Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/29/2020

Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome, is calling on citizens to inform on neighbors who violate the Wuhan Coronavirus quarantine. Meanwhile, Italian GDP is expected to drop 6.5% this year as a consequence of the Chinese virus. Also, the mayor of Moscow has ordered a citywide quarantine beginning tomorrow.

In other news, a prominent pathologist says that Jeffrey Epstein may have committed suicide as a result of steroid withdrawal.

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
» Boeing’s Bean-Counter Culture and the Bailout of Mass Financialization
» Coronavirus: Italy’s GDP to Drop 6.5% This Year — Prometeia
» Destroying the Economy is Not a Social Policy
» Italy Irked After Coronabonds Rejected at EU Summit
» Trump is Taking Over the Deep State & Huge Coronavirus News
 
USA
» 3% of All Restaurants Have Already Closed Permanently
» Arizona Colleges Sued After Refusing to Refund Students Amid Coronavirus Closures
» Bill Gates Wants to Vaccinate the Entire Planet for Coronahoax With a 666 Digital ID
» Billionaire Who Helped Rehab Jeffrey Epstein’s Image Drops $1.5 Million to Boost Biden
» Blackface Ralph Northam Orders Trump Campaign Headquarters Closed
» Cuomo Threatens to Sue Rhode Island for Crackdown on New York Visitors
» Donald Trump Wants “Social Distancing” Restrictions Lifted Soon
» Dr. Ron Paul on COVID-19 Panic: The Real Danger “Is the Government’s Overreaction”
» Fauci Predicts 100k to 200k U.S. Deaths From COVID-19
» FDA Issues Emergency Authorization of Anti-Malaria Drug for Coronavirus Care
» Florida Setting Up Checkpoints for New Yorkers Fleeing Coronavirus
» Millions of Americans Are About to Lose Their Health Insurance in a Pandemic
» Police, Military Begin Door to Door Searches to Hunt Down New Yorkers Seeking Refuge
» The Pro-Antifa Nonprofit Doxxing Conservatives
» Trump Says US Will Not Pay for Prince Harry, Meghan Markle’s Security
» Trump Extends Social-Distancing Guidelines Through April, Says “Peak in Death Rates” Likely 2 Weeks Away
» U.S. Coronavirus Deaths More Than Double in 2 Days to Surpass 2,200
» Uranus Has Started Leaking Gas, NASA Scientists Confirm
» US Pathologist Claims Epstein Could Have Committed Suicide Due to Steroid Withdrawal
 
Canada
» Trudeau Finally Announces Domestic Ban on Travel for Anyone With Coronavirus Symptoms
 
Europe and the EU
» British Lockdown Ten Days Too Late, Says Italian Healthcare Adviser
» Coronavirus: Spain and Italy Demand More Help From EU as Death Tolls Soar
» Coronavirus Cure: French Researchers Completed New Additional Study on 80 Patients, Results Show a Combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin to be Effective in Treating COVID-19
» Economists Predict Potential End of the Euro Due to Coronavirus
» EU May Soon Totally Collapse Due to Coronavirus, Nations Will Soon Return to Sovereign Nation States
» Germany: Finance Minister Commits Suicide Over Coronavirus Economic Anxieties
» Italy Becoming Impatient With Lockdown — And Social Unrest is Brewing
» Italy: Corona Gossip: Rome Mayor Asks Citizens to Snitch on Quarantine Breakers
» Sweden’s Cafes and Bars Remain Open; Gatherings of 50 People Permitted
» UK Fire Brigades Drafted to Transport Bodies if Coronavirus Crisis Worsens
» UK: Coronavirus: Sadiq Khan Insisted Crowded Tube Posed ‘No Risk’ On March 3rd
» UK: Drones Intone ‘You Must Stay Home,’ Eliciting Moans From Those in the Zone
» UK: Drug Dealer: People Are “Panic Buying” Cocaine and Weed to Cope With Coronavirus Lockdown
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Gantz’s Shock Defection Has Crippled Israel’s Political Center
 
Middle East
» Etihad Airways Pledges to Increase Female Workforce
» Turkey: Pressures, Attacks, And Discrimination Against Christians
 
Russia
» Moscow Orders Citywide Quarantine Starting March 30
 
South Asia
» Indonesia Virus Plans ‘In Tatters’ As Infections Surge
 
Far East
» British Scientific Advisors: China Covering Up Full Extent of Coronavirus; Could be 40 Times Worse Than Reported
» China Must Pay World Reparations or be Sanctioned for Coronavirus Pandemic
» COVID-19 Outbreak is the Trojan Horse to Increase Smartphone Surveillance
» COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic
» How Coronavirus Mutated and Eight Strains Raced Around the World After Initial Outbreak in China as Global Cases Top 660,000 and Deaths Hit 30,847
» WHO Expert Mysteriously Disappears From Website After Carrying Water for China
 
Australia — Pacific
» ‘I Can’t Wait to Sue You, Dog’: Disturbing New Footage Emerges of Unemployed Audi Driver, 25, Who Was Given Bail After ‘Spitting in a Cop’s Face While Claiming She Could Have Coronavirus’
» Inside Quarantine ‘Hell’: Travellers Returning to Australia From Overseas Complain About Being Forced to Stay in Five-Star Hotels and Given Three Meals a Day to Prevent the Spread of Coronavirus
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» He Simply “Hates Christians”: The Persecution of Christians: January 2020
 
