Apr 072020
 


Edward Hopper Office in a Small City 1953

 

PM’s Move To ICU Shows He’s Likely To Have Severe COVID19 (G.)
To Use Ventilators You Need Sedatives. The US Is Running Out Of Both (Vox)
UK Testing Chief Admits None Of 3.5 Million Antibody Kits Work (Ind.)
Spain To Extend Coronavirus Testing To People Without Symptoms (RT)
Dem Lawmaker Says Trump Saved Her Life By Recommending Hydroxychloroquine (NW)
Untested COVID19 Treatment Trump Talks Up Can Have Fatal Side Effect (IC)
Doctors Embrace Drug Touted By Trump Without Hard Evidence It Works (R.)
Trump, 3M Deal Allows N95 Face Masks To Be Exported To Canada (G.)
CDC Director Says Death Toll Will Be ‘Much Lower’ Than Projected (ABC)
Missouri GOP Senator Sets Up Potential Clash With Own Party (Pol.)
Almost a Third of Young Americans Have Lost Their Jobs So Far (Vice)
Nobody Asks Why Our Economy Is So Rigged, Brittle and Exploitive (CHS)
US Army Temporarily Stops Sending New Recruits To Basic Training (JTN)
Turkey Sets Strict Measures As Cases Soar (BBC)
Wall Street Wins – Again (Nomi Prins)
Money Minus Value, No Limit (Kunstler)
State Dep’t Refuses To Back Hillary Clinton Attempt To Avoid Deposition (JTN)
OPCW Report Set To Blame Syria Chemical Attacks On Assad (G.)

 

 

• US records 1,150 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours: Johns Hopkins tracker

• Reported US coronavirus cases via @ryanstruyk @CNN:

5 weeks ago: 91 cases
4 weeks ago: 678 cases
3 weeks ago: 4,459 cases
2 weeks ago: 42,663 cases
1 week ago: 160,698 cases
Right now: 367,650 cases

• Reported US coronavirus deaths via @ryanstruyk @CNN:

Feb. 6: 0
Mar. 6: 17
April 6: 10,908

 

 

Cases 1,359,010 (+ 76,627 from yesterday’s 1,282,383)

Deaths 75,900 (+ 5,717 from yesterday’s 70,183)

 

 

 

From Worldometer yesterday evening -before their day’s close- Note: US had over 30,000 new cases in 24 hours.

 

 

From Worldometer -NOTE: mortality rate for closed cases is at 21% !

 

 

From SCMP:

 

 

From COVID2019Info.live:

 

 

 

 

“The British people were shocked” when they heard Boris went to the ICU, says a BBC Breakfast presenter. Well, of course, because you’ve all been lying about his condition the whole time, you and the government. The next thing they talk about now is how competent the medical staff is, as are the politicians taking over from the PM. La la land.

Boris is in real danger. Andrew Cuomo last week said that in New York only 20% of patients survive a ventilator. Numbers in Europe appear a bit better. But the reason Boris will be put on one is very likely that his own immune system has started to attack him in a cytokine storm. This would typically happen after the 7-10-day period since he got infected.

At the same time, because there is no vaccine, the immune system is the only thing that can save a patient’s life. There are various machines that can take over various’ organs’ functions, and there are medications that may help some, but in the end it’s the immune system.

Here’s wondering if Boris has taken any chloroquine, and if so, at what stage.

 

This is a good overview of -potential- proceedings.

PM’s Move To ICU Shows He’s Likely To Have Severe COVID19 (G.)

Boris Johnson’s move to the intensive care unit (ICU) of St Thomas’ hospital signals that he has severe Covid-19. Oxygen was available through a mask on the ward he was admitted to on Sunday, but the move to intensive care on Monday strongly suggests that was not enough to help him with the breathing problems caused by the viral pneumonia that the virus triggers. Most people in intensive care, according to the World Health Organization, require ventilation. Around 15% of people with Covid-19 become seriously ill and need oxygen therapy in hospital. A further 5% are moved into intensive care, so that their breathing can be taken over by mechanical ventilation. Some will also need support for other organs.

Anyone who is put on a ventilator will need to be sedated, although they are not unconscious. A tube must be inserted into the patient’s windpipe, so that air and oxygen from the machine can be blown into the lungs. That takes the strain off the lungs while they recover. [..] Ventilation is vital in most severe Covid-19 cases, which is why there has been a huge effort to obtain more machines and even encourage engineering businesses to switch production lines to make them. In the severest cases, patients are put on an ECMO machine (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), which can support both the heart and lungs where somebody is in a life-threatening condition. Johnson’s admission to intensive care comes shortly after the 10th day of the illness, which has been identified as a real danger point.

During the first week, most people’s immune systems rally and manage to fight off the virus. Those who do not recover and continue to struggle for breath and have a fever often need help around the middle of the second week. In that second week, the immune system can sometimes go into overdrive. In its attempt to fight the virus, it creates what is called a cytokine storm, in which the immune system attacks the body’s own organs. The heart, the liver and kidneys are most likely to be affected and all of them can need to be supported by machines that can take over their function. The latest report into patients admitted into critical care so far from the intensive care national audit and research centre (IANARC), showed 2,621 admissions up to 3 April, most of whom are still there. The mean age was 60 and 73% of them were men. More than 35% of them were overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 30, and 37% were obese.

Derek Hill, professor of medical imaging at University College London, said: “It seems clear that the prime minister went to hospital because he had difficulty breathing. It seems he was initially put on oxygen, and was conscious. “But as often happens with Covid-19, his condition has now deteriorated so he has been admitted to intensive care. “We understand the PM is on a type of breathing support called Continuous positive airway pressure (Cpap), which is commonly used in treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea. Experience in Italy and other European countries has shown that Cpap can be effective in Covid-19 patients, at least initially. Many Covid-19 patients progress to invasive ventilation. Invasive ventilation involves a tube being put down the patient’s airway.”

Read more …

Insult and injury. Entire industries will be forced back from China to the US and Europe.

To Use Ventilators You Need Sedatives. The US Is Running Out Of Both (Vox)

New York City may be the first city in the country to run out of ventilators, other cities are expected to follow. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy recently tweeted, “Ventilators are our #1 need right now. I won’t stop fighting to get us the equipment we need to save every life we can.” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards predicted that his state would run out of ventilators by April 6. But to save a Covid-19 patient’s life with a ventilator, you also need an ample supply of medications, both to be able to use the machine and to prevent agonizing pain. Experts say there’s a worrisome shortage of those, too — one that’s only expected to grow worse. “The minute you talk about ventilators you need to talk about medications,” says Esther Choo, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University.

Choo says hospitals are already running out of medications like fentanyl, versed, propofol, and even neuromuscular blockades, what she calls “everyday bread and butter medications,” the drugs needed to induce and maintain sedation while on a ventilator. “Ventilators can’t really be used without these medications.” In severe cases of Covid-19, the patient’s’ own immune system can cause their lungs to fill with fluid. At this point, ventilators are a critical tool for keeping people alive. Medical staff insert a tube deep into the lungs in a process called intubation, in order to deliver more oxygen from a ventilator than the patient can inhale on their own.

