Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/26/2020

The official death toll in China from the Wuhan Coronavirus has risen to 80, with 3,000 officially confirmed cases. A third case of the disease has appeared in the USA, in Phoenix, Arizona. Three possible instances are being investigated here in Virginia. Health officials are concerned by indications that the coronavirus may be spread via the mucus membranes of the eyes.

In other news, Matteo Salvini’s party the Lega was narrowly beaten by the Parti Democratica in regional elections in Emilia-Romagna.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Swedish Bank Predicts More Unemployment Increases in Sweden
» World Economic Forum Debuts Framework for Central Bank Digital Currency
 
USA
» “Extraordinary Oddity” — Half of All Manhattan’s New Luxury Condos Sit Unsold
» A Coronavirus Case Has Been Confirmed in Maricopa County. Here’s What We Know So Far
» Another Obama Solar Company Burns Out — DC Solar Owners Plead Guilty to Largest Ponzi Scheme in Eastern California History
» Democrats on House Impeachment Team Voted Against the Aid Package for Ukraine They Want to Impeach Trump Over (Video)
» Did an Anti-Gun Activist Stage a ‘Death Threat’ For Twitter?
» Donald Trump’s America
» FBI Probes Allegations of ‘Deep-Rooted’ Academic Fraud in NYC Schools
» Google — A Dictator Unlike Anything the World Has Ever Known
» GOP Lawmakers: White House Lawyers ‘Shredded’ Dems’ Flimsy Impeachment Case
» Protestors in Los Angeles Force ICANN Board Out of Hiding Over .org Sale — For a Brief Moment, At Least
» U. Of Missouri Closes Confucius Institute After Criticism From State Department
» Updated: 3 Million Viewers Flee Big Three’s Impeachment Coverage
 
Canada
» Bio-Warfare Experts Question Why Canada Was Sending Lethal Viruses to China
» Canada Has Confirmed Its First Wuhan Coronavirus Case in Toronto
» Canadian Patient With China Virus Showed Symptoms on Plane: Officials
» Did China Steal Coronavirus From Canada and Weaponize it?
» July 2019: Chinese Researcher Escorted From Canadian Infectious Disease Lab Amid RCMP Investigation
 
Europe and the EU
» Australia Day Protested as ‘Invasion Day’ By Aboriginals and Anti-Patriots
» ‘Country’s Finished’ — Hugh Grant Brands Brexit ‘A Catastrophe’
» Hungary Sounds Alarm Over Soros Plan for Billion-Dollar Global University Network
» Italy: Antitrust Files Noncompliance Procedure Against Facebook
» Pope Francis Blasts Fake News and ‘Hateful Messages’
» Salvini Seeks to Topple Government in Key Regional Poll
» Salvini Faces Setback in Italian Regional Election
» Sweden and Its Welfare State in Crisis
» Swedish Apartment Rocked by Bombing Was ‘Luxury Drug Centre’
» UK: London Police Deploy Advanced Facial-Recognition Cameras Across City
 
Middle East
» 34 U.S. Soldiers Diagnosed With Brain Injuries Following Iran’s Airstrike
» Turkey Moves Toward Passage of Controversial “Marry Your Rapist” Law
 
Far East
» “This Time I’m Petrified”: Virologist Who Helped Discover Sars Offers Chilling Take on the Coronavirus
» 56 Million Quarantined in China as Evidence Mounts Communist Govt Covering Up True Death Toll & Scale of Pandemic
» Coronavirus Kills Man in Shanghai as China Confirms Nearly 2,000 Cases
» Coronavirus Death Toll Rockets to Eighty With 24 New Fatalities Reported at the Outbreak’s Epicentre in Wuhan and Nearly 400 New Cases as Experts Warn it Can Spread Before Symptoms Show
» Coronavirus: Death Toll Rises to 80 as China Extends Holiday
» Coronavirus ‘Whistleblower’ Nurse Says China Has 90,000 Sick
» Doctors Warn China Coronavirus Carriers May Show No Symptoms of Illness
» Doctor at Hospital in Wuhan Dies After Treating Patients With Coronavirus
» Hong Kong Protesters Firebomb Proposed Quarantine Building Amid Coronavirus Outbreak: Reports
» Mayor of Wuhan, Epicenter of Coronavirus Outbreak, Says 5 Million People Left the City Before Travel Restrictions Were Imposed
» New Research Casts Doubt Coronavirus Epidemic Started at Wuhan Food Market
» Three Potential Cases of Coronavirus Being Investigated in Virginia; Two in Central Area
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia Declares Four Confirmed Cases of Wuhan Coronavirus
» Female Chinese Student, 21, Is Likely to be the Fifth Case of Deadly Coronavirus in Australia — as Authorities Scramble to Evacuate 100 Aussie Kids Trapped in ‘Ground Zero’
» Former Head of World Health Organisation’s Health Emergencies Programme Has Died Suddenly
» ‘Why Celebrate on a Day That Marks Such Pain, Sorrow and Deep Loss?’ Chris Hemsworth Calls for Australia Day to be Moved to a Different Date
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Cruelty to Animals Gets More Media Coverage Than Beheaded Christians
 
