[Jpost] Not only have all the patients survived, according to Pluristem, but four of them showed improvement in respiratory parameters.
Six critically ill coronavirus patients in Israel who are considered high-risk for mortality have been treated with Pluristem’s placenta-based cell-therapy product and survived, according to preliminary data provided by the Haifa-based company.
Pluristem’s PLX cells are “allogeneic mesenchymal-like cells that have immunomodulatory properties,” meaning they induce the immune system’s natural regulatory T cells and M2 macrophages, the company explained in a previous release. The result could be the reversal of dangerous overactivation of the immune system. This would likely reduce the fatal symptoms of pneumonia and pneumonitis (general inflammation of lung tissue).
Previous preclinical findings regarding PLX cells revealed significant therapeutic effects in animal studies of pulmonary hypertension, lung fibrosis, acute kidney injury and gastrointestinal injury.
Pluristem plans to apply for initiation of a multinational clinical trial for the treatment of complications associated with coronavirus, the release said, noting that it will no longer report on its compassionate use trials but rather on the status and progress of its contemplated clinical trial.
h/t Instapundit
[phys.org news] - A team of researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, HSE University Moscow in Russia, Stanford University, and Cornell University used a multi-site, randomized controlled study at three Russian universities to compare performance and satisfaction for students in two engineering courses. The students were randomly divided into the three cohorts and received identical lessons and assignments via one of three delivery modalities: 1) in-person lectures and discussion sections 2) a blend of online and in-person instruction, and 3) fully online instruction. The online and blended instruction utilized OpenEdu, a platform developed by a non-profit organization in Russia to make online university courses available to the public.
At the conclusion of the courses, researchers measured final exam scores, performance on course assignments, and student satisfaction. Students in all three modalities had similar scores on final exams. Students in fully online modality scored higher on course assignments but reported slightly lower satisfaction than students in the in-person modality. Furthermore, the online and blended modes of instruction cost significantly less per-student than traditional, in- person instruction. Blended instruction lowered the cost of per-student instruction by 15-19% depending on the course; online instruction lowered the cost of per-student instruction by 79- 81% depending on the course.
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ‐ Former Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh will serve her time in an Alabama women's prison, according to court records.
Pugh, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and fraud in the Healthy Holly children's book scandal, is asking for a delay so that she can "resolve" her state perjury charge as the coronavirus pandemic has led to the closure of courts.
She was sentenced on February 27 to three years in prison. Pugh must turn herself in by April 27; she was granted a delay her incarceration on March 2 after she asked a judge if she could stay in her home with her niece until the semester ended.
According to the motion, she's assigned to serve her sentence at a medium-security prison, Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville.
She's now asking for another delay because she's been "adversely affected" by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her perjury court date was moved to May 14.
"To require the defendant to surrender to BOP custody in Alabama to only to then have to ben returned to Maryland for the final adjudication of her state law charges, serves no legitimate purpose," the motion states.
It also says travel could create more delays for her perjury case in May and would also affect the BOP programs she could benefit from while in the Alabama facility that would allow her early release to a halfway house. Her lawyer also said while delayed, it would give them time to ask for Pugh to serve at a facility closer to her family. The Alabama prison is 877 miles away from Baltimore and would be a 14-hour drive.
According to the motion, Pugh wants to serve her sentence in West Virginia.
The 70-year-old pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and tax evasion charges in November, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and two counts of tax evasion.
She had been accused of defrauding people who bought her "Healthy Holly" children's books out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, then using the money to fund her campaign for mayor.
The veteran Democratic politician was elected mayor in 2016 and resigned in May after authorities began investigating bulk sales of her "Healthy Holly" paperbacks that netted her hundreds of thousands of dollars.
#1
awesome graphic, but Jar-Jar won't be getting any of that loving :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2020 16:32
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#2
She had been accused of defrauding people who bought her "Healthy Holly" children's books out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, then using the money to fund her campaign for mayor.
[Fox Business] That brings the number of applications for the last three weeks to more than 16 million, a stunning sign of the colossal economic damage inflicted by the outbreak, compared to a total of 11.5 million filed from the beginning of the year through March 14. With a labor force that totals about 162 million people, that means an estimated one in 10 workers have lost their jobs.
During a call with House Democrats this week, former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, one of the nation's top economists, said the unemployment rate is now at least 13 percent. Yellen she expects a 30 percent contraction of GDP this year, but has seen models as high as 50 percent.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2020
12:37 ||
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New research indicates that the coronavirus began to circulate in the New York area by mid-February, weeks before the first confirmed case, and that travelers brought in the virus mainly from Europe, not Asia.
I stopped reading when the article shifted to OrangeManBad. But maybe this data can be used to further refine the models.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2020 12:45
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#2
And where did Europe get it?
From China. Never forget the origin of this mess, all they did to hide it, and all they didn't do to contain it.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/09/2020 15:02
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#3
Send us your sneezy, your wheezy, your infected...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 15:17
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[USN Basketball College] This document is a summary of 16 key research and game findings focused specifically on the characteristics of civil-military response to a pandemic scenario. The numbered bullets below correspond to more detailed explanations of findings presented later in the document. While these findings are in no way definitive or complete, they are a sampling of relevant guidance based on research, gaming and expert opinion. It is our hope that these 16 findings will contribute to improving civilian and military effectiveness in humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations
Great news for big pharma....gee, who da thunk it?
[WashingtonTimes] Anthony Fauci, America’s most-listened-to medical professional on the coronavirus, and apparently on all the political, economic, cultural and social precautions every man, woman and child in the nation should take on the coronavirus, has just warned what cooler-head coronavirus watchers have suspected all along: that this country may never, no never, go back to normal.
Never, that is, Fauci suggested, until a vaccine is developed. And by logical extension, that’s to say ‐ never, until a vaccine is developed that must then be included on the required list of shots for all children to attend school.
What great news for Big Pharma.
What great news for Bill Gates who just announced his foundation is going to spend billions of dollars to help build factories for seven possible coronavirus vaccine makers. "Spend" is probably the wrong word here. Invest is more like it.
After all, Gates, first and foremost, is a businessman. A billionaire businessman who made his billions in Microsoft and who just left his billion-dollar Microsoft enterprise to pursue other matters ‐ specifically, to "serve humanity," is how the Economic Times put it, in a March headline.
For a taste of how he’s already served humanity, one need only look to the disastrous Common Core one-size-fits-all, top-down education plan that his foundation bankrolled.
From education to vaccinations ‐ the service to humanity never ends.
But this is what Fauci just warned, at a White House briefing with reporters: "When we get back to normal, we will go back to the point where we can function as a society. But ... [i]f you want to get back to pre-coronavirus, that might not ever happen in the sense that the threat is there. But I believe that with the therapies that will be coming online, and the fact that I feel confident that over a period of time we will get a good vaccine, that we will never have to get back to where we are right now."
He also said this: "If back to normal means acting like there never was a coronavirus problem, I don’t think that’s going to happen until we do have a situation where you can completely protect the population."
This ‐ as the dire, dark, deathly numbers that sent America into coronavirus panic in the first place were just revised downward.
"America’s most influential coronavirus model just revised its estimates downward," The Washington Post reported.
This ‐ as Gates, the guy who has been the face of warning about the "nightmare scenario" of the coronavirus outbreak, just said the predicted death toll may not be as high as, well, predicted. Yes, viruses are, after all, seasonal.
This ‐ as deaths due to the coronavirus are wildly open to interpretation, wildly speculative, wildly unscientific.
"The lack of widespread, systematic testing in most countries is the main source of discrepancies in death rates internationally," BBC reported.
What do doctors consider a coronavirus death?
In the United Kingdom, health officials give daily counts of deaths of those who tested positive for the coronavirus, but who might have actually died from other medical conditions. In the United States, doctor discretion reigns.
"In the US," BBC reported, "doctors ... are asked to record whether the patient dies ’as a result of this illness’ when reporting Covid-19 deaths to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
So some patients may have underlying conditions that lead to death; others may not. Some hospitals may have policies that mandate the U.K. model ‐ to chalk up any patient who died with the coronavirus to be reported to the CDC as a coronavirus fatality; other hospitals may let the doctor determine. It’s a toss-up, hardly fact-based.
And for all this, America may never see a return to pre-coronavirus normalcy?
We’re focused on fear.
We should be focused on this: the money trail.
The money and power trail.
The Global Vaccine Action Plan, for instance.
"The World Health Organization, UNICEF, the National institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced a collaboration to increase coordination across the international vaccine community and create a Global Vaccine Action Plan," the Gates Foundation reported in a press release. "The collaboration follows the January 2010 call by Bill ad Melinda Gates for the next ten years to be the Decade of Vaccines."
The "Decade of Vaccines?"
It’s a structured campaign. It includes a Leadership Council, a Steering Committee, an International Advisory Committee ‐ and other bureaucratic so forths and so ons. But here’s an interesting link.
The Leadership Council "is comprised of ... Dr. Anthony S. Fauci," the Gates Foundation reported.
Fauci, the same guy who just set the stage for the dire need for a protective coronavirus vaccine, has a vested interest in seeing this vaccine come to fruition ‐ come to widely administered fruition.
"Vaccines are miracles," said Pedro Alonso, the director for the Institute for Global Health of Barcelona, and another stakeholder in the "Decade of Vaccines" program.
Yes.
And for certain folk, certain insider folk, vaccines are also great economic and political investments. Especially when they come as saving grace solutions to wildly spread fears ‐ especially when they come as required, mandated protections for global populations.
#6
(a) He advises, he doesn't decide.
(b) A bureaucrat will always give the most cautious estimate.
(c) If HCQ works as advertised, who's going to pay any attention to him?
#9
Maybe the vaccine will be cheap. The piece of paper won't be. And wait til the anti-vaxxers file lawsuits.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 12:40
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#10
How many democrats do you think will support "hold harmless" legislation for the vaccine manufacturers? Anyone? Bueller?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 12:44
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#11
Get vaccinated > wait 6-12 weeks > get antibody test (maybe repeat first three steps) > apply to DHS for chit, send in check or money order, may take 180 days or more to process...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 12:47
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#12
MM, ever considered that, with Trump in cat-bird seat, the paper will be antibody test results not proof of vaccination?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 15:07
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#19
The point, MM, if the criterion is immune memory (antibody counts), then you cannot specify a particular vaccine. And there are going to be dozens - at least one from each industrialized country.
#21
I definitely didn't get that from the comments above but I do agree.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 15:23
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#22
Whatever it looks like you will be able to buy quality forgeries in downtown LA a couple of days ays later. And for a few dollars more,the actual records of it by local government there will reflect it matches with your other phony ID.
