Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to issue an executive order next week that will begin the process of releasing his state from the coronavirus lockdown. Meanwhile, the condition of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to improve in hospital since his release from the ICU.
In other news, the migrant-rescue ship Alan Kurdi is still searching for a European port that will allow it to offload its “refugees”.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
America’s “Food Lines” Are Being Measured in Miles as Desperation Sets in All Over the Country
When I repeatedly warned that a large portion of the population was completely and utterly unprepared for any sort of a serious economic downturn, I was not exaggerating one bit. A survey that was taken last August found that 59 percent of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck at that time, and that wasn’t going to be a major problem as long as the paychecks kept rolling in. But now we have seen the biggest spike in unemployment in the history of our country, and millions of workers suddenly don’t have paychecks coming in anymore. In just a matter of weeks, economic desperation on a massive scale has erupted from coast to coast, and the stress that this is putting on food banks and other charities that work with the poor has been unprecedented.
Everyone has seen photos of the “bread lines” during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but in many instances the lines of vehicles that are lining up for free food here in 2020 are even longer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Not Asking Others to Pay Our Debts Says Di Maio
We must create conditions to spend all money needed — minister
(ANSA) — Rome, April 9 — Italy is not asking other to pay its debts, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Thursday amid a stalemate at the Eurogroup between using coronabonds, which Rome and France advocate, or the European Stability Mechanism, which northern countries have proposed in the face of Italian opposition.
“We don’t want other countries to pay our debts, Italy has always paid its own debts,” Di Maio told Italian TV.
At the Eurogroup, he said, “they are deciding if Italy can spend all the money it needs to help young people and the less young” through the coronavirus crisis.
“We want to create the market conditions to be able to spend all the money that is needed for infrastructures, jobs, and technological innovations”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Salvini Refuses to Vote for Coronavirus Bailout Decree, Labelling it a Mockery
Populist Italian Senator Matteo Salvini joined former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in coming out against the “Cura Italia” Wuhan coronavirus bailout decree, saying that Italians will not see “one lira” of cash.
Salvini said that he, along with the League, will not vote for the Cura Italia decree and criticised the proposal as being “a substantial mockery of the Italians who will not see a lira”, he said, referencing Italy’s currency before the implementation of the euro.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
World Faces “Devastating Health Consequences” As Global Condom Shortage Strikes
With the global economy crashed, international borders closed, air travel restricted, and major cities under government-enforced public health lockdowns, a new warning from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) specifies a global condom shortage is looming.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Papers, Please!” Fauci Agrees Gates’ “COVID Immunity Card” Idea “Has Merit”
Talks of COVID immunity cards have certainly been a hot subject in the last several weeks from high-ranking Western officials. It could be the means to reopen crashed economies seen across Europe and the US.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN “New Day” host Alisyn Camerota that people could soon carry ‘cards’ proving their immunity to COVID-19.
“Can you imagine a time where Americans carry certificates of immunity?” Camerota asked Fauci during an interview Friday.
“You know, that’s possible,” Fauci responded.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Armed Homeowner Battles Masked Home Invaders in Fatal Confrontation
Men in coronavirus gear attempt to rob home.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Army Field Hospital for COVID-19 Surge Leaves Seattle After 9 Days. It Never Saw a Patient
Army field hospital for COVID-19 surge leaves Seattle after 9 days. It never saw a patient. But “we’ll run out of hospital beds said all the geniuses.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Sex-Assault Accuser Tara Reade Files Criminal Complaint With D.C. Police
Former Joe Biden staffer Tara Reade, who accused the Democratic presidential candidate of sexually assaulting her in 1993, filed a formal criminal complaintThursday with the sexual assault unit of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, according to Business Insider.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Gates’ Vaccine Agenda a Win-Win for Big Pharma, Mandatory Vaccination
World elite striving for dictatorial control of global health policy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CDC Confesses it is Lying About Number of Covid19 Deaths
CDC confesses it is lying about number of COVID-19 deaths. A small-town doctor in Kalispell, Montana, posted a YouTube video where she pulls back the curtain and exposes Dr. “Wizard of Oz” Fauci and other government bureaucrats. She explains how a death certificate is filled out, and shows CDC instructions to list COVID-19 as cause of death even when no testing for COVID-19 was done.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CNN, NBC, Bloomberg, Politico All Change Headlines on Same Story That Tells Truth About Dems
For a few minutes Thursday, a number of establishment media outlets reported the truth by accurately noting that Senate Democrats had blocked a Republican proposal to offer further assistance to small businesses during the coronavirus shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attempted to pass a White House-backed $250 billion relief package aimed at helping small businesses Thursday by unanimous consent — as most lawmakers are currently not in Washington.
Republicans sought to increase funding for the Paycheck Protection Program from $350 billion to $600 billion.
Democrats, seeking to add an additional $250 billion for pet projects and double the amount Republicans were seeking, made sure nothing got done.
