Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/13/2020

President Trump declared a national emergency due to the Wuhan Coronavirus, which will allow Congress to massively increase spending on behalf of favored groups. Meanwhile, the death total in Italy for the disease jumped by 25% in a single day. Also, the Canadian parliament has closed down due to the coronavirus. And leftists are ecstatic over the possibility that Donald Trump may have contracted it.

In other news, two Irishmen were arrested for smuggling “Asians” into the UK.

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

Thanks to Caroline Glick, Dean, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JM, 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
» Here Are 18 Breathtaking Facts About the Stock Market Crash of 2020, And Experts Are Warning This is Far From Over
» Stocks Surge as Trump Announces New Virus Measures; Dow Up Over 9%
» The Fed’s Baffling Response to the Coronavirus Explained
 
USA
» 2-Year-Old Taken From Parents for Using Medical Marijuana, Murdered in Foster Care
» Biden Herded Into Car After Nonsensical ‘Sanders is Joining Trump’ Statement
» Brentwood Woman Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Aiding ISIS
» CNN’s Andrew Gillum Found ‘Inebriated’ In Miami Beach Hotel Room; Cops Recover Meth
» Delingpole: Trump Was Right to Shut the Gates on Plague Pit Europe
» Exclusive Video: Evita Duffy Doubles Down Amid Threats From Socialist Sympathizers
» Firearm Manufacturer Gifts “AR-14” To Worker Threatened by Biden
» First Point of Joe Biden’s Coronavirus Action Plan is to Stop “Racism”
» Florida Man Friday: Gillum as Charged
» House Democrats Refuse to Classify Antifa as a Domestic Terrorism Group
» Houston Mayor Decries Panic Buying: “The World is Not Coming to an End”
» Leftists Ecstatic That Trump Could Have Coronavirus
» Less Than One Percent of Donations Made by Yale Trustees Have Gone to Republicans
» Masters Tournament Postponed Indefinitely as Coronavirus Spreads
» Michael Avenatti Held in ‘Rat-Infested’ Cell That ‘Reeks of Urine’: Report
» Mini-Doc “Fleeing California” Exposes Failed Democrat Policies
» Smollett Case Roils the Race for Cook County State’s Attorney
» Speculation That Trump Has Coronavirus Rages Again After Press Conference
» Tammy Duckworth, Doug Jones Praise Trump’s E.U. Travel Ban: ‘it’s a Wise Move’
» The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic: The Real Danger is “Agenda Id2020”
» Trump Declares National Emergency Over Coronavirus, Says ‘We Will Overcome the Threat’
» Trump Declares National Emergency Over Coronavirus
» Trump Declares Virus Pandemic a National Emergency
» Trump Says He May Institute Domestic Travel Bans
» Tucker: The Media Has Sided With Communist China to Blame America for the Coronavirus
» ‘Unfixable’ Boot Rom Security Flaw in Millions of Intel Chips
» White House Officials Allege Speaker Pelosi Pushed to Include Hyde Amendment Loophole Into Coronavirus Stimulus Plan
» White House Reportedly Considering Executive Order to Reduce Dependence on Chinese Medical Supplies
 
Canada
» Canadian Parliament Shuts Down Over Coronavirus Spread Fears
» Trudeau’s Wife Sophie Gregoire Tests Positive for Coronavirus
 
Europe and the EU
» Austria Reintroduces Border Controls With Switzerland
» Chief Scientific Adviser Wants 40 Million Britons — 60 Percent of the Entire Population — to Catch Coronavirus for Herd Immunity to Take Effect
» Coronavirus: Europe Now Epicentre of the Pandemic, Says WHO
» Coronavirus: European Leaders Finally Acknowledge Scale of Crisis
» Coronavirus: London Mayoral Election Suspended for 12 Months
» Denmark and Poland Close Their Borders to All Tourists in Coronavirus Lockdown With Schools, Universities, Shops, And Restaurants Forced to Shut
» Denmark Rushes Through Emergency Coronavirus Law
» Face-to-Face Brexit Talks With EU Cancelled Over Coronavirus
» France: Eiffel Tower and Other Paris Tourist Sites Close Doors Over Coronavirus
» Ghost Town Europe: Remarkable Images Record Empty Squares and Shuttered Businesses
» Health Expert: 60% of Britons Need to Catch Coronavirus to Develop ‘Herd Immunity’
» Hungary Will Close All Schools to Slow Coronavirus — Prime Minister
» Italian Daily Coronavirus Deaths Jump 25% to 1,266
» Italy: 12 Arrested for Navy Kickbacks
» Italy: Coronavirus: 3 Patients Get Better With Arthritis Drug
» Macron Confirms G7 to Hold Leaders’ Summit Via Videoconference Over Coronavirus
» Mayor of Florence Encouraged Italians to “Hug a Chinese” Before Coronavirus Pandemic Hit
» Mohammed Tasnime Akunjee is the Lawyer Behind Tommy’s Lastest Civil Case.
» Pope Francis Questions ‘Drastic Measures’ After Closing All Churches
» Salvini Slams Italian Government, Saying Quarantine Decree Not Enough
» Slovakia Seals Borders Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
» Spain’s Catalonia Requests Regional Lockdown Over Coronavirus
» Spain’s Coronavirus Tally Jumps to 4,209 Cases, 120 Dead
» UK: How the Net Closed on Oxford’s Grooming Gang
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Caroline Glick: What Happened to the Israeli Left?
 
Middle East
» Burial Pits From Iran’s Coronavirus Outbreak Have Grown So Large You Can See Them From Space
» How to Avoid Coronavirus, According to ISIS
 
Russia
» Russia Has Recorded Zero Coronavirus Deaths
» Russia to Limit Flights to and From EU, Switzerland and Norway Over Coronavirus
» Russia’s FSB Busts Crime Network That Forged Papers for More Than 1,000 Migrants
 
South Asia
» A New Addition to the Walkerana Genus
» Coronavirus: Second Death Confirmed in India
 
Far East
» Australian Family Stuck in Wuhan After Travelling to China to Visit Their Grandmother in Coronavirus Epicentre Say They Are Struggling to Survive After Their Centrelink Payments Were Cut Off
» China Hints at Denying Americans Life-Saving Coronavirus Drugs
» Chinese Foreign Ministry Suggests US Army to Blame for Coronavirus Pandemic
» Chinese Official Spreads Conspiracy Theory “US Army” Brought Coronavirus to Wuhan
» Coronavirus: China’s First Confirmed COVID-19 Case Traced Back to November 17
» Coronavirus Can Live in Patients for Up to Five Weeks After They First Fall Ill — More Than Twice as Long as the Recommended 14-Day Isolation Period
» COVID-19 Coronavirus Outbreak
» Gordon G. Chang: China Falsely Blames US for Coronavirus Pandemic
» Leaked Government Records Reveal ‘The First Coronavirus Case Emerged in Hubei in November’ — Two Months Before the Province Went Into Lockdown
» Think Tank Complains “Coronavirus is Killing Globalization as We Know it”
 
Australia — Pacific
» Man Who Went on Deadly Stabbing Rampage Feared ‘ISIS Was Out to Kill Him’
» Revealed: Over 31,000 Chinese Students Have Arrived in Australia Despite the Coronavirus Travel Ban After Spending Time Quarantined in Thailand and Bali
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Saudi Arabia, African States Impose Travel Bans on Europe — No Accusations of Racism
 
Latin America
» Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Says He Tested Negative for the Coronavirus Following Reports That He Tested Positive
» Mexico’s Leftist Leader is Turning Out to be a Disaster
» Mexico is Considering Closing Its Border to Stop Americans Bringing Coronavirus Into Its Country as US Case Count Passes 2,000
 
Immigration
» Bosnia: Six Middle Eastern Migrants Arrested for Raping Underage Girls, Four More for Drug Dealing
» Coronavirus Halts Migrant Transport NGO Activity in Italy
» Europe’s Frontex Sends More Guards to Defend Greece From Migrant Invaders
» Germany’s Largest State Votes Against Accepting More Migrants
» Greece: Invading Migrants Aided by Turkish Police Battled With Huge Fans
» Hundreds of Undocumented Migrants Leaving South Korea
» Iranian Granted Asylum by Greece Urges Illegal Migrants to Fight Greeks “Bullet for Bullet”
» Pictures: European and Turkish Soldiers, Counter-Terror Police Mass on Greek Border
» Two Irishmen Arrested for Smuggling “Asian” Migrants Into the UK
 
Culture Wars
» BC Transgender Youth Case: When Speech is No Longer Free
» French Commune Cuts Ties With Polish Town Over LGBT Opposition
» UK Government Says Insulting Someone’s Appearance is Now a Hate Crime
 

Here Are 18 Breathtaking Facts About the Stock Market Crash of 2020, And Experts Are Warning This is Far From Over

We haven’t seen anything like this since the last financial crisis erupted in 2008. Wall Street has been gripped by a tremendous amount of fear, and the volatility that we are witnessing would have been unimaginable just a couple of months ago. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,013 points. To put that in perspective, the largest single day decline that we witnessed in 2008 was just 777 points. A disagreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia about oil prices coupled with increasing concern about the coronavirus pushed many traders into panic mode, and the result was absolutely stunning. Hopefully stock prices will bounce back throughout the rest of this week, but many experts are warning that this is just the beginning of the carnage. The stock market crash of 2020 is here, and the losses are already staggering. Just consider these facts…

#1 We just watched the largest single day point decline in stock market history. The old record of 1,190 points was just set on February 27th, and the drop on Monday smashed it by more than 800 points.

[Comment: Globalists will soon be buying up companies for pennies on the dollar. What a coincidence the engineered corona virus is in effect helping them.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Stocks Surge as Trump Announces New Virus Measures; Dow Up Over 9%

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks surged, recouping much of a historic plunge, after President Donald Trump announced new measures to fight the coronavirus.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1,985 points, or 9.4%, its best gain since October 2008. Stocks doubled their gains in the last half-hour as Trump made his remarks.

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

The Fed’s Baffling Response to the Coronavirus Explained

So what was the Fed’s reasoning in lowering the fed funds rate? According to some financial analysts, the fire it was trying to put out was actually in the repo market, where the Fed has lost control despite its emergency measures of the last six months. Repo market transactions come to $1 trillion to $2.2 trillion per day and keep our modern-day financial system afloat. But before getting into developments there, here is a recap of the repo action since 2008.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

2-Year-Old Taken From Parents for Using Medical Marijuana, Murdered in Foster Care

Alexandria Hill, a 2-year-old little girl, was taken from her father because he used marijuana to treat his seizures. In 2012, Joshua Hill told a case worker with Child Protective Services that he would smoke marijuana after little Alexandria would go to sleep at night to treat his medical condition. This would prove to be a grave mistake.

The case worker couldn’t have cared less that the marijuana helped stave off his seizures. Instead, because this loving father dared ingest a plant that helped him, the case worker recommended Alexandria kidnapped and placed in a foster home.

“Mr. Hill admitted to smoking marijuana in the house when his daughter has been upstairs sleeping,” the caseworker representing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services noted in court records.

Alexandria was placed in foster care in 2013. She would not make it to her third birthday.

During their supervised visits, Hill and his wife Mary Sweeny told CPS that they were finding bruises all over Alexandria. However, CPS did not care. The state removed a child from a home with loving parents over marijuana and put her in a home with an abusive woman, Sherill Small, and her crack addict husband who ran a racket keeping foster children.

Prior to placing Alexandria in the foster home, CPS never told Hill that Small had racked up 15 violations as a foster parent. Nor did they know that over one hundred more violations would soon follow…

After jumping through multiple hoops and suffering without his medical marijuana, Hill finally received word that he would be getting his daughter back soon. Tragically, however, it would be too late.

Four months before Alexandria was to be reunited with her parents, Hill got a call that she was in the hospital.

Hill and Sweeny arrived at the hospital to find Alexandria hooked up to life support machines. She was completely brain dead and unable to breathe on her own. They had no other choice but to tell their little girl goodbye forever.

They were told it was an accident. Little Alexandria had fallen while playing a game, according to Small. Once Alexandria’s body was autopsied, however, they would discover bruises all over, including her neck, head, back, arms, and legs.

These monsters — who were entrusted by the state to keep children — had slammed Alexandria on the ground so violently that she had “subdural hemorrhaging, subarachnoid hemorrhaging, and retinal hemorrhaging in both eyes.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Biden Herded Into Car After Nonsensical ‘Sanders is Joining Trump’ Statement

One journalist finally got out a full question as the former vice president turned to him.

Bringing up the vulgar exchange with the autoworker, the reporter asked Biden, “do you have regrets about how you handled it?”

“Well, I’m surprised that, uh, Sanders is joining Trump,” Biden said with a straight face.

“And, you know, it’s just surprising,” he continued as his campaign team ushered him into a waiting SUV and quickly slammed the door shut.

Watch the full clip below:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Brentwood Woman Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Aiding ISIS

A Brentwood woman was sentenced Friday to 13 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge of providing more than $150,000 in financial support to the ISIS terrorist organization.

Zoobia Shahnaz, 29, was in addition sentenced to 10 years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert in Central Islip.

Shahnaz, a U.S. citizen born in Pakistan and a lab technician at a Manhattan hospital, obtained more than $85,000 of the money through a number of fraud schemes and passed the funds on to ISIS in a further complex manner, according to officials.

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

CNN’s Andrew Gillum Found ‘Inebriated’ In Miami Beach Hotel Room; Cops Recover Meth

CNN contributor and former Democratic candidate for Florida governor, Andrew Gillum, was found “inebriated” early Friday morning in a hotel where meth was also recovered, according to a Miami Beach, Fla., police report.

Gillum, 40, was in the room at the Mondrian Hotel in South Beach with two other men when police arrived shortly after midnight, according to the report obtained by Fox News.

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

Delingpole: Trump Was Right to Shut the Gates on Plague Pit Europe

Trump was absolutely right to act in this dramatic way and for at least two good reasons.

First, political: it’s imperative — especially for those of us who believe that a second Trump term is America’s only hope — that by the year-end, when with luck the pandemic will have passed or at least diminished, President Trump emerges as a man who handled this crisis decisively and effectively. It would be just too awful if, despite his many achievements, Trump ended up handing the election to Joe Biden because of a public perception that he’d been dilatory in protecting America from the 21st century’s answer to the Black Death.

Second, geopolitical: Trump is right to shut off continental Europe because — in plague terms — it is the equivalent of one of those diseased carcasses that besieging armies used to fling with their ballistas over the city walls.

This is a consequence of its open borders policy. Under the European Union’s Schengen Agreement — one of the bloc’s defining features and by their own reckoning, greatest achievement — there is almost complete freedom of movement across national borders. Which means that everyone from gun— and drug-smugglers to terrorists to coronavirus victims can travel from one end of the continent to the other, with individual states virtually powerless to protect their own borders or citizens.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Exclusive Video: Evita Duffy Doubles Down Amid Threats From Socialist Sympathizers

University of Chicago sophomore Evita Duffy recently faced online harassment and threats for taking a stand against socialism.

As Campus Reform previously reported, Duffy made a sign for the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics’ (IOP) project titled “Why I Vote.”

In answering why she votes, Duffy, who is the daughter of former Republican Congressman Sean Duffy and Fox News Contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy, wrote on a whiteboard that “coronavirus won’t destroy America, but socialism will.”

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

Firearm Manufacturer Gifts “AR-14” To Worker Threatened by Biden

‘When a patriot stands up for the 2a community it is a great thing’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

First Point of Joe Biden’s Coronavirus Action Plan is to Stop “Racism”

The very first point of Joe Biden’s plan to stop the spread of coronavirus in the United States highlights the need to stop “acts of racism.”

Because when dealing with a global pandemic, preventing people’s feelings from being hurt is surely of the utmost importance.

In the first section of Biden’s plan, “Restoring trust, credibility, and common purpose,” curbing misinformation and stopping xenophobia are listed as key goals.

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

Florida Man Friday: Gillum as Charged

The most difficult part of Florida Man Friday is selecting each week’s top story. A typical week starts with at least 50 open browser tabs, each containing a story of absurd criminality or dangerous wildlife or naked people or even naked people committing absurd crimes against dangerous wildlife.

Picking each week’s top story is an embarrassment of riches with the accent on embarrassment.

This week is no different. In fact, there’s such a rich collection of stories to choose from for the top spot that I’m actually behind schedule today, and…

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

House Democrats Refuse to Classify Antifa as a Domestic Terrorism Group

Democrats in the House of Representatives this week rejected language in a homeland security bill that would have classified the antifa movement as a domestic terrorism campaign, despite the fact that the loosely organized crusade has a well-documented history of terroristic behavior in American public life.

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

Houston Mayor Decries Panic Buying: “The World is Not Coming to an End”

Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted “the world is not coming to an end” in an effort to prevent Houstonians from panic buying in response to the spread of coronavirus, but the plea fell on deaf ears as shelves on grocery stores throughout the state were emptied.

“The world is not coming to an end. But if it is all that bottle water and toilet paper you are buying will not get used,” Turner tweeted.

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

Leftists Ecstatic That Trump Could Have Coronavirus

Leftists reacted with glee upon hearing the news that President Trump, as well as VP Pence, came into contact with a foreign official who has since tested positive for Covid19, the coronavirus.

Both the President and Vice President met with Brazilian government official Fabio Wajngarten last week.

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

Less Than One Percent of Donations Made by Yale Trustees Have Gone to Republicans

Updated

Conversely, current Yale trustees have contributed $10.8 million to Democrats

Less than one percent of political contributions made by current Yale University trustees over the past three decades has gone to Republican candidates and organizations, according to an analysis by The College Fix.

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

Masters Tournament Postponed Indefinitely as Coronavirus Spreads

The Masters Tournament, one of the biggest annual events in professional golf, has been postponed indefinitely this year, with tournament organizers citing the spread of the coronavirus as the decisive factor in the decision.

Fred Ridley, the chairman of the tournament, said in a statement on Friday that “expert analysis” had motivated the Augusta National Golf Club to cancel the event. Earlier this month the organizers had said that the tournament would take place as normal, but the “ever-increasing risks” of the disease had compelled them to revise those plans.

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

Michael Avenatti Held in ‘Rat-Infested’ Cell That ‘Reeks of Urine’: Report

Federal detention centers are definitely a lot less pleasant than cable news’ greenrooms.

Former liberal media darling and frequent CNN guest Michael Avenatti was recently held in a “rat-infested” jail cell for a 10-day stretch and “and was able to shower only twice in about two weeks,” according to The Washington Post.

Citing a letter Avenatti’s attorney sent to a judge, the Post reported that the former lawyer to porn star Stormy Daniels had a rough time during a lockdown at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, where he’s being held since last month after being found guilty of trying to extort Nike.

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

Mini-Doc “Fleeing California” Exposes Failed Democrat Policies

Americans are flocking to conservative states as Democrat-run territories crumble.

[Comment: The trouble is many of those fleeing continue to vote Democrat in their new location.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Smollett Case Roils the Race for Cook County State’s Attorney

Cook County voters go to the polls on Tuesday to vote for local candidates in the Democratic primary. Ordinarily, there would be little interest in most of those races. But one race has attracted more media attention and more campaign cash than any other: the race for state’s attorney.

Three major candidates have emerged to challenge the incumbent, Kim Foxx. It was Foxx’s office that ended up dismissing fake hate crime charges against actor Jussie Smollett, who staged an assault with the help of two friends, claiming the attackers wore MAGA hats.

Even for Chicago politics, the case reeked of influence peddling and special treatment. The questions led to the appointment of a special prosecutor who reinstated the charges against Smollett and issued a report condemning the actions of Fox in the case.

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

Speculation That Trump Has Coronavirus Rages Again After Press Conference

Speculation is once again raging that President Trump has coronavirus after a press conference in which Trump appeared to be under the weather.

As expected, Trump announced that he had declared a national emergency during the speech, but much of the reaction centered around the president’s health.

“I’m not going to say what we are all thinking,” tweeted Mike Cernovich after previously noting that Trump “looked shaken / completely out of it / off his game.”

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

Tammy Duckworth, Doug Jones Praise Trump’s E.U. Travel Ban: ‘it’s a Wise Move’

A pair of Democrat senators offered rare praise of President Donald Trump’s plans to block travel from Europe to prevent additional coronavirus cases coming into the United States.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic: The Real Danger is “Agenda Id2020”

What is the infamous ID2020? It is an alliance of public-private partners, including UN agencies and civil society. It’s an electronic ID program that uses generalized vaccination as a platform for digital identity…

Another hypothesis, at this point only a hypothesis, but a realistic one, is that along with the vaccination — if not with this one, then possibly with a later one, a nano-chip may be injected, unknown to the person being vaccinated. The chip may be remotely charged with all your personal data, including bank accounts — digital money. Yes, digital money that’s what “they” are aiming at, so you really have no control any more over your health and other intimate data, but also over your earnings and spending. Your money could be blocked, or taken away — as a ‘sanction’ for misbehavior, for swimming against the stream. You may become a mere slave of the masters. Comparatively, feudalism may appear like a walk in the park.

It’s not for nothing that Dr. Tedros, DG of WHO, said a few days ago, we must move towards digital money, because physical paper and coin money can spread diseases, especially endemic diseases, like the coronavirus. A precursor for things to come? — Or for things already here? — In many Scandinavian countries cash is largely banned and even a bar of chocalate can be paid only electronically.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Declares National Emergency Over Coronavirus, Says ‘We Will Overcome the Threat’

President Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak amid extensive disruptions to the economy and American life, announcing partnerships with major U.S. companies to fight the pandemic while saying he believes the crisis “will pass.”

“We have decisive new actions we’re taking in our very vigilant efforts to defeat the coronavirus,” Trump said during a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday. “We’ve been working very hard on this. We will overcome the threat of the virus.”

The president’s declaration of a national emergency means that he will enact the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, which allows the White House to mobilize the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and direct federal aid to states hit by disasters and health crises.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Declares National Emergency Over Coronavirus

US President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to help handle the growing outbreak of coronavirus.

The declaration — “two very big words”, according to Mr Trump — allows the federal government to tap up to $50bn (£40bn) in emergency relief funds.

The move loosens medical insurance regulations, and could speed up the creation of new hospitals and the search for new treatments.

There are 1,701 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US, and 40 deaths.

Several US states have taken measures to stem the inflation rate, including banning large gatherings, sporting events and closing schools.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Declares Virus Pandemic a National Emergency

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency in order to free up more money and resources. But he denied any responsibility for delays in making testing available for the new virus, whose spread has roiled markets and disrupted the lives of everyday Americans.

Speaking from the Rose Garden, Trump said, “I am officially declaring a national emergency,” freeing up as much as $50 billion for state and local governments to respond to the outbreak. Trump also announced a range of executive actions to bolster energy markets, ease the financial burden for Americans with student loans and give medical professionals additional “flexibility” in treating patients during the public health crisis.

He also announced a new public-private partnership to expand coronavirus testing capabilities, as his administration has come under fire for being too slow in making the test available. Trump said, “I don’t take responsibility at all” for the slow rollout of testing…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Says He May Institute Domestic Travel Bans

President Trump admitted Thursday that it is “a possibility” that he will move to implement a domestic travel ban within the United States in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

While noting that the eventuality had not been discussed within his adminstration, the President reasoned that ‘if an areas gets too hot’ it could be a viable course of action.

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

Tucker: The Media Has Sided With Communist China to Blame America for the Coronavirus

Tucker Carlson savaged the mainstream media during his show last night for siding with Communist China to blame America for the coronavirus.

“This pandemic came out of China and it came out of China for a reason,” said the Fox News host. “It’s a country where government officials deliberately covered up the early stages of the virus when it could have been stopped before it spread out of control.”

Noting that China controls 96 per cent of antibiotics and is threatening to cut off drug exports to the U.S., Carlson charged that Beijing “is now trying to hide the reality of where coronavirus came from” and worse, blaming the virus on America.

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

‘Unfixable’ Boot Rom Security Flaw in Millions of Intel Chips

A slit in Intel’s security — a tiny window of opportunity — has been discovered, and it’s claimed the momentary weakness could be one day exploited to wreak “utter chaos.”

It is a fascinating vulnerability, though non-trivial to abuse in a practical sense. It cannot be fixed without replacing the silicon, only mitigated, it is claimed: the design flaw is baked into millions of Intel processor chipsets manufactured over the past five years. The problem revolves around cryptographic keys that, if obtained, can be used to break the root of trust in a system.

Buried deep inside modern Intel chipsets is what’s called the Management Engine, or these days, the Converged Security and Manageability Engine (CSME). We’ve written about this a lot: it’s a miniature computer within your computer. It has its own CPU, its own RAM, its own code in a boot ROM, and access to the rest of the machine.

[Comment: Intel Manamgent exploit again — never like the idea of an ME in consumer chips. Worse, Intel made it impossible to disable the ME for motherboard manufacturers. ME is really only useful for data centres.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

White House Officials Allege Speaker Pelosi Pushed to Include Hyde Amendment Loophole Into Coronavirus Stimulus Plan

Speaking to the Daily Caller, those officials alleged that while negotiating the stimulus with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Pelosi tried to lobby for “several” provisions that stalled bipartisan commitment to the effort. One was a mandate for up to $1 billion to reimburse laboratory claims, which White House officials say would set a precedent of health spending without protections outlined in the Hyde Amendment.

The Hyde Amendment blocks clinics that perform abortions from receiving federal funding, and Democrats have pushed the Trump administration to end it since he was elected in 2016…

A second White House official referred to the provision as a “slush fund” and yet another questioned “what the Hyde Amendment and abortion have to do with protecting Americans from coronavirus?”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

White House Reportedly Considering Executive Order to Reduce Dependence on Chinese Medical Supplies

The White House is allegedly considering executive measures to reduce American dependance on Chinese medical supplies, a potential strategic response to the international disruption caused by the China-borne Wuhan coronavirus.

Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro told The New York Times on Wednesday that the White House considers the issue one of “national defense.”

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

Canadian Parliament Shuts Down Over Coronavirus Spread Fears

Canadian members of parliament have voted to suspend the activity of the country’s parliament over fears of the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus just a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his self-isolation.

The move comes a day after Prime minister Trudeau’s wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau tested positive for the coronavirus following a trip to the UK, and the Canadian leader announced he would be isolating himself and working from home.

All parties in the parliament agreed Friday to suspend activity for over a month until April 20th, with no MPs voting against the suspension, Canadian broadcaster CBC reports.

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

Trudeau’s Wife Sophie Gregoire Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, has tested positive for the coronavirus after exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Austria Reintroduces Border Controls With Switzerland

Austria has reintroduced border controls with Switzerland and Liechtenstein, while banning flights from Switzerland, Spain and France, in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The Austrian government announced the move on Friday, saying it will take effect from the beginning of next week. Austria had previously introduced similar border measures with another neighbouring country, Italy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chief Scientific Adviser Wants 40 Million Britons — 60 Percent of the Entire Population — to Catch Coronavirus for Herd Immunity to Take Effect

The UK’s chief scientific adviser has revealed that around 40million people could be left to catch the coronavirus as part of a controversial Government plan for the country to develop herd immunity.

Sir Patrick Vallance said around 60 per cent of the population will need to catch the virus to build up a national tolerance strong enough to stop the virus circulating.

Chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, did not say how many people could die during the time this takes to work, but the current global death rate — around three per cent — suggests it could be 1.2million people in a worst-case scenario…

Critics have warned the policy is high risk because there have been multiple reports in China of people getting it twice — and concerns from experts that coronavirus could mutate and infect hundreds of thousands again in the coming years unless there is a vaccine.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus: Europe Now Epicentre of the Pandemic, Says WHO

Europe is now the “epicentre” of the global coronavirus pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization says.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to use aggressive measures, community mobilisation and social distancing to save lives.

“Do not just let this fire burn,” he said.

His comments came as several European countries reported steep rises in infections and deaths. Italy has recorded its highest daily toll yet.

There were 250 deaths recorded over the past 24 hours, taking the total to 1,266, with 17,660 infections overall.

Spain, the worst-affected European country after Italy, reported a 50% jump in fatalities to 120 on Friday. Infections increased to 4,231.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus: European Leaders Finally Acknowledge Scale of Crisis

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has now reached more than 45 countries in Europe, where (as of March 12) more than 30,000 people have tested positive for the disease, according to a Gatestone Institute tally based on calculations from European health ministries.

The disease is spreading fast: more than 28,000 coronavirus cases (93% of all cases) in Europe were confirmed during just the first twelve days of March. The number of new cases has been doubling, on average, every 72 hours.

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

Coronavirus: London Mayoral Election Suspended for 12 Months

The vote to elect the next mayor of London, as well as a host of other city mayoral votes and local council elections that were due to be held in May, has been suspended for 12 months over coronavirus concern.

While the British government has not taken steps to protect the public like strengthening border control or even banning travel from infection hotspots like Italy as other countries such as the United States and the Czech Republic have done, it moved to protect politicians on Friday when it announced the suspension of campaigning for the May 12th elections.

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

Denmark and Poland Close Their Borders to All Tourists in Coronavirus Lockdown With Schools, Universities, Shops, And Restaurants Forced to Shut

Denmark and Poland are temporarily closing their borders to non-citizens in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The two countries have also clamped down on public gatherings and ordered schools, shops and restaurants to shut.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a press conference: ‘All tourists, all travel, all vacations, and all foreigners who cannot prove a creditable purpose of entering Denmark, will be denied entrance at the Danish border.

Meanwhile in Poland, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced the country is banning foreigners from entering the country as well as shutting all restaurants, bars and casinos.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark Rushes Through Emergency Coronavirus Law

Denmark’s parliament on Thursday night unanimously passed an emergency coronavirus law which gives health authorities powers to force testing, treatment and quarantine with the backing of the police.

The far-reaching new law will remain in force until March 2021, when it will expire under a sunset clause.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Face-to-Face Brexit Talks With EU Cancelled Over Coronavirus

In-person negotiations between British and EU negotiators slated for London next week have been cancelled due to coronavirus concerns.

“Given the latest COVID-19 developments, UK and EU negotiators have today jointly decided not to hold next week’s round of negotiations in London, in the form originally scheduled,” the government said in a statement on Thursday jointly released by both parties.

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

France: Eiffel Tower and Other Paris Tourist Sites Close Doors Over Coronavirus

France’s top tourists sites, including the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, closed on Friday as the government banned all gatherings of more than 100 people to stem the spread of the coronavirus epidemic.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ghost Town Europe: Remarkable Images Record Empty Squares and Shuttered Businesses

The Italian government has reacted with severity to the coronavirus outbreak which has so far killed over 1,000 residents of the nation, with lockdowns and curfews leaving streets empty and many businesses closed.

Remarkable photographs from the streets and squares of Europe, among them some of the most popular tourist destinations on the globe, show spaces empty of people.

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

Health Expert: 60% of Britons Need to Catch Coronavirus to Develop ‘Herd Immunity’

The government’s chief scientific adviser has said that 60 per cent of Britons need to catch coronavirus to develop “herd immunity” because the virus could return like the winter flu.

“We think this virus is likely to be one that comes year on year, becomes like a seasonal virus,” Sir Patrick Valance said.

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

Hungary Will Close All Schools to Slow Coronavirus — Prime Minister

BUDAPEST, March 13 (Reuters) — Hungary will close all schools and continue education as best as it can via digital channels from Monday to try and slow the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a Facebook video on Friday.

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

Italian Daily Coronavirus Deaths Jump 25% to 1,266

ROME, March 13 (Reuters) — The death toll from coronavirus in Italy has jumped in the last 24 hours by 250 to 1,266, a rise of 25% and the largest increase in absolute terms since the start of the outbreak, the Civil Protection Agency said on Friday.

The total number of cases in the European country hardest hit by the virus rose to 17,660 from a previous 15,113, an increase of some 17%.

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

Italy: 12 Arrested for Navy Kickbacks

At Taranto

20 February 202011:22 News

(ANSA) — Taranto, February 20 — Italian police on Thursday arrested 12 people accused of giving and taking kickbacks on the modernisation and repair of naval units at the Italian navy base in Taranto in Puglia.

The arrests included entrepreneurs, two navy officers and two navy civilian employees, police said.

They were placed under house arrest.

The suspects have been charged with conspiracy to commit crimes, bid rigging and corruption and aggravated theft.

The kickbacks were allegedly on 15 contracts worth some 4.8 million euros, police said.

Finance Guard tax police carried out the arrests.

The alleged kickbacks were paid between October and December 2018.

The accused carried out a “scientific division of the contracts”, police said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Coronavirus: 3 Patients Get Better With Arthritis Drug

Treatment used Naples hospital

(ANSA) — Naples, March 13 — Three patients suffering with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus have got better on an arthritis drug, a Naples hospital said Friday.

The patients at Cotugno Hospital have shown “a major improvement” after being treated with Tolicizumab, Paolo Ascierto, head of clinical immunology at another city hospital, the Pascale.

Other Italian hospitals have reported similar improvements of virus-linked pneumonia after treatment with the drug.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Macron Confirms G7 to Hold Leaders’ Summit Via Videoconference Over Coronavirus

French President Emmanuel Macron has confirmed that he had spoken to U.S. President Donald J Trump and that members of the G7 will hold an emergency Leaders’ Summit via videoconference on Monday to discuss coronavirus.

Mr Macron announced via Twitter on Friday: “Following my call with Donald Trump and all G7 leaders, we agreed to organise an extraordinary Leaders’ Summit by videoconference on Monday on COVID-19.

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

Mayor of Florence Encouraged Italians to “Hug a Chinese” Before Coronavirus Pandemic Hit

Virtue-signaling stunt intended to prove Italians weren’t racist.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Mohammed Tasnime Akunjee is the Lawyer Behind Tommy’s Lastest Civil Case.

He is suing Tommy for the alleged “defamation” of a Syrian refugee schoolboy.

Mohammed Akunjee defended Lee Rigby’s killer Michael Adebolajo and shared a platform with extremists from CAGE, an organization founded by Mozzam Begg.

Akunjee has represented Shamima Begum’s family; he has tried to bring the ISIS bride back to Britain after she fled Britain for ISIS-controlled Syria.

Tasnime has also used Facebook to post cartoons mocking the death of murdered editor Stephane Charbonnier after the Charlie Hebdo Islamic terror attack in Paris.

Tommy explains why this lawyer and the firm he represents are nothing less than legal snakes playing the British legal system.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Francis Questions ‘Drastic Measures’ After Closing All Churches

ROME — Pope Francis has questioned the Church’s adoption of “drastic measures” in dealing with the coronavirus after the closing of the nation’s churches and the suspension of the sacraments.

“In these days we are united to the sick and the families suffering from this pandemic,” the pontiff prayed at his morning Mass Friday. “I would also like to pray today for the shepherds who must accompany the people of God in this crisis.”

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

Salvini Slams Italian Government, Saying Quarantine Decree Not Enough

Populist Italian senator Matteo Salvini has criticised the leftist coalition government’s mass quarantine decree, saying it does not go far enough to protect Italians from coronavirus.

Salvini, who leads Italy’s most popular party, the League, said that the decree does not go far enough in locking down the country to stop the spread of the virus which has topped over 10,000 cases this week.

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

Slovakia Seals Borders Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

International travel routes closed to non-residents.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Spain’s Catalonia Requests Regional Lockdown Over Coronavirus

MADRID, March 13 (Reuters) — The regional government of Spain’s Catalonia asked Spanish central authorities to help it block access by air, rail and water to guarantee the confinement of the whole region due to the coronavirus epidemic, regional leader Quim Torra said.

“We believe all Catalonia needs to be confined,” he said in a televised news conference on Friday, adding that it was for preventive reasons to avoid a larger health crisis.

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

Spain’s Coronavirus Tally Jumps to 4,209 Cases, 120 Dead

MADRID, March 13 (Reuters) — The Spanish health ministry said the number of coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 4,209 on Friday from Thursday’s 3,004 e as the disease spread mostly in Madrid, the Basque Country and La Rioja regions.

The death toll from the coronavirus epidemic in the country has increased to 120 from 84 the previous day.

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

UK: How the Net Closed on Oxford’s Grooming Gang

Nearly a decade after the abuse of vulnerable girls in Oxford began to be addressed, following years of negligence by police and social services, the last of the so-called Operation Bullfinch trials has ended. How did the sex offenders at the centre of the city’s depraved underworld finally come to face justice?

Oxford, 2011. For nearly a year detectives have been receiving reports of girls disappearing, some as young as 13, only to return days later, refusing to tell anyone where they had been.

Sometimes they would be bruised, bleeding and half-naked…

           — Hat tip: JM [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: What Happened to the Israeli Left?

MK Ofer Shelah from the Blue and White party is the architect of his party’s current efforts to form a government with the support of Joint Arab List. If Shelah succeeds, he will have formed a radical, post-Zionist minority government entirely dependent on 15 Arab lawmakers, who reject Israel’s right to exist, just to stay afloat.

As Shelah blazed forward in his efforts, political philosopher Yoram Hazony recalled an earlier bid by Shelah to force the public to accept post-Zionist positions hostile to the very right of the Jewish people to self-determination.

In February 2001, the Yitzhak Rabin Center convened a meeting of Israel’s elites from across the political spectrum to compose a document that would set out the Jewish goals of the State of Israel. The meetings led to the drafting of the Kinneret Charter, which in later years served as the basis for the 2018 Basic Law: Israel, the Nation-State of the Jewish People.

The Rabin Center was spurred to action by three dramatic events. First in July 2000, PLO chief Yassir Arafat rejected Ehud Barak’s offer of statehood and peace at the Camp David summit, effectively ending the Oslo peace process. In September, Arafat ordered his terror forces to initiate a campaign of terror against Israel the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the 1930s.

And in October 2000, the Arab Israeli community joined the Palestinian onslaught. In two weeks of violent riots, Arab Israelis throughout the country assaulted their Jewish neighbors and countrymen and called for the destruction of the state.

The third event — the Arab Israeli riots — shook Israeli society to its core because it called into question the very survival of the state as a coherent political unit.

As a well-known journalist, Shelah was invited to participate in the inaugural meeting. Hazony recalled that the politician now pushing the hardest to form a government reliant the Joint Arab List which rejects the legitimacy of the Jewish state, stood up and announced that he refused to participate in a Jewish-only forum and demanded that Arab Israelis be invited to participate.

Prof. Ruth Gavison, perhaps the most influential intellectual on the Left at the time, responded that Jews have a right to convene to discuss their future just as Arabs do. Most of the participants, including some on the far left, like former Education Minister Prof. Yuli Tamir from Peace Now, agreed with Gavison.

With his demand rejected, Shelah walked out. A handful of participants joined him.

This week, with the liberal mass media providing wall-to-wall support for Blue and White’s efforts to form a post-Zionist government dependent on the anti-Zionist Joint Arab List, it appears that over the past 19 years, Shelah’s post-Zionism has moved from the margins to the mainstream. The media’s energetic attempts to defend Blue and White’s efforts show that post-Zionism is the predominant position of the Israeli left.

How did this happen?…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Burial Pits From Iran’s Coronavirus Outbreak Have Grown So Large You Can See Them From Space

Burial pits have grown so large amid a devastating coronavirus outbreak in Qom, Iran, that they’re visible from space, satellite imagery shows.

Along with China and Italy, Iran has been hit especially hard by coronavirus.

Dozens of lawmakers have been infected, as have senior officials — including the Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri. And an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died from the novel coronavirus.

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

How to Avoid Coronavirus, According to ISIS

The novel coronavirus continues to command headlines around the world as the public proceeds in its steady plunge into toilet paper hysteria and a pursuit of the long-lost art of personal space.

(Social distancing is a concept worth adhering to, unless you’re among the doltish horde who attended Thursday’s sold out Post Malone concert. Great job, Denver.)

As journalists around the world work feverishly to stay current in a news cycle prone to violent fluctuation, the media arm of one particular organization has opted to join the precautionary coronavirus fray.

Attention, please. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria would like a moment of your time.

A recent newsletter distributed by the surprisingly pathogen-wary terror gang — translated in a post Thursday by blogger Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi — issued intricate guidance on exactly how its members should “deal with epidemics.”

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

Russia Has Recorded Zero Coronavirus Deaths

Even as coronavirus ravages the rest of Europe, Russia, which closed its entire border back in January, still has zero recorded deaths from COVID-19.

What a stunning coincidence.

The latest numbers out of Russia show that just 28 people are recorded to be infected with coronavirus. There have been zero fatalities.

Compare these numbers to other European countries.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Russia to Limit Flights to and From EU, Switzerland and Norway Over Coronavirus

Russia will limit passenger flights to and from the European Union, Switzerland and Norway, starting on March 16, except for flights through Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, the authorities said on Friday.

Flights from Moscow to the capitals of European states, however, will not be affected, they said.

Russia, which has so far recorded 45 cases of the virus, said earlier this week that it would suspend most flights to and from Italy, Germany, France and Spain over the coronavirus.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia’s FSB Busts Crime Network That Forged Papers for More Than 1,000 Migrants

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have apprehended seven members of an organized crime group and stopped operation of three laboratories that forged papers of illegal migrants, FSB press service for the Moscow Region told TASS.

According to the press service, the organized crime group’s annual income exceeded 10 million rubles.

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

A New Addition to the Walkerana Genus

A newly discovered species of frog, endemic to the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats, is the first new addition to the genus Walkerana in more than a century.

There are three previously known Walkerana species are W. leptodactyla, W. diplosticta and W. phrynoderma. The newly discovered Muduga leaping frog, Walkerana muduga, is now the fourth member of the genus.

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

Coronavirus: Second Death Confirmed in India

A 68-year-old woman from Delhi has been confirmed as the second Indian to die from the coronavirus.

The woman, who had underlying health conditions, is thought to have been infected by her son who travelled to Switzerland and Italy last month.

India’s first fatality from the virus was confirmed on Thursday.

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

Australian Family Stuck in Wuhan After Travelling to China to Visit Their Grandmother in Coronavirus Epicentre Say They Are Struggling to Survive After Their Centrelink Payments Were Cut Off

Joanne Bao and her three teenage daughters became trapped in Wuhan after traveling there in January to spend time with their sick grandmother.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

China Hints at Denying Americans Life-Saving Coronavirus Drugs

Now that the number of new people infected with the coronavirus in China is slowing down, the country’s Communist Party is ratcheting up threats against the West, with a particularly nasty warning about access to life-saving drugs aimed at the United States.

In an article in Xinhua, the state-run media agency that’s largely considered the mouthpiece of the party, Beijing bragged about its handling of COVID-19, a virus that originated in the city of Wuhan and has spread quickly around the world, killing nearly 5,000 people and infecting thousands more. The article also claimed that China could impose pharmaceutical export controls which would plunge America into “the mighty sea of coronavirus.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Foreign Ministry Suggests US Army to Blame for Coronavirus Pandemic

China’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday implied that the U.S. Army “might be” be responsible for bringing the coronavirus to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak first emerged late last year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Official Spreads Conspiracy Theory “US Army” Brought Coronavirus to Wuhan

A Chinese official is accusing he American military of bringing the coronavirus to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus originated. Lijian Zhao, a spokesperson for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, tweeted out the conspiracy theory as U.S. lawmakers continued to fault China’s handling of the outbreak.

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

Coronavirus: China’s First Confirmed COVID-19 Case Traced Back to November 17

The first case of someone in China suffering from Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, can be traced back to November 17, according to government data seen by the South China Morning Post.

Chinese authorities have so far identified at least 266 people who were infected last year, all of whom came under medical surveillance at some point.

Some of the cases were likely backdated after health authorities had tested specimens taken from suspected patients.

Interviews with whistle-blowers from the medical community suggest Chinese doctors only realised they were dealing with a new disease in late December.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus Can Live in Patients for Up to Five Weeks After They First Fall Ill — More Than Twice as Long as the Recommended 14-Day Isolation Period

In a new study out of China, researchers discovered the novel coronavirus could live for up to 37 days in patients’ respiratory tracts after they first started showing symptoms.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

COVID-19 Coronavirus Outbreak

Coronavirus Cases:

145,634

view by country

Deaths:

5,436

Recovered:

72,529

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

Gordon G. Chang: China Falsely Blames US for Coronavirus Pandemic

China is falsely accusing the United States of being responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, in an effort to ignite hatred against the U.S. and deflect blame from Chinese leaders.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao, who also serves as deputy director-general of the ministry’s Information Department, effectively claimed Thursday that the U.S. is waging germ warfare against his country.

“When did patient zero begin in US?” Zhao tweeted. “How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” the Chinese city where the coronavirus outbreak began.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Leaked Government Records Reveal ‘The First Coronavirus Case Emerged in Hubei in November’ — Two Months Before the Province Went Into Lockdown

The first case of a person suffering from the new coronavirus can be traced back to November 17 in the Chinese province of Hubei, according to government records leaked to media.

The date is more than seven weeks before Chinese officials announced they had identified a new virus and over two months before various cities in the region went into lockdown to contain the spread of the bug.

Beijing claims the first coronavirus patient fell ill on December 7.

Unpublished data show Chinese authorities have identified at least 266 people who were infected before December 31 — a time when Wuhan authorities were busy punishing a group of doctors for sounding the alarm of a ‘SARS-like’ disease.

The classified document, obtained by South China Morning Post, comes as coronavirus fears spread across Europe after cases in Italy, Spain and France spiked.

It also comes as China and the United State spar over the origin of the killer virus.

The contagion, officially known as COVID-19, has killed more than 4,900 people globally and escalated into a pandemic this week.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Think Tank Complains “Coronavirus is Killing Globalization as We Know it”

The founder of a globalist think tank has written an article for Foreign Policy in which he complains that the coronavirus outbreak is “killing globalization as we know it.”

Philippe Legrain, founder of the Open Political Economy Network (OPEN) says that the spread of COVID-19 “has been a gift to nativist nationalists and protectionists.”

Legrain argues that coronavirus could be “the nail in the coffin for the current era of globalization” because it has “highlighted the downsides of extensive international integration while fanning fears of foreigners and providing legitimacy for national restrictions on global trade and flows of people.”

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

Man Who Went on Deadly Stabbing Rampage Feared ‘ISIS Was Out to Kill Him’

Authorities deem attack “random act of senseless violence”

Multiple victims are dead and wounded after a man previously known to authorities allegedly embarked on a bloody stabbing spree in Melbourne, Australia.

Mohammed Ibrahim, 34, is believed to have attacked police officers with bladed weapons before killing at least two people in a rampage that spanned miles across the city.

After approaching two officers at a rail station, Ibrahim reportedly slashed one in the face and arm before escaping and hopping a train.

“At about 11:15 pm, he started talking with two women — aged 30 and 31 — getting out of their vehicle at Coppin Grove before stabbing them. The 30-year-old victim died at the scene,” 9 News reports. “Police were then called to reports of a man stabbed near a tram stop in Kew about 12:15 am.”

“That man, 59, died in hospital, while the offender was spotted by police a few hundred metres away, in Walton Street.”

Ibrahim was reportedly shot dead by police during an attempted arrest.

Ibrahim had visited multiple police stations in 2018, claiming a local ISIS cell was “out to kill him,” according to 9 News.

[Comment: Lay groundwork for insanity, then commit jihad — new tactic?]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Revealed: Over 31,000 Chinese Students Have Arrived in Australia Despite the Coronavirus Travel Ban After Spending Time Quarantined in Thailand and Bali

The Department of Home Affairs said 31,196 Chinese students have arrived in the country since the middle of February. They have been arriving at the rate of about 1,000 people per day.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia, African States Impose Travel Bans on Europe — No Accusations of Racism

Saudi Arabia and a number of African states have imposed travel restrictions on Europe — and unlike the Trump administration do not appear to have attracted any accusations of racism for doing so.

With Italy having become a coronavirus epicentre and other European countries including Britain and Germany expecting a huge percentage of the population to become infected, the Saudi government has imposed travel bans on the European Union and Switzerland, along with India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in South Asia, the Phillippines in the Pacific, and Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan and South Sudan in Africa, according to the Hindu Times.

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

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Says He Tested Negative for the Coronavirus Following Reports That He Tested Positive

This story is breaking. Check back for updates.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday said he tested negative for the novel coronavirus, after reports suggested that he tested positive.

O Dia, a major Brazilian newspaper, earlier on Friday reported that he’d tested positive. Fox News later confirmed the news.

Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo told Fox News that further testing was being done to confirm the diagnosis and that they expected results later on Friday.

The Brazilian president said on Twitter that he tested negative, adding, “DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE MEDIA FAKE NEWS!”

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

Mexico’s Leftist Leader is Turning Out to be a Disaster

The last sixteen months of López Obrador’s administration have been a show of incompetence, yet people continue to cling to the idea that the key to solving Mexico’s problems is getting the “right people” in office.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Mexico is Considering Closing Its Border to Stop Americans Bringing Coronavirus Into Its Country as US Case Count Passes 2,000

For once, the conversation over closing the US-Mexico border is being driven by Mexican health officials who say they are considering shutting out Americans to keep coronavirus out of their country.

There are currently more than 2,000 cases of the virus in the US and it is spreading rapidly. Forty-three people have died from it.

By contrast in Mexico, there have only been 16 confirmed cases and no deaths.

At a press conference on Friday, health minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said: ‘Mexico wouldn’t bring the virus to the United States, rather the United States would bring it here.

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

Bosnia: Six Middle Eastern Migrants Arrested for Raping Underage Girls, Four More for Drug Dealing

Six Middle Eastern migrants were arrested on Wednesday in Bosnia and Herzegovina on charges of raping unaccompanied minors who were living at the same camp.

In addition to the six migrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan who taken in by authorities on rape charges, four additional migrants who were staying at the same camp were arrested on suspicion of drug possession and trafficking, AFP reports.

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

Coronavirus Halts Migrant Transport NGO Activity in Italy

The coronavirus outbreak that has led to the quarantine of all of Italy has had a side effect of stopping the activity of migrant transport NGOs in the Mediterranean.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Europe’s Frontex Sends More Guards to Defend Greece From Migrant Invaders

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The European border protection agency, Frontex, says it has deployed another 100 border guards to Greece to help protect the European Union’s frontier there from pressure of migrants.

Warsaw-based Frontex said Friday the deployment of guards from 22 member states is part of a rapid border intervention requested by Athens. The assistance will also include vessels, maritime surveillance aircraft and Thermal-Vision Vehicles, for the Frontex maritime Rapid Border Intervention task, Aegean 2020.

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

Germany’s Largest State Votes Against Accepting More Migrants

In a sign Germany’s so-called “welcome culture” to migrants may be fraying, the German state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest state in Germany, voted against the admission of migrants with the votes of four major parties, according to WDR.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Alternative for Germany (AfD), all voted together against accepting any refugees.

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

Greece: Invading Migrants Aided by Turkish Police Battled With Huge Fans

Greek security forces guarding their border with Turkey have found a new weapon in their fight against migrants: fans.

Greek security personnel in the Evros region have had to battle migrants daily since Turkish President Recep Erdogan announced that he would no longer prevent migrants from crossing Turkish territory to enter Europe at the end of February. The migrants frequently use weapons against them, including incendiary Molotov cocktails, as previously reportedby Voice of Europe, as well as smoke bombs and tear gas. Indeed, Greece has charged the Turkish police with firing tear gas at their own forces in an attempt to aid the migrants in illegally crossing the border.

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

Hundreds of Undocumented Migrants Leaving South Korea

March 13 (UPI) — More undocumented migrants in South Korea are voluntarily reporting themselves to authorities amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country, with 416 people self-reporting on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Seoul.

South Korea’s justice ministry said Friday its “online voluntary reporting system” has been created with the objective of providing leniency for illegal or undocumented immigrants as they choose to exit the country, local news service Newsis reported.

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

Iranian Granted Asylum by Greece Urges Illegal Migrants to Fight Greeks “Bullet for Bullet”

An Iranian national who was granted political asylum by the Greek authorities has posted a provocative, hate-filled message on an anarchist website which calls for a movement to arm migrants held up at the Greek-Turkish border with weapons so they can violently engage Greek border authorities.

In his message that was posted on March 9th, Abtin Parsa, a self-proclaimed “anarchist refugee” said that the “most useful solidarity to the immigrants who are at the border is to arm them because the answer to bullets should be bullets back and this is the only way to open the border for all the immigrants. We as immigrants should fight for what we need and at the moment, our first need is survival, so we must destroy those who are killing us; we have nothing to lose but our fear.”

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

Pictures: European and Turkish Soldiers, Counter-Terror Police Mass on Greek Border

The border between Greece and Turkey is becoming increasingly militarised, with heavily armed personnel from either side continuing to pour into the region as illegal migrants seek to punch through the European Union’s common external border with Turkish president’s blessing.

Greece is well-accustomed to having its airspace and territorial waters violated hundreds or even thousands of times a year by its much larger neighbour — a NATO ally, on paper — which makes a number of claims on Greek islands and other border territories.

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

Two Irishmen Arrested for Smuggling “Asian” Migrants Into the UK

Two Irishmen were among four people arrested for migrant trafficking last week.

Police discovered two adults and eight children, believed to be from Southeast Asia, hidden in a lorry hauling tires near Ghent in Belgium last Thursday, the Irish Mirror reported. Wayne Sherlock and Eoin Nolan, Irish nationals currently residing in Dover, were among those arrested in the subsequent investigation. They were detained as part of an ongoing British National Crime Agency investigation into a migrant smuggling ring that is believed to be bringing migrants into the UK via lorries.

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

BC Transgender Youth Case: When Speech is No Longer Free

Usually, public policy concerns what some leader or bureaucrat should do. But when the law and the government are misguided, decision-making falls to citizens. They must decide whether to stand up or cower, to speak up or remain silent.

Imagine yourself in the following scenario. You’re a father whose recent divorce has been hard on your young daughter. Her school calls you throughout grade six due to her misbehaviour. In grade seven, she writes love notes to her first male teacher. When the school forces her to stop, she declares herself a lesbian and isolates herself in her room with the lights off and the shades down.

After the school year ends, you see her school yearbook with a male name under her picture. It turns out the school guidance counsellor helped her choose it, since she has concluded she is actually a male trapped in a female body.

And you, her dad, weren’t told any of this.

While the guidance counsellor affirms your daughter as a transgender in grade eight, she still gets a crush on her male physical education teacher. The teacher rebuffs the young crush and she’s taken out of his class. She attempts suicide and says this rejection is the reason.

Your daughter decides to get hormones to become male, which her mother supports. You see irreversible consequences and believe gender dysphoria may not be the root issue. You refuse the doctors permission for the treatments. Eventually they tell you your 14-year-old is a “mature minor” according to the Infants Act and can decide on her own.

You file an injunction to stop the treatments but it fails. The judge even says if you refer to your child as a “she” or “her” or call her by the name you put on her birth certificate, it will be considered an act of domestic violence. The judge bans you from talking to the media and forbids the media from naming any of the professionals involved.

Readers, you can leave your imagination and return to reality now. This nightmare actually is reality for a father in British Columbia.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

French Commune Cuts Ties With Polish Town Over LGBT Opposition

The French commune of Saint-Jean-de-Braye announced that it is cutting ties with Tuchów following the Polish town’s decision to declare itself “free of LGBT ideology.”

The commune’s municipal council voted unanimously last month to end “official relations” with Tuchów over their declaration, which was announced in May 2019, according to a report by Euronews. The relationship between the two communities had lasted for 25 years. “France is committed to combating human rights violations based on sexual orientation,” the council’s official statement read.

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

UK Government Says Insulting Someone’s Appearance is Now a Hate Crime

A video published by the UK government Home Office suggests that insulting someone’s appearance now constitutes a “hate crime,” despite this not being the law.

The clip features several people who are facially disfigured, including some with skin conditions and birthmarks. It also features a bald woman who doesn’t appear to have any facial disfigurement.

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

12 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/13/2020

  1. Indirect signs indicate that the Russian media, as always, shamelessly lie about the situation with coronovirus in Russia. Tsar Vladimir Putin decided to rewrite the Constitution for himself, he does not need extra problems.

    • Well at least Russia has closed its borders, unlike every Western European country sans Italy (already too late for the Italians)

    • If only all “refugee” centers were burned to the ground and the orcs evicted back to the festering cesspools from which they oozed out of…

      There, fixed it for you.

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