#25
In the race to get a vaccine in the US, FDA approval is the high hurdle.
Any bets on who has the inside track?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2020 15:59
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#26
^The current FDA head is Trump Appointment.
And, if he doesn't play ball. The FDA is led by the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate
Trump will fire his ass.
h/t Instapundit
[NYTimes] The senior Saudi prince who is governor of Riyadh is in intensive care with the coronavirus. Several dozen other members of the royal family have been sickened as well. And doctors at the elite hospital that treats Al-Saud clan members are preparing as many as 500 beds for an expected influx of other royals and those closest to them, according to an internal "high alert" sent out by hospital officials.
"Directives are to be ready for V.I.P.s from around the country," the operators of the elite facility, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, wrote in the alert, sent electronically Tuesday night to senior doctors.
#6
Federal contracting records show HHS made a $4.8 million order of N95 masks on March 12, followed by a $173 million order on March 21, but those contracts don’t require the manufacturer to start making deliveries to the national stockpile until the end of April, after the White House has projected the pandemic will reach its peak.
Because the money-grubbing contractors should have been forced to produce them in a week. Besides, the deadly pandemic was forecast to run well into the summer at the time of the order. At worst, they'll restock the national stockpile.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2020 10:52
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#7
It's a given there will be an oversupply od masks and toilet paper in August.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 12:20
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#8
It's a given there will be an oversupply od masks and toilet paper in August.
#1
Fox's website is awful performance wise; it's right down there with CBS Sports, the Weather Channel and the Food Channel with all that Java script and other bloatware bullshit loaded in. How many refreshes and auto-play videos can you really display before the actual story?
#8
JS is one of the main things H2-Bs are brought in for. How long before the gummint requires your browser to run it?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 15:57
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#9
Countra-rotating props on each engine. They are more efficient than a single propeller disc, but the gearing introduces more complexity.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/09/2020 16:00
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#10
@Raj
Firefox, Chrome and Brave accept the addon uMatrix. Takes a bit to get accustomed to but then you can fine tune any website to your heart's content.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/09/2020 16:11
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#1
"When Beijing shut down travel from Hubei to the rest of China on January 23 - but strangely not from Hubei to the rest of the world - why didn't the WHO act decisively then?"
The conspiracy between Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci is in the open. We now have Fauci saying the same thing as Gates – the country will NEVER return to normal until everyone is vaccinated against this pretend virus. Fauci has suggested that until a vaccine is developed, we will NEVER be allowed to do anything in public.
This is the overthrow of the United States. It is a conspiracy blended with the Climate Change agenda from day one.
President Trump must appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate all the connections. I have DIRECT knowledge of calls made to elite people who were told to sell everything because of this "virus" and Bill Gates resigned from the boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hatheway just before Warren Buffet lost up to $80 billion on March 23rd.
This is a matter of NATIONAL SECURITY and everyone should be writing to the White House now! They have weakened the US economy and thrown the world into a serious state where war now becomes the traditional response. I have always stated, my research has shown that war NEVER takes place when everyone is fat & happy. Turn the economy down, and war becomes inevitable.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 10:36
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#2
The German landkreis (county) of Heinsberg (pop. 100,000) had the earliest uncontrolled breakout of the virus in February.
The renowned German virologist Hendrik Streeck conducted a very thorough research in the most hit community of Gangelt where the outbreak started during a carnival session. For the first time a representative sample of people were tested including those without any symptoms.
A conservative estimate says that 15% of the population (other calculation methods say 20%) contracted the virus, most without any symptoms.
This would bring the death rate (Germany currently 1.8%) down to 0.37%. An the overwhelming majority of deaths are old people with preconditions (obesity, diabetes, heart and lung problems, smokers).
It's therefore quite possible that Spain, Italy, France and Germany (and most likely the U.S.) have millions of infected already, and most people either feel nothing or just think they have a common cold.
Poor hospital situations may be to blame for the "high death rates" in Italy, Spain and France. But if millions are already infected, they aren't that high.
This may just turn out to be like a season with a severe flu wave. Covid-19 is not the flu, but most people will be affected like they'd be in a flu wave.
If that's true, most measures taken in order to "flatten the curve" are extremely exaggerated. Numbers skyrocketed, because everyone started testing like crazy. For the same reason the curve is flattening now.
We probably don't need a shut down. All we need is:
1) 2 m (6ft) distance, period.
2) Thorough and frequent hand hygiene
3) Extensive testing
4) Protecting the elderly
We don't need to shut down the economy and lose trillions. We need social distancing until a vaccine is developed. This can be done without ruining the economy.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/09/2020 15:00
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#3
I recently saw a ZDF video with Dr. Streeck, and I believe he even debunked the idea that things like a Türklinke (door "knob") carry the virus and can infect people.
Interesting how many of the videos I've seen from the non-hysteria point of view have been mostly from Germany with maybe France pitching in. We could use more of them!
#4
Yes it seems the socalled "smear infection" is overrated.
To contract a living virus, an infected person would need to cough directly at the door knob, another person has to touch it within minutes and the touch his nose or mouth with the same hand soon.
The most common way to get the virus is standing close to an infected coughing person or shaking the hand of an infected person who coughed in his hand.
This can be avoided quite easily.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/09/2020 15:16
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#5
The virus can - under lab condition - survive a while on door knobs but it's ar more likely that you touch a dead virus and/or simply not enough of the buggers.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/09/2020 15:18
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#6
I've had a nasty cold, then the flu, then pneumonia (only one lung), then another nasty cold for months. Started in early November. I hurt all over for months. I seem, and feel, fine now. Only the good die young. My VA doctor says I am too cussed to die. Yet. Hope so.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/09/2020 21:40
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as the lockdown enters its third week for most parts of the country - as NYC sees a 75 percent rise in burglaries and one-fifth of the NYPD is out sick
#3
My original off duty 2inch S&W Model 10 with Plus P hollow points on the bedside table for the last 20+years. The 1911 and clips are in the kitchen drawer. Wife has trouble racking the slide these days so the bedroom gun has to be a revolver.
"Alice, Alice, who the f**k is Alice?
[Strategic-Cultire.org] A recurring theme among conspiracy theorists is that the elite are just waiting for the right moment to roll out their ‘mark of the beast' technology to remotely identify and control every single human being on the planet, thus sealing their plans for a one world government. And with many people willing to do just about anything to get back to some sense of normalcy, those fears appear more justified with each passing day.
In the Book of Revelation [13:16-17], there is a passage that has attracted the imagination of believers and disbelievers throughout the ages, and perhaps never more so than right now: "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark…"
Was John of Patmos history's first conspiracy theorist, or are we merely indulging ourselves today with a case of self-fulfilling prophecy? Whatever the case may be, many people would probably have serious reservations about being branded with an ID code even if it had never been mentioned in Holy Scripture. But that certainly has not stopped Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has been warning about a global pandemic for years, from pushing such controversial technologies on all of us.
In September 2019, just three months before the coronavirus first appeared in China, ID2020, a San Francisco-based biometric company that counts Microsoft as one of its founding members, quietly announced it was undertaking a new project that involves the "exploration of multiple biometric identification technologies for infants" that is based on "infant immunization" and only uses the "most successful approaches".
In a new interview, Bill Gates authoritatively states that mass public gatherings will not come back "at all" until we have mass vaccination. Who made him king of the world? https://t.co/siW7bZ9yGc … pic.twitter.com/ivaCI8eAEl
‐ Alternative News (@NewsAlternative) April 4, 2020
For anyone who may be wondering what one of those "most successful approaches" might look like, consider the following top contender for the contract. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed what is essentially a hi-tech ‘tattoo' that stores data in invisible dye under the skin. The ‘mark' would be delivered together with a vaccine, most likely administered by Gavi, the global vaccine agency that also falls under the umbrella of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
"The researchers showed that their new dye, which consists of nanocrystals called quantum dots… emits near-infrared light that can be detected by a specially equipped smartphone," MIT News reported.
And if the reader scrolls to the very bottom of the article, he will find that this study was funded first and foremost by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Today, with the global service economy shut down to prevent large groups of infectious humans from assembling, it is easier to imagine a day when people are required to have their infrared ID ‘tattoo' scanned in order to be granted access to any number of public venues. And from there, it requires little stretch of the imagination to see this same tracking nanotechnology being applied broadly across the global economy, where it could be used to eliminate the use of dirty money. After all, if reusable bags are being outlawed over the coronavirus panic-demic, why should reusable cash get special treatment?
Writing earlier this month in these pages, geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar provided a compelling argument that the coronavirus, which is driving the world towards a New Great Depression, is "being used as cover for the advent of a new, digital financial system, complete with a forced vaccine cum nanochip creating a full, individual, digital identity.
As one possible future scenario, Escobar imagined "clusters of smart cities linked by AI, with people monitored full time and duly micro-chipped doing what they need with a unified digital currency…"
Those fears took on greater significance when Bill Gates sat down over the weekend for a breathtaking interview with CBS This Morning. Gates told host Anthony Mason that mass gatherings might have to be prohibited in the age of coronavirus unless and until a wide scale vaccination program is enacted.
"What does ‘opening up' look like," Gates asked rhetorically before essentially changing the entire social and cultural makeup of the United States in one fell swoop. "Which activities, like schools, have such benefit and can be done in a way that the risk of transmission is very low, and which activities, like mass gatherings, maybe, in a certain sense more optional. And so until you're widely vaccinated those [activities] may not come back at all" [The interview can be watched in its entirety here].
According to Gates, anything that could be defined as a "mass gathering" – from spectators packed into a stadium for a sporting event, to protesters out on the street in demonstration – would be considered an act of civil disobedience without a vaccine. Little surprise that Gates chose the concept of "mass gathering" to snag all of us, for what is modern democratic society if not one big mass event after another? Indeed, since nobody will want to miss the next big happening, like the Super Bowl, or Comic-Con, or, heaven forbid, Eurovision, millions of people would predictably line up for miles to get their Microsoft-supported inoculation, even if it contains tracking technologies.
MIT is working on a "quantum tattoo" that will mark you with an invisible identifier while also delivering a vaccine. Can you guess who is the premiere donor of the project? https://t.co/ZEWqCUVGwI pic.twitter.com/jFVip4DaqZ
‐ Roosh (@rooshv) April 4, 2020
All of this seems like sheer madness when it is remembered that there are other options for defeating the coronavirus than a mandatory global vaccine regime.
