Feb 292020
 
 February 29, 2020  Posted by at 11:14 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Harris&Ewing National Emergency War Garden Commission display, Wash. DC 1918

 

China Reports Catastrophic Data: PMIs Crash To Record Lows (ZH)
New York Scrambles To Replace US Government’s Faulty Coronavirus Test Kits (R.)
US Sanctions on Iran Helped Coronavirus Spread Undetected (NI)
Chinese Lab That First Shared Virus Genome Closed For ‘Rectification’ (SCMP)
Australia Defied WHO On Coronavirus (SMH)
Israeli Scientists Claim To Be Weeks Away From Coronavirus Vaccine (NYPost)
A Big Coronavirus Mystery: What About The Children? (Harvard)
China Will Meet US Trade Deal Ag Demands, But May Invoke Force Majeure (SCMP)
China’s Consumers Will Not Rescue Economy When Outbreak Is Over (SCMP)
Southeast Asian Supply Chains Feel The Squeeze From Covid-19 (SCMP)
No More Kid Gloves (K.)
Barr Is Wrong On FISA Reforms (Turley)
The Public Doesn’t Really Decide The Nominee (Turley)
The Only Questions That Should Matter In The Assange Extradition Battle (SMH)
Your Man in the Public Gallery – Assange Hearing Day Four (Craig Murray)

 

Numbers are rising very fast in South Korea, Iran and Italy. Total cases were up 841, 621, 901, 1,190, 1,314 in the past few days. Today: 1,950.

Major batch of new cases expected today from South Korea due to intensified testing.

 

Cases 85,683 (+ 1,950 from yesterday’s 83,733)

Deaths 2,933 (+ 73 from yesterday’s 2,860)

 

• South Korea 813 new cases, total 3.150, 16 deaths, one case of reinfection
• Italy 896 (yesterday 653) cases, 21 deaths
• Iran 593 (yesterday 245) cases, 26 deaths
• Japan 241 (+705 Diamond Princess)
• China 427 new cases and 47 new deaths, total 2,835
• UK 20 cases, first death is Diamond Princess’s 6th death
• Germany 60 cases
• US 66 cases
• France cases 57 from 38 yesterday
• First case: Israel (3 cases), Mexico, Iceland, Azerbaijan, Wales, Belarus, Estonia

 

Trump names Pence, Kudlow, Mnuchin, aka an economic team, to face the crisis. China tries something similar by talking about what happens when the outbreak is over.

 

From SCMP:

 

 

From Worldometer (Note: mortality rate down to 7%)

 

 

 

 

Xi’s biggest worry.

China Reports Catastrophic Data: PMIs Crash To Record Lows (ZH)

[..] it turns out that Nomura’s dire forecast was optimistic, because moments ago China’s National Statistics Bureau reported the latest, February PMIs and they were absolutely catastrophic: Manufacturing PMI crashed to 35.7 in Feb, far below the 45.0 consensus estimate, and sharply down from 50.0 in January. A record low. Non-Manufacturing PMI plummets to 28.9, also far below the 50.5 consensus, estimate, and down nearly 50% from the 54.1 in Jan. This too was a record low. Putting these numbers in context, they are far, far worse than the prints for both series reported during the financial crisis, when the mfg PMI dropped to “only” 38.8, while the non-manufacturing PMI never even contracted.

What is even more ominous is that while China’s non-mfg PMI has traditionally been stronger, in February not only did it collapse into deep contraction, but it plunged to 5 points below where the manufacturing sector currently finds itself, a catastrophic 20-handle. This means that China’s service industries, long seen as the guiding light to China’s successful transition away from a manufacturing-led economy, is now devastated. Commenting on the unprecedented number, Bloomberg’s China economist Tom Orlik said that “the first credible gauge of how China’s economy is fairing under virus lock down – the official PMI – is pointing to a brutal drop into contraction.” Well, no: anyone who read our recent series analyzing “high-frequency”, real-time Chinese data already was already aware of the catastrophic collapse in China’s economy.

Read more …

Because the testing issue was’t confusing enough yet.

New York Scrambles To Replace US Government’s Faulty Coronavirus Test Kits (R.)

New York health officials are trying to get their own coronavirus testing kits up and running after getting stuck with faulty tests from the federal government that they said left them unable to diagnose people quickly in the nation’s most populous city. New York state’s Department of Health filed an emergency application on Friday with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be allowed to use a testing kit for the new coronavirus it has developed in-state, according to an official involved in the process. “Upon FDA approval, which we believe is imminent, New York State’s public health laboratory, the Wadsworth Center, can immediately begin testing,” Jonah Bruno, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Health, wrote in an email.

Public health officials say the ability to test locally and get results within hours will be critical to a rapid response to the fast-spreading virus that originated in China, causing a sometimes fatal respiratory illness, and has spread to 46 countries. The weeks-long struggle to expand local testing has been criticized as an early misstep in the response by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to the outbreak. Three weeks ago, the FDA gave the green light for state and local labs to start using a testing kit developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But most labs that received the kits complained they had faulty components and produced inconclusive results, which the CDC later acknowledged.

[..] The CDC kits were meant to work by comparing a sample swabbed from a patient’s nose or mouth against three distinctive stretches of the virus’ genetic material, which are in small tubes labeled N1, N2 and N3. Most labs only had issues with the kit’s third component, N3. After reviewing their data, the FDA and CDC told labs this week that the tests would work fine if they only looked for the N1 and N2 bits of the virus, ignoring the faulty N3 component. But in New York, both the state lab and the New York City lab said that in their kits the N1 component was also flawed, and that the workaround proposed by the CDC and FDA was of no use.

Read more …

US sanctions kept Iran from buying the same faulty test kits that New York is using?!

US Sanctions on Iran Helped Coronavirus Spread Undetected (NI)

The Trump administration is partially reversing course on economic sanctions that have slowed down Iran from importing coronavirus test kits as the country faces down the most deadly COVID-19 outbreak outside of East Asia. Iranian authorities have confirmed 388 cases of the new coronavirus disease as of Friday afternoon. U.S. sanctions, the Iranian government’s record of dishonesty, and the elusive nature of the virus itself have made it difficult to understand the true extent of the epidemic. The U.S. Treasury announced on Thursday morning that it was lifting some terrorism-related sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran, which re-opens a channel for humanitarian trade that had been closed since September 2019. The announcement does not lift the restrictions on humanitarian trade with other Iranian banks under terrorism-related sanctions.

Iran’s healthcare sector has blamed the banking sanctions for a lack of testing equipment to diagnose COVID-19. Thirty-four people have reportedly died from the virus in Iran, suggesting a large number of undiagnosed cases of COVID-19, which scientists believe has a two percent mortality rate. In fact, independent researchers estimate that eighteen thousand Iranians may have been infected already. “Several international companies are ready to ship the coronavirus diagnosis kit to Iran, but we cannot pay them,” said Ramin Fallah, vice president of the Iranian Union of Importers of Medical Equipment, in a Monday interview with Iranian media. “They also insist that the money should only be sent through banks. Although there are ways to get around [sanctions], it is time-consuming.”

