Mar 252020
 


Harris&Ewing Washington DC in April April 1924

 

Coronavirus Stimulus Package To Exceed $6 Trillion – Kudlow (NYP)
US Senate Leaders Reach Deal With White House On $2tn Coronavirus Package (G.)
Share Buybacks, $4.6 Trillion Driver of Stock Market Bubble, Are Toast (WS)
White House Tells New Yorkers Who Leave State To Self Quarantine (USAT)
LA To Shut Off Water, Power For Non-Essential Businesses That Stay Open (GP)
United States Could Become Coronavirus Epicenter – WHO (R.)
South Korea Says Trump Asked For Equipment To Fight Coronavirus (R.)
EU Left Italy Alone To Fight Coronavirus, Russia, China Didn’t – Ex-FM (RT)
EU Shrugs Off US Sanctions, Gives Millions In Coronavirus Aid To Iran (ZH)
EU Urged To Evacuate Asylum Seekers From Cramped Greek Camps (G.)
Czech Borders May Remain Closed For Two Years, Says Top Official (ExpCZ)
Turkey’s Coronavirus Situation Is Out Of Control – Health Experts (Ahval)
Bolsonaro Says He ‘Wouldn’t Feel Anything’ If Infected With COVID-19 (G.)
Australian Doctors Warned Off After Prescribing Hydroxychloroquine (G.)
Assange Lawyer Baltasar Garzon Hospitalized With Coronavirus (RT)
Pablo Escobar’s ‘Cocaine Hippos’: Invasive Species Restore A Lost World (G.)

 

 

Only yesterday, I quoted a tweet and said: “As for these numbers: It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases. 300,000 cases were reached sometime early March 22″.

It took two days to reach 400,000. Not even.

And Prince Charles has it.

 

 

Cases 434,568 (+ 42,621 from yesterday’s 391,947)

Deaths 19,062 (+ 2,464 from yesterday’s 17,138)

 

 

 

From Worldometer yesterday evening (before their day’s close)

 

 

From Worldometer -NOTE: mortality rate for closed cases is at 15% !! up 1% every day-

 

 

From SCMP:

 

 

From COVID2019Live.info:

 

 

From COVID2019.app:

 

 

 

 

“We’re heading for a rough period but it’s only going to weeks, we think. Weeks and months. It’s not going to be years, that’s for sure..”

Coronavirus Stimulus Package To Exceed $6 Trillion – Kudlow (NYP)

An emergency stimulus package to bailout the U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic will total $6 trillion — a quarter of the entire country’s GDP, the White House said Tuesday. Trump administration economist Larry Kudlow said the package would include $4 trillion in lending power for the Federal Reserve as well as a $2 trillion aid package currently being hammered out by Congress. “This package will be the single largest main street assistance program in the history of the United States,” Kudlow said at the White House coronavirus task force briefing on Tuesday evening.

Included in the package is Congress’ almost $2 trillion emergency bill which, when passed, will issue direct checks for American families, bailouts for the airline industry and a $350 billion loan program for struggling small businesses. The other $4 trillion will allow the Federal Reserve to make huge emergency bailouts to whatever entity it chooses — a measure that was used to prop-up Wall Street firms from collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. “This legislation is urgently needed to bolster the economy,” Kudlow added, warning the economy had tough times ahead. “We’re heading for a rough period but it’s only going to weeks, we think. Weeks and months. It’s not going to be years, that’s for sure,” he said, echoing comments from President Trump that the economy will bounce back to its pre-pandemic high.

Kudlow, a former Reagan administration adviser and media personality, said the huge bailout would “position us for what I think can be an economic rebound later this year.” A tidal wave of U.S. workers are facing unemployment in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak — with White House officials warning of a 20 percent unemployment rate.

Read more …

Forget about re-arranging deckchairs, these people are fighting while the Titanic sinks.

US Senate Leaders Reach Deal With White House On $2tn Coronavirus Package (G.)

US Senate leaders have reached a deal with the Trump administration on a nearly $2tn stimulus package to help rescue the American economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic as Donald Trump considers easing restrictions aimed at combating the contagion. After days of around-the-clock negotiations amongst senators and administration officials, a bipartisan compromise was struck over what is expected to be the largest US economic stimulus measure ever passed. “We have a deal,” said Eric Ueland, the White House legislative affairs director, just before 1am, adding that the text of the bill still needed to be completed.

“We have either, clear, explicit legislative text reflecting all parties or we know exactly where we’re going to land on legislative text as we continue to finish.” Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell confirmed a deal had been reached. The bill will then go to the House, and then to Donald Trump, who is expected to ratify it. Tempers flared on Monday on Capitol Hill as senators grappled with the need to pass the critical aid. Democrats twice blocked efforts to move forward with a vote on the legislation, arguing the proposal did not provide strong enough protections for workers, families and healthcare providers nor did it impose strict enough restrictions on businesses that receive federal bailout money.

Republicans, in turn, fumed that Democrats were playing politics in a time of crisis. Late into the night, Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and Ueland ironed out details with the Republican and Democratic Senate leaders. “This is not a juicy political opportunity,” McConnell, said in a remarks from the floor on Monday. “This is a national emergency.” The deal would provide direct payments of up to $1,200 to most adults and expand unemployment insurance. It also includes a $367bn program for small businesses, to allow them to pay employees who have to stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Waffle House Index is an informal measure of disaster severity, because all its restaurants stay open every hour of every day. After floods, tornados and hurricanes, Waffle Houses are quick to reopen, even with a limited menu.

Read more …

Why those bailouts must fail.

Share Buybacks, $4.6 Trillion Driver of Stock Market Bubble, Are Toast (WS)

Share buybacks by companies in the S&P 500 Index in the fourth quarter 2019, before the Coronavirus was even a factor, fell 18% from a year earlier, to $181.6 billion, after falling 13% and 14% year-over-year in the prior two quarters, from the blistering tax-cut records set in 2018, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices today. For the full year, buybacks fell 9.6% from the tax-cut record in 2018, to $729 billion in 2019, the second highest annual total ever. Since the beginning of 2012, these companies have bought back $4.6 trillion with a T of their own shares. To provide a comparison of how big this T-number really is: It blows past the magnitude of Germany’s annual GDP.

Share buybacks were considered illegal market manipulation until 1982, when the SEC issued Rule 10b-18 which provided corporations a “safe harbor” to buy back their own shares. The only thing that share buybacks are supposed to accomplish is to manipulate up share prices. The four biggest US banks were among the 10 biggest share buyback queens in terms of the amount of capital they wasted on share buybacks in Q4 2019. Combined they incinerated $95 billion in capital last year, and $275 billion over the past five years (if your smartphone clips the 6-column table, slide the table to the left):

But now, Financial Crisis 2 has kicked in, and the share buybacks of these four banks along with the share buybacks of other banks have dropped to zero, along with many other companies that are now facing a liquidity crisis. The banks could have used those funds to shore up their capital, which would have been useful now as the bubbles in corporate debt and commercial real estate, that the Fed was so worried about, are coming unglued. But aside from generating fees for Wall Street, share buybacks do zero for the economy. What would have happened in the US economy if that $4.6 trillion in capital that companies incinerated by buying back their own shares since 2012 would have been invested in equipment, structures, expansion projects, and people, or would have been used to reduce debt so that companies, such as Boeing and the airlines, wouldn’t be in such a precarious situation today?