Just last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director, told a Senate Subcommittee that over 80 percent of the people who get infected by the coronavirus "spontaneously recover" without any medical intervention. This makes one wonder why the global lockdown was designed for everyone instead of just the sick and elderly. Meanwhile, the drug hydroxychloroquine, which has been downplayed in the media despite being named as the most effective coronavirus treatment among physicians in a major survey, is starting to get a fresh look.
Just this week, following Nevada's lead, Michigan just reversed course and is now the second democratic state to request the anti-malarial drug from the Trump administration.
Michigan reverses course, requests anti-malarial drugs from feds to treat coronavirus. Second Democratic governor to change mind this week, following Nevada. https://t.co/TkZyXEqs9l
‐ John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) April 3, 2020
So now it looks as though we are off to the races to see what will become the approved method of fighting the global pandemic – a hastily developed vaccine that may actually worsen the effects of the disease in those who contract it, or the already proven inexpensive drug hydroxychloroquine.
If the winner turns out to be a global vaccine, possibly one that carries ID nanotechnology, don't expect the wealthy to be lining up with their kids to be the first to get it. In 2015, The American Journal of Public Heath surveyed some 6,200 schools in California – the epicenter of biometric ID research – and found vaccine exemptions were twice as common among kindergartners enrolled in private institutions.
It seems that the elite are betting heavily on the development of an ID-tracking vaccine that would bring all races and institutions together under one big happy roof, but clearly they will continue living in their own fenced-off neighborhood in this one world government. Whether or not they will get a ‘special pass' from receiving the new-age mark is another question.
#1
First Fauci, then that Emmanuel fuckwad, and now one of the guys I've looked up to for thirty years, saying absolute garbage codswallop, doing little but instilling fear and panic in people. As Rush pointed out earlier this week, is there a vaccine for AIDS or the current flu virus? Why is this one different, besides being the new kid on the block? Whether Gates is doing this accidentially or on purpose is irrelevant. That admiration is now officially gone; maybe it's been building up during this whole Chink Virus thing, but now it's done with.
#5
Raj, I've wondered/said the same thing. MERS, Ebola, Zika, the first SARS...all pretty bad, but are there vaccines? And, of course, why no similar response like the one we are experiencing now? It is f'in disgusting how this all went down...and how it continues to go down.
#8
#6 Urbanism is a failed model. The effort the elites put into broadcasting that it's "the future" says it all.--M. Murcek Plagues and Peoples by William McNeill , great book. Throughout history cities have had a negative growth rate where peasants come in from (healthy) countryside to (diseased) urban centers. Only advance in medicine and, more importantly, sanitary engineering have had an effect in the last century or so. The Hubris of the Globalists that they have fundamentally changed this reality is obvious...
#9
/\ There is also the fact that there is a Rule of Thumb that you need people to cluster with more than 40,000 to provide a disease to become endemic. Below that threshold it "burns through" once and there are not enough new victims to keep the cycle spinning around. Globalism and fast, convenient mass transit has made everybody a neighbor ... ain't it grand?
#12
Who the f--- elected this shithead to anything?
His grand achievement was to get the better of IBM in the days when no one appreciated the value of an OS. Why does that entitle him to be viewed as a sage on anything?
He's done more than any individual to f--- up American primary and secondary education. He's done nothing whatsoever positive for any other major US institution. Why are we listening to him?
#14
The common trait among our faux-wise oligarchs has always been their contempt for historical knowledge - cf Henry Ford's ridiculous claim that "History is bunk." So said the notorious anti-Semite and Hitler apologist.
Gates is part of a long tradition of ignorant American gazillionaires who believe they're Adam newly-sprung, here to herald the new order that Changes Everything.
Exactly. Right before the dot come bust the word was" profits are unnecessary." They are still peddling that but not so successfully now.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 13:05
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#16
I survived the Hong Kong flu and I was so sick I thought I would die...in bed for 7 days..
Never heard one word re vacine,...nothing..now, at 77 my wife and I this year got the Super flu shot..(Double dose)....lol.
#23
/\#10...Ask yourself why peasants kept coming? --g(r)omgoru
Because the acreage of agricultural land was constant and the number of adult males could become "surplus" in good periods with no famines, plagues, wars, and did I bring up famines? Unless some new agricultural technology (example deep furrow plows) was developed then there were few jobs for "Second Sons": the First Son inherits, the local lord has few followers, the military (hopefully!) isn't hiring, and so it is off to the cities to look for food / employment. They could also become bandits, I suppose.
I recommend Life In A Medieval Village by Frances and Joseph Gies, particularly it's 'Chapter 6:Marriage And The Family'.
#25
G - I rolled at least one of your posts over tomorrow due to late posting
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2020 19:04
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#26
However, g(r)om in those days they were tied to the land to raise and harvest food, then seeking freedom in cities. Today, they're bonded to the city (welfare) so their votes can be harvested by a different set of overlords.
Btw, The Hong Kong flu (also known as 1968 flu pandemic) was a category 2 flu pandemic whose outbreak in 1968 and 1969 killed an estimated one million people all over the world.
[Aljazeera] Remarks about testing coronavirus drugs on Africans part of pattern where some bodies are dehumanised, others protected. Your Erectile Disfunction will only worsen with age. Only I can read them as they are tossed, you would not understand. The bones, they do not lie.
Last Wednesday, a French doctor caused controversy when he proposed that vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic be tried on Africans because they lack masks and other personal protective equipment.
By Friday, after widespread accusations of racism, he was forced to apologise for what he then called his "clumsily expressed" remarks.
But the type of thinking exposed by his words is nothing new. Neither is it exceptional to this doctor. It is part of a trend that for generations has seen the dehumanising of some people because of the superiority complex of others.
In early March 2020, as coronavirus cases began an exponential growth curve, some people asked why African countries were not recording higher numbers of COVID-19 cases.
The tone of these queries had the impact of questioning if Africans were somehow genetically immune to the new virus. But why would this question even be raised if we know the biological set-up of all humans is similar?
The dehumanisation of people from the Global South was one of the driving forces behind the slave trade and colonialism. It is inconceivable that anyone could fathom the thought of trading in human beings unless they regarded that person as inferior.
Joseph Conrad, in his book Heart of Darkness writing in 1899, grappled with the question of whether the people he had met in Africa were really human. He opines: "No they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it - this suspicion of their not being inhuman."
#4
I could be wrong but the clumsy remarks were probably intended to suggest that once the virus really gets loose in Africa it's gonna be bad because they don't wear masks. So a vaccine would help prevent that.
[Right Scoop] The Director General for the World Health Organization attacked Trump today, telling him to stop politicizing the coronavirus unless he wants more body bags:
In short, Ghebreyesuson tells Trump that it’s a waste of time to point fingers, that we all need to have solidarity or something.
Or as Nate Madden wrote, "Shorter this: "PEOPLE WILL DIE if you dare point out that we ran interference for the Chinese Communist Party’s lies when people started dying""
[JPost] Iraqi President Barham Salih on Thursday named intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as prime minister-designate, state television reported.
Kadhimi was named shortly after the previous designated prime minister, Adnan al-Zurfi, withdrew his candidacy after failing to secure enough support to pass a government. Zurfi made his announcement in a statement on Thursday.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2020
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#1
'Since taking charge at the National Intelligence Service in June 2016, Mr Al Kadhimi has largely kept a low profile. He was a surprise choice to lead the intelligence service, with a background in journalism and advocacy. He has overseen Iraq’s intelligence efforts on the domestic and foreign fronts. His directorate was instrumental in the fight against ISIS and dislodging it from key Iraqi territories and was recently in the spotlight for its role in the killing of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.
[SaraCarter] Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler and her CEO husband will liquidate their individual stock share positions, after more than a month of controversy over purchases and sales of millions of dollars of stocks during the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, but her Senate challenger’s campaign team says it’s nothing short of ’a guilty plea.’
"She’s less credible than the Chinese government. Same advisors, different funds and no blind trust? We’re not buying it," said Dan McGlan, spokesman for Rep. Doug Collins
Loeffler issued her statement Wednesday in an opinion editorial submitted to the Wall Street Journal. Loeffler announced that she and her husband CEO Jeff Sprecher would be liquidating those stocks shortly after her interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo and a day after SaraACarter.com published a story regarding her failure to name the broker of her stock portfolio.
Loeffler, however, continued to defend her stock sales and said that "I have never used any confidential information I received while performing my Senate duties as a means of making a private profit." She posted her opinion piece on Twitter with a statement saying "my husband and I are liquidating our holdings in managed accounts."
"I’m not doing this because I have to. I’m doing it to move beyond the distraction and put the focus back on the essential work we must all do to defeat the coronavirus," she added.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2020
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#1
"I’m not doing this because I have to. I’m doing it to move beyond the distraction and put the focus back on the essential work we must all do to defeat the coronavirus," she added.
Can't we just have a....Normal conversation and talk about my 1983 prized 4H heifer ?
#2
The proposed guidance would follow recommendations made by the CDC that eased self-isolation requirements for front-line medical workers who were exposed to the virus. Under CDC guidance, medical workers who have been exposed to the virus without protective equipment but who have no symptoms can return to work with a mask and temperature checks after 14 days.
Well, I'm glad they got that cleared up! Bureaucratic babble.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2020 10:48
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[BBC] As nations shut borders, a surge of people pouring unmonitored over international boundaries in a volatile and vulnerable part of the world has sparked warnings about the unchecked spread of the virus there.
In March, more than 150,000 Afghans spontaneously returned from Iran, one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus - thousands more arrive daily.
Tens of thousands have also recently returned from Pakistan - among the worst affected countries in South Asia.
Officials are struggling to control this unprecedented movement across what have always been porous and often lawless borders.
So far, Afghanistan is not among countries severely hit by the virus, reporting 423 cases and 14 deaths, but this influx has raised fears of much higher transmission rates.
"With the numbers of likely infected people who have crossed the border, I expect the numbers of cases and deaths [in Afghanistan] to go up significantly," says Natasha Howard, associate professor of global health and conflict at the National University of Singapore.
[American Mil News] As someone who spent a career in the shadowy world of intelligence, I have a deep understanding and respect for the value and importance to our national security of espionage and the intelligence community.
After retiring, I now have a new mission and I want to explain why.
Over the previous decades, I have observed the Intelligence Community turn away from its core responsibilities for the safety and security of all Americans to a far more political agenda. The intelligence community’s (IC) quadrennial report about global trends published in 2017 is a poster child example of what is wrong with intelligence today. It overwhelmingly focuses on things like global government integration to face future issues. It argues the positives of what is known today as the globalist movement, a hardcore leftist philosophy that is deeply political. Perhaps even more revealing, the document spends more time and focus on global warming than it does on terrorism. Even if you believe in the concepts of globalization and global warming these are political issues, not intelligence issues. The IC is here to obtain important information about what other countries and hostile groups are doing and should not have an opinion on or any involvement with the formation of policies. They must remain neutral and report the facts as they come, that is their one and only job. The fact that the IC not only takes political positions but promotes certain policies, shows stunning incompetence but even worse a complete lack of understanding of why we even have an IC.