Similarly to how they held up progress on the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Democrats were seeking to take advantage of the urgency in helping small businesses stay afloat during the nationwide shutdown by trying to attach unrelated additional spending to the bill.
When they didn’t receive their special provisions, Democrats blocked the legislation from moving forward.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cruz Slams Feinstein: Trying to Send Millions to Iran, While Blocking Relief to American Businesses
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz unloaded on his Democratic colleagues on Friday in response to Sen. Dianne Feinstein sending a letter to President Trump declaring that she is “disappointed” in his administration’s plan to block funding to the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran. The Democrats’ demand of Trump to help Iran get $5 billion in aid, Cruz noted, comes “at the exact same time” that they are “blocking desperately need relief to small businesses in America.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Cuomo: Every Coronavirus Projection Has ‘Been 100% Wrong at This Point’
New York Governor acknowledges deeply flawed projections by health experts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Disgraced Former Baltimore Mayor Given a Reprieve on Going to Prison
As you may recall, Baltimore’s corrupt former mayor, Catherine Pugh, was sentencedto three years in the slammer for her “Healthy Holly” self-dealing fiasco in February. In addition, she is to follow that up with three years of supervised probation and some hefty fines to partially repay the citizens for the money she siphoned out of the system and the taxes she dodged. But her journey to a medium-security penitentiary in Aliceville, Alabama has now been put on hold for at least two months. The reason? I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. (CBS Baltimore)
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former NYT Reporter: COVID-19 Lockdowns Based on Flawed Models
Former reporter determined that forcing the economy to a standstill is not merited given the virus’ realities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gov. Greg Abbott: Executive Order to Reopen Businesses Expected Next Week
AUSTIN, Texas — At his third press conference of the week, Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas businesses can expect an executive order from his office next week, with plans on how to begin reopening the state’s economy.
Abbott says he has been in constant contact with President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to discuss how to proceed with beginning the process of allowing businesses to open up again.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hospitals Overwhelmed? Nurses Outfitted in Ppe Film Tik Tok Dance Videos
‘As you can see, hospitals are overwhelmed with deathly ill patients and the staff are getting no rest…’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How to Protect Yourself From Long Term Pandemic Lockdown
Many governments continue to perpetuate this fantasy by using very carefully worded terminology. For example, the phrase “two weeks of hell” is being consistently repeated by the media after Trump uttered the notion a few days ago. In Italy, a Milan official sees lockdowns now continuing for 2-3 more weeks. In Spain, the public was left with the impression that two solid weeks of quarantine and lockdowns would help stave off infections, yet the government extended the restrictions for…yes, you guessed it…another two weeks.
Why are these announcements always in two-week intervals? I suspect it is because the maximum amount of days before the average person begins to register the passage of time in their minds in a new situation. After two to three weeks of going without certain comforts and habits, people tend to adapt and find different ways of doing things. And, after two to three weeks of the crisis, they might wake up and recognize the situation is not going to get better.
Governments and establishment elites are seeking to keep the public as passive and docile as possible by continually feeding them the notion that the worst of the pandemic will be over in a matter of weeks. And, every two weeks they will reassure us that we are “only two weeks away” from salvation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Louisville Church Sues Mayor for Prohibiting Drive-in Easter Services
A Louisville, Kentucky church is suing Mayor Greg Fischer for prohibiting drive-in church services on Easter because of the coronavirus pandemic.
First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit public interest law firm, announced the filing of a restraining order against the mayor on behalf of On Fire Christian Church, “seeking to block his prohibition on churches holding drive-in churches during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Media Panicked Over Chloroquine But New Data Suggests it’s Ventilators That Are Killing People
The media for weeks has been throwing a fit over President Trump touting “unproven,” potentially “deadly” hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus but they’ve been hyping the clear and present danger of America not having enough ventilators without ever questioning their effectiveness.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Meet the Former NYT Reporter Who is Challenging the Coronavirus Narrative
Meet the former NYT reporter who is challenging the coronavirus narrative. Interesting take. In our opinion, President Trump needs to dump Fauchi and his garbage.
“In February I was worried about the virus. By mid-March I was more scared about the economy. But now I’m starting to get genuinely nervous,” he tweeted this week. “This isn’t complicated. The models don’t work. The hospitals are empty. WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT INDEFINITE LOCKDOWNS?”
“Aside from New York, nationally there’s been no health system crisis. In fact, to be truly correct there has been a health system crisis, but the crisis is that the hospitals are empty,” he said. “This is true in Florida where the lockdown was late, this is true in South Carolina where the lockdown was early, it’s true in Oklahoma where there is no statewide lockdown. There doesn’t seem to be any correlation between the lockdown and whether or not the epidemic has spread wide and fast.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Fine Church Members $500 for Attending Drive-in Parking Lot Sermon
Elderly citizens trying to abide by social distancing orders punished by local government.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Some People’s Haircuts Are “Essential”
Politicians and the people charged with enforcing politicians’ directives really can be like the pigs in George Orwell’s book Animal Farm.