Latin America
» Bolsonaro’s Popularity Jumps as Brazil Economy Improves, Crime Drops
» India and Brazil Sign Over a Dozen Trade Treaties as Bolsonaro Makes First Visit to New Delhi
 
Immigration
» French Parliament Report: Migration Net Neutral for Economy, Not Positive
» Syrian Refugee Arrested in French Anti-Terror Operation
 
Culture Wars
» Calls for Reparations Hit Notre Dame Amid Allegations of Harm, Oppression Against Blacks, Native Americans
» George Soros’ $1 Billion Pledge to Fight ‘Nationalism’ Proves He Will Continue His Political Battles From Beyond the Grave
» Harvard Student Demands You Stop Making Fun of Her Field of Study
» Planned Parenthood Video Journalist: California ‘Coordinated Attack on Civil Liberties of Pro-Life Americans’
» Sweden: Police Struggle to Find Recruits as Govt Demands Diversity Hires
 

Swedish Bank Predicts More Unemployment Increases in Sweden

Swedish bank Handelsbanken says Sweden’s economy has signs of weak growth and the unemployment rate has increased compared to other European Union member-states.

Handelsbanken chief economist Christina Nyman stated in a press release that the Swedish economy grew by just one per cent in 2019, that she expected the economy would continue to perform poorly this year, and that unemployment would also continue to rise.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

World Economic Forum Debuts Framework for Central Bank Digital Currency

The World Economic Forum (WEF) — together with some of the world’s major central banks — has created a central bank digital currency (CBDC) policymaker toolkit.

According to an announcement on Jan. 22, the toolkit is the WEF’s attempt to help policy-makers understand whether deploying a CBDC would be advantageous and guide them through its design.

The WEF collaborated with regulators, central bank researchers, international organizations and experts from over 40 institutions to develop the framework. The head of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) at the World Economic Forum Sheila Warren explained:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

“Extraordinary Oddity” — Half of All Manhattan’s New Luxury Condos Sit Unsold

Nancy Packes Inc., an online real estate data services covering the five boroughs of New York City and all residential transactions, reports that nearly half of all new condo units built after 2015 in Manhattan, or about 3,695 of 7,727 apartments, remain unsold.

Despite trillions of dollars printed by global central banks and hundreds of rate cuts since 2015 — Manhattan condos have been unappealing to the wealthy elite and unaffordable to the typical New Yorker.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

A Coronavirus Case Has Been Confirmed in Maricopa County. Here’s What We Know So Far

The deadly virus that has prompted China to issue a travel ban to roughly 35 million people has hit Phoenix. On Sunday, the Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed that “a member of the Arizona State University community” has been diagnosed with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.

It is the fifth confirmed case of the virus in the United States. The ASU member does not live in university housing, is not severely ill, and is currently in isolation to keep the disease from spreading, ADHS said. The infected person had recently returned from traveling to Wuhan, China, which is where the viral outbreak began.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Another Obama Solar Company Burns Out — DC Solar Owners Plead Guilty to Largest Ponzi Scheme in Eastern California History

Another Obama solar initiative bites the dust, but not until after stealing millions from individuals, companies and the US government.

This solar project turned into the largest Ponzi scheme in Eastern California history.

It was reported this week that the owners of a massive solar company turned ponzi scheme were indicted this week in Eastern California. According to the DOJ in Eastern California:

The owners of DC Solar, a Benicia-based company, pleaded guilty today to charges related to a billion dollar Ponzi scheme— the biggest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California. The government’s investigation has resulted in the largest criminal forfeiture in the history of the District with over $120 million in assets forfeited that will go to victims, and has returned $500 million to the United States Treasury, with more to come, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Democrats on House Impeachment Team Voted Against the Aid Package for Ukraine They Want to Impeach Trump Over (Video)

Another Huge Lie from Democrats and their Liberal Media!

The Democrat Party and their colleagues in the liberal mainstream media want to impeach President Trump for not sending lethal aid to the Ukraine quick enough.

President Trump waited 55 days before release taxpayer-funded US aid to the Ukrainian government in 2019. Democrats want you to believe this was a crime or misdemeanor.

Those same Democrats on the House Impeachment Team VOTED AGAINST the aid package to the Ukraine last year!

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Did an Anti-Gun Activist Stage a ‘Death Threat’ For Twitter?