“You can imagine if I tried to shove a plastic tube down your throat, it’s a very human reflex not to let someone do that,” Choo says. “So we place people in deep sedation.” After the tube is placed in the trachea, patients have to stay sedated — in the case of some Covid-19 patients, that can last for several weeks. [..] It’s alarming that hospitals are already experiencing shortages of these drugs, knowing what’s coming. Although President Trump has invoked the wartime Defense Production Act to start producing the additional 40,000 ventilators New York alone has requested, these won’t help stem the crisis for long without the drugs needed to use them — to say nothing of the freewheeling chaos of inter-state bidding wars for scarce supplies.

https://twitter.com/ColumbiaBugle/status/1247335654423322625

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Meanwhile in Borisland (Q: how much did you pay for those things?):

UK Testing Chief Admits None Of 3.5 Million Antibody Kits Work (Ind.)

The UK government’s new testing chief has admitted that none of the 3.5 million antibody tests ordered from China are fit for widespread use. Professor John Newton, who was appointed by health secretary Matt Hancock to oversee testing, reportedly said the tests were only able to identify immunity in people who had been severely sick with coronavirus. The tests did not pass the evaluation stage, and he was quoted by The Times as saying they were “not good enough to be worth rolling out in very large scale”. Prof Newton, director of public health improvement for Public Health England (PHE) said three “mega labs” for testing NHS staff was his top priority and did not expect university and commercial labs to be able to help.


He said: “We are not relying on lots of people coming forward to help us to achieve what’s required and we shouldn’t get too distracted by that. “There’s a big, big ask at the moment which is quite specific [on testing NHS staff]. So a lot of these companies who are offering their capacity may not be directly related to that ask and therefore they might not be as helpful at the moment.” Mr Hancock has also acknowledged that early analysis of the tests showed “some of them have not performed well”. He added, speaking on Thursday, that: “We’re hopeful that they [the tests] will improve and that the later tests that we’ve got our hands on will be able to be reliable enough for people to use them with confidence.”

Read more …

Does that mean everyone without symptoms? Every country needs to focus on this, but nobody does. They failed to secure the kits.

Spain To Extend Coronavirus Testing To People Without Symptoms (RT)

Hopes are growing that lockdown measures in Spain may be relaxed after figures suggested the country has “passed the peak” as tentative optimism moves across Europe. Spain will extend coronavirus testing to people showing no symptoms as new infection rates slow in the country, the country’s foreign minister announced. On Sunday, 647 deaths were reported over 24 hours – half the rate recorded during the previous week. Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez told TV station Antena 3:”We are preparing ourselves for de-escalation, for which it is important to know who is contaminated to be able to gradually lift Spanish citizens’ lockdown.” He added that Spanish companies were manufacturing 240,000 test kits a week and were still ramping up capacity.


Gonzalez’s colleague, Health Minister Salvador Illa said that Spain wanted to strengthen the coronavirus contagion slowdown as the country entered its fourth week of confinement. Elsewhere, Italy recorded its lowest daily death toll for over two weeks, as 525 people succumbed to the virus on Sunday. Germany recorded its lowest number of deaths in a week with 92 dying yesterday. Berlin announced plans to end the lockdown on April 19. France’s mortality rate also slowed for the second day running. Austria’s government revealed that it plans to start reopening shops from next week as a further indication of a tentative wave of optimism beginning to move across Europe.

Read more …

The war on chloroquine is on.

Dem Lawmaker Says Trump Saved Her Life By Recommending Hydroxychloroquine (NW)

Michigan Democratic State Representative Karen Whitsett told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Monday that the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine stopped her coronavirus symptoms “within a couple hours.” Whitsett represents parts of Detroit, a city that has been labeled a coronavirus “hot spot.” Recent data indicated 5,032 positive cases in Detroit with 196 deaths attributable to the virus reported in the city. Used primarily to treat malaria, hydroxychloroquine has been praised by President Donald Trump as a potential therapeutic for the virus. Sunday, Trump suggested taking the drug to prevent contracting the virus. “I’m not looking at it one way or the other,” Trump said, “but we want to get out of this. If it does work, it would be a shame if we didn’t do it early. But we have some very good signs.”


While the FDA has not yet approved hydroxychloroquine for treatment of the coronavirus, Whitsett claims it worked for her. “I really want to say that you have to give this an opportunity,” Whitsett said Monday. “For me, it saved my life.” Whitsett did not receive hydroxychloroquine until the day of her coronavirus test. She was able to have her husband pick up the medication after her symptoms reached a critical phase. Hospitals in her area were full. “I honestly believed that once I got into something like that, I may not actually come out and that was my biggest fear,” Whitsett said. “And I knew that this medication would possibly save me.” Whitsett credited Trump’s mention of hydroxychloroquine during news briefings for giving her the idea of trying the drug. “If President Trump had not talked about this, it would not be something that’s accessible for anyone to get, not right now,” Whitsett said.

Read more …

Et tu, the Intercept? Chloroquine is not “untested”, just not officially as a COVID19 treatment. That’s a different thing. It’s precisely used less for malaria these days because after decades of use, the parasite that causes is suspected to have developed immunity. Plenty testing for side-effects etc. in those decades.

And do you really need to follow the New York Times in suggesting Trump touts the drug only for his own profit? Is nothing safe from the drive for clickbait and paper sales?

Untested COVID19 Treatment Trump Talks Up Can Have Fatal Side Effect (IC)

An experimental treatment for Covid-19 championed by President Donald Trump — in which patients are given doses of hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria and lupus, along with the antibiotic azithromycin — raises the risk for some patients of dangerous irregular heartbeats that could be fatal, cardiologists warn in new guidance published by the American College of Cardiology. According to the lead author of the paper, Dr. Eric Stecker, an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, any patients treated with the combination therapy should be monitored for ventricular arrhythmia, the irregular beating of the heart’s lower chambers, which can lead to cardiac arrest.

“We don’t know the magnitude of the risk,” Stecker said in an interview on Sunday, but both drugs can raise the odds of irregular heartbeats for some patients, and the risk is greater when they are taken together. The president has repeatedly dismissed warnings from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, that the drugs might not be as safe or effective for people infected with the new coronavirus as they are for other illnesses. On Saturday, at a White House briefing on the global pandemic, Trump urged Americans to try hydroxychloroquine and suggested that people infected with the virus had nothing to lose by taking it, as long as their doctors agree.

[..] “One of the problems with knowing very little about the Trump family’s finances,” the New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie wrote, “is when the president gets fixated on something like hydroxychloroquine, we don’t know if it reflects his obsession with quick fixes and miracle cures or if he’s trying to juice an investment.” The New York Times reported on Monday that Trump does have “a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine.” In a financial disclosure released last year, the president listed among his assets three family trusts that invested in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, which had shares of Sanofi as its largest holding.