Latin America
» Frightened Mobs in Peru Burn Hundreds of Bats With Torches as Coronavirus Hysteria Grows
 
Immigration
» Belgium: Migrants Resist, Spit on Police as They Reject Coronavirus Measures
» Convicted Criminal Foreigners to be Released on the Streets While Norwegians Banned From Visiting Cottages
» France: Top Government Official Argues Enforcement of Quarantine in Migrant Areas Should ‘Not be a Priority’ In Order to Avoid Riots
» French Official Says Quarantine Should Not be Enforced in Migrant Areas to Avoid Riots
» Germany: Syrian Migrant Sentenced to Just 2 Years’ Probation for the Murder of Marcus Hempel
» NGO Calls for EU Action Against Greece Over “Migrant Rights”
» Sweden Health Board Says Elderly Can be Given Lower Priority, But Not Illegal Migrants
» Video: Migrant Pranksters in Sweden Film Themselves Coughing and Sneezing on People
 
Culture Wars
» GHOULISH: Christians Arrested for Praying Outside NC Abortion Clinic Deemed ‘Essential.’ Who Will be Next?
» The COVID World Order is Coming
» UK: Khan’s London: Police Want Public to Report Coronavirus ‘Hate Crimes’
 

Boeing’s Bean-Counter Culture and the Bailout of Mass Financialization

By all honest metrics, Boeing is circling the toilet bowl. On Tuesday, for example, Fitch cut Boeing’s credit rating to BBB. And according to Bill Ackman, head of Pershing Square Capital Management, “Boeing is on the brink [and] will not survive without a government bailout.”

The scuttlebutt on Tuesday was that the government’s imminent coronavirus bailout package would earmark $60 billion to keep Boeing solvent. One would think that in its moment of striking failure the company would practice a little humility. But, apparently, humility’s not part of its coddled culture.

In fact, in an interview on Tuesday with Fox Business, CEO Dave Calhoun clarified that Boeing would command the terms of its bailout. Specifically, the U.S. government, as dictated by Calhoun would get no stake in the company:…

No current Boeing employee — management, engineer, or mailroom clerk — has ever met William Boeing. What’s more, it’s highly unlikely that any current Boeing employee has ever met someone who has met William Boeing. By all practical matters, the culture of William Boeing no longer exists at the Boeing Company.

David Calhoun, the current CEO, the guy that doesn’t have a need for an equity stake, isn’t even an aviation engineer. He’s an accountant. He has no clue how airplanes fly or how jet engines work. But he does possess a special skill that’s inherent with his technical discipline…

One of the chief skills of accountants who are granted the controls of corporate management is the unmatched aptitude for eroding industrial capital in favor of shareholders. When all business decisions are guided by bean counters a company’s reason to exist ceases.

For Boeing, the con job can be traced back to its acquisition of McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Here we’ll turn to Matt Stoller, and his article What Happened at Boeing?, for edification:

[Comment: Plastic “Dreamliner” and 737 MAX fiasco shows the caliber of those running Boeing now is a far cry from the caliber of those in charge when the 747 was designed and built.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Coronavirus: Italy’s GDP to Drop 6.5% This Year — Prometeia

3.3% up 2021, 1.2% 2022, debt up to 150% at year’s end

(ANSA) — Rome, March 27 — Italian GDP will drop 6.5% this year due to the coronavirus, the Prometeia think tank said Friday.

In 2021 it will rise 3.3% and 1.2% in 2022, it said.

At the end of this year the debt to GDP ratio will rise to 150%, it said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Destroying the Economy is Not a Social Policy

A pandemic crisis is addressed by providing safety protocols and sanitary equipment for businesses to continue to run and keep employment, not shutting down everything, which may create a larger social and health problem in the long term regardless of the massive liquidity and fiscal policies. Why? Because demand-side policies never work in a forced shutdown of all sectors. There is no demand to “incentivize” when the government orders the closing of all activities. And there is no supply to follow when the economic crisis creates a collapse in employment and consumption.

Many commentators are saying that shutting down the economy is an essential measure to gain time to control the virus. This analysis comes from people who simply do not understand the ripple effects and massive ramifications of a complete shutdown. They perceive that it is small collateral damage because they also believe that everything can go back to normal in one month. They are wrong. The impact is severe, widespread and exponential.

The decision to shut down the economy may cause long-lasting damages to job creation and businesses that cannot be unwound in a few months. Yes, it is essential to contain the virus spread and drastic measures are warranted, but we cannot forget that each month means millions of unemployed and thousands of business closures.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Irked After Coronabonds Rejected at EU Summit

‘They want us to get in debt so they can punish us’ — Patuanelli

(ANSA) — Rome, March 27 — Italy was irked after an EU summit rejected the idea of ‘coronabonds’ to fund measures to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus. “They want us to get into debt so they can punish us,” said Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli, while Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said “Europe should be more fair”.