That capital that was incinerated by companies buying back their own shares would come in handy for companies that are now begging for and getting mega-bailouts from taxpayers and to an even larger extent from the Federal Reserve. “COVID-19 has significantly changed the 2020 landscape, as dividends are under pressure and buybacks appear to be gasping for air,” said the report by S&P Dow Jones Indices, adding that “buybacks must now compete with other corporate priorities as uncertainty over liquidity is at its highest since the 2008 financial crisis.” For Q2 2020, buybacks are “expected to be dismal,” and for the rest of the year, “buybacks may see a complete reversal of the 2018 buyback bonanza.” And the report by S&P Dow Jones Indices adds, even after the bottom is perceived to be in, “buybacks may be slow to come back” as companies, struggling for cash, limit spending amid potential government restrictions on buybacks and their dismal public image.

Read more …

New York City: “..56% of all the coronavirus cases in the United States, as well as 60% of all new cases..”

White House Tells New Yorkers Who Leave State To Self Quarantine (USAT)

Travelers leaving the New York metro area should self-quarantine for 14 days to make sure they aren’t passing on the coronavirus, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force said Tuesday. In making the recommendation, task force coordinator Deborah Birx said that the quarantine should apply even to those who aren’t showing symptoms. She said many travelers are headed to locations outside New York City, from Long Island to North Carolina or other states. Brix said 56% of all the coronavirus cases in the United States, as well as 60% of all new cases, are coming from the New York metro area. Greater New York City also accounts for 31% of deaths in the country.


The recommendation follows an order that took effect Tuesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis requiring anyone flying to Florida from New York, New Jersey or Connecticut to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival. Alaska and Hawaii are also requiring anyone arriving from other states to self-quarantine. Already, New Yorkers have been ordered to stay in their homes and the city has virtually shut down in an effort to quell spread of the virus.

Read more …

“..Our city will rise again..”

LA To Shut Off Water, Power For Non-Essential Businesses That Stay Open (GP)

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced that the city will be shutting off water and power to any non-essential businesses that defied orders and stayed open during the coronavirus crisis. During his Tuesday press briefing Garcetti announced that the Department of Water and Power will be shutting off services for the businesses that don’t comply with the “safer at home” ordinance. “This behavior is irresponsible and selfish,” Garcetti said of businesses that remained open. KTLA reports that neighborhood prosecutors will implement safety measures and will contact the businesses before issuing further action, according to Garcetti.


“The easiest way to avoid a visit is to follow the rules,” he said. The mayor also noted that Los Angeles is “six to 12 days behind New York” for being hit with a wave of coronavirus cases. He said that he does not believe his city will be running as normal by Easter. “The peak is not here yet,” he said. “It will be bad.” The grimness of his press conference did not end there. He also warned residents to be “prepared for some of the darkness that is ahead.” “Each one of us can be a light. We can light a match of hope. We can navigate that tunnel with each other and not alone. And more importantly, what we do can ensure that more people exit that tunnel together… and that our city will rise again,” he added.

Read more …

Could become? It already is.

United States Could Become Coronavirus Epicenter – WHO (R.)

The United States has the potential to become the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic due to a “very large acceleration” in infections there, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. The highly contagious respiratory virus has infected more than 42,000 people in the United States, prompting more governors to join states ordering Americans to stay at home. Over the past 24 hours, 85 percent of new cases worldwide were from Europe and the United States, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters. Of those, 40 percent were from the United States. Asked whether the United States could become the new epicenter, she said: “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the U.S. So it does have that potential. We cannot say that is the case yet but it does have that potential.”


“…They (the United States) have a very large outbreak and an outbreak that is increasing in intensity,” Harris added. However, she identified some positive signs such as more comprehensive testing, and further efforts to isolate the sick and trace their immediate contacts exposed to the virus. She also referred to “extremely heartwarming” stories of how Americans were helping each other during the crisis. [..] Harris said that new records were to be expected each day until new confinement measures begin to take effect. Up until now, Europe has been the center of transmission with Italy the most badly-hit country with the world’s highest number of deaths, although fatalities have begun slowing there. Asked about a potential tipping point in Italy, she said: “There is a glimmer of hope there. We’ve seen in the last two days fewer new cases and deaths in Italy but it’s very, very early days yet.”

Read more …

Every government asks every other government for help.

South Korea Says Trump Asked For Equipment To Fight Coronavirus (R.)

President Donald Trump asked South Korea to send medical equipment to the United States to fight the coronavirus, promising to help Korean companies gain U.S. government approval, South Korea’s presidential office said. South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in offered to send the equipment if his country has any spare, his Blue House office said in a statement late on Tuesday, after the 23 minute phone call, which it said was arranged at Trump’s urgent request. The request for help highlights the diverging paths the two countries took since both discovered their first coronavirus cases on the same day.


South Korea rolled out widespread testing within days, swiftly launching an aggressive program to isolate confirmed cases and trace their contacts. After a big early outbreak, it won praise for slowing the spread of the disease with comparatively little disruption and just 125 deaths, and has brought the number of new infections per day to below 100 for the past 13 straight days. The United States did little testing initially, and has now been shutting parts of the country en masse, with fast-growing outbreaks in a number of states and thousands of new cases per day. Moon told Trump that South Korea “will provide as much support as possible, if there is spare medical equipment in Korea”.

Read more …

The EU fails even where you think it wouldn’t be possible.

EU Left Italy Alone To Fight Coronavirus, Russia, China Didn’t – Ex-FM (RT)

The EU’s initial response to the massive outbreak of coronavirus in Italy was largely “inadequate,” and a lack of European solidarity opened the doors for Russia and China, former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told RT. The new epicenter of the dreaded pandemic, Italy, has been struggling to stop the spread of Covid-19 for weeks now. The disease has already killed more than six thousand people in the country, with over 60 thousand people infected. The EU clearly underestimated the virus, blaming the outbreak in Italy on its national healthcare system flaws, according to the two-time foreign minister and OSCE representative. As a result, Brussels, which preaches pan-European solidarity, failed to act when this solidarity was needed in the face of a crisis that eventually affected the entire bloc.

Frankly speaking, Brussels is not doing enough. At the very first moment, Italy was practically alone against the virus. Many said it was all because of the Italian habits, because Italians do not respect the rules. Suddenly, they realized all the other countries were equally affected. The situation in other major EU states like Germany and France deteriorated rapidly, forcing them to deal with thousands of infected on their own soil. “Everyone just focused on the situation at home before even thinking about helping others,” Andrea Giannotti, the executive director of the Italian Institute of Eurasian Studies, told RT. The lack of solidarity was recently noted from outside of the bloc – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic decried European solidarity as a myth, while praising Beijing for its assistance. His remarks came after Serbia received five million masks from China, which it could not get in Europe.

The EU is now trying “to do more” and somehow “make up” for its initial poor execution of a coordinated response, former Italian MP Dario Rivolta said.

Read more …

Proper thing to do, but what about the refugees in Greece?

EU Shrugs Off US Sanctions, Gives Millions In Coronavirus Aid To Iran (ZH)

The White House has not backed off it’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Iran even as the Islamic Republic’s Covid-19 cases and deaths continue to soar, approaching 25,000 confirmed cases Tuesday. Despite even close US ally Britain quietly signalling it’s had enough of Washington’s ill-timed pressures, Secretary of State Pompeo has upped the ante further, on Monday accusing the Iranian regime of everything from hoarding masks and equipment to intentionally spreading the deadly disease to at least five countries. But it appears Europe has finally begun to shirk US demands. On Monday EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell announced 20 million euros in new aid to Iran, and more crucially said the body will support Tehran’s request for IMF assistance.