A key indicator of concerns centers around the CIA’s so-called "modernization" plan that was implemented under the previous administration by former CIA director John Brennan. Brennan has spent much of his time since leaving the CIA doing television and radio programs and has revealed himself to be a bitter partisan and critic of President Trump.
This damaging modernization never received the attention it should have from the agency’s congressional overseers and the public. The modernization plan systematically dismantled and destroyed the CIA’s operations division ‐ the heart of the agency’s central mission of using people to steal vital secrets around the world. Historically, the operations division was staffed by an elite cadre of highly trained specialists schooled in the dark arts of espionage and capable of operating around the world under any conditions. Many of us who devoted our lives to the clandestine service as CIA operations officers were stunned to hear Mr. Brennan announce that based on his modernization plan, he no longer regards the CIA as being in the espionage business. "We don’t steal secrets," Mr. Brennan astonishingly stated in an interview with NPR.
#1
The IC is here to obtain important information about what other countries and hostile groups are doing and should not have an opinion on or any involvement with the formation of policies.
Information such as the proliferation of Pandemic Pathogens ?
#4
Time to do some housecleaning & downsizing - would moving HQ to my favorite American shithole Gary, IN do it enough to force a bunch of them to quit? Seems to work with the BLM's recent 'restructuring'. Or is it the few hundred assholes at the top that's the problem?
Besoeker - you opinions are more then spot on in this area. What say you?
#5
Well Raj, most of these people didn't just recently discover they were working for a corrupt, elitist Deep State bureaucracy, with a secret, unlimited budget, ie, decades long occupants of a beltway whorehouse.
There could be other motivations, but my hunch is some of these fellows were unable to make a post retirement comeback as a civilian annuitant. Hence the late found disdain for their former employer.
Watching former colleagues maintain their clearances and double-dip as 1099's can work on a man's mind. Well, I hate to use the tired arsed term 'follow the money' but...
During the Clinton Admin, Holman Jenkins wrote a column responding to their 'Reinventing Government' sloganeering (which was chair shuffling at best, bullshit at worst). It was titled 'Don't Reinvent Government - just get rid of some of it'. That rarely happens unless you do something like move BLM's HQ to western Colorado. Ima guessing that's not going to work with every hack Federal agency.
#7
IIRC, per the census, here are the wealthiest counties in the US as of 2018: Median Household Income
1. Loudon (VA) - $139,915
2. Fairfax (VA) - $122,227
3. Howard (MD) - $116,984
#8
Wouldn't want to be in Howard (MD) county (299 cases) right now, being sandwiched between counties with massive numbers of infected people:
https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/
#9
Most of my family is buried in Howard County, going back pre Civil War. The gentrification of inner DC has caused the reverse doughnut effect of the 50’s with the urban undesirables now in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties. When I was a kid visiting family graveyard out in Howard County my dad described it as where elephants went to die. Now the cemetery is surrounded by tacky brick apartments and a gas station.
When in doubt, play the race card. He's China's Bitch
[SkyNews] The leader of the World Health Organisation has gone on a bizarre rant attacking Taiwan while claiming to be the victim of racist comments and death threats.
WHO general manager Tedros Adhanom was responding to calls he should resign for failing to condemn China's role in covering up the coronavirus crisis which has since killed more than 87,000 people.
"This (racial) attack came from Taiwan," he said.
"We need to be honest. I will be straight today. From Taiwan.
"And Taiwan, the Foreign Ministry also, they know the campaign. They didn't disassociate themselves. They even started criticizing me in the middle of all that insult and slur, but I didn't care."
Sky News Australia revealed yesterday Mr Adhanon was blocking the release of the names of doctors who voted against declaring a global health emergency in late January, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths.
Two days prior to that decision Mr Adhanom was photographed happily smiling with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
China was at that stage lobbying the world, Including Australia, not to implement economically devastating travel bans.
US President Donald Trump has also threatened to withdraw funding from the WHO and formally investigate the body he described as being "China centric".
Mr Adhanom and the WHO drew global criticism two weeks ago when one of its senior doctors awkwardly dodged questions about Taiwan, an independent country China regards as a rebel region which must be reunited with the mainland.
The exchange has been condemned as evidence the WHO is heavily influenced by China.
Mr Adhanom did not respond directly to criticisms he mishandled the crisis and instead when on a tirade about racism.
"I can tell you personal attacks that have been going on for more than two, three months. Abuses, or racist comments, giving me names, black or Negro," he said in Geneva.
"I’m proud of being black, proud of being Negro.
"I don't care, to be honest ... even death threats. I don't give a damn."
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04/09/2020
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Sorry, but we've developed herd immunity against BS claims of racism.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/09/2020 8:17
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#1
Did you know of the underwear that Chinese businesses re-fashioned into masks to send to some countries ? Pakistain for example. It was on their own news. Even that fly you have in some briefs for peeing, was visible on the mask !
#6
CNNTurk that [test kits] “they don’t work. Spain has made a huge mistake by using them.” Turkey ordered other tests from a different Chinese company.
Keep trying until they get it right!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2020 15:46
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#7
Trust betrayed is trust lost.
Chicoms have taken a big sh*t in their messkit.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/09/2020 21:00
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[India.com] India-US Ties Stronger Than Ever, Tweets PM Modi, Says India Shall do Everything Possible to Fight COVID-19
New Delhi: Testing times like the one the entire world is experiencing now bring friends closer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday tweeted this asserting that the ties between the United States and India are stronger than ever. "India shall do everything possible to help humanity's fight against COVID-19. We shall win this together," the PM added.
Thanking India for allowing the export of the anti-malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine to the United States, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership "in helping not just India, but humanity, in this fight!"
India's role will not be forgotten, the US President commended, as he wrote, "Extraordinary times require even closer cooperation between friends. Thank you, India and the Indian people for the decision on HCQ. Will not be forgotten!"
Hydroxychloroquine has been identified by the US Food and Drug Administration as a possible line of treatment for the COVID-19 and it is being tested on more than 1,500 coronavirus patients in New York. Anticipating that it will work, given initial positive results, Trump has bought more than 29 million doses of Hydroxychloroquine for the potential treatment of the COVID-19 patients.
India makes 70% of the world's HCQ. The volume was 40 tonnes per month, when malaria was still prevalent in rural areas. They scaled it up because a rheumatoid arthritis drug also came to use it. The intermediate chems, called APIs earlier came from China (them again). The US FDA itself had restricted import from Indian manufacturers. French Sanofi have their own API pipeline, not from China. Naturally, the Americans would first try there.
Currently, three major Indian firms produce superior APIs, and Indian manufacturers can output at least 2 million doses per month. Right now, all that matters is, their must be no shortage of doses in any hospitals.
National Review via Instapundit
A widely shared, four-person-bylined, "wow"-provoking New York Times story today informs us that Donald Trump is personally benefiting from his "aggressive advocacy" of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine because he owns stock in one of the companies that manufacture the drug.
...In any event, the crack team at the New York Times thinks it’s unfurled the mystery. "As of last year," reports the paper, "Mr. Trump reported that his three family trusts each had investments in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose largest holding was in Sanofi."
As far as we know, Trump probably owns less than $100 of Sanofi stock in one of his mutual funds. If things go well, say he triples his position, Trump will be taking in upwards of $300. Art of the Deal, indeed. Even if, as I think, this is a typo and he owns $100K, the logic still applies. Trump gives away $400K POTUS salary every year.
Though it’s unlikely. Sanofi is a French drugmaker that produces the hydroxychloroquine-label Plaquenil. The drug, however, isn’t patented, it isn’t particularly difficult to manufacture, and there are a bunch of giant pharma companies around the world already ramping up production of generic versions. Sanofi is less likely to benefit than Novartis or Bayer (check everyone’s mutual funds, pronto!).
... Media keeps asserting that Trump is "ignoring the experts." Well, the president didn’t induce South Korean doctors to use hydroxychloroquine. He didn’t induce Indian doctors to use it. I assume American doctors who are now "off-labeling" the drug to patients have some medical reasons behind their thinking. Comment at Instapundit: Nor should it escape your attention that the New York Times will assign four reporters to write an amateurish hit job, but not a single one to mention serious rape allegations against the leading Democratic Party presidential candidate by a former staffer.
#4
somehow I knew that was coming lex. Have you lost count yet?
Posted by: Chris ||
04/09/2020 9:15
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#5
The party of Science™
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 10:22
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#6
Ugly reaction by ugly people - don't need Sara Hoyt's fuckin' stupid, annoying, trite and waaayyyy overused catchphrase 'this is my shocked face' to describe these people, which is as polite as I'll be here.
For Christ's sakes, she's used that phrase about as many times as my local classic rock station plays Led Zeppelin in a week, and they play them every stinkin' hour. God damn, what a twat.
#7
At some point the left should embrace the side of an issue that would save American lives or help America in same way. You know, to keep everyone off balance.
#8
To the left, people are icky. In the old days they just shot them by the millions. Now, guns are icky too, so starvation, fentanyl and disease are their go-tos.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 12:29
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#9
somehow I knew that was coming lex. Have you lost count yet?
Been hoarding. Anticipating a deluge as the election approaches.
#11
The question is, will all these assholes be held to account for this smearing once it is proven that hydroxyquinoline DOES work and is vital in the treatment of this virus?
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
04/09/2020 22:54
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[FoxNews] Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., sparked online slap down Wednesday after she attempted to reframe reporting on her demand to direct coronavirus aid to illegal aliens. No word from the sharia compliant Twin Cities Pravda media. After all, it's is forbidden pointing out she practiced incest with her homosexual brother
"There, fixed it for you," Omar tweeted alongside an image of a New York Post headline that read: "'Squad' members want to make illegal border jumping immigrants eligible for coronavirus aid." The Minnesota congresswoman crossed out the phrase "illegal immigrants" and replaced it with "American taxpayers."
To clarify, the relief package covers Citizens of the United States of America. I'm sure the undocumented persons you mention can apply for aide with their home countries (NOT the United States)
Not to be confused by the facts, the answer is in the clouds.
[RedState] During their daily coronavirus press conference Tuesday, San Diego County officials announced that there were 50 new cases and 12 deaths in the prior 24 hours, "the largest single day jump in fatalities to date."