On Saturday, John Hopkins Hospital trauma surgeon Joseph Sakran posted to his Twitter alleging he had received a menacing “death threat” due to his gun-control activism.

The menacing threat, reading “The End is Near…” below a cartoon hand holding a gun, was allegedly found on Dr. Sakran’s car windshield. He posted two photos on Jan. 25 on Twitter. One shows the alleged threat below the wiper blade and one of Sakran holding it in his home.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Donald Trump’s America

No President in the history of the United States has achieved as much in his first three years in his first term in office, as has President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, no President in the history of America has been subjected to such incessant vile and unjustified attacks as has President Trump. Why? Because he believes in American exceptionalism not globalism.

“Make America Great Again.” Just a slogan, the people of failure shout back. The Obama/Biden team had failed us for eight years in every aspect of our lives. To the leftists, failure is not only normal, it is expected.

The list of their failures for the previous administration is so long and glaring that I hardly need to repeat all of them here. Under the previous administration, once well-paid manufacturing jobs had disappeared and were relocated to other countries. President Trump managed to reverse this trend and brought back many manufacturing jobs. Before President Trump at the helm, huge swaths of this nation from northern New York to the great states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and many others, previously vibrant manufacturing regions, looked like ghost towns, but now have come back and people are optimistic about the future of this country.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

FBI Probes Allegations of ‘Deep-Rooted’ Academic Fraud in NYC Schools

The feds have started looking into allegations of widespread academic fraud in New York City schools, a Queens lawmaker says.

City Councilman Robert Holden met this month with officials in the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York after his call for a federal probe of “deep-rooted fraud” in the city Department of Education.

“I’m encouraged by my meeting with the US Attorney. His team is taking this seriously,” Holden told The Post.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Google — A Dictator Unlike Anything the World Has Ever Known

Story at a glance:

Robert Epstein is a Harvard trained psychologist who has exposed how Google is manipulating public opinion through their search engine so they can change the results of elections and many other important areas.

His research shows how Google is using new techniques of manipulation that have never existed before in human history. If this weren’t bad enough, these tools are ephemeral and leave no paper trail of their devious behavior.

According to Epstein’s calculations, Google can shift 15 million votes leading up to the upcoming U.S. presidential 2020 election.

Because Google has become and everyday tool that’s used for more than 90% of searches worldwide, the company has likely determined the outcomes of 25% of the national elections in the world.

Search suggestions — shown in a drop-down menu when you begin to type a search term — is another powerful manipulation tool capable of turning a 50/50 split among undecided voters into a 90/10 split, with no one having the slightest idea that they’ve been manipulated.

“To me, that’s the scariest area,” Epstein says, “because Google is shaping the opinions, thinking, beliefs, attitudes, purchases and votes of billions of people around the world without anyone knowing that they’re doing so … and perhaps even more shocking, without leaving a paper trail for authorities to trace.

They’re using new techniques of manipulation that have never existed before in human history and they are for the most part, subliminal … but they don’t produce tiny shifts.

They produce enormous shifts in people’s thinking, very rapidly. Some of the techniques I’ve discovered are among the largest behavioral effects ever discovered in the behavioral sciences.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

GOP Lawmakers: White House Lawyers ‘Shredded’ Dems’ Flimsy Impeachment Case

Trump defense team ‘dismantled’ Adam Schiff’s narrative in just 2 hours.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Protestors in Los Angeles Force ICANN Board Out of Hiding Over .org Sale — For a Brief Moment, At Least

DNS overseer accepts 35,000-signature petition… and then runs away

It was only going to be one rogue member, then it wasn’t happening at all, and then the entire board of DNS overseer ICANN emerged from the organization’s headquarters into Los Angeles, blinking in the bright sun, to accept a 35,000-signature petition from those opposed the sale of the .org registry.

“We take this very seriously,” chairman of the board Maarten Botterman told those assembled, who numbered just over 20. “We are in discovery phase so we are not going to speculate on where it will go. We have asked for more information.”

All morning the protesters had been standing outside the nondescript building in Playa del Vista, a neighborhood on the west side of the US city, chatting with one another and listening to intermittent speeches from representatives of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), non-profit org NTEN, and internet activist Cory Doctorow.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

U. Of Missouri Closes Confucius Institute After Criticism From State Department

University of Missouri (Mizzou) has announced that it is closing its Confucius Institute after the U.S. Department of State notifying the school that it is no longer allowed to have Chinese instructors teaching Mandarin without the supervision of a Chinese-speaking American.

