload the healthcare system.

If it burns out in the summer, like other viruses, the governments and media can pat themselves on the back.

If it is as deadly as originally said, it'll come back as soon as the restrictions are lifted, until everybody gets it. Or herd immunity takes hold, currently estimated to be 29-74% of the population.

Herd Immunity
Posted by: Bobby || 04/07/2020 14:04 Comments || Top||


Coronaplague update: Norway under control - reproduction rate below 1
Medical group endorses anti-malarial drug treatment for coronavirus patients
[NYPOST] America’s major medical society specializing in the treatment of respiratory diseases has endorsed using hydroxychloroquine for seriously ill hospitalized coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
patients.

The American Thoracic Society issued guidelines Monday that suggest COVID-19 patients with pneumonia get doses of the anti-malaria drug.

"To prescribe hydroxychloroquine (or chloroquine) to hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia if all of the following apply: a) shared decision-making is possible, b) data can be collected for interim comparisons of patients who received hydroxychloroquine (or chloroquine) versus those who did not, c) the illness is sufficiently severe to warrant investigational therapy, and d) the drug is not in short supply," the Thoracic Society said.

Nearly 3,000 new NYC coronavirus cases overnight, total approaches 68,000
[NYPOST] Nearly 3,000 more New Yorkers were diagnosed with the coronavirus overnight Sunday into Monday, with an additional three succumbing to the contagion, City Hall statistics show.

As of 9:30 a.m. Monday, there were 67,820 confirmed cases in the five boroughs, with 2,475 now dead, as compared to 64,955 and 2,472, respectively, on Sunday evening.

The toll continued to mount as City Councilman Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) said the Big Apple may be forced to temporarily bury its dead in public parks.

Queens remains the hardest-hit borough, with 22,767 confirmed cases, followed by Brooklyn with 18,215, according to City Hall.

The Bronx has the third-most diagnoses (13,397), followed by Manhattan (9,624) and Staten Island (3,780).

Courtesy of lord garth:
Gov Cuomo Wants More HCQuine Since Tests Show Promise
[LegalInsurrection] Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during his daily briefing that he wants President Donald Trump's administration to increase the hydroxychloroquine because tests at New York hospitals show promise.
this will be extremely painful for CNN to report

Cuomo raises fine for not social distancing to $1,000
[NYPOST] ALBANY — New Yorkers must maintain social-distancing discipline until the coronavirus is defeated, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday — or face a fine now doubled to $1,000. The governor doubled down on the punishment for violating the rules in public as he announced the state’s shutdown would continue until at least April 29.

“Frankly, there has been a laxness on social-distancing, especially over this past weekend,” said Cuomo told reporters during his daily press briefing at the state Capitol. “That is just wholly unacceptable.”

A visibly-irked Cuomo went off as spring weather has tempted cooped up New Yorkers out of self-imposed isolation — to the risk of themselves and their neighbors.

“If you get infected [or] you infect someone else [or] you go to an emergency room, you put a burden on all sorts of other people who you don’t know and who, frankly, you don’t have the right to burden with your irresponsibility,” he said.

Courtesy of Woodrow:
‘Well, I'm Upset’ - Dr. Oz Vents After NY Governor Cuomo Shuts Down His Study on Hydroxychloroquine for Early Treatment of Coronavirus
[GatewayPundit]
Dr. Oz: Well the trial that I was helping with at my institution was shut down when the governor banned the use of hydroxychloroquine for prescription use for outpatients. And I was trying to see if it could prevent, well there was a prevention trial that was approved, but I was trying to see if it could actually treat early disease and replicate what has been done in China and in France. Unfortunately, those trials have been held back. I don't know of a trial in New York State. I have been searching for the one that has been spoken about... I spoke this morning to the famous French Infectious Disease specialist Didier Raoult, he's the one who's actually been pioneering the hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin, it’s not published yet, but he shared the results of his first thousand patients who have been on that protocol. Seven people died. They were all older and frail individuals. That is lower than what you would expect from people who have been admitted to the hospital. And he's had 20 got to the ICU, again lower than I would expect... Well, I’m upset because I wanted to do the trial. Also I wanted it to be legal in my state for a doctor to talk to a patient about the COVID-19 and treat them as they saw appropriate.

Courtesy of Clem:
Boris Johnson taken to ICU
[BBC] Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in hospital after his coronavirus symptoms "worsened", Downing Street has said. Mr Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise "where necessary", a spokesman added.

The prime minister, 55, was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in London with "persistent symptoms" on Sunday. The spokesman said he was moved on the advice of his medical team and is receiving "excellent care".

A statement read: "Since Sunday evening, the prime minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas' Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus.

"Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the intensive care unit at the hospital."

It continued: "The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication."