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Because there’s no time to collect the evidence, and there’s nothing else that works. The reported numbers of doctors who take it themselves might give you a hint about its dangers.

Doctors Embrace Drug Touted By Trump Without Hard Evidence It Works (R.)

The decades-old drug that President Donald Trump has persistently promoted as a potential weapon against COVID-19 has within a matter of weeks become a standard of care in areas of the United States hit hard by the pandemic — though doctors prescribing it have no idea whether it works. Doctors and pharmacists from more than half a dozen large healthcare systems in New York, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Washington and California told Reuters they are routinely using hydroxychloroquine on patients hospitalized with COVID-19. At the same time, several said they have seen no evidence that the drug, used for years to treat malaria and autoimmune disorders, has any effect on the virus.

Use of hydroxychloroquine has soared as the United States has quickly become the epicenter of the pandemic. More than 355,000 people in the United States have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and more than 10,000 have died. The federal government estimates that as many as 240,000 people in the country may die from the disease before the outbreak is over. Facing those numbers, and in the absence of any known effective treatments, doctors on the frontlines said they began using hydroxychloroquine and the related chloroquine on patients who are deteriorating based on a few small studies suggesting a possible benefit. Some said they had come under pressure from patients to use the therapies widely touted by Trump and other supporters.

“I may take it,” Trump said on Saturday, referring to hydroxychloroquine, though he has twice tested negative for coronavirus, according to the White House. “We’re just hearing really positive stories, and we’re continuing to collect the data.” Potential side effects of hydroxychloroquine include vision loss and heart problems. But doctors interviewed by Reuters say they are comfortable prescribing the drug for a short course of several days for coronavirus patients because the risks are relatively low and the therapies are inexpensive and generally available.

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3M will move much of its operations back to the US.

Trump, 3M Deal Allows N95 Face Masks To Be Exported To Canada (G.)

The Trump administration has agreed a deal with the US manufacturer 3M to import more than 166 million respirators from China over the next three months and allow 3M to continue exporting its US-made respirators. The agreement breaks a deadlock which resulted in Washington stopping nearly three million of the specialized masks from being exported to Ontario, stirring fears that Canada’s most populous province would run out of supplies for medical staff battling coronavirus by the end of the week. Donald Trump, who had lambasted 3M over the weekend, had warm words for the company on Tuesday, following the agreement, and its chairman and CEO, Mike Roman offered praise for the president.


“I want to thank President Trump and the administration for their leadership and collaboration,” Roman said in a written statement. “These imports will supplement the 35 million N95 respirators we currently produce per month in the United States.” Under the plan, 3M will import 166.5 million respirators (masks which form a seal over the mouth and nose and offer much greater protection than surgical masks) from its factories in China, over the coming three months. Meanwhile, the 3M statement said: “The plan will also enable 3M to continue sending US produced respirators to Canada and Latin America, where 3M is the primary source of supply.”

Read more …

I would fire him on the spot. Is he just seeking attention? Redfield was quite prominent when the US started its nightmare, but he’s pretty much gone now.

CDC Director Says Death Toll Will Be ‘Much Lower’ Than Projected (ABC)

One of the nation’s top public health officials suggested Monday that because Americans are taking social distancing recommendations “to heart,” the death toll from the novel coronavirus will be “much, much, much lower” than models have projected. “If we just social distance, we will see this virus and this outbreak basically decline, decline, decline. And I think that’s what you’re seeing,” said Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control. “I think you’re going to see the numbers are, in fact, going to be much less than what would have been predicted by the models,” he said. Redfield’s remarks on Monday to AM 1030 KVOI Radio in Tucson, Arizona, struck a rosier tone than some other recent predictions.

On Monday morning, for example, the U.S. Surgeon General equated the coming week’s fallout to the attacks on Pearl Harbor. But officials on the White House task force have said they believe that even with a tough week ahead, the numbers in some places suggest that social distancing is working and could provide a reprieve eventually. National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease Director Anthony Fauci said he was very interested in data in New York that the number of admissions to intensive care and intubations in the last three days had started to level off. “We just got to realize that this is an indication despite all the suffering and the death that has occurred that what we have been doing has been working,” he told reporters.

At the same time, Dr. John Brownstein, a Harvard epidemiologist and ABC News contributor, said that Redfield’s comments could mislead Americans into feeling a sense that the disease’s spread is under control. “Projections and models across the board are accounting for a reduction in mobility because of social distancing, so it’s way too soon to declare any kind of victory,” he said. “This is not a moment for people to relax because they feel the models are wrong.”

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But he’s still focusing on businesses, not people.

Missouri GOP Senator Sets Up Potential Clash With Own Party (Pol.)

Most Senate Republicans are taking a cautious approach to the next step of Congress’ coronavirus response. Not Josh Hawley. The freshman Missouri GOP senator is pitching far-reaching proposals, including the federal government directly financing businesses to keep millions of workers on their payrolls — part of what he calls a “survival then surge” strategy in the face of a sputtering economy and dozens of state stay-at-home orders. It’s not exactly GOP orthodoxy to push for even greater intervention in the economy after providing new unemployment benefits, direct cash payments and more than a quarter trillion dollars in loans and grants to small businesses.

But Hawley argued in a telephone interview Monday that the economic severity in the country is “much bigger and much more severe than many other people anticipated,” and Congress needs to act accordingly. “We seem to be on a roller coaster that is currently plunging down,” Hawley said. “I personally do not want to ride that roller coaster and find where the bottom is. And I don’t think American workers should be forced to.” Hawley is one of the first Republicans to push a major add-on to Congress’ already extraordinary relief effort, and he’s fighting an uphill battle with his guarded colleagues. But the early maneuvering is a hint of the debate to come in what was once a budget-slashing party that must now weigh just how big to go in the face of a terrifying crisis.

After preaching a go-slow approach early last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has acknowledged a fourth bill will be needed, likely concentrating on health care. And action is almost certain to be necessary in the coming weeks in other areas: The bill’s signature $377 billion Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses is expected to run out of funding well before its June 30 end date, aides tracking the program say. Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen forecast potential 13 percent unemployment; Hawley fears 20 percent or worse. [..] Hawley’s proposal would provide businesses with refundable payroll tax rebates that reimburse 80 percent of payroll costs and give a rehiring bonus for businesses for the duration of the crisis. He says that will prevent unemployment offices from being overwhelmed, keep Americans from going into debt and give families a sense of confidence that a job is waiting for them when the crisis is over.

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Included for the headline. People should know that.

Almost a Third of Young Americans Have Lost Their Jobs So Far (Vice)

An Axios-Harris survey conducted through March 30 showed that 31 percent of respondents ages 18 to 34 had either been laid off or put on temporary leave because of the outbreak, compared with 22 percent of those 35 to 49 and 15 percent of those 50 to 64. John Gerzema, CEO of the Harris Poll, said it was important to note that the latest survey data do not factor in the doubling of U.S. jobless claims to over 6.6 million in the past week. That number “would suggest further pain and dislocation to 18-34 year olds,” he said. But the economic fears of many young people, even ones with uncomplicated medical histories, are increasingly counterbalanced by health worries as they grow more aware of the risks of COVID-19.