EU leaders took two weeks for further talks on the economic response to the pandemic after Italy rejected the use of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and northern European fiscal hawks rejected the use of coronabonds.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Trump is Taking Over the Deep State & Huge Coronavirus News

President reasserting America’s control over its own currency from globalist Federal Reserve.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

3% of All Restaurants Have Already Closed Permanently

“The Industry Has Never Experienced Anything Like This Before”

Three percent of restaurants have already permanently closed due to the coronavirus crisis, according to research from the National Restaurant Association. Forty-four percent of operators have temporarily closed their restaurants, and 11% anticipate they will permanently close within 30 days.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Arizona Colleges Sued After Refusing to Refund Students Amid Coronavirus Closures

A lawsuit has been filed against the governing agency of the three major Arizona universities over refunds for tuition, housing, and other fees.

The Arizona Board of Regents, which governs Arizona’s three major public universities (Arizona State University, University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University), has been named the defendant in a lawsuit to recover spring semester fees after students were asked to move off-campus amid the coronavirus pandemic.

According to ABC 15, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of students for the “unlawful and unfair” holding of students’ money.

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

Bill Gates Wants to Vaccinate the Entire Planet for Coronahoax With a 666 Digital ID

Using his vast and nearly unimaginable wealth as his credentials, Bill Gates has somehow managed to set himself up as some kind of a epidemiology expert in infectious diseases, and people are listening to him because they want his money. Amazing what enough money can do, isn’t it? Just today Gates is all over the […]

[Comment: A rushed vaccine would be more dangerous.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Billionaire Who Helped Rehab Jeffrey Epstein’s Image Drops $1.5 Million to Boost Biden

A Silicon Valley billionaire who helped rehab the image of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is now pouring major cash into the super PAC supporting Joe Biden’s candidacy.

The Unite the Country PAC, which launched in late October as Biden was posting low fundraising totals, hauled in $4.2 million in February, its newest records show. Its largest donation was $1 million from LinkedIn founder and Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, who previously apologized for “helping to repair” Epstein’s reputation and for funding a pro-Democrat disinformation campaign in Alabama.

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

Blackface Ralph Northam Orders Trump Campaign Headquarters Closed

Election interference?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cuomo Threatens to Sue Rhode Island for Crackdown on New York Visitors

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to go to war with the state of Rhode Island over its actions in sending the National Guard after visiting New Yorkers to make sure they self-quarantine for 14 days. He is threatening to sue the state for its new policy of targeting visiting New Yorkers by using law enforcement to ensure they self-quarantine.

The governor is a little miffed. He believes that Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo’s actions in calling out the National Guard and setting up checkpoints on highways is “absurd.”

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

Donald Trump Wants “Social Distancing” Restrictions Lifted Soon

Donald Trump has previewed his plan to encourage state governors and local officials to loosen social distancing guidelines put in place to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus through the nation. Trump said that people need to be allowed to physically return to their workplaces soon, especially in areas that are not affected by a massive outbreak.

The president’s letter to governors on Thursday said the White House would classify individual counties throughout the country as “high-risk, medium-risk, or low-risk,” and “suggest” guidelines for those areas:

Our expanded testing capabilities will quickly enable us to publish criteria, developed in close coordination with the Nation’s public health officials and scientists, to help classify counties with respect to continued risks posed by the virus. This will incorporate robust surveillance testing, which allows us to monitor the spread of the virus throughout the country. Under these data-driven criteria, we will suggest guidelines categorizing counties as high-risk, medium-risk, or low-risk.

In the letter, Trump added that the data would give governors and local authorities information they need for “maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place.” And the mainstream media is incredibly upset that people could be allowed to have some of their freedom back soon.

And it’s not soon enough. The virus is widespread in the United States, and social distancing has helped only minimally, especially in places like New York where people are packed into tiny apartments like sardines. This virus has been circulating for too long. It’s here to stay, but we don’t have to destroy the very things that made us great trying to contain what cannot be contained. Not only that, but we are also losing our sense of what it means to be human. When children have to ask if they are allowed to hug their grandparents, we’ve done the wrong thing.

Twelve doctors are being silenced and censored for saying the same thing: www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/12-experts-question-covid-19-panic

This is not to say the virus hasn’t killed people, it has. This is not to say we should give up, we should not. Hospitals in some regions are already overwhelmed by the scale of the outbreak. One in Queens, New York, ordered a refrigerated truck to store corpses, according to a report by Gizmodo.

That’s severe, but we need to put things back into perspective if we are ever going to come together with a real and meaningful way to help. Is it acceptable for people to die of the coronavirus? No. Is it acceptable for people to kill themselves because they’ve lost their livelihoods and can no longer provide from their families? No. There are no solutions, only trade-offs when it comes to preserving life. Humans should be given back their freedom and make their own choices when it comes to whether or not they want to be in public with the coronavirus. The solution is worse than the cure already. Pandemic or not, this is no excuse to destroy more lives than the virus will.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Dr. Ron Paul on COVID-19 Panic: The Real Danger “Is the Government’s Overreaction”

In a recent interview, Dr. Ron Paul opined on his son Rand, who has tested positive for the coronavirus. Dr. Paul said that the dangers of the coronavirus have been “blown way out of proportion” and some people benefit from crises, like politicians who want more power.