Mexican Coronavirus Cases Spike 21% over Weekend
[BREITBART] Mexican health officials saw a 21 percent jump in new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in a span of two days, leading to a total of 2,143 since the pandemic first arrived in the country. Officials are warning the public "the toughest" part is yet to come.Mexico’s Undersecretary of Health Hugo Lopez Gatell revealed the newest statistics in a nightly news conference from Mexico City. Currently, Mexico has 2,143 confirmed cases and 94 fatalities directly related. Health officials also revealed they are looking at 5,209 test cases.

Corrected fake news! Trump celebrates after German politician backtracks accusation that the US diverted a shipment of masks that were en route to Berlin police
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Berlin senator Andreas Geisel had claimed the masks had been taken by the US

  • He also said they were ordered from American company 3M for the police

  • The claims have been debunked by the US and 3M said it received no order


Qatar confirms it has detected 228 new cases of the #COVID_19 coronavirus
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]


Coronavirus death toll in #Iran rises to 3,739 as the total number of confirmed cases in the country reaches 60,500
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Norway Says It Has Virus Outbreak 'Under Control'
[AnNahar] Norway's government said Monday it considered the coronavirus outbreak to be "under control" in the country. It said the reproduction rate of the disease -- the number of new people infected by each patient with the virus -- had fallen to 0.7. That was down from 2.5 when containment measures such as closing public spaces and banning sports and cultural events were introduced in mid-March.

Denmark to ease restrictions next week after coronavirus lockdown
[Jpost] Denmark plans to reopen day care centers and schools on April 15 as a first step to gradually relax a three-week lockdown to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the country's prime minister said on Monday. The Nordic country, which was one of the first in Europe to shut down, has seen the number of coronavirus-related hospitalisations and deaths stabilize over the past week.

It is now trying to balance the need to keep its population safe and the economic risks of a deep recession, tough decisions that many other governments around the world have lying ahead of them.

Global Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 70,000
[AnNahar] The new coronavirus has killed more than 70,000 people across the globe, the majority in Europe, according to an AFP tally Monday at 1100 GMT.

Out of a total of 70,009 killed in the pandemic, 50,215 are in Europe, according to figures compiled from official government data and the World Health Organization. Italy is leading the global death toll with 15,877 fatalities, followed by Spain with 13,055, the United States with 9,648 and France with 8,078.

Deutsche Welle is liveblogging the pandemic today here. Yesterday’s liveblog can be accessed at the bottom of the page at the link.
Posted by: Fred || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I sure hope Boris pulls through.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 2:18 Comments || Top||



#4  Not surprised about the Norse. We are not a very physical social or huggy people. Extreme end would be the Italians.

Open question to Burgs. There was a persistent respiratory infection north of the metro in Minnesota. Little contact if any from China-asia as a whole. That was in late October, early November. Even a local cattery had all of their felines infected.

In your opinions, is there any chance that could have been a Wuhan instance. Personally I don't think so but had to ask my betters here. What say you?
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/07/2020 8:46 Comments || Top||

#5  /\ Possibly Blastomycosis. Again, possibly.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 8:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Reproduction rate below one hurts my chances of meeting a nice Norwegian girl...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 10:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Could be B, thank you. Our lakeside village has the last stand of old growth white pines in this part of the state.

But, Blastomycosis is not a contagious disease and it is generally not transmitted from one person to other. The likelihood of Blastomycosis transmission is rare.

Remind me, when was the first known case in Wuhan?
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/07/2020 11:13 Comments || Top||

#8  Using the latest reports from hospitals, the state [NY] now expects it may need only about 20,000 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients when the pandemic peaks—less than a fifth of the 110,000-bed projection that Cuomo had relied on previously.

Epoch Times
Posted by: Bobby || 04/07/2020 11:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Dr Oz's comment was interesting.

Using hcq by Wu outpatients would potentially be a major advance in getting this under control. I suspect we don't have enough of the hcq currently.
Posted by: lord garth || 04/07/2020 12:37 Comments || Top||

#10  If you can’t get HCQ as an outpatient, an intelligent home version would be to take zinc tablets and use saline nasal irrigation several times a day if you start getting Wuflu symptoms. This, at least, provides chlorine ions in the nasal mucosa.

But, try to get the HCQ plus zinc from your doctor first!
Posted by: KBK || 04/07/2020 15:01 Comments || Top||


My self Isolation
No link. As seen around the internet.
My Self-Isolation Quarantine Diary