Despite this, Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county public health officer, said they are not recommending the use of hydroxychloroquine, a white man's medication President Trump has mentioned numerous times during White House briefings and which a Democrat state representative from Michigan credits with saving her life.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 10:25
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#3
Why make a public announcement instead of sending the info to doctors and hospitals, you know the folks actually making such decisions. Why urge instead of demanding? This only makes sense as an exercise in virtue signalling.
#6
...what Dr. Wilma Wooten sez does not matter as the CDC is leaving THAT decision up to the Doctor and the patient..
and, just in case I have already crossed that bridge with my wife's DR. just in case because of her existing condition ..(compromised immune system, etc) Vasculitus,COPD, AFIB,..my wife is a tough gal and I will avocate for her..
[Free Beacon] A new Iranian nuclear weapons site has been identified by a team of experts, who are now calling on Tehran to acknowledge the previously undisclosed site to international inspectors.
The Institute for Science and International Security announced on Wednesday that it has evidence Iran operated a nuclear weapons construction facility in northern Iran until at least 2011, when it was likely destroyed as Western nations began to investigate the country's weapons program. The information was found in a tranche of records recently smuggled out of Iran by Israel. So, who do we credit for discovery and reporting, the non-profit Institute for Science and International Security, or Israeli intelligence ?
The facility still has not been declared as a former weapons site by Iran, as it is required to do under international law.
"The facility was intended as a pilot plant, aimed at developing and making uranium components for nuclear weapons, in particular components from weapon-grade uranium, the key nuclear explosive material in Iranian nuclear weapon cores," according to the institute.
"The key building of the site, the uranium metals workshop, was apparently gutted and abandoned between late 2010 and early 2011," the research organization found.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
04/09/2020
01:55 ||
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To Bee or not to Bee?
[DigitalTrends] Google has banned its employees from downloading and using Zoom on their work computers over the videoconferencing service’s recent security and privacy woes.
Posted by: Mercutio ||
04/09/2020
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#3
"You know, you are an energetic kid. A go getter. You got a great future, maybe. But I think you are a smart kid too, and you understand we can't be having you messing with Our Thing. Capice?"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 9:09
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#4
Doesn't Google have their own chat software? Hangouts?
Maybe it isn't ready for businesses yet.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/09/2020 14:10
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[Breitbart] The Pentagon late on Wednesday said an ABC News report that said a military intelligence unit wrote a report on the coronavirus in November is not accurate.
Col (Dr.) R. Shane Day, the director of the National Center for Medical Intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency, said in a statement that as a matter of practice, the NCMI does not comment publicly on specific intelligence matters. He said"
However, in the interest of transparency during this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting about the existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of 2019 is not correct. No such NCMI product exists.
A defense official added on background that the NCMI and the DIA spent considerable time over the last 24 hours examining every possible product that could have been identified as related to this topic and have found no such product. All are now burn bagged and non-existent.
The exclusive ABC News report, published Wednesday morning, said the NCMI warned the military and the White House about the spread of the virus in China as far back as late November:
#1
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Sunday that he couldn’t recall if the Pentagon received an intelligence assessment on the novel coronavirus......
Pandemic intelligence assessment memory lapses, why do they hate us? How about Fred or Sally, could they remember? Bueller? Anyone ?
Can I safely assume we've heard nothing from the Klingon's on the Shahid Mahillati Uranium Metals Workshop... or the COVID-19 virus ?
#3
National Center for Medical Intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency,
Sounds like their remit was military bioweapons and military bioweapons only... Civilian epidemics was somebody else's problem™.
#6
Saw it - Newsome's basically saying CA's big enough economically to buy their own medicine and equipment. I think Trump's reply would be: "I told you to, dickwad"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2020 17:20
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[Townhall] Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump signed the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history: more than $2 trillion.
For once, both Republicans and Democrats agreed. The Senate voted 96-0. The House didn't even bother with a formal vote.
At the White House, a reporter asked the president, pointing out that the bill includes $25 million for the Kennedy Center, "Shouldn't that money be going to masks?"
"The Kennedy Center has suffered greatly because nobody can go there," Trump responded. "They do need some funding. And look -- that was a Democrat request. That was not my request. But you got to give them something."
"Something" they got. The bill includes $25 million for Congressional salaries, $50 million for an Institute of Museum and Library Services and lots of other wasteful things.
Only a few politicians were wary. Rep. Thomas Massie complained that he wasn't even allowed to speak against the bill.
Rep. Alex Mooney asked: "How do you pay for it? Borrow it from China, borrow it from Russia? Are we going to print the money?"
Those are good questions.
Our national debt is already $24 trillion. Now it will jump, percentage-wise, to where Greece's debt was shortly before unemployment there hit 27%.
Greece was bailed out by the European Union. But the United States can't be bailed out by others.
CARTOONS | Mike Lester
View Cartoon
How will we pay off our debt? That's the topic of my new video.
There are really three options:
1. Raise taxes.
2. Print money.
3. Default.
Let's consider each:
1. Raising taxes on rich people is popular. Even Michael Bloomberg wants "higher taxes on billionaires" like him.
But raising taxes on the rich often kills the wealth and jobs some rich people create. And it won't solve our debt problem. Even if we took all the billionaires' wealth -- reducing their net worth to zero -- it would cover only an eighth of our debt.
2. Some on the left now say, "Don't worry about debt, just print money!"
This belief, called Modern Monetary Theory, destroys lives.
Zimbabwe's dictator tried it. Eager to spend more money on wars, higher salaries for government officials and luxury for himself, he had his government print more money. But that meant more money pursued the same goods. That caused explosive inflation. Soon, a $2 bag of onions cost $30 million Zimbabwean dollars.
The more money the government printed, the more inflation there was. They eventually even issued 100 trillion dollar bills. Today those 100 trillion bills are worth about 40 cents.
Inflation wrecked lives in 1920s Germany, Argentina and Russia, and in modern-day Venezuela, too.
3. America could simply refuse to pay our debt. But that would betray everyone who invested in America, and bankrupt Americans who bought Treasury Bonds.
Defaulting on your debt wrecks economies, too. When Argentina defaulted, unemployment rose to 21%.
Once you're deep in debt, no option is good.
How did we get to this point?
Presidents have talked about the dangers of debt for decades. But they didn't deal with it; they just talked about it.
"We have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future," warned Ronald Reagan. "We must act today to preserve tomorrow."
Bill Clinton said, "We've got to deal with this big long term debt problem."
Barack Obama called driving up the national debt "irresponsible" and then proceeded to do exactly that.
Donald Trump complained that Obama "doubled" the nation's debt. But now, under Trump's presidency and the new CARES Act, our debt will grow even faster.
This will not end well.
So far, the deficit spending hasn't done enormous harm. But it will. You can stretch a rubber band only so far, until it breaks.
Our debt will wreck our children's lives.
Yet, today politicians mostly talk about spending more.
#1
US eperienced inflation too. Anyone that lived thru the late 1970's knows Jimmy Carter's "stagflation" with high taxes, high inflation, double digit interest rates, and double digit unemployment. It took Ronald Reagan to fix that, and it was not painless. Thats why when trump is re-elected, he needs to address the debt by demanding a painful balanced budget, and stick to it. If he starts in early 2021, the pain will be over by mid 2022, and we'll see a Reagan like boom in late 2022, that will roar all the way to President Haley's (or fill in the name of any prominent GOP from outside DC) inauguration.
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
04/09/2020 0:12
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#2
Can I recommend "For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs" by Robert A. Heinlein?
#6
Everyone has been at that night time party where Billy Joe decides what the bonfire needs is a couple more gallons of gasoline.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/09/2020 9:18
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#7
4. Grow our way out. That's what was done with pretty much all gov debt. Grow the economy over a few decades so the debt is a small portion of GDP. Problem is that also has to coupled with spending discipline. Not something the USA has seen in 60 years.
#9
Infrastructure improvements + bringing manufacturing & manufacturing jobs back to this country will provide an enormous boost.
Inflationary perhaps but a bit of inflation now is OK. we need wage growth and it devalues the debt to our advantage - and to the ChiCom creditors' disadvantage.
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkey's president on April 8 praised the nation's “healthcare army” of nearly half a million medical staff and 360,000 support personnel fighting the coronavirus outbreak.
“No virus, no outbreak is stronger than Turkey,” said Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a letter addressed to the Turkish people who are older than 65 and restricted from leaving their homes due to pandemic.
On April 8, Turkey began distributing face masks and cologne, a traditional ethanol-based scented disinfectant, for people in the risk groups, including 65-year-plus and people suffering from chronic illnesses.
The letter was included in packages of hygiene kit sent to Turkish citizens.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier this week two more hospitals with a capacity of 1,000 beds each will be established in the country’s largest city as part of efforts in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
One of the field hospitals will be developed in the Sancaktepe district on the Asian side of Istanbul, while the other planned health facility will be established at the site of the Atatürk Airport.
“We will complete them quickly within 45 days and open them to the service of our people,” Erdoğan said in a speech he delivered on April 6.
A number of trucks and heavy construction equipment arrived at the construction site yesterday morning and building work began on a land plot belonging to the General Directorate of State Airports authority (DHMİ).
Construction work for the Sancaktepe facility already commenced on April 7, shortly after Erdoğan unveiled the plans for the field hospitals.
Coronavirus death toll rises to 87, with 38,226 total cases
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkey's death toll from the 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... outbreak increased by 87 to 812 on April 8, while the number of confirmed cases from the disease rose by 4,117 to 38,226, the Health Minister said.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases surged to 38,226 as 4,117 more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told via a Twitter post.
So far, a total of 1,846 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals, Koca said, stressing the rise in the recovery rate.
He also said 24,900 tests were conducted on April 8, with the overall number of tests conducted so far hitting 247,768. Turkey is currently treating 1,492 patients in intensive care units,
[AmericanGreatness] Michael Atkinson used his post to protect himself and his allies while denying the American public a true watchdog over the intelligence community.
Here's a simple question to ask anyone outraged over the recent firing of Michael Atkinson, the former inspector general for the intelligence community: Can you identify a single instance of a report or letter in which Atkinson exposed intelligence community misconduct to the public? After searching the inspector general's website, I was unable to do so.
Atkinson was an inspector general in name only. After two years, there's no evidence that he lifted a finger to root out misconduct within the U.S. intelligence community. He's the inspector who never inspected anything.
Continued on Page 49
#1
He was a guard dog for the Deep State and its Praetorian Guard, like Brennan, Comey, Loretta Lynch and Holder before her, Lerner of the IRS, and many others, not to mention Soro's implants like Valerie Jarret.