[..] Iranian authorities have not inspired confidence in their current ability to deal with the outbreak transparently, either. [..] Officials have downplayed the extent of the outbreak even as the virus spreads within the government itself. Member of Parliament Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani claimed on Monday that fifty people had died in his home district of Qom alone, but Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi denied accusations of a coverup. On Tuesday, Harirchi announced that he had contracted COVID-19. Another lawmaker, Mahmoud Sadeghi, tested positive for the virus the same day. But President Hassan Rouhani continued to claim that the viral panic was worse than the virus itself, denouncing “foreign propaganda,” refusing to quarantine cities, and promising a return to normalcy.

By Wednesday, the tone in the Rouhani administration turned to panic as cabinet member Ma’soumeh Ebtekar was diagnosed with COVID-19 and retired Amb. Hadi Khosrowshahi suddenly died of the disease. The government proceeded to ban Chinese nationals from entering the country, canceled flights to India, halted religious pilgrimage groups, and canceled Friday prayers in major cities. Presidential advisor Hesameddin Ashena called for “taking the situation seriously” and “not politicizing the issue.”

Read more …

The Party was not amused.

Chinese Lab That First Shared Virus Genome Closed For ‘Rectification’ (SCMP)

The Shanghai laboratory where researchers published the world’s first genome sequence of the deadly coronavirus that causes Covid-19 has been shut down. The laboratory at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre was ordered to close for “rectification” on January 12, a day after Professor Zhang Yongzhen’s team published the genome sequence on open platforms. It closed temporarily the following day. The release of the data helped researchers develop test kits for the virus. “The centre was not given any specific reasons why the laboratory was closed for rectification. [We have submitted] four reports [asking for permission] to reopen but we have not received any replies,” a source with the centre said, requesting anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

“The closure has greatly affected the scientists and their research when they should be racing against the clock to find the means to help put the novel coronavirus outbreak under control,” the source said. The laboratory is a Level 3 biosafety facility, the second-highest level, and passed an annual inspection by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment on January 5. It also obtained the required credentials to conduct research on the coronavirus on January 24. It was not clear whether the closure was related to the publishing of the sequencing data before the authorities. China’s National Health Commission announced hours after the release by Zhang’s team that it would share the genome sequence with the World Health Organisation. It later emerged that the information had been sent through the officially designated Wuhan Institute of Virology.

[..] Zhang’s team isolated and finished the genome sequence of the then-unknown virus on January 5, two days before China’s official announcement that mysterious pneumonia cases in Wuhan were caused by a hitherto unknown coronavirus.
The Shanghai centre reported its discovery to the National Health Commission on the same day and recommended “relevant prevention and control measures” be taken in public places, because the patient from whom the sample was collected had suffered very severe symptoms and the virus resembled a group previously found in bats. The team made the finding public on January 11 after it saw that the authorities had taken no obvious action to warn the public about the coronavirus.

The findings by Zhang’s team were published in the scientific journal Nature on February 3. The research said the virus sample was collected from a patient who showed symptoms of fever, dizziness and coughing and was admitted to a Wuhan hospital on December 26. The Shanghai centre has a long-term cooperation relationship with Wuhan Central Hospital. The patient was identified as a 41-year-old male vendor who worked at the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market in Wuhan, which was believed to be a key link of infections at the early stage of the outbreak. The lab’s closure not only affected Zhang’s research but also studies by other scientists since it is an open facility, according to another researcher with knowledge of the matter.

Read more …

“Australia’s group of state and federal medical officers, convening daily, usually by phone hook-up, is the peak point of the pure medical advice, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC). No politicians sit in on their meetings.

Australia Defied WHO On Coronavirus (SMH)

Countries have shut down some of the institutions they hold dearest. Japan has closed all schools. Saudi Arabia has halted pilgrimages to Mecca. And the Chinese government has postponed indefinitely its two big annual political assemblies. Australia’s group of state and federal medical officers, convening daily, usually by phone hook-up, is the peak point of the pure medical advice, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC). No politicians sit in on their meetings.

[..] The medical officers’ “pandemic” call was a big moment. For a start, they were way ahead of the UN body that is supposedly the lead global agency on international health emergencies, the Geneva-based World Health Organisation. Why were the Australians ahead of the world? For a very simple reason. They don’t trust the WHO. The information from multiple international sources is that the WHO is under intense pressure from the Chinese government, and succumbing to it. The Australian Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy, told the NSC that it was medically inexplicable that the WHO hadn’t already declared a global pandemic. It’s politics, in other words.

That’s why Australia had earlier forged ahead of the WHO in declaring the China travel ban, on February 1. It was, again, on the unanimous advice of the AHPPC. The travel ban was decided immediately after the US made the same call. Beijing instantly lashed both the US and Australia on that occasion – the Chinese Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, People’s Daily, calling it “racist”. But, of course, that decision now looks very wise, more so with each passing day. The WHO followed suit 10 days later. When Morrison announced the China travel ban four weeks ago, there were about 7000 infections disclosed by Beijing. By Thursday this week that number had ballooned to 78,000. The number of countries announcing travel bans has grown proportionately, and mostly they have acted too late.

In any case, the political manipulation of the WHO is nothing novel. It was slow to declare HIV-AIDS to be a pandemic in the 1980s because of intense political pressure. Then it was pressure from the US. Now it’s from China. Either way, the politics trumps the medical advice. So this week the AHPPC didn’t hesitate to act ahead of the Geneva-based outfit. And when the medical officers’ advice went to federal health minister, Greg Hunt, and to Morrison, they didn’t hesitate, either. Morrison convened a three-hour meeting of the National Security Committee of cabinet on Thursday morning. They discussed the unfolding evidence, reviewed the state of medical preparations, and made three key decisions.

[..] The Australian system for dealing with communicable diseases is less prone to politics. Morrison hid from the bushfires; he had no such option on the coronavirus. The Chief Medical Officer, Murphy, does not need the government’s permission to invoke the Biosecurity Act. He informed Health Minister Greg Hunt on January 20 that he was triggering the act, automatically setting in train a pre-ordained process of monitoring and advice. Hunt encouraged Murphy and the AHPPC to give the government the full, frank and unvarnished medical advice without any view to politics. And so far, Morrison and his NSC have respected the medical advice.

Read more …

One of multiple “hopeful” vaccine stories yesterday.

I said yesterday: “Note: they’re ‘adapting’ a vaccine (against an avian virus), not developing a new one”, and “Note 3: I’m not sure it’s the antibodies that do the harm nor that it’s the virus that uses them. The problem I think is a “cytokine storm”, in which the immune system causes the overproduction of immune cells (and their activating compounds – called cytokines), which then attack the host body.”

Israeli Scientists Claim To Be Weeks Away From Coronavirus Vaccine (NYPost)

Israeli researchers scrambling to develop a coronavirus vaccine say it could be ready in just three weeks – and available for use within 90 days, according to reports. The scientists at the Galilee Research Institute, known as MIGAL, are adapting its vaccine against the avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus, or IBV, to work for the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, the Jerusalem Post reported. “Congratulations to MIGAL on this exciting breakthrough. I am confident that there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat,” said Ofir Akunis, Israel’s minister of science and technology.