Day 1 ‐ I Can Do This!! Got enough food and wine to last a month!
Day 2 ‐ Opening my 8th bottle of Wine. I fear wine supplies might not last!
Day 3 ‐ Strawberries: Some have 210 seeds, some have 235 seeds. Who Knew??
Day 4 ‐ 8:00pm. Removed my Day Pajamas and put on my Night Pajamas.
Day 5 ‐ Today, I tried to make Hand Sanitizer. It came out as Jello Shots!!
Day 6 ‐ I get to take the Garbage out. I’m So excited, I can’t decide what to wear.
Day 7 ‐ Laughing way too much at my own jokes!!
Day 8 ‐ Went to a new restaurant called "The Kitchen". You have to gather all the ingredients and make your own meal. I have No clue how this place is still in business.
Day 9 ‐ I put liquor bottles in every room. Tonight, I’m getting all dressed up and going Bar hopping.
Day 10 ‐ Struck up a conversation with a Spider today. Seems nice. He’s a Web Designer.
Day 11 ‐ Isolation is hard. I swear my fridge just said, "What the hell do you want now?"
Day 12 ‐ I realized why dogs get so excited about something moving outside, going for walks or car rides. I think I just barked at a squirrel.
Day 13 ‐ If you keep a glass of wine in each hand, you can’t accidently touch your face.
Day 14 ‐ Watched the birds fight over a worm. The Cardinals lead the Blue Jays 3‐1.
Day 15 ‐ Anybody else feel like they’ve cooked dinner about 395 times this month?
Posted by: Beavis || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Splendid Isolation
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 8:56 Comments || Top||

#2  ^ Love me some Warren Z
Posted by: Frank G || 04/07/2020 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  "What's the fuss about?" every introvert asked.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 04/07/2020 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  If you keep a glass of wine in each hand, you can’t accidentally touch your face

Rubbing your fingers with Tabasco sauce will quickly achieve the same effect.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/07/2020 11:28 Comments || Top||

#5  I had a supervisor once who would occasionally discover he had a lit Camel in each hand. I suppose one would have to weigh the trade-off.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 11:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Day 16: Sat on the front porch and counted all of the out-of-state license plates in the neighborhood. Zip. Come to think of it there are never were any out-of-state licenses before the quarantine.
Day 17: Counting the new bamboo shoots in the backyard today.
Day 18: Worried about running out of booze. Watching YouTube videos to see how to make mash and a still from what we have in the house--feeling a little like MacGyver.
Day 19: Reading old COBOL manuals scheduled.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/07/2020 13:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Day 20:

Wife - do you have shooting pains like someone was sticking a needle in a voodoo doll?
Me - Nope
Wife - how 'bout now?
Posted by: Voldemort Slealet1779 || 04/07/2020 13:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Re #4 - to be accurate, it will prevent you from doing it twice.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Phush7456 || 04/07/2020 13:44 Comments || Top||

#9  #7 - Heh
Posted by: Frank G || 04/07/2020 14:06 Comments || Top||

#10  I stole repurposed it, Frank
Posted by: Voldemort || 04/07/2020 16:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Along with #4

What broke me of the habit years ago was dicing hot peppers - jalapenos specifically - without gloves.

Not only do you know it when you touch your face wrong, or even close to wrong, the oils stay on your hands until they are properly washed, especially under the fingernails.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/07/2020 17:44 Comments || Top||

#12  ^ I wear contacts and love Mexican food. Amen
Posted by: Frank G || 04/07/2020 18:26 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Argentinean journalist: 'Coronavirus was created by rich Americans and Israelis'
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 10:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's why it's a Brazilian wax, not an Argentinian wax...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 11:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I see the Nazi influence in Argentina is alive and well.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/07/2020 11:46 Comments || Top||

#3  This is Nancy Pelosi stupid.
Posted by: Iblis || 04/07/2020 13:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Stupid media? Not just an American problem, I see.
Posted by: Raj || 04/07/2020 14:34 Comments || Top||

#5  If he tries to enter the US, have TSA drop him into a vat of Hydroflouric acid. Make sure the cameras are on so we can watch him dissolve.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 04/07/2020 16:34 Comments || Top||


Venezuela mobilizes forces for potential confrontation with US
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Good luck widdat.
Hopefully it will be less amusing than the Venezuelan navy’s recent encounter with that German cruise ship.
Posted by: Fred || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Just those four vatos locos?
I knew they were lean, but ...
Posted by: Lex || 04/07/2020 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  When will he start arresting people with joint American-Venezuelan citizens ships as hostages "Gringo CIA spies"?
Posted by: magpie || 04/07/2020 1:39 Comments || Top||

#3  ^citizenship....
Posted by: magpie || 04/07/2020 1:40 Comments || Top||

#4  The Yankees are coming to steal our toilet paper?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 2:41 Comments || Top||

#5  ^^ The only TP they have left are the used ones...
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 04/07/2020 3:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Jungle camo sucks when you're standing in the middle of the highway.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/07/2020 6:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Do they know our ice breakers have guns as well?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/07/2020 11:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Yeah good luck with that.

If we really wanted a severe armed confrontation, you would be finished by dinner time.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/07/2020 12:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Its those same four models used to highlight next sportball season's new uniforms.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/07/2020 13:46 Comments || Top||

#10  Tell me, HOW many aircraft carriers does Venezuela have? How many strategic bombers? Nuclear submarines? I don't think Maduro wants to wage war against the baddest bunch in the hemisphere.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/07/2020 23:45 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Chernobyl radiation levels spike dramatically as forest fires burn in exclusion zone
More on yesterday’s report.
Dear 2020,

Please stop.