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
04/09/2020 0:21
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#2
I simply do not understand. It's always worked in the past.
#5
I have become convinced that the vermin infesting the government are no longer classifiable.
The words most people use are humorous or mild.
These are not LOL incidents, they are not incompetence in the usual sense they are actions made with evil intent and we need to label them as such.
[THEBAGHDADPOST] The Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine on Monday said his country expects "an immediate explanation from Iran" about a controversial statement made by an Iranian politician about the downing of a Ukrainian airliner in January.
On Sunday the mid-level holy man and politician, Hassan Norouzi, said the Iranian military had been right in shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane in January because it was no longer "under the control of the tower and appeared to be controlled by America".
He also claimed that the same plane had been to Israel the week before the incident and appeared to have been tampered with and rigged there.
"We expect an immediate explanation from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... on this statement. It shows full disrespect for human lives. Dozens of families from Iran, Ukraine, Canada, Sweden, UK, and Afghanistan lost their loved ones in the attack against [the] defenceless civilian aircraft," Vadym Prystaiko wrote in a tweet.
The passenger plane was downed over Tehran on January 3 by two missiles fired by a Revolutionary Guard air defense unit killing all 176 passengers and crew members. The Revolutionary Guard took "full responsibility" for the incident after three days but has attributed the shooting to "human error".
Norouzi also claimed that no one had been arrested over the incident, but on Monday the Head of Armed Forces Judiciary Organization of Iran, refuted the statement and said one individual who presumably fired the missiles is held in detention and some others have been subpoenaed.
He did not make any comments about Norouzi's more controversial remarks about the reason for firing missiles at the plane.
Iran has also refused to hand over the black boxes of the downed airliner to other countries for decoding despite not having the technology of reading the data in Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2020
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[SABA.YE] Dozens of Saudi-led aggression coalition mercenaries were killed and maimed when the Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i army fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday on their gathering in Abayn province, according to a Yemen army front man statement.
The front man Yahya Sarie affirmed that the missile, Qasem, hit the mercenaries in al-Shajari camp accurately.
Sarie pointed out that the launch of the ballistic missile came in response to the escalation of the aggression coalition in Bayda Governorate.
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04/09/2020
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[CBS17] The fourth victim in a stabbing spree that claimed the lives of three Knoxville truck stop workers has been released from the hospital, The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed Wednesday.
Officials announced the fourth victim, who sustained injuries during the attack, has been released from the hospital in a TBI Newsroom release posted Wednesday morning.
Idris Abdus-Salaam, 33, was shot and killed by a Knox County deputy after fatally stabbing three women and hospitalizing a fourth at a Pilot Travel Center on Strawberry Plains Pike at Interstate-40 in East Knox County early Tuesday.
TBI did not release a motive in the attack.
The three deceased victims were all employed at the Pilot Travel Center. They have been identified as:
The fourth victim was a customer at the truck stop and has not been identified.
The Knox County District Attorney’s Office announced following the shooting that local officials have agreed that the TBI will conduct all officer-involved shootings investigations related to Knox County and Knoxville law enforcement agencies.
Abdus-Salaam was a truck driver who lived in Durham. CBS 17 confirmed Abdus-Salaam was arrested in Wake County in April 2018 for eluding police.
He worked as a correctional officer with the North Carolina Department of Safety from August 2014 to May 2019.
When he left the department, he was an officer at Central Prison in Raleigh, DPS said.
Notes believed to be from the suspect who stabbed three truck stop employees to death Tuesday suggested he may not have been mentally well. A source close to the investigation showed WBIR pages of the notebook he said law enforcement recovered from Idris Abdus Salaam's truck.
The notebook the source said was found in the truck contains graphic writing believed to be from Abdus-Salaam.
It suggested he may not be mentally well.
Because of the graphic nature of the writing and because law enforcement has not yet confirmed or denied the existence of this notebook, WBIR is not sharing the full text.
A public records search showed a number of speeding violations on Abdus-Salaam's record. In 2018, he faced a criminal charge in Wake County, North Carolina for eluding arrest/fleeing.
TBI said Abdus-Salaam had no criminal record in Tennessee.
Tuesday, a TBI spokesperson confirmed two witnesses attempted to subdue him during the attack.
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04/09/2020
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#1
Idris Abdus-Salaam ... TBI did not release a motive in the attack.
#2
Every time someone in France goes in a mudering spree (most of the time while screaming Allah Akbar) and the MSM says it was due to psychitrical reasons I look at the religion and calculate probaility
Since the beginning it is a 12 Musilm out of 12 attackers. Probaility is 0.86 on 10 billion. I love maths
[rediff.com] Shoaib Akhtar proposes Indo-Pak series to raise funds.
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar proposed a made-for-television three-match ODI series against arch-rivals India to raise funds for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in both the countries.
The two nations have not played a full-series since 2007 due to the terrorist attacks on India by Pakistan-based outfits and the resultant diplomatic tension. They only play each other in ICC events and Asia Cup. Well...there was that
"In this time of crisis, I want to propose a three match series in which for the first time, the people of neither country would be upset at the outcome of the games," Akhtar said from Islamabad on Wednesday.
"If Virat (Kohli) scores a hundred, we will be happy, if Babar Azam scores a hundred, you will be happy. Both teams will be winners irrespective of whatever happens on the field," he said.
Akhtar said the matches could be a closed-door affair considering the current coronavirus outbreak in both countries.
"It can be a TV only affair. Since everyone will be watching at home, you are bound to get massive viewership for the games. For the first time, both countries will play for each other. And whatever funds are generated through this can be donated equally to the government of India and Pakistan to fight this pandemic," added the 44-year-old.
With both countries in a lockdown amid the fast-spreading pandemic, the games can only be organised when things improve. However, Akhtar feels the sooner they are held, the better it would be but could not tell how the logistics of such an initiative would be worked out.
"Everyone is sitting at home at the moment, so there will be a massive following for the games. May be not now, when things start improving, the games could be organised at a neutral location like Dubai. Chartered flights could be arranged and the matches could he held.
"It could even lead to resumption of bilateral cricketing ties and relations of both countries improve diplomatically. You never know," said the 'Rawalpindi Express'.
"The whole world will tune into it, so much money can be raised to deal with this crisis. In difficult times, the character of the nation comes forward."
In these extraordinary times, Akhtar believes both countries should help each other.
"If India can make 10,000 ventilators for us, Pakistan will remember this gesture forever. But we can only propose the matches. The rest is up to the authorities (to decide)."
India cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh were recently trolled for asking their social media followers to donate to Shahid Afridi's charity foundation which is doing its bit in Pakistan's fight against the deadly virus.
"It was inhuman to criticise them. It is not about countries or religion at the moment, it is about humanity," he opined.
Akhtar has spent a lot of time in India as a commentator. He fondly recalled his days in Mumbai during the World T20 in 2016, the last time he came to India for work.
"I am forever grateful about the love I have received from the people of India. For the first time I am revealing this, whatever I used to earn from India, I made a significant amount there, thirty percent of it, I used to distribute among the low income staff who used to work with me in the TV," he remembered.
Akhtar used to visit Mumbai's slum areas with his face covered to hand out financial help to elder women there.
"From drivers, runners to my security guys. I took care of a lot of people. I was like if am earning from this country, I have to help my colleagues also.
"I also remember visiting slums of Dharavi and Sion in the wee hours to meet people I worked with," added Akhtar.
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/09/2020
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#1
‘If India can make 10,000 ventilators for us, Pakistan will remember this gesture forever.'
New York's Coronavirus Death Toll is Almost Certainly Far Higher Than Reported
[PJMedia] Before the pandemic struck New York City, 20-25 people a day were dying at home according to the city medical examiner's office. Now, that number is more than 200, raising questions about how many of those who die in their own beds actually died of coronavirus.
As of Monday afternoon, the official death toll in New York was 2,378. But that only includes people who tested positive for the virus. It doesn't include those who aren't tested and die of COVID-19 symptoms. And the city's medical examiner doesn't test dead bodies for the virus.
Cuomo: Use of antimalarial drug in New York hospitals 'anecdotally' positive
[THEHILL] New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Monday that early responses to the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine “anecdotally” suggest its use in the coronavirus fight has been “effective,” but that official data was still forthcoming.
Asked about the progress of the trials at his daily press briefing, Cuomo noted that state officials have allowed use of the drug in combination with the antibiotic Zithromax in hospitals “at their discretion.” He said the federal government would increase supplies to New York pharmacies, but that New York has imposed a 14-day limit to protect the supplies for people who rely on it to treat other medical conditions.
“The tests in the hospital, they’re too short a period of time to get a scientific report,” Cuomo said. “Hospital administrators, doctors want to have a significant data set before they give a formal opinion. Anecdotally, you’ll get suggestions that it has been effective. But we don’t have any official data yet from a hospital or a quote-unquote study, which will take weeks if not months.”
Dutch coronavirus cases rise by 969 to 20,549, 147 new deaths
[THEBAGHDADPOST] The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by 969 to 20,549 as of Wednesday, health authorities said, with 147 new deaths. The country’s total death toll from the disease is now 2,248, the Netherlands’ National Institute for Health (RIVM) said in a daily update.
#3
The blood hemoglobin infection idea has been bothering me. Before 911 the military was working on artificial blood for the battlefield that was similar to Freon but carried oxygen and was not living at all. This would have nothing for a virus to infect. I wonder if anyone has thought of trying the artificial blood.
#4
NY total not high enough, doesn't count folks who died at home. Minnesota directed how to count coronavirus deaths: If they died of coronavirus-like symptoms (like pneumonia or ARDS, etc.) and may have been exposed, then it's a coronavirus death. We don't need no stinking tests!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/09/2020 11:07
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#5
I wasn't clear enough. The comment was meant for the end stage problem on ventilators where 4 out of 5 on the ventilators die. One theory goes as follows:
It seems corona attaches to the hemoglobin and prevents the release of oxygen to the cells so the bodies organs slowly die of asphyxiation. If you didn't use blood for these patients but used artificial blood that is like freon there is nothing a virus could do to stop the oxygen to the organs.
So in that case artificial blood that can't be infected could be a win win.
The command of Volcano of Rage Operation under GNA declares the western and central regions of #Libya a military exclusion zone, banning the movement of military and non-military vehicles and fuel trucks without prior permission pic.twitter.com/ZwED2BCATf
[ToloNews] The Afghan acting minister of interior warned on Tuesday that Kabul city will be locked down completely starting from tomorrow morning (Wednesday) to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19.