Dr. Paul begins his interview with Lior Gantz of the Wealth Research Group saying Rand Paul had no symptoms of the virus and is feeling fine, like the majority of people who have gotten. Many are already immune and have been exposed without showing any signs. “I think millions of people have probably had the infection and still do,” says Dr. Paul.

“But it’s used by an excuse by those who have a special interest…and I think that is sad.”

The problem is that this crisis was blown up so some people (the ruling class) could expand and broaden their power over the public, and Dr. Paul says hopefully, the masses will “wake up soon” to what the government is doing to them and their future.

“Somebody is making political use out of this and it’s [the political usage of the coronavirus] is out of control,” Dr. Paul (an OBYN) added.

Just look at who has been hurt the most so far: the poorest Americans in service industries that the ruling class demanded to shut down. Dr. Paul says the only real danger is the government’s expansion of power and the already sick or elderly who will get the coronavirus. But that danger to our susceptible population already exists and has for years in the form of colds and several strains of the flu, so the panic and shut down is unwarranted. Unless you want more power and totalitarian control.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Fauci Predicts 100k to 200k U.S. Deaths From COVID-19

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, predicted Sunday that America will see “millions” of coronavirus cases resulting in 100,000 to 200,000 deaths.

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

FDA Issues Emergency Authorization of Anti-Malaria Drug for Coronavirus Care

The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs championed by President Donald Trump for coronavirus treatment despite scant evidence.

The agency allowed for the drugs to be “donated to the Strategic National Stockpile to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible,” HHS said in a statement, announcing that Sandoz donated 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to the stockpile and Bayer donated 1 million doses of chloroquine.

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

Florida Setting Up Checkpoints for New Yorkers Fleeing Coronavirus

Florida has announced it will roll out highway checkpoints to screen New York motorists fleeing the coronavirus hot spot for the Sunshine State.

The checkpoint will be created on Interstate 95 in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus through the state’s northern border, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday.

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

Millions of Americans Are About to Lose Their Health Insurance in a Pandemic

Americans are about to learn something horrifying: how irrational it is for health insurance to be linked to your employment status.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Police, Military Begin Door to Door Searches to Hunt Down New Yorkers Seeking Refuge

Rhode Island police began stopping cars with New York plates Friday. On Saturday, the National Guard will help them conduct house-to-house searches to find people who traveled from New York and demand 14 days of self-quarantine.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Pro-Antifa Nonprofit Doxxing Conservatives

For the past two decades, a small, little-known nonprofit has been acting as an arm of Antifa. The One People’s Project (OPP), described as the “antifa CIA,” regularly attacks enemies deemed “fascist” by posting their personal information, targeting their employment, and intimidating them at events across the country.

OPP is operated by Daryle Lamont Jenkins and a band of volunteers. Although the organizations brags that it has been in business for 20 years, its tax filings from 2015 reported no revenue. In 2017, OPP’s tax-exempt status was temporarily revoked for failing to file tax returns for three consecutive years. On its website, OPP claims “to research and report on who’s who and what’s what regarding right-wing groups, individuals, and activities.” However, the OPP homepage bears ominous language: “Hate has consequences.” Hate is, of course, whatever Jenkins and his peers deem it is.

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

Trump Says US Will Not Pay for Prince Harry, Meghan Markle’s Security

President Donald Trump says the United States will not foot the estimated $1 million-a-year bill for security for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after the couple jetted to California amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Page Six reported on Friday that the couple left their $14 million bolthole in Canada and took a private jet to the Los Angeles area after President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the borders were closing amid the coronavirus crisis.

There were reports the pair — who have both criticized President Trump — may need to ask him for “special help” for security protection because the UK taxpayer will no longer fund their guards following their decision to step down as senior royals.

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

Trump Extends Social-Distancing Guidelines Through April, Says “Peak in Death Rates” Likely 2 Weeks Away

President Trump on Sunday evening extended the federal government’s “15 days to slow the spread” health guidelines through April 30, saying that “the peak in death rates is likely to hit in two weeks” and “the better you do, the faster this whole nightmare ends.”

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

U.S. Coronavirus Deaths More Than Double in 2 Days to Surpass 2,200

Deaths from COVID-19 in the United States have more than doubled in two days as of Saturday night, surpassing 2,200 as the nation tries to get a handle on the pandemic.

New York City alone logged 222 deaths in the past 24 hours.

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

Uranus Has Started Leaking Gas, NASA Scientists Confirm

As if 2020 couldn’t get any more cursed, NASA scientists looking back through decades-old data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft have discovered a mysterious gas escaping from Uranus.

The data showed some mysterious force sucking the atmosphere straight out of the planet and into space.

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

US Pathologist Claims Epstein Could Have Committed Suicide Due to Steroid Withdrawal

According to Dr Michael Hunter, billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein may have committed suicide in jail after coming off of steroids.

According to the specialist, Epstein could have been abusing the drug to build muscle and his libido but as he couldn’t access it while being in confinement, he eventually became depressed.

The doctor noted that Epstein had fatty liver disease, despite not being an alcoholic or obese and had a ripped body for his age that could be linked to the use of steroids.

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

Trudeau Finally Announces Domestic Ban on Travel for Anyone With Coronavirus Symptoms

Starting Monday, the Trudeau government will prohibit anyone who exhibits coronavirus symptoms from domestic travel on planes or trains.