Thank you,
Humanity

[NBCNews] Radiation levels in the Chernobyl exclusion zone spiked 17 times over the normal background reading on Sunday, the head of Ukraine’s ecological watchdog said Sunday, as forest fires blazed some 20 kilometers into the Chernobyl disaster area.

"There is bad news," ecological inspection chief Yegor Firsov wrote in a Facebook post from the closed Chernobyl region. "At the center of the fire, radiation levels are high [...] readings are 2.3, when the normal level is 0.14."

Firsov’s post included a video of a geiger counter, a device used to measure radiation levels.

According to Firsov, the alarming jump in radioactivity was only found in the center of the fire. In a later post on Sunday, he wrote that nuclear specialists had charted no increase to radiation levels in the capital Kyiv, located just 100 kilometers from the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Ukrainian authorities said that the fire, which engulfed an area of more than 100 hectares (250 acres) over the weekend, was likely caused by human negligence. Firsov said that the blaze was likely the result of someone setting fire to grass, which then spread to trees.

A Ukrainian Emergency Services Ministry statement on August 6 said that the fire in the Chernobyl exclusion zone has been extinguished with the help of more than 100 firefighters, 26 vehicles, and one Mi-8 helicopter.

Radiation levels in the zone are within normal limits, the statement said.
Posted by: Beavis || 04/07/2020 00:34 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wasn't there an article some time ago, that - despite radiation levels - Chernobyl has a perfectly normal ecosystem. No two headed animals, or nothing?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 2:24 Comments || Top||

#2  A student told me the last time I saw him, the Year of the Rat will not be good for anyone.
Posted by: Beau || 04/07/2020 7:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Wasn't there an article some time ago

Here you go, g(r)omgoru: link
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2020 8:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks, TW.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 9:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Except for contaminating Norway's reindeer.

30 years on, Norway’s radioactive reindeer are a stark reminder of Chernobyl legacy
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/07/2020 9:18 Comments || Top||

#6  So what was once distributed and 'diluted' by plantlife will now be concentrated in the ash runoff. Arson?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 15:51 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Wuhan: reports living but terminal patients sent to crematoria
[Breitbart] Locals in Wuhan, where the Chinese coronavirus pandemic originated, have heard screams coming from funeral home furnaces, and some treated in hospitals say they saw workers put living coronavirus patients in body bags, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Monday....the man was weak but was still breathing when medical workers bound his head and then his hands and feet, which were still moving..., noting that she also lamented that the hospital where she received care had no other treatments available for coronavirus patients besides oxygen. In the West, doctors have begun experimenting with several drug mixtures, one of which; a combination of antibiotics and hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat lupus and malaria; has generated optimism in American hospitals.

The woman said she felt older patients at the hospital were treated "like dead dogs."
They'd eat them if that were the case
Posted by: lord garth || 04/07/2020 15:27 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And we are supposed to help them become a world power why?
Posted by: gorb || 04/07/2020 17:08 Comments || Top||

#2  The Orange Man should clandestinely appoint a strategic planner tasked with systematically disconnecting the United States from everything Chinese.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 17:20 Comments || Top||

#3  ^ Amen to that. We need to disengage and reindustrialize using the pandemic as a basis for renewed ambition of being an industrial power, not a globalist ATM. America first and relearn what American Exceptionalism means.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/07/2020 18:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo China.
Posted by: Alistaire Tingle9882 || 04/07/2020 19:55 Comments || Top||


Things are very bad in Guangzhou City
[Twitter]
Posted by: 3dc || 04/07/2020 06:40 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  IIRC an area which is a large part of US supply chain for multiple items.
Posted by: Alistaire Tingle9882 || 04/07/2020 19:58 Comments || Top||


1.5 million Chinese expelled from Russia to protect it from virus.
[Twitter]
Posted by: 3dc || 04/07/2020 00:34 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  A good start. Keep it up, and send reinforcements to the Amur
Posted by: Lex || 04/07/2020 0:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Does this mean China will not acquire all that territory on the Russian side of the border that they’ve been quietly colonizing after Russian depopulation left it empty?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2020 1:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Right of Return!!
(yeah, Alinsky them)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/07/2020 7:42 Comments || Top||

#4  You know, i dont think the average chinese person is any more transmissible than anyone else...