The pigs’ express commandment for governing became, over time, “all animals are equal but some animals are more equal to others.” The “more equal” animals were the pigs in charge for whom the rules they imposed on other animals did not necessarily apply.
For examples of this commandment in practice, we can consider haircuts during the government-mandated closing of “nonessential” businesses, including salons and barber shops, in the name of fighting coronavirus. No professional haircut is allowed for the regular person in many parts of America.
But, for politicians and cops, the rules may not apply.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Town Allows Cops to Fine Residents as Young as 12 for Violating “Stay-at-Home” Order
Teens and children can be fined anywhere from $90 to $313 according to age.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Passes Italy for Most Reported Coronavirus Deaths in World
The United States passed Italy on Saturday for the ominous mark of having the most recorded deaths from coronavirus in the world.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Last night Senator Dr. Scott Jensen from Minnesota went on The Ingraham Angle to discuss how the AMA is encouraging American doctors to overcount coronavirus deaths across the US.
This was after Dr. Scott Jensen, a Minnesota physician and Republican state senator, told a local station he received a 7-page document coaching him to fill out death certificates with a COVID-19 diagnosis without a lab test to confirm the patient actually had the virus.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Virginia Gov. Northam Signs New Gun Control Measures Into Law
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed a series of gun control measures into law Friday, a move the Democrat-controlled General Assembly sees as a victory amid the increased tensions within the state concerning gun violence and restrictions.
Among the measures signed by Northam Friday:
- Requiring background checks on all gun sales in Virginia
- Re-instituting a limit on handgun sales to one a month
- Increasing penalties for recklessly leaving firearms near children or failing to report a lost or stolen firearm within two days
- Allowing localities to set their own rules on the presence of firearms in public
- Prohibiting those subject to a protective order from possessing firearms
- Creating a “red flag” law that allows law enforcement to temporarily seize a gun from a person deemed to pose a danger to themselves or others
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Virus-Panicked Liberal Gun Buyers Are Getting Angry When They Discover Their Own Gun Control Laws
Liberal laws are good for thee but not for me.
More than a dozen of these buyers (men and women) actually thought that since they filled out and signed everything, they could just walk out and go home with the firearm. Several actually said they saw how easy it was to buy a gun on TV and why did they have to fill out all these forms.
The majority of these first timers lost their minds when we went through the Ammo Law requirements. Most used language not normally heard, even in a gun range. We pointed out that since no one working here voted for these laws, then maybe they might know someone who did. And, maybe they should go back and talk to those people and tell them to re-think their position on firearms — we were trying to be nice.
Most were VERY vocal about why it takes 10 days minimum (sometimes longer if the DOJ is backed up) to take their property home with them. They ask why do I need to wait 10 days if I need the protection today or tomorrow? We pointed out again that no one working here voted in support of that law.
They really went crazy when we told them that for each firearm they had to do the same amount of paperwork and they could only purchase ONE handgun every 30 days. Again, we didn’t [vote] for that law.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Whistleblower: How CDC is Manipulating the COVID-19 Death-Toll
A Montana based physician has blown the whistle on how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is exaggerating the COVID-19 death toll by manipulating Coronavirus death certificates. Dr. Annie Bukacek, MD, is a longtime Montana physician with over 30 years of experience practicing medicine. Signing death certificates is a routine part of her job.
In a brief video presentation, Dr. Bukacek blows the whistle on the way the CDC is instructing physicians to exaggerate COVID 19 deaths on death certificates:
Few people know how much individual power and leeway is given to the physician, coroner, or medical examiner, signing the death certificate. How do I know this? I’ve been filling out death certificates for over 30 years.
More often than we want to admit, we don’t know with certainty the cause of death when we fill out death certificates. That is just life. We are doctors, not God. Autopsies are rarely performed and even when an autopsy is done the actual cause of death is not always clear. Physicians make their best guesstimate and fill out the form. Then that listed cause of death… is entered into a vital records data bank to use for statistical analysis, which then gives out inaccurate numbers, as you can imagine. Those inaccurate numbers then become accepted as factual information even though much of it is false.
So even before we heard of COVID-19, death certificates were based on assumptions and educated guesses that go unquestioned. When it comes to COVID-19 there is the additional data skewer, that is —get this— there is no universal definition of COVID-19 death. The Centers for Disease Control, updated from yesterday, April 4th, still states that mortality, quote unquote, data includes both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of COVID-19. That’s from their website.
Translation? The CDC counts both true COVID-19 cases and speculative guesses of COVID-19 the same. They call it death by COVID-19. They automatically overestimate the real death numbers, by their own admission. Prior to COVID-19, people were more likely to get an accurate cause of death written on their death certificate if they died in the hospital. Why more accurate when a patient dies in the hospital? Because hospital staff has physical examination findings labs, radiologic studies, et cetera, to make a good educated guess. It is estimated that 60 percent of people die in the hospital. But even [with] those in-hospital deaths, the cause of death is not always clear, especially in someone with multiple health conditions, each of which could cause the death.