After hearing for months that it threatens primarily seniors and people with chronic diseases, they are now seeing how it imperils their own age group, with consequences such as lung failure. “It’s natural that as we learn more, it’ll become clear that there are substantial costs for young people, even if the risks are, in fact, much greater for the elderly,” said Jeffrey Clemens, a health and labor economist at the University of California-San Diego. “Whether people want to work depends in part on other qualities of the job, one of which is whether it comes with serious health, physical or other risks.”

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I think the answer is the Fed. Only the most crooked survive.

Nobody Asks Why Our Economy Is So Rigged, Brittle and Exploitive (CHS)

What’s remarkable about the lockdown isn’t the hue and cry about the economic damage–it’s the absence of any critical curiosity as to how our economy became so fragile that only the wealthiest contingent can survive a few weeks on savings or rainy-day funds. A healthy, resilient economy would be able to survive a few weeks of lockdown without a multi-trillion dollar bailout of every racket in the land. A society that wasn’t threadbare financially and socially would be able to function and accept individual sacrifices for the common good.

Rather than being organized to serve the common good, our economy and social order is little more than overlapping rackets: rigged “markets” operated by quasi-monopolies to enrich the few at the expense of the many; brittle bureaucracies bound by thousands of pages of mindless “compliance” and exploitive neofeudal structures in which debt-serfs are paid just enough to service their debt but not enough to afford skyrocketing costs for housing, healthcare, higher education, childcare, junk fees and taxes. While everyone is busy screaming about the damage done by the lockdown, nobody’s asking why costs are so high that few can survive a few weeks on their own means.

Nobody dares look at the soaring costs imposed by cartels and monopolies (including government and government-funded rackets such as healthcare and higher education) because it might shine a light on the money-trough they’re feeding from. (Crush every racket but mine…)

Read more …

But Russia!

US Army Temporarily Stops Sending New Recruits To Basic Training (JTN)

The Army has temporarily stopped sending new recruits to basic training, the U.S. military service announced Monday. The hiatus is an effort to help contain the spread of the coronavirus and is effective immediately. The measure will remain in place for two weeks. “This tactical pause will allow commands to ensure appropriate safety measures are in place and are operating effectively at training installations,” the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) wrote in a release to Just the News. The pause will protect the current and future force, the organization’s leader said in a statement. “One of TRADOC’s main focuses is to develop leaders by accessing, training and educating soldiers,” said Gen. Paul E. Funk, II, who leads the command.


“We have to do so responsibly, and we’ve already begun protecting those currently in our ranks with social-distanced-enabled training, reduced movement of our soldiers and trainees, and increased screening of those moving across our commands.” Soldiers now in the training pipeline will finish their schools and upon graduation proceed to their next assignment, the Army said. Under new guidelines, the graduates will be medically screened before shipping out, then travel aboard sterilized buses while maintaining spaced-apart intervals. “The decision to pause the shipment of trainees to BCT [Basic Combat Training] for two weeks will allow leaders to focus on setting conditions so movement can be conducted in a safer manner in the future,” Funk said.

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One of the countries I singled out recently. Turkey’s soccer league continued playing to crowds until 10 days ago IIRC.

Turkey Sets Strict Measures As Cases Soar (BBC)

Turkish authorities have imposed new measures to limit the spread of coronavirus, as the number of infections continues to rise sharply. The country has reported 30,217 confirmed cases and 649 deaths. Face masks are mandatory on public transport, in markets and other communal spaces, and 31 cities are now closed to all but essential traffic. Turkey now has the ninth-highest number of cases worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Some 1.3 million people have fallen ill globally and more than 70,000 have died. On Twitter, Turkey’s Health Minister Dr Fahrettin Koca urged people to “stay at home”, saying the virus “draws its power from contact”.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asked people to practice social distancing and stay “three paces” from one another. Schools are closed, many international and domestic flights are suspended, and mass prayers and public gatherings have been banned. But critics – including doctors and opposition politicians – say more needs to be done. The government still has not imposed a full lockdown like those in place in European countries. Data suggests Turkey now has the fastest rising number of confirmed cases in the world. Mr Erdogan imposed a nationwide confinement order on Friday, for those under 20 years old and anyone over 65 or with a chronic medical condition.

[..] “When we counted there were about 1.1 million people using public transport on a work day, and we’ve seen a lot of private cars on the streets,” key opposition figure and Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu told the BBC. Asked if it was crazy how many people continue to move around, he replied: “It is, absolutely.”

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Time for a revolution.

Wall Street Wins – Again (Nomi Prins)

As in 2008, the most beneficial policies and funding will be heading for Wall Street banks and behemoth corporations. Far less will be going directly to American workers through tangible grants, cheaper loans, or any form of debt forgiveness. Even the six months of student-loan payment relief (only for federal loans, not private ones) just pushes those payments down the road. The historic $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package is heavily corporate-focused. For starters, a quarter of it, $500 billion, goes to large corporations. At least $454 billion of that will back funding for up to $4.5 trillion in corporate loans from the Fed and the remainder will be for direct Treasury loans to big companies. Who gets what will be largely Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s choice. And mind you, we may never know the details since President Trump is committed to making this selection process as non-transparent as possible.

There’s an additional $50 billion that’s to be dedicated to the airline industry, $25 billion of which will be in direct grants to airlines that don’t place employees on involuntary furlough or discontinue flight service at airports through September. Right after the bill passed, the airline industry announced that more workforce cuts are ahead (once it gets the money). Another $17 billion is meant for “businesses critical to maintaining national security,” one of which could eventually be White House darling Boeing. There’s also a corporate tax credit worth about $290 billion to corporations that keep people on their payrolls and can prove losses of 50% of their pre-coronavirus revenue. More than $370 billion of that congressional relief package will go into Small Business Administration loans meant to cover existing loans and operating and payroll costs as well.

Yet receiving such loans will involve a byzantine process for desperate small outfits. Meanwhile, the big banks will get a cut for administering them. About $150 billion is pegged for the healthcare industry, including $100 billion in grants to hospitals working on the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis and other funds to jumpstart the production of desperately needed (and long overdue) medical products for doctors, nurses, and pandemic patients. Another $27 billion is being allocated for vaccines and stockpiles of medical supplies. An extra $150 billion will go to cities and states to prop up budgets already over-stretched and in trouble. Those on unemployment benefits will get an increase of $600 per week for four months in a $260 billion unemployment expansion.

Ultimately, however, the relief promised will not cover the basic needs of the majority of bereft Americans. With Main Street’s economy sinking right now, it won’t arrive fast enough either.