And i dont think your local shop keeper is necessarily the ccp...
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/07/2020 12:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Russians don't care, Yeti.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 13:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Har. Har. Har.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/07/2020 13:40 Comments || Top||


China oil imports in Jan-Feb from Saudi Arabia rise 26% from year ago
[Reuters]
Posted by: 3dc || 04/07/2020 00:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Shirley, just a coincidence!
Posted by: Bobby || 04/07/2020 0:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Econ 101: A decrease in price increases the quantity demanded. Not difficult.
Posted by: Tom || 04/07/2020 13:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Somehow they gotta fuel those ovens.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 15:52 Comments || Top||


Europe
40 Of 60 Asympthomatic Voluntary Blood Donors in Lombardian Town Test Positive For COVID-19 Antibodies
[Teller Report] China News Service, April 6 (Xinhua) According to the European Union quoted the European Union News Agency, a blood collection station in a small town in northern Italy broke out recently. The blood collection station conducted a virus screening of 60 blood donors and found that 40 blood donors were Positive reactions were all asymptomatic patients.

Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 04/07/2020 09:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now, are they a representative sample?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 10:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, from a self selection standpoint, blood donors would be a "no" in the representative sample column.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 10:28 Comments || Top||

#3  "lots off people have it but are not sick" isn't the message the OneWoGov wants getting around...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 10:29 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Wisconsin's Supreme Court orders primary to proceed as planned on Tuesday
(Reuters) - The Wisconsin Supreme Court put the state’s chaotic presidential primary back on track, ruling on Monday that Democratic Governor Tony Evers cannot postpone in-person voting to June despite the coronavirus crisis.

Evers had moved earlier in the day to postpone the primary election from Tuesday until June 9, citing health risks from the coronavirus pandemic, but Republicans quickly filed a legal challenge in the state Supreme Court.

In a separate lawsuit brought by the Wisconsin Republican Party, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overturn a federal judge’s decision extending the time for absentee voting until next week, meaning only absentee ballots postmarked by Tuesday will be counted.

The legal action means Wisconsin voters will head to the polls on Tuesday to vote in the primary, as well as state and local elections, despite orders to stay at home and a ban on public gatherings to limit exposure to the virus, which has killed more than 10,000 people nationwide and infected more than 350,000.

Related: Free Beacon - Wisconsin Governor Stops In-Person Voting on Eve of Election, Prompting GOP Court Challenge
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 02:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A record of nearly 1.3 million absentee ballots had been requested but only about 725,000 had been returned by Monday, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said.

Dem planned vote cheating would have begun here.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 3:05 Comments || Top||

#2  That would be the election commission who's commissioners resigned rather than execute a court order to clean the voter rolls of known invalid voters?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/07/2020 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  The very same, P2k.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 04/07/2020 8:24 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
BDS founder: Israel-invented virus vaccine would be OK for boycotters to use
[IsraelTimes] Omar Barghouti
...one of a long list of members of the Barghouti clan who have prosecuted the war against Israel for over a generation, both politically and as terrorists for both Fatah and Hamas. This one genteelly organizes academic boycotts of Israel as well as BDS...
says no problem cooperating with Israel if it saves millions of lives, but says Arabs and Palestinians should not use coronavirus as excuse to normalize ties.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2020 01:25 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: PLO

#1  In the event of such vaccine coming to be, I wish there was a way to deny it to anyone involved in BDS.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 2:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Can't have it both ways, either you boycott all or you boycott none!
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 04/07/2020 3:29 Comments || Top||

#3  If it is a jizya tax on a dhimmi they can... They will also declare a hudna while they get the vaccine -and- demand that it be free to all muslims (see juzya).
Posted by: magpie || 04/07/2020 5:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Too bad their batches were accidentally shipped to Russia first where it was all contaminated with polonium. Here's your shot!
Posted by: Silentbrick || 04/07/2020 12:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Get the Chinese copy of the vaccine!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 13:15 Comments || Top||

#6  But is it okay to give it to them? Unfortunately it probably is, because vaccines require everybody to use them to work properly.
Posted by: Vernal Hatrick || 04/07/2020 21:48 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Russian space agency says Trump paving way to seize other planets
[Ynet] The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, accused Donald Trump on Tuesday of creating a basis to take over other planets by signing an executive order outlining U.S. policy on commercial mining in space.

The executive order, which Roscosmos said damaged the scope for international cooperation in space, was signed on Monday.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 10:27 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not Bee for Russia and China. And NASA.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/07/2020 13:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Donald Trump, President of the United Federation of Planets. Yeah, I'd pay to see that.

This reminds me of that UN Law of the Sea kerfuffle where world + dog thought the evil Americans were going to hoover up all the world's manganese nodules off the ocean floor. Fooled ya! We were just snagging a sunken Russian sub.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/07/2020 15:19 Comments || Top||


Boeing will repeat test flight of its astronaut capsule before flying with crew
[Orlando Sentinel] After a failed December test flight of its astronaut capsule revealed multiple deep-seated problems within Boeing’s testing procedures, the company has decided to repeat the test before putting astronauts on board.


That puts SpaceX, the other private company building an astronaut-rated spacecraft for NASA, on a clear track to become the first to launch American astronauts from U.S. soil since 2011. SpaceX is scheduled to perform its crewed test mission as early as next month.