Bukacek refers to a March 24 CDC memo from Steven Schwartz, director of the Division of Vital Statistics for the National Center for Health Statistics, titled “COVID-19 Alert No. 2.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Who Refutes 5G/COVID-19 Connection
Globalist organization released an infographic to address claims of a link.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Central Planning by Medical Experts Will Lead to Disaster
Medical experts have tunnel vision when it comes to disease and public policy, and they greatly overestimate their own abilities to anticipate unintended costs and consequences
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Young Turks Employees Vote to Unionize Over Cenk Uygur’s Strenuous Objections
The Young Turks is a progressive media company co-founded by Cenk Uygur. When a group of employees announced plans to form a union earlier this year, CEO Uygur suddenly started sounding like a conservative union-buster. He warned that a union couldn’t make a magic pot of money appear and begged employees to reconsider. Thursday, over his objections, the employees voted to unionize:…
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Says Only Half the Views on the Platform Come From YouTubers
Over the last couple of years, YouTube’s algorithmic changes and official statements have shown a clear preference for corporations over the creators that helped build the platform.
And in an interview with NBC reporter Dylan Byers, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki shared some insights that confirm the reduced prevalence of YouTube creators on the platform.
At the start of the interview, Byers asked Wojcicki whether more people are watching content that’s coming from traditional media companies on YouTube.
“I’d say about half of YouTube if I were to estimate it, comes from YouTube creators,” Wojcicki responded.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Police to Make Home Visits to Check Quarantine Compliance
Violators face up to $1 million fine and three years in jail.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
917 New Coronavirus Deaths as UK Told to Stay Home
The UK has recorded 917 new coronavirus deaths, taking the total number of people who have died in hospital with the virus to 9,875.
For the second day in a row, more than 900 deaths were recorded in hospitals.
The latest figures come as the prime minister has told friends he owes his life to the NHS staff who treated him in hospital for Covid-19.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British Suicide Rate Soars to Record High
ONS recorded 1,413 suicides for 4Q19, compared with just 1,130 over the same period in 2017, resulting in a massive 25% increase.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus: Elderly Europeans Denied Treatment
With well over a half-million confirmed cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Europe, a growing number of regional medical authorities have begun issuing guidelines and protocols that call for hospitals to prioritize younger patients over those who are older.
In Italy and Spain, the two countries most affected by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, doctors in overwhelmed intensive care units have for weeks been making life or death decisions about who receives emergency treatment. The new protocols, however, amount to government directives that instruct medical personnel effectively to abandon elderly patients to their fate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus Vaccine May be Developed by September, Says Oxford Professor
A vaccine for the deadly Chinese coronavirus could be at least five months away.
Professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford Sarah Gilbert has been working seven days a week with her team to develop a vaccine for the new pathogen that came out of China in December.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Daily COVID-19 Deaths in Britain Surpass Daily Records for Italy & Spain
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson needs time to recover from the new coronavirus and is unlikely to be back at work soon, his father said Friday, as millions of Britons began an Easter holiday weekend in lockdown and the U.K. recorded almost 1,000 more COVID-19 deaths than the day before.
Britain’s official death toll of people with the coronavirus leapt by 980 Friday to 8,958 — a bigger daily increase than was seen in Italy and Spain, the two European countries with the greatest number of fatalities. Italy recorded a high of 969 deaths on March 27 and Spain 950 deaths on April 2.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Expert Predicts Coronavirus ‘Tragedy’ In Sweden as Deaths Increase
A Swedish infectious medicine professor has predicted the country may be headed towards “tragedy” as Chinese coronavirus fatalities surge, with old people’s homes accounting for a quarter of all deaths.
Björn Olsen, Professor of Infectious Medicine at the University of Uppsala, said that he fully expects the situation in Sweden to get much worse in the coming weeks and claimed authorities waited too long and did too little to address the outbreak of the virus.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Muslim World League Donates 1 Mn Dollars to Civil Protection
Body provides aid for coronavirus emergency
(ANSA) — Rome, April 9 — The Italian chapter of the Muslim World League on Thursday said it has donated one million euros to the Italian civil protection amid the Codiv-19 pandemic.
“Following the grave situation that Italy is experiencing with the Codiv-19 pandemic”, the organization has provided “financial support to the Italian government with maximum priority to be able to provide to the need for medical equipment and several necessary provisions to deal with the pandemic” and care for “those who have been affected by it”.
The organization said one million dollars have been transferred to the Italian civil protection
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Government Threatened With Collapse Over Coronavirus Aid
Some members of the Left-wing Five Star Movement have threatened to end its coalition with other Leftist parties in protest against measures being proposed to accept loans from the European Union to deal with the massive problems Italy is facing as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Right-wing Lega party, is also opposed to the aid package.