Massoud Andarabi, the acting minister, said that he has tasked 1,600 police and 400 vehicles to prevent movement in Kabul.
"The virus is fatal and dangerous... we will block all roads of Kabul city," said Andarabi.
Based on the Ministry of Interior's warning, health workers, bakers, media workers, telecommunication workers and food sellers will be allowed to move in the city.
Despite this, most of the stores and offices in Kabul city have been locked down, and some workers say that they have had nothing to eat in the past 11 days, as movement was restricted by the government.
#1
Can't wait to see the attack ads by Team Trump this fall - and to see Plugz's defense of his son's deal with ChiComs after flying to Beijing with Dad...
[The Burning Platform] Last week, I read an online article in my local paper telling of a 68-year-old gentleman who died from COVID-19. In the article, it described how the man had retired in the last year because of cancer. Then, two days later, my wife asked me if I had read the article. When I said that I had, she responded: "Scary, huh? He was healthy."
I replied: "What do you mean? He had underlying issues".
And when we logged-on to read the article again, it was tagged as "updated 7 hours ago" and many of the words I’d read two nights before were.... gone. In the paragraph where it said he retired, it mentioned nothing of his cancer and instead described how the man was "active and enjoyed riding his bike".
Of course, even a tin-foil-hat-wearing blogger like me would have a hard time believing that any conspiratorial pressure could be applied to my local paper. Perhaps the family requested the change or the original article was in error. It’s hard to say.
But I do know what I read. And, the internet archive "Way Back Machine" showed the URL as being updated on March 31, 2020 and again on April 2, 2020, but the initial article was not archived. Now I wish I’d have taken a screenshot of, or printed, the original post.
#1
The press is lying. They are doing everything they can to reinforce panic and fear, in order to hurt "Orange Man Bad". including smearing a possible treatment that could reduce it to nothing more than a few days with the flu, hydroquinolone.
Posted by: Marilyn Tojo7566 ||
04/09/2020 0:16
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Dr. Scott Jensen is both a physician and a Minnesota state senator. Yesterday he was interviewed by a local television station and dropped a bombshell: he, and presumably all other Minnesota doctors, got a seven-page letter from the Minnesota Department of Health that gave guidance on how to classify COVID-19 deaths. The letter said that if a patient died of, e.g., pneumonia, and was believed to have been exposed to COVID-19, the death certificate should say that COVID-19 was the cause of death even though the patient was never tested, or never tested positive, for that disease.
#7
I've wondered that, too, that the Dems are just going through the motions conceding defeat (which, I think, the GOP had done up against Obama). What others have wondered is what will come AFTER Pres. Trump.
#8
After Trump, historically speaking, we switch parties and the Dems take over again. Of course Reagan was so awesome the GOP got three terms and despite the virus Trump is along the same trajectory.
The smarter folks in their party know this and are willing to give Trump powers they want, knowing he wouldn't use such powers, such as trying to make voting a Federal controlled thing..
Economy will start to rebound before end of Q2, markets even sooner, and OrangeMan will be re-elected with a healthy margin of victory. Smarter Dems see this.
The #Houthi militia responded to the impending ceasefire in #Yemen declared by the Arab Coalition with artillery shelling of civilian neighborhoods in #Hodeidah, according to Walid al-Qadimi, the province’s first deputy governor. https://t.co/BBOp6go9Sa
[Jpost] U.S. immigration officials have rapidly deported nearly 400 migrant children intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border in the past two weeks under new rules billed as seeking to limit the spread of the novel 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... in the United States, according to government data seen by Rooters.
President Donald Trump ...the Nailer of NAFTA...
Continued on Page 49
[ToloNews] The Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... continue their attacks on Afghan cops across the country, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
Sometimes, the Afghan cops counter-attack, said the MoD.
"Within the parameters of the active defense mode, these Taliban attacks were repelled and massive casualties were inflicted on the Taliban. The group suffered massive casualties in Arghandab district of Zabul province," said Rohullah Ahmadzai, a front man for the Afghan Ministry of Defense.
The Taliban in recent days has not said anything officially about their attacks on the Afghan forces, and Afghan security officials have said that the government forces are still in "active defense position."
But, the security experts say that the two sides are engaging in a ’silent war’ against each other.
"This situation has caused the Taliban to be more greedy for power, so they have expanded the war, nothing can deter the Taliban from war unless there is a change in the political situation in Kabul," said Assadullah Nadiom, a military expert in Kabul.
The Taliban resumed their attacks on the Afghan forces only a few days after the group signed a peace deal with the US in Doha on February 29.
But the Taliban’s front man Zabihullah Mujahid, who recently tweeted about the Taliban’s military activities, now tweets about other issues, including the delayed grinding of the peace processor, and about allegations that government forces are causing civilian casualties.
"We lost a number of our soldiers in Zabul and Takhar provinces, including the fall of a district to the Taliban in Badakhshan which was retaken by the security forces later," said Nazifa Zaki, a member of parliament.
This comes after eighteen months of negotiations in Doha, after which the United States and the Taliban officially signed a peace deal on February 29 intended to pave the way for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in exchange for a number of solid assurances by the Taliban to the US and its allies.
The US-Taliban deal initially caused hope among Afghans that this time there would be peace, but on the ground, the Taliban and the Afghan government forces are still fighting.
[al-Emarah] In the wake of repeated US aggression and crimes of the Kabul administration The house of a civilian named Haji Abdul Kabir Aka was bombed last night in the Qahtzo area of the Khas Uruzgan district of Uruzgan province last night while there were no fighting and military mobilization in the said area.
In this horror, 5 women and 2 children were martyred and 7 other women and kiddies including the owner of the house Haji Abdul Kabir aka were maimed while the entire house was razed and more than 15 cattle were killed.
The crime occurred when there were no military incidents in the entire Uruzgan district last night.
In another crime, a funeral was also bombed in Markhunjak village of Faqirzo region in Arghandab district of Zabul province on Friday from which five civilians were martyred with many maimed and even the dead body was also shattered into pieces.
The committing of these crimes by US and internal forces is a clear violation of the agreement made with the Islamic Emirate hence the perpetrators will be responsible for its worse consequences.
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#1
Since the 2005 election political power in Iraq has been fractured with no dependable party or reliable coalition extant. Predictably, in an obviously failed state, Al-Zurfi, seemingly an honorable individual, was unable to create a government that received the approval of the protestors, the Islamists, the old guard, or the Shiites. What lies ahead? Chaos, until the military resumes control.
[SABA.YE] The US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition aircraft launched 33 air raids on Marib and Jawf provinces and Nehim district of Sanaa province on Wednesday, a security official told Saba.
The aggression coalition warplanes waged 26 separate raids on al-Hazm and Khab Washaaf districts in Jawf, and four raids on Majzar district in Marib, the official elaborated.
He added that three Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s hit Nehim district, eastern Sanaa.
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[Dhaka Tribune] Abdul Majed, one of the convicts in the murder of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has appealed for the president's clemency.
He reached out to President Abdul Hamid, through the jail authorities, seeking mercy from the death warrant issued against him by a Dhaka court earlier on Wednesday.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday evening.
When contacted, Majed's wife Safia Begum said she was not aware of her husband seeking clemency.
"But we have seen news scroll on TV about it," she told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday evening.
Judge Md Helal Chowdhury of Dhaka District and Sessions Judge's Court issued the death warrant against Majed, court official Komol Kumar Dey confirmed to Dhaka Tribune.
Mahbubul Islam, jailer at the Dhaka Central Jail, told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday evening that they received the death warrant around 5pm.
He said the jail authorities would read the warrant to Majed.
Earlier on Monday night, a team from Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police arrested Majed from Mirpur cantonment area in Dhaka.
He was sent to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj after being produced before the court of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate AM Zulfikar Hayat on Tuesday.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Hemayetuddin Hiron told Dhaka Tribune that Majed, a dismissed army officer, had himself claimed to have been one of the murderers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family.
On November 19, 2009, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court verdict that awarded capital punishment to 12 convicts for killing Bangabandhu and most of his family members in a coup d’état on August 15, 1975.
Still five killers remain runaway -- Col (dismissed) Khandaker Abdur Rashid, Lt Col (relieved) Shariful Haque Dalim, Maj (retd) Noor Chowdhury, Maj (retd) Rashed Chowdhury, and Risaldar Moslehuddin Khan.
[IsraelTimes] In message marking country’s national nuclear day, Ali Akbar Salehi also touts efforts to construct 2 new targets reactors at Bushehr plant.
[ToloNews] NBC News, quoting two current US bigwigs (and one former official) on Tuesday reported that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a trip to Kabul two weeks ago on March 23, threatened President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money... and his opponent Abdullah Abdullah ...the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against both Karzai and Ghani. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun. He also held the meaningless salaried sop position as CEO of Afghanistan, while Ghani was president... that President Trump might do a complete troop pullout, as well as an cut aid, if the dispute continues.
Immediately following his visit to Kabul, the US State Department released a statement saying that because of the failure of the Afghan leaders to end the political impasse, $1 billion in US aid money for Afghanistan would be cut, and funding in 2021 might also be reduced.
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... the statement about a complete troop withdrawal was not previously reported.
A former senior US official was quoted by NBC as saying that Pompeo told Ghani and Abdullah they would be held responsible if the president’s peace deal fails.
According to the former official, Pompeo told the Afghan leaders that Trump has followed through on other threats to withdraw troops and pull financial aid, said NBC report.
Pompeo told Abdullah that he must support Ghani, according to officials as quoted by NBC news.
This comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s 7-hour visit to Kabul on March 23 where he met with President Ghani and his political opponent Abdullah Abdullah, separately, and in a joint meeting. But the meetings ended without a result.
The US State Department in a statement said the United States deeply regrets that Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani and former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah have informed secretary Pompeo that they have been unable to agree on an inclusive government that can meet the challenges of governance, peace, and security, and provide for the health and welfare of Afghan citizens.
The statement said that "the United States is disappointed in them (Ghani and Abdullah) and what their conduct means for Afghanistan and our shared interests. Their failure has harmed US-Afghan relations and, sadly, dishonors those Afghan, Americans, and Coalition partners who have sacrificed their lives and treasure in the struggle to build a new future for this country."
"Because this leadership failure poses a direct threat to US national interests, effective immediately, the US government will initiate a review of the scope of our cooperation with Afghanistan," the statement said. "Among other steps, we are today announcing a responsible adjustment to our spending in Afghanistan and immediately reducing assistance by $1 billion this year. We are prepared to reduce by another $1 billion in 2021."
The statement said that the US will also initiate a review of all of its programs and projects to identify additional reductions and reconsider our pledges to future donor conferences for Afghanistan.