“We’ve not been able to provide a lot of humanitarian help but there is some 20 million euros in the pipeline … that we expect to be delivered over the next weeks,” Borrell said in a video news conference Monday. “We also agree in supporting the request by Iran and also by Venezuela to the International Monetary Fund to have financial support,” he said further but without disclosing details. European officials consider the situation as urgent and see the US pressure campaign as greatly exacerbating the death toll given Iran lacks much of the basic medicines and equipment to treat at-risk patients and mitigate the outbreak. Recently Iranian health officials said shockingly that one person is dying from the virus every 10 minutes.

The pressure for some kind of dramatic blanket easing of US sanctions is only set to grow, given that last week Iran’s leaders for the first time in a half-century turned to the IMF. Bloomberg reported of the urgent IMF appeal: “Iranians say that their economy is weak and unable to cope with the humanitarian toll because of the U.S. sanctions. Last week, Iran turned to the International Monetary Fund for the first time since the 1960s for aid, though Ali Vaez, the Crisis Group’s Iran project director, said the U.S. may try to block the IMF loan in order to keep up the pressure on the regime.”

Read more …

They don’t care. They haven’t in 5 years.

EU Urged To Evacuate Asylum Seekers From Cramped Greek Camps (G.)

The European Union has been urged to evacuate asylum seekers from overcrowded camps on the Greek islands in order to save lives. The European parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee has called for the evacuation of 42,000 people on the Greek islands as “an urgent preventive” measure to avoid “many deaths” from coronavirus. Holding facilities on all five Aegean isles opposite the Turkish coast are currently six times over capacity. The first case of Covid-19 on the islands was confirmed earlier this month when a Greek woman on Lesbos, the island long on the frontline of the refugee crisis, tested positive. A Greek man, recently returned from Thailand, was diagnosed with the virus on Monday, reinforcing fears of an outbreak in camps seen as especially high-risk environments .

MEPs fear that if the virus spreads it could become a public health emergency in the squalid camps, where thousands live in unsanitary conditions, often without electricity, heating or running water. “Many of those in the camps are already in precarious health situations due to the bad conditions in which they have lived for a long time,” states the letter from Juan Fernando López Aguilar, a Spanish socialist MEP, who chairs the committee. “There is no chance of isolation or social distancing, nor is it possible to ensure appropriate hygienic conditions,” he wrote. The letter adds that only six intensive care beds are available on Lesbos for residents and asylum seekers. The notorious Moria camp on Lesbos houses nearly 20,000 people in a space designed for 2,200.

[..] The MEPs want people over 60 with existing health conditions evacuated first, but do not spell out whether they should go to other EU member states or the Greek mainland. The European commission said it was working with Greece on an emergency response plan to deal with a potential outbreak of coronavirus on the islands. A commission spokesperson said Greek authorities were taking action to prevent the spread of the disease, with compulsory temperature testing of new arrivals to the camps, suspension of visits, regular cleaning of communal areas, and the setting up of quarantine and recovery areas. The spokesperson also referred to an ongoing push to encourage EU member states to give a home to unaccompanied children on the Greek islands. Seven countries pledged earlier this month to take in 1,600 children from the islands.

Read more …

“There is no time for pessimistic scenarios now..”?! Pray tell, when is that time?

Czech Borders May Remain Closed For Two Years, Says Top Official (ExpCZ)

Czech Crisis Staff head Roman Prymula told Czech Television today that border restrictions in the Czech Republic over the coronavirus situation may last up to two years, and largely depend on the management of the epidemic in other countries in Europe and across the globe, reports the Czech News Agency and Novinky.cz. While the situation in the Czech Republic is thought to improve from mid-April, estimates aren’t as optimistic for other countries in Europe. “The situation in other European countries will not be good,” Prymula told Czech Television. “There it will take months and long months.” According to Prymula, international travel will most likely be limited for the next year or two, and Czech residents should count on taking their summer holidays within the Czech Republic this year.

Prymula’s statements were supported by Czech Minister of Health Adam Vojtech. “The point is to avoid having a second or third wave of the epidemic, so that people from other countries such as Italy, France, Spain, Germany, do not begin to flow [into the Czech Republic],” he told Czech Television. “I do not want to provide false optimism, but I hope that it will be possible to keep the number to 10,000 [infected with coronavirus],” Prymula added. “We are able to operate effectively with up to 15,000 [cases].” [..] He further stated that if the number of infections does not exceed 8,500 by the end of March, it would be possible to ease the current restrictions on movement within the country during the following 10 days. This could theoretically take place place by the Easter holiday (April 12-13).

Prymula’s statement was “shocking”, said TOP 09 chairman Miroslav Kalousek. The statement has presented the urgent question of whether it was right that the emergency staff is headed by a person without political responsibility, Kalousek said. What was said is quite quite unfortunate, TOP 09 leader Marketa Adamova Pekarova said. There is no time for pessimistic scenarios now, she added.

Read more …

Turkey reported its first case only on March 11. It kept its soccer league going for much longer than others.

Turkey’s Coronavirus Situation Is Out Of Control – Health Experts (Ahval)

Health experts have warned that Turkey’s coronavirus situation is out of control and that deaths from the disease could soon be on a par with Italy or Spain, reported the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network on Tuesday. “The recent data on cases and death tolls shows that the situation is out of control in Turkey. If the necessary measures are not taken, Turkey will be like Italy or Spain, where the daily death toll is in the hundreds,” Emrah Altındis, a Turkish professor from Harvard University’s Medical Faculty, told BIRN. Turkey only reported its first coronavirus patient on March 11, but cases and deaths have rapidly risen since then.


The Turkish health minister confirmed on Tuesday seven more deaths due to the coronavirus and announced 343 new cases, raising the total number of cases in the country to 1,872. Turkey has halted incoming flights from dozens of countries and closed a wide range of non-essential businesses and venues, and announced a curfew on elderly and vulnerable citizens over the weekend, though it has refrained from enforcing a full lockdown. However, some medical experts have said that the measures are insufficient.

Read more …

“The first political suicide broadcast live on national radio and television..”

Bolsonaro Says He ‘Wouldn’t Feel Anything’ If Infected With COVID-19 (G.)

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has claimed he “wouldn’t feel anything” if infected with coronavirus and rubbished efforts to contain the illness with large-scale quarantines as his country’s two biggest cities went into shutdown in a desperate bid to save lives. In a televised address to the nation on Tuesday night, Bolsonaro slammed what he branded the economically damaging “scorched earth” tactics being used to slow the advance of an illness that has now claimed about 15,000 lives around the world. “The virus has arrived and we are fighting it and soon it will pass,” claimed Bolsonaro, who is facing a growing backlash in Brazil for repeatedly dismissing coronavirus as a media “fantasy” and “trick”.

Bolsonaro’s incendiary remarks came as both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo were placed under partial lockdown by municipal and state authorities who fear an explosion of cases in the coming days. João Doria, the governor of São Paulo, Brazil’s most economically important and populous state, has declared a 15-day quarantine period affecting about 46 million of Brazil’s 210 million citizens. Meanwhile Rio’s mayor, Marcello Crivella, has ordered an indefinite shutdown of that city’s commerce and schools with Rio’s state governor, Wilson Witzel, also introducing drastic measures to counter coronavirus.