The independent research institute, which specializes in the fields of biotechnology, environmental sciences and agriculture, says on its website that its team “includes 80 PhDs and a total of 260 researchers distributed into 53 labs that are managed by seasoned senior group leaders.” Its vaccine for IBV, a bronchial illness that affects poultry, has already been proven in preclinical trials conducted at Israel’s Veterinary Institute, according to the news outlet. “Our basic concept was to develop the technology and not specifically a vaccine for this kind or that kind of virus,” said Dr. Chen Katz, MIGAL’s biotech group chief.

“The scientific framework for the vaccine is based on a new protein expression vector, which forms and secretes a chimeric soluble protein that delivers the viral antigen into mucosal tissues by self-activated endocytosis, causing the body to form antibodies against the virus,” he added.

Read more …

Children and caretakers.

A Big Coronavirus Mystery: What About The Children? (Harvard)

GAZETTE: You’ve been quoted you as saying you expect between 40 percent and 70 percent of humanity to be infected with this virus within a year. Is that still the case?

LIPSITCH: It is, but an important qualifier is that I expect 40 to 70 percent of adults to be infected. We just don’t understand whether children are getting infected at low rates or just not showing very strong symptoms. So I don’t want to make assumptions about children until we know more. That number also assumes that we don’t put in place effective, long-term countermeasures, like social distancing for months at a time which, I think, is a fair assumption. It may be that a few places like China can sustain it, but even China is beginning to let up.

GAZETTE: You mentioned children having been hit only lightly by this. What about other parts of the population? What do we know about the impact of this from a demographic standpoint?

LIPSITCH: It’s definitely the case that the older you are, the more at risk of getting infected you are and, if you get symptomatic infection, the more at risk of dying you are. Men also seem to be overrepresented among those getting severe illness. The reasons why are a really important research question. One thing that also needs to be looked at is the impact on health-care workers because they are at high risk of getting infected, and I would like to know whether they’re at higher risk of getting severe infection. Some of the anecdotal cases of young physicians dying make me wonder whether they’re exposed to a higher dose and that’s making them sicker.

[..] GAZETTE: What’s the most important unanswered question to your mind?

LIPSITCH: One of the most important unanswered questions is what role do children play in transmission? The go-to intervention in flu pandemic planning is closing schools, and that may be very effective or it may be totally ineffective. It’s a costly and disruptive thing to do, especially in the United States, because many people rely on school breakfast and lunch for nutrition. So we really need evidence that closing schools would help. We need detailed studies in households of children who are exposed to an infected person. We need to find out if the children get infected, if they shed virus, and if that virus is infectious.

Read more …

Michael Pettis tweets: “I understand that Chinese agriculture will be badly affected by Covid-19, and so I am not surprised that China will go ahead with planned agricultural imports. In fact I suspect they’ll actually increase them.”

China Will Meet US Trade Deal Ag Demands, But May Invoke Force Majeure (SCMP)

China will “definitely” honour its agricultural purchase commitments as part of its phase one trade deal signed with the United States in January, despite the coronavirus epidemic, a former senior Chinese government official said on Friday. Wei Jianguo, a former deputy minister responsible for foreign trade at the Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference organised by the government in Beijing that China was fully committed to the deal. However, the coronavirus outbreak that followed the signing of the deal in Washington may mean China has to invoke a force majeure clause in the trade deal with regard other planned purchases, “if some parts fail to happen”, Wei said, adding that Beijing will redouble its efforts to implement the deal “once the coronavirus epidemic is over”.


“China is fully able to complete the agreed amount of agricultural product imports [from the US],” Wei said, without mentioning purchases of non-agricultural products, such as manufactured goods and energy. Wei’s comments mark the first on-the-record confirmation from Beijing insiders that China has no plan to walk away from the trade deal because of the coronavirus epidemic, which has caused huge damage to its economy. It is also the latest suggestion, however, that China may look to a clause in the deal which states that both parties will enter consultations if “a natural disaster or other unforeseeable event outside the control of the parties delays a party from timely complying with its obligations”.

Read more …

How to sneakily invoke the idea that it’ll all soon be over.

China’s Consumers Will Not Rescue Economy When Outbreak Is Over (SCMP)

Around a third of Chinese consumers will not increase spending once the outbreak of coronavirus has been brought under control, a private survey has shown, challenging Beijing’s hope that consumer expenditure will quickly rebound to cover losses suffered amid the epidemic. China has repeatedly said that the impact of the coronavirus, which has infected over 78,000 people and killed over 2,700 in China alone, will be short-lived and that it is still on track to achieve its economic development goals in 2020. However, according to the online survey conducted by Rong360.com, a Beijing-based firm providing financial and credit information and products, 31.4 per cent of respondents said they would not increase consumer spending.


More importantly, nearly two thirds, or 64.4 per cent, said they would be more “restrained” in spending in the long term, while another 12.6 per cent said they would cut spending, with only 11 per cent saying they would increase expenditure. The remaining 12 per cent said they would keep their lifestyle unchanged. Spending on travel, pets, gifts and accessories would be among the first items to be cut, with around 30 per cent of the 1,000 respondents to the survey, which was conducted between February 11-17, saying they would reduce travel and entertainment. For short-term spending, 68.6 per cent of respondents said they would increase expenditure after the epidemic, especially on entertainment, cosmetics, catering, movies, massages, fitness and sportswear.

Read more …

And soon, so will Europe and America.

Southeast Asian Supply Chains Feel The Squeeze From Covid-19 (SCMP)

As countries brace themselves for the full economic impact of the virus, one country has its eye on the future. Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing said the country had a two-pronged line of attack for dealing with the virus: a US$4.7 billion war chest to help companies and individuals through the economic storm, and a plan to ensure the city state would be first out of the gate towards full recovery. The plan involved having Singapore businesses re-examine their labour and material supply chains to “make sure that we’re never held to ransom by a single source or a single market”, Chan said at a meeting with business leaders on Wednesday. Singapore learned a similar lesson in 2007, when the construction sector – then reliant on Indonesia for 90 per cent of its sand – nearly came to a standstill after Indonesia banned sand exports to the republic.

With a new train line and the two integrated resorts in the works, the government released its national stockpile of sand to the market and bore 75 per cent of the price hike of sand for public projects. Since then, the government has made it mandatory for the sector to diversify its sources of sand. Chan said at the business meeting that the Singapore government wanted to delve deeper and examine where the suppliers of Singapore businesses got their raw material from. “We’re not just talking about the first layer of the supply chain, we’re even going into the second, third layer to look at where the components form that supply chain in order for us to have a really resilient supply chain for our respective businesses,” said Chan.

“If the supply chain breaks, even if it’s the smallest part, it disrupts the entire supply chain.” What is unclear is how much countries really can diversify their sourcing, given that China is the top supplier of intermediate goods for many countries. China’s size, broad-based supply chain, and infrastructure provisions made it an “unmissable market for most”, said Wiranto. Half of Vietnam’s imports come from China, Korea and Japan; almost half of Korea’s come from China, Japan and the United States; while over 20 per cent of Malaysia’s imports are from China. Raw materials aside, there is also a fear that the rapid spread of the coronavirus outside China will affect other supply chains. “Businesses might be looking at alternatives from Vietnam, but as the virus becomes more global over recent days, even supply chains which they thought are safe from interruptions could be disrupted,” said Song, the CIMB economist.