Some members of the Five Star Movement, or M5S, are objecting to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s proposal to accept funds from the EU’s European Stability Mechanism (ESM), known by Italians as the “Cura Italia.” The proposal, which was negotiated by the member states with the EU’s finance ministers, would make 240 billion euros in loans available, according to a report by Il Giornale. Conte previously promised that he would never accept a loan from the ESM, however.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Most Eligible Americans to Receive Coronavirus Relief Checks by April 15, Treasury Official Says
A senior U.S. Treasury official told Fox News Friday that most eligible Americans should be receiving their coronavirus relief payments no later than April 15.
The first batch of dough will go out to Americans who filed their taxes in 2018 or 2019 and received a refund through direct deposit.
Those who did not receive a tax refund electronically during the same time frame will be able to expedite their payment by providing their bank account information to the IRS via the “Get My Payment” app that is launching next week.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal’s Costa Questions Dutch Commitment to EU
‘We need to know whether we can go on with 27 in the European Union … or if there is anyone who wants to be left out.’
By Ivo Oliveira
Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa on Friday called into question the Netherlands’ commitment to the European Union because of its tough line on economic support for countries badly hit by the coronavirus.
“We need to know whether we can go on with 27 in the European Union, 19 [in the eurozone], or if there is anyone who wants to be left out. Naturally, I am referring to the Netherlands,” Costa said in an interview with the Lusa news agency released in full on Saturday.
Costa also defended the role of the European Commission during the crisis, saying it has “acted to the maximum extent of its capabilities.” The responsibility, he said, “rests with the Council … and there is no transfer of responsibilities to Brussels…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Document Reveals Elderly Coronavirus Patients Will Not be Prioritised for Intensive Care
A document from the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm has revealed that Wuhan coronavirus patients over 80 and those over 60 with multiple organ failure will not be given priority for intensive care.
The document confirms prior reports that Swedish authorities were looking to prioritise certain groups of people for intensive care who are more likely to survive severe cases of the Chinese virus if or when hospital capacities are overwhelmed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Press ‘Names & Shames’ Prominent Professors for Promoting ‘Conspiracy Theories’ About COVID-19
By far the most sensitive topic for contemporary ‘conspiracy theories’ is the novel coronavirus and its origins. As researchers and scientists bandy about ideas and test out different theories, many in the British press apparently now see these activities as threats to the public welfare, and are now moving to ‘name and shame’ academics accused of promoting ‘conspiracy theories’ — lest they poison the minds of the next generation of Britons.
The Times of London reports that “prominent British academics” have been “promoting” dangerous conspiracy theories via their social media accounts, where several professors have been accused of sharing content suggesting that the virus was developed as a bioweapon, or that various parties, from the WEF to Bill Gates, are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain.
Again, those sound more like ‘criticisms’ to us, but we digress…
Anyway, the rogue academics discussed in the report include Tim Hayward, a professor of environmental political theory at the University of Edinburgh, and Piers Robinson, co-founder of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies — referred to as the ‘OPS’ throughout the story — which is apparently affiliated with the University of Bristol (It uses a UoB address). Another academic mentioned is Mark Crispin Miller, a professor at NYU who has written that the coronavirus “may be an artificially created bioweapon.”
Via their social media accounts, these three men, and affiliates mentioned in the story who are part of their academic networks, have shared conspiracies including suggesting that the virus was engineered in a bioweapons lab, claiming that the WEF, Bill Gates and other members of the global ‘elite’ are trying to manipulate the situation for private gain.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BBC Blows 45k Euros on Working Ventilators for Soap Operas
The BBC tried to use the Coronavirus pandemic to ‘look good’ in a recent post on social media, but it failed spectacularly after the corporation revealed they had wasted tens of thousands of pounds worth of taxpayers cash.
The corporation’s production arm BBC Studios was accused of a massive ‘waste of money’ after they inadvertently let slip that producers bought real equipment for the BBC’s long-running medical soap operas Holby City and Casualty.
The dramas use real ventilators in production — rather than using cheaper props or ‘fakes’ and the BBC donated them to the NHS.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Coronavirus: Boris Johnson Makes ‘Very Good Progress’ Out of Intensive Care
Boris Johnson is continuing to make “very good progress” in hospital, where he is being treated for coronavirus, according to Downing Street.
The prime minister, 55, was taken to hospital on Sunday — 10 days after testing positive for the virus.
He had three nights in intensive care before returning to a ward on Thursday.
No 10 said he was receiving daily updates and pregnancy scans from his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, and had been passing the time with films and sudoku.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A man has been given a short prison sentence for coughing on police officers, threatening to spit on them, and saying he hoped to infect them with coronavirus and that the virus would spread to their children.
41-year-old Michael Gray, of Ingatestone Road in South London, was approached by two police constables on Upper Tulse Hill in Brixton after they noticed he “appeared to be harassing three women”, according to a Metropolitan Police statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Labour Party’s new leader has appointed an MP who shared a tweet stating “Those abused girls in Rotherham and elsewhere just need to shut their mouths. For the good of diversity” as Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion.