But in his five-minute address – which sparked loud protests in both Rio and São Paulo – Bolsonaro railed against such steps and attacked the media for spreading a “feeling of dread” among the population by reporting on the death toll in Italy. “Our lives have to go on. Jobs must be kept … we must, yes, get back to normal,” Bolsonaro said as his government’s health officials announced that the number of deaths in Brazil had risen to 46 with more than 2,200 cases. “A small number of state and municipal authorities must abandon their scorched-earth ideas: the banning of public transport, the closing of commerce and mass confinement,” Bolsonaro said. “What is happening around the world has shown that the at-risk group are those over 60 years old. So why close schools? … Ninety per cent of us will show no sign [of infection] if we are infected.”

[..] “The first political suicide broadcast live on national radio and television,” tweeted Ricardo Noblat, a prominent Brazilian journalist. Brian Winter, the editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, tweeted: “Pray for Brazil.”

Read more …

But there are a lot of positive reports too.

Australian Doctors Warned Off After Prescribing Hydroxychloroquine (G.)

Australia’s drugs regulator has been forced to restrict powers to prescribe a drug undergoing clinical trials to treat Covid-19, because doctors have been inappropriately prescribing it to themselves and their family members despite its potentially deadly side-effects. The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine and the similar compound chloroquine are currently used mostly for patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, but stocks in Australia have been diminished thanks to global publicity – including from Donald Trump – about the potential of the drug to treat Covid-19.


Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have potentially severe and even deadly side effects if used inappropriately, including heart failure and toxicity. Some Australian media outlets have wrongly reported the drug as a “cure” for the virus even though trials have been either inconclusive or too small to be useful, have only been conducted in test tubes, are not yet complete, or have not even received ethics approval. Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration said it was concerned about shortages of the drug for people who need it following increased off-label prescribing as a result of the Covid-19 reports. As well as heart attacks the drug can lead to irreversible eye damage and severe depletion of blood sugar potentially leading to coma, the TGA warned.

Read more …

I think today’s the day for the request to free Assange.

Assange Lawyer Baltasar Garzon Hospitalized With Coronavirus (RT)

Famous Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzon has been admitted to a hospital in Madrid after testing positive for Covid-19. He has provided legal counsel to WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, among other things. Garzon, 64, was admitted to the Ruber clinic in Madrid on Tuesday, after five days of high fever at home. He tested positive for the coronavirus and was given the prognosis of respiratory failure, Spanish media reported. The former judge of the National Court had self-isolated at his home after complaining about a fever and chest pains, before the symptoms worsened.


Garzon became famous as a judge who cracked down on the Basque separatist organization ETA, and pursued human rights abuse charges against Spain’s Franco government, the Pinochet junta in Chile, and the Argentine military dictatorship. He has provided legal counsel to Assange since 2012, finding himself under considerable pressure at times – such as when masked raiders broke into his office in 2017. The second hardest-hit country in Europe by the Covid-19 outbreak, Spain is struggling with almost 40,000 reported cases, of which 2,700 have been fatal so far.

Read more …

Your good news for today.

Pablo Escobar’s ‘Cocaine Hippos’: Invasive Species Restore A Lost World (G.)

When the drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot dead in 1993, he left behind a zoo stocked with wild animals alongside his multibillion dollar cocaine empire. The lions, giraffes and other exotic species were moved from the luxurious Hacienda Nápoles estate east of Medellín to new homes, but nearly three decades later, dozens of hippos, descendants of animals left behind, are thriving in small lakes in northern Colombia, making them the world’s largest invasive animal. Now scientists say that contrary to the conventional wisdom that large invasive herbivore mammals have strictly negative effects on their new environments, Escobar’s “cocaine” hippos show how introduced species can restore a lost world.

A team of conservation biologists has compared the traits and impacts on the ecosystems from large invasive herbivore species like the Colombian hippo with their extinct counterparts from the Late Pleistocene (around 116,000-12,000 years ago) period like mammoths, giants sloths and giant wombats. They found some modern day invasive species restore parts of ecosystems not seen since before humans began driving the widespread extinctions of megafauna. Their new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that some introduced herbivore species are an almost perfect ecological match for extinct species from the Late Pleistocene, such as modern day wild horses known as mustangs and the extinct pre-domestic horses in North America, while others bring back a mixture of traits.

“The feral hippos in South America are similar in diet and body size to extinct giant llamas, while a bizarre type of extinct mammal – a notoungulata – shares with hippos large size and semiaquatic habitats,” explained study co-author John Rowan, Darwin fellow in organismic and evolutionary biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “So, while hippos don’t perfectly replace any one extinct species, they restore parts of important ecologies across several species.”


Toxodon-Notoungulata

By comparing ecological traits of herbivore species from before the Late Pleistocene extinctions to the present day, such as body size, diet and habitat, researchers were able to quantify the extent to which introduced species were more or less similar to extinct predecessors. The analysis found that by introducing large herbivore species across the world, humans had restored lost ecological traits to many ecosystems, thereby counteracting a legacy of extinctions and making the world more like the pre-extinction late Pleistocene.

Read more …

 

Someone asked if this was performance art, fair enough. I was wondering what would happen if Trump did this.

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 25 2020

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 49 total)
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  • #55974

    Harris&Ewing Washington DC in April April 1924   • Coronavirus Stimulus Package To Exceed $6 Trillion – Kudlow (NYP) • US Senate Leaders Reac
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 25 2020]

    #55975
    Polder Dweller
    Participant

    You’ll like this.

    I just flew home to Holland from South America. Back home I quickly developed cold/flu-like symptoms but with no fever. I phoned the doctor to find out if I should be tested for Covid19 and was told that they’re not testing any more, that I should stay at home and only seek help if I should develop a high fever and/or breathing difficulties.

    So I asked how the RIVM (Dutch institute for national health and the environment) could possibly keep track of the spread of the disease if they’re not testing suspected cases, but the poor receptionist could only shrug her shoulders, “I don’t know,” she said.

    #55976
    oxymoron
    Participant

    When asked to go ahead Joe Biden says “probably best I don’t” OMG I pissed myself laughing. Great treat thanks Raul.

    #55977
    oxymoron
    Participant

    This article with lockdown percentage modelling is worth a squizz

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/coronavirus-covid-19-modelling-stay-home-chart/12084144

    #55978
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Harris&Ewing Washington DC in April April 1924

    Very nice photo; brrrrrr, baby it’s cold outside…

    #55979
    zerosum
    Participant

    • Coronavirus Stimulus Package To Exceed $6 Trillion – Kudlow (NYP)

    a quarter of the entire country’s GDP,

    with White House officials warning of a 20 percent unemployment rate.
    —–

    Peter Schiff
    @PeterSchiff
    Fox News is reporting that the price tag for the $6 trillion stimulus/bailout package may already be up to $10 trillion. At this point it really doesn’t matter how much money the Fed prints to fund this nonsense as soon the money will be practically worthless anyway.