Read more …

Turkey’s actions threaten Greece. For now, neither NATO or the EU have taken Ankara’s side, but…

No More Kid Gloves (K.)

Facts on the ground change rapidly. Turkey’s President has been trapped in a huge quagmire exclusively of his own making. His embroiling Turkey in adventures abroad has turned into a boomerang. For the first time, his handling of the situation is openly questioned in Ankara itself. He seems to have no exit strategy. With his barefaced move to send crowds of migrants and refugees to the border with Greece, Erdogan has handed us a great diplomatic gift. Europeans finally understand that they have to deal with an unpredictable unreasonableness. But they are still groping for a response. Like the United States, they are afraid to “lose” Turkey, which, in turn, plays the usual haggling game with Moscow, Washington and Brussels, only this time with a strong dose of desperation.

How about Greece? The government is doing the right thing. It reminds Europe where its responsibilities lie and also shows that it will no longer be “business as usual.” National, and not political, reasons necessitate a different approach in dealing with the problem. When you face open blackmail and the open, undisguised use of the migration/refugee issue as a means to an end, you can no longer handle it with kid gloves. Some will take exception to this and recommend patience. The drama of the refugees is unspeakable, but no country should bear the burden alone. Especially a country bruised by a great crisis and which bears no responsibility for what has happened in Syria. Northern Europeans should grasp the gravity of the situation and stop facing the issue from the coziness of their sofas.

One last thing: this crisis is at its very beginning and could transmute into something else. Erdogan under pressure, including pressure from nationalists, can become even more unpredictable. A national consensus is imperative! It makes no sense to debate who is responsible for which things. The situation is critical.

Read more …

And Trump is right.

Barr Is Wrong On FISA Reforms (Turley)

Attorney General Bill Barr appears on a collision course with President Donald Trump over reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. Civil libertarians like Sen Rand Paul (R., Tenn.) are pushing for reforms in light of the abuses uncovered from the Russian investigation. Despite my respect and friendship for Barr, he is wrong in my view and the President should push forward with the reforms. When President Trump declared “Now is our chance to fix it,” he is absolutely correct. Sen. Paul has indicated that the President is onboard with reforms, tweeing “Good talk with @realdonaldTrump yesterday and I’m pleased he is urging FISA reform NOW – and not a reauthorization of the current Patriot Act.”

I have long respected Sen. Paul’s fight for such reforms and I have been a long critic of FISA since I first went into that “court” as a young intern with the National Security Agency in the Reagan Administration. Such legislative reforms are even more pressing given the FISA court’s baffling decision to appoint a defender of the abusive use of the court as its “reformer.” Paul is pushing for limits on how the court can be used against Americans. They include modest limitations that would still allow robust surveillance, including mandatory and random audits of FISA applications by the Inspector General, ending the Call Detail Records program, mandatory disclosure of exculpatory evidence in FISA applications, and appointing amici in all “sensitive investigative matters” with access to all FISA court documents.

This includes dealing directly and honestly with the status of the controversial records program under Section 215, that gathers metadata on domestic text messages and phone calls. I am leery of efforts to again kick this can down the road with temporary extensions of existing authority. The FISA court was designed to circumvent the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of probable cause of a crime — using the term but making it little more than probable cause to suspect someone is working for a foreign power. That is why applications for surveillance are uniformly approved. The court has little real basis to deny such applications.

Read more …

Superdelegates revisited.

The Public Doesn’t Really Decide The Nominee (Turley)

As we have been discussing, establishment figures in the Democratic party and the media have been preparing to block any nomination of Bernie Sanders, including using the “superdelegates” to hand the nomination to another candidate. The New York Times reported Thursday that the Democratic establishment was preparing for open warfare over blocking Sanders, even if it shatters the unity of the party. If Sanders does not receive the necessary votes, they intend to take away the nomination even if he has the most votes in the first round. The key again are the superdelegates who are not elected in the primaries but given votes as elected officials. On MSNBC, former Obama adviser Anton J. Gunn was particularly blunt. He declared “The party decides its nominee. The public doesn’t really decide the nominee.”

In 2016, many of us objected to the concerted effect of the Democratic establishment and the Democratic National Committee to rig the primary for Hillary Clinton. Later it was revealed that the Clintons have largely taken over the DNC by taking over its debt and the DNC openly harassed and hampered Sanders at every stage. Despite this effort, Sanders came close to beating Clinton, who has never forgiven him for contesting a primary that she literally bought and paid for with the DNC. The simmering rage was still evident in Clinton’s attack on Sanders and suggestion that she might not support him if he were the nominee (a suggestion that she later took back). Well the supers are back and Sanders may again find that it is the party elite, not the voters, who determine who will be the next nominee.

The irony is that the elite hardly has an inspiring record. In 2016, every poll showed that voters did not want an establishment figure so the establishment rigged the process for the ultimate establishment figure. Clinton lost to the most unpopular Republican candidate in history. I remain convinced that Sanders could have won that election, a position recently suggested by Michael Bloomberg. Yet, the same people that gave us the Clinton nomination will be working their magic again at the Democratic Convention. What is fascinating is that the establishment would prefer to risk the election by alienating the huge young following of Sanders rather than allow Sanders to be the nominee. If they give the nomination to another establishment figures like Biden or a billionaire like Bloomberg, the establishment would enrage millions of Sanders followers who could well stay home in 2020.

Read more …

Two claims: A) that Assange’s work is not political, and B) that nothing in the law applies even if it were.

The Only Questions That Should Matter In The Assange Extradition Battle (SMH)

Murray’s account contains some astonishing observations. On day one, he says, the US prosecutor, James Lewis QC, explicitly addressed his opening remarks “not to the court but to the media”. This is unprecedented. In this address, says Murray, Lewis explicitly denied that the espionage charges against Assange also threatened mainstream media like The Guardian and The New York Times. Later under questioning from the magistrate, Murray says, Lewis changed his mind and admitted that yes, they would be affected, but this part of his remarks was not offered to the media (who might well find such assertions alarming).


On day two, Assange’s defence, Edward Fitzgerald QC, said the prosecution must prove three things: that Assange had helped Manning decode a hash key necessary to hack classified material, that Assange had solicited the material from Manning and that he had knowingly put lives at risk. There is, said Fitzgerald, no evidence on any of these counts, some of which were disproved in Manning’s court-martial. And the prosecution has admitted it cannot prove harm. But even that is not the point. No one should be arguing the substantive case here. For now, the questions are; is this a political crime? Should Assange receive a fair trial? Does anyone believe he’ll get one in Trump’s America? And do we really think, given his poor health, he would survive prison there? The answers have to be yes, yes, no and, resoundingly, no.

Read more …

The hearing resumes only in March?!

“During Lewis’s presentation, he was interrupted by Judge Baraitser precisely once. During Fitzgerald’s reply, Baraitser interjected seventeen times.”