Naseem ‘Naz’ Shah, the British-Pakistani Labour MP for Bradford West, sparked outrage when she shared the tweet — which she said was “a genuine accident”, although she also “liked” it — in 2017, with tens of thousands of people signing a petition demanding her resignation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Queen Elizabeth: ‘Easter Isn’t Cancelled’, Take ‘New Hope’ From ‘Risen Christ’
Queen Elizabeth II has delivered what is believed to be the first-ever Easter message of her 67-year reign, offering a message of hope to people confined to their homes throughout the holiday by the coronavirus pandemic.
The 93-year-old monarch — who also serves as Supreme Governor of the Church of England — recorded this message in the drawing room of Windsor Castle, where she is herself in self-isolation as a result of the pandemic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Video: South Yorkshire Police Interrogate Brit for Being Out in Garden
South Yorkshire Police have been slammed for abusing their power during the nationwide lockdown.
A viral clip has shown a Police officer from the force, that was also involved in covering up grooming gangs in Rotherham, interrogating someone for being out in their own front garden.
In the clip, the police officer talked to the people filming, claiming that they should ‘stay indoors’ to fight COVID-19. When challenged by the fact that people are allowed on their front garden, the officer responded that they couldn’t.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children with a lawyer who was helping him fight extradition to the U.S. while he was holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, according to The Daily Mail.
The lawyer, Stella Morris, told the Mail that she had decided to come forward about the relationship now because she fears for his life as long as he is in the high-security Belmarsh prison. Assange has been at the prison in London since last spring, when he was sentenced to 50 weeks. The Mail also cited court records regarding the United States’ attempted extradition of Assange that mentioned the two young children.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Serbia Being Courted by Powerful Friends Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic
Since Serbia is currently receiving aid from China, Russia, and the European Union to deal with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it is now one of the best-supported nations in the world. The reason for this, however, has more to do with geopolitical maneuvering than altruism.
Serbia reported its first confirmed coronavirus infection on March 5; today it is reporting approximately 3,000 infections and 66 deaths. It requested international assistance, and the three powers have been more than happy to oblige. Serbia has not yet firmly declared its intention to join the European Union, and thus it is seen as up for grabs between the powers to be absorbed into their own spheres of influence and moved further away from those of their competitors.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Serbian Government Boot-Licks CCP as it Imposes 60 Hour ‘Total Ban on Movement’
The Serbian government on Friday announced radical lockdown measures that will require all residents to stay inside their homes throughout the entire duration of Easter weekend.
The “total ban on movement” which Serbian authorities began enforcing at 5pm on Friday, will last until Monday morning at 5 am and applies to all residents living in Serbia.
The newly enacted measures permit residents who are over the age of 65 to leave their homes from 4 am to 7 am to buy food from stores that are open during the same hours.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Boosts Navy With New German Submarine
by Amr Emam
Egypt has received a new advanced submarine from Germany, raising speculation about its naval expansion and modernization plans. The new Type 209/1400 underwater craft, delivered on April 9, is Egypt’s third of four manufactured by Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
Egypt’s 2014 Naval Contract with Germany’s ThyssenKrupp
The German provider of naval vessels, surface ships and submarines as well as a number of other products including elevators, is constructing the submarines in the light of a 2014 contract with Egypt. The Egyptian navy received the first submarine of this type in December 2016 and the second in August 2017.
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems says it will deliver the fourth submarine to Egypt in 2021.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Watch Dozens of Ambulances Line Up Outside Moscow Hospital as Russian COVID-19 Cases Soar
Russian President Vladimir Putin has imposed a national lockdown across Russia until the end of the month to try and fight the coronavirus, after Russia’s bold attempt to block transmission including border closures and severe travel restrictions that were at the time some of the most aggressive in the world, it seems the country’s effort either fell apart, or the virus managed to sneak inside anyway.
Now, Russia has roughly 13,584 cases, and 106 confirmed deaths on its hands, many of them in Moscow.
Yesterday, the New York Times published a story about the increasingly dire situation in the country. Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 in Moscow alone have doubled in the past week to 3,000, and that number continues to rapidly rise.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pak Christians and Hindus Only Allowed Corona Food Rations if They Convert to Islam
Christine Douglass-Williams | Jihad Watch Online | Karachi | April 11, 2020:: Several days ago, Jihad Watch reported that Saylani Welfare International Trust in Karachi was denying food aid to poor Hindus and Christians amid the coronavirus pandemic. “The reason for this is that Zakat, Islamic alms giving (one of Islam’s five pillars), is reserved for Muslims.”
Then shortly afterward, International Christian Concern reported that Christians in Lahore were also being denied government food aid amid the Covid-19 crisis.
Now it emerges that Christians and Hindus in Pakistan will be allowed food rations under one condition: if they convert to Islam. They must say the Kalma Tayyaba, which translates to: There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet (or messenger). This is the first part of the Shahada — the profession of faith that constitutes conversion to Islam.