The restrictions were announced by Trudeau during his daily press conference updating the nation on the COVID-19 coronavirus. “It will be important for operators of airlines and trains to ensure that people who are exhibiting symptoms do not board those trains. It will be a Transport Canada rule that will be enforced, but at the same time, we’re telling people: stay home if it’s not absolutely essential for you to travel.”

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

British Lockdown Ten Days Too Late, Says Italian Healthcare Adviser

The scientific adviser who called for Italy’s lockdown says Britain was ten days too late in doing the same to have a significant impact on the outbreak and, as a result, is now at risk of having a worse coronavirus infection rate than his own country.

Professor Walter Ricciardi, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert and scientific adviser for the Italian government, told Sky News that the United Kingdom had the advantage of seeing how the deadly pandemic played out in his home country and should have acted sooner as a result.

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

Coronavirus: Spain and Italy Demand More Help From EU as Death Tolls Soar

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain and Italy have demanded more European help as they fight still-surging coronavirus infections amid the continent’s worst crisis since World War II. In the U.S., authorities urged millions around New York City to stop travelling to keep the virus contained.

From Milan to Madrid to Michigan, medics are making tough choices about which patients to save with the limited breathing machines they have. The confirmed global death surpassed 31,000 and new virus epicentres emerged in key U.S. cities like Detroit, New Orleans and Chicago. Even rural America has not been immune, as virus hotspots erupt in Midwestern towns and Rocky Mountain ski havens.

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

Coronavirus Cure: French Researchers Completed New Additional Study on 80 Patients, Results Show a Combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin to be Effective in Treating COVID-19

On March 19, we published a story about a trial study conducted by French researchers which showed a combination of Hydroxychloroquine (brand name Plaquenil) and Azithromycin to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The study, which was led by renowned Didier Raoult M.D/Ph.D in Marseille, France, showed that 100% of patients that received a combination of the two anti-malaria drugs tested negative and were virologically cured within 6 days of treatment.

The first preliminary trial involved a total of 36 COVID-19 patients. However, U.S. health agencies like FDA and CDA, are still very cautious about the effectiveness and safety of the two drugs due to small trial size and lack of sufficient data.

Today, Prof. Didier Raoult and his team published results of their new study online. The study, which was supported by the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection, succeeds the previous one which dealt with around twenty patients. Unlike the previous small study trial, the new observation study has a larger sample size of 80 COVID-19 patients. The objective of the study was to find an effective treatment to cure COVID-19 patients and to decrease the virus carriage duration.

[Comment: Article dates March 27, 2020.]

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

Economists Predict Potential End of the Euro Due to Coronavirus

Two economics experts have predicted that the Chinese coronavirus could lead to the end of the euro currency — and the potential end of the European Union itself.

Belgian economist Professor Paul De Grauwe said that if the European Union does not show solidarity with member-states like Italy that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus, “the whole European project will disappear.”

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

EU May Soon Totally Collapse Due to Coronavirus, Nations Will Soon Return to Sovereign Nation States

As the coronavirus claims lives, ruins livelihoods and wreaks economic havoc, tensions are rising between European Union countries over how best to respond as the pandemic overwhelms some member nations, once more raising troubling questions about the EU’s ability to stand united in times of crisis. Almost 16,000 people infected with the virus have died […]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Finance Minister Commits Suicide Over Coronavirus Economic Anxieties

Thomas Schaefer, the German state of Hesse’s Minister of Finance, was found dead yesterday. His death has been ruled a suicide.

His body was discovered near railroad tracks in Hochheim, near Frankfurt, on Saturday. Police ruled it a suicide based on eyewitness testimony as well as their own observations. Schaefer was 54.

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

Italy Becoming Impatient With Lockdown — And Social Unrest is Brewing

Police descend on a supermarket after reports people have stolen food to feed themselves, as patience turns to desperation.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Corona Gossip: Rome Mayor Asks Citizens to Snitch on Quarantine Breakers

ROME — Rome mayor Virginia Raggi has urged citizens to become government informants by reporting on their neighbors who violate any of the coronavirus lockdown rules.

Raggi has created an internet hotline to facilitate reporting on disobedient citizens who fail to comply in any way with the nationwide lockdown, a move that some have denounced as a “witch hunt” redolent of Italy’s dark days of fascism.

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

Sweden’s Cafes and Bars Remain Open; Gatherings of 50 People Permitted

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The streets of Stockholm are quiet but not deserted. People still sit at outdoor cafes in the center of Sweden’s capital. Vendors still sell flowers. Teenagers still chat in groups in parks. Some still greet each other with hugs and handshakes.

After a long, dark Scandinavian winter, the coronavirus pandemic is not keeping Swedes at home even while citizens in many parts of the world are sheltering in place and won’t find shops or restaurants open on the few occasions they are permitted to venture out.

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

UK Fire Brigades Drafted to Transport Bodies if Coronavirus Crisis Worsens

British firemen have been drafted into the fight against coronavirus to deliver food and medicines, drive ambulances, and retrieve bodies.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has agreed to emergency measures to support other blue-light first responder units and civilian activities for a duration of at least two months. There are around 48,000 firemen and emergency control operators across the country.