Boeing’s second unpiloted dress rehearsal may not come until later this year.

The decision to repeat the test came following an independent review that issued 61 corrective actions to both Boeing and NASA after the Dec. 20 test flight ended prematurely and revealed multiple flaws within Boeing’s system and NASA’s oversight.

Boeing then proposed to NASA that it re-do its test, a proposition NASA announced Monday evening it had accepted. The company had the option to propose moving ahead with a mission carrying crew.

"The second uncrewed flight does not relieve Boeing from completing all the actions determined from the joint NASA/Boeing independent review team," NASA said in a statement. "NASA still intends to conduct the needed oversight to make sure those corrective actions are taken."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 08:49 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Boeing space capsule to attempt another demo mission to ISS
Posted by: 3dc || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If it compiles, it launches!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/07/2020 8:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Demo as in Demolition?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 9:34 Comments || Top||

#3  (Hat tip to Rand Simberg's Transterrestrial Musings):
"Asked to explain why he did this, Loverro told reporters at the time, "We could have lost a spacecraft twice during this mission." As a result of this, NASA has begun to investigate Boeing's safety culture. The agency also formally opened a process during which its Safety Office will investigate space-agency elements that may have led to the incident—likely focusing on why NASA did not detect the errors in Starliner's flight software."
[Ars Technica] After troubled first flight, Boeing will refly Starliner without crew(04/06/290)
Posted by: magpie || 04/07/2020 10:38 Comments || Top||

#4  /\ All those "Americans learning to code" are actually from Bangladesh on work visas?
Posted by: magpie || 04/07/2020 10:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Meters. Feet. What's the difference?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/07/2020 16:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Meters. Feet. What's the difference?

How to convert meters to inches
1 meter is equal to 39.37007874 inches:

1m = (1/0.0254)″ = 39.37007874″

The distance d in inches (″) is equal to the distance d in meters (m) divided by 0.0254:

d(″) = d(m) / 0.0254
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/07/2020 18:17 Comments || Top||

#7  More precisely, one foot is 0.3048 meters. Exactly.

Ditch the 39.37" to the meter.
Posted by: Bobby || 04/07/2020 19:07 Comments || Top||


Government
Navy Secretary resigns
[USA Today] WASHINGTON ‐ Acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly was forced to resign after he mishandled the firing of the captain of the COVID-19-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt, sources with knowledge of the decision have confirmed.

Modly offered to resign, according to a Capitol Hill source, and Defense secretary Mark Esper accepted, according to a Defense staffer, neither of whom were authorized to speak publicly.

Modly survived his initial decision to fire Capt. Brett Crozier after the aircraft carrier's skipper, whose leaked email to Navy officials showed him pleading for help as the coronavirus swept through the Roosevelt's 4,800-member crew. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, voiced support for Modly's move.

But Modly's decision to fly to Guam to visit sailors and explain his decision in a profanity-laced speech proved to be his undoing. He apologized Monday for his speech.

Modly had disparaged the former captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, calling him "too naive or too stupid" to command the stricken aircraft carrier before issuing a remarkable apology taking back the insults.
Should've kept his mouth shut. He's guilty of the same indiscretion he relieved the Captain over
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 16:13 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He certainly mishandled it. But the Captain deserved a relief for cause.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 04/07/2020 16:44 Comments || Top||

#2  A lot of wacky shit going on in the Navy lately. Do you suppose there is something in the water?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/07/2020 16:46 Comments || Top||

#3  A clusterfuck of epic proportion.
Posted by: Penguin_of_the_Desert || 04/07/2020 16:48 Comments || Top||

#4  The ship captain acted to save his men in the face of a high command of depraved indifference.

The SecNav was the one threatened by his behavior, because he's the one who stood to get the blame. Good that he got shitcanned.

The carrier skipper took one for the team. His crew cheered him as he left. They knew what he did for them. Fell on a grenade and took its terrible burst.
Posted by: Chitle Thromose5239 || 04/07/2020 17:41 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't think so Scooter. The ship captain gave shore leave during a pandemic.
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/07/2020 17:46 Comments || Top||

#6  The captain was the hero in this, as far ad I am concerned. And the civilian idiot who didn't care about his plight to begin with is just another example of bad bureaucracy.
Posted by: Vernal Hatrick || 04/07/2020 18:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Herb, is that you? :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 04/07/2020 18:28 Comments || Top||

#8  #2 A lot of wacky shit going on in the Navy lately

Water, heh.
Seriously, the squid fish rots from the head. Sh!tty leadership explains a lot of the weirdness.
Posted by: Lex || 04/07/2020 19:31 Comments || Top||


Science
A nice executive order - read it!
[WhiteHouse.gov] Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law. Outer space is a legally and physically unique domain of human activity, and the United States does not view it as a global commons. Accordingly, it shall be the policy of the United States to encourage international support for the public and private recovery and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law.