Your Man in the Public Gallery – Assange Hearing Day Four (Craig Murray)

Yesterday the prosecution continued its argument that the provision in the 2007 UK/US Extradition Treaty that bars extradition for political offences is a dead letter, and that Julian Assange’s objectives are not political in any event. James Lewis QC for the prosecution spoke for about an hour, and Edward Fitzgerald QC replied for the defence for about the same time. During Lewis’s presentation, he was interrupted by Judge Baraitser precisely once. During Fitzgerald’s reply, Baraitser interjected seventeen times. In the transcript, those interruptions will not look unreasonable: “Could you clarify that for me Mr Fitzgerald…” “So how do you cope with Mr Lewis’s point that…” “But surely that’s a circular argument… “But it’s not incorporated, is it?…”


All these and the other dozen interruptions were designed to appear to show the judge attempting to clarify the defence’s argument in a spirit of intellectual testing. But if you heard the tone of Baraitser’s voice, saw her body language and facial expressions, it was anything but. The false picture a transcript might give is exacerbated by the courtly Fitzgerald’s continually replying to each obvious harassment with “Thank you Madam, that is very helpful”, which again if you were there, plainly meant the opposite. But what a transcript will helpfully nevertheless show was the bully pulpit of Baraitser’s tactic in interrupting Fitzgerald again and again and again, belittling his points and very deliberately indeed preventing him from getting into the flow of his argument. The contrast in every way with her treatment of Lewis could not be more pronounced.

Read more …

 

 

 

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    Harris&Ewing National Emergency War Garden Commission display, Wash. DC 1918   • China Reports Catastrophic Data: PMIs Crash To Record Lows (
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle February 29 2020]

    #54572
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Harris&Ewing National Emergency War Garden Commission display, Wash. DC 1918

    While a lovely photo; I’m at a loss on how to comment further…

    #54573
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Returned from yesterday:

    Yes but if it’s a biovirus, and one we developed (and China stole), don’t you think we developed the cure too? It wouldn’t be much good to have a weapon that destroys yourself equally. If so, then it seems the CoS calls over to Ft. Deitrick, the lab head tells him what it is, how it works, and if it doesn’t have a built-in self-destruct, the lead time on producing enough “cure”, whatever that may be.

    Were this to be true – and it seems more likely than a fruit bat ate a pangolin – then PEOPLE WITH THE HIGHEST CLEARANCE KNOW THINGS BUT THEY CAN’T TELL YOU. The NYT, the Guardian, known to lie every day, in every way, better and better, then call accuse every guy WITH the clearance and information, to be foolish anti-science idiots, and are then wrong again, almost every time, and no one notices. You know, over my whole lifetime. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong, lies lies lies lies lies lies lies.

    But what’s he going to say? “We (America of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s) created a racial bioweapon against the all humanity and the Geneva convention and that kills civilians especially, and we’ve been testing it off and on in various places over the years, and now a) we released it or b) our security is so poor, and we have so many spies and moles in government that would help kill half the planet who can be bought for a used Mercedes, and they all work in Level 4 and Harvard and the CDC, and that’s how it escaped? And that’s how China is lying, and we are lying, and the WHO is lying, and the CDC is lying, but trust us: we’ve got it all under control? Pay your taxes, join the Navy, vote for Burr?” Um, no. HE CAN’T TELL YOU. So everything you hear is a lie, if you didn’t notice from the last 30 years of lies.

    So no, wouldn’t surprise me if he’s right for these reasons and it’s over by April, because otherwise, why bother sticking your neck out? But he has to let this play out. And if 1/100th extra people die that died of the normal flu this month, is that really a risk? If China wants to use it as a premise to round up dissidents, are we supposed to get in their home life drama and stop them?

    Paging Dr. Rorschach.

    Here’s the thing. People HAVE it, but are they DYING of it? 8,000 people “have it” in CA they’re trying to imply but not ONE needed to go to a hospital? There’s a big difference between having a flu, NOTICING you have the flu, and DYING from having the flu. I have flus all the time, don’t notice, and am never tested. If so, who cares? You’re going to embargo the worldwide supply chain in a war-like siege over it? A day after the acquittal when your trade negotiations didn’t win and you’re about to collapse anyway and need a diversion?

    Q: If zero kids get it, why close the schools? Not for the chillin’s. It’s never for the chillin’s it’s always for us, our money and power and the Epstein chicks you can buy with it. So I guess it IS for the chillin’s that I can traffic and buy, then overdose and dump them in a flophouse. Another accident in Flyoverland.

    Q: If there’s a worldwide pandemic, why knock down the wall and divert the money OUT of U.S. healthcare and medical readiness TO USAid who will funnel the untracked money back to Swiss accounts and election funds again? Do these look like serious actions of serious people to you?

    Q: Since any 6th grader understands the flu, why did the U.S. and Japan just let everyone off ships without testing, and don’t bother even now?

    Q: Since any breathing human understands flu, why did U.S. officials walk in and out of quarantine, not just unconcerned with the public – that’s a given – but also 100% unconcerned with their own deaths?

    A: All just coincidental lucky accidents. That everybody with access to information act like this is a zero while known liars and deep state actors are pumping fear doesn’t mean anything, citizen. Please panic and obey our directions. Why?

    leadership is quickly waking up to the fact that a) +80% don’t get it badly enough to warrant closing anything down whatsoever” Sinnycool nails it. The play is to pump it up, because outside China (or maybe in?) it’s hardly worse than the flu, so to get any leverage YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE PANIC AND SUPPLY CHAIN, the ECONOMY, and the ELECTION, not the flu, which is a zero, going nowhere. You can have it all you want, but it won’t kill you. That is the only Rorschach that makes any sense.

    #54574
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “China Reports Catastrophic Data: PMIs Crash To Record Lows (ZH)”

    They’re going to print money and call a force majeure on their contracts, which they needed to do when they cracked back in Nov if not before. But they didn’t have an excuse. Funny ol’ world.

    Not to laugh, so are we. Powell may call a major print/bailout this weekend so he can make his $770B/night Repos official and put a reason behind them. (note, that’s a TRILLION dollars) Yeah: they were anticipating Wuhan back on Sept 17th 2019, that’s the ticket.

    “China Will Meet US Trade Deal Ag Demands, But May Invoke Force Majeure (SCMP)” Ding!

    “killed over 2,700 in China alone” 2,700 / 1.2 Billion = 0.00000225 Panic!!!

    Southeast Asian Supply Chains Feel The Squeeze From Covid-19 (SCMP) “

    Maybe, but they’re all going to print money and have a perfect excuse, so…nothing done, economically, at least. Zombies will all survive and increase so long as they’re insider pals. Yay! They get $770B/night, you get inflation and pension defaults.

    “US Sanctions on Iran Helped Coronavirus Spread Undetected (NI)”

    See? THIS is how you blame the U.S. for everything, THIS is normal.

    “Australia Defied WHO on Coronavirus (SMH) “

    Experts. Expert medical bureaucrats, I think the Doctor will have something to say on this. Along the lines of: “they’re just dreadful politicians of a different stripe”?

    calling it “racist”. But, of course, that decision now looks very wise,”

    Calling someone racist was just an unfounded smear meant to bully someone into slavish obedience using fear? I’m sure it’s the first time. https://lists.grabien.com/list-hate-crime-hoaxes (1st google hit) People would never use leverage they have to their advantage would they? No, they are the good people, and I am the bad people, just ask them! But we are NOT just all one people. That’s equality and brotherhood

    “Israeli Scientists Claim To Be Weeks Away From Coronavirus Vaccine (NYPost) “

    Hard to tell when everything’s a lie, but it would be good cover for the cure the U.S. bioweapons lab would already have.