This “shocking act of discrimination against minorities” is major news, but is, of course, ignored by mainstream media…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
“This Should Trouble Us Deeply” — Chilling Documentary Maps Out Likely Origin of COVID-19
Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times
While The Epoch Times began publishing reports of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus on Jan. 2, most outlets had yet to pick up on the story because of the CCP’s lockdown on information. Three months later, over 200 countries and territories have been infected and the CCP virus has caused over 85,000 deaths infecting at least 1.4 million, but information is murkier than ever.
“We’ve pretty much heard every rumor under the sun. We’ve heard every theory, every crazy rumor, we’ve heard all these different narratives,” said Joshua Philipp, award-winning investigative reporter and host of the show “Crossroads.”
The rumors aren’t by accident: The CCP has been actively engaging in a disinformation campaign, and media outlets around the world have parroted the propaganda. As a result, entire nations have been operating under false information as they try to battle the pandemic within their borders.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
China Ramps Up Campaign Against Online Church Services
The Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on church services in homes and buildings now extends to online services, which churches around the world have conducted amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Bitter Winter, a magazine focused on human rights in China, reported Chinese authorities have prevented Christians from accessing live-streamed church services.
A pastor of an unofficial house church explained, “Our first and only online gathering was blocked by the government soon after it started.”
The report said a pastor’s online service in the eastern province of Shandong was stopped less than 20 minutes after it began on Feb. 9. A few days later, he unsuccessfully attempted another online platform.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Continues to Use Facebook and Twitter to Shape Coronavirus Narratives
The Chinese government is continuing to carry out huge media campaigns on social networks to create a positive image of the nation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
China has been manipulating information to convince citizens in other countries that its role in the COVID-19 pandemic has been heroic.
This is the conclusion that several cyber security agencies have come to, which matches our own reporting about the large amounts of advertising on social networks from Chinese state media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Doctor Experimented With Live Animals in Wuhan Lab Linked to Coronavirus — Report
Discovery sheds light on China’s hand in developing COVID-19.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Japan to Fund Firms to Shift Production Out of China
by Isabel Reynolds and Emi Urabe
Japan has earmarked $2.2 billion of its record economic stimulus package to help its manufacturers shift production out of China as the coronavirus disrupts supply chains between the major trading partners.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Pictures, Videos: Communist China Continues Removing Crosses From State-Run Churches
The coronavirus pandemic has not slowed the Chinese Communist Party’s practice of removing religious symbols in order to bring all people into subjection to the state as the ultimate sovereign.
Even on government-approved Three-Self churches, Bitter Winter has collected images and videos of government officials removing crosses in the past several months, adding to the many they had already toppled.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Recovered Coronavirus Patients Test Positive Again in Blow to Immunity Hopes
South Korea reported on Friday that 91 recovered coronavirus patients have tested positive for the disease again, raising questions over health experts’ understanding of the pandemic.
The prospect of people being re-infected with the virus is of international concern, as many countries are hoping that infected populations will develop sufficient immunity to prevent a resurgence of the pandemic.
The reports have also prompted fears the virus may remain active in patients for much longer than was previously thought.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
African Locust Outbreak Returns; Second Wave Approximately 20 Times Larger
Shortly before Coronavirus began sweeping the globe, the largest locust plague in 70 years was sweeping through various countries in Africa.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bolsonaro Says Trump ‘Wonder Drug’ Will “Save 1000s of Lives” In Brazil
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week for allowing raw materials to continue to flow into Brazil so they could maintain production of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an anti-malaria drug, to treat patients of COVID-19, reported The Economic Times.
“We have more good news. As an outcome of my direct conversation with Prime Minister of India, we will receive, by Saturday, raw materials to continue our production of HCQ so that we can treat patients of COVID-19 as well as of Lupus, Malaria, and Arthritis. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of India for such timely help to the people of Brazil,” Bolsonaro stated.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Coronavirus Lockdown Increases Tensions in Balkan Migrant Camps
Since a near-total ban on movement into or out of reception centers in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was imposed last month as a coronavirus (COVID-19) prevention measure, conditions have grown tense in the migrant camps.
Serbia is currently hosting approximately 8,700 migrants in several camps. Neither local or international aid organizations have been permitted to enter the camps, and migrants are not allowed to leave the facilities except in cases of medical emergencies or with the permission of the authorities. This situation has been ongoing since March 17. The migrants are thus more or less stuck in the camps without access to any assistance, activities, or information apart from what they can get by phone or through social media, according to a report by Balkan Insight.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Teenager Beaten by Migrant Gang While Walking in Forest
A 17-year-old boy was walking in the Egebæksvang forest near the town Helsingør, Denmark on Tuesday when he was attacked by a gang of six to seven “foreign looking” boys who were roughly the same age.
During the senseless and unprovoked attack, the gang of boys knocked the victim to the ground and kicked him several times his body and head, Danish news portal Denkorteavis reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Attempted Rape by Migrant in Ravenna
A migrant took advantage of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown to attempt to sexually assault an Italian woman on the deserted streets of Ravenna, in northern Italy.