[..]

Accordingly, the Secretary of State shall object to any attempt by any other state or international organization to treat the Moon Agreement as reflecting or otherwise expressing customary international law.


Posted by: 3dc || 04/07/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is the 21st century, we were promised!!!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 2:46 Comments || Top||


#3  Yupp. Sounds American all right. ☺

Skeptical about the 'we're done with this rock, let's go leech space' thingy though. My own antediluvian christian view though.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 5:00 Comments || Top||

#4  What about "Don't keep all of Humanity's eggs in one basket", Drone?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 5:02 Comments || Top||

#5  ^ Of course, my view is unpopular, Grom. Even dumb by today's lefty ideals. I just know that Gawd gave man the earth, with everything in it. And only the earth. And we fucked that up too.

But even from a non-theist POV; it's slightly mental to continue in denial of the enemies of humanity itself thriving and throbbing around us, while we talk about diversifying into every thing except what needs to be done. In my view, we cannot advance to the stars, or seek the deeper dimensions while our impending problems with Law, Justice and political Violence remain unsolved.

It's like filling the library of Alexandria with choice productions of creative minds and collective genius; building economies of gold and silver; architectural wonders and temples by hundred thousands of hands over decades. Only waiting for it all to be razed by dim-witted hordes we ignored in the process. Or worse, suicidally stupid liberals.

I think if we just selectively depopulated this planet, we have enough resource and peace of mind to last us a good millennia or two. For this, we only need to climb up out of the liberal humanist guilt embedded in our modern morality systems and re-write our laws to reduce the chances of survival of the criminal, the dangerous.

Once we this planet under dominion of reason and justice; I believe we could graduate to the stars.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 5:30 Comments || Top||

#6  ^ Sorry, I meant lofty ideals.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 5:32 Comments || Top||

#7  ^^ Shit. I meant 'once we brought this planet...'

Actually, I'm just hungry.
[Runs off to the kitchen]
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 5:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Sorry, but I believe in exactly the opposite - we have to go out because this planet is, rapidly, becoming uninhabitable*.
Our ancestors didn't leave Africa after achieving paradise there - look at post-colonial Africa.

*We're now having an example of that happens when half-competent people (Wuhan "scientists") play with modern biological techniques. What will happen when quarter-competent: Pakis & Iranians; will start?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 5:38 Comments || Top||

#9  Now, if there's a chance of developing some kind of orbital weapon that can threaten portions of the world with mass destruction without radiation, unchallenged by any other power or counter... then that would be a thing, yeah.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 5:48 Comments || Top||

#10  we have to go out because this planet is, rapidly, becoming uninhabitable

I admit my view is coloured by blind faith.

I understand your view too. Often, my faith gets the better of my ambitions you see. I can't overstep my bounds seeing how it turns out for Nimrods. While many may think it silly superstition, to me it's prudent.

Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 5:54 Comments || Top||

#11  When I think more of it, the modern democracy is nothing short of a Babel. And anything proposed by it like 'a tower reaching into heaven' is bound to fail by default. Another self-licking ice cream cone for bureaucrats, manufacturers and legislators that ultimately delivers nothing to better humanity. Of course, if my government would undertake such a thing I would support it as best I could, my biases notwithstanding. In the hope that mayhap some tangential avenue of research from such projects leads to other practicable applications.

My point is, it was actually easier to repair our planet with just a little realism and practicality. The easy way out is to always reach for the reset switch; pack up and move to Arkansas; divorce and buy a cat. It's a conceit of the rich denialist, but how long can one hide from hard truths ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 04/07/2020 6:12 Comments || Top||

#12  Thar is gold in them there hills!
Posted by: 3dc || 04/07/2020 6:23 Comments || Top||

#13  Ref #8: *We're now having an example of that happens when half-competent people (Wuhan "scientists") play with modern biological techniques.

Simon Wiesenthal's search for doctor and anthropologist Joseph Mengele provides an earlier example.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 7:25 Comments || Top||

#14 

Stanton T. Friedman had worked with some amazing nuclear rocket engines. Used to scoff at the very thought of using chemical rockets for planetary explorations. The man was no joke.
Posted by: Woodrow || 04/07/2020 9:12 Comments || Top||

#15  #10 Guess I envy you, but I can't share your faith in benevolent creator. And lets not talk about this anymore.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 9:26 Comments || Top||

#16  #13. No it doesn't. Mangele was a monster - but he didn't (by himself) threaten human life on this planet.

My point is, what biological weapons are a lot more dangerous than nuclear. You need thousands of competent people to make a nuke - because it has thousands of components that need to function perfectly for it to work.
And nukes don't self-multiply!
Any idiot with an access to a modern molecular biology lab (and there are thousands of them in the world)* can make a biological weapon. And the dumber and more careless he is, the more dangerous this weapon will be.