    A smart man like that, and he cannot see that its a JUBILEE for the connected elites.
    If he sees a tomorrow then he is no better than all the other lying elites.
    There will be a tomorrow.
    It will not be the same as yesterday.
    —–
    • EU Left Italy Alone To Fight Coronavirus, Russia, China Didn’t – Ex-FM (RT)
    One good deed deserves another.
    Pass it on.
    People everywhere have memories of past wrong doing.
    There will be tit-for-tat, even for perceived wrong doing.
    (Ask yourself why Trump is now, trying to be nice to China)
    —–
    • EU Shrugs Off US Sanctions, Gives Millions In Coronavirus Aid To Iran (ZH)

    The USA bombs are still falling. The insults, by Pompey are still flying.
    —-
    • EU Urged To Evacuate Asylum Seekers From Cramped Greek Camps (G.)
    The first case of Covid-19 on the islands was confirmed earlier this month
    cough, cough,
    —–
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/trudeau-wins-opposition-backing-for-57-billion-canada-package
    Trudeau Wins Opposition Backing for $57 Billion Virus Aid Package
    By Kait Bolongaro
    March 25, 2020, 4:16 AM PDT
    ——
    B.C. announces $5B coronavirus aid package for individuals, businesses
    B.C. announces $5B coronavirus aid package for individuals, businesses

    BY RICHARD ZUSSMAN GLOBAL NEWS
    —–
    Every provincial gov. is doing their part in MMT printing.

    JUBILEE AS FAR AS YOU CAN SEE BY EVERY GOV. PRINTING PRESS.

    #55980
    zerosum
    Participant

    You can only die once
    I am not able to tell if the following is true or false.

    A Swiss Doctor on Covid-19
    A Swiss Doctor on Covid-19
    Published: March 14, 2020; Updated: March 25, 2020

    According to the latest data of the Italian National Health Institute ISS, the average age of the positively-tested deceased in Italy is currently about 81 years. 10% of the deceased are over 90 years old. 90% of the deceased are over 70 years old.

    80% of the deceased had suffered from two or more chronic diseases. 50% of the deceased had suffered from three or more chronic diseases. The chronic diseases include in particular cardiovascular problems, diabetes, respiratory problems and cancer.

    Less than 1% of the deceased were healthy persons, i.e. persons without pre-existing chronic diseases. Only about 30% of the deceased are women.

    #55982
    maryballon
    Participant

    Thank you for all your work Raul. Willis Eschenbach has looked at the contagion on the Diamond Princess https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/16/diamond-princess-mysteries/
    and the situation in Italy https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/24/the-italian-connection/
    To quote him:
    First, it lets us know what we need to do to prevent the Italian outcome. We have to, must, keep the virus out the medical system.
    Second, it cautions us to not claim that everyone who tests positively for COVID-19 after death actually died FROM the disease. They may very well have died WITH the disease.
    Finally, the other reason it’s encouraging that Italy’s infection is likely nosocomial is that it removes Italy as the mysterious bogeyman of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, it points to just what we have to do.

    #55983
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    Why is the Red Cross emailing me for financial contributions when a guy just up the street from HQ has a checking account with a $6T balance and a directive to spend it?

    #55984

    mary,

    Italy as the origin was always just nonsense, apparently propagated by certain voices in China. Makes no sense in any which way, not even worth talking about.

    What I do find interesting is the stories from soccer (football). On February 19, there was a European game between Atalanta Bergamo and Valencia that was played in Milan, 70 km from Bergamo. 40,000 Bergamese(?) traveled by car, bus, train to that game, hugged each other, drank lots of beers in bars etc. Today Bergamo is the epicenter of Italy’s tragedy.

    And I looked this up this morning, and could barely believe the date: There was a Spanish league game in Madrid between Real Madrid and Barcelona, 76,000 spectators, as late as March 1 (!!!). Madrid is the present center of the Spanish outbreak.

    #55985

    Why is the Red Cross emailing me for financial contributions when a guy just up the street from HQ has a checking account with a $6T balance and a directive to spend it?

    ‘Cause they know you’re a schmuck?

    #55986
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Coronavirus Stimulus Package to Exceed $6 Trillion – Kudlow (NYP)”

    Yes, because he keeps telling you there’s a cure, and you say he’s stupid. The cure keeps curing, and the media says it’s wrong. This just needs to run long enough to get the stimulus to win the election, and long enough to collapse the banks, the Fed, and reset the monetary system.
    If you’re reading about the cure, same as I am, why isn’t there a cure? It doesn’t exist until all known liars, CNN, Maddow, Brian Williams, reports it from the moon? This is identical to the “14 day” quarantine when it’s been 40 since Jan 1. Nevermind WHO, CNN, just keep not reading, keep reporting known-false facts.

    Share Buybacks, $4.6 Trillion Driver of Stock Market Bubble, Are Toast (WS)

    Glad to hear it but it hardly matters. The entire system, the US$ are all being re-created.

    New York City: “..56% of all the coronavirus cases in the United States, as well as 60% of all new cases..”

    Couldn’t happen to a nicer set of guys. They get it from being the most anti-environmental on the planet, the furthest from nature, the richest livers, and with the most money and therefore most air travel. Ah Babylon, Babylon, falling in a day. Meanwhile, Pa Kettle in Dry Husk, Kansas doesn’t seem to get it because he lost the car when NAFTA was passed. So cry me a river.

    “White House Tells New Yorkers Who Leave State to Self Quarantine (USAT)”

    I’m sorry: if they were “self-quarantining” why would they be leaving the state? They wouldn’t be leaving their house. But more on fake quarantine theater. Matches our fake security theater.

    United States Could Become Coronavirus Epicenter – WHO (R.)”

    Today’s episode of “Bad at Statistics”. The U.S. is a larger nation, and therefore has more people than France, Italy, etc. That literally means we must mathematically have more cases, pending its extinction. China is lying and everyone from the President to the Janitor is playing along like bobbleheads, but I’m quite sure with 21 Million missing cell phone accounts they’re probably ahead of us by a few. Anyway, “Breaking Story: Larger nations have more people than smaller nations! News at 11.” Ah, but the feels, the feels! Ignore math: run around!

    [Korea] comparatively little disruption and just 125 deaths,”

    Funny ol’ world. Not in Japan, Korea, Austria, Thailand, Russia, Africa… Just in THESE nations. Your story has no science in it, so you want to try another explanation?

    EU Shrugs Off US Sanctions, Gives Millions in Coronavirus Aid to Iran (ZH)”

    They sure did. But not to Greece or Italy. Remember this one from 2018?

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Threatens to Expose Western Diplomats Who Took Bribes to Create the Iran Nuclear Deal

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Threatens to Expose Western Diplomats Who Took Bribes to Create the Iran Nuclear Deal

    Gotta have priorities!

    “EU Urged to Evacuate Asylum Seekers from Cramped Greek Camps (G.)”

    Great! To where? London? 737s to New York?

    Czech Borders May Remain Closed for Two Years, Says Top Official (ExpCZ)”

    They’re not closed now, to say nothing of two years from now. Except for all the exceptions of all the thousands of critical things, all the shipping, all my pals, and shopping trips to Paris, they’re totally closed. Bet.

    “Bolsonaro Says He ‘Wouldn’t Feel Anything’ If Infected with COVID-19 (G.)”

    Most people who have it don’t feel anything either, and I’m pretty sure he can get better than chloroquine. Head of State: Think he might know something we don’t? Nope! We’re way smarter and better informed, and he’s a fool. We watch CNN! Haven’t been wrong yet! Just ask them!

    Australian Doctors Warned Off After Prescribing Hydroxychloroquine (G.)”

    Press going at it, trying to prevent a cure and keep expensive pharma sales high and maximum people killed. People: it’s a PRESCRIPTION. That means it is by nature and by law, a CONTROLLED substance that is only to be used UNDER ADVISEMENT and overseen ONLY by a Doctor’s license. Not to be popped into a tequila chaser by the handful. LIKE. EVERY. OTHER. DRUG. ON. EARTH. So…thanks to irresponsible doctors, etc, people with Lupus are running short too. And I won’t even get into the fish food story whose only similarity was the word “Quine” …They should have tried “quinine” tonic water instead, it’s safer and more effective than the “quine” they used.