The University of Missouri at Columbia is closing its Confucius Institute after the U.S. Department of State found that the institution was not in compliance with its policies involving visa practices, according to a report by Inside Higher Ed.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Updated: 3 Million Viewers Flee Big Three’s Impeachment Coverage

The ratings are in for the first day of the Democratic House Managers impeachment arguments in front of the Senate, and the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) collectively lost about three million viewers who would have been expected to watch their normal fare of daytime soap operas.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Bio-Warfare Experts Question Why Canada Was Sending Lethal Viruses to China

In a table-top pandemic exercise at Johns Hopkins University last year, a pathogen based on the emerging Nipah virus was released by fictional extremists, killing 150 million people.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Canada Has Confirmed Its First Wuhan Coronavirus Case in Toronto

Canadian public health officials announced Saturday they had been notified of the country’s first “presumptive” case of coronavirus in a patient who recently flew to Toronto from Wuhan, China.

The officials said at a press conference Saturday evening that the patient was a man in his 50s, who was in stable condition at a Toronto hospital. The man had traveled to Wuhan and recently returned on a flight back to Toronto.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Canadian Patient With China Virus Showed Symptoms on Plane: Officials

(TORONTO) — Canadian officials said Sunday that they are tracking down airline passengers and others who were in close contact with the first person in the country detected with an emerging virus that originated in China.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said the man, who is in his 50’s, had mild symptoms when he flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou, China, and then on to Toronto.

He was admitted to hospital a day after arriving on a China Southern Airlines flight on Thursday. Officials said Saturday that the man was in stable condition in isolation.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Did China Steal Coronavirus From Canada and Weaponize it?

Last year a mysterious shipment was caught smuggling Coronavirus from Canada. It was traced to Chinese agents working at a Canadian lab. Subsequent investigation by GreatGameIndia linked the agents to Chinese Biological Warfare Program from where the virus is suspected to have leaked causing the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak…

Coronavirus arrived at Canada’s NML Winnipeg facility on May 4, 2013 from the Dutch lab. The Canadian lab grew up stocks of the virus and used it to assess diagnostic tests being used in Canada. Winnipeg scientists worked to see which animal species can be infected with the new virus.

Research was done in conjunction with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s national lab, the National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases which is housed in the same complex as the National Microbiology Laboratory.

NML has a long history of offering comprehensive testing services for coronaviruses. It isolated and provided the first genome sequence of the SARS coronavirus and identified another coronavirus NL63 in 2004.

In March 2019, in mysterious event a shipment of exceptionally virulent viruses from Canada’s NML ended up in China. The event caused a major scandal with Bio-warfare experts questioning why Canada was sending lethal viruses to China. Scientists from NML said the highly lethal viruses were a potential bio-weapon.

Following investigation, the incident was traced to Chinese agents working at NML. Four months later in July 2019, a group of Chinese virologists were forcibly dispatched from the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory (NML). The NML is Canada’s only level-4 facility and one of only a few in North America equipped to handle the world’s deadliest diseases, including Ebola, SARS, Coronavirus, etc.

[Comment: Certainly looks like China did just that…recommended reading.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

July 2019: Chinese Researcher Escorted From Canadian Infectious Disease Lab Amid RCMP Investigation

A researcher with ties to China was recently escorted out of the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg amid an RCMP investigation into what’s being described as a possible “policy breach.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Australia Day Protested as ‘Invasion Day’ By Aboriginals and Anti-Patriots

(AFP) — Thousands of people joined “Invasion Day” protests in cities across Australia on Sunday to mark the beginning of British colonisation of the vast continent.

January 26 is officially recognised as Australia Day, a public holiday to celebrate the origins of the modern nation and is commemorated with fireworks, concerts and citizenship ceremonies.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

‘Country’s Finished’ — Hugh Grant Brands Brexit ‘A Catastrophe’

Actor and anti-Brexit campaigner Hugh Grant believes Britain is “finished” after Boris Johnson’s election win ensured Britain’s departure from the European Union.

“I know that a few weeks ago you were campaigning,” an interviewer from the Associated Press asked Grant as part of his media tour for The Gentlemen.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary Sounds Alarm Over Soros Plan for Billion-Dollar Global University Network

The Hungarian government is sounding alarm bells over open border activist George Soros’s plans to construct a billion-dollar global university network.

Soros, an 89-year-old financial speculator and convicted insider trader who has poured a fortune into globalist causes around the world — including the campaign against Brexit in the United Kingdom — announced his new Open Society University Network would be the “most important and enduring project of my life” in Davos, Switzerland, during the elitist World Economic Forum summit.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Antitrust Files Noncompliance Procedure Against Facebook

Case regards lack of information on data use

(ANSA) — Rome, January 24 — Italy’s antitrust authority on Friday started a procedure against Facebook for failing to comply with recommendations filed by the authority on November 29, 2018 over deceptive information on data use.

The watchdog said in a statement that it established that Facebook failed to give adequate information about the collection and commercial use of data when users registered on the social network.

The authority said the lack of information persists and Facebook has not published a statement to rectify the situation.