In late March, the perpetrator, who is a 15-year-old Tunisian, spotted the woman, who is 46, as she was leaving her car after parking it while returning home from work. The migrant had been passing the area on his bicycle, and when he saw the woman, he proceeded to follow her at a distance. The area was deserted because of the lockdown.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Who Watched Porn After Killing German Woman Sentenced
A migrant was sentenced this week for killing a German woman in a ladies’ restroom in Hamburg last year. The case became notorious after it was established that the murderer had watched pornography immediately after the killing.
Nasr El Dbin B., an Algerian national, also known as “Muhammad Ahmed,” met Joselin H., a German, at a restaurant in Hamburg called “Katys Hütte,” or Katy’s Hut. The restaurant is on Cuxhavener Strasse in Neugraben-Fischbek. Nasr was 37 and Joselin was 36. Nasr was employed there as a waiter and janitor, and Joselin, who had been drinking, was the last guest in the establishment at closing time.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NGO Ship Seeks to Offload Migrants at EU Port Amid Virus Crisis
Tensions are increasing on an NGO migrant transport ship in the Mediterranean as it continues to search for an open European port amid the Chinese COVID-19 crisis.
The Alan Kurdi, a ship that’s operated by the German NGO Sea-Eye, began looking for an open European port on Monday after it had picked up 150 migrants somewhere off the coast of Libya, Het Laatste Nieuws reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope’s Preacher: Coronavirus Has Made Us Forget About ‘Building Walls’
ROME — Never has humanity been so united as now by a coronavirus that “knows no borders,” the preacher of the papal household, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, said on Good Friday.
Preaching before Pope Francis in an empty Saint Peter’s Basilica while live-streaming to Catholics watching the service on the Internet, Father Cantalamessa said the world is living in a watershed moment that will change human life forever.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NoFap Struggles Against Wikipedia, Accuses Editors of Bias
There are those who believe that overconsumption of pornography might be a full-blown addiction.
NoFap is a community-based porn recovery community that believes pornography has the potential to create addiction, which can be overcome.
The project’s goal is to get the brain pathways of porn addicts back to their original state, before pornography forced them into compulsive sexual behaviors.
So far, so good — but the website, that runs forums, and publishes apps and articles to support those wanting, so to speak, a helping hand in quitting porn, is running into obstacles. And on Wikipedia, of all places.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ole Miss Students ‘Required’ To Complete ‘Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion’ Training
The University of Mississippi has introduced a new diversity and inclusion course requirement for students.
The main catalyst for Ole Miss implementing this course was an incident in which several students were photographed holding guns near a memorial for Emmett Till, resulting in an FBI investigation.
The online course, which is 45 minutes long, was due on April 1. The Daily Mississippian reports that it followed the same structure and method as alcohol and sexual assault online courses used at Ole Miss and schools across the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eastern celebrations in Belgium by migrants
https://twitter.com/i/status/1249077211992338433
https://twitter.com/i/status/1249077211992338433
Muslim are savages, Maria. Where ever they go they are descrutive and evil. But I know you already know that fact. Happy Easter to you thanks to Jesus Christ who is the ONLY Mediator between God and man.
Belgian Muslims Easter celebration continue :
https://twitter.com/i/status/1249263309045587968
https://twitter.com/i/status/1249038382203916290
https://twitter.com/i/status/1249104974778335233
https://twitter.com/i/status/1249031125663711232
Verhofstadt must be in his” Rule of Law” 7-th Haven :-))
Cheers Belgians !! Regards from Poland :-))
meanwhile in poland :https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVADfGwWsAEcF1z?format=jpg&name=small
These Polish prisoners are doing their part by sewing masks.
Every pair of hands counts in fighting the pandemic.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1247710803672907776 :-))
Scary. Although here in England things are even nuttier.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/04/11/labours-new-leader-promotes-abused-girls-need-shut-their-mouths-good-of-diversity-mp-community-cohesion/#disqus_thread
Real… Eastern Europe Solidarity in action :
https://twitter.com/i/status/1248243846938419200
Romania i have for you DEEPEST Respect !
Regards from Poland ! Hristos a inviat din morti !
“Egypt Boosts Navy With New German Submarine”
Israel’s entire submarine fleet is also made up of German Dolphin subs. Maybe the two can have a u boat battle?
If the result is determined by the competence of the officers and crew, my money’s on the Israelis.
No real military value..They have get a piece a metal scrap..
German U BOT Fleet or what left from it ( newest 212 and old U36 )is in dry docks grounded , because of faulty engines..
https://navaltoday.com/2019/05/16/another-german-submarine-runs-aground-in-norwegian-waters/
Following the U35 accident, the German Navy was briefly left with no operational submarines in its fleet. The U36 was the first to return to sea in 2018, followed by U31 and U33.
5 of them gone for good..To Israel and Egipt :-))