    “Attorney General Bill Barr appears on a collision course with President Donald Trump”

    While they play WWE Wrestlemania 2020. Remember Trump and Kim? A minute before they signed up and walked the DMZ together? Meanwhile, nothing happens and no one’s arrested. From the endless screaming you’d think someone would have lost a pension at least.

    “If Sanders does not receive the necessary votes,”

    This is why they had 25 candidates. If each 20th runner gets one, it’s enough to stop Bernie and screw democracy. I’m sure that’ll turn out fine. But proves as Dore and so many say, “They would rather have Trump than any Progressive.” And why not? They gave him more budget, more military, more Congressional spying, more wall, and now more free billions for “health” that he personally allocates. And you think they’re AGAINST him? The two parties aren’t R and D, they are the People and the Government. …Or the People and the Banks/corporations/government, same thing. Their party is all in for a NY billionaire insider vs a NY billionaire insider, and applauds. Heads I win.

    Baraitser interjected seventeen times.

    But I thought if judges were biased against the defendant they had to recuse themselves, right Sotomayor? Can’t have a judge and a juror who have already made up their mind then taking cases, can we?

    #54575
    kimyo99
    Participant

    If zero kids get it, why close the schools?

    1) children are getting the virus, it’s clearly not ‘zero’.
    2) even if covid19 is not a threat to children, closing schools will reduce transmission to elderly family members and those who are at risk.

    #54576
    zerosum
    Participant

    • New York Scrambles To Replace US Government’s Faulty Coronavirus Test Kits (R.)

    Jennifer Rakeman, an assistant commissioner at New York City’s health department and the director of the city’s testing laboratory in Manhattan, said that even once the replacement CDC kits arrive it would take time to make sure they work.

    “It could be a number of days, and could be on the order of a week or weeks,” she said.

    The Faulty Coronavirus Test Kits were made in the USA?
    Go buy the good Coronavirus Test Kits from South Korea.

    • US Sanctions on Iran Helped Coronavirus Spread Undetected (NI)

    Don’t buy USA test kits. Buy the Good test kits from South Korea. Those kits work and are probably cheaper.
    ——
    So far ,so good. My grand kids, even thou they sneeze and cough have not given me any flu.
    Schools are still open.

    #54577
    zerosum
    Participant

    You cannot do anything in Africa, even if 80% of the population gets the coronavirus.

    The world will just have to live with a reduction of 2% of the old and sick people.

    I”m waiting for the untested numbers from Mexico.

    #54578
    zerosum
    Participant

    Community spread means that people acquire COVID-19, the disease caused by the new virus, through an unknown exposure in the community.

    The four new cases were confirmed by the states using tests developed by the CDC. States received the testing kits early this month but most couldn’t use them until Friday.

    Problem: bad test kits
    Solution:
    1.The world will just have to live with a reduction of 2% of the old and sick people.
    2. The old and weak are going to Mexico at the peak season for the flu.
    3. Again, wait for the untested numbers of Mexican at the resorts communities
    4. Old people should not fill up their gas tanks because they could spread or get the virus from the pump handle.

    #54580

    The first US death will rattle the cages quite a bit.

    Trump press-op in moments to announce it. Wonder if Kudlow and Mnuchin will be present, being part of the crisis team and all

    #54581

    Would they test a dead body?

    #54588
    zerosum
    Participant

    Would they test a dead body?”
    Wrong question. In the USA, you can get anything if you pay for it.
    Who will pay?

    #54589
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:. Having lived and worked in 4 African countries, if the coronavirus gets a foothold, there is nothing to stop it.

    The reasons I suspect the coronavirus has already established itself, are two-fold.

    First, Etheopia has continued to maintain unrestricted air flights to China providing a gateway for the million plus Chinese in Africa to evade direct travel restrictions of other African countries to China.

    Second, Chinese communities in Africa have been instructed by China to hide any Chinese who come down with the coronavirus from local officials. Bribing local officials is standard procedure in Africa.

    The only hope southern Africa has is it is summer right now. Whether hot weather slows the coronavirus down remains to be seen. The wild card with coronavirus is it’s HIV mutation.

    #54590
    WES
    Participant

    It will be interesting to see if the coronavirus pandemic slows down once warmer spring weather arrives in the northern hemisphere. Some people are hoping this is the case.

    For normal flues, they tend to start ramping up in the fall in October and November, peaking in the winter months from December thru February, then ramping down in the spring months of March and April.

    The thinking for why flues die down in the spring is that the rising sun angles, shower the northern hemisphere with more intense UVL radiation. This UVL radiation helps to kill viruses and also increases people’s vitamin D as they tend to be outside more in warmer weather. In addition, warmer weather brings higher levels of humidity in the air which helps the mucus in our noses work better, the opposite of dry winter air which adversely reduces the effectiveness of the mucus in our noses.

    One question I do have though is, what affect might the coronavirus’s HIV mutation have to resist the effects of warmer weather?

    #54591
    WES
    Participant

    Dr. D. You and I know the DNC club will steal the nomination from Bernie.

    That is a given!

    Exactly how they do it is only theatre!

    In the Lincoln Theatre?

    #54592
    zerosum
    Participant

    I agree, the coronavirus is expected to be unstoppable. To control the virus will require the spending of money for assets, experts etc.
    Africa was hit with AIDS. Most died and left grandparents to raise the kids.
    Africa, Mexico do not have the money. The USA is bankrupt but can and will print $8 B to pay the elites capitalists for supplies. Trump said that he got 45 M face masks. I would suspect he bought them from a USA supplier.
    Otherwise, if your insurance won’t pay then you will need to put up some guarantees to get health care.
    Other people will need to take an aspirin. (Homeless people)

    Trump put up more travel restrictions.
    Most countries have put up crown controls.
    I foresee that Trump will have to do the same for all political gathering.
    When he does, it will be “fun” to see the reaction. Its a good thing that a Pandemic has not been declared.

    #54593
    WES
    Participant

    To keep their Russian hoax alive, the deep state needs to ensure Julian never talks.

    Trump has no say in the matter. It is Congress.

    #54594
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    The Wuhan coronavirus pandemic is a go for the USA. There is community transmission and one death in the three West Coast states. This is the tip of the iceberg. Testing coming online will find thousands more cases in March. It is nearing the tipping point for my family to hunker down in place.

    The decision for Anthony Fauci to stay in the spotlight is fascinating. He was also point-man when the Reagan White House failed in its response to the start of the AIDS epidemic that still kills 770,000 and infects 1.7 million people every year, today.

    Relevant to the photo above, the WaPo published an interesting article on the Spanish flu epidemic at the end of WWI and how the American government’s propaganda and media self-censor made the outbreak worse. A parade for returning soldiers was held in Philadelphia though doctors warned against it. Shorty afterwards the flu hit the city. Over 12,500 died and were buried in mass graves.