The antitrust’s procedure against Facebook could lead to a fine of up to five million euros.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Francis Blasts Fake News and ‘Hateful Messages’

Francis’s Message for World Day of Social Communication released

(ANSA) — Vatican New, January 24 — Pope Francis blasted fake news and the use of messages of hate in his Message for World Day of Social Communication. “Often on communication platforms, instead of constructive stories which serve to strengthen social ties and the cultural fabric, we find destructive and provocative stories that wear down and break the fragile threads binding us together as a society,” the pope said. “By patching together bits of unverified information, repeating banal and deceptively persuasive arguments, sending strident and hateful messages, we do not help to weave human history, but instead strip others of their dignity.

“In an age when falsification is increasingly sophisticated, reaching exponential levels (as in deepfake), we need wisdom to be able to welcome and create beautiful, true and good stories. “We need courage to reject false and evil stories.

“We need patience and discernment to rediscover stories that help us not to lose the thread amid today’s many troubles. “We need stories that reveal who we truly are, also in the untold heroism of everyday life”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Salvini Seeks to Topple Government in Key Regional Poll

Italians vote Sunday in a key regional election which the far-right hopes will shake the country’s fragile coalition government to its core and return strongman Matteo Salvini to power.

The wealthy centre-north region of Emilia Romagna has been a stronghold of the Italian left for over 70 years, but while left-wing values still hold sway in its cities, the right has been rallying serious support in towns and the countryside.

The last polls published before the pre-election media blackout showed the anti-immigrant League neck-and-neck with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which governs Italy in coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S)…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Salvini Faces Setback in Italian Regional Election

Italy’s far-right firebrand Matteo Salvini is facing a setback after his League Party looks set to be beaten by the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) in a closely watched election in the country’s north.

The left has governed Emilia-Romagna since the end of World War Two.

Mr Salvini focused on the area ahead of Sunday’s local election.

But an exit poll for state television is showing a narrow win for the PD, taking between 49% and 51% of the vote.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden and Its Welfare State in Crisis

The Swedish welfare state has often been praised by the left in the United States. After the migration crisis of 2015, however, when Sweden was flooded by Syrian refugee claimants, Sweden is now facing a welfare crisis that threatens the entire Swedish welfare state model.

Sweden had 9.7 million inhabitants in 2015, before it received 162,000 asylum seekers. 70% of those asylum seekers came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. 70% of those asylum seekers were also men. The migration crisis created an unsustainable financial and social situation that caused the Swedish political establishment to rethink its stance on asylum migration, which, until then, had been extremely liberal.

Asylum migration has continued, nevertheless. Between 2016 and 2018, more than 70,000 additional migrants have applied for asylum in Sweden, and more than 105,000 asylum migrants have been granted asylum.

There is a demographic impact from migration that affects Sweden’s national and cultural identity, as well as the crushing economic impact on Sweden’s welfare state.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Apartment Rocked by Bombing Was ‘Luxury Drug Centre’

Earlier this month an apartment in Östermalm was rocked by a large explosion. Now investigators claim the residence was used as a centre to distribute illegal drugs to wealthy clients.

The apartment, which is located in an expensive and fashionable area, is said to be one of many such “exclusive addresses” used to sell drugs to more elite clients, Swedish newspaper Expressen reports.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

UK: London Police Deploy Advanced Facial-Recognition Cameras Across City

Beijing has already allowed the world a glimpse of the lengths that an authoritarian state armed with digital surveillance technology will go to stamp out any and all behavior deemed “undesirable” — even if it’s as mundane and harmless as wearing pajamas in public.

And as the New York Times showed us last week, democratic governments and private corporations in the West already have access to similar technology that would allow them to identify people in real-time. On the heels of the backlash to the NYT report on ClearView (a purveyor of advanced surveillance technology), the London Metropolitan Police announced on Friday that it plans to start using facial recognition technology in the city to identify people on the street in real-time.

The NYT adds that the decision is “a major development in the use of a technology that has set off a worldwide debate about the balance between security and privacy. Police departments contend that the software gives them a technological edge to catch criminals that may otherwise avoid detection.”

Of course, “critics say the technology is an invasion of privacy and is being rolled out without adequate public discussion.”

Already, the UK has been far more aggressive than the US in adopting facial recognition technology. Britons know that they can be fined if they try to avoid cameras in some situations. While most of the population has accepted this with little resistance, a few have risen up in protest.

In many cities and towns, CCTV cameras line the streets But the tech that London plans to deploy goes well beyond simply recording everything and anything: The new system will be able to match photos scraped into a database of UK citizens and non-citizen residents with people walking on the street — allowing police to instantly identify people who, say, have committed a petty crime or attended a controversial protest.