    Anyway, all theater, none of it matters, 1971 + 49 = 2020. As long-known.

    #55987
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    Thanks Raul, first belly laugh of the day! (Film at 11:00!)

    The big yellow school buses in Appalachia seem to be a “constant” for kids. At the schools nurses are doing their best to check for symptoms of volunteers (yes, I understand there are asymptomatic folks).
    Food is carefully packed, and then loaded on the buses. Regular routes run are run all over the valley, and a teacher or counselor hands out meals to hungry kids standing in the gravel. One bit of regularity in an irregular time.

    I can’t help but think of Mnuchin and Kudlow and all the others looking for all those magic threads laying about, scraps and leftovers from the emperor’s tailors back in 2008… Thankfully they spun extra thread 12 years ago…

    #55988

    polder dweller,

    I don’t think there’s any doubt that not testing is a tactic used all over. Mostly perhaps because they can’t get the kits, which is their own failure from the past 2+ months, but also because it’s much more convenient. No testing, no cases. I’m sure for instance that the Scandinavian countries lowered their testing rates by a lot the past 2 weeks. Because their cases have fallen by a lot.

    I’m watching Andrew Cuomo talking about why NY has such a high number of cases. International hub, people live close together, New Yorkers have so much humanity yada yada. But in the end, it’s dead simple: NY is testing, and the rest are not. If anyone sees -honest- testing rates from anywhere, I’m game.

    #55989
    John Day
    Participant

    Happy to get back to this crowd after a busy work day yesterday, and soon to bike in for more COVID testing duty today…
    http://www.johndayblog.com/2020/03/forced-contract.html

    The social contract in the US was worked out during Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, spanning the Great Depression and WW-2.
    This social contract has been amended and corrupted many times, but generally assumes protections of freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and a social safety net of some sort, so children don’t starve and die in the world’s richest country.
    Roosevelt had enemies in the elites of his epoch, and there was a failed coup. He may have been poisoned.
    Power elites do not willingly share. The role of power elites is to profit from the herd and cull the herd when it gets so big that it exhausts the resources upon which it relies for sustenance.
    We are now in the reset of the economy, and necessarily, the reset of the social contract in the US. I don’t directly address other nations. Russia has a healthy social contract. China has a social contract which probably needs more work, but it is functional. India will have a hard time really creating a new social contract, as it has since the Brits left it internally divided.
    The risks and benefits to the world from a renegotiated American social contract are great. Everybody’s watching.
    It’s not all decided within the US at this point. Global wealth and powerful transnationals have a lot of say, and they speak powerfully, yet in hidden riddles, which the herd is not allowed to know.
    We Americans still have The Patriot Act, which has eroded our constitutional rights. It did not time-out as promised.
    The power to indefinitely detain without trial is now being requested by the “justice” department.
    Freedom of speech is conditioned upon political correctness, which is defined by Zuckerberg’s Facebook.
    This morning in Austin, one must be prepared to show a letter to a police officer, stating the social criticality of one’s travel to home and work. I did not print mine, but I have “good facts” to support me on my bike ride.
    Freedom of association is now “virtual”, and subject to Zuckerberg, NSA, CIA, etc.
    The new social contract is being imposed by power and financial elites through enforcement of public health measures, which have been amazingly effective in Austin on a voluntary basis, through the shared efforts of a community which has not been noticeably touched yet by the contagion. I support the voluntary public health measures, and have been very proud of Austin.
    This is a grab to lock in absolute power by the overlords, who see that this is finally the big reset.
    I’m a member of the herd. I see what this is. I don’t have sharp teeth, but I have my horns and my good health.

    Thanks to Anthony for the story that contained this link:
    WUHAN’S OUTBREAK: CHINA DEMANDS AN HONEST ACCOUNTING
    The following content is circulating in Chinese cyberspace.
    Looks like China is finally in counterattack mode against relentless US efforts to blame it for the global COVID epidemic.
    Key points:
    • It is now virtually certain that COVID-19 was brought to Wuhan by American troops taking part in the city’s World Military Games last Oct. 18-27.
    • The 300-st​r​ong US contingent stayed at the Wuhan Oriental Hotel. It is located a mere 300 meters from the Huanan Seafood Market, where China’s outbreak began (see map below).
    • Five of the US troopers developed a fever on Oct. 25 and were taken to an infectious-diseases hospital for treatment.
    • 42 employees of the Oriental Hotel were diagnosed with COVID-19, becoming the first cluster in Wuhan. At the time only 7 people from the market were thus diagnosed, though they were treated first. All 7 had contact with the 42 from the hotel. From this source, the virus spread to the rest of China.
    • Back in the US, the American team had trained at a location near Fort Detrick, the military’s viral lab closed down in July for various deficiencies.
    The big question now is whether the transmission was planned, or accidental. Chinese authorities are awaiting an explanation from US authorities.
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/947867908642430/permalink/2855048134591055/

    ​Eric sent these stories about the US bioweapons facility at Ft, Detrick being closed for “breaches” in July, and opened back up for business in November.​
    8/2/19: “We are coordinating closely with the CDC to ensure that critical, ongoing studies within bio-containment laboratories are completed under appropriate oversight and that research animals will continue to be cared for in accordance with all regulations,” she said in an email. “Although much of USAMRIID’s research is currently on hold, the Institute will continue its critical clinical diagnostic mission and will still be able to provide medical and subject matter expertise as needed to support the response to an infectious disease threat or other contingency.”
    https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/health/fort-detrick-lab-shut-down-after-failed-safety-inspection-all/article_767f3459-59c2-510f-9067-bb215db4396d.html
    11/24/19:​ ​The Army’s premier biological laboratory on Fort Detrick reported two breaches of containment earlier this year, leading to the Centers for Disease and Control halting its high-level research.
    ​ ​The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases announced Friday that it would restart its operations on a limited scale.
    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/11/24/cdc-inspection-findings-reveal-more-about-fort-detrick-research-suspension.html

    #55990

    Well well…

    UK coronavirus mass home testing to be made available ‘within days’

    Thousands of 15-minute home tests for coronavirus will be delivered by Amazon to people self-isolating with symptoms or will go on sale on the high street within days, according to Public Health England (PHE), in a move that could restore many people’s lives to a semblance of pre-lockdown normality.

    [..] The UK government has bought 3.5m tests, which the health secretary, Matt Hancock, mentioned on Tuesday with no suggestion that they would be available to the public so quickly, and is ordering millions more. Asked if they would be available in days rather than weeks or months, Peacock said: “Yes, absolutely.” If there was a charge for them, she thought it would be minimal, she said.

    Widespread availability of a fingerprick test that produces results in 10 to 15 minutes is a game-changer. NHS doctors and nurses with symptoms will know immediately whether they have – or have recovered from – Covid-19, enabling them to get back to work sooner.

    The UK is not the only country ordering in the antibody tests. “Tests are being ordered across Europe and elsewhere and purchased in south-east Asia. This is widespread practice. We are not alone in doing this,” said Peacock.

    What are the odds that Ye Olde Chuckie was tested this way?

    #55991

    John, what’s the story on the chloroquine (phosphate)? Safe?