    Donald Trump now has a snowball’s chance in hell for re-election. No matter how the White House PR paints it, he will have a Depression and Pandemic going on at the same time. This is a multi-magnitude FUBAR worse than Jim Carter’s Iranian desert helicopter crash or Herbert Hoover’s 1932 economy. He needs to stay in the White House to avoid a New York Indictment. This will get messy.

    #54595
    zerosum
    Participant

    First Covid-19 outbreak in a U.S. nursing home raises concerns

    BREAKING NEWS
    First Covid-19 outbreak in a U.S. nursing home raises concerns
    By ERIC BOODMAN @ericboodman and HELEN BRANSWELL @HelenBranswellFEBRUARY 29, 2020

    At a nursing facility in Kirkland, Wash, approximately 27 of the 108 residents and 25 of the 180 staff have some symptoms, health officials said during a teleconference with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Authorities report that some among them have pneumonia.

    People in a care homes are not “street people”

    The 25 symptomatic staff are probably the working poor.

    Its the flu season.
    Everyone in a care home environment know what to do to avoid contaminations.

    Therefore, why did the covid-19 get a foothold in that strict environment.

    Money is a big motivator.

    #54596
    Dave Note
    Participant

    Dr Chris Martenson – The Last Day to Prepare (Mostly)

    The panic buying is well underway in some US locals.

    The WHO’s China expedition just released some more precise figures from on the ground for symptomic patients:

    80% mild cases just stay at home
    13% severe cases needing hospitalization.
    6% critical cases needing ICU intensive care units

    Do your own math as far as say, 6% of 100 million residences in the US who will get it.

    Mean while Britain announces they have a maximum of 28 ICU respiratory beds for the whole country.
    Yes you read that right 28 beds of all of Britain, think they’ll fill up quickly?

    #54597
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    One thing that just doesn’t make sense to me is, from what I can tell, the lack of cases on university campuses. It seems a bunch of Chinese students flew home to China at mid-semester, and then returned to university.

    I would imagine that administrators are sweating bullets. They dodged the “Me Too” bullet, and sure didn’t see this one coming. I stopped by an Asian Supermarket last evening that caters to a very large university. It was packed, and I didn’t see a single concern or mask.

    Anyone able to straighten me out on this?

    #54598
    zerosum
    Participant

    Book mark the following to get the latest
    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/29/coronavirus-live-updates-france-bans-large-gatherings.html

    Coronavirus live updates: White House issues new travel warnings; first US death confirmed
    PUBLISHED SAT, FEB 29 20209:24 AM ESTUPDATED AN HOUR AGO
    Emma Newburger
    @EMMA_NEWBURGER

    #54599
    zerosum
    Participant

    “Yes you read that right 28 beds of all of Britain, think they’ll fill up quickly?”
    We are ready.
    African is also ready.

    #54600
    kimyo99
    Participant

    the cdc’s inability to deliver timely and accurate test results echoes the dnc’s inability to deliver timely and accurate vote counts in iowa.

    it beggars belief that both organizations could be so completely inept. one must consider the possibility that these failures are deliberate and intended to obscure the true nature of the facts on the ground.

    #54601
    WES
    Participant

    Boilingfrog:. I think the only reason we have not seen an outbreak on campuses is there are no test kits available. The number of people tested so far in the US is just a few hundred!

    The Premier of B.C. claimed today that they have tested more people than all of the US!

    #54602
    Dave Note
    Participant

    China let there population go completely out of sync with their land base and natural eco systems. The shear density of their population is what makes the Covid so deadly.

    The Middle east and Islam is still clinging to a 7th century mindset and will continue to congregate together in great numbers for prayers five times a day and congregate for the Hajj in even greater numbers which will spread the Covid like the South Korean religious cult did by having three quarters of it’s cult members infected. But it will infect three quarters of all countries of Islamic faith because of the structure of their belief system. No amount of faith will spare them from this plague, their faith will actually accelerate the speed of the disease spreading.

    The US doesn’t have the population density of China, except in a few metro areas, and certainly doesn’t have the religious requirements of Islam to make huge congregations mandatory, (except football games and Nascar and rock festivals) But the US has fallen down a mental, cultural and spiritual rabbit hole of echo chamber deep state propaganda so far, it will be impossible to deal with Covid in a sane adult like frame of mind.

    The US has lost it’s collective mind and will to reason. What country would have painted itself so far into a corner as to be utterly dependent on China for critical medical supplies, drugs, masks, etc…that are shutdown in China because of the very same virus it needs the equipment and supplies to battle?

    Out sourcing pretty much every critical component of it’s economy, the US is like a big dumb, dangerous wounded animal.

    YOYO

    Your on Your own

    YOYO

    #54603
    WES
    Participant

    Kimyo99:. That shouldn’t surprise you! It is the new math!

    Thank God my Father taught me old math in the evenings at home!

    #54604
    WES
    Participant

    Dave Note:. One other rather interesting item about Arabs is they tend to stand closer to each other than we do when talking. This will help the spread of the coronavirus!

    We tend to stand at about an arm’s length away from each other when talking.

    For those of us not familiar with Arab culture, we would tend to feel that they are sort of invading our personal space.

    #54605
    Dave Note
    Participant

    Why did the plague outbreak in 1348 (The Black Death) miss Poland?

    “Poland had at the time a very competent CEO – King Kasimir the Great. The guy was a very methodical administrator. Most Polish cities had been renovated from the ground up during his reign – this could have helped, the whole infrastructure was brand new.

    He also seized with both hands the once-in-a-millennium opportunity – provided all European Jewry a (relatively) safe immigration haven. This meant medical knowledge and the health rules.

    It is recorded the King kept borders sealed for the Plague duration, and enforced the isolation of the towns.

    The guy was wildly popular and meant business – he probably was able to pull off restrictions which in other places could cause people to rebel….”

    #54606
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    As I wrote earlier, i watched Fauci argue with Robert Gallo one afternoon in Bethesda as to who deserved credit for discovering HTLV-3 as the causative agent for AIDS. They were both wrong and Luc Montagnier was correct with LAV which was renamed HIV. And Luc Montagnier has been expert in resident at a major Shanghai university in the past few years.
    The game is being rigged and the numbers do not justify the panic and propaganda, as Dr. D continues to intimate.

    #54607
    WES
    Participant

    Dave Note:. Thanks for that little bit of Polish history I didn’t know about!

    I been lucky to have had 2 Polish neighbors.

    One, we share a back fence. He was a boy during WW2. When Germany invaded Poland, one of the first things they did was go around and tag all livestock as property of the German Army. (Yeah, you never read about that in the history books!) The Polish had to look after the livestock or lose their lives. One animal they didn’t tag were rabbits! So he ate a lot of rabbits!

    My daughter has a pet drawf Dutch rabbit about 2 lbs. My neighbor told me rabbits can take the cold much better than the summer heat. Our rabbit lives outside all year round thanks to his advice. She always has a place to escape from the evening misquitoes.

    Another interesting thing about European rabbits is they love to dig tunnels in the ground, unlike north American rabbits that don’t dig tunnels! That is where she sleeps at night in a tunnel under the solarium!