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

UK: Coronavirus: Sadiq Khan Insisted Crowded Tube Posed ‘No Risk’ On March 3rd

Mayor Sadiq Khan is pleading with people to stay off the London Underground, or Tube, to keep it safe for key workers — but as recently as March 3rd he said travel on the subway system presented “no risk”.

In an televised interview on Good Morning Britain, Mayor Khan was asked by host Sussana Reid: “Can you see a situation in which a sort of metaphorical ring of steel is put around London in order not to spread the virus, in the same way that we’ve seen has happened in Wuhan in China?”

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

UK: Drones Intone ‘You Must Stay Home,’ Eliciting Moans From Those in the Zone

Flying gizmos corral Brits amid coronavirus lockdown

Authorities in the UK have begun using drones to direct the public to comply with public health measures announced on Monday to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Drug Dealer: People Are “Panic Buying” Cocaine and Weed to Cope With Coronavirus Lockdown

A top drug dealer in the UK has revealed that people are “panic buying” cocaine and marijuana to help them get through the coronavirus lockdown.

The drug dealer, who has 20 dealers out on the street and 200 regular customers, told the Guardian, “People are panicking — the amounts of cannabis they’re buying is ridiculous — so we are just dealing to regulars now.”

He says that the price of cocaine is set to surge because there are no new shipments coming in from abroad for at least 6 weeks.

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

Gantz’s Shock Defection Has Crippled Israel’s Political Center

by Jack Flanagan

In a spectacular twist, Benny Gantz has abandoned his center-left Blue and White alliance and joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as Knesset speaker, despite regular assurances during his political career that he would refuse to work with him.

“These are unusual times and they call for unusual decisions,” Gantz told the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “That’s why I intend to explore the formation of a national emergency government.”

Gantz was the Israeli army chief before entering politics. He has spent the last few years challenging Netanyahu and serving as leader of the Blue and White alliance, a center-left coalition of three parties: Gantz’s Hosen L’Israel, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem.

During the course of three election cycles, he has consistently tied with Netanyahu. However, in this last cycle, he appeared to have the upper-hand with a potential coalition large enough to hold the Knesset and support from the President….

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

Etihad Airways Pledges to Increase Female Workforce

Company joins campaign which aims to improve gender balance

(ANSAmed) — NAPLES, MARCH 9 — Etihad Airways is aiming to increase its female workforce by 25% over the next five years, in line with the International Air Travel Association’s voluntary “25by2025” campaign, which aims to improve gender balance within the aviation industry, said Emirati English-language daily The National.

Etihad is the first airline in the UAE to make the commitment. “We are so proud to already have thousands of strong, ambitious and talented women working with us,” said Tony Douglas, group chief executive officer, Etihad Aviation Group.

“We are excited to continue our journey of investing in gender diversity,” Douglas said.

The airline has also decided to change the name for its business class, because in Arabic the term for business class translates more directly as “business man class”; Etihad has opted to remove the “man” from this phrasing.

Currently, more than 36% of Etihad’s employees in managerial positions, while 50% of Etihad’s UAE national staff are female. This year, Fatima Alhammadi became the first female engineer to graduate from Etihad’s aircraft maintenance programme.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: Pressures, Attacks, And Discrimination Against Christians

Turkey’s Association of Protestant Churches has released its 2019 “Human Rights Violations Report” detailing the state of religious freedom in the country.

The report sheds light on problems Protestant Christians faced in Turkey in 2019. These included barring foreign Protestants from entering Turkey for no other reason than their faith, as well as the inability of Christians to train their own religious workers.

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

Moscow Orders Citywide Quarantine Starting March 30

Moscow will enact an indefinite citywide quarantine starting Monday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said as the city’s number of coronavirus cases surpassed 1,000 over the weekend.

The self-isolation order will apply to all residents regardless of age.

According to the decree, Moscow residents will only be allowed to leave their homes for:

  • Emergency medical care;
  • Traveling to work if one is unable to work remotely;
  • Going to the nearest grocery store or pharmacy;
  • Walking pets within a 100-meter radius from their residence;
  • Taking out the garbage.

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

Indonesia Virus Plans ‘In Tatters’ As Infections Surge

Indonesia’s coronavirus crisis is far worse than being officially reported and the government’s response is “in tatters”, the country’s doctors association says.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

British Scientific Advisors: China Covering Up Full Extent of Coronavirus; Could be 40 Times Worse Than Reported

Scientific advisors to the British government have reportedly told the Prime Minister Boris Johnson that China is covering up the full extent of the coronavirus pandemic, and that things could be 40 times worse there than the communist state admits.

The Daily Mail reports that “Mr Johnson has been warned by scientific advisers that China’s officially declared statistics on the number of cases of coronavirus could be ‘downplayed by a factor of 15 to 40 times.’“

“There is a disgusting disinformation campaign going on and it is unacceptable,” an anonymous government source told The Mail. “They [the Chinese government] know they have got this badly wrong and rather than owning it they are spreading lies.”