    #55992

    Dr. D:
    49=7×7? As in Lagarde’s 15 Jan 2014 “Sevens” speech?

    #55993
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Update on the Boeing soap opera:

    Boeing has options to federal bailout, CEO says
    By the Leeham News Staff, March 25, 2020

    https://leehamnews.com/2020/03/25/hotr-boeing-has-options-to-federal-bailout-ce

    First, Boeing CEO David Calhoun said he wasn’t an insider (after 10 years on the Board of Directors, and as lead director for many of them). No, he merely had a front row seat in the movie theatre. Then he trashed his predecessor, Dennis Muilenburg, for stock buyback and dividend policies (that the Board approved).

    Next, Boeing said it needs a portion of the $60bn in federal aid it requested for the aerospace industry.

    Now, Calhoun appears to have put his foot in his mouth again. Or did he? When asked about the possibility of the government taking an equity position in Boeing as a condition to a bailout, Calhoun said Boeing has options to federal money.

    The Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday, “I don’t have a need for an equity stake,” Boeing CEO Calhoun said Tuesday on Fox Business Network. “If they forced it, we’d just look at all the other options, and we have got plenty.”

    There’s a very practical reason for Boeing to object to government taking an equity stake. It would effectively shut down bidding on some key defense contracts.

    But wait a minute: if you’ve got all these other options, why ask for a federal bailout for Boeing?

    #55994
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    “But as the Europeans dawdle over their aid package, Italy is finally seeing some signs that the strict national lockdown, an unprecedented and unparalleled step among western nations, might actually be working…”

    Italy is lying just like China. Wait ’til the real numbers come out.

    #55995

    “District judge Vanessa Baraitser refused the bail application, telling the court: “As matters stand today, this global pandemic does not of itself yet provide grounds for Mr Assange’s release.”

    Not yet?

    #55996
    Nomanisanisland
    Participant

    Woke up to a nice surprise on this first morning of our nationwide lockdown here in NZ, $4200NZD deposited in my bank account after filling in a few fields on an online form. I’ll certainly be making a recurring donation to TAE (whom I’ve been following since we briefly met here in 2012).
    Keep up the great work.7

    #55997
    zerosum
    Participant

    I don’t have link, However, on the radio, it said, that Boeing will get aid because a sentence was put in that critical companies for the security of the USA were entitled to aid.
    In my head I can see Boeing dancing in the street because their debt are going to zero with this jubilee.

    #55998
    teri
    Participant

    Ilargi,
    You did not ask me, you asked John. However, I will put in my thoughts re: chloroquine. It is the only thing on which I have reached a personal conclusion in the whole coronavirus drama. I will not take it, should I get covid19. I have told my children this, and hope that they remember should the need arise and I can’t speak for myself.

    My conclusion is based on reading quite a number of articles about it in the past couple of weeks. The Chinese tried it for awhile with some initial success, but as time went on found it problematic and strictly reduced its usage for Covid19. Chloroquine has serious side effects which ought to be considered before the patient accepts the drug. For me, with my existing eye problems, age, and history of drug sensitivity, it is simply not worth the risks. I can only recommend that everyone do some serious research on their own and decide for themselves.

    Here are some paragraphs from an article that is a fairly good summary of all the info I have discovered about this medication. Please also do note, as pointed out in this article, that Chloroquine is not to be used in conjunction with antibiotics such as azithromycin [Zpak, it’s called in the US]; I am not sure why Trump and others keep blabbing about using the two together as a treatment.

    From article:

    The drug touted by the U.S. President Donald Trump as a possible line of treatment against the coronavirus comes with severe warnings in China and can kill in dosages as little as two grams.
    China, where the deadly pathogen first emerged in December, recommended the decades-old malaria drug chloroquine to treat infected patients in guidelines issued in February after seeing encouraging results in clinical trials. But within days, it cautioned doctors and health officials about the drug’s lethal side effects and rolled back its usage.
    This came after local media reported that a Wuhan Institute of Virology study found that the drug can kill an adult just dosed at twice the daily amount recommended for treatment, which is one gram.
    As the drug hasn’t been approved by the U.S. Food And Drug Administration to treat the disease known as Covid-19, the Chinese experience may be useful as the American regulator studies the medication which has been endorsed by Trump as well as Tesla Inc. chief executive officer Elon Musk.[…]
    Chloroquine was among the first group of therapies Chinese scientists identified as being effective in curbing the new coronavirus. Clinical trials on about 130 patients demonstrated the drug’s ability to reduce the severity of the illness and speed up virus clearance, according to China’s Ministry of Sciences and Technology.
    Chroloquine phosphate was officially recommended on Feb. 19 in the Covid-19 treatment guidelines published by China’s National Health Commission, along with a few other drugs such as AbbVie Inc.’s Kaletra and flu drug arbidol as antiviral treatments for patients. The commission recommended no more than a 10-day course of chloroquine for adult patients at 500mg — half a gram — twice a day.[…]
    China’s recommendation to use chloroquine in treatment was quickly followed by a warning.
    Two days after the treatment guideline update, health authorities in Hubei province — China’s worst-hit region where the outbreak started and which accounted for majority of its over 80,000 patients — asked hospitals to closely watch for, and immediately report, any adverse side effects of chloroquine phosphate, according to a report in local media outlet The Paper.
    The drug is known to have short-term side effects such as nausea, diarrhea and tinnitus while long-term use can irreversibly impair eyesight. It’s forbidden for pregnant women as it can cause congenital defects in babies.
    China Health Commission revised the dosage in a Feb. 29 notice tightening chloroquine use. The drug cannot be given to pregnant women, those with heart disease, terminal liver and renal disease, retina and hearing loss and patients on antibiotics such as azithromycin and steroid.
    It can now be given only to patients between 18 to 65 years of age for a seven-day treatment course. Patients weighing over 50 kilograms (110 pounds) can take 500mg twice a day — the usual dose — while those weighing less will be administered the drug just once a day after two days of use, according to the latest guidelines.
    A woman in Wuhan proved how lethal chloroquine can be when it’s taken beyond the recommended dose. On Feb. 25, Shanghai-based The Paper reported that she took 1.8 grams of the drug she ordered online after suspecting she had the coronavirus. She did not, but the drug caused her to develop malignant cardiac arrhythmic, which can cause sudden death, and she was admitted to the intensive care unit.

    Virus drug touted by President Trump, Elon Musk can kill with just two gram dose

    The entire article is not very long, and I have not excised much of it.

    Best,Teri

    #55999
    zerosum
    Participant

    FOUND A LINK FOR BOEING JUBILEE
    https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/boeing-us-senate-stimulus-coronavirus-covid-19-2-trillion-dollars-20200325.html

    Senate aid package quietly carves out billions intended for Boeing, officials say
    by Aaron Gregg, Jeff Stein and Josh Dawsey, Washington Post, Updated: March 25, 2020- 1:41 PM

    WASHINGTON — Lawmakers have inserted a little-noticed provision in the Senate’s $2 trillion stimulus package aimed at providing billions of dollars in emergency assistance to Boeing, the aerospace giant already under fire for deadly safety lapses in its commercial jets, three people with knowledge of the internal deliberations said.
    The Senate package includes a $17 billion federal loan program for businesses deemed “critical to maintaining national security.” The provision does not mention Boeing by name but was crafted largely for the company’s benefit, two of the people said. Other firms could also receive a share of the money, one of the people said. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

    The carve-out is separate from the $58 billion the Senate package is providing in loans for cargo and passenger airlines, as well as the $425 billion in loans it is allocating to help firms, states, and cities hurt by the current downturn. Congressional aides cautioned the Senate bill was still going through last-minute revisions and could change.