The system, created by an obscure company called NEC, aims to identify people on a government watchlist in real time, so that their movements can be easily tracked.

[Comment: Moeny would have been better spent on bobbies (police) patroling the streets of London.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

34 U.S. Soldiers Diagnosed With Brain Injuries Following Iran’s Airstrike

The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson noted that thirty-four U.S. soldiers have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries after Iranian airstrikes were directed at the Ain al-Asad Air Base located in Iraq. There were no casualties involved in the airstrike.

The strikes came on January 8 following Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s death. Multiple ballistic missiles were fired towards two of the U.S. air bases in Iraq as a response to the U.S. killing the military commander.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey Moves Toward Passage of Controversial “Marry Your Rapist” Law

We have often discussed the struggle of women in Muslim countries in resisting religious-based requirements for coverings and limitations on their movements and interactions. Turkey was once the exception among these countries as a secular, modern nation. That was before the rise of Islamic parties under the authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey under Erdogan has already rolled back on protections for girls and women in abuse cases.

Now the country is considering a horrific law aptly called the “marry-your-rapist” bill.

Under this legislation, men accused of having sex with underaged girls could avoid punishment if they marry their victims.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

“This Time I’m Petrified”: Virologist Who Helped Discover Sars Offers Chilling Take on the Coronavirus

If you’ve been reading the news about the deadly coronavirus that is sweeping China (and nearly 10 additional countries), you’ve likely heard it being compared to the 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS that killed over 800 people.

No problem, right? We survived SARS, so we’ll survive this new outbreak, right?

Not quite. One of the virologists who discovered SARS — which also originated from a coronavirus in China — paints a far more grim tale of the latest outbreak compared to what took place in 2003, according to Yahoo News…

“A bigger outbreak is certain,” said Guan Yi, a virologist who helped identify severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003.

He estimated — “conservatively,” he said — that this outbreak could be 10 times bigger than the SARS epidemic because that virus was transmitted by only a few “super spreaders” in a more defined part of the country.

“We have passed through the ‘golden period’ for prevention and control,” he told Caixin magazine from self-imposed quarantine after visiting Wuhan. “What’s more, we’ve got the holiday traffic rush and a dereliction of duty from certain officials.”

And if that wasn’t enough to send a chill down your spine, just check out what else he had to say…

“I’ve seen it all: bird flu, SARS, influenza A, swine fever and the rest. But the Wuhan pneumonia makes me feel extremely powerless,” he told Caixin.

“Most of the past epidemics were controllable, but this time, I’m petrified.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

56 Million Quarantined in China as Evidence Mounts Communist Govt Covering Up True Death Toll & Scale of Pandemic

Hundreds of videos of people dropping dead, doctors reporting mass deaths, armored vehicles and troops deployed.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus Kills Man in Shanghai as China Confirms Nearly 2,000 Cases

In such a densely populated city, it’d be difficult to imagine a virus with this much infectious potential would spread like wildfire.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus Death Toll Rockets to Eighty With 24 New Fatalities Reported at the Outbreak’s Epicentre in Wuhan and Nearly 400 New Cases as Experts Warn it Can Spread Before Symptoms Show

More than 2,000 people have now been infected worldwide and 80 have been killed in China, as health minister Ma Xiaowei said ‘it seems like the ability of the virus to spread is getting stronger’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus: Death Toll Rises to 80 as China Extends Holiday

The number of people killed in China by the coronavirus has risen to 80, with almost 3,000 confirmed ill.

The national new year holiday has been extended by three days to Sunday, in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

Wuhan in Hubei, the source of the outbreak, is in lockdown and several cities have imposed travel bans.

Health commission officials said on Monday that the number of deaths in Hubei province had climbed from 56 to 76, with four deaths elsewhere.

The overall number of confirmed cases in China is 2,744. State media say more than 300 are critically ill.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus ‘Whistleblower’ Nurse Says China Has 90,000 Sick

The coronavirus now has a whistleblower — a nurse in Wuhan who insists in a shocking online video that close to 90,000 people in China have the disease, far more than the 1,975 reported by officials.

“I am in the area where the coronavirus started,” her video begins. Wuhan is the epicenter of the outbreak.

“I’m here to tell the truth,” the anonymous nurse says in the video, which shows her wearing a full-head face mask.

“At this moment, Hubei province, including the Wuhan area, even China, 90,000 people have been infected by a coronavirus.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Doctors Warn China Coronavirus Carriers May Show No Symptoms of Illness

New research on the Wuhan coronavirus has found the virus may be present in the lungs of individuals with no obvious symptoms, making strict quarantine and contact-tracing regimes crucial to preventing the number of cases from reaching the scale of the 2003 Sars outbreak.