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

China Must Pay World Reparations or be Sanctioned for Coronavirus Pandemic

China has wrecked the planet! China is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths world wide, businesses shut down, total lockdowns everywhere, complete madness and panic all because of their Wuhan Virus outbreak. China must be held responsible. China hid information, suppressed its own doctors and arrested them all the way back in December 2019 […]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

COVID-19 Outbreak is the Trojan Horse to Increase Smartphone Surveillance

The coronavirus outbreak is proving to be the Trojan horse that justifies increased digital surveillance via our smartphones.

All over the world, starting with China — the suspected origin of the COVID-19 outbreak — governments are increasing surveillance of citizens using their smartphones. The trend is taking off like wildfire; in China citizens now require a smartphone application’s permission to travel around the country and internationally.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic

Coronavirus Cases:

722,088

view by country

Deaths:

33,976

Recovered:

151,766

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

How Coronavirus Mutated and Eight Strains Raced Around the World After Initial Outbreak in China as Global Cases Top 660,000 and Deaths Hit 30,847

Researchers say the virus appears to mutate very slowly, with only tiny differences between the different strains, and that none of the strains of the virus is more deadly than another.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

WHO Expert Mysteriously Disappears From Website After Carrying Water for China

We’re supposed to trust the World Health Organization’s advice and counsel about COVID-19, even though WHO is the source of misinformation like this:

Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China.

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

‘I Can’t Wait to Sue You, Dog’: Disturbing New Footage Emerges of Unemployed Audi Driver, 25, Who Was Given Bail After ‘Spitting in a Cop’s Face While Claiming She Could Have Coronavirus’

Hanah Ayoub, 25, yelled at an officer in Sydney as he handcuffed her, then allegedly spat in his face twice before he threw her to the ground. She then said ‘I can’t wait to sue you, you dog’.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Inside Quarantine ‘Hell’: Travellers Returning to Australia From Overseas Complain About Being Forced to Stay in Five-Star Hotels and Given Three Meals a Day to Prevent the Spread of Coronavirus

Thousands of people flying into Australia have been shuttled to makeshift quarantine facilities as the government turns to law-and-order to fight coronavirus.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

He Simply “Hates Christians”: The Persecution of Christians: January 2020

The Slaughter of Christians in Nigeria

During several separate incidents, militant Muslims—whether Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, or generic terrorists—continued to attack and massacre several Christians.

On Friday, January 17, for instance, Muslim Fulani tribesmen on motorbikes raided a Christian village at a time they knew people were congregating in the village square where Christian fellowship often took place. They then opened fire. “As the people fled into nearby bushes to take cover, the attackers retreated and left,” an area resident said. “We are sad about these attacks on our people, which seem to be unending.” Two young Christian girls—Briget Philip, 18, and Priscilla David, 19—were killed, and at least three other teenagers were seriously wounded.

In another incident, “[a]t least 32 people [including a pregnant woman] were killed and a pastor’s house and church building were burned down in two nights of attacks [on predominantly Christian regions] this week by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Plateau state,” noted a January 30 report.

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

Frightened Mobs in Peru Burn Hundreds of Bats With Torches as Coronavirus Hysteria Grows

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to grow, misinformation in the form of fake news, rumors, and gossip have continued to feed mass hysteria and panic over the deadly disease.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Migrants Resist, Spit on Police as They Reject Coronavirus Measures

Immigrants in Belgium aren’t very happy with the measures imposed to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and they’re taking their frustrations out on the police.

Officers have been charged with making people aware of the new social distancing proscriptions. On Friday evening in Schaerbeek, Brussels, police spotted a group of four young “ethnic minorities” who were not abiding by the regulation. They stopped the youngsters to remind them of the new rules and asked for their identity papers, according to a report at SCEPTR.

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

Convicted Criminal Foreigners to be Released on the Streets While Norwegians Banned From Visiting Cottages

The coronavirus has created anarcho-tyranny in some parts of Europe. In France, the police cannot enforce quarantine measures in its “no go zones” which are inhabited mostly by migrants. At the same time, French citizens who live in other areas are fined hundreds of euros for breaking quarantine.

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

France: Top Government Official Argues Enforcement of Quarantine in Migrant Areas Should ‘Not be a Priority’ In Order to Avoid Riots

In France, a top official in Macron’s government has said that unlike the strict measures that have been imposed on the vast majority of the country’s population, the enforcement of quarantine shouldn’t be enforced in areas heavily populated with migrants so as to avoid riots.

“It is not a priority to enforce closings in certain neighborhoods and to stop gatherings,” French Secretary of State to the Ministry of the Interior Laurent Nunez said in a letter that was leaked to the Le Cenard Enchaine, French weekly news magazine Valeurs Actuelles reports

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

French Official Says Quarantine Should Not be Enforced in Migrant Areas to Avoid Riots

A top government official in France has admitted that draconian lockdown measures being imposed on the rest of the population shouldn’t be implemented in the country’s migrant-heavy ghettos in order to prevent riots.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Syrian Migrant Sentenced to Just 2 Years’ Probation for the Murder of Marcus Hempel

Marcus Hempel, who was 30, died after being struck several times in the head by Sabri H., a Syrian asylum-seeker, on September 29, 2017 in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany. On Thursday, Sabri was sentenced to just two years’ probation and 120 hours of community service for the crime.