    #56000
    boilingfrog
    Participant

    @ John Day – my initial reaction is disbelief, too conspiratorial for my tastes… And then I turn on the radio and hear the SecState blustering on-and-on and I think: “The lady doth protest too much, me thinks”.

    Not that it will change anything, but I’ll definitely be sitting down this evening and giving your “suggestion” a hard, careful re-reading. Thanks for expending the energy. Stay safe

    #56001
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Chloroquine and G6PD deficiency

    #56002
    Dr D Rich
    Participant
    #56003
    zerosum
    Participant

    Dr D Rich

    jal left a short comment at your link.

    #56004

    I’ve been working on making links- all I get is unpostable html. Please try and check out the “evolutamente” site- the articles are a fascinating read concerning vitamin c, melatonin, nitric oxide, etc.
    They are a bit too medical for a non-professional like myself, but the MDs here might enjoy them.

    #56005
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    teri: thank you. What we see is that the risks of ‘quine” drugs are well known, even regarding use with CORVID-19. It is ready to be used — in hospitals, under close supervision, as a powerful adjunct to ventilators and such. Judging it by its riskiness as home-taken medicine is judgment too harsh.

    During the video conference last week with Trump and Fauci, when I foamed at the mouth, my foaming was because they exacerbated the problem. Trump jumped the gun (which of course he would, being a seriously mentally il person), but Fauci totally botched his end. He offered the vaguest information which would of course inspire over-reactions both ways: too cautious for those who tend to trust mainstream media and authority, and too bold for their opposite.

    It still is the most powerful effective therapy outside of a prolonged ICU stay that we know of.

    Thanx again for the detailed info.

    LIkewise, thanks Dr. D Rich for the provided link.

    #56006
    zerosum
    Participant

    “I’ve been working on making links”

    Here is what I do
    1.Left Click your mouse In the box where you see https://www
    2. It will turn color. It means that you just selected all that is in blue
    3. Now you got to copy that blue, You do that by holding the ctrl key down and hitting the letter C
    4. Go to where you want to copy and hold the ctrl key down and hit the letter V
    If that don’t work then google what to do for your kind of computer..

    #56007
    zerosum
    Participant

    They did not hear me.
    Spitting and coughing is killing the troops.
    Bring the troops home.

    https://thehill.com/policy/defense/489536-pentagon-orders-60-day-troop-freeze-report

    Pentagon orders 60-day troop freeze: report
    BY ELLEN MITCHELL – 03/25/20 04:33 PM EDT

    Pentagon orders 60-day troop freeze: report

    Defense Secretary Mark Esper has ordered a stop to all troop movement overseas for 60 days to attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the military, according to multiple outlets.

    The stop movement order will apply to all U.S. forces, civilian personnel and families — including those scheduled to return stateside and those scheduled to deploy — with some exceptions, Esper first told Reuters on Wednesday.

    The drawdown underway in Afghanistan will continue, Esper said.

    There are 227 service members, 81 civilian employees, 67 dependents and 40 contractors who have tested positive for the illness COVID-19.

    To slow the spread in its ranks, the Defense Department also on Wednesday raised the military’s health protection level to its second-highest setting for all military installations globally.

    #56008
    zerosum
    Participant

    chose jubilee for the rich …. or homeless people
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate-includes-25-million-provision-for-kennedy-center-in-coronavirus-relief-package

    Senate includes $25M provision for Kennedy Center in coronavirus relief package
    by Madison Dibble
    | March 25, 2020 01:30 PM
    | Updated Mar 25, 2020, 06:25 PM

    Democrats managed to finesse $25 million for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts into the bipartisan Senate coronavirus relief deal.

    #56009
    WES
    Participant

    Over a week ago my 19 year old daughter likely came down with a mild dose of the coronavirus. She had just returned from attending university in downtown Toronto, clearly a hotbed. She seems fine now.

    We are still unsure about my 23 year old son if he had it or not. Naturally we will never know because Ontario doesn’t test non travellers.

    Unfortunately today my wife is running a fever and experiencing tightness in her chest. Not good. She is the one person in our family who is most vulnerable to any virus in her lungs. She has had many lung infections in the past.

    When she was born, she was born without an esophagus. This genic defect also came with being very hard of hearing. About 50% of children born without an esophagus suffer hearing loss.

    She spent the first 2 years of her life at Sick Kids in Toronto. She is one of the very first babies in the world to survive after having a leg vein used to create an esophagus. The only thing missing is the check value at the top of her esophagus. The top of our bed mattress is elevated with a few bricks to help keep her from being completely horizontal when sleeping.

    Likely these early operations are the reason why her lungs are so vulnerable to infections.

    For now we wait and hope.

    #56010
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    WES, I forgot to add my money is on you, Dr. D, zerosum and not least boscohorowitz.
    Persevere ‘coz the time devoted is worth knowing a trusted ally joined the battle at your shoulder.
    I can identify with your struggle having raised a son through young adulthood…a son missing a lung and half his diaphragm. Life unexpectedly prepares us for these unexpected moments in time. Sometimes the sweetest music is hearing his breath through the quiet night. I wish the same for you.

    #56011
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Sometimes the sweetest music is hearing his breath through the quiet night. ”

    Dr. D Rich, have you read a book called Peace Like A River? Very very good book (fiction) imo, with a severe asthmatic as narrator.

    I know it’s cornball, WES, but I’ll pray for your wife. I don’t know if I believe in “intercessionary prayer” or not, but I know that the effort itself can cheer a person to know someone thinks enough about them to ask the sky to likewise think about them.

    Yes, I can’t keep my mouth shut.

    #56012
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    I agree that the high death rate of 6% or higher is associated with the Wuhan Coronavirus getting into the healthcare systems. Wuhan city, Iran, Italy and Spain are all cases of this. Seattle’s nursing home hotspots are a more localized case. The low death rates, China outside of Hubei Province, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Germany are all associated with intensive virus testing and contact tracing. Recent reports indicate that the virus does not mutate frequently.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-coronavirus-isnt-mutating-quickly-suggesting-a-vaccine-would-offer-lasting-protection/2020/03/24/406522d6-6dfd-11ea-b148-e4ce3fbd85b5_story.html

    The USA will be pock marked with hotspots due to the lack of federal direction, foresight and money plus plutocrats intentional flushed the US federal government down the drain leaving public health up to the 50 states. In two weeks or less, the hotspots will explode and the USA will be the center of the global pandemic.

    This is a Social Darwinian disease that is proceeding onward to kill millions until Pharma’s jackpot treatment is found. I must keep repeating that the only way for the USA to end the pandemic now is to do what Asia and Germany are doing; restore the national public health system, require universal paid virus testing, quarantine the infected (asymptomatic and ill) and release people from quarantine with two consecutive negative tests. Buy empty apartment buildings and motels to house the infected if they don’t have safe shelter. The healthy will restore the economy.

    #56013
    WES
    Participant

    Thanks Dr. D Rich and Bosco!

    Right now I am just taking things one step at a time. Hoping it is just normal flu.

    If she starts having any more difficulty breathing, I have told my 2 kids be prepared to drive her to emergency. Both are home through weekend so that is good. Two drivers plus two cars.

    #56014
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Thanks for the reference boscohorowitz.
    I’ll check it out

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