Without close surveillance, these patients — described by researchers as “cryptic cases of walking pneumonia” — could prove to be yet another factor in the dangerous trajectory of the Wuhan virus, with the number of infections and countries affected rising rapidly.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Doctor at Hospital in Wuhan Dies After Treating Patients With Coronavirus

A doctor working at a hospital in Wuhan, China — treating patients stricken with the coronavirus — died Saturday morning.

Liang Wudong, 62, died after he was infected with Wuhan coronavirus.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hong Kong Protesters Firebomb Proposed Quarantine Building Amid Coronavirus Outbreak: Reports

A group of masked protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday ignited a firebomb inside a newly built residential building the government had planned to use as a quarantine zone for those infected by the recent outbreak of the coronavirus, according to reports.

About 200 protesters had gathered in Wah Ming Road leading up to the recently built but vacant Fai Ming Estate located in Hong Kong’s Fanling District, South China Morning Postreported. Several protesters wearing black masks ran into the public housing unit and ignited a Molotov cocktail before running out of the building, Reuters reported. Clouds of black smoke were then seen coming out of the unit. Fire alarms went off. Some windows also had been smashed, according to Reuters. Videos surfaced online showing protesters in black protective masks fleeing the fiery scene.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Mayor of Wuhan, Epicenter of Coronavirus Outbreak, Says 5 Million People Left the City Before Travel Restrictions Were Imposed

As a third case of the coronavirus was confirmed in the U.S. on Saturday, the mayor of Wuhan warned that the world should expect infections to keep climbing.

On Sunday, Zhou Xianwang, the Mayor of Wuhan, said that 5 million people had left the city before travel restrictions were imposed ahead of the Chinese New Year. He said he expected at least 1,000 of some 3,000 suspected cases to be diagnosed with the highly-contagious virus.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

New Research Casts Doubt Coronavirus Epidemic Started at Wuhan Food Market

They determined the first patient had no links to a shady seafood market selling live snakes and bats for human consumption.

[Comment: Food Market angle was a fradulent psyop story. Wuhan has a bio-research facility researching corono virus (like SARS) and ebola — that facility was likely the source of the outbreak.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Three Potential Cases of Coronavirus Being Investigated in Virginia; Two in Central Area

RICHMOND, Va. (WSET) — The Virginia Department of Health said health officials statewide are monitoring developments surrounding the outbreak of the new pneumonia-like virus from China, with multiple people in Virginia being monitored for symptoms.

The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and pneumonia. It is a member of the coronavirus family that’s a close cousin to the deadly SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past.

VDH said this is a rapidly evolving situation and they have developed a new web page to provide updates to Virginians about the virus. This web page provides important information about the outbreak and offers resources for healthcare providers.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Australia Declares Four Confirmed Cases of Wuhan Coronavirus

Australia confirmed on Saturday (Jan 25) its first four cases of the new coronavirus that has claimed 41 lives in China, becoming the latest country in a growing list to be affected by the illness.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Female Chinese Student, 21, Is Likely to be the Fifth Case of Deadly Coronavirus in Australia — as Authorities Scramble to Evacuate 100 Aussie Kids Trapped in ‘Ground Zero’

A 21-year-old Chinese student is likely to become the fifth person in Australia to be infected by the deadly coronavirus, health authorities say.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Former Head of World Health Organisation’s Health Emergencies Programme Has Died Suddenly

A prominent Australian doctor who led the World Health Organisation’s Health Emergencies Programme has died suddenly.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Why Celebrate on a Day That Marks Such Pain, Sorrow and Deep Loss?’ Chris Hemsworth Calls for Australia Day to be Moved to a Different Date

Chris Hemsworth has called for Australia Day, which occurs on January 26, to be moved to a different date.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Cruelty to Animals Gets More Media Coverage Than Beheaded Christians

First there was the beheading of 11 Nigerian Christians during the recent Christmas celebration. The next day, a Catholic woman, Martha Bulus, was beheaded in the Nigerian state of Borno with her bridesmaids, five days before the wedding. Then there was a raid on the village of Gora-Gan in the Nigerian state of Kaduna, where terrorists shot anyone they met in the square where the evangelical community had gathered, killing two young Christian women. There was also a Christian student killed by Islamic extremists who recorded his execution. Then pastor Lawan Andimi, a local leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria, was beheaded.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Bolsonaro’s Popularity Jumps as Brazil Economy Improves, Crime Drops

BRASILIA (Reuters) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s approval rating has surged, thanks to an improving economy and his government’s efforts to fight corruption and make Brazil’s cities safer, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

India and Brazil Sign Over a Dozen Trade Treaties as Bolsonaro Makes First Visit to New Delhi

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s first meeting with India’s Narendra Modi appears to have boosted economic ties between the two emerging powers, which signed a trove of trade and investment agreements on Saturday.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

French Parliament Report: Migration Net Neutral for Economy, Not Positive

A French parliamentary report has suggested that mass migration into France does not actually help boost the economy, as frequently claimed, but is only net neutral.