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The overwhelming need for crazy theories…

Money Minus Value, No Limit (Kunstler)

[..] an interesting debate rages internationally as to whether the Covid-19 virus was some kind of engineered event designed to bring about various political outcomes. One thread declares that the Democratic Party, its media handmaidens, and a helpful Chinese leadership used the virus to blow up the US economy and finally, after several botched attempts, get rid of the vexing Mr. Trump. It’s a tidy story, but I don’t buy it, for the simple reason that the entire global economy has blown up, including China’s, so you can file that meme in the Wile E. Coyote folder. A gloss on that one is the idea that NIAID director Anthony Fauci and other medical experts are wicked conspirators bent on destroying American morale by overstating the threat of Covid-19.

This includes the phrase that the novel corona virus is “just another seasonal flu,” and so ordering people to stay away from work and business was unnecessary. Again, you’d have to ask yourself why medical experts and other plausibly intelligent people in so many other countries would do exactly the same thing. They can’t all be orcs. Then there’s the one that has Bill Gates so worked up about climate change that he’s using his foundation’s deep resources to reduce the world’s population by sowing maximum disorder onto the scene with Covid-19 hysteria. This one casts Mr. Gates as something like a villain from a James Bond movie, deep in his Seattle mega-fortress petting a Persian cat as millions perish. Sounds like another case of Americans confusing movies with real life.

Another story has a shadowy gang of “globalists” using the disorder spawned by the virus to impose a centralized global uber-government run by international financiers. First of all, that one smacks of the hoary conspiracy theory that Bilderberger bankers (Jews especially) are scheming to take over the world – yet these supposedly hyper-clever “puppet-masters” are proving that they can’t even run the banks and their own financial ops, which are now crashing down around their ears along with everybody else’s. Thirdly, if there is trend anywhere in this collapse scenario, it is for the devolution of power downward, away from floundering centralized power structures and institutions. As they flounder, the faith of their subject peoples ebbs away and the trust horizon shrinks so that the people are no longer willing to depend on distant authorities for anything.

Read more …

Judicial Watch FOIA.

State Dep’t Refuses To Back Hillary Clinton Attempt To Avoid Deposition (JTN)

The State Department on Monday rejected Hillary Clinton’s effort to avoid depositions for herself and her former chief of staff in a lawsuit brought by the government watchdog organization Judicial Watch. The former Secretary of State and her former top aide Cheryl Mills are seeking a writ of mandamus to avoid a judge’s order requiring their testimony in an open records case involving Clinton’s use of a private email server for government business. “The government did not seek and thus does not support the extraordinary relief of mandamus due to the unique circumstances of this case,” reads the State Department’s response signed by multiple members of the Justice Department.


“One aspect of the district court’s rulings, although not central to the pending petition, is of particular concern to the government: assertions that the government acted in bad faith in litigating this FOIA request are wholly without basis,” the Department’s response says. U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth in early March granted the request to depose Clinton about why she utilized a private email server, her grasp of “State’s records management obligations,” and any information she has about materials pertaining to the 2012 Benghazi attack.

Read more …

Can you report on the OPCW without citing the multiple whistleblowers from within its own organization? If you’re the Guardian, you can. You just call it a “supposed whistleblower controversy” and blame it all on RussiaRussia and conspiracy theories:

“… the supposed whistleblower controversy at the OPCW last year, which the organisation comprehensively rejected with an official inquiry. Even though the criticism was found to be baseless it does not stop the conspiracy theorists.”

There was nothing “supposed” about the people who came forward to prove the attacks had been staged.

The OPCW, like the WHO, has turned into a political instrument. As of course the Guardian has.

OPCW Report Set To Blame Syria Chemical Attacks On Assad (G.)

The UN’s chemical weapons watchdog is expected to release its first report explicitly blaming Bashar al-Assad for sarin and chlorine gas attacks on civilians in Syria as efforts to establish accountability for the use of chemical agents in the nine-year-old conflict gain momentum. Observers anticipate that public and classified versions of a report by a new unit at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will be published on Wednesday, close to the anniversaries of a major chlorine attack on the then rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma that killed at least 85 people in 2018 as well as a deadly sarin attack on Khan Sheikhun in 2017 which killed at least 89. The report is believed to focus on 2017 attacks on the village of al-Lataminah.


The investigation is the outcome of new powers granted to the OPCW by a 2018 UN resolution specifically calling for the watchdog to “put in place arrangements to identify the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic by identifying and reporting on all information potentially relevant to the origin of those chemical weapons”. Previously, OPCW fact-finding missions did not have the mandate to apportion blame in chemical weapons attacks. The resulting newly created investigation and identification team (IIT) at the OPCW was designed as a work-around to counter Russia, Syria’s closest political ally. Moscow has repeatedly used international forums – and its veto as a permanent member of the UN security council – to block independent investigations into chemical weapons attacks allegedly launched by the Assad regime.

Read more …

 

It must be possible to run the Automatic Earth on people’s kind donations. These are no longer the times when ads pay for all you read, your donations have become an integral part of the process.

Thanks everyone for your generous donations.

 

 

 

 

A bit of relief in Italy:

 

 

 

While Greece appears to be doing very well compared to Holland, Belgium, Portugal.

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in virustime. It’s good for your health.

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle April 7 2020

Viewing 34 posts - 1 through 34 (of 34 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #56764

    Edward Hopper Office in a Small City 1953   • PM’s Move To ICU Shows He’s Likely To Have Severe COVID19 (G.) • To Use Ventilators You Need Sedati
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 7 2020]

    #56765
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Edward Hopper Office in a Small City 1953
    The Hopper is…I don’t know how/what to express; just interesting and …

    The Thai government has just warned private hospitals not to bill patients for CV-19 virus treatment.
    Stating that the government will pay all CV-19 bills.
    Three cheers for the Thai government and its prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha…
    Thai healthcare once again shows the way forward for the world’s governments…

    #56766

    Hopper is the painter of social distancing.

    #56767
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Hopper is the painter of social distancing.

    Ha! LOL. nailed it; but there is more…
    I just don’t know what…
    …could it be the desert, of the office life?
    The word lonely comes to mind…

    #56768
    Captain Nemo
    Participant

    Lung physicians in Germany did recommend to avoid intubation whenever possible, due to the stress it induces to the lungs. Instead oxygen masks should be used.
    Then I came across this youtube video of an american physician who indicates that patients with Covid-19 show symptoms resembling those of high altitude sickness and not those of pneumonia. Interesting but I do not know if it is authentical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9GYTc53r2o

    #56769
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Re Hopper: Cold and impersonal comes to mind as well…
    Stark even…

    #56770
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    COVID-19 threatens food supply chain as farms worry about workers falling ill

    “As Americans scattered to the privacy of their homes this week to avoid spreading the coronavirus, the opposite scene was playing out in the Mexican city of Monterrey.

    “A thousand or more young men arrived in the city, as they do most weeks of the year, filling up the cheap hotels, standing in long lines at the U.S. Consulate to pick up special H-2A visas for temporary agricultural workers, then gathering in a big park to board buses bound for farms in the United States.

    “I spoke with people going to North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi,” says Justin Flores, vice president of the AFL-CIO’s Farm Labor Organizing Committee, who was in Monterrey for meetings. “[They were] headed to destinations all over the country to provide really important labor that supports the backbone of our economy, which is the agricultural industry.”