[Sudan Tribune] The leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement, Minni Arko Minnawi (SLM-MM), said that an agreement on restructuring the security forces in the ongoing negotiations in Juba is the only way to achieve Sudan’s peace.
Minawi made this statement in a phone call on Tuesday to a military parade organized by his troops held in an identified location on the occasion of the graduation of a new military batch.
He told the SLM-MM fighters that the talks, which entered their final stages, are now dealing with a number of issues, the most important of which are the security arrangements.
"We must be aware that the reform of the security services to make them the property of the Sudanese people is the only way that can lead to a democratic and stable Sudan," he said
"Without that, it is difficult to (...) to the desired stage and establish a state of equal citizenship.
The event was attended by Jumaa Mohammed Haqqar, SLA Commander-in-Chief and his deputy Jabir Ishaq Ali.
The military parade took place at the same time with the resumption of indirect negotiations via written notes as a result of health measures to prevent the spread of the 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... , which led to stop meetings between the negotiating teams.
The parties in Juba say that the slow negotiating through written correspondence may bring the parties to suspend negotiations, pointing that it is not possible to sign the peace agreement on April 11, as planned.
The mediation had previously proposed that negotiations be limited to two negotiators from each side, but the Darfurian movements insisted on the participation of all the representatives of different groups.
In his speech, Minawi blamed the Forces for Freedom and Change for causing the delay in the negotiations and obstructing the grinding of the peace processor.
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[Apartment Therapy] Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you toss your shoes in a pile near the door, or wipe crumbs from the coffee table twice a day or twice a week. As long as you can find your sneakers and don’t get ants‐you’re doing great. But when your cleaning goals go from "I want a tidy home" to "I need to protect myself from illness," things change.
When there’s a viral infection on the rise, like right now with the coronavirus, many people shift their priorities‐and their behavior. On its list of everyday preventive actions, the Center for Disease Control recommends washing your hands often (and with intention), avoiding touching your face, and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe. It’s because of that last tip that you may find that disinfecting wipes and sprays are out of stock in local department and grocery stores, and even out of stock from giant online warehouses.
If you can’t get your hands on disinfecting wipes or sprays, here are some alternative disinfectants and sanitizers you can use to kill germs on your household surfaces.
[SABA.YE] The army and popular forces repulsed on Wednesday an attack carried out by the Saudi-led aggression coalition mercenaries in Bayda province, a military official told Saba.
Dozens of mercenaries were killed and maimed, including leaders, as well as four military vehicles of the coalition were destroyed during the attack in Nata area, the official added.
According to the official, the attack was backed in 15 coalition Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s in an attempt to support the mercenaries to advance towards the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2020
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🔴#UPDATE: New militia Usbat al-Thairen (likely a front group for other long-established Iranian-backed militias in Iraq) releases drone footage purporting to show military positions and equipment at Ain al-Assad Airbase in Iraq where US forces are stationed https://t.co/3u2G7mhcd9
[SABA.YE] A political symposium, organized on Wednesday in Sanaa by the Joint Meeting Parties (JMPs) and the Political Bureau of Ansarullah, emphasized the continuation of uniting the internal front in confronting the aggression and the rejection of partition projects.
The participants in the symposium, including leaders and representatives of the national parties, researchers and academicians, stressed that any political consultations should lead to stopping the aggression and lifting the siege and the exit of the occupation forces from all of the Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... i lands.
They confirmed the support of the various political parties and components for the efforts of the reconciliation and political solution committee and the preparation for a Yemeni-Yemeni dialogue, inviting the rest of the Yemeni political parties and components to respond to the calls for reconciliation.
The symposium recommendations indicated to the importance of the political parties' role in thwarting the aggression forces’ plans and preserving the higher national interest after five years of the aggression, and urged taking advantage of the political changes in the region and supporting efforts to stop the aggression and lift the siege.
Regarding the Corona pandemic, the recommendations stressed on the unification of political efforts alongside the Supreme Political Council and the Salvation Government in implementing decisions and precautionary and proactive steps to confront the epidemic and prevent its arrival in Yemen.
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[EN.ANTARANEWS] Police in Mimika District, Papua Province, on Tuesday apprehended six local residents for allegedly trying to supply food to an armed rebel group led by Hengku Wamang in the Kali Kopi neighborhood.
The suspects were identified as Yohanis Wamang, Roni Wamang, Ema Natkiin/Natkime, Nangain Magai, Emarain Magai, and Imelda Magai, said Mimika Police Chief Adjunct Sen.Coms. I Gusti Gede Era Adhinata on Wednesday in Timika, the capital of Mimika District.
The suspects were nabbed during a joint public order operation conducted by local police and military personnel on Tuesday for preventing residents from carrying machetes and liquor, he revealed.
During the operation, security personnel found a car belonging to the suspects loaded with food, he continued.
During questioning, the suspects admitted the stock of food, which included rice, instant noodles, sugar, coffee, and kitchen ingredients, was meant for the Hengky Wamang-led group, Adhinata stated.
One of the suspects revealed he was related to Hengku Wamang and told Sherlocks the rebel group leader had asked them to buy food from Timika's Pasar Lama market on Bhayangkara Street, he added.
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The world’s chemical weapons watchdog for the first time explicitly blames #Syria for toxic attacks in the country, saying President Bashar al-Assad’s regime used sarin and chlorine three times in 2017.https://t.co/a3tfsjaml7
#4
#Israel responds - you and what air force? Used to be that the Syrian Air Force treated Lebanese airspace as its own. After the Bekaa Valley debacle, that kind of faded away.
[al-Emarah] Thirty seven enemy military personnel have joined Mujahideen in Chahar Bolak, Kishindih, Zaray, Sholgara, Chamtal and Khas Balkh districts of Balkh province over the last few days.
According to a report from eastern Nangarhar province, 4 military personnel of the Kabul regime including army, police and militia have changed side to the Islamic Emirate and joined Mujahideen in Pachir Wa Agam district of eastern Nangarhar province.
Similarly, an enemy soldier surrendered himself and his gun to Mujahideen in Ab Band district of southern Ghazni province.
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#1
Radio Free Europe: Taliban Employs Modern Weapons In 'War of Words' March 16, 2011 By B. Ahmad Gwakh
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"Wars today cannot be won without media. Media aims at the heart rather than the body, [and] if the heart is defeated, the battle is won."
This conclusion, in an interview published on the website Al-Emarah, is not goundbreaking. The importance of winning the "war of words," as Maiwandi describes it, to winning an actual war has long been understood. But consider the source. Maiwandi is the editor in chief of Al-Emarah, which is an official Taliban website.
[al-Emarah] Contrary to the peace agreement with the invaders, American drone has brutally bombed innocent civilians in Khushab area of Daman district of Kandahar province during early last night. From which three children 8-years old Idres s/o Dawod, 7-years old Sanaullah s/o Ubaidullah and a 3-years-old girl were martyred and 8 others seriously maimed.
The attack took place at a time when no military movement or operation against puppet regime was underway in the area.
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#Lebanon requires net external financing of $10 billion-$15 billion over the next five years to help it through its financial crisis, according to a draft government plan seen by Reuters.https://t.co/1ZjIippx6X
Rolled over because it was posted late yesterday. Remember, guys, the cut-off is supposed to be 2:00 p.m. ET (EDT now) unless it is an active and ongoing terror attack, or possibly red revolution. So if your article is not as important as that, please click on the Tomorrow button when you post it.
[OpIndia] Delhi police trace Nizamuddin Markaz Chief Maulana Saad, will be interrogated after completion of the quarantine period
Which means, because the judiciary can't be bothered to venture out of their micro-palaces right now, warrants for the official interrogation will not be issued, and he'll experience the jovial nature of several agencies wishing to talk to him until he can be presented before a magistrate.
The Chief of Nizamuddin Markaz Maulana Saad Khandalvi has been traced by Delhi police to be living in the Zakir Nagar area and has put himself under quarantine.
Delhi police are planning to interrogate Maulana Saad but will conduct it only after completion of his quarantine period. According to his lawyers, he has put himself under self-quarantine and that's why he is unable to join the investigation now.
Maulana Saad is booked under The Epidemics Act 1897 Perhaps the first musalmaan to achieve the distinction of 'akin to Protozoa'.
for allowing religious congregation in the month of March despite repeated warnings from the center and the state government. He disregarded the guidelines issued by the government in the light of the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic which is spreading rapidly. Maulana Saad is wanted in an offence lodged by the Delhi Police under sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and sections of the Indian Penal Code, for violating government directions on steps to be taken for avoiding the spread of Wuhan Coronavirus. More charges, including money laundering and terrorism will follow.
As thousands of people from across the country and many from abroad attended the religious congregation, the event has now emerged as a hotspot for the maximum cases of coronavirus as over 1300 of the total number of Tabligh Jamaatis has been traced back to the event and their contacts. Nearly 25,000 people have been quarantined by the government of India.
Delhi Police crime branch has sent two notices to Saad under Section 91 of CrPC. The police have asked Maulana Saad to provide some documents. The second notice was sent after the first notice was found "unsatisfactory".
As Muhammad Saad remained untraceable, the Delhi police slapped a notice with the 36 questions at his farmhouse in Shamli near Delhi. After the first notice was found unsatisfactory, the Delhi police slapped the second issue. The cheek.
Investigative agencies have started probing into the sources of funding and financial aid received by the conservative Islamist organization. The Delhi Police have also started probing into the finances of the organization which came under the national limelight after organising a congregation at its Delhi centre at Markaz Nizamuddin where 1700-3000 people are believed to have participated in the event, in flagrant violation of the restrictive orders.
#1
He's under a sort of quarantine/house arrest for now. Yours truly will get to meet him shortly. Summbitch placed himself in a hotspot, so the quarantine may be extended for it. Police shall attempt to extract him, but I'd rather he contract the disease there.
Thank you, TW. Love the weasel Mukherjee thingy. One of my colleagues is a Mukherjee, and a weasel.☺
I couldn’t resist, Dron66046, even though I did it so late that you were probably the only one to see it before the rollover. I was tired after the Passover Seder — even if I only cooked for the four of us (Mr. Wife, trailing daughter #1, final daughter, and me), and my sister, baby brother, and mother joined electronically — and my resistance to temptation clearly had disappeared. I assumed Mahmoud the Weasel’s Indian cousin would not be Muslim.
Another purported Iraqi Shiite militant faction Ashab al-Kahf has announced that it will soon release its "first message threatening the American occupying enemy" relating to its claim from yesterday that "the Ain al-Assad Base is not safe nor are your bases in the Gulf."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.