    During the day she sits on a heating pad in the solarium in a spot where she can keep an eye on everything coming and going! Unlike most rabbits, she has a rather large cage, about 12 feet by 25 feet (by 8 feet high so we can walk in!) completely enclosed in wire mesh (plus the 8 x 12 glass solarium and underneath area) so the cats, raccoons, owls, hawks, foxes, etc. can’t get at her.

    During the day I let her run the whole backyard when I am outside watching/working! There is a special hole in the solarium floor so she can come and go as she pleases! Yes, one very spoiled rabbit! I serve her a fresh salad plate plus fruits every day. She eats a better balanced diet than the family does!

    Then in the summer we take her to the cottage which is 100% sand, again with her own 12 foot by 24 foot by 8 foot high cage plus rabbit house where she spends the whole summer digging new tunnels everywhere except to escape! She has actually dug holes to the outside world only to backfill them! We guess it is because she feels safe inside her cage and is a cautious rabbit. When people see her cages they always say that big a cage for such a tiny rabbit!

    My other Polish neighbor passed away about ten years ago. He was in the Polish army in WW2 but maybe I will write about him separately.

    #54608
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    This is my alt health guru’s take on corona virus. https://www.jonbarron.org/colds-flus-infectious-diseases/coronavirus/. A very good read imo.

    #54609
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Carol, thanks so much for that article; excellent read and very thorough…

    #54624
    Dr. D
    Participant

    It would make sense if it’s a (our) biovirus they know the nature of, that it probably can’t be controlled, but hardly kill more than influenza. That is actually the fact, unless somebody wants to show me 100,000 dead in Wuhan nobody’s admitting.

    The tests have issues since it was engineered cleverly, — you can go read the paper on the “chimera” virus with 3 parts from Wuhan labs — and with 3 shell expressions, it’s throwing nearly 50% false positives and 50% false negatives. So…why would you want a test like that? You can scare the people with it, but not much else.

    28 NIH beds is typical media lies. First, use your head: it’s impossible. Second, those beds are VERY special respirators, NOT cheap, boring ICU respirators. They on on par with dialysis for your lungs, removing your blood and breathing for you, and considering how extreme that level of support is, I’m surprised they have 28 of them. Third, it’s very hard for NIH to tell the media “how many”, because they always keep beds full, but shift both admission/discharge AND the type of wards they have to suit the need. That’s not infinite, of course, ICU is still a special thing, but they’re going to kick out the known hypochondriac with chest pains (again), that guy who keeps overdosing then walking out, and the homeless guy with exposure they took in for no real reason but sympathy. If you shove those out because beds are needed elsewhere, how many do you gain? No one knows. 10%? 30%? It depends on how far up the tree you go. Note the media doesn’t ask questions, sensationalizes, lies, causes panics, then never retracts, even when publicly exposed for it. If you haven’t noticed from 4 years of RussiaRussiaRussia.

    Otoh, in Korea, in the religious meeting, they had 50-50 for symptoms. When tested, 80% of the non-symptomatic had it. So if – let’s say everyone has it, but only a fraction has any health issues, then we can stop reading the “infected” number, which is alarming and start reading only the “death” or “ICU” rate, which is 3,000. …Unless you can find me those 100,000 denied dead somewhere. That 3,000 is higher than influenza, but 3,000 / 1.2B = 1 : 40,000. I think America an withstand that rate. That’s why they’re not testing, and calling it “the flu”. Because it is “the flu.” For us at least, still waiting on Wuhan and suspect it’s something more there. But they will make hay on more nonsense if they can, and call them stupid and heartless, and we call them hyperemotional and very, VERY bad at math.

    It’s their hyperemotional overreaction (and lies) and child-of-alcoholic constant belief in known liars that will stop the system and kill hundredfold more people than the disease, at least so far. They’ve finally found our Achilles’ heel. Our penchant for lying constantly, then whining and complaining, surrendering, cowering in fear like babies. It’s a can’t-lose.

    #54629
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    “…child-of-alcoholic constant belief in known liars that will stop the system and kill hundredfold more people than the disease.”
    Another exceptionally accurate and insightful observation from Dr. D, but it doesn’t end there. It being the damage done by a veritable army of credulous ‘children-of-alcoholics’. This legion crowds out the clear thinkers almost reflexively. In many cases this Army will subject these nonbelievers (and almost never the alcoholic) to the most horrific abuse and isolation usually accorded heretics in the old church. Eric Berne labels this position The Antithesis in his description of The Alcoholic Game.

    #54664
    annettekim
    Participant

    I FEEL LIKE CRYING RIGHT NOW AS I’M SHARING THIS GREAT TESTIMONY OF MINE!!!

    I’m Annette Kim Bailey from the United State, California. People of God i was recently laid off from a great job that was giving me food and shelter due to our bad economy, I registered on several job hunting sites and got busy finding another job. I came across several jobs but they didn’t …i then resolute on getting a loan online to pursue my long business dreams since i was having about $8,575usd left from my savings and the entire cost for my business to kick off was billed at $70,000.USD. I decided to go online in search of a private loan company where i can get a loan, i thought that going online would be better since most of them pose to grant loans at cheapest rate of 1% interest rate or less but i never realized that i was only digging my financial grave , low and behold i got brainwashed, deceived and even spell bound to sending all my left $8,250 to them for several fees hoping they are going to offer me the loan, but i never get anything good in return. It was so heavy for me to bear because my family could barely feed trice daily after that incidence as we all grew lean and sickly . but i didn’t give up at that moment as i knew that the worse thing that can happen to someone is to allow their dreams shattered due to a past failure’s, i told my lawyer about all that was happening to me and he advised me specifically, that there is a United States online based loan agency in the name of (STEVE SMITH LOAN COMPANY) as they are currently offering loans now without any fear or problems! simply because about 2 clients that he knows got their loan successfully from that Steve Smith Loan Company, as it is owned and managed by Steve Smith himself. He told me that this company is real and genuine after hearing all this i prayed to God for his leading and also followed my lawyer advice in which i did and i applied for a loan without wasting any time because I seriously need it, but God actually showed his face as this God sent online loan agency granted me this loan funds of $70,000 USD successfully within 48 hours of my application without any form of problem or game played. Im so happy right now and i never knew there are still genuine and God fearing lenders on the internet who are not after someone hard earn money, not until i found Steve Smith Loan Company where i finally got my loan from. God bless you and your entire company forever for the good work. If you are out there wondering on how and where you can get a loan from, you can urgently contact Steve Smith Loan company today for your loan too and I promise they we also help you with your loan same way they did for me, they are absolutely the best online private loan company I have ever met..here is the company email address that you will use in contacting them if you also need a loan (stevensmithloancompany007@gmail.com) I know they we also help you because they never fails..God bless You all for taking your good time reading my great testimony.

    #54666
    annettekim
    Participant

    If zero kids get it, why close the schools?

    1) children are getting the virus, it’s clearly not ‘zero’.
    2) even if covid19 is not a threat to children, closing schools will reduce transmission to elderly family members and those who are at risk.

    This is so sad!! My prayers goes out to those who are already affected by this terribly disease.

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