    “About 250,000 workers came to the U.S. on H-2A visas last year, the majority of them from Mexico. They’ve become an increasingly important piece of America’s food industry.

    “Late in the day on Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City announced that it is suspending nonemergency visa appointments because of concerns for the health of its employees and visitors.

    “At the same time, though, the embassy notified farm employers that many — perhaps most — of these farm workers still can get their visas, because they participated in the program last year and don’t require an in-person appointment at the consulate.

    “Ryan Ogburn, visa director at wafla, which helps farms manage the flow of H-2A workers in the Pacific Northwest, says that 85-90% of their workers will qualify for this exemption. Meanwhile, influential farm organizations in the U.S. are pushing the Trump administration to ease the entry of more guest workers.

    “The continuing availability of agricultural workers illustrates the paradox of America’s food supply in the age of COVID-19.

    “One end of the food supply chain has been completely upended as restaurants go dark and consumers prowl half-empty aisles of supermarkets. Food producers, though, are operating almost as normal — at least for now. […]”

    #56772
    neoh
    Participant

    From the previous thread:
    “For example, neoh: “I never thought I would see TAE and the MSM linking arms like this.”

    Really? Wow. As my grandmother always said, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. wtf”

    My apology upstate. Don’t mean to offend. But I do find it odd that this thread, which I have read daily since 2009 seems to be following the party line about this event. Not something I’m used to seeing here. Your complaint is noted. I’ll be nicer. FWIW, Raul is tough enough to defend himself.

    “neoh, what is the source of your claim that 59-80% of the population has already had the virus and recovered? Where did you read that? Who made that claim?”
    Boog, I was not coherent. meant to say 50-80% of young people show little to no symptoms. Will show links if you wish for future comments.

    #56773
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    I think we need to shut down agriculture – seems to be the last loophole left for covid

    Seriously it seems incredible for Kunstler to be accusing people of conspiracy theories. What our elites do in so many cases (and as Kunstler himself points out many times) is murderous. Think invasion of Iraq for non-existent WMD. Think of the work of the Fed central bank. Think of chemical attack in Syria. People start to get scared and there is enough evidence of such sociopathy in our leaders to feed all sorts of crazy stories. But the key is that the reality is so crazy and evil that it is hard to take anything off the table -I empathize with people in this state.

    #56777

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

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

    I can’t tell you the website because anything like it- spelling it out, for example, rejects the post. Khn is the site. Dot org.

    #56778
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    Prins article is the gem today. What will it take to get Americans to rethink how to engineer a smart bailout? Bailout the people, bailout small business, stop the incessant centralization of power. Those who are sitting at home anxious about losing everything, anxious about the cure doing more harm than the disease, start questioning your assumptions!

    #56779

    So now it appears The Virus attacks the blood- impairing its ability to carry oxygen. I can’t recall where I saw it, but some researcher suggested it wasn’t so much pneumonia as a lack of oxygen in general that was causing the biggest problem in fatal cases. The pneumonia comes AFTER the blood is deoxygenated.
    They even mentioned heme- so I looked at porphyria and covid 19- no special flags were up- yet.
    Anemia patients are warned, however, to be wary.

    I can’t resist- on the 11th of March on Putrid’s site, I cracked the (tasteless) joke that Trump’s “covfefe” comment was a prescient remark to take extra iron…. He said it in May of 2017.

    #56780
    neoh
    Participant

    Pictures of hospital tents during the 2017-2018 flu season. You can find more if you want to google it:
    They didn’t even consider shutting down the world:
    https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/

    Another article that claimed 80,000 people in the US died during the 2017-2018 flu season from the flu. Thank you to TAE posters that have informed me that it might not have been the flu but a combination of other illness. Might be the same now? Who knows for sure? not me, not anybody:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/last-years-flu-broke-records-for-deaths-and-illnesses-new-cdc-numbers-show/2018/09/26/97cb43fc-c0ed-11e8-90c9-23f963eea204_story.html

    I don’t deny that there is a serious illness going around. Illness doesn’t surprise or scare me. More worrisome is the action and fear being spoon fed to the public!

    #56781
    zerosum
    Participant

    mortality rate for closed cases is at 21% !
    Where???? Who????

    In hospitals
    on a ventilator
    Senior
    In care home
    poor health
    care givers (doctor, nurse, support staff)
    travelers, ( cruise ships, aircraft, )

    Everyone else can go back to work.

    #56782
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “The UK government’s new testing chief has admitted that none of the 3.5 million antibody tests ordered from China are fit for widespread use.”

    Ah, China, the WHOs golden boys. And what is this, the 4th, 5th time testing kits have “accidentally” not worked? Including those that were actively contaminated with COVID? Do we have this problem every other day of the year, causing accidental profits from accidental chemotherapy? Why not? No one can tell, no one can sue. Step Three: Profit!

    “Spain To Extend Coronavirus Testing To People Without Symptoms (RT)”

    So they’re going to test with some of the many test kits that don’t work? Very helpful.

    “We don’t know the magnitude of the risk,”

    You don’t know what the risks are after 40 years of use? You’re fired. And Fauci who won’t allow it.
    Here’s also why you’re fired: HCQ is widely used for Lupus (etc) and so there are a million test cases nationally. Hey, have those guys, with a body of millions worldwide showing unusual resistance to contracting Wu? And yes, you know. You just don’t want to say, and I can pretty well guess why. Your whole plandemic will be over by Easter, and where have I heard that before, Jim Acosta?

    Doctors Embrace Drug Touted By Trump Without Hard Evidence It Works (R.)”

    Huh. Stack of evidence worldwide, now many thousands, including being recommended by China, the earliest and hardest hit. #AntiLogos. #AntiScience. Trust the experts. Except, don’t when it makes $$$ and political points.

    Trump, 3M Deal Allows N95 Face Masks To Be Exported To Canada (G.)”

    Well ain’t that nice. After only 3 years of browbeating them, saying “you better, you better, you bet”, they suddenly see the light! Lo! Suddenly, jobs for Americans! Oh noes! Anything, anything but that!

    CDC Director Says Death Toll Will Be ‘Much Lower’ Than Projected (ABC)”

    But…we all gonna die. ? But, need 100,000 ventilators, although 80% die anyway. ? But we shut down the worldwide economy, destroyed a billion people’s livings and a billion lives. For a thing that wasn’t dangerous? Like Herr Doctor said in January? Lower? Like 2,500% lower?