The report, released by Pierre-Henri Dumont of the Republicans and Stéphanie Do of President Emmanuel Macron’s Le Republique En Marche! (LREM) party, has concluded that due to the low skill level of so many migrants, mass migration has not benefited the French economy, Le Figaro reports.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Syrian Refugee Arrested in French Anti-Terror Operation

A Syrian granted refugee status was among the seven individuals arrested in the French city of Brest on allegations the group was plotting radical Islamic terror attacks.

The Syrian is said to be in his 30s and arrived in France during the height of the European migrant crisis in 2015 using a Palestinian passport. He was granted refugee status after just a few months in the country, Ouest France reports.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Calls for Reparations Hit Notre Dame Amid Allegations of Harm, Oppression Against Blacks, Native Americans

A forum Wednesday at the University of Notre Dame featured panelists who urged the university to pay reparations to blacks and Native Americans.

Panelist Savanna Morgan, a senior at Notre Dame, said black and indigenous communities have a “right” to pursue reparations at Notre Dame. These reparations are “indeed monetary,” she said, adding they are “equally psychological and symbolic.”

Morgan said one of the “appropriate remedies” for Notre Dame is “taking our $13.8 billion endowment out of this one mile radius and sharing this wealth with the people Notre Dame has historically robbed of their right to a safe and secure life.”

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

George Soros’ $1 Billion Pledge to Fight ‘Nationalism’ Proves He Will Continue His Political Battles From Beyond the Grave

Funding network to promote globalism ‘the most important project of my life,’ he says.

[Comment: Quite possibly the most evil man in the world.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Harvard Student Demands You Stop Making Fun of Her Field of Study

A student at Harvard University took to the pages of the student paper, The Crimson, to inform those willing to listen that they need to “stop criticizing [her] concentration choice.”

Freshman Orlee G. S. Marini-Rapoport jointly studies History & Literature, and Studies of Women, Gender, & Sexuality. People have opinions about this major, you see.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

Planned Parenthood Video Journalist: California ‘Coordinated Attack on Civil Liberties of Pro-Life Americans’

The man who led the undercover effort to expose the fetal tissue sales practices of Planned Parenthood and others in the abortion industry says pro-life Americans are victims of a “coordinated attack” by top-level officials in California.

David Daleiden, project lead at Center for Medical Progress (CMP), told Breitbart News in an interview prior to the March for Life in Washington, DC, Friday, that, in addition to one civil case and one criminal case against him, his legal team is about to appeal a third case from the National Abortion Federation.

Daleiden said the three cases “are really all part of the same conspiracy.”

“Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation and Kamala Harris and the California Attorney General’s office,” he summarized. “All violating our First Amendment civil rights.”

“It has to stop and, hopefully, the appeals courts are going to put a stop to it,” he continued. “We didn’t do anything different than what regular, local news reporters do on a daily basis in California and everywhere else when they record and publish undercover video.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Police Struggle to Find Recruits as Govt Demands Diversity Hires

The Swedish government has said it wants to greatly expand the number of police across the country but a recent report has suggested hundreds of recruitment places remain unfilled.

The government has promised to increase the size of the police force by 10,000 by 2024 but is already running into problems with 400 places remaining empty this semester in the country’s police training courses, broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports.

           — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]
 

15 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/26/2020

  1. Concerning Wuhan corona virus and pending events:
    https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

    Stanford University writes as follows in what must be White Racist Supremacist mode:-))) without any apparent sense of irony, (given the US Immigration Act of 1965 and similar One Worldism elsewhere 1965-2020 that may hopefully not have destroyed ethnic cohesion during a pandemic threat):

    “In 1918-19 this deadly influenza pandemic erupted during the final stages of World War I…… Nationalism pervaded as people accepted government authority. This allowed the public health departments to easily step in and implement their restrictive measures……..These conditions created by World War I, together with the current social attitudes and ideas, led to the relatively calm response of the public and application of scientific ideas. People allowed for strict measures and loss of freedom during the war as they submitted to the needs of the nation ahead of their personal needs. They had accepted the limitations placed with rationing and drafting.”

  2. Re: “34 US soldiers diagnosed with brain injuries following Iran’s airstrike…” “There were no casualties involved…”

    I may be a Bear of Little Brain, but I spot a contradiction here, and the link is no more enlightening.

  3. From my most recent cut abruptly short ‘grand tour’ it is obvious that this is what the Muslims are doing with impunity to Whitey everywhere – just for beginners. Erupt in rage and clean house – or else. Oh almost forgot. I imagine. Metaphorically spewing.

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