*A friend of mine works in the lab where they use the technique that (I conjecture) was used to produce the spike protein for novel coronavirus to study bacteriorhodopsin.
What they do is mutate the coding DNA at random. Separate the mutated DNA until they have a single copy - so they can study the effect of one particular mutation at one the time. Multiply this copy into thousands with PCR, insert that DNA into plasmid. Inject the plasmid into a commercially purchased strain of E. Coli (it can't infect humans or anything because it cannot live outside a very specific lab conditions). Produce bunches of mutated bacteriorhodopsin. Carry out biochemical function tests. Try to infer what the results mean - that's the hard part😃.
Everything they use: PCR kits, plasmids, E coli is purchased commercially - they don't produce them in their own lab. Everything is about as hard to use as putting together a piece of IKEA furniture.

Now, what I think the Wuhan Einsteins did, is use the same methods (with staff bought from the same suppliers) to produce mutated copies of bat coronavirus spike protein. Test them for increased affinity to the human target protein. Mutate successful copies further - artificial evolution. When they got that they wanted (don't ask me why they wanted it) they inserted the evolved DNA back into coronavirus.
And then it run away.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 9:57 Comments || Top||

#17  Just a technical note but the CoVs are ssRNA viruses. They would have been using a bit different technique than random changes and PCR duplication (were it engineered, I’m still not convinced of that).

Your point still stands, but of note introducing base changes in RNA is even easier. Getting viable and stable changes may be a different story depending what you are attempting to engineer.

In 92 at uni we were engineering E. coli via PCR just as you said and we could have as first year biochemistry students easily made simple bioweapons.
Posted by: bombay || 04/07/2020 11:07 Comments || Top||

#18  /\ Thank you for your comments bombay.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2020 11:28 Comments || Top||

#19  were it engineered, I’m still not convinced of that

Sooner, or later, we'll have the RNA/DNA sequence of the spike protein - I predict dozens of base differences from the bat's - all enhancing binding to ACE2.

p.s. I remember something about the bats it's coming from NOT being found in Wuhan region.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 13:27 Comments || Top||

#20  The timing of samples sequenced will be important in that distinction. At 30k base pairs and two or more mutations that stick a month getting a hold of the very first samples from China would be key ....
Posted by: bombay || 04/07/2020 14:09 Comments || Top||

#21  I'm sure Japanese and South Koreans kept samples from the beginning.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 14:20 Comments || Top||

#22  G: The coronavirus came from either the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention or Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China.

The study concluded the deadly virus came out of local laboratories in Hubei Province. The smoking gun in the study is the link to horseshoe bats which are not sold in local markets and not native to Wuhan. In fact the closest colony is 900 kilometers away. There is no evidence horseshoe bats were sold in the Wuhan wet markets. The local labs used this bat specimen and the virus came from a lab in Wuhan.
Posted by: Frank G || 04/07/2020 14:24 Comments || Top||

#23  Thanks, Frank.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 14:28 Comments || Top||

#24  welcome
Posted by: Frank G || 04/07/2020 14:31 Comments || Top||

#25  I would think the Thai samples would be very useful as well. China did ‘publish’ the sequencing but the first samples themselves would be definitive proof. Likely the world would never get those.
Posted by: bombay || 04/07/2020 15:07 Comments || Top||

#26  I've trouble commenting to this thread
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 15:25 Comments || Top||

#27  I would think the Thai samples would be very useful as well

Yep. And, according to "worldometers/info/coronavirus" site, they handled coronavirus really well.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2020 15:27 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2020-04-07
  Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun calls on international donors to provide financial assistance to the crisis-hit country
Mon 2020-04-06
  Iranian regime has blamed the US, Israel, and Jews for the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran,
Sun 2020-04-05
  Hezbollah commander assassinated in southern Lebanon
Sat 2020-04-04
  China orders 200,000 body bags from Taiwan!
Fri 2020-04-03
  Iran’s Speaker Reportedly Diagnosed with Coronavirus
Thu 2020-04-02
  Pakistan court overturns conviction in death of Daniel Pearl
Wed 2020-04-01
  Trump says Iran planning 'sneak attack' on US troops in Iraq
Tue 2020-03-31
  Iran gas pipeline to Iraq blows up
Mon 2020-03-30
  Turkish military attacks Syrian Army, YPG
in northern Aleppo
Sun 2020-03-29
  Khamenei family fears he might have Coronavirus
Sat 2020-03-28
  LNA scores big advance around Tripoli
Turkish-backed forces suffer tremendous losses
Fri 2020-03-27
  Riots in China
Thu 2020-03-26
  Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi confirms Saudi coalition ceasefire
Wed 2020-03-25
  LNA forces eliminate GNA/al-Qaeda leader Ayoub Bu Ras in Tripoli
Tue 2020-03-24
  Gutierrez calls for an immediate global ceasefire


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