    Speaking of, apparently we can finally say Wuhan’s biolab is the source, because WaPo says it’s possible now. Wait: in a few weeks they’ll say it’s definite. And it was a conspiracy theory, purged off Twitter, YouTube, purged Tom Cotton who (barely) suggested it, purged Martensen, a Duke epidemiologist, purged anyone not on the Panic: we gonna dieee!!! Train. And I knew this in January in my momma’s basement with cheeto dust on my underwear. Funny ol’ world. You’re fired.

    pitching far-reaching proposals, including the federal government directly financing businesses”

    I’m sorry, didn’t we just pass this? And now the big banks are immediately double-crossing all businesses and Americans by refusing to pass on the loans? Cray-cray proposals, oops like the ones we just did. And impossible socialist dreams like “Medicare for All”. Except Trump is promoting that for Wu Flu. Hillary said, “the answer is obvious: open up the Obamacare exchanges” so people can bid on health care. Brilliant, Thanks! One thing: none of us have JOBS anymore, so paying for exchanges…like sitting across from a professional poker player who can see your cards…

    But anyway, Trump has always been a business Democrat, and still is, so no surprise he would be on board. The only reason people think it’s strange is the 4 years of fake Orange Hitler from the media, starting a day after he was running, right after getting award from Black leaders and groups, hiring the first woman executive to build a skyscraper, and having a Jewish family while being married to an immigrant. But Facts! Who needs ‘em? A Democrat has Democratic policies? Like Kennedy? Whoda thunk?

    Wall Street Wins – Again (Nomi Prins)”

    Maybe. Or they’re getting enough rope to hang themselves. This isn’t going to work. There’s going to be another every 30 days, exponentially larger until they reset.

    State Dep’t Refuses To Back Hillary Clinton Attempt To Avoid Deposition (JTN)”

    I’m sure she’s happy to do it. She just said “No one is above the law.” You know, just before she dodged the subpoena.

    the organisation comprehensively rejected”

    Well, if the organization says there’s no whistleblowers, that settles it for me! #Authority #Experts. When have they ever lied before? Except Every. Time.

    #56783
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Nemo: have heard further research shows it attacks the blood, not the lungs. So in that it lowers hemoglobin oxygen it IS very similar to altitude sickness.

    “headed to destinations all over the country to provide really important labor that supports the backbone of our economy,”

    Not really. Just means they don’t have to raise wages for farm workers. That’s been the game for decades. “Americans won’t do it!” For $50/hr they’ll bloody do it. But then you’d have slightly higher food prices and slightly higher farm profits. Oh Noes! That wouldn’t be astronomical higher wages and profits for Wall St and Inside Traders! No new DNC voters! People in cities slightly fewer iPhones, and people in the country not dying by 30,000’s. Shut it down, Mr. Trump, Shut it down!

    Cov [Fe] [Fe] Covid + Iron Iron. 2017. A message to someone, perhaps.

    I prefer Co-Vid-19. That is, “Double Vision, 2019” We certainly have a lot of it. Co-existing realities, co-existing conflicting facts.

    #56784
    zerosum
    Participant

    con virus
    If you believe that the virus started from eating unspeakable foods by the poor then why are
    Slums, poor, dirty, sickly, intimate, uneducated, ethnic, refugee, still surviving and hiding in every corner of the world.

    The Emergency Response was
    a coordinated, cooperative, similar, world wide action plan.

    After evaluation,
    Bugs will be eliminated
    Modifications to the political, social, economic systems
    Will make the next response more effective.

    #56785

    hydroxychloroquine ——– Expired patent. Ten cents per pill.

    CDC, Big Pharma, Mainstream Corporate Media, Global Medical Cartels, and other assorted Centralized Powers; “Don’t mess with that stuff. It hasn’t been tested. All the evidence is anecdotal. It won’t cure anything. Wait for our fabulous new vaccines that we are rushing in to production, while we work furiously to get our pals with all the political power to make stabbing you with our needles mandatory. But, by all means, keep arguing about it, stay focused on the Scamdemic, and don’t pay any attention at all to any of that silly 5G nonsense.”

    https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/white-house-unveils-national-strategy-for-5g-security-concurrently-with-signing-of-the-secure-5g-act/

    #56786

    I do find it odd that this thread, which I have read daily since 2009 seems to be following the party line about this event.

    I’ve been so far ahead of any parties -except perhaps the CCP initially, but I don’t think you have them in mind-, that it would be physically impossible for me to follow any of them or toe their lines.

    So I have no idea what this means. What party, what line?

    #56787

    ..have heard further research shows it attacks the blood, not the lungs.

    Yes, see yesterday’s Debt Rattle.

    #56788

    Maybe Boris should ask the nurses to turn off the WiFi routers in his room for a little while.

    COVID and a 5G connection?

    #56789
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    You are leader of the TEA (sic) party Ilargi! Sorry I couldn’t resist.

    #56790
    neoh
    Participant

    Raul said”I’ve been so far ahead of any parties -except perhaps the CCP initially, but I don’t think you have them in mind-, that it would be physically impossible for me to follow any of them or toe their lines.

    So I have no idea what this means. What party, what line?”

    Hi Raul. The party line in this case would be the message of fear. For example, at the beginning of your columns, you have been posting two sets of statistics that are (I feel) very misleading since we don’t have the slightest clue of what the correct denominator is. I am used to you being brutally honest about these type of things, for example, normally you would be telling your readers repeatedly that healthy asymmetric infections are not included. Fearful people are easy to control which brings me to the second point.
    When I reference TAE, I do not mean specifically you. I was surprised by how many contributors support government imposed quarantines and the prohibition against assembly. I did not expect such fear here.I certainty didn’t expect them to trust governments that have demonstrated repeatedly, actually always, that our interest is the least of their concern.
    I do apologize for my comment. I’m old enough to know not to push the post button when angry. This is your show and I’ll continue to support and respect that. As I’ve said, I seldom commented during the last decade. The current event troubles me.

    #56791
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “For the first time in history, the New York Stock Exchange on Monday will do something it’s never done: Operate on a fully electronic basis, after two individuals tested positive for coronavirus.

    “The 228-year old Big Board temporarily shut its iconic trading floor on Friday, in a move which sent shockwaves through Wall Street, and made some brokers afraid for the future.

    “ ‘This will kill the business of some floor brokers,’ ” says Tim Anderson, Equity Market Strategist at TJM Investments.

    ” ‘Many portfolio managers use price and volume information they get directly from the trading floor to help ‘right size’ buy and sell orders,’ ” he added.”
    ***
    “Over the years, electronic trading and algorithms have replaced traders and brokers on the floor. Currently, the stock exchange floor operates with a fraction of the members it had during the 2008 financial crisis, the end of the Dot-com bubble, or the crash of 1987 amid the rise of automated trading.”
    ***
    “John Tuttle, the NYSE’s Vice-Chairman and Chief Commercial Officer, told Yahoo Finance in an interview on Friday that the temporary shift toward automation was “absolutely not” the end of the trading floor. However, brokers submitting orders for clients may be affected the most by the temporary closure.

    “ ‘Commission rates are squeezed to the bone,” Anderson told Yahoo Finance. “Brokers don’t make anywhere near the money they used to make years ago,’ ” he added.

    “By going fully electronic, brokers will lose access to commissionable tools like D-orders, which can be placed or cancelled almost up to the close of a trading session.”

    ‘This will kill the business:’ Brokers sound off as coronavirus forces NYSE to go all electronic

    #56792
    zerosum
    Participant

    Elevators

    Use the stairwell.
    Any one riding elevators will be exchange their droplets with all previous and future riders.
    That is a more dangerous situation than that porta-potty in a mountain campground.

    #56794

    I prefer SARS-CoV-2. It summons up better stuff on the googol [com]plex.

    Boris looks anemic. Trump could be jaundiced, or he could be taking extra iron. /s

    Wild speculation: China- ancient soul that it is- may have a better handle on mass psychology than the West. They may have declared an epidemic, knowing the West would go nuts when it reached them. That’s spy vs spy vs spy…
    I loved Mad Magazine in the sixties.

    When the elephants rumble, the ants tremble.

    The elephants may be partying, but the ants worry just the same.

    This is a double post from yesterday. I know.

    #56795
    ezlxa1949
    Participant

    Yes, it seems to be war on a cheap, effective drug.

    If you want solid evidence of the success of treatments involving chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, do a search for “Doctor Zev Zelenko.” Or to make it easier for you, here’s his letter to medical professionals aroiund the world. He claims to have treated almost 400 patients with no intubation, no hospitalisation, no deaths. Except for one patient who did die, but that was because her refused to follow the regimen.

    My [Zelenko’s] outpatient treatment regimen is as follows:
    1. Hydroxychloroquine 200mg twice a day for 5 days
    2. Azithromycin 500mg once a day for 5 days
    3. Zinc sulfate 220mg once a day for 5 days.

    Zelenko says treatment must start not too early, not too late. I need to do more research.

    Other MDs are coming on board.

    But Big Pharma will ignore this. No profit in it. (Cynical, who’s cynical?)

    #56796
    kimyo99
    Participant

    First of all, that one smacks of the hoary conspiracy theory that Bilderberger bankers (Jews especially) are scheming to take over the world – yet these supposedly hyper-clever “puppet-masters” are proving that they can’t even run the banks and their own financial ops,

    the puppet-masters just got bailed out to the tune of 4 trillion bucks or so. i’m not arguing that they’re hyper-clever, but the pandemic has certainly been good to them so far.

    disappointing that jim felt the need to resort to accusations of anti-semitism. do you believe that globalists are using covid19 to increase control and reduce freedoms? then you must hate jews.

    #56797
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Nothing wrong with a rehash.
    On this blog before:
    1. Plaquenil
    2. Zpak
    3. Zicam
    4. +/- Proventil inhaler
    5. Medrol Dosepak +/-

    And a WAG, (wild ass guess), they already got monoclonal antibody therapy for it and even WAGGIER, it’s based on ARF6, ADP ribosylation factor coupling. And you/we ain’t candidates for it or the $6 5 trillion dollar bailout ‘coz VIP authoritarianism

    Here’s the basis for CQ or plaquenil (HCQ) vis a vis 2002 SARS

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1232869/

    #56798
    ₿oogaloo
    Participant

    neoh, regarding the 59-80%, understood.

    Regarding the party line of fear, I could not disagree with you more. I see a huge difference between a pandemic disease and the boogeyman of terrorism. Disease is a real threat. Terrorism is not and never was. I loathe the Patriot Act and the deep state behind it, and I see that as an example of an illegitimate power grab. But in a pandemic, you need a strong, competent, temporary hammer to stay ahead of the disease.

    Regarding the economic consequences, yes it is true that there are no easy choices in a pandemic. But historical data from the 1918 pandemic shows that the economic recovery was stronger in places where measures were harsher and the people stayed healthier. I think we need to turn our attention to what the system will look like when we come out on the other side of this. Charles Hughes Smith had a good column today with the lead in:

    What’s remarkable about the lockdown isn’t the hue and cry about the economic damage–it’s the absence of any critical curiosity as to how our economy became so fragile that only the wealthiest contingent can survive a few weeks on savings or rainy-day funds.”

    I agree with that. Similarly, Alastaire Crooke had a good piece at Strategic Culture that closed with this:

    The mask is off: Is this the point of inflection for the global order, when the western hyper-financialised system is unable to reform itself, refuses to reform itself – and yet is unable to sustain itself, as it once was? Will the system – so busily engaged in looking after itself – even notice that the world doesn’t believe in it anymore, not even one jot?

    Eyes Wide Open: Will the ‘Masters of the Universe’ Notice No One Takes Them Seriously Anymore?

    In my view the present system is not worth saving in its current form. Americans need a new and better system. They should not be clamoring to be let out of lockdown so that they can put their lives at risk for a minimum wage job with no benefits while the elites are paid 100 cents on the dollar to cover their losses.

    #56799
    VietnamVet
    Participant

    To me it is self-evident that there was until the first months of 2020 a Western Empire, run to the benefit of the rich to explicitly exploit humans and the environment. This is a nutjob conspiracy theory to the 10% Corporate Democrats beneficiaries. The 33% Trumpeter Deplorables blame liberals and mainstream media.

    The truth is that incompetents including 5 Supreme Court Judges forced the Wisconsin primary to proceed today in the middle of a pandemic which will infect a number of poll workers and voters. Some of whom could die. The prudent lost their right to vote.

    Robert Redfield traveled through the medical, military and government revolving door to become director of CDC although his work on a HIV vaccine as an Army Colonel failed. His response to the Wuhan epidemic is a debacle. The failure to develop a quick and valid test to track the pandemic and identify asymptomatic and ill virus spreaders is the direct cause of 10,871 American deaths.

    Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigned today after earlier telling the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt that their former commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, was either “too naive or too stupid” to be in command by intentionally leaking a memo in which he warned about coronavirus spreading aboard the aircraft carrier and urged action to save his sailors. Placing readiness above the safety of the troops is another sign of the stupid incompetence of the corporate state. When a coronavirus outbreak is let loose on a population with no immunity, 15% to 20% will need hospitalization. That is near the causality rate of a major battle.

    The prime directive of the corporate state is profits before human lives. COVID-19 Pandemic terminated this global empire. 2020 is a fork in the road. A humane sustainable society and effective democratic constitutional government must be restored. If not, the West will collapse into a new feudal dark age.

    #56800
    zerosum
    Participant

    VietnamVet

    You gave all the reason why I was saying, “Bring the troops home.”
    The troops were defeated by spitting.

    #56801
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    @vietnamvet

    All true, accurate etc.
    Modly’s cool, public, unemotional evisceration of fellow Boat School alumnus Crozier is textbook psychopathy.
    However, if we’re at war, then Crozier’s lamentations about his crew take backseat to mission. And you sir, just made the case that U.S. corporate behavior is war-like and solidifies the inter-penetration of private sector with democratic government. The latter has led to the demise of the public health

    #56802
    sumac.carol
    Participant

    Small organic farmers in Canada are being absolutely devastated by covid-19 – many farmer’s markets have been closed or have very stringent conditions for remaining
    open. Of course this is in addition to ongoing challenges related to roller coaster weather over the past few years, high input costs and squeezed margins. At the end of this it is questionable how many will still be around.

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