The scuffle that led to Hempel’s death was recorded by a security camera, and the unedited video has been made available at the Junge Freiheit website.

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

NGO Calls for EU Action Against Greece Over “Migrant Rights”

The global anti-poverty NGO Oxfam is asking the European Commission to sanction Greece, claiming the Greek government violated the rights of migrants and “refugees”, Turkish newspaper The Daily Sabah reports.

Recently, the Greek government voted to stop processing asylum claims for one month in response to the outbreak of coronavirus along with the crisis on its border with Turkey. An Oxfam official argues that Greece is obligated to protect the migrants from the disease under EU law. In 2019 Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were accused of breaking EU law because they refused to take in asylum seekers. The charity is one of hundreds of NGOs calling on Greece and the EU to do more to prevent the spread of the virus in refugee camps despite the fact that coronavirus cases in the Mediterranean country have already passed 1000.

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

Sweden Health Board Says Elderly Can be Given Lower Priority, But Not Illegal Migrants

Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare has created guidelines for the priority of care for Chinese coronavirus patients that could see elderly Swedish citizens left to die in favour of illegal migrants.

Sweden’s elderly, along with Swedes with pre-existing health conditions, can be given lower priority than healthy young illegal migrants, according to the new guidelines.

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

Video: Migrant Pranksters in Sweden Film Themselves Coughing and Sneezing on People

To have a laugh, a pair of Arab immigrants in Eskilstuna, Sweden recorded a video of themselves approaching people on the street while coughing, sneezing, and pretending as if they’ve been infected with the coronavirus.

The video, which was published on YouTube on March 25th under duo’s shared account “Alpha & Ali”, shows the two men — Ali Qasem and Hussein Matar — walking up to people, invading their personal space while they cough, sneeze, and pretend as if they’ve been infected with COVID-19. When the passers-by pull retreat, the migrants pursue them and continue coughing and sneezing in their direction.

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

GHOULISH: Christians Arrested for Praying Outside NC Abortion Clinic Deemed ‘Essential.’ Who Will be Next?

Four men were arrested outside a Greensboro, N.C., abortion clinic on Saturday. Their alleged crime? Praying in public while the county is under a stay-at-home order due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Several members of a group called Love Life, which is dedicated to praying to end the sin and tragedy of abortion, say they were detained and later arrested by Greensboro police after they gathered near an abortion clinic called “A Woman’s Choice” to “pray in defense of the defenseless and minister (offering hope and help in Jesus name) to at-risk mothers and fathers.” The group conducts weekly prayer walks in a number of cities, incluidng Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh, N.C., and New York City.

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

The COVID World Order is Coming

COVID-19 has fundamentally changed life as we know it, and it’s more than likely that our future will be a dystopian one given how various governments have already responded to this viral outbreak.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Khan’s London: Police Want Public to Report Coronavirus ‘Hate Crimes’

London’s Metropolitan Police Force is appealing to the public to report “hate crime related to the Covid-19 pandemic”.

“A hate crime is when someone commits a crime against you because of your disability, gender, identity, race, or sexual orientation, religion, or any other actual or perceived difference,” intoned an officer identified as “Constable Paul” in the video message the Met shared to social media.

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

12 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/29/2020

  1. Re: French Official Says Quarantine Should Not Be Enforced in Migrant Areas to Avoid Riots

    Machine guns + riots = no more riots.

  2. Some ancestors are from Italy and that is sad to hear that it is destroyed by globalist traitors from within. How about China going for all the marbles in an attempt to take over the world.
    They must be high off of globalist farts. Sixty years of delusion was an attempt to weaken the West for an easy cakewalk.
    Let’s make sure that fairy tale goes up in smoke.
    Harvey Weinstein didn’t kill himself.

  3. Articles I’ve gotten a kick out of this last week

    https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2020/03/16/italy-coronavirus-migrants-asylum-seekers
    Oh no, the poor poor “asylum seekers”, oh the humanity!

    https://www.historynet.com/augustin-leon-guillaumes-goums-in-a-modern-war.htm
    As it turns out, the French have a long history of using muslims against their fellow Europeans, whether it was closing the Colmar Pocket or against the Allies in Syria 1941.

    https://aclj.org/radical-left/radical-left-soros-funded-organization-uses-the-coronavirus-to-justify-call-to-abolish-the-family
    “we must become commies to fend off this commie-created virus”… clown world *honk*

    • On a side note, I find it highly disturbing I’ve seen more articles about how Chinese-Batvirus effects “refugees” than the Europeans themselves. Perhaps Merkel will make Sweden create a special refugee safe-haven island to save “vulnerable populations” from Xi Jinping disease?

  4. -6% for Italy… While in comparatively “easygoing” and less-hit Britain, they’re talking about GDP dropping 10-20% during the next 3 months, and here in Poland retailers are saying their takings have decreased by 80%. And a friend working in science R&D in Switzerland has been given an “offer he can’t refuse” – a 2-day working week…

    To summarise – what makes the Italians so optimistic?

  5. Re: “Boeing’s Bean-Counter Culture…”

    When visiting Madrid in 2013, I met a friendly young American aeronautical engineer who worked for Airbus (we’re still in touch); even then he remarked on the toxic cultre